Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

Words in Blood

Lio watched Cassia dance.Her hair flew, and his braid twirled with her for all to see. She clapped her hands above her head, swaying her lithe body, now in red festival robes to show that she was no longer his Whiteblood.

She was Firstgrace Komnena.

The ceremony had begun in the Ritual hall, but the celebration had overflowed through the once-empty rooms of the house and out here into the wild gardens. The traditional chants had ended, and the new dances had begun. Their friends, drunk on wine or blood, danced around them while Nodora and her fellow musicians pushed their lutes and drums to the limit.

Lio lifted Cassia, and she threw her head back as they spun. Their Craving coiled tighter with each turn.

How long will the celebration last?she asked.

Until the last guest goes home.

She let out a laugh, bouncing away from him. And when will that be?

He chased her through the steps of the dance. A house full of Hesperines during polar night, celebrating a once-in-an-eternal-lifetime event? They’ll be here for nights on end.

She let him catch her under a cloud of spell lights. How long before the guests of honor can slip away for their avowal night?

He pulled her back against him, moving with her body pressed to his. It’s tradition for us to try to sneak off under veils. If we’re caught, everyone throws roses at us and chases us all the way to our residence. After that, we can come and go whenever we like.

She let out a peal of laughter. It’s a good thing my Grace is such a powerful mind mage. I dare say we can escape without detection.

He spun her around and lifted her so she could feel his heart pounding against hers. Shall we try now?

She whispered in his ear, her tongue darting out to tease his earring. “Yes. Your firstgrace is hungry.”

The low rasp of her voice made his magic rise. He channeled all of it into a veil spell and pulled them deep into the shadows between the festival lights. They raced through the gardens with the music pounding after them. Their tower came into sight, and they darted along the final path.

A cloud of roses burst out of nowhere, and Cassia let out a shriek of surprise. Fat, soft blooms rained down on their heads

Lio almost didn’t recognize the jovial laughter coming from the shadows. But he could think of only one mage who could defeat his veils.

“Uncle?” he sputtered.

Uncle Argyros emerged from his own concealments, his shoulders shaking with laughter, and flicked a rose at Lio’s nose. Silvertongue’s voice carried through the gardens. “Here they are!”

Hoofbeats sounded on the path behind them, and they turned to see the Blood Errant astride their war horses with saddlebags full of roses. Now breathless with their own laughter, Lio and Cassia fled, with Orthros’s great warriors in pursuit, hurling flowers. The rest of their friends and family lined the path, enjoying the entire spectacle.

They made it to the steps of the tower. Lio snatched Cassia up in his arms and levitated the rest of the way. Applause chased them through the doors, which shut behind them to block out the final flurry of rose petals.

Cassia pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him in between her hiccuping laughter. Turning, he lifted her against the door, deepened their kiss. She raked her fingers through his hair, then gentled, caressing her braid. She let out a sigh.

He pulled his mouth back. “Do you still want the full ceremony? Including an avowal night in our very ceremonious bed where I Gifted you?”

She snatched a couple more kisses from his mouth, then nodded. “Oh, yes, we must do everything the official way first. We can feast against the door when we sneak off the next time.”

“Mmm.” He would take her up on that later, for certain. For now, he took them up to their bedchamber with one step, urging her toward the bed.

She halted him with her hands on his chest. “Wait. I have one more surprise for you.”

She pushed him playfully away, and he staggered back, grinning. He came up against a pillar, and her roses slid affectionately about his shoulders.

“When we were in the Empire…” She lifted her hands to her collar and began to open her pretty festival robe. “…I visited a very secret tent in the Sun Market where they sell nothing but underlinens.”

His fangs lengthened as he watched her. Bit by bit, she slowly revealed not her bare skin, but more silk. At last she pushed the robe off to fall at her feet in a pool of crimson.

She stood before him in an ephemeral creation of the sheerest white silk. Fastened at her bare shoulders with moonstones, the delicate garment wrapped around her figure and fluttered down to her ankles. Through the gossamer-thin fabric, he could see every line of her body. He wanted to devour every inch of her, from the flagrant impressions of her nipples, to the belly freckles peeking at him, to the dark invitation below.

A blush darkened her cheeks. “That’s the second time you’ve given me that look tonight.”

“What look?” He stalked toward her.

A little breath hitched in her throat. “Like I’m your goddess.”

“You are, and now I shall kneel and worship you.”

