Page 130 of Red Ruin

We’re having such a pleasant dream.

I wouldn’t want to ruin this moment by becoming my true self.

The former Remington would slaughter the monster I’ve become.

“I can’t remember that far,” I answer honestly. “Only scattered events have started to return.”

“Doesn’t help.” Iris fumbles belligerently at my buttons. “At least help by taking this off. No one else is wearing shirts.”

Dear oh dear.

She’s an adorable drunk.

Next time, we’ll skip the venom, and I’ll feed her sips of cognac laced with my blood.

I shift across the bed, giving her access to any part of me she wants.

As Iris strips my hardware, I smother Trezzoran in shadows. I can’t disconnect their souls—yet—but reducing the contact between their bodies seems to clear her head.

Her fingers steady.

By the time my shirt is gone, she blinks at my bare chest, then looks down at the fabric rumpled in her hands. “What the hell?”

I hope I’m half as cute when I’m out of my mind.

I tease a shorn-off clump of her hair. “Let me clear your head with a bite.”

“It can’t be that easy.” She rubs her reddened throat.

My instincts read the innocent motion as a provocation, begging me to strike.

I suck in my lengthening fangs. My voice strains. “Easy? Imagine crawling into the Azrid crypts with that delicious pulse and your sapphire soul, asking the vampires to purify your blood. They’ddevouryou.”

“Why would I ask anyone else? I meant that it can’t be easy foryou. What’s the cost?” Leaning half-drunk and sleepy, she bumps my chest with her forehead. “There’s always a cost.”

Whether from the feather of her silks or the soft lashes beating against my skin, something warm crawls into my heart. “It’s nothing I’m not willing to pay.”

For you.

Whatever the effects, they’re cheap compared to the value of these lucid moments with her.

The onlyhumanmoments in the flashes of all my past lives.

“You can try,” she finally sighs. “Release Vhex first.”

“We’re having such fun on our own.”

“Alone?Yeah.” Iris tremble-laughs, skating her hand down her stomach. Her shoulders curl as she lands at her mound. “Just you, me, and this disembodied devil cock. Lose the privacy screen, Rem. I don’t trust either of you to bite me without a chaperone.”

Rem?

All right.

“Just for you.” I banish the shadows. Vhex’s body returns to the light along with the hamster-cage-and-sulfur reek of his skin.

“Take out his gag,” Iris insists.

“Very well.” I remove the rope from between his teeth and brace my ears.

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