Page 17 of The Serpent's Bride
His smile was thin and wry. “Astute. It isn’t.”
Nadi expected him to say something foreboding, trying to intimidate her with “It’s blood” or something of the like.
Instead, he held the glass out to her. “Try some.”
Blinking, she took the glass from him and sniffed it. The metallic smell of the blood mixed with wine made her want to turn her head away. But Raziel was watching her with those red eyes of his, and she knew it was a test.
She felt like she was in one of those human medical auditoriums being dissected by a team of doctors. For a split second, she wondered if he could see through her glamor, she felt so exposed.
No wonder people were so afraid of him.
She had to force herself to move. After a beat, she took a sip of the substance. It was vile. It wasn’t the first time she’d tasted blood. But it was certainly the first time she’d drunk it with red wine. She wrinkled her nose and handed the glass back to him. “Going to be honest, it’s not my favorite thing in the world.”
That seemed to impress him, if even just a little bit. He chuckled as he took the glass from her and took his own sip from it. “It is…an acquired taste.”
Silence stretched between them as she munched contentedly on the bread and occasionally sipped her own, non-bloody wine. It was his turn to move the next piece on the board.
When he pushed up from his chair, it took every ounce of her willpower not to tense up. Monica might be a little jumpy, but she wouldn’t be afraid to turn her back on him like Nadi was.
Which seemed to be exactly where Raziel was headed. He strolled behind her before trailing his fingers over her shoulder.
Goosebumps flooded over her in a wave. She shivered at the unexpected touch. His skin was unnaturally warm from the bloodwine. Behind her, he let out a pleased hum at her reaction.
He’s mistaking it for attraction.Nadi gritted her teeth. He’d just caught her by surprise, that was all. He trailed his fingers over her shoulder, and she turned her head to watch him. “Have you ever had lovers before?”
He lifted his hand from her shoulder briefly to turn her head forward again. He didn’t want her to see what he was doing. Or going to do. Her stomach twisted into a knot, but she obeyed.
She wanted to grab the knife from her plate. She wanted to drive it into the artery in his crotch. She wanted to watch him bleed out, screaming. “Are you asking me if I should be wearing white at our wedding?”
“I do not like being asked a question in exchange for a question…” His tone dropped to a low, quiet rumble, like a storm on the horizon. “So, simply answer mine, would you?”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she took a moment. It was a threat, plain as day. She wondered if Monica would see it for what it was, but she supposed she would want to make her new fiancé happy, so that didn’t really matter. And she didn’t sense any vampiric magic in the statement. Not yet. “I…once or twice. Only the one guy.”
“Good.” He traced his fingers over the tendon of her throat, just the tips of his nails. It made her shiver again. No one had ever touched her like that. “I despise the inexperienced.”
“O-oh.”
He leaned in closer, one hand on the table beside her, caging her in. His other hand wandered up her throat and to her hair before pulling the two pins out, undoing the bun. Her hair fell down around her face and shoulders. “Your hair stays down from now on.”
There it was. There was the Raziel she had been expecting. The one she’d heard of in the stories and rumors. It was acommand.There was no room for argument. She felt the power in it. Like a warm blanket, surrounding her soul. If she had beenhuman, or, by the void, if she hadn’t been paying attention, his words would have been tattooedinto her very being.
Without even making eye contact. Without even making a gesture—with only the power of his voice—he hadcommandedher to wear her hair down for the rest of her life. She had heard all the stories of people who had torn out their own eyes, had eaten their own fingers, all because he had politely asked them to.
When she didn’t answer, the point of her dangerously sharp hairpin was suddenly against her throat. She tilted her head back away from it until it touched his shoulder. His lips were close to her ear, his hot breath pooling against her skin.
Heat pooled somewhere else in her, sudden and unexpected.
“I love the ones that look so sweet, so innocent, sosimple,yet have such resilient minds.” He chuckled, nuzzling close into her hair. His voice was a quiet rumble, and it sent a shudder through her that made her head spin.
The clash between that and the point of the pin against her throat made every nerve in her body feel electric. Like lightning.
Gods.
Shewantedhim.
She felt herself leaning back against him, seeking more of him, her eyes slipping shut. It was wrong. This was wrong. He waswrong.But it was unlike anything she’d ever felt in her life. And it had absolutely nothing to do with his failed attempt to hypnotize her.
“You cannot fight me.”
