Page 121 of Decadence

He was enjoying this.

“Show-off,” she muttered as they finally started to decelerate.

Invisibly.

Soundlessly.

Through the snow and the darkness, she recognized her own neighborhood, but something was different…

The skies above and the streets below were empty.

She had never, ever seen it like this before.

Ikriss gently brought the cruiser down—onto the roof of a building. For a craft that was so fast and powerful, it was eerily silent.

In the snow and the darkness, it took Sienna a moment to realize that it was actually the very same building that housed the Whisk and Pin.

Already?

“Here we are,” Ikriss said as the hum of the ship’s engine died. “Your fortress.”

“F-fortress?” She looked up at Ikriss as he rose up out of his seat.

Her gaze flicked to his temples, where the twin points of his severed horns looked raw and intensely black; she swore they were protruding a little more than when he’d cut them off, but she couldn’t be sure.

She couldn’t help but worry about him. What if he was in pain?

When she’d asked about them, he’d just shrugged and cryptically told her: “they might be growing back. They might not. We shall see.”

But before Sienna could think on it too much, the restraints crisscrossing her body retracted, and suddenly she was free to stand.

She rose to her feet. After sitting for so long, her legs felt like jelly, and she was lightheaded.

She swayed…

But then Ikriss was there, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace, his body hard and immovable, his strange Kordolian armor pressing against her; slightly flexible and yet impenetrable.

He kissed her; a light, tender kiss that reminded her a little of a perfect vanilla soufflé—with fangs. “As promised,” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath feathering against her skin “Here we are.”

“Ikriss.” She looked up as he caressed the side of her face. “Thank you for bringing me home.”

“Completely unnecessary.” He kissed her again. “You are my mate. And I am certain that you would do the same for me. You already have.”

In a swift, fluid motion, he scooped her up into his arms and swept her through the cockpit, past dark walls and narrow spaces; into the cold night air, where snow was lazily falling from the sky.

Suddenly, he tilted his head strangely, as if he were listening to some high-pitched frequency that was undetectable to human ears. A different kind of urgency infused his movements as he strode across the rooftop, toward the very edge…

Not stopping.

Gaining momentum.

“Ikriss,” Sienna gasped as he accelerated toward the edge and stepped over…

Into thin fucking air.

It was too late for any warning.

They were already plummeting through falling snow, down five stories to the snow-coated sidewalk below.

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