Page 112 of Decadence

She drowned in him, until he gently broke away.

His hands and arms became a blur. He was still holding the black blade. Sienna had completely forgotten about it.

It spun through the darkness.

Shik, shik.

She could only stare in horror.

What the hell did you just do?

In the space of a heartbeat, he severed both horns. They fell to the floor with a clatter. Rivulets of black blood ran down the sides of his face.

Damnit, Ikriss!

He turned and retrieved something from a dark storage compartment in the back; a slim black tube that he swiftly pressed against his bleeding temples. It appeared to contain some sort of clear-colored viscous liquid, and whatever it was, the stuff was damn effective, because it stopped the bleeding immediately.

“Y-you distracted me,” she gasped, putting her hands on her hips. She glared at him.

Ikriss shook his head, a smile playing across his dark silver lips. “That was not a distraction. It was very much intended.”

With rivulets of dark blood streaking his face and a sharp blade in one hand, how could he manage to look so damn charming?

Sienna glowered. She looked down at the black floor; at Ikriss’s severed horns. They were just a little shorter than her forearm, and elegantly curved.

What a waste.

What a shame.

It was done now; there was nothing she could do.

“I just wish there was some way you highly advanced aliens could figure out how to make a suit of battle armor that would accommodate the horns,” she hissed, keenly feeling the loss.

Her frown turned into a tight, bitter smile as she tried to imagine Ikriss decked out in full battle kit, his helm crowned with a pair of menacing black horns. She remembered the very first time she’d laid eyes on him—when she’d known him only as the Shadow. God, he’d been a formidable sight. She could easily understand why the Kordolians were feared throughout the Universe. “It would make you look all the more intimidating though, not that you need it.”

Ikriss inclined his head, eyes narrowed, a half-frown, half-smile hovering on his lips. “Hm,” he murmured, shaking his head. “Hm.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You humans see the Universe differently,” he said cryptically. “That is all.”

“You’re not going to tell me what you think about my idea, are you?”

Ikriss shrugged. “Not yet. But you make an interesting point.”

Sienna let out a puff of exasperation. Did all Kordolian males have this habit of being deliberately obtuse? She would have to ask the other mates about this—and so many other things.

She looked down at his fallen horns. “Can I have them?”

“What in Kaiin’s Hells for?”

“Um, because they are unique and special and they’ll remind me of you when you have to go away on missions—which I assume will happen from time to time. And they’re a trophy of my conquest of you. And they’ll remind me of your promise.”

His brows knitted together. “Promise?”

“Yeah. The one you’re about to make. That one day you’ll ditch the armor and grow the horns so I can touch them whenever I want, and give you pleasure whenever I want—even when we’re just sitting around doing not much of anything. They’re so convenient for that, don’t you think?”

He blinked, looking just a little stunned.

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