Page 71 of The Fae Lord

I rise from the bed, aware of my nakedness because she appraises my body even though she doesn’t mean to. I cross the room to her.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” I have never spoken to her like this before. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I spoke to anyone like this. With softness instead of command.

She flinches slightly as I touch her arm but doesn’t pull away. “But I need you to understand. Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve told you... it’s real. I don’t know when the demons are coming, but I know they are coming. And I know you are the only one who can stop them.”

Alana looks down at the puddle of water on the floor, the remnants of the icicle she conjured. Then she meets my gaze again.

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” she says, tipping her chin up, fire blazing in her eyes. “After everything that’s happened, everything you’ve done...”

“I’ve given you every reason to doubt me, to hate me. I am not a good man, Alana. I will not pretend to be. But I do speak the truth.”

She’s silent for a long moment, searching my face.

Then she shakes her head. “No,” she says. “I don’t trust you. How can I?” She throws the journal to the floor and storms away from me.

But I close the gap between us and grab her arm.

When she turns, she looks at me with pure fury in her eyes, and I love how much she hates me. I deserve that hatred. My family deserves it. I want more of it.

She jerks away from me and starts picking up her clothes, shaking her head. “You’re evil,” she says. “You’re trying to manipulate me.”

I pull on my pants, fasten my belt, and stride towards her.

When I reach her, I squeeze her face tight between my thumbs. “Do you despise me so much, Alana, that you think I would lie about this?”

She tries to jerk away, but I hold her steady.

I lower my voice. “Do you despise yourself for wanting me?”

Her breath quickens, her skin shimmering in the early morning light that has begun to creep up over the horizon and through the cracks in the shutters.

This time, she does pull away from me. She strides over to the windows and throws open the shutters. “Look at my face,” she barks. “See in the daylight just how much I despise you, Lord Eldrion.”

I spread out my wings and stride towards her. I am bigger than her, stronger than her. And yet, she is stronger than me in a million other ways.

It makes me want to worship her and own her at the same time.

“On your knees, Leafborne.” I tower over her.

She looks up at me, eyes glistening.

The torment that lights up her body is almost visible on her flushed skin. Her lips part. I am hard for her already and I have not even touched her yet.

“On your knees,” I repeat the command.

“No,” she says. “On yours.” She rises into the air and presses down on my shoulders.

To my surprise, I obey her.

When I am kneeling, she descends back to her feet, then leans back against the window, parts her legs, and rests one of them on my shoulder.

I grin, looking up at her from between her legs, then very gently reach out to touch her clit. She shivers as I make contact with her, and her sigh fills the room.

I lean in and bite the inside of her thigh, hard.

She gasps, but it is chased by a moan of pleasure, and she applies pressure to the back of my head, urging me to do it again.

I oblige, biting harder this time, and sucking until her skin grows darker beneath my teeth.

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