Page 53 of Untethering Dark

“I didn’t know you were bewitchable.”

Stars, help him. He was.

That the witch held this much power over him was terrifying.

But there was more to her than the ruthless cunning he adored. He would never forget the kindness she showed him at his most vulnerable, when he quivered in her arms, haunted by the past. Instead of using his weakness to her advantage, she soothed.

Time and past mistakes had taught him how to sniff out false charm and scheming from a mile away. But his instincts weren’t infallible. The greatest hurts and betrayals were always the ones he never saw coming. And yet, shutting out the world, locking himself inside his head, hadn’t kept him safe either. Isolation never did anything other than loosen his grip on reality.

It was a lonely life. A half life.

The reward of being right about Astrid was worth the risk of being wrong.

Even if it destroyed him in the end.

Cradling her hand in his was an exercise in restraint, when all he wanted to do was hold on tight and never let go. All those delicate little bones beneath the skin were too easy to pop and crush, no matter how well accustomed they were to hard work. When the witch became a hag, the strength of her body would match her spirit, and he so looked forward to that day.

It also meant she’d be a greater threat to him, if she chose to be, but like called to like.

“I’ve lived long stretches of time without the companionship of others,” he finally replied. “Until recently, I have not given much thought to loneliness. But I realize now that there was an emptiness lying beneath the anger and hunger. I don’t want that to be all I live for anymore.”

Astrid leaned forward until she was just a hand’s width away. There was a faint dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that he hadn’t noticed before, a microcosm of the constellations in the sky above. When he looked at her, he saw so much of the home he loved mirrored back.

“I want to get to know you, and the many millennia you’ve seen. If I can fill in any of that emptiness, be it with pastry or conversation or—” her cheeks reddened “—whatever you need, I’d be happy to do it.”

Desire curled around the base of his spine at the words she didn’t say out loud.Little witch. Little witch.“You’ve made quite an open-ended offer, and it’s made you blush. Are you hinting at something?”

“You’d like that if I was, wouldn’t you?”

“And if I did?”

She glanced down, blush deepening.

Tracing a claw lightly across the witch’s knee, Gudariks watched her shiver. She hadn’t meant to look, but he liked that she did. Nudity was neither here nor there for someone such as himself, who’d never worn a stitch of clothing in his life. It meant something to her though.

Feast your eyes to your heart’s content, my little witch.

“I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” Astrid said, carefully keeping her gaze from straying again. There was no hiding how his arousal stretched between them.

“I think I’d like to hear more about the thoughts you’ve had.”

Hesitation stilled her, that pause taken when trying to find the right words to say, but it lasted only a moment. A soft sort of determination settled over her features, her eyes searching his.

What was she looking for?

Before he could nudge for an answer, she cupped his face with both hands, the warmth of her fingers spanning cheekbone to furred jawline. Even the fleshless, nerveless parts of him weren’t completely without sensation. Though the touch was more of a whisper, a faint tingling pressure, he felt it when she pressed a lingering kiss to his bony cheek.

Surprised breath hitched in his chest. So, this was what Perchta had unwittingly interrupted, this was what it felt like.No one had ever tried before, the agenda always much more direct.

He caught her wrists, gently, wanting to keep her and never let this kiss end. He wanted to pull her onto his lap, too, and slip a hand beneath her coat, but she was already pulling away. And he wouldn’t push for more. Not until she needed this, too. The denial would drive him wild before long, but oh, what an exquisite ache it was.

A little sigh escaped her lips, followed by a pleased, almost smug smile.

He found himself staring at them, wishing, wanting.

What he would give to have a pair of his own. To bring their mouths together and taste her. To spread open her thighs and sink his tongue into her wet heat. What would she yell when he brought her to the peak of pleasure? Would she call out his name? Cling to him and scream “Wald Vater”?

But as desperate as he was to know the answers to these questions, he could be patient. Everything would unfold in its proper time.

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