Page 69 of Cursed Shadows 2

The homes up here remind me somewhat of the rowhousesin Royal City—but they aren’t attached, they aren’t so closely pushed together, and they don’t all match in shape and size and colour.

These are terraced homes, and the one that we’re headed towards is—I think—the prettiest on the street. Whatever material it’s crafted from, I don’t know, but it looks like crushed stardust and midnight packed into a seven-levelled home with a lush front garden of gleaming blue leaves and bushes.

I don’t get long to admire it, though. Not before Rune carries Aleana up the porch steps, and Daxeel guides me through the creaky metal gate after them.

I note the plague on the gate, the cursive gold-painted words, ‘HEMLOCK HOUSE’. So it’sthatsort of street, rich enough for the homes to have names.

Ahead, Rune carries Aleana through the door.

Aleana’s strength was exhausted some streets back and Rune picked her up into his arms. Her sleep is so deep that she might seem dead if it weren’t for the constant song of her snores.

They disappear into the darkness beyond the lacquered blue door.

Before I can step over the threshold, Daxeel’s hand abandons the small of my back, and he’s snatching my wrist. He drags me inside, my boots scuffing to keep up.

On its own, the door gently shuts—and locks.

I throw it a bewildered look before I’m being led up the staircase tucked against the wall. The darkness in here is whole; complete. I see nothing at all, not now that the door is closed. I only feel the steps I almost trip over and the firm grip on my wrist.

Daxeel’s command is soft in the darkness swallowing me whole, “Stop.”

I do.

I think we’ve reached the landing when he snatches me up against him and throws me over his shoulder. Impatient, or I’m making too much noise in the quiet home tackling the stairs in the dark.

Either way, I dangle, limp, as his bootsteps thump on carpet, and I know we’re climbing more steps.

He takes me to the fourth floor. And I have the striking thought, one that stiffens me and steals my breath in my throat.

Comlar…

I’m not in Comlar. I’m alone with Daxeel for the first time since I arrived, and not within the confines of Eamon’s bargain. In Kithe, Daxeel can kill me.

Panic hits my chest like a canon.

A strangled sound is all I manage as he carries me down a dim corridor, then pushes down a door handle—and he’s taking me into a blue room.

His eyes, his eyes, his eyes.

The glowjars illuminate the bedroom and I gaze at the ocean hues of the painted walls.

Then my view is stolen and a squeal catches in my throat.

Daxeel flips me off his shoulder.

I grunt as I land on a thick, plush bed. The softness of the mattress sends me up with a light bounce, and before my back can settle down on the rich blue furs, Daxeel has already yanked his sweater over his head and kicked off his boots.

I don’t get more than a heartbeat to right myself before he’s moving over me. His knee presses into the mattress, dipping it as he grabs the skirt of my dress. One hard yank, and I’m tugged down towards him, my legs spreading over his thighs.

No patience in the way he pulls the dress over my head and tosses it away. Before it even lands on the floorboards, he has one hand shoving against my middle to pin me in place, the other reaching down between my spread legs—and with his blue eyes burning through the darkness, piercing into my stunned gaze, he yanks my lingerie to the side.

It's a rough gesture, enough to force a wince through me, but it doesn’t bring so much as a bite of pain. It just tenses me, and I’m rigid beneath him—pinned by his smouldering gaze, the primal movements of his muscles beneath his skin.

Daxeel spares no time on foreplay. He doesn’t finger or tongue me to climax before taking pleasure in me. He doesn’thave to, I’m ready for him, slick against the head of his cock that he pushes against me.

And I don’t utter a single word under his fierce stare. Almost as though I fear any word I speak might shatter this urge in him, might steal him back to the reality of what he means to do.

Forge the bond.

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