Page 75 of Thief of Souls
“Mmm.” Another hot, sloppy kiss captures my mouth as he spills me onto his back. My pulse kicks against his lips. “Did you think we were done?”
And then he laughs as I simply lie there and shake in the aftermath, his tongue tracing the slope of my neck.
14
Iwake with a gasp, a scream trapped in my throat.
For a second, I was trapped in the dark, with not even a single candle to light the way, and the roof closing in upon me. It felt so real I could almost taste the stale air of whatever cell I was contained within, and the old scar across my palm—where Soraya and I once bound ourselves together—is throbbing.
“Mira?”
I turn into Keir’s body, my heart racing. Every inch of me is deliciously bruised and sated, but it’s the way his arms curl around me that does so much damage.
“Bad dreams,” I whisper.
He strokes a hand through my hair. “You shouldn’t be having any bad dreams. Not while I’m near.”
I shudder. “I thought…. I thought it was Soraya, reaching for me.”
He rolls onto his side, so we’re face to face. “We’ll find her.”
“I know.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“I know.”
Long seconds tick out as he strokes small circles over my arm. “You love her,” he whispers. “Even after everything she did to you.”
I can’t possibly explain.
But I want to.
For the first time, I want to.
“I don’t know who my mother was.” The words come from my mouth, but I don’t recall beckoning them. Still, it’s far too late for regret. “I thought perhaps she was from the Court of Whispers, thanks to something my wet nurse once said, but… I’ve been there many a time. She wasn’t of the Whispers.”
He says nothing.
I want to say nothing further.
And yet, the words are rising up within me, choking me with all the pain and sorrow I’ve never been able to hide. “My father forced himself upon her. It’s what he did to all of them. He sent his wraiths to find him fae brides, and when they were brought to him, he forced them to bear his children. He wanted a child that could pass as fae. One that could walk these lands and bring him what he wished. He wanted a child who could break the curse that afflicts us.”
All the horror spills out of me. “There were dozens of us. Hundreds over the years. Whatever curse afflicts our kind, it breeds true. Barely one in twenty resembled their fae kin. And of those few, only a rare handful have the ability to wield their fae magics.” I hold my hands up and let the glamor slip. It washes from my skin like a warm blanket being withdrawn. A chill settles over me. I’m wraithenkind enough for my flesh to feel like marble. A faint glow settles over my skin, as if the moon itself shines within me.
Not all wraithenkind bear such innate power.
Most of them are maggot-pale and coldblooded. But in this my breeding ran true on both sides. I have the power of my wraith father and the magic of my fae mother.
“Soraya is the only one who stood at my back throughout my childhood. And I watched over her. It doesn’t matter how many times she betrays me, Keir, because she is all I have.” A single tear leaks down the side of my cheek.
The faint light cuts shadows across Keir’s cheekbones. He lifts a hand and rests it, gently, against my hip.
His skin burns feverishly, and my chilled flesh drinks in that warmth as if it longs for it. His thumb brushed against my abdomen, and our eyes meet. My skin explodes like starlight, painting shadows across the wall.
Suddenly, I can’t breathe.
“Who is your father?” he breathes.
