Page 49 of The Sacrifice

Stepping back, I cow beneath his eyes, and it takes all my strength to stand before him, stab out my chin, and say, “I—”

It’s all I get out. He grips my throat, restricting my breath, yanking me to him, and piercing my skin with his claws. My vision blurs, but it’s not the first time someone has tried to strangle me, or nearly strangle me since he grants me a thin ribbon of breath. And just as I’ve done with Qora all my life, I tilt my neck to the side, spread my lips into a beam, which catches him off guard. And in the moment that he blinks, I close the distance between us...

...and press my lips to his.

36

Merikh's Magic Cross

QUINTESSA

Oh, sweet Waste, his lips are chilled, sensual velvet. He tastes like the deepest and darkest waters with hints of spiced wine from the Solstice. Heat courses into my cheeks even though the kiss lasts no longer than the seconds it takes for him to recover. Fisting my hair, he drags my head back, lashing a delicious pain into my neck.

My mouth waters, but I still must swallow a lump in my throat at the sight of him tensing, glaring down at me. A fleeting moment has my fingers longing to stray into his dark hair, wondering if it’s as silky and cold as his mouth. By now, Jinxy has strayed to the other side of the pavilion, pouncing on random piles of dirt, no doubt hunting insects.

Merikh interrupts my fantasy with a demand, “Is there nothing you take seriously? Nothing you fucking value?”

Sighing, I drop my arms to my sides and shrug. “All that matters are the moments we live inside. When the present is the greatest gift, why look to the past or the future? We can’t change the past. We can’t control the future. And I’ve never loved the present more. This...” I curl my hand against his upper chest, teetering my fingers on his stony jaw. “Maybe if you didn’t live in the past all the time—”

A deep, dark growl thunders from his throat right before Merikh locks his hands on each side of my neck and crushes his lips to mine. Oh, bleeding gods! All my senses swim, my nerves riot, and my thoughts misfire and combust. No matter how cold he is, his kiss ignites a fever within me and spreads liquid fire into my blood. His tongue penetrates my mouth, overwhelming me. He fucks me with that tongue, proving how much he longs to do the same with his cock. Even now, I feel it. So hard and hung, I swear it must stretch to his knee. I moan into his mouth. Merikh kisses me like he wants to peel me open, rearrange my insides, and grip my heart until it bleeds and beats just for him. My blood catches fire, making me wonder if he’s using his power upon me.

Oh, I don’t wonder anymore. Not when he raises me up by my hips until my skirts bunch and gather higher, giving me the freedom to wrap my legs around his waist. Arms around my back to hold me firm, he imprisons me, possesses me, enthralls me. My lungs howl for breath, but he doesn’t part from my mouth. Savage mercies, his erection bulges against my naked pussy, and I’m grinding against it, longing for penetration and friction beyond his breeches.

Then, my back hits stone. Out of the corner of my eye, he kicks open the crypt door with his boot and hauls me inside. What? No...I startle when he slams the door behind us. Darkness smothers us. But I have a feeling his vision is perfectly fine.

“Please,” I beg him after managing to break from his mouth. I’m breathless. Lips swollen and tongue aching from trying to meet his. “You don’t understand. I can’t—”

He growls and attacks my throat. All heat and hunger, he’s teeth and fangs scraping and nipping and pricking my skin. I shriek from the brief stings of pain followed by a whimper from the stroke of his cold, wet tongue to ease the hurt.

“I can’t see!” I gasp, reaching for him, my fingers missing his neck and clawing at air. Blind. Nothing but darkness and silence.

“I can,” he purrs across my lips, chilling me to my bones. Of course, he can. This is what he wants, establishing his territory and ruling as predator vs prey. He disarms me. He owns me.

Involuntary—or maybe not—heat swarms my pussy, dampening the folds. I squeeze my thighs when his mouth lowers to my collarbone like fire and ice. Unprepared, I quake when he drags my bodice down. He binds the scaled neckline just beneath my breasts to plump them. Another gasp flees my throat when he touches his lips to his mark on the side of my breast. So tender, I’m bewildered.

“Oh!” I cry out when his mouth latches onto my nipple, and he attacks my breast, suckling with a vengeance. A hard pinch and pull to my other have my breath in frenzied tatters. His teeth and fangs are everywhere, biting and marking my breasts.

“Fucking love your tits...” he murmurs against my nipple, and my pussy aches, the pressure in my cunt tightening all the more. I’m certain all he would need to do is flick my clit once to have me coming all over his hand. “Mayce is an ass man, of course. But these are fucking mine.” He palms my breasts, kneading the flesh until it hurts, and I whimper from the warmth pooling inside me.

Too lost in the heat of the moment, I almost don’t register what he’s done till I’m standing in the blinding and deafening pitch black with nothing but my blood thrashing in my eardrums and my breath puffing into the air.

“Where—where are you?” I whisper, stretching my hands to reach for him.

“Remove your gown.”

Merikh’s hands stripping me bare interrupt the memories. My arms come around me. I’m shivering, trembling, chattering. Somehow, I know he’s there watching me.

“Merikh, please,” I sob and curl my head to my chest, trying to catch my frenzied breath. “Take me out of here. Make me suck your cock in the middle of the Court while I’m naked if you must. Just get me out of this crypt.”

“You’ll suck me off in here, pet. While Drago may appreciate exhibitionism and voyeurism, I do not. On your fucking knees.”

All my hopes sink. But I bend before him, obeying. It’s not the first time I’ve sucked a cock. My stomach hardens because I know just what to do to bring him to release. The sooner I get out of here, the better.

I hear the sound of clothing shuffling. A belt removed. Goosebumps cover my naked skin. At the grip of his hand knotting my hair, I suck in a deep breath. And open my mouth.

“Stick out your tongue, Quintessa,” he commands, and I do.

An unbelievably soft crown meets the tip of my tongue, and Merikh directs me, “Lick me, little pet.”

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