Page 52 of The Salvation

The Court thunders its cheers. But the last words pierce my heart. It’s the final layer of torment and agony. He wants to destroy my very legacy, tarnish everything.

I won’t be the human who went through the Veil of Souls, fell for my monstrous boys, and broke and ended the Curse.

I will be the mortal who brought back Malachor.

Three days.

Merikh’s eyes are the only thing keeping me awake.

Until Reaver puts his wrist to my mouth. The skin is open, a vein bleeding upon my lips. “Drink, Your Highness. Your punishment for that smart mouth.”

Merikh throws his head at Mayce, growling at the Fae.

I shake my head, refusing at the same time that Mayce breaks the vines.

“Drink now or suffer your little child.”

Merikh charges for Reaver, but it’s too late. I flick my tongue across the vampire’s wrist, taking one swipe of his blood. The pain makes it too hard to think, to taste. But I feel the stinging tingle rippling through me, knowing I share something now with Reaver. Like an invisible tether wrapped around my throat.

I whip my head around to find Merikh staring down the other vampire, nostrils flaring, veins throbbing, and teeth gnashing. I overhear something faint about “not part of the deal”.

The mere drop of the vampire’s blood already begins to heal my skin. Slowly but surely. I cry out from the flesh piecing itself back together.

I’m vaguely aware of someone carrying me, and a sense of weightlessness overcomes me...at the same time the darkness closes a fist over my head and drags me under.

Fire and ice.Tingling all over my skin. A hard heat, but with cold kisses, fills me. I don’t have to open my eyes to know it’s Merikh with his shaft buried deep inside me.

No more pain. All that’s here is him.

When I open my eyes, I take in so many things. The gentle lapping of the cold salt sea. The earthy scent of the crushed bones along the shore beneath my back. The dark expanse ofMerikh’s wings covering me, shielding me. And the God of Blood himself thrusting slow but deep and hard into me.

Naked as me, his soaked hair trickles droplets from the sea onto my skin. Shadows surround his eyes, but they can’t prevent those hooded orbs from sucking me into their black depths, where it’s nothing but his hollow essence pulsing with the echo of his lost soul.

“Merikh!” I whisper from him pumping stronger, burrowing deeper.

My thighs already shudder, my body rising into an instinctive arch from his length. I start to buck my hips, grinding against him. My clit rubs against his pelvis.

“Little dove...” he purrs, shifting one hand from the ground to cup my breast, fondling the flesh before capturing my nipple and rolling it between his fingers. The bone dust adds a coarse texture, arousing the bud until it hardens to a dark pink ruby.

“Aislynn?” I wonder, my brows lifting.

“She is well. They have her.”

It’s all I needed.

My pulse quickens, blood growing hotter, and I know he’s doing it. Pleasure stokes me until I’m trembling. One second, my back is to the ground, and the next, Merikh has us upright with me straddling him and his mouth taking mine. The kiss feels more like him. It bows my spine, flushes my whole body, and bewilders my thoughts until I’m liquefied against him.

“Ride me,” he growls the command with his warm breath hovering against my lips.

I can’t fathom how he expects me to. My body is molded to his, melting like molten glass. But as soon as the adrenaline surges through my blood, I throw my head back in a gasp from the burst of energy—so strong, it splinters my vision.

Deep down, I recognize why he’s doing this. Part of me wants to punch him again, but I’m too swept up by how amazing hisscars feel against mine. And how the raised skin chafes against my nipples. And my need for the throbbing cock inside me.

So, I grip his shoulders, nails digging in. His hands frame my hips, steadying me. He makes it damn hard to focus when he’s looking at me that way. No less carnal or dangerous. Like a beautiful maelstrom of dark masculinity. But he’s chained the storm, letting me ride his softer waves and controlled current.

Well, fuck that.

When his cock twitches inside me, my pussy responds, squeezing around him. The wet squelching sound makes my cheeks hot, though I can’t imagine why. My monstrous boys have done everything they possibly can to my body.

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