At Lio’s words, Cassiarealized her immortal knees could still go weak.

“Do you think you’re ready for this?” he asked.

They had explored her new body in many ways so far, but this was a pleasure she had yet to know. With her heightened sense of touch, she hadn’t felt prepared for the intensity of his mouth on her most sensitive places.

But she wanted that now, even if it overwhelmed her. Her body hummed with a Craving whetted by their sacred drink from the avowal chalice. She wanted him to inundate her.

“Yes,” she said. “Let us make this a night to remember.”

He went down on his knees in front of her. “This is a very important part of Hesperine avowal tradition. It’s the Redblood’s duty to make the Whiteblood scream.”

She braced her hands on his shoulders. “No one mentioned that during avowal rehearsals.”

“I declare it our private tradition, as of now.”

He placed a tender, languid kiss on her stomach, his mouth and tongue warm through the cool silk. Her muscles twitched against his lips in anticipation. Slowly, he traced a path across her belly and over her hipbone.

She tangled her hands in his hair, cradling him closer, urging him on. He cupped her buttocks, and she eased her legs farther apart for him. The heat of his kisses trailed along the inside of her thighs, and she quivered.

How I’ve been looking forward to this, he said in her mind, his mouth busy in the groove of her hip and thigh. I cannot wait to find out what you taste like now.

Framing her apex with his hands, he smoothed out the silk that covered her. She realized he was not going to undress her.

Yet, he said. If it becomes too much, tell me to stop.

He pressed his mouth to her krana. A shock, even through fabric already warm and damp from her desire. She bit down hard on her lower lip, her own fangs pricking her.

Deepening his kiss, he gave her gentle pressure. A moan slid out of her, and on reflex, she arched against his mouth. His hands closed tighter around her buttocks, steadying.

When he laved her bud, the slide of his tongue against the smooth silk sent heat shimmering through all her senses. She melted in his hold, no longer breathing.

At her response, he licked her kalux again and again. Impossible pleasure sparked deep into her core and along her skin and to the tips of her toes. Shuddering in his hold, she could scarcely believe this part of her body was real.

You are a dream.His hands flexed on her. And yet here you are, real in my hold. My immortal firstgrace.

Her jaw dropped, her fangs throbbing with the sensations that pounded through her with every firm stroke of his tongue. She wrapped her arms closer around him for support. Their Grace Union bloomed, their intimate physical act spinning their thoughts and emotions deeper into each other.

The arcane paths inside her flooded with him. Her body sang, caught on the sharpest edge. At last she gasped a breath so she could speak, but all she managed was a desperate cry. She was either about to levitate right out of his hands or collapse.

Her knees buckled. His mouth left her on the cusp of release, and he caught her swiftly in his arm. The room spun, her senses full of stars, and then he was laying her down in the soft pile of the bedclothes.

He knelt between her knees. On reflex, she squeezed her thighs together against the delicious torture in her core.

“Too much?” he asked.

“Yes,” she moaned.

“Ready for more?”

“Yes. I need you to—Goddess help me, I need—”

He parted her legs, and she nodded, giving up on speech. He swept his hands up her thighs, pushing the silk out of his way now. She dug her heels into the bed to brace herself.

With no buffer between them, he buried his face between her thighs and covered her with his mouth. She came up off the bed with an astonished outcry.

You taste incredible here, too, he informed her.

His hard kisses gave way to wicked, delicate flicks of his tongue. Her hands closed over the curving iron of the headboard, and she clung there while he held her legs down. Every heretical curse and prayer to Hespera that she knew flew from her lips.

That’s my goddess,he said.

He took her bud in his mouth and began to suck. She felt as if she dissolved into a creature of pure sensation. Her immortal senses existed for one purpose. Pleasure, in its rawest form.

She still had a voice. That was her scream echoing around them. But it was distant compared to his palms on her skin, his fingers digging into her muscles. His mouth, a wet heat fused to her own, transforming her anew. Her body seemed to shatter and reform in his hold yet again.

Just when she couldn’t bear to break anymore, he pulled his mouth away. He covered her in his weight, giving her shelter, stillness. She didn’t breathe or move until her vision cleared, revealing his very satisfied smile and damp fangs.

He spoke softly. “Did that make a memory?”

“Bonded to my mind forever, like our ward,” she said around her canines.

