Page 48 of The Crimson Princess
“Is that how I end? You get me naked and then kill me?”
He blinks and takes me with him and I end up pressed to a giant hickman tree, the truck as wide as ten of me, his hard body pressed to mine. A blade reappears in his hand. “Shield yourself.”
“I can’t do that, either.”
“Yes,you can.” He blinks us back where we started, and while the blade is gone, his hands are pressed to my shoulders. “Now what? What do you do when it’s my brother not me holding you like this?”
“You aren’t him. You’reyou,” I say and I have no idea why I do it, but I punch to my toes and press my lips to his.
“Damn it, Satima,” he murmurs, and cups my head, his mouth slanting over mine, his kiss so wild and wicked the frostburns begin to howl.
A moment later, I’m back against the tree. “You better noteverkiss my brother like that, princess. You won’t like how I respond.Shield yourself.” The blade is back, a threatening menace in his hand.
“Toren,” I whisper. “I reallycan’t.”
“Try for me.” His voice is softer now, a gentle prod. “Really want it.” He releases me and places a small space between us. “Pretend I’m my brother. Don’t let me reach for you again or I’ll kill you.”
I give a nod and imagine an evil Toren about to end me, willing a shield in place, but Toren’s hands are on me in an instant, his forehead pressed to mine. “You will never survive what is coming without full use of your magic.”
“What exactly is coming?”
“You know exactly what’s coming.” He eases back to meet my stare. “War.”
“Why do you care if I survive?”
“Because youmade mecare.”
“Because I’m the future queen who can deliver peace between our races?”
“That’s a bonus, but if you even remotely resembled your father, I wouldn’t give two fucks if you died.” His coat disappears and he lifts his wrist to his mouth, and bites himself, a deep wound that spurts blood, and even before I see the blood pooling on his skin, the iron smell triggers a ravenous sensation in me, my mouth salivating. My body is on fire, my skin hot. I think I might even be trembling.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
“My magic will feed your magic,” he explains. “Not forever, but long enough for you to stop suppressing your abilities.” He lifts his wrist to my mouth.
I catch his arm. “No. No, I—why are you doing this?”
“Just drink,princess.” He uses the name as a raspy endearment. “You know you want to.”
He’s right.I do.So much. I want to drink. And it’s confusing and more than a little terrifying. I’m questioning everything I thought I knew about myself, and yet when he captures my head and presses his wrist to my mouth, I drink. No. That isn’t an accurate description. I don’t just drink. Iravishhis wrist, consuming the very essence of the vampire king as if I’m starving for blood, forhim.The iron taste and smell transform to amber, sweet and addictive, the scent surrounding me, consuming me. And I have never in my life felt such a clawing need, to the point the world spins out of control. I know nothing but what I need, what I crave, and the only reason I stop drinking is Toren pulls his arm away.
“Enough. Too much too soon will make you sick.”
My fingers have somehow curled around his shirt, and the lust that burns through my veins is almost too much to bear. He knows, too. He knows and he answers the silent cry of my body, his mouth slanting over mine, his tongue, oh his tongue drives me wild, that amber taste lingering on my lips, onhislips. I’m without limits, pressing against him, all but demanding he take me right here. Yes.Please.Now.
But when I would melt for him, his mouth tugs away from mine. “Come with me.”
Come with him. With the vampire king. With my father’s enemy who doesn’t feel like an enemy at all. He feels like coming home and there is no logic to that feeling. None. My grip on his shirt tightens, my chin lifting in defiance as I stare up at him.
“If I find out you did this to me with magic, I swear I don’t care how ancient you are, how powerful, I’ll kill you.”
“All I’m doing is showing you who you are and where you belong.”
“I’m gale. Theprincessof Ravengale.”
“Andvampire.You are both and you can’t live your life denying that fact. Your mother deserved better than a husband who made her feel like she had to hide.”
“She loved him.”
