Page 57 of A Throne of Blood and Ice

She steadied herself against the edge of the dais, commanding Blaise’s body to bend to her will.

It soon did, though the buzz of Nox’s blood lingered.

The parasite forced a drunken grin upon Blaise’s face and did her best to imitate the girl’s diction. “Fine, but I’m not letting you out of here without another sip. You can’t tease a girl like that.”

The boy’s eyes sparkled. “You liked it?”

The parasite didn’t thinklikebegan to describe it, and she let as much slip through onto Blaise’s face.

Then she pressed her wrist to Nox’s lips.

The change that came over him was striking, the way his pale eyes blazed with desire, the drunken stupor that overcame his pretty features.

A sharp sting had the parasite gasping for air, but it was short-lived, and a gentle wave of numbness swept through her limbs, causing her legs to shake and her body to slump.

He caught her with his arm before she collapsed on the floor, and it was then the parasite realized her companion from so long ago had withheld a secret from her: his bite must have released a toxin that served to paralyze his victims as he fed.

The parasite’s eyes fluttered, heavy with a trance, but the parasite was nothing if not prepared to battle against a body that was not cooperating, and she determined she would succeed.

“Nox, stop,” she said, and was pleased to find that her companion’s secret held true. Nox did as she said, though as he removed his fangs from her flesh, she couldn’t help but wallow in a bit of disappointment.

It really hadn’t been the most unpleasant of sensations, him feeding upon her.

They’d have to try it again sometime, except with Cinderella’s body.

He still held her there, his hand upon the small of her back to keep her from slipping down the edge of the dais.

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed.

Tingles snaked up the parasite’s spine.

“Put me on the dais,” the parasite commanded, and he did as she said, laying her gently upon the cold stone surface.

“Now, Nox,” she said, having to fight sleep to lift her hand and caress his cheek. He shuddered at her touch, and once again, hunger flared in those startling eyes as her blood lingered close to his face, but he made no attempt to bite her again. “Do you know what happens when your kind shares their blood?”

Nox went perfectly still.

Understanding flashed across his pale blue eyes, and in a moment, the realization must have come all at once; this wasn’t at all a dream. He started, launching himself away from her.

“You’re not Blaise,” he said, horror draining the little color left in his pallid face.

“Fates be praised for that,” the parasite said, allowing a sly grin to slice across Blaise’s plain features.

Nox swallowed, and the parasite couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy as disgust wrinkled his nose. He retched, gagging on the blood still coating his tongue, as if it had somehow soured in his mouth with the realization of who had been in control of the body he’d just been feasting on.

Nox began to shake.

“I thought it was a dream,” he said, pacing now as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

The parasite attempted to shift into Cinderella, sure Nox would become less appalled with himself when he realized the girl whose blood he’d shared was breathtaking, far out of his league. But Nox’s venom still coursed through the parasite’s blood, and when she attempted to shift, it was as if she hit a wall of adamant laced with sludge too slippery to climb.

Nox stopped, his lanky form stiff as he turned toward her. “What were you going to let me do?”

His voice was shaking with rage, and the parasite could not say that she understood. He enjoyed the blood sharing as much as she had. And if she’d let him have his way with Blaise’s body, he would have enjoyed that, too.

“A great many things, if only we had more time,” the parasite said, but it did not have the effect she intended, because then Nox was upon her, pinning her by the throat.

All this felt delightfully familiar. Evander had pinned her by the throat once, and she hadn’t minded the experience.

---