Page 61 of Embers in the Snow

Ciel glares. “I can’t explaineverything, you know.”

I open the creaking door and step out onto the cold stone balcony. The winter wind whips at my hair. I cup my cigarette and put it to my lips, taking a long, slow drag.

I exhale.

The wind catches the white plume, swirling it into the air, ephemeral strands disappearing into the pale blue sky.

It starts to snow.

The cold does nothing to douse the heat in my body or the hardness in my cock. I might as well jump down there and bury myself in the damned snow.

From inside, I catch her faint murmur as she begins to stir.

It occurs to me that perhaps my sudden immunity to sunlight is no coincidence.

Who is this woman, really? Orwhat?

At first, I considered the possibility that she might be complicit in this betrothal madness, but now I’m almost certain she isn’t.

Still, father sent her here for a very specific reason, and I need to find outwhy.

It’s convenient, then, that Baron Solisar is currently imprisoned in my dungeons. And he doesn’t seem like the kind of man that would hold out long under torture.

19

FINLEY

Iwake to the aroma of woodsmoke and sharp-smelling herbs; to the faint scent ofmyrnim.The base of my neck, where he bit me, feels warm and tingly. There’s no pain. Just a warm, pleasant sensation, and the memory of his lips against my skin.

I’m in a strange room. It’s warm and filled with light. Logs smolder in a hearth. There are big tables to one side, strewn with books and herbs and bottles of different colored powders and liquids.

I catch sight of various metal instruments, a mortar and pestle, and glass measuring jars.

And books.

Shelves upon shelves of books. Not arranged in an orderly manner like the ones inhisoffice. This library consists of uneven stacks and rows; of loose papers and books everywhere, some lying open, some propped up half-read, some closed but bookmarked with various items; a piece of string, a feather, a scrap of cloth.

My fingers itch to go and tidy it all.

What is this place?

I remember sitting in his office on his comfortable leather sofa. I remember my eyes closing, his deceptively handsome face blurring in my vision as I succumbed to the spell of his overwhelming presence, despite all my better instincts.

My eyes go wide.

All of a sudden, I’m fully alert.

Because just before I passed out, the pieces came together in my head.

It’shim, isn’t it? It wasn’t just a dream…

I’m covered in a warm checkered blanket. I push it aside and rise to my feet, my heart thudding loudly in my ears.

My vision dims. I sway on my feet. My head feels light, as if my entire being is floating above the clouds.

I’m floating on a haze of aromatic smoke and warmth, and all of my worries—Aderick’s injury, my uncertain fate, father locked away—are submerged and distant.

“Easy, now.” A pair of big, steady hands drops onto my shoulders. “You don’t need to get up so quickly. There’s no urgency. You’re safe and taken care of. And I’m not going to do that to you again.”

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