Page 91 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

A sick smirk formed on the creature’s face. “You’d only be doing me a favor. You think I want to stay in a world where that godly cunt rules? I’d rather die like my brethren than be subjected to her deeds.”

I dropped my hand and shot Samkiel a quick look. We did need alliances.

“What if I could offer you something better?” I asked.

Savees lifted his head and gave me another toothy grin, his fangs flashing in the low light. “I could think of something better before I die here, but I think the foreboding one next to you would protest.”

Samkiel took a menacing step forward but stopped when I lifted my hand, the back of it resting against his chest. “Stop. He’s just horny and dying like most prisoners here. It means nothing.”

“It’s disrespectful,” Samkiel all but growled, and I wondered for a second who was more beast, the guy on the wall, me, or Samkiel, when someone talked badly about me.

“You should probably apologize,” I said to the Otherworld being on the wall. “He will kill you.”

“I don’t care about any blood rebels from The Eye,” Savees snarled, snapping his teeth.

I knew what was coming but stepped back regardless. Samkiel slipped those rings on his hand and was at Savees’s throat in a second, an ablaze weapon held against his neck. Samkiel shoved him hard enough against the stone that it shuddered.

Savees’s eyes got so big I wondered if they would pop out of his head.

“Told you to apologize.” I shrugged, keeping my arms folded. “He is not fond of anyone who is mean or crass to me.”

“Y-you’re . . .” Savees couldn’t catch his breath. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“I am not, but you soon will be if you ever speak to her like that again. Apologize,” Samkiel snarled, tipping Savees’s head back a fraction more, the blade cutting a thin line across his throat, blood running down his neck and pooling at his collarbone.

Savees’s ears flattened against his head. “I’m sorry. I swear. I’m sorry.”

Samkiel let him go, not bothering to check on him. He flicked the blood off his blade and called it back to his ring. He stood behind me, his presence a comforting warmth at my back. Samkiel was a sword and shield, always my protector.

Savees gasped for air, his body trembling. “What do you need from me?”

“I need to know how to get into the upper room.”

After a long talk and less back talk from Savees, we officially had a plan. It was half-cocked, but I was willing to try, even if Samkiel was less than keen. We barely made it out of the room before Samkiel whirled me around, pushing my back against the cool stone. His hand clenched on my jaw, and his lips slanted over mine in a punishing kiss.

“Don’t pull away from me again.”

I blinked, not knowing what he was talking about, but then I remembered what happened in the dining hall earlier.

“Seriously?”

His leg wedged between my thighs, the hard muscle pressing against my sex at just the right angle. I moaned, and he ate it with a kiss, claiming the sound. “I don’t like it,” he said against my lips.

I bit at his lower lip and tugged hard. “Well, I don’t like you reminiscing about the good old days with beings that aren’t me.”

His brows furrowed. “I wasn’t, nor would I ever. I’m extremely comfortable with you, Dianna. That means I can be my entire self. I may say things, but I never meant to hurt you. I share every part of myself with you. Besides, there is no competition when it comes to you. Not for me.”

I swallowed as my blood heated, pumping harder at his words. I wanted to kiss him again, to ravage him against this wall, but I also heard his heart. It thudded wildly, matching my own. The pulsing vein along his neck taunted me, begging me to feed. I fought the urge. I couldn’t, wouldn’t hurt him. Not when that wound on his side still caused him pain.

I nodded in response to his words before placing my hands on his chest and pushing him back. He released me, but I caught his expression.

“That’s not fair.”

“What isn’t?” I asked, starting up the steps.

“So you can touch me, but I cannot touch you?”

I halted, turning ever so slightly. “Do you really want me screaming in this prison? We still haven’t found that stupid weapon, and I don’t need Orym pouting because our cover is blown. After all, you fuck too good.”

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