He stroked one of her fangs, making her moan again. “But now my goddess is hungry for blood. Let me feed you your avowal banquet.”

He sat up, pulling her with him. She told herself she should slow down, make this moment last, but she tore open his collar with the ferocity of her Craving.

He let her. There’s no such thing as too slow or too fast in eternity. All our moments will last.

Pain broke through her haze of revelry and pleasure. Did they really have unlimited time? They didn’t know what would happen during this war.

Lio caught her hands, stilling her. “Yes, Cassia. We truly will be together for eternity, no matter what happens. We will live this life—or leave it—side by side. This, too, is the nature of Grace. There is no fear of loss. I will be with you, in this world or in Sanctuary.”

He pulled his festival tunic the rest of the way off, and she saw the surprise he had for her. Divine script was tattooed across his skin like a vine. The glowing crimson letters trailed over his jugular, across his heart, and down into his trousers.

She traced her finger along the words. “It’s our Oath.”

“Every word I said to you that first night, and tonight. Feast on our vows, and once they’re gone from my skin, know they’re still in our veins.”

She kissed his throat, tasting crushed rose petals and his blood. She took the words I promise into her mouth, his light magic sweet on her tongue.

I love you so much,she whispered in his mind.

I love you, my rose.

She pushed him onto his back. Framing the script with her canines, she slid their sharp tips lightly over his skin, drawing fresh blood. They gasped together at the well of pleasure in his aura. Blood trailed across his skin, tracing the contours of his chest. The infusion made the tattoo brighter, and she sucked the glowing swirl of script that circled his nipple.

Letter by letter, she licked the defining words of their lives from his body to savor each promise, each memory. She worshiped him in turn with her fangs. Her divine immortal, who had become sacred to her when she had believed in nothing.

The tattoo ended in a suggestive point above his groin. With a soft scrape, he dug his nails dug into the bedclothes while she pulled off his trousers. Freeing his straining erection, she realized her mouth was actually watering at the sight.

He lifted her chin, gazing at her mouth. “I’m ready for you to bring those beautiful fangs up here.”

She slid up his body, baring her canines for him. He flashed his fangs back at her and flipped her over onto the pile of their pillows. His Craving sent a frisson through their Union and into her veins. Her pulse pounded faster, making her blood rush in preparation to sate her Grace.

But he hesitated, poised between her thighs. She sensed the flare of light magic. The air above them shimmered, then smoothed into a plane. Instead of the canopy bed overgrown with roses and moonflowers, she saw the two of them reflected back at her in a mirror spell. Her in a tangle of white silk. Him, pressing her down into the black silk sheets.

She ran her fingers along the brilliant red lines of the tattoo that continued on his back. His vows, written again in reverse like a never-ending promise.

He pressed his mouth to her ear. “Watch me avow you like this.”

She saw his muscles play under the tattoo as he sank into her. He filled her, reshaping the inside of her body around him. With an appreciative groan, he pulled back, only to return with a heavy thrust that left her riveted to the sight of his buttocks in the mirror spell.

Her fangs gleamed at her in their reflection. Give me your bite, now and every night.

She remembered her first night in Orthros, when she had watched him feast on her in his glass mirrors. Now in his mirror spell, she saw her own fangs sink into his throat. She beheld her mouth, fastened onto his vein. And this vision changed her, just as that one had the night he had welcomed her into his world.

A shudder moved down his back, and his hips tensed. His reflexive response to her bite drove him deeper between her legs. Caressing his hair, she began to suckle his throat. As his pleasure-laden blood filled her mouth, she watched the rhythm of his body change, now pumping in time to her drink.

His blood spilled onto her from her bite. She caught the precious elixir and ran her hands over his shoulders and down his back. Making her own marks across his skin, she imprinted her vows next to his in bloody handprints.

“Cassia,” he uttered, low and rough. Then his fangs clamped on her throat.

They overflowed into one another. She saw her body buck under his, saw him thrust down to meet her. They were so beautiful, feeding, undulating together, hard and slow. Then harder, faster. The flowers shook, scattering petals down over his rigid muscles.

Just as her vision began to haze, the spectacle above her fragmented. His shattered spell sent his magic flying into her. Her power, all hers, snapped out of her to entwine deep within him. They broke on each other, holding one another together through every spasm of release and rough groan against each other’s throats.

Their Union only deepened to hold more pleasure. More time. Their vows could not break. No matter what was to come, Grace would remain.