Page 43 of The Sorcerer of Shadowholde

Vita’s heart skipped as she pleaded with him. “Please, I beg you. If you must punish someone, then punish me.”

She was inviting trouble, of course, but she wouldn’t let an innocent person come to harm if she could help it, thrall or not.

A vicious smirk curled his lips, his head cocking to the side dramatically. His grip on Gaius’ throat loosened, and the thrall shot her a confused glance.

“Do you want to be punished, Vita?” he purred, licking his lips.

Fear coiled with arousal like two intertwined snakes, heat flushing her face and core as Renatus awaited a response. When she didn’t answer, he rolled his eyes, releasing Gaius and shooting a glare at him.

The thrall just bowed, then rushed down the hallway, desperate to escape the wrath of his maker.

Renatus turned his attention back to Vita.

Her heart raced as he stepped forward, taking her injured hand delicately in his. He brought her palm to his lips, placing a chaste kiss against the bloody cut before pressing his tongue to the wound.

She clenched every muscle in her body as he lapped up her blood, the sticky liquid tinging his lips red. Somehow, arousal overpowered fear, and she squeezed her thighs together to will it away. He must have sensed her delicate movement, because his lips curled into a smile as he cleaned her. She stifled a whimper when he pulled away, revealing a light scar where once a weeping cut had been.

“How?” she asked, staring at the sealed wound.

“The saliva of the vampire has healing properties. It does us no good to bleed all of our playthings to death every time we feed.”

Renatus took her other hand, uninjured, but covered with blood from staunching the wound. First, he cleaned her palm with the flat of his tongue, arousal pulsing through Vita with every wet embrace. Once he was satisfied, he turned his attention to her fingers, placing them in his mouth one by one and sucking to remove any remaining mess, his gaze never leaving hers.

It took everything in her power to resist rolling her eyes to the back of her head, to muffle the moan that caught in her throat. She wanted to buck against him, wondered if arousal roared through him as it did to her.

Finally, he released her, and she gasped in a breath, unable to stop herself.

Renatus leaned in close, his lips brushing against her pointed ear. “Do be careful, darling. My thralls… I fear their self control is not very strong, and you areso verytasty.”

Vita gulped in a breath as he kissed her on the cheek, then was gone.

She was still for a few moments, mind whirling with all that had happened, before rushing to her room. She willed herself to calm as she slammed the door shut behind her.

So close he had been, so close to kissing her, to ravaging her, to biting her. A thought that should be frightening and instead was erotic, stimulating. Vita wondered what it would feel like if he sunk his fangs into her neck, drank from her, fed from her.

She rushed to get in her bed, not even bothering to slip out of her day clothes before sliding her hand under her dress.

Vita leaned her head back, the brush of fingertips against her entrance already sending her spiraling. One finger in, then two, as she imagined Renatus enveloping her with his presence, his fangs in her neck as he fucked her without relenting.

Oh, to be punished by the High Consul, to be at his mercy, under his control. It was an intoxicating thought, and she could see why some might wish to become thralls. She let his name escape her lips, first as a whimper, then as a cry, the arousal building quickly until she tumbled over the edge without warning.

She cried his name in earnest, rocking against herself as she imagined Renatus thrusting into her, fucking her, making her his.

Slowly, she came back to the room, removing her fingers with a deep sigh. It had been some time since she’d been with a man, some time since she’d felt a climax that powerful. Even as she came downfrom her high, relaxing in post-orgasm bliss, her mind still focused on Renatus.

Wrapping her in his icy embrace, slender fingers brushing through her hair as he whispered in her ear. Telling her what a good girl she had been, how well she’d pleasured him, how much he adored her.

Vita scoffed at her own silliness, though she couldn’t deny that the thoughts made her chest clench. She was just a plaything to him, he’d said as much, and she had to remember that. The depth of his gaze, the smirk, and the gentle touches meant nothing more than lust.

And perhaps that would have to be fine.

It wasn’t what she wanted, not truly, but it was impossible to deny the way her body reacted to him, craved him. His tongue on her palm had been enough for her to go mad with need.

No, deep down, she desired more, but this wouldn’t be the first time she’d acted on her carnal desires. If he wanted a plaything, perhaps she could be that, see what happened when he took her to his bed.

Vita only hoped reality would be as pleasurable as her imagination.

CHAPTER 19

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