Page 101 of A Heart Of Bitter Poison
“R-re…al... Real?”
He lets out a breath of a laugh. “Yes,” he says, touching the mark on my chest. It tingles and warms. It’s an anchor, the only thing still tethering my battered soul to my bones. “This is real, my vampire. My reckless, brave, brilliant vampire. You are in the Resurrection Chamber in the Shadow Realm.”
A whole new wave of panic hits me like a gale. I try to scramble to my feet but Ashen holds me in place.
“Slowly, Lu. You are safe. I promise you.”
I’m shaking violently when Ashen pulls me to his chest. He wraps his arms around me and folds the edges of his black robe across my back, trying to cover every inch of exposed skin that he can.
“I-I was w-wrong,” I whisper into his shoulder through chattering teeth.
“About what?”
“K-killing you. It g-got old.”
Ashen laughs and grips me tighter. “Finally,” he says, and I fall to pieces that he tries to keep together in his embrace.
I let it all go. The fear and adrenaline of battle. The triumph and sorrow of winning and losing everything in a single moment. The panic and despair and shock. Ediye’s heart-splitting scream that still rings in my ears.
I feel like I’m being carried away in a strong current and I grasp onto whatever I can that will get me through this place. Love. Hope. Relief and possibility. The same things that Ashen feels, their essence rippling beneath my skin. He pulls away, holding my face in his hands.
“Are you okay?” Ashen asks, surveying my face and looking for anything different.
“Still cold,” I say. “But better. Like… balance. I feel like… more. I just don’t know how.”
It’s the truth, I do feel better. There’s no lingering whisper of a headache or residual burn in my throat or strange surge of power that feels like light is ready to consume me whenever it sees fit. Everything feels under my control, it’s just I'm not yet sure what thateverythingis.
But in this moment, I don’t even care. All that matters right now is that I’m here, and Ashen is here, and Ediye and the others will know by now that we at least made it this far. So we just spend a moment looking at each other. Ashen’s warm hand sweeps hair away from my face like I know he likes to do, and he follows the motion of his hand, lost in thought.
“I tried to tell myself how grateful I was that we had the days we had. I didn’t want you to feel afraid,” he whispers, still watching the progress of his hand through my strands of hair. “But in my heart it was not enough. I wanted more time. To be chosen the way you chose me, even if I’m not worthy of it, I wanted to keep it. After so many centuries feeling the presence of darkness in every step, the moments of light with you left me desperate for more. To watch you resurrecting next to me, to know I would have more time, even if measured only in moments… It is a happiness I have never known.”
My heart melts right through my chest, as hot and bright as liquid gold. I run my fingers across Ashen’s mark. It hums with life beneath my skin. “I want to kiss you.”
“Then kiss me.”
“But I’m some kind of hybrid now. What if I got it wrong? Maybe I’ve got Angelwing in my venom now. What if I kill you?”
Ashen’s eyes dance in the torchlight. Sparks ignite in his pupils. “Then our time truly will be measured in only moments, because I will give my life for that kiss.”
Before I can second guess it, Ashen’s lips press to mine and his tongue slips into my mouth. My heart pounds its way up my throat. He caresses the sharp edges of my teeth with his tongue and it draws a drop of venom into our kiss. I taste the sweet, honeyed nectar, the way my venom always tastes. I smell nothing different. No Angelwing. No scent of werewolf. Just me.
I break our kiss and look into Ashen’s eyes and I know he can feel my relief when I smile. Just like I can feel his desire for more, an overwhelming, insatiable need to take whatever he can claim.
I wrap my arms around his neck and we dive back into a kiss that has no more tentative softness. This is a bruising, desperate crash of a kiss. I taste a drop of blood when my teeth catch my lip. Venom coats my tongue when it slides over Ashen’s. I clasp fistfuls of his black silk robe and pull him down with me onto the stone altar.
“Have you ever fucked in the Resurrection Chamber before?” I ask with breathless need as his hands flow over my breasts and down my sides to grip my hips.
“No,” he says, nipping at my shoulder. “And someone could be down here any moment.”
I grasp the back of Ashen’s neck and catch his eyes, not letting go as I grip his hard length and center it between my legs. I give him a dark and sinful smile. “Then you’d better make it quick, Reaper.”
He flashes a wicked grin before he thrusts into me. I grit my teeth and stifle a gasp. Every stroke hits harder, deeper. My center grips his thickness like I’m pulling him in. He slides from the crown to the hilt of his cock with every thrust, devouring me with the kiss of a starving man, like he’s consuming my very soul.
My hands slip beneath Ashen’s robe and fan across his chest, pressing into the tense muscle of his shoulders. I trace the mist of sweat down his spine and grip his ass. He moans onto my tongue as he lifts my hips and cants them to drive against me in a way that has me breaking away to cry out with pleasure.
“Shhh, vampire,” Ashen whispers as his hand folds over my mouth. He keeps it there as a dark smile claims one corner of his lips. His eyes never leave mine as his free hand flows down my thigh, pressing heat into my flesh before lifting my leg and folding it behind his back. He continues to hit the same spot, again and again, every stroke pushing me closer to a blinding orgasm. I cry out, the sound muffled by his palm. “If only we had more time, I would drink from you in every way I could. But you’re going to need to come for me.”
My lips vibrate against his palm in a needy whimper and I tilt my head back, drawing his hand away from my mouth. I drag it down and fold his fingers across my throat. He grips it gently.
