Page 150 of Embers in the Snow

“Finley.” Corvan’s voice is impossibly tender. “How couldanyonedespise you?”

“I carry my father’s tainted blood. The harsh light of reality makes the truth obvious to me now. That he’s a cruel man, of feeble character, opportunistic and vain; wantonly ambitious. She had no choice in my conception.”

Corvan’s gentle fingers brush a tendril of stray hair away from my cheek. “Finley, our blood doesn’t define us.”

The tenderness in his face leaves me breathless. My thoughts are a visceral mess of desperate wanting and dread. “How couldyouof all people say that?”

His expression turns achingly bittersweet. “An apt question, considering that all I own and command has come to me through birthright, not hard work and merit. I’m ashamed to say that when I was younger, I was mostly indifferent to the gravity of the situation— to what it truly means to be my father’s son. It was only when I went into the military—when I traveled across countries and fought battles against ordinary men who march beneathotherflags—that I began to understand.” His lips twist with dark amusement and sorrow. “I take no pride in being the once-heir to a genocidal maniac, Finley. And I have spent the latter part of my life quietly fighting against everything that my father represents. It’s a cruel trick of fate that the gods, in all their bloody mystery, have chosen to grant me the power to take everything in one fell swoop if I choose. So you see, Finley, my father is no better than yours, and if I were to give in to all I’ve learned from him, I would be a hundred times worse. But somehow, there’s enough in this world to keep me from turning into some kind of monster, and now that I’ve found you…” He goes quiet, studying me, his eyes ablaze. “It makes it all worthwhile.Everything.I shouldn’t even have to say this, but you’re nothing atalllike your father, Finley, and if we happen to find your mother, I have no doubt she’ll see beyond the wrongs that were done to her.”

I cling to his words desperately. The supple wood cage encasing us tightens ever further, as if it were my heart itself, greedily holding onto this man, who makes me more than myself.

Because I never want to let him go.

“You will learn to control it, Finley. Youwillovercome yourself, because the sum of us is far greater than the parts.” His smile turns a little bit wicked. Fangs gleam in the ever-brightening sunlight. “Until that happens, I can, of course, volunteer to absorb your excess magic.”

I’m still caught up in the heat of his desire.

I can never escape, nor do I want to.

I can’t take this anymore; this pressure, this uncertainty.

He’s the only one that’s ever made me feel perfectly whole.

“Fine, Corvan.” As magic crackles and seethes in my veins, I tip my head back and offer him my neck—again.It’s just too maddening—the thought that he’ll drink from me again and again, and he gets terribly aroused by it. “Just…fine.”

“Hmm,” he rumbles, managing to look both supremely satisfied and terribly thirsty. Hasn’t he just had my blood? He’s already wanting more?

And he’s hard again, and he’s still inside me. I never knew a man could become aroused again so quickly, but then again, he isn’t an ordinary man.

I close my eyes and tremble as he kisses my neck with such tender intensity. His lips form delicious imprints against my skin—as if I’m being branded with his wanting.

And it occurs to me that as much as he gives succour to me, this man needs me too.

Not just for my blood.

This man has been teetering on the edge. For all his outward perfection and natural ease at command, he’s been a little bit…lost.

Maybe I could be the very thing that stops him from becoming what he despises.

As his fangs pierce my skin, I shudder in awe and delight. Realization unfurls like a cautious bloom.

Corvan Duthriss is so much more than what I’d imagined him to be.

And the way he feeds from me—deeply, reverently, as if my blood is the most precious thing in existence—is everything.

What use is there in demanding restraint when his bite feelsthisdamn good?

The wild power drains out of me, and the restrictive warped wood cage—hard to believe it’smydoing—unravels and retreats along with the pressure inside my body.

“Mmm,” Corvan rumbles, withdrawing his fangs, kissing me gently over the place where he’s ravaged me time and time again.

Then he leans in and kisses me on my lips. Something crackles between us—a faint frisson of energy; a tiny burst of stars and magic.

And the wooden posts above us swirl and solidify back into their normal, rigid form.

I’m spent and euphoric. Corvan caresses the side of my face with a touch so tender I melt all over again.

He kisses my forehead. I’m completely helpless against him.

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