Page 32 of Bloodstained
His answer came instantly, and I knew it was because he’d carried it through lifetimes. “Make up for every lost year. Make sure not a single day passes without your happiness. Keep you forever.”
He pulled me onto his lap until I straddled him, our breaths mingling. “I want you to keep me forever.” The words slipped free without hesitation, and they felt true.
A tremor tore through him. “Say it again.”
“I’m yours,” I whispered. “In every life.”
His mouth found mine, and at first, there was no rush, no demand. It was a slow, aching press of lips that felt like coming home. He tasted of everything lost, of centuries that had stolen us apart. His tongue, his scent, the very flavor of Ivan was peace, even in its hunger.
When we parted, the silence between us felt sacred, like a vow spoken without words.
“You should rest,” he murmured, though he didn’t move away. His thumb traced the line of my jaw with a tenderness that betrayed the predator beneath his skin. He looked at me as though memorizing me, terrified I’d vanish again. “We’ll go slowly.”
“Ivan.” My hand cupped the scruff of his cheek, grounding myself in him. His eyes met mine, glowing softer now. “I love you in ways I can’t explain.”
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “You don’t have to. Our love goes beyond anything that can ever be explained. It goes beyond time itself. We have eternity to reclaim what was taken.” His gaze deepened, intent heavy as stone.
“Take me to our bed.” The words tumbled out of me before I could stop them.
He understood. This room wasn’t ours. But now that I knew who I was, who I had been, all I wanted was what had been stolen.
Something raw and profound shadowed his face, and then he was lifting me and carrying me into the chamber we’d once shared. The air shifted as he sat me down beside him. I closed my eyes letting the weight of it all—our history and now our return together—sink in.
His hand sought mine beneath the blankets, palm to palm, fingers locking tight. “Tell me something you still see,” I whispered.
“I loved watching you braid your hair after you bathed,” he said, voice low, tender. “You are the most beautiful creature alive. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. And when your hair dried… I undid every braid just to watch it fall.”
The memory struck vividly as if I’d lived it yesterday. I smiled faintly. “I remember you trying to braid it back. You struggled so much. It made me love you more.”
His laugh was rough, quiet. “It was the best struggle of my life.”
“What happens now?” I asked after a moment of pause between us, voice hushed, heavy with truth.
His fangs glinted in the firelight, his hunger laid bare, and still I couldn’t look away. My pulse thundered when he shiftedcloser, when his hand slid to my hip and anchored me against him. The heat of his body, the weight of centuries of longing in his eyes… it all broke through me at once.
My breath stuttered as his mouth brushed my throat possessively, and I tipped my head back without thinking.
The last thread of resistance snapped. The night, the castle, the world itself fell away until there was only Ivan and the promise of being his again.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
IVAN
Even now, it felt unreal. Clara—my Clara—returned to me in the flesh, surrendering, loving.Mine.
She lay in the bed that had once been ours, pale skin and long limbs stark against the dark sheets. Between her thighs she was slick and ready, the sight of her feeding the predator in me until it roared.
My wife. My salvation. My sacrifice to devour.
I wanted to love her slowly, but all I could think about was fucking her hard.
“Do you want me to make love to you or fuck you?” Her little gasp was the same, even after five centuries. “Tell me, fata frumoasa a mea.”My beautiful girl.
She shifted on the bed, and her perfect breasts shook slightly. “Voiesc sa mi-l dai tare ?i iute, cum mi-l dadeai altadata.”I want you to give it to me hard and fast, as you once did.
My cock twitched at the sound of my wife speaking our native tongue. It flowed so naturally, so fluidly, I shut my eyes as every muscle in my body tightened in response.
Her cheeks turned redder. If she wanted to remember and feel how it used to be between us, I’d give it to her rough and hard.
