Page 81 of A Serenade To The Elf Queen
I slowly turn my head to her. The rasp that comes out of my throat sounds foreign, beastly, “I want to sever their heads before I’m locked away forever.”
“Stay with me, Svenn,” she throws back.
“I don’t have much time. I need to make sure they can’t hurt you,” I insist, hoping she will understand.
“I promise I’m going to be safe,” she sobs, one hand covering her chest with the blanket as she gets up from the bed hastily. “I have people protecting me.”
My heart splinters as I look at her desperation to chase after me. “You do?”
“I do. Now come back.” She reaches her hand to me.
Wrath and longing war in my head. She’s so small, so breakable. It’s not just anger driving the need to kill her attacker. It’s fear. But she’s given me a choice now.
The answer is clear in a heartbeat. I choose her.
Relief spreads across her face the moment I move to accept her hand. It’s so strange how she is not the least bit intimidated by my beastly shifts. Even my War Generals could hardly look me in the eye. She hugs me to calm my souring mood. I don’t know what she’s doing, but it’s working.
Rage gradually seeps away from my bloodstream. I just have to avoid looking at the injury or it will resurface. Sane thoughts reign in my mind again, and I know I can’t afford to lose a single second with her. We both move to the bed, and I kiss her wrist, making sure I remember the scent of the fucker who did this.
An elf.
No, it’s something else.
“Will you let me have a bite?” I ask. The request is more for her sake than mine. Fear and curiosity dance in her sparkly eyes. She takes my hand and plants it over her breast.
“Bite here,” she demands playfully.
I laugh a little at the request. It’s tempting to sink my teeth into the soft flesh of her inner thigh or her nipple. But I don’t think she can handle the overload of sensation from my venom. It would be too cruel to claim her that way.
She is overstimulated as it is.
Now that I know she’s real, I don’t want to break this sweet girl. I’ve never been a gentle fuck. Any more than this, I might actually shatter her. She’s so precious and fragile. I reel her closer with an arm around her waist. Her heartbeat quickens against my chest, and I almost abandon my plan.
“Do not be afraid, Nel,” I compel her. But her heart is still pounding erratically. The trick doesn’t seem to work.That’s a first…
My compulsion was always the strongest and far more superior to my brothers’. Then again, I’ve never used that gift on an elf before.
“I’m not scared at all,” she lies. I smile at her brave front, lowering my head to kiss her temple and her jaw. A shiver skates over her as my breath graces her skin.
I do it traditionally at the neck, nicking the soft flesh with my sharp fangs. Rhianelle sucks in a delicate gasp. There is the initial squirming at the first hint of pain, no different from theshudders of her release before her body goes pliant as pleasure takes over.
Her blood is truly something else. I had a hint of it in the cavern when I licked her wound, but having it straight from the vein nearly drives me insane. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted in my thousands of years of existence. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop. It doesn’t help that Rhianelle is stroking my inner beast with that soft whimpering noise from her throat.
I could easily succumb to this poison.
I recall how Han used to present samples of different creatures for us. He was somewhat a blood connoisseur. There is a buttery and woodsy taste to fae and elves. But nothing compares to Rhianelle. I’ve never tasted something so divine.
Her blood gives me my final confirmation that whatever it is between us is not the fucking demon’s coercion. Rhianelle Wiolant truly wants me. I drink in her pain and some of the most terrible memories in her life. I make sure to lick and heal the wound properly.
“That’s it?” A soft giggle bursts from her, and my heart softens. I want to capture that sweet sound and lock it in my mind. It’ll be my only company in that dark chamber.
“Did you think it would be painful?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Kind of. But that felt…nice.” The look on her face makes me wish I had done this sooner rather than let my fucked up feelings takes over. Rhianelle doesn’t notice the receding bruise on her arm as she snuggles to my chest. Her body melts in my arms as she’s slowly getting drowsier.
This is going to be much more painful than the first time they imprisoned me. I had nothing tethering me to this world then, but now… I don’t want to let her go. I want a thousand more smiles, a thousand more conversations with her. Even then it will never be enough.
She’ll fade away from my life like a dream and I’ll return to the half dead existence in the dungeon. I engrave every single feature, the perfection of her into my memory.
