Page 73 of The Serpent's Bride
“It won’t scar. They never do.”
“I wasn’t worried.” Throwing on a black silk robe that reached her mid-thighs, she headed back toward the bed. “It’d be too late to do anything about it, anyway. And it’s not like I’m going to be alive much longer.”
“Fair point.” He reached a hand out to her, beckoning her closer.
Intrigued, she walked up to him and slipped her hand into his. He pulled aside the covers, revealing that he was wearing black silk boxers. Damn. She was rather curious to see what had been the weapon of assault from the night prior. He drew her into the bed with him, guiding her to lie down on top of him with her propped up on her elbows before pulling the sheets back over them both.
It was shockingly intimate.
She didn’t quite know what to make of that.
And it was clear her confusion was plastered all over her face by the smile that appeared on his. “Hm.” His fingers traced over her cheek. “I act the monster, threaten to kill you, and stage a mass murder, and it’s business as usual. I show a little affection, and you act as if I’ve grown a second head.”
“Actually? Yes. One is unexpected. The other isn’t.”
He chuckled. “Another fair point.”
He was warm beneath her—fromherblood, she reminded herself—and his startlingly pale skin was smooth, feeling like velvet over stone. He wasbuilt.Broad, but not overly so. His body wasn’tbulky. No, he was efficiently muscular. Much like his namesake, the Serpent. Powerful. Deadly. But streamlined.
Moons, it…feltgood.It made her want to touch him. Explore him. To roam her hands all over his body, to feel what it was like when those muscles moved and flexed. To grab hold of the thing between his legs and really give it a proper road test onherterms. She wondered if he’d let her get away with that.
Raziel was known for liking one thing and one thing only behind closed doors, and it certainly wasn’t fairness.
He wrapped an arm around her as his other hand still gently caressed her cheek. “My family is coming over for dinner in a few hours.”
“Oh, great.” She dropped her head onto his chest. “More of your mother’s attitude.”
“You murdered Luciento in cold blood. I believe that may earn you points with her. It might even get her to change her mind about the sacrifice, who knows.” He stroked her back gently. “My siblings will be quite impressed.”
In cold blood.Nadi didn’t need the reminder. The look in the fae patriarch’s eyes would haunt her until the day she died. She lay down on Raziel’s chest, resting her cheek on his bare skin. He had a heartbeat—which vampires didn’t usually have. It must be because he had recently fed.
“I can’t avoid it by saying I feel like shit, can I? You did nearly kill me.” Now she was whining. She didn’t care.
“No, but it will excuse you early. So it will make it a brief affair. And it’ll keep my fangs from your neck and my hands from wandering until you tell me you’ve mended.” Raziel kissed the top of her head.
It was another…tender gesture.
He was holding her like shematteredto him. Or like hewantedher there. It made her want to break the moment. Picking her head back up, she pushed herself to her elbows and looked down at him. “These rumors about you and your ‘guests.’ Can I ask questions now?”
“Mm?” He thought about it for a moment. “I suppose you’ve earned it. Very well. Go ahead. I will answer your questions.”
“Whips, chains, straps, all that—how much of that is true?”
“Enough to have earned the reputation, but likely the moreinventivethings you’ve heard are fabrications.” He smirked. “No one has ever been flayed alive. I save the true horrors for my enemies.”
She let out a breath. “And what if I wanted to…” She paused, trailing off.
A slow smile formed on his face. “You wanted to, what?”
“What if I wanted to be the one in control?”
He sat up, forcing her to do the same. She was straddling his thighs, sitting on them as he smiled down at her. Even like this, he was still taller than her. She expected him to laugh. She expected him to scoff at the idea—to call her an idiot, a fool, to maybe be moved to anger or furyat the notion of someone like her having the gall to even suggest such a thing.
But instead, she saw only the strangest kind ofexcitement.As though what she had just said was enticing to him.
Slowly, he slipped his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her in close, lowering his lips toward hers as if to kiss her. He stopped, a hair’s breadth away. His words sounded like thunder on the horizon, a whisper of a storm. “I wouldloveto see you try…”
A threat and an invitation.
