Page 50 of Blood Day
I pressed a kiss to her throbbing pulse, the blood beneath singing to my instincts.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Lily,” I promised against her throat. “Not today, anyway.”
Or anytime soon, if I could help it.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” she asked, her voice lacking the fear I sensed in her scent.
“I’ve called you many things, darling. Be specific.” I knew what she meant, but I wanted her to speak more.
“Lily,” she replied. “Why do you call me Lily?”
“Because that’s what you remind me of.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and used my opposite hand to grasp her chin to angle her head back toward me over her shoulder. “You have light hair, pale skin, long, stem-like legs, and you’re beautifully delicate. Just like a lily flower.”
She blinked long lashes at me. “A lily flower.”
I nodded. “Lily for short.”
“Like a name.”
“Your name,” I corrected. “It’s sweeter than Prospect Four Hundred and Seven, Year One Hundred Seventeen, isn’t it?” I understood the purpose of giving humans numbers instead of identities. But they were so fucking long.
“I like it,” she whispered, her eyes holding mine. “Thank you.”
I cupped her face and drew my thumb across her lips. “Just don’t share it with anyone else. It’ll be our little secret.”
She swallowed. “Like your blood.”
“Like my blood,” I echoed in agreement. “We have a few secrets between us now.”
Secrets that would inevitably lead to her death.
But that was a problem for another day.
Blood Day.
Chapter 12
Lily
Lily.
My name is Lily.
Except names were only earned through immortality. His blood had done things to me, making me feel more alive than ever before. He’d healed me.
But I’m not immortal.
He’d said my name was a secret, just like his blood. So maybe he meant for this to be a name I used with him alone. Just like he didn’t want me to call him Master Cedric here, merely Cedric.
What else did he want from me here?
We were in the water, his arm around me and his opposite hand on my chin. I wasn’t sure how to react or what he wanted me to do. It was all so bizarre, so dreamlike, soincredible.
The water wasn’t too hot. Nor was it cold. It felt good. Unlike any other water I’d experienced in a shower, where it was either scalding or frigid.
And this bath was huge.
At least three more people could join us in here, maybe more.
