Page 108 of Dark Souls

His scarlet gaze dragged up my body until it reached my eyes. My breath caught in my throat at the intensity of them. No. It was the intensity with which he looked at me. It made me both flustered under his attention and overwhelmed with pride all at the same time. Because even with no emotions, he still looked at me as if I’d painted the stars in the sky.

“You do help,” he husked, staring at me intensely. “When you’re around, I don’t feel the urge. You have this way about you, Ilaria. This power over me defies everything. You make mefeel.” He lifted his hand and ran his thumb across my bottom lip roughly. Of course, my lips parted dutifully at his touch. “It’s dangerous how you make mefeel. For centuries, I’ve been numb. And with you, I come alive. You are the fucking air that I breathe, Ilaria. Without you, my life is complete darkness. You’re my sick obsession, my eternal torment and my fucking cure all in one. I’m fucked up, love. I’ve tried so hard to push you away because I am so fucked up over you that I knew if we were bonded, if I believed even for a second that you could want me like this, there would be no way back for me. I don’t want to ruin your life but fuck, I’d probably try to kill us both if you ever tried to leave me now.”

I turned rapidly, straddling his hips and locking my arms around his neck as my hands delved into his hair, tugging through the strands. He groaned into my touch, closing his eyes as my heart battled to break through my skin at his confession. Was it entirely unhinged and toxic as fuck? Yeah. But maybe I was messed up too because it only made me crave him more.

“I guess I should move in then.” I smiled wickedly to show him just how much his intensity didn’t freak me out. His eyes opened with surprise before a cocky smirk played on his lips as he ran his hands up my thighs, playing with the hem of his shirt I was wearing.

‘Ha, he thinks we are joking.’Rue chuckled.

“As if this place is fit for a princess.”

“Why do you live here, then?” I teased. He snorted and shook his head. I lifted my gaze to take in the rustic kitchen with some cupboard doors missing. “I know it belonged to The Knowlton Coven. I’ve seen the portraits in the corridor. You didn’t just kill them all to take over their empire andThe Underground. You had another reason, right?”

He scoffed, dipping his head back against the counter again but still watching me with what looked an awful lot like pride swirling in those ruby eyes. It spurred me to keep going as if I was on to something.

“You don’t want power or money. You own four t-shirts for god’s sake, and I’m pretty sure you only own one pair of ripped jeans and leather trousers that you switch between daily. So I don’t even want to know about the underwear situation.”

“I don’t wear any.” He winked, flashing me one of those cocky grins. I rolled my eyes, not letting his charm deter me from rambling.

“My point is, you’re low maintenance. You have no food in the fridge. It’s like you only live on vodka and blood, and you clearly don’t take care of this place or even hire a cleaner.”

His eyes flashed with vengeful violence as I narrowed my own, trying to understand that reaction.

“Even if I had millions to spend, which I don’t, I would still let this place rot to the ground.”

“Then why live here? And you must be incredibly rich runningThe Underground! That place charges more to be a monthly member than most humans earn in their day jobs.”

His jaw clenched as he stared at me with frustration. Jesus, this was impossible. How was I supposed to find anything out about him when he couldn’t express himself freely? And then I remembered my plan I’d come here to achieve before I found him so close to death. My wide pink eyes brightened as I jumped up and sped back up to the bedroom to grab my rucksack before returning. I was so fast, he’d barely moved from his position on the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked when I started frantically rummaging through my bag for the truth serum I had Leif make for me earlier. Surely this had to work. A little noise of triumph escaped my lips when I found the little bottle and held it up in between us. He frowned, eyeing it suspiciously.

“What’s that?”

“A truth serum I had my brother make. Don’t worry, he did it with no questions asked. He’s good like that. But I thought it would help so you could talk about yourself.”

Luka’s whole body tensed before he shot up to his feet. “No.” He moved around the island to the other side, putting distance between us and ran his hand through his hair.

I glared at him, completely confused by his sudden hostility. Talk about bloody mood swings!

“No?”

“No,” he repeated firmly.

“Why not?” I charged forward, placing the potion on the kitchen counter, and he immediately stepped back as if it was a nuclear bomb. “For whatever reason, you can’t talk about yourself, so I just thought—”

“I want to take a fucking potion made by an Anderson?” he shouted, his eyes blazing and veins throbbing with rage. I felt a rush of protective anger spread like wildfire when I had to defend my brother.

“Made by my brother, yes. What’s wrong with that? I know you don’t trust anyone, but surely it means something if I trust him?”

His nostrils widened as he glared from the bottle to me. “I don’t touch magic. Especially not Anderson magic.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?“Luka, Leif, can be trusted. I promise you.” He folded his arms across his broad chest, momentarily distracting me with the flex of his pecs before I met his stubborn glare. “Well, do you have any better ideas?”

When he turned his head away in answer, I knew he didn’t. I growled with frustration and snatched the bottle up, twisting off the lid.

“What are you doing?” he hissed, stepping forward with alarm.

“Proving that this isn’t some conspiracy to harm you,” I answered. His hand snapped out to stop me, but I’d already taken a large gulp of the serum and slammed the bottle back down. He stared at me with disbelief as I pulled myself up onto the island and crossed my legs, facing him. “See? I’m not frothing at the mouth from poison or turning into an ogre. So go ahead. Ask me a question so I can prove to you that it is what I say it is.”

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