Page 89 of Summoned
28
Gaetano
Nicole emerges from the mist with the determined stride of a winner. I never doubted she’d make it through the trial. Now, as she stands before me— stripped of everything, knees scraped from crawling, skin marked with scratches, hair wild and tangled—the weight beneath my ribs shifts into something sharp and warm at once.
I didn’t return her clothes on purpose. I want her to see the wounds for herself, to witness the evidence of her strength.
“It was an illusion!” she says through sobs. “Tell me it wasn’t real…”
Her plea tears at me. I act on instinct and pull her in my arms. Her trembling body folds against mine with no resistance. Burying my nose in her hair, beneath the dust and the mist, I catch a trace of roses.
“Itwasan illusion,” I whisper into her ear, “but your reactions weren’t. Your victory was real. Look at your wounds.”
Her fingers clutch my shirt. “Why do you hate me this much?” she wails, her voice breaking against my chest.
My body stiffens. I push her back just enough to see her face. Her makeup is streaked across her cheeks and her chin. “Hate you?”
“You made me speak to my father like that…” Disgust drips from every word. “I did the unthinkable…”
More tears fall from her eyes, and the sight of each one sends a dull pain piercing me. She doesn’t know yet that itwasn’t me. The whole scene was born from her—her mind, her fears, her truth. And I can’t tell her. Not now.
I wipe away a tear that has rolled to her lips. “You were brave, my baroness. You burned them all to the ground.”
Damp hair sticks to her jaws as she shakes her head. “No, no…” she whispers, almost a prayer. “Why don’t you just take my soul and be done with it? I don’t want this anymore. I can’t…”
I gently hold her chin with my fingers to quiet her. Finally, she calms down. Her eyes meet mine, filled with fear and vulnerability.
“I can’tjusttake your soul, because…” My voice wavers. I know that if I say what I’m about to, it will make things worse. But I can’t stop myself. “…Because I’m enthralled by you.”
She goes still, eyes wide and steady, as if trying to figure out whether she heard correctly or if this is yet another trap.
The corners of my lips lift. “I find you brave, for not once did you falter under my magic. Most people crumble right from the start.”
Now, she blinks at me.
“I think you’re brilliant. It didn’t take you long to realize I’m also bound by the contract, and you’ve slipped through every one of my snares…And the way you stood tall after that humiliation? It showed me how strong you are.”
Her pupils dilate further. Has no one ever complimented her intellect?
I lean in until my lips brush a single tear glistening on her cheek. Its warm, salty taste spreads through me, igniting a craving for more. I trace a line to her ear. “Your defiance arouses me. It sparks thoughts…dark desires.”
She shudders. I shift to her other side and catch anothertear with my lips. “And your beauty keeps me awake. Night after night. Wondering what it would be like”—another tear —“to have it beside me in bed.”
Nicole suddenly tilts her head and crashes her mouth into mine, her hands gripping my shirt. Electricity rips through my spine. Raw, primal hunger rushes through every cell of my body.
I answer without hesitation. My mouth claims hers with the full force of the desire that’s been coiling inside me for days.
I thrust my tongue between her lips and press her against me, letting her feel how much I want her. She moans into my mouth—a sound that rushes through me stronger than adrenaline.
There’s no going back now. I hope she realizes that.
I pin her to the wall. One hand slides down her waist, the other cups the back of her neck, keeping her anchored to my mouth. Tome.
My kisses trail from her lips to her neck, where her pulse beats the hardest, where her skin is soft, vulnerable, exposed. I want to stay there longer, to worship every inch of her. But hunger turns me into an impatient beast, ready to kill just to have her, rightnow.
I move down her collarbone, leaving marks, then trace the curve of her breast with my mouth. As much as I crave to consume her, I tease her slowly, not to take, but to revere.
Nicole tangles her fingers in my hair and arches her back. I suck one of her pink nipples, tempting the tip with my tongue, until it hardens.
