Page 130 of Envious Of Fire
Then comes the tide of impatience.
Building as the kissing deepens, as the shark cuts through the water, rushing toward its victim, faster, faster.
Then the bite.
Kaleb suppresses a groan. It hurts worse the second time,biting in the same place. Blood filling his mouth—blood that Markadian eagerly laps up, drinking and kissing, kissing and lapping and drinking. It’s a frenzy of hunger and sexual desire.
When Kaleb braces for the third round, he wonders if he’s ever eaten anything that felt both like food and sex together.
Is that what this is like for Lord Markadian?
To somehow fetishize eating? To create sexual pleasure out of a meal? Can Kaleb possibly compare this to anything he can relate to? Maybe if he does, this won’t be so uncomfortable. He can understand Markadian’s needs. Satisfy him better.
Maybe even come to enjoy the pain. And pleasure.
It’s after the fourth kiss that Markadian stops, licks off his lips and teeth, and pulls his face back. “Would you like to stay here in my private bedroom with me today?”
Kaleb stares back at him, surprised by the question.
To be honest, he looked forward to returning to his cool, calm room at daybreak to relax before his big show tonight at the banquet. He could cuddle up with his book, too, the last chapter of which left him hanging. Maybe he’d also get a long-overdue visit from Raya, if she was awake.
He didn’t expect to stay here all day.
After already having stayed here all night, testing his sexual endurance and stamina.
And what will he do all day in here? Continue the torment? The biting? The endless, perpetual sexual edging?
Would Kaleb ever know rest again?
“Oh, my dear brother …”
Markadian rolls his eyes at the sound of Ashara’s voice. “I do seem to recall posting Miss May at guard outside …”
“Ever since the night before, yes, you have.”
“And?”
Ashara’s heels click along the floor as she saunters inside. “I have been waiting patiently to discuss a pressing matter withyou—one you will want to hear before tonight’s engagement.”
Lord Markadian slides off of Kaleb and rises gracefully to his feet, standing by the bed. Kaleb quickly adjusts, sitting up and covering his privates with the bed sheets. Ashara is in a slim green gown, her lips colored a matching green as well. Strange, how she doesn’t once look at Kaleb, only at her brother.
There is tension in her face. Her eyes, glassy with emotion, a hardness Kaleb hasn’t seen before.
Kaleb notices.
“I’m all ears,” says Markadian with an impatient spread of his hands, his cheeks and lips still dotted with blood, some of it dried, some of it fresh. How long had they been kissing?
Ashara lifts her eyebrows, then begins to tell him.
In a different language.
Kaleb at once is confused—and mesmerized. Markadian’s eyes remain focused on his sister, appearing to understand each and every word. She speaks at length. She only looks at him.
Slowly, something loosens in Markadian’s face.
His jaw relaxes, lips part.
Eyebrows lift, as if cast into space, free of gravity, floating.
