Page 102 of The Demon's Discovery
The hard work was already done, and she was truly becoming a marvel to watch when she worked. Her confidence had grown a hundred times over, and with some practice, she might even get the flame striker to cooperate soon.
“Hold still, Dragonfly,” I sighed, digging a ribbon out of my pocket and working her hair back into a braid. She’d worn some clips earlier, but they were long gone, and her curls kept dropping into her face as she looked between the book and her mixture. When I went to tie it off, I noticed that instead of ending right where her hairline ended on her neck, the tips extended a bit past. “It seems your hair is growing.”
She froze, carefully setting down her instruments before spinning to address me, her excitement palpable. “Do you really think so?”
“I do.” I couldn’t help my impulse to touch her. “The stone sleep perhaps? Magnus thought maybe that would help.”
“Maybe.” She tucked herself into my embrace instead of pulling away from it, her forehead brushing against my cheek as she rested her head on my shoulder.
“You really are the most wonderful height, Dragonfly.” I stroked my hand down the fresh braid. “You fit me perfectly in every single way.”
“Mm,” she hummed, and I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of her weight, her warmth against me. “I didn’t need the braid after all,” she said, pulling back but not letting go. “It’s done. Just needs to sit overnight in a west-facing window.”
“Why west-facing?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t explain why, only says to do it.”
“Alright. There are windows facing all directions in the observatory, not to mention it will get the moonlight from above. Perhaps we should take it up there? Stay a while?”
“That would be nice. We can lie under the stars.”
“Yes.” My pulse began to pound in my throat, every part of me on high alert when she dipped her lashes to look over her shoulder, elixir in hand. “I thought perhaps I’d take the other, as well.”
She blinked at me, a slow smile spreading across her mouth. “Only if you’re sure.”
I nodded. “I sent everyone else away for the night. I’m ready to be done with this curse, Little Dragonfly.” I grabbed up several of the blankets strewn across the back of the furniture before looping my arm around her shoulders. I let her lead me up and up, until we were bathed in starlight.
She chose the most appropriate window, then we made a suitable nest out of the plush cushions Rylan kept up there for the students to sit on while he gave astronomy lessons.
In our quiet little bubble, we kissed, touched. Our hands traveled and breaths exchanged as we wrapped ourselves in one another under the blankets.
At one point, with the moon bright above us, despite it still being little more than a sliver, she held up her hand, turning her opal this way and that so it would catch the light. The soft look on her face, the way she was enamored with the colors and her gentle sigh nearly had me undone. I could do nothing more than lie there, trying to remember how to breathe as she marveled at the little ring on her finger, breathing over a pinch in my chest like the last missing piece of my soul had finally snapped into place.
“We should know fairly quickly which direction you’ll go,” she said, the mood dampened as I pulled the flask of elixir down from the nearest table.
I stared at it, nodding slowly. The idea of her in danger, especially from me, made me nauseous. “If things go badly, you shift,” I said. “You hit the button to force the roof closed and you jump out a window. Whatever you have to do to get safe.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I did all those things. You could still get to me. But you wouldn’t hurt me, Vassago.” There it was again, the unfailing trust in me that I would never stop trying to earn. She’d been practicing every day, strengthening her will as much as her muscles. She straddled me, tilting her head off to one side. “Still, let’s hedge our bets.”
My cock throbbed despite the release she’d driven me to with her hands not long ago. “Greta.”
“Vassago.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“You don’t know that.”
I hesitated, fingertips stroking up and down the slender column of her neck, her breath rapid and pulse a visible beat in her throat. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I dove in, kissing her mouth, pulling her hard against me as I devoured her taste.
“Please,” she begged.
I growled, warring with myself. In the end, it was her soft expression, her hands on my face that had me tipping over the edge and plunging my fangs into her throat. The memories I was served were all of our interludes. I watched her receive pleasure, eyes closed and head thrown back both in real time and in the recent past.
I pulled away after several moments, panting just as much as she was, the sweet tang of her still on my lips. She uncorked the flask, and I drank it down, braced for the worst of myself to come forward, threaten her, remind us both that I was not who she believed me to be.
I felt the poisonous curse moved through me like a tangible, separate entity. It was dark and slimy as it slipped through my veins, failing to grip onto anything as it was pushed out. A sheen of sweat dotted my face as the cure worked on the curse, burning it out.
I fidgeted and swore. I got to my feet and paced, then roared as the prickles and stings of the potion started to drive me mad. My fangs descended, and I felt myself slipping away, the red haze taking control. “Go.Now.”
