Page 31 of Born of Blood and Thorns

"You're a stubborn little thing, aren't you?" he asked as a hint of respect lit his cerulean gaze. As quickly as it was there, it was gone until I thought I'd imagined it.

"There are worse things to be, but I prefer the term persistent."

"Good. Then you need to listen. You're weak, so you'll need to rely on speed and agility. Fighting and sparring won't help you." He moved forward to take the sword from my hands, but I stepped back.

"One more time." I smirked, false bravado in my tone.

Five minutes later, I was once again in the dirt. This time, I took his offered hand. I told myself his bare chest had been a clever distraction because as I once again studied him, I noted the tight muscles of his abs and the dips on either side of his hips that led into a V to that area between his thighs hidden by his low-hanging pants. A trail of dark hair began just below his navel. Goddess, dammit, I was staring again!

As we put the weapons up, I felt it was finally the perfect time to get answers. "I was exploring the castle last night."

"Hmm," he said without opening his mouth, focusing on setting the weapons back up with almost obsessive tidiness as if their exact position mattered that much.

"And I stumbled into a room in the east wing of the castle."

Lore remained deadly still as a coldness seemed to wash over him. His voice had a hard sharpness that I wasn't expecting. It cut with each word. "What, pray tell, did you find?"

"A mosaic of paned glass telling a story. A young woman's room." And ghosts, I didn't add.

"You were in my sister's room?" His features darkened, and his gaze turned as cold as ice.

"Yes," I began hesitantly, pulling myself up straight and lifting my chin. I refused to let him intimidate me. I'd faced worse than his wrath. "Her name was Lara, right?"

He sighed as if just realizing his reaction. "It was."

"She died right before." I paused, sweeping my arms around the castle around us. "All of this."

"She did," he said through gritted teeth, the muscle in his jaw flexing from the tension.

"What is this curse on you all?" I asked, crossing my arms. I wasn't going to let him deflect and brush me off. Not this time.

"It's no concern of yours."

"You're wrong. It is my concern. I'm stuck here with you. I deserve to know." I moved directly in his way as he turned to leave. To run away. I wasn't going to let him. Not this time. "What is the curse?

My thoughts went back to his early statement that he had someone he was meant to be with, someone who was meant to break this curse. That wasn't me.

The narrowing of his eyes and the quick flash of his teeth was the only warning I had before he backed me up to the wall again. Slamming his hand next to my head with enough force that I felt the stone crack.

"It is none of your concern," he repeated with a growl that was anything but human. His eyes flashed to the same red I saw in the dragon's as he had stared at me in the cave.

As his warmth pressed into me and I stared up at him, my breath hitched, and I was panting for a whole other reason. Because as soon as his eyes changed, it was as if he had changed with it. There was heat in his gaze. A primal desire that burned and demanded to be released. The dragon staring back at me wanted nothing more than to release it on me.

"I thought you and your dragon were separate," I said breathlessly, tilting my head.

Lore leaned in and ran his nose along my neck, breathing deeply. His voice, still deep and primal, spoke close to my ear, sending shivers down my back and wetness to pool between my thighs. "We are separated but you—you have some kind of magic that pulls him—us to you."

His lips trailed across my jaw, and his hands moved to my body, caressing my sides as they moved up my waist and then lower. He grabbed me beneath my knees and wrapped my legs around him, slamming my back into the stone wall and trapping me there.

"You've bewitched my dragon."

With my legs around him, I felt the truth of that statement as something hard pressed into my center. And this primal urge was in me, too, as I stared down at him. I hated him. I planned to kill him. Still, I wanted him.

I wasn't a virgin, nor was I innocent in any way, but my one experience with a man hadn't done much for me. The act had left me wanting and feeling used. It was also the only time I'd been kissed. The man had lifted my skirt and plowed into me from behind without a care if it was pleasurable to me. I'd never tried again. Nor had I wanted to.

This moment, in my enemy's arms—in Lore's arms—I realized I wanted him. I wanted to feel his lips against mine, yet I knew that if I succumbed to it, it would leave me ruined for anyone else. As if some part of me knew I'd be branded. Goddess, if I didn't want it.

Lore stared into my eyes with an intensity that matched my own. There was an unspoken passion in his gaze. We remained frozen here, both of us frozen and breathing heavily. My heart beat furiously in my chest.

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