Page 54 of Daughter of the Dark Sun
“No, it cannot be! I am not fit for aliraes. You seek to trick me!”
Mireithren rushed forward and stood on her toes, grabbing Therat’s beard before he could react. Her fingers tangled with the knotted hairs and jerked his face down. A sharp coolness pressed against his neck. Her face came close, breath hot against his lips.
He tried to back away, to fight back, to do anything to escape. But he stood still. Helpless. She could kill him now, or twist his mind, and make him hers. Unleash his foul darkness to ruin the world. And, if some mercy from the Seven did still exist, he would lose his mind to the siren and not remember any of the deaths by his hand.
The dagger cut into his waiting flesh, tearing a hiss from the man cornered like prey. Therat squeezed his eyes shut and tried to picture his mother’s face one last time.
Instead, Therat lost himself in the softness of Mireithren’s lips against his. They pushed past his resistance and dismantled every defense the man had ever built. She tasted sweet, like honey and vanilla melting together. The warmth of her kiss sent bursts of sunfire through his mind. Therat leaned in, wrapping his arms around the woman, pulling her in close. His body quivered under her touch.Gods,it was better than he dreamed it would be.
His hips pressed closer to hers, hungering to taste every inch of his tormentor. Mireithren resisted at first, but the coolnessof the dagger faded as she sank into his arms. This was what he wanted that night he saw her bleeding in the Market with an emptiness in her eyes as if her soul itself had been torn from the woman. She would be kept safe here. A stifled moan escaped as her tongue searched for entrance into his mouth before flicking back.
The heat rising inside him fled under the cold touch of metal sliding between the woman and his chest. Mireithren pushed away from Therat with the dagger. The Shadow-weave coiled around her like a snake ready to strike. Blood flushed her face, breathing ragged. She looked away, and as she did, Therat saw a tear fall across the black scars racing down her right cheek.
He had no idea what to do, what to think. Half-thoughts formed, mind unable to focus on anything else but breathing. With each gulp of fresh morning air, the daze lifted. Anger gripped his heart, twisting with each breath until he wanted nothing more than to deny the maiden, to wrap his hands around her slender neck and willingly take a life. Therat did not dare let himself believe in the delusion of love. He could not.
“I-I…” Mireithren trailed off, unable or unwilling to speak.
“This proves nothing,” Therat whispered. Mireithren looked back at him, her eyes wet with tears.
“You are a blind fool.”
Therat licked his lips, her taste still fresh. He wanted more, craved all of her in his arms, his mouth, fingers trailing over every inch of her body…
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Stop it, don’t give in to her lies!
“It can’t mean anything.” His head shook with denial.
“I’ll kiss you again, and you deny what your soul knows to be true.” Mireithren took a step forward, pinning Therat against the wall.
“I-it is you, some manipulation of my harmonic! The gods do not care, they’ve never cared. You don’t know who I am. What I am.”
Why can I not escape you? What did you do?
“And you think I am better? We walk in shadows. We are more alike than you realize, Therat. Impossible spawn that should never have existed. Yet, here we are.”
As she spoke, Mireithren inched closer. Therat caught her hand before it snaked up to his face again. Forcing his mind into submission, he spun the woman around and pinned her against the wall. The dagger fell from her other hand with the impact and skittered away over the rocky cave floor.
It took all of Therat’s strength not to lean in and devour her right there. She looked so achingly beautiful. A shaft of warm sunlight shone over his shoulder and onto Mireithren’s enchanting face. Her eyes sparkled with waves of amber, and the gold strands hidden in the darkness of her hair shone bright.
Therat’s hands trembled. He could kill her right now. Snap her fragile neck and end the siren’s hold over him. His fingers twitched. He wanted to wrap his hand around her throat, squeeze until the blood in her veins pulsed against his hand. Squeeze and hold her down. Kiss her, taste her. Feel the warmth of her touch over his scarred heart. He wanted to bleed for her. Beg for her. Do anything forher.
“Why should I believe anything you say?” he growled, trying with desperation to ignore the quickening of his heart.
Mireithren’s brow furrowed. “Because if you don’t, I will kill you.” Her gaze flickered down to his lips before staring back with a look of defiance. “And that would be a shame.”
“And how would you do that?” Therat tightened his grip on her wrists as he spoke. Instead of caving to his pressure, the woman who tormented him for years simply laughed. The soundsent a chill down Therat’s spine. “I could crush you even without my shadows, little siren.”
“Then do it,” Mireithren whispered, leaning forward until her breasts pushed into his chest. “Kill me. Do the very thing you have always tried to keep yourself from doing. My blood will forever stain your hands, Therat.”
“Fuck you,” he spat back. “You know nothing of me.”
“Prove me wrong.”
As she spoke, a black shade rose behind Mireithren. It engulfed the two in a blackness so deep he could not see the maiden mere inches in front of his face. A cool touch, like the chilled winds of night, wrapped itself around Therat’s body. It pulled him deep into its embrace until a strange song surfaced from the endless void. It carried both sorrow and comfort, but never did one dominate the other. Before Therat realized what was happening, his hands fell from Mireithren’s wrists.
“I thought as much,” Mireithren said at last.
The shadows receded with her voice. Therat stared at an empty wall. He spun around to see Mireithren standing by the outcropping entrance, wiping off her black dagger. There was something strangely thrilling about seeing his blood on her hands. He gulped, trying to push aside the lingering waves of desire from her kiss.
