Page 46 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

It felt like an eternity before she finally lifted her mouth from the Fae’s arm, brushing her thumb along the corner of her lips. Red shimmered on the pad of her thumb, and she made him watch while her tongue darted out and licked it away. Tears stung the back of his eyes as his last hope of relief was led away.

Bree’s hand slid up his throat and under his chin, tilting his head back. With him on his knees and her in her heels, his head was level with her stomach, and she stroked a hand through his hair.

“The Fates can be so cruel, can’t they, Axel darling?” she murmured with faux sympathy. “You only need to say the words, and I will call her back.”

But he found himself saying, “She’s not mine.”

Bree’s head tilted, and she studied him for a long moment, an expression he couldn’t read on her face. Then a small smile tilted on her lips. Her hand slid to his jaw now, her thumb sweeping along his cheekbone. “I know exactly what you need, darling. Just tell me her name, and I will find her for you.”

“I don’t know it,” he answered.

Because it was always there, on the tip of his tongue but just out of reach.

Her thumb and forefinger gripped his chin, keeping his eyes on hers. “Tell me of her then,” she coaxed.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind, and her grip tightened, nails digging in sharp enough to make him wince. But it also let him focus.

“Black curls and warm skin. Golden eyes,” he murmured.

“What else?” she pushed.

“She’ll taste like fire and desire,” he said, and gods, she would. Fiery and hot and his.

His to have.

His to take.

Bree released his chin, and he sat back on his heels, feeling as if he’d just run ten miles. His heart was racing, and his breaths were coming too quickly.

“I will find her for you,” Bree said in a soothing voice.

He looked up at her again, hope blooming in his chest. “You will?”

She nodded, her smile growing.

“And until then?” he asked, already dreading going back to that pitch-black room to waste away.

“I won’t put you back in the dark, Axel darling,” she replied. “I will give you everything you need. All I ask is that you repay the favor when I have.”

10

TESSA

She slipped from the bed without so much as a word or a backwards glance. She knew he was awake. He always woke before her and was usually up and busying himself around the room by the time she woke. But not this morning. He was still there, letting her curl into his side, and gods, she’dslept. A deep sleep with no dreams or visions. He had stayed in that bed for her, and she didn’t want to think about why.

Or about how her stomach did unacceptable things if she thought about it for too long.

But she needed to get up and get back to her own room before Oralia showed up like she did every morning.

With a steadying breath, she summoned a portal and stepped through. Her chest tightened at the fact that he didn’t even try to stop her, but she’d say that was the bond.

Because she didn’t care.

Dropping the nightclothes to her floor, she pulled the band from her hair and ran a hand through it. She felt more centered. Less chaotic. More balanced.

She supposed a full night’s rest would do that for a person.

She’d taken a whole two steps towards her bathroom when a voice made her jump and sent her heart to her throat.

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