Page 217 of Red Ruin

It makes me want to believe that his obsession is more than just a passing wind.

I love the texture of his horn—diamond hard but velvet smooth. Its ridges tease my fingers. When I stroke to the base, silky pieces of dark, raspberry hair brush my skin like fur.

“We’d be fucked without your fire,” I admit softly, letting myself indulge in a few deep strokes with fingers and silks. Not just any power can destroy a lich’s soul and soul-vessels. Hellfire is one of the few that can. “I need you to ash anything that moves. Try to stop the lich’s soul from hopping hosts.”

Vhex tongues his fang. His eyes do that lava-lamp swirl, half red, half pink, burning so intensely that my lips dry out.

He rubs his horn deeper into my palm and purrs. “I’ll melt you first.”

Someone gags.

I turn just as Tan covers the sound with a cough. “Sorry. It’s dusty down here.”

Taking back my fingers, I move both hands to my glaive where they won’t get me into more trouble.

Stop fucking needy monster men in caves.

That’s the behavior that got us into this situation.

Simms plucks the back of Tan’s coat, dragging the Guide protectively into his arms.

“Mobs can be crushed,” Simms offers, “but what the fuck are we doing about the king lich?”

I glance at Remy. “Do you remember how Azrid Supreme tricked the lich into those chains?”

A shadow tendril curled around my arm shakes its tip back and forth to saynope, nada.

“If I ever knew, the memories are fractured,” Remy continues. “But given the powdered dragon bone and the strength of the arrays still holding on below, the royal family would’ve played a role.”

The information isn’t super helpful, but at least his short-term memory is holding.

If Remy stays lucid and I can keep Vhex on his leash, we may have more chance of winning than I thought.

“Don’t destroy any working arrays,” I say with a pointed glance at Vhex. “We’ll gather any enchanted chains that survived and aim to keep the king bound. Hellfire can burn its body, but we don’t want to force out its soul.”

That’s the danger with a lich.

It’ll keep soul-jumping.

My warning glance swings to Remy. “The lich wanted your body before it went after Kevan’s. Don’t leave my side in case it tries to take you again.”

I reach for his hand.

His skin is pale, almost translucent, with dark blue veins peeking through instead of the pure black of his vampire transformation. I expect his touch to be cool, but our temperatures match.

There’s no sense of separation when Remy curls our fingers.

It’s like we’re part of the same whole.

“I wouldn’t dare,” he murmurs.

I’m still gripping my glaive. Since Vhex can’t grab my hand, he takes my whole arm.

“You can’t send me away.” Vhex bites into my shoulder.

I jerk against his teeth.

His fang presses deep, just shy of breaking of skin.

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