Page 64 of Of Blooming Embers
I gulped, willing the recollection away.
“You were grieving. Seeking comfort isn’t a failure.”
I humphed, disgust simmering in my gut. “Once I had my rune and senses back, hergiftsdidn’t work on me anymore. Who knows how often she tried to use her ember on me before then, but it never worked because”—a searing pain sliced through my chest, and I winced—“Well, I wasn’t interested in bedding her, andshe couldn’t break into my mind. So, she devised ways to control me. Unfortunately, my weakness was my brother. Andyou.”
Seryn shifted against me, but her hand didn’t leave the spot over my heart. A soothing warmth spread from the places our bodies met.
“Every turn, she threatened to harm you and Kaden. To erase your minds. To torture and break you if I didn’t hunt down potential Scions. I did my best to delay or feign a failed mission, but that only infuriated her more.” My pulse ticked in my clenched teeth. I stretched my jaw in a circle to loosen its hinges.
“She had Balor tie me down with his aura and demanded I watch as she fucked random citizens, or tortured them in unspeakable ways,or both. If I struggled or refused …” My memories dribbled over my words like sticky blood. I went inside myself, not sure if I continued to speak the words aloud to Seryn …
I sat on her silken settee, Balor’s greasy ember strapping me to my seat, his pungent, hot breath heaving against my ear. He enjoyed watching. Excited and straining his soft body at the back of the divan.
Melina wrapped her naked body in a black satin robe, her latest victim wrapped in a sheet at the foot of the bed. I slammed my eyelids closed, trying to erase the scene I’d just witnessed. “Now, Commander. You know how I loathe it when you don’t pay attention. Eyes on me, so you remember that it could be your attractive brother in my bed. Or that sweet, doe-eyed girl you’re so fond of.”
My teeth were going to crush within my mouth. I snapped my eyes open, boiling revulsion flashing over them as I glared at her.
She laughed, tapping her fingers along her chin and spinning to the dazed male. She’d stolen his memories as she came.
“Now, now. Balor, what shall we do with this one?”
I heard the wet lick of his tongue against his lips. “Mistress, why not the skin peeler?”
She clapped her hands in delight, trotting over to her vanity and plucking out a long, thin blade. “Balor, always such a good pet.” She winked at me before strutting toward the man. “Eyes on me, Gavie. Although it was fun to fuck you. It’s more fun to make you watch.”
The echoes of her victim’s screams bounced through my skull as I came back to the present.
“Then she’d wipe her abuses clean from their minds afterward. Send them to her healer Akridais. I …”
Shallow breaths spilled from me, and I clamped my eyes shut and squeezed Seryn closer. “I couldn’t stop her. Couldn’t break free. After a while, it was easier to go into this … into this hidden space within my mind until it was over. It was better to do as she wished and hunt for whoever she demanded. As long as it wasn’t my brother. As long as it wasn’t you.”
Seryn’s sob rent the air, and her arm coiled around me tightly. “I’m so sorry. I … She’s going to pay. I swear it.” She breathed my name, her hand moved to my chest once more as if checking my heart still beat under the weight of my admissions.
“She tortured them. The hunted. The potential Scions. I don’t know what she did with them after, but I … I can only hope they were offered the solace of death.” My words sank into my gut, disgust carving deeply. And I deserved it.
I brought her hand to my face, brushing my mouth over her fingertips and closing my eyes, urging the resurfaced nightmares back into the darkness.
Seryn’s touch slid over my cheek, my grip slipping down her wrist. Gently, she pressed her palm into my skin until I looked at her. Her thumb swept across the hollow above my jawline, and a tingling followed its path.
“I swear it.” Her whispered promise stamped into my ribs. My hold tightened, and I pulled her close until our chests met. I cupped her nape, guiding her lips to mine.
My need for her prickled over me. But it was more than desire. She was my safe passage. The one I’d always felt whole with just from being in her presence. I didn’t deserve her, but I’d spend every damned second making up for that if she’d let me.
She was still wary. The memory of our first attempt at a relationship was a tender bruise upon her heart. It was in the slight hesitations when she looked at me, even though she wanted to embrace what was happening between us. There was so much left to tell her, but I couldn’t yet.
Guilt mixed with my growing lust, but I pushed it deep into the shadowed cracks within me. There were some things she needed to unearth on her own. Things I couldn’t reveal, no matter how much I yearned to.
Later.
I kissed her hard, our tongues and mouths dancing, devouring one another. She draped a leg over mine, eager to get closer.
Wearing my tunic, her honey-like scent melded with mine and the musk of our coupling earlier in the night. My cock hardened, and a rumbling groan sounded under my collarbone.
Sneaking under her clothing, my hand cupped her bare, round ass, my fingertips pressing into the softness, pulling her tightly against me.
Heat blazed down my spine as her cunt ground against me. Her soft moan vibrated through our mouths. I grabbed her by the hips and tugged her onto my lap.
She smiled as she sat up, slowly untying my breeches. My hard cock sprang free, standing firmly at attention between us. Before she could take me in hand, I bent forward, reaching behind me to wrench my tunic over my head, discarding it on the floor.
