Page 107 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“I feel as though today’s daily groveling should be performed by tongue,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. “How’s that sound, baby?”

“We’ll see if it’s to my satisfaction,” I said. A bluff, seeing as I was fairly certain I might come undone on Rune’s tongue the moment it slipped between my thighs. He might’ve been able to make me come right now with that dangerous, penetrating gaze alone.

“Oh, is that so?” He chuckled darkly. “How much longer do you think is fair that I allow you to brat off without consequence?”

“Forever,” I giggled.

Rune drank the sound, his lips capturing mine as he made a low, guttural noise that had me surging heat in response.

“I think not, little demon.”

At first, the pet name jolted me, and then I found myself smiling at its meaning. Rune knew exactly what I was and loved me for every dark piece.

His shadows released my wrists, and he effortlessly pulled off my oversized red sweaterdress and underwear. I had a momentary surge of panic as I stood nude before him. But the look in his eyes—unwavering devotion—paired with the lust hemorrhaging from his every pore, kept me grounded in reality.

He leaned in close, his gaze holding mine in an iron grip. “You. Are. Fucking. Perfect.”

He scooped me into his arms. Our lips locked again as he carried me, and I couldn’t get enough of him. I explored his mouth with the tentative stroke of my tongue, and Rune growled, his grip on me tightening.

When he lay me on a fur carpet, my eyes fluttered. This living room’s ceiling took me surprise as it always did.

I stared at myself in that golden dress I wore to the opera, surrounded by the glimmering lights of Aristelle from above, bleeding into shadows, stars, and oceans. Everything I loved, and perhaps everything Rune loved, too, carefully painted on the ceiling in rich color.

I smiled, and Rune looked up to see what I saw.

He dragged his gaze back down. “Good girl, baby, keep those pretty blue eyes on the ceiling. I want you to see yourself through the eyes of a man eternally obsessed with you. I want you to ponder the depths of my captivation as I show it to you with my lips, my tongue, my teeth…” He kissed my neck, and I struggled to keep my eyes open as my nerves erupted with waves of tingling pleasure. “Only a man lost in devotion to you could’ve commissioned such a painting. Only a man who dreamed of you every night, thought of you every minute of every day, who checked the blood bond compulsively to know exactly where you were and how fast your vulnerable heart was beating—only he could’ve captured your beautiful soul in art.”

I choked on emotion, seeing the way Rune’s thorny shadows reached for me in the painting, just as they coiled around me now.

There was a time I feared Rune hated me. But worse were the moments I wondered if he still thought of me at all.

Meanwhile, he was protecting my friends. Finding me the best healers in Aristelle. He was commissioning art, redecorating the castle—I found new little touches every day—gathering my favorite foods, new clothes, books and music… and who knew what else I’d yet to uncover? He hadn’t stopped loving me, and it wasn’t merely a passive feeling. No, Rune was consumed by his love for me, and he showed it to me with a thousand different actions even more beautiful than a thousand of his beautiful words.

“I thought of you just as much,” I whispered, his lips on my collarbone now. “I thought of you even when it only brought me pain. I couldn’t stop. No one could carve out that love from my skin, not even you.”

44

SCARLETT

Rune checked my eyes, and I smiled at him as my core ached. My lips quivered. When he licked away a stray tear, I squealed and laughed in surprise as I reached to shove him away. His shadows were quick to pin down my arms.

“I promise I have the utmost empathy for your pain, but gods above, you’re beautiful when you cry,” Rune said slyly, tonguing his fangs.

“You’re demented,” I said, repeating my exact words the first time he’d licked one of my tears in the music room.

He repeated back his original response. “Thank you, baby.” He lifted a brow. “I wonder, Little Flame, is this your sneaky way of begging me to once again use my shadows for nefarious purposes?”

I wondered what shade of red my cheeks were right now. “No!” I bit my bottom lip. The nerves between my thighs pulsed.

“So bashful for a succubus. Are you playing games with me, baby?”

I shook my head, and suddenly two of his long fingers were pressed against my lips.

“Suck.”

He pushed them past my lips, and I did as I was told. As they went deeper, I locked eyes with myself—the version of me painted on the ceiling. The version of me that Rune saw in his dreams.

I swirled my tongue against Rune’s digits. He pushed too far, and I gagged. He made a low sound of approval.

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