Page 36 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

My new husband. My beast.

“Do you know why we wear white?” he asked quietly. I shook my head; I knew that Veladari wore red to dissuade vampires. It was nothing but an old tradition now.

He reached out, running a single finger over the silk bodice on my stomach, a space no wider than a sheet of paper between our skin. I held my breath, alarmed at that touch. “So that when the bride is bitten, it is the first blood that marks the dress. The redder the silk, the more passion in the couple. That is where your tradition comes from, actually. Not because the color is unlucky to us—but because a fully red dress means the bride is likely dead.”

I felt the blood rush from my face, my cheeks growing white. I had to grip one of the bedposts to steady myself against the rush of dizziness.

“I would never do that to you.” His hand rose, until a finger laid on the silk over my heart. “But I will admit I had desired to see your first blood on this. This spidersilk… it holds the blood, as red and fresh as the moment it was spilled.”

I took several deep breaths, trying to maintain clarity and calm.

When he said he wouldn’t drink me dry, I believed him. I had to hold onto that.

He was mine now, my body vowed to him and him alone.

All of the Rift depended on this marriage. The stability of our country was reliant on me.

I steeled myself, heart fluttering behind my ribs, examining Bane from head to toe. Horrifying, monstrous, and yet he waited patiently, an unreadable emotion in his eyes.

Maybe he was as nervous as I was.

I took a step closer, my knees brushing his, and reached out to touch his shoulders. He didn’t move; those eyes went half-lidded, and he turned his face aside.

Fear? Disgust? But he had touched me delicately, and professed a desire to see my blood… to taste it.

I swallowed the taste of my fear, and climbed into his lap before I could second-guess myself.

Bane started, gazing at me with wide eyes, hands hovering as I settled myself on him, the silk of my dress pooling around my legs.

It was the closest I had ever been to him. I studied him, his face inches away; far more bat-like than it had been in the Cathedral. His leaf-like nostrils widened as he breathed me in, the ridges of his cheekbones even more pronounced into almost thorn-like flares.

I could smell him again, that smoky wood scent, mouthwatering despite his appearance.

What did you do, to make this so much more monstrous?I asked.How much further can you go?

He shook his head helplessly, and I took his hand, curling his fingers in.

Don’t try to speak to me now. Let me prepare myself. I can do this. Ihaveto do this.

Up close, there were flecks of silver and black in the gold expanse of his pupils. There was something beautiful in that; like ash spilled across a sheet of gold.

His skin, an ashy gray in the sun, now seemed more of a charcoal hue by candlelight.

Bane was beastly. There was no way to get past that. But there was a soul inside him.

I swallowed hard, picturing what was to come.

His fangs, not entirely concealed by his lips, glinted. This close, they seemed far sharper than Wyn’s needles.

Warm hands settled tentatively on my hips. He was still as a statue, his muscles taut and quivering, as though holding himself back.

Have you been with a woman since you became a fiend? Or is this as unsettling to you as it is to me?I stared into his eyes as I spoke, wishing I could tell him how nervous I was.

I was not a virgin, but… it had been a long time. And even if he weren’t a fiend, he was still massive, enough to make me afraid.

I exhaled, closing my eyes. I wished I had my journal, so we could speak before we were put to each other like mares and stallions. But I had to try, at least.

When I opened my eyes again, his gaze was on my throat. On the pulse pounding beneath the skin, and as my heart started racing once more, I felt him shift under me.

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