Page 69 of Hallowed Games

Hadn’t I been holding something? I wasn’t now. He pinned me against the rock, my hands pressed into the wet stone.

His mouth hovered over mine. “The thing about vampires, my love, is that we take what we want. We fuck and kill and drink, and even if I ended your life, you would die enraptured with such exquisite pleasure that it would all be worth it. You would die dragging your nails down my back and moaning my name.”

My legs were turning to liquid.

Focus, Elowen. I muttered the phrase again to myself. My breath hitched. “What’s the riddle?”

The dew on the leaves dampened my skin, and Maelor pressed his muscled body against mine. He leaned down, his breath warming my throat. “What creature, when it moves, speaks every tongue?” His fangs grazed my skin. At the touch, heat swept through my body. Slowly, he trailed kisses over my throat, over my jawline.

As he kissed me, visions flitted through my mind—Maelor writing feverishly at a desk as bright colors stained the air around him. He kissed me deeply.

When he pulled away from the kiss, he loosened his grip on my wrists. His hands trailed down my arms again, leaving heat in their wake. “Elowen,” he whispered, “you have awakened something in me that should have stayed at rest.”

“The rest of the riddle,” I whispered.

“What creature, when it moves, speaks every tongue…” He grabbed my arse, lifting me up against the wall. His hands held me up under my thighs, and his hips pressed into mine. He bit his lip, and his dark, heated gaze raked down my body. “Its mouth spews poison, the innocent are hung. When still it stands, it makes no sound at all.”

My arms draped over his bare shoulders, and I felt the muscles moving in his back. “Mouth spews poison,” I repeated. “The innocent are hung.” Sounded familiar. Slander was a common currency here…

“It hears no words, no poor man’s call,” added Maelor.

My thighs were wrapped around his waist, and he started to move his hips into me.

“A pen,” I gasped.

He practically dropped me, and I slammed into the ground. “Good. Now try to stay focused for the last one, will you? You’re running out of time.”

“You were the one distracting me,” I hissed.

I looked down at the candle in my hand. Somehow, I was still holding it.

“You’re running out of time.” His words echoed off the stones, but when I looked up again, he was gone.

Now, the white wax had spilled down over my wrist, and the wick had burned down near the bottom. Only an inch or so of candle was left, and my blood roared. Bollocks. Was I actually going to make it out of here in time? I needed the next bloody riddle, now.

“Maelor?” I whispered.

This time, when he emerged from the shadows, his eyes danced with mischief, and a sensual smile curled his lips. When his gaze slid down my half-naked body, mockery danced in his eyes. “Did you really need to seduce me for information, or was that just something you wanted to do?”

My lip curled. “What’s the riddle?”

“Turn around.”

I arched an eyebrow. “That’s the riddle?”

“No, that’s me telling you to turn around.”

I did as he asked. The garden breeze washed over me, and I could feel his eyes on me.

Maelor came up behind me and threaded his fingers into my hair, tugging it a little. From behind, he pressed against me. As he pulled my hair back a little more, his fangs found the delicate skin of my throat. His other hand cupped my breast, and my nipple went hard against his palm. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to repress your desires, Elowen? Because I know that if you were left alone in a room with me for twenty minutes, I could have you begging me to fuck you.” His accent had shifted, pure Lirion now.

“The riddle.” I hated the way I felt my thighs opening, almost against my will. Molten heat spilled through my core as his hand slid down from my breast, over my belly, and over the top of my underwear. Deus Invictus, Archon Magne. “Get on with it,” I breathed.

“What’s the point?” His hand trailed over my wet heat.

He still gripped my hair lightly, my neck fully exposed. Right now, I was under his complete control. His fangs started to pierce the skin, just a little. Pleasure surged through my body, and he licked my skin just where he’d pierced it. “Delicious, my love.”

“Give me the riddle.”

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