Page 80 of Death Raiser

I sat back in my seat and folded my arms over my chest.

“I fully admit to using my magic later in the library. I wanted you to feel good, but I didn’t rob you of your own free will. If you knew a certain act was pleasing, would you not do it? Would you not use every skill in your arsenal to pleasure your partner?”

My cheeks heated but something in Levi’s darkening gaze dared me not to look away.

“I want to pleasure you. I want you so lost in the throes of passion you can’t think or breathe or do anything except scream my name.”

Oh…wow.

Levi leaned in, a mischievous glint sparking in his gaze and a playful tug twitching his lips. “And I can do that with or without my magic.”

I nodded, more to myself than to Levi. Not sure of how to respond, I picked up my glass and drained the rest of the wine.

Levi chuckled and pushed away from the table to stand. “Come, I’ll show you to your room. It should be ready now.”

I took a deep breath and frowned. Not sure I wanted Levi to take me to a room at all right now, not after this conversation.

The Lord of the Veil sighed dramatically. “I’ll show you to your room where I’ll leave you to have a miserable, cold night alone completely devoid of pleasure. Promise.”

I snorted and stood up to join him. Little did he know, I didn’t need anyone else with me to feel pleasure, but I wasn’t planning on touching myself or anyone else tonight. Levi might mix business with pleasure, but I didn’t. I was exhausted and still needed to process what had happened over the last twenty-four hours. Or hell, longer than that. I still didn’t know how long Steve took to transport me to Murder Island.

Levi led me to a guest room with a queen-sized, four-poster bed with a fluffy, sky-blue duvet, two side tables and a view of the staked remains of his enemies.

“It’s lovely,” I lied.

Levi leaned down and planted a kiss on my neck, right over my pulse. A shiver ran down my body and I sucked in a breath.

“Your lies taste like honey in the air,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“And when is that?” I looked outside. The veil always had a dark sky, illuminated by the white and blue glow from spirits.

“Whenever we want.” He left me with his cryptic answer and shut the door behind him.

I sighed and flopped on the bed. The smell of fresh laundry and something floral rose from the soft material of the duvet. I’d expected bones and dust. Nothing about this place made sense.

I rolled over and surveyed the room again. The book I’d devoured earlier in the library sat on the bedside table along with two other books that had similar covers—most likely the same genre and similar style.

A surprisingly thoughtful gesture.

And he’d probably carried out the calculated task to seduce me and weaken my resolve. I couldn’t lose sight of Levi’s motives. He wanted to use me. It didn’t matter how nice he was or how pretty. It certainly shouldn’t matter how heavenly his magic felt brushing along mine. He wanted me for my magic, and I couldn’t drop my guard.

I picked up the book and stretched out on my side on top of the fluffy duvet. Adrenaline still raged through my veins and, despite knowing I should sleep, I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes in this place. Maybe the mystery book in my hands would help me drift to sleep.

I read and I read, but every time my eyelids started to close, my thoughts would race to either looking down the barrel of Steve’s gun, getting shot, or Kang’s expression at the end of our date right before that phone call interrupted us.

I finally gave up, dropped the book on the bedside table and rolled out of bed. I searched the room but didn’t find anything under the bed or in the closet. A door off to the side led to a private bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. A gargoyle-looking statue sat on the tiled floor next to the sink. Someone had placed fresh, nicely folded towels on the counter. I stepped into the small room and glanced at the mirror.

My reflection stared back at me and stole my breath away.

My eyes.

Instead of my normal dark blue eyes, the irises surrounding my pupil had darkened. I stepped in closer. My eyes were now black—so dark that the irises appeared the same colour as my pupils, but upon closer inspection, I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

Why did my eyes change colour in the veil?

I held my hands up and inspected my talons. They’d stopped growing at around one inch in length. I normally kept my nails shorter—no one likes scraping out cemetery dirt and animal blood from under their nails.

Why did I have talons?

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