Page 59 of Gua rdian of Blood and Shadow

Reiji hesitated, just long enough for doubt to flicker through me.

“Answer me,” I commanded through gritted teeth, the strength of mywillrising. “Tell me the truth, Reiji. Did. You. Know?”

“No,” he said. The word dragged from him like it had been hooked and pulled up his throat. “I suspected Veris wasn’t being entirely transparent, but—” He seemed genuinely shaken. “The Shadow King—no. I wouldn’t align with that.”

I was quiet for a long moment. “I need to break the curse,” I finally said. “Will you help me?”

Reiji’s calculating expression returned, but something had shifted beneath it. “If you bind me as a consort.”

I stepped back, gesturing to the antechamber around me. “Isn’t that why we’re in here? For you, Prince Reiji of the House of the Stars, to become the first elemental consort to a High Queen in centuries?” I said, meeting his gaze steadily. I swallowed the guilt I felt at choosing Reiji over Ren, who I actually felt a genuine connection with. “A place of honor and power. Exactly what you wanted.”

I stepped closer, moonlight pulsing from my skin, and peered up at him through my lashes. “But let me be perfectly clear—as my consort, you will serve me. Your blood will feed me. Your power will be my power. Not the other way around.” I held out my hand, palm up, like I was waiting for him to give me a gift. I supposed, in a sense, I was. “So, what do you say?”

Reiji glanced down at my hand, like he wasn’t quite sure why it was there. “What do I have to do?”

“Give me your wrist,” I said, wiggling my fingers. “The binding requires blood.” My heart beat faster, my nerves getting the better of me. “An exchange between queen and consort,” I clarified.

Reiji’s dark eyes studied me, calculation giving way to something more primal. “I understand.”

I glanced at Gavin, who gave me a nearly imperceptible nod. He trusted me to do what was necessary.

Reiji placed his hand in mine, and I turned it over, revealing the paler skin on the inside of his wrist. I pulled the hairpin knife from my bun and unsheathed it, quickly dragging it across Reiji’s wrist. He hissed as deep crimson welled in the wound, his blood almost seeming to glitter, like captured stars flowed through his veins along with the magic Eos had gifted his people.

I hesitated for only a moment before handing Gavin the knife and raising Reiji’s wrist to my lips. The first taste of his blood was unlike anything I’d experienced before—not the dark richness of my vampire consorts, nor the wild sweetness of Bastian. This was somehow cold despite the heat of his body, toasty and tangy and just a little sweet, like the finest champagne.

I moaned as his essence flowed into me, my eyelids fluttering shut.

“Dear goddess,” he hissed, the magic in my saliva doing its job, turning what had been a painful wound into something unexpectedly pleasurable. His other hand curled around the side of my neck, his thumb caressing my jaw line. “Sophie, please…”

I opened my eyes, locking gazes with him, and pulled away from his wrist. His thumb traced my lips, smearing his blood.

“That was…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what that was.”

I took a step back, and his hand fell away. “You heal quickly, yes?” I asked, licking my lips.

He nodded, holding his hand over his oozing wrist and clutching it to his chest.

“Good.” I held my hand out toward Gavin, and he placed the slim dagger on my palm. With a quick flick of the blade across my wrist, my own blood was freed.

Reiji’s eyes widened at the sight, a mixture of hunger and fear flickering across his features. I held out my dripping wrist, and he gripped my forearm on one side of the wound and my hand on the other, raising my wrist to his lips. I sucked in a breath at the sting of his tongue sweeping over the cut. But the moment he swallowed, threads of magic wove together between us, forming the foundation of our bond, and the sharp pain flipped to pulsing pleasure.

Power surged between us, moonlight meeting starlight in an ancient dance of cosmic forces. My vision blurred as ecstasy built within me, sharp and sudden, traveling from his mouth on my wrist to my core with breathtaking speed. I clutched his shoulder, barely registering the small sound that escaped my throat, somewhere between a gasp and a moan.

Reiji’s hands tightened, his body tensing as the same euphoria coursed through him. Through our rapidly strengthening bond, I felt his surprise, his wonder, his reluctant surrender to something larger than himself.

The pleasure crested suddenly, a white-hot explosion that radiated outward from my center to every extremity, and moonlight burst out of me, washing the room in silver. My knees weakened, and I might have ended up on the floor if not for Reiji’s steadying arm sliding around my waist. He held me close, our bodies flush, and I felt his hard length throbbing as, through the bond, I sensed his own release mirroring mine.

As the waves of pleasure subsided, leaving my skin hypersensitive and my breathing unsteady, I became aware of a new presence settling among the others in my consciousness.

I pulled my wrist away from his mouth, watching as Reiji traced his tongue over his lips, catching the last drops of my blood. His eyes had changed, starlight flaring in their depths, and he held his hand up, admiring the faint silver bonding sigil now marking his wrist with the phases of the moon.

“I had no idea,” he whispered. “The old texts spoke of the bond, but they never…” He trailed off, words failing him for perhaps the first time since I’d met him.

“Now you understand,” I said softly, steadying myself.

His expression shifted, the mask of ambition falling away completely for one unguarded moment, revealing something almost childlike in its wonder. Then, slowly, his composure returned, and he cleared his throat. “Veris will be waiting.”

I nodded, my mind clearing as the aftershocks of the binding faded.

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