Page 154 of Blood Feast

“There are those beautiful fangs,” he said, breathless.

He listened to her rough groans of gratification. He was addicted to this most of all—knowing he was her addiction.

“I’ll take care of you,” he promised.

She panted on him, going still, and a furrow appeared between her brows. Her arms were trembling. He felt a ghost of pain in her joints.

“I’ve got you.” Rolling them over, he eased her onto her back. He adjusted their position until the flares of her pain in their Union faded.

When he bared his throat for her, she sank her fangs into him desperately. Goddess, he would give up everything again for this. Under the pads of his fingers, the delicate muscles in her jaw tightened as she locked onto him.

The more blood she downed, the more her body relaxed under him. He couldn’t hold back his need to thrust into her, hard and deep with every rush of his blood into her mouth. He let her suck his control away until all the built-up pleasure surged out of him.

He sank his fangs into her throat as he came apart. Tremors moved through the depths of her body again, an echo of ecstasy that only amplified his. Through the waves of his release pounding through him, he heard the lascivious sounds she made against his neck.

Oh, Goddess,she purred in his mind.Your climax…

When they collapsed together, well fed on pleasure, he kept drinking hard. He needed to cycle more of his fresh blood into her healing body. He needed more of her. As long as the taste of her was running through him, he could ignore everything else. She whimpered her agreement, licking her way to the other side of his neck to bite him again.

Some time later, he lifted his head to gaze down at her. There was no sign of her wound on her chest. He kissed her there, leaving the bloody mark of his lips over her heart.

She traced her fingers through his hair. “Are you still angry with me?”

“I will always be angry at things that endanger you. Even things you do. Are you still angry with me?”

She paused, then, “Your anger at yourself is enough for you to bear.”

25

Nights After

WINTER SOLSTICE

PEACE OFFERING

After Cassia and Lyroshad a few nights to heal, Lio took it upon himself to make a peace offering. He silently thanked Tuura for packing coffee as he set out a travel pot, geomagical warmer, and sack of beans on a table in the dining hall.

He ground the beans with a mortar and pestle borrowed from the Changing Queen. This would either be the most delicious coffee in sixteen hundred years, or drinking it would inflict anomalous arcane effects on them all.

Once the coffee was steeping, he waited. As he had hoped, the scent of Imperial Roast had the effect of a magical summons.

He sensed Cassia’s aura drifting out of their bedchamber. She padded into the hall in her veil hours robe with Knight at her side. “Is that coffee?”

Lio poured her a cup and gestured in invitation toward one of the chairs in front of the fire.

Knight stretched out on the warm hearth stones. Cassia took a chair and accepted the coffee from Lio, wrapping both her hands around the cup. For a moment, she just breathed the scent. Then she took a long sip. “Mmmm.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Revived.”

Lio sat down at her feet. He checked to make sure she had put on stockings, then leaned back against her legs.

She looked down at him over the rim of her cup. “I’m a Hesperine. I will not catch a chill if my feet get cold.”

“You’re healing, and you deserve comfort.”

Her eyes crinkled with affection, and she ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. He closed his eyes, enjoying her touch.

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