Page 180 of On Wings of Blood

“Let it begin,” the crowd murmured in unison.

The man surveyed them. “Will you worship her?”

The highbloods’ voices rose in a chilling chorus. “We will.”

My breath caught as I watched the young woman climb the steps to the throne. The closer she got to the man, the heavier the air seemed to become. Thick with mystery and dark tension.

My mind was swirling with confusion. What the hell was happening?

The woman reached the top of the steps and then, to my shock, climbed onto the man’s lap, straddling him without hesitation.

The scene felt wrong. Perverse. Yet the act was full of sensuality.

My thoughts were racing wildly, just as a hand clamped down over my mouth.

“Caught you,” Blake’s voice murmured into my ear.

CHAPTER 42 - BLAKE

I had her right where I wanted her.

“You didn’t actually think I didn’t know you were following me, did you?” I whispered against her ear.

I yanked her to her feet. I could feel her trembling.

“They’ll see us,” she whispered.

So, she was afraid. She was right to be. She had no business being here and if anyone else but me had found her, the votaries would have slaughtered her without a second thought, red hair of a rider or not. Of course, Viktor would have been furious. But it would have been too late. She had violated the Sanctum by coming here uninvited.

“No one is up on this level and no one down there is going to bother looking up.” But just in case, I blew out the nearby candles, throwing us both into shadow.

Once she felt slightly safer, she tried to pull away from me. “You bastard,” she hissed. “Let go of me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who followed me, Pendragon. No one made you come here. Did you really think vampire senses were so useless that I couldn’t hear you stomping along behind me?”

“You didn’t the last time,” she shot back.

The last time I’d been so desperate to get to a blood brothel and feed that I hadn’t taken my usual precautions. I’d dismissed my qualms about any noises I’d heard as my imagination. But nowthat I knew she knew where the passage out of Bloodwing was, I’d never make that mistake again.

But I decided to fuck with her.

“Maybe I wanted you to follow me. Maybe I didn’t care. Ever think of that? Maybe I liked it when you watched.”

She stiffened in my arms.

“Just like you seem to like watching right now.” I nuzzled my face against her cheek. “Can’t take your eyes off them, can you?”

“What are they doing?” she whispered back.

“Watch and see.”

Down below, the girl playing the Bloodmaiden sat upon the masked highblood’s lap, her white robe a stark contrast to his dark garments. Innocence waiting to be marred.

The silence in the courtyard seemed to thicken as the highblood raised his hands to the girl’s shoulders. Slowly, he began unfastening the clasps that held her robe in place.

The girl remained still, her eyes half-closed, her chest rising and falling in slow, deep breaths.

The man’s hands moved lower, tracing the length of the girl’s arm before moving down to the curve of her waist. There would be no rush tonight, only the gradual reveal of the woman beneath the white robe.

---