Page 80 of Beneath the Cursed Veil

“Meera?” His rumbled tone pulled me from my fantasies. “How are you holding up?” He’d ended up a few feet in front of me, but doubledback when I didn’t move. I bit my lip hard, shaking my head. “I can’t . . .”What’s wrong with me?

“It’s the pixie dust,” he said quietly. I must have asked my question out loud.

My throat felt rough when I tried to swallow, like sandpaper rubbing together. “Never been on it. This is . . . something else.”

Vareck let out a strained chuckle, holding out his gloved hand for me. “Come on, we need to get to the inn. We’ll talk there.”

His fingers wrapped around mine. We weren’t even touching skin to skin, but it didn’t matter.

A fresh wave of heat pooled between my thighs.

I groaned, my knees buckling as I collapsed into the snow. The ice seared into me, bypassing the fabric of my pants, but I barely felt it. I just needed a moment—just one moment—to clear my head. But it wasn’t working. My thoughts spiraled, filled with images of Vareck—of us—of the things we had done in our dreams.

Lust throbbed in my veins, making me dizzy.

“Fuck.”

The word was both a whisper and a curse coming from his lips.

I forced myself to look up, eyes hazy, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. He knelt beside me, all traces of anger from earlier gone, replaced with a hunger that should have worried me. His gaze burned as it roved over me, his breath slow and controlled.

“How much further?” Vareck asked our guide, his voice strained. I whimpered at the cold pressing against my skin, my nipples peaking painfully beneath the fabric of my shirt and sweater. Everythingached. Everything burned.

“Three minutes, give or take.”

His chin dropped, head bowed for a suspended moment. “I need you to stand up, Meera.” His grip on my hand tightened, pulling me up on shaky legs. I swayed instantly. Vareck lunged, pulling me to his chest with an iron grip around my waist.

We were surrounded by winter, yet when his scent washed over me it was like the snowy landscape around us was a pale comparison.

A long, breathy moan escaped me. I melted into his touch, pressing tighter against him. I arched, my fingers hovering over my lips before biting down on my knuckle, desperate to curb the wicked thoughts tearing through my mind. But it wasn’t enough. I neededmore.My hand twitched, ready to slip beneath the band of my pants?—

“You have to walk.” The voice sliced through my haze, and my breath hitched. Vareck frowned and gently moved my hand from my face. A soft whine left my lips.

“How”—I swallowed again, trying to focus on the words—”How are you still . . .” Functioning? Not affected? I wasn’t sure how I planned to end that sentence, but he seemed to understand.

“I’ve been through the passage. You haven’t.” His voice was rough, but it sounded miles away.

I blinked up at him, my vision blurring at the edges.

I wanted him.

Oh, how I wanted him.

Right here. Rightnow.

I wanted him to shove me onto the ice, to claim me against the cold, to drag me up by my hair and?—

“We need to get out of the snow,” he said. I heard the words, but my feet didn’t move. They couldn’t.

I didn’t care.

“You had me so turned on back there,” I admitted,breath hitching as I trailed a hand down my own chest. I pinched one of my nipples, arching into my own touch.

“Gods be damned,” Vareck cursed. His heat pulled away. The pressure against my body was no longer there. “Siren, I’m barely holding on here. Ican’tcarry you. You have to walk.”

My body shook like a leaf in the wind, but it wasn’t from the cold, even if my fingers were numb.

A shadow loomed over me as Galpin stepped up beside us. “I can carry her. It’ll be faster?—”

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