Page 100 of Love and Death
The next thing I know, his cloak rustles, his shadows pouring over the stallion’s back in inky waves as he pulls himself up behind me in one fluid motion. I feel the rise and settle of his hips as he pulls me back against him, his powerful thighs coming to rest against mine. Death reaches around me to grab a handful of Knax’s mane, his other hand threading through the space between my arm and waist to steady me to him.
“Hold tight, little one,” he whispers against my ear, his voice melting into my skin, “there is nothing quite like riding Death’s stallion.”
As if knowing exactly what Death means, Knax rears up in anticipation, and I cling on with all my might as we set off. The first step is a lurch forward. The second, a leap as we plunge down the narrow mountain path at an ungodly speed, and a scream of terror and then delight is pulled from me.
We race, faster than fear, down the mountainside, Death’s cloak snapping in the wind. Knax is as sure-footed as can be, his muscles rippling beneath us with long, easy strides, and I soon realize it is not him, but the man behind me, who has my blood pounding in my ears.
Death’s arm around my waist tightens, crushing meinto him as his hips rock forward in rhythm with Knax, and I feel the undeniable press of him against my back. I can’t help but want to move in rhythm with him as I drop one hand to his thigh, which causes a low growl to rumble through his chest.
“Do not tempt me, Hazel. I am already wavering on the edge of restraint,” Death warns, his voice sending a shiver down my spine.
“I do not want your restraint,” I say, my hand slipping further up his thigh. “I want your reckless abandon.”
He stiffens at this, his hand dragging up from my waist to spread flat in the space between my breasts before fisting the silk of my dress, further anchoring me to him with gentle, but possessive want. Death urges Knax to move faster, which changes the rock of his hips, causing him to thrust even harder against me, and the aching heat within me swells.
I push my hand further back, searching for him, but am stopped as his own hand drops from my chest to bind itself around my wrist.
“Patience, little one,” he demands in a rough voice, his jaw hard. “If I did not first need to bleed this world to ensure your safety, I would be made one with you already.”
“Please, I need you—” I plead, the desperation in my voice surprising even myself, as I lean my head back against his chest, my desire for him suddenly too great.
“Shadows take me,” Death groans with a sharp intake of air. He releases my wrist, his hand spreading flat against my body as it dips lower, but then stops. “I cannot, Hazel. I should not—" I roll my hips forward andlet out a gasp as he finds me, leather and silk still layered between us, and the aching heat bursts into an all-consuming fire.
A low growl of pleasure resonates through his chest and into me as he glances down from above, his fingers pressing harder through the silk. His shadows lick their way up my skirt, teasing the naked skin of my inner thighs, and the rushing wind drinks my moan.
“You have no idea the danger you are in, little one,” Death says, his voice like velvet sin as his touch lightens to tease a slow circle with his middle finger, and the world blurs around me. “What it does to me, watching you ride the very edge of desire. How you test the limits of my restraint … What I would not give to tear this dress from you and make the Universe witness to my ruin.”
He bends to press the side of his mask against my face, his fingers dipping even lower for but a second before he suddenly pulls away, shadows and all, to my utter dismay.
It’s only now that I realize where we are as Knax slows to a stop at the edge of the river.
“Forgive me for what I have just done, Hazel, I beg of you,” he says softly against my ear. “I will return, and Iwillfinish what I have started, but not here. Not like this.”
He straightens, dropping from Knax’s back before I can protest, as Charon glides into view and crashes his boat into the shoreline. The desire bleeds from me at the sight of the ferryman, and heat rushes up to flood my cheeks instead as I realize how shamefully I’ve behaved … and how much I’d just asked Death to risk for my own selfish pleasure.
For a moment, I lost myself in him, the grief and torment that brought us here all but forgotten.
But I won’t allow that to happen again.
I will wait patiently for him to return and—
“Uh ahh,” I cry out as sharp pain causes me to double over sideways. I topple from Knax’s back, Death catching me in his arms before I can collapse onto the rocky path.
“Hazel, what is wrong?” he asks, the fear in his voice somehow even more painful.
But I can’t answer him. I suck air in through my teeth, clutching at my side as a stabbing pain digs deep between my ribs.
Death lowers me quickly to the ground, his back to Charon as he reaches for the silk and tears it away with ease, only to reveal the corset beneath.
“For heaven’s sake,” he snarls, gently rolling me over to rip apart the laces and chemise before folding the fabric forward to see what I am clutching at, somehow managing to keep my modesty. He pulls back slightly, his gloved hand running down my side as his shadows curl up to trail after it. “There is no wound. Nor can I feel anything amiss beneath the skin.”
The sharp pain subsides, and I shift slightly in my relief, causing the key and ring Cerberus had given me to drop from the corset onto the ground. Death slowly leans over me to pick them up, his inky shadows growing still around him.
“What is this,” he asks, his voice barely a whisper, as he holds up the ring.
“Cerberus gave it to me,” I answer, finally able to speak again. “He said you would know …”
His glove groans softly as his fist tightens around the ring before he looks back at me.
