Page 30 of Blackwarden
Heavy, uneven footsteps were both a blessing and a concern. If Keres was anything, it was graceful. I don’t think I’d ever heard him walking through the Gatehouse before. He was silent, perfectly attuned to his surroundings with his shadows doing the rest.
The door slowly swung in, and my breath caught fast in my throat. A rather haggard looking Dark Fae struggled to stand on the other side of that door. He was so much paler, which seemed impossible with how pale he usually was. His eyes were sunken and hollow. He looked half dead, and yet, he was still gorgeous. Aflash of frustration ran through me at how he could look so beautiful when he was in such terrible shape.
“I’m fine, Rosalin.” His voice was flat and empty. His eyes found mine and immediately slipped to my lips, a strange hunger growing in his expression as he tried to stand up straighter. “I’m sorry to have worried you.”
He apologized? Keres?
I pried my eyes from his face and focused on the room behind him. It was so...bright.That wasn’t like Keres. He surrounded himself with black and darkness. His magic was literally made of shadows. How many times had I seen him materialize from them? Surely the fact that his suite was flooded with light was a terrible sign.
“Where are your shadows?” I shouldn’t have asked. I knew better but it left my mouth before I could stop it.
His eyes rolled, before he braced himself hard against the doorframe, shoulders curving forward with exhaustion. “I shouldn’t have...” He seemed to stumble over his words. “I shouldn’t...”
“Stop.” I pressed my hand to his chest as if this would stop him from responding. “Don’t. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked.”
He looked down at my hand, head dipping in slow motion before he looked back up at me, agony in his eyes. I didn’t know if he was mad I’d touched him, or if there was something else about my hand on his chest that caused him pain.
“I’m fine—” He stumbled against the door frame, and I reached to help keep him from falling, but I wasn’t strong enough.
Instead, we both slid to the floor in a pile of tangled limbs, his head resting against mine. I couldn’t move, frozen in place as my stomach bottomed out, heat building in my cheeks as I stared at his closed eyes. My arms were threaded under his and around his waist, the muscles of his back firm beneath my fingers. So close. The scent of him seemed to wrap around my throat and squeeze. After a few seconds, which felt both eternally long and not nearlylong enough, he pulled his head back from mine, a withered smile turning up his lips.
“Your infernal questions, Ms. Greene.”
I couldn’t help it, a short laugh popped from my mouth as he lay his head on my shoulder with his lips nearly touching my neck. Mother save me, being this close to him melted any coherent thoughts from my brain.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said.
His soft breath on my neck was maddening. Goosebumps rippled down my arms at the deep rumble of his voice. I needed to think of something other than how close he was. I tried counting to ten, tried focusing on the light in his room. I tried to think of what I was going to have for breakfast the following day. I tried anything to pretend there wasn’t a gorgeous Dark Fae essentially laying on me, clearly in need of assistance because of what I had put him through. But it was impossible to ignore that his hands were slowly moving up my back.
“Itismy fault,” I said. “I shouldn’t ask so many stupid questions.” I swallowed my nerves, trying to calm the trembling that was returning to my hands, to will my heart to stop racing.
“I want you to ask me all your questions.” His voice was a tight whisper. “I want all of your curiosity.”
Fuck, this was impossible. I tried to push the wanting that was boiling deep in my stomach away, but the way his voice curled around me sent a swarm of butterflies loose in my chest. I wanted his lips to slowly climb their way up my neck to my mouth. The need to pull him against me was overwhelming. I squeezed my eyes closed trying to focus on anything but how the quiet of the Gatehouse was so complete, it made every ragged breath he took sound twice as loud.
“I want you...” I thought perhaps he’d failed to finish his sentence, but then he said it again. “I want you...so badly, it’s agony.”
Then, he bit my neck.Hard. The sharp spark of pain ripping a gasp from my throat as one of his hands crept around the back of my head and clutched my hair in a greedy fist. I was trapped between his mouth and his hand, my entire body frozen as my blood turned molten. He pulled me tight against him with surprising strength, kissing up my neck and over my chin to my lips exactly as I’d wanted, as if he’d plucked the desire from my soul.
His kiss was hungry, devouring the last shreds of my self-restraint. I lost myself to the warmth of his hands as his tongue explored, vicious and claiming. I’d never been kissed like this, with a passion so complete my entire being ignited. Every nerve in my body was alive and begging for more of his touch, begging for his hands to be on my skin, his tongue, all of him. He moaned into my mouth before he pulled my lower lip between his sharp teeth and bit me again, the sting of his bite so delicious. I managed to free one of my arms and threaded my fingers through his hair as I kissed him again. His lips were impossibly soft, impossibly warm, the taste of him was intoxicating...fuck. I was losing myself.
He pulled away abruptly, eyes wide with fear, every muscle in his body tight with some nameless agony.
“Keres?”
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head and pushed himself back from me. “I’m...I’m not permitted...”
“It’s okay.” My confidence shattered seeing him scramble to get further away from me. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No...” He slumped on the floor, rolling to his back and covering his eyes with his hands.
I slid closer, trying to make sure he was okay, but also because I couldn’t be so far away from him. Not yet. He was in pain, and I hated it. More than if it was my own pain. He shook his head from side to side, his horns smacking the floor and making a horrendous clanking noise.
“No, Rosalin,I’msorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?”
