Page 29 of Midwinter Night's Prince

“If you want to survive this place? Open yours, demigod.”

Seth growled as his hand closed around her throat. The witch was downright infuriating. Why, oh, why hadn’t he just let her rot here? There was no question that if he had failed to follow her, Aphrodite wouldn’t have bothered with her. She would have been ripped apart by minor servants, like he had been so many years ago. Instead of thanking him, she was attempting to drive him to madness when this place had failed to.

He should end this. Cut her down where she stood to silence her and let him regain some peace. His fingers flexed as he stared into her defiant green eyes.

To his utter horror, Blair pushed to her feet and brought her lips to his.

16

HUNTER AND PREY

There were a fair few things Blair had imagined doing to Seth over their short acquaintance. Staking him through the heart, for example. There were only few ways to kill a vampire; piercing their heart was one of them. A sharp knife could do the job, but as a fan of classic vampire literature, Blair liked the romanticism of a good old stake. She’d seen herself creeping into an overly ornate bedroom with lush purple and gold furnishings, climbing onto his bed, and plunging a piece of wood right into his heart several times. But kissing him? Never. Could she plead insanity?

His touch certainly felt like madness. He ought to be cold; vampire skin generally ran colder than that of a human, and they were in the woods at night. At least Blair was dressed for hiking, with an insulated coat that had seen better days. Traveling by portal wasn’t good for the wardrobe. Seth wore a white shirt under a bordeaux velvet waistcoat and a black raincoat. Instead of being filthy like her cheap sport jacket, his clothes were pristine. He didn’t have so much as a hair out of place.

And he was warm. So very warm. Her freezing hands couldn’t get enough, traveling the length of his arm to settle on the back of his bare neck, intent on stealing all his fire.

His lips were another kind of lunacy. A crackling lance of electricity seem to run under his flesh, softly burning at her touch. He tasted like a sour candy. Painful and delicious.

Seth didn’t move—neither to push her away nor bring her closer. She hated him. She hated him so much she couldn’t think straight, and he was entirely indifferent to her.

Fuck that.

She grabbed the lapel of his coat and pulled him closer, running her tongue along his infuriating mouth, parting his lips to lick the sharpness of the fangs Seth never retracted. Iron flooded her tastebuds as her tongue cut upon the contact.

Seth moved so freaking fast she couldn’t see a thing. The next moment, her back hit the trunk of a tree.

The predator caged her in, his silver eyes burning with need.

“What the hell, Blair?” The words were labored.

She couldn’t remember another time he’d called her by her name, not witch, notstrega, just Blair. The novelty made her chuckle. Oh, she’d ruffled his feathers, all right. The cool, collected Seth Stormhale, bothered by a mere, mediocre witch.

She shrugged. “Whatever it takes to make you shut up for a minute.”

Seth bared his fangs, releasing a low growl in clear warning. “You don’t know what you’re playing with. You’re lucky you’re alive after this.”

At the back of her mind, Blair acknowledged the truth of his words. Seth was a young vampire. She didn’t quite remember his age, but she knew he wasn’t that much older than his sister Cat. He’d been turned a decade ago, at most. Newborn vampires didn’t have a great hold on their thirst for blood. Yet, she was certain—entirely sure—that she was in no danger from him.

“You don’t scare me, Stormhale. The only thing that scares me right now is your letting your pathetic daddy issues prevent you from doing what’s necessary for us to get out of here.”

Seth’s hand flew to her throat. “I will drain you if that’s what it takes for you to stop provoking me, witch.”

She was back to witch, apparently. Blair decided she didn’t like it. She grinned as she grabbed his coat at the neck for the second time, and pulled him down to her again.

This time, she expected the pain and the fire. She took all of it and sought out more, coaxing his mouth open, past his teeth.

“Fuck,” Seth grunted, letting go of her throat. His hand moved to her shoulder, trembling. Then it pushed against it, pinning her hard to the tree.

Seth was deliberately slow as his body pressed flush against her. The hand still at the side of her face moved to cup her chin, and he took control.

There was nothing tentative about the kiss now. It was demanding, demeaning, and utterly depraved. Seth was fucking her mouth, his tongue seeking hers, plunging in and out, deeper, slower, at his leisure. She was ashamed to hear herself moan.

Seth only let go of her chin to run his hand along her curves, settling on her hip for one moment before taking her thigh and pulling it around his waist. Blair lifted her second leg and crossed her ankles around him.Fuck, fuck, fuck.He was hard. So very hard. She felt it right at her core, and she wanted it—needed it—closer.

She tilted her hips to feel more of him when Seth’s mouth moved from her lips to the curve of her neck. An unexpected sharp pain made her scream when he plunged his fangs through her skin and sucked.

Blair trembled, confused and utterly pissed, yet incapable of moving, of talking, of doing anything except taking every bit of pleasure and suffering.

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