Page 252 of Eldritch
The man I’d grown to love was gone.
A golden heat bloomed in my wrists where he gripped me, a kindling of warmth at first that settled the chill across my skin. It sank beneath my flesh, clinging to my bones. The gold shifted to orange as the heat writhed in my muscles, lashing and curling through me as it pulsed through my body. Sweat trickled down my skin and my breath hitched with the feverish grip of my lungs.
His eyes held no tension. No sign of restraint.
He was burning me from the inside without a flicker of remorse.
Tears streaked down my temples as a sharp resignation cut into my heart. I needed to trick him into consuming my blood—a perilous gamble, seeing as the Lyverian guard had perished. My very soul shook at the thought of possibly losing him, but he didn’t deserve this fate. Even at the risk that he might also perish, he’d suffered too much in his life to live as a mindless, monstrous beast at another’s command. I loved him too much to let that happen.
“Bond with me,” I whispered. “I accept.”
The surge of heat slowed to a lazy pulse, and as he pulled back, the rage from moments ago slackened to something that turned my stomach. A greedy, sickening lust burned in his eyes, but not one that belonged to Zevander. It wasn’t borne from love and trust. What reveled in my surrender was something predatory. Something that sought power.
The monster who longed to make me his.
“I belong to you,” I lied, forcing myself to believe that somewhere behind that rapacious mask, Zevander might’ve been touched by my words.
He released one of my arms and took hold of my jaw, but not in a loving way. His grip was steadying and painful, as he yanked my dress up to my thighs and pressed his groin into me. Eyesrolled back, he let out a deep groan, and when he lowered his face to mine, I turned my head, giving him access to my throat.
He was too hasty, too willing to take from me to be my beloved assassin.
“Make me yours. Bond me to you eternally.” Despite the steely resolve of my words, my voice wavered with tears.
He dragged his nose over my throat as if he were savoring his prey. “Eternally,” he echoed, mesmerized, and loosened his grip on my wrist.
I sank one of my metallic nails into the delicate skin on my neck and slashed a quick line, gasping at the ease with which it cut.
A sharp sting burned across my throat, and eyes wide with what I could only surmise was bloodlust, Zevander clamped his lips over the wound. Pressure stiffened my jaw as he sucked at that small cut, a sickening gurgle chasing each pull. His muscles tightened in my grasp, his body rigid, his hands hasty and frantic, touching me everywhere.
“No!” a voice roared from somewhere distant, thundering around me.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Please come back to me.”
Zevander fell to the side and raised a trembling hand to his lips, his black eyes wide, brows pulled into a look of panic. Perhaps the first flicker of emotion I’d seen in him.
His scorpion stepped from his back, stumbling on its insectile legs. Its stinger sank into its own body and Zevander arched his back, a roar of pain ripping out of him.
“I’m sorry.” I reached out a trembling hand but hesitated to touch him. “Oh gods, I’m sorry.” My body shuddered as I watched him succumb to my blood.What have I done?
He fell onto his back, mouth gaping, choking. His chest rose and fell in labored spurts of breath.
Spiders scampered out of his mouth, fading into black smoke that drifted toward me before dissipating.
Behind him, the scorpion buckled, falling to the ground where it twitched, its stinger still reflexively stabbing its body.
Until at last, he stilled. The scorpion stilled.
A deafening silence settled around us, as if the world held its breath.
My lips trembled as I fought to hold back the sob pounding at the back of my throat.
On hands and knees, I crawled toward him and reached for his hand. The cold of his skin had me recoiling, but I pressed my ear to his chest.
Stillness.
The world around me spun too fast when I pushed up from him and I clamped my eyes shut, shaking my head. “Wake up now. You’re supposed to wake. You’re supposed to be okay.”
I shook him, a sharp gasp of a sob tearing from my throat. I clenched my teeth, biting back the emotion, refusing to accept that he was gone.
