Chapter 11 #2
She shattered on his lap, head falling against his chest, lips pressed to the side of his neck as she exhaled with soft little puffs of air, hips shifting lazily as she rode her high, and he worked her through it.
When she stuttered a plea and pulled away, he stopped, cupping her between her thighs.
Lucien kissed the top of her head. "Good girl."
She pulled away, hair mussed from his hands and lips swollen from his mouth. "What about you?" she asked, voice husky.
"This wasn’t about me, sweet girl. This was about you, knowing that I care about you and that I have you."
Lucien held her like that for some time, eyes drifting to the watch on his wrist every so often, a pit forming in his gut with every minute that passed. Her heart was a fluttering beat as his fingers stayed under her jaw.
He stared at the city through the windows, knowing what he would have to do next.
Outside the Academy gates, Lucien wrapped her in his arms, fearing she might break. Her heart beat against his chest.
"My V girl," he muttered lowly, the words pulled from somewhere deep inside his chest. Private. She stiffened against him, but said nothing. "Lunar City… I know you can protect yourself, but are you certain of this?"
"I have to do this, Lucien. For reasons I hope I can share with you later," she said secretively.
He licked his lips, tasting her on them. Finally, she broke free from his embrace, staring up at him under the night sky. He technically wasn’t supposed to be out at this time, but he could flaunt his identification and say he was headed to the hospital on an urgent call if stopped.
Lucien sighed. "I feel like we always say goodbye."
"Maybe this will be the last time." Vesperin stepped away from him, hugging herself against the nippy night air. As the gates opened and she walked inside, she turned back to look at him. "Lucien," she called. The moment stretched on, and she shook her head. "Never mind."
The gates shut behind her with a final thud.
He watched her walk down the relatively empty path that led to her dorm until she disappeared inside. Only then did he turn to his car and get in, gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.
The sound of his breath filled the car, and he unlocked his glove box, pulling the burner phone from within and dialing a number.
She answered on the first ring.
"What is it?"
"Vesperin is leaving Solar City on another mission. I thought you would like to know," Lucien said into the phone.
"And you didn’t stop her?"
"No," he replied. "I tried, but she has a mind of her own."
"Oh, I know that. Very well, Dr. Quenlan," Sabine said. "It looks like you’ll have more time while she’s away. Perfect for the newest batch of Aetherborns we have procured from Lunar City. Come to the lab at Blackfall Industries tomorrow morning. I have a job for you."
With that, she hung up.
In the silence, Lucien let his head fall on the steering wheel. "Damn it," he cursed. "Goddamn it!" He slammed his hands on the wheel, relishing the pain.
He stared at the Academy gates.
"For Vesperin. This is for her. To keep her safe. I can do this."
On the drive back to his apartment, Lucien realized Sabine had never asked where Vesperin was going.
"You smell like you’ve just been fucked," Cyrus purred.
The door just clicked shut behind Vesperin as she entered her bedroom, and she stilled at his words.
Cyrus didn’t try to hide his smile, loving to tease her.
Her cherry scent was ripe and dripping—enough to make his mouth water. He hadn’t lied. She did smell like she’d just been fucked, the faint trace of cologne clinging to her.
Vesperin ran a hand through her hair. "And if I was?" she asked, turning the lock on the door as she turned to face him fully.
Her lips were red and swollen, pale cheeks flushed with a healthy, rosy glow. She smelled like sin.
Cyrus sat up from where he had been reclining on her bed, trying to sleep. His dark shirt hung on by two buttons, falling off his shoulder as he braced a hand on the mattress.
"Then I’d have to congratulate the lucky bastard—or try and steal a kiss to taste you on his lips," he added.
"Was it your doctor? I told you he wanted you.
How was it?" His smirk grew wider when she stuttered out a strangled sound and went to her dresser, opening the top drawer and pulling out the last few things she needed for their trip.
Lunar City—ruled by criminals, shrouded in a haze. Cyrus had never been. He would get chopped up and sold in a heartbeat, not knowing which would come first.
"Do you think someone would rather buy me whole, or would I fetch a higher price in little pieces?" Cyrus mused aloud, rubbing his chin.
Vesperin stiffened, glancing over her shoulder, a pair of delicate pink shorts dangling from her fingertips. "Are all incubi this twisted? Or is that just you?"
He merely hummed in reply, watching as she dropped the shorts in her black bag sitting by the door. It was next to his own—the same bag he had smuggled with him on the ship.
Cyrus shoved away from the bed, standing and raising his arms high above him with a stretch, feeling his back crack.
"I hate it when you leave me for so long.
" He pouted. "It makes me feel like a mistreated pet.
" He walked to her, chest brushing her back as he hooked his chin over her head.
He breathed her in, nosing along her crown.
"You smell so good. Are you sure I can’t have a little taste? "
Her elbow dug into his stomach, but he didn’t release her. "No," she asserted, stepping under his arm to free herself.
In the drawer, he glimpsed stacks of lace panties and bralettes, fingers tracing over the tiny black mesh. The soft sound of a zipper made him turn, forgetting all about her pretty underthings as she bent over his bag.
"Do you need any more clothes? We can stop and get some essentials." Vesperin’s white hair hung in her face as she dug around in his bag.
In a flash, Cyrus had his bag in his hands, bundling it to his chest. "Don’t look."
"Sorry." She raised her hands.
Cyrus rezipped the bag. Maybe he should have let her find it. He would never give the gift to her at this rate. "I didn’t tell you that you could look, doll. I have something in here for you. A… gift." He held the bag back out to her, smiling impishly. "You can look. I changed my mind."
As she took the bag, befuddled, he sat back down on her bed, running his hands over her comforter.
He was so tired. And hungry. But he had promised her he wouldn’t feed from her—and he sure as fuck wasn’t going to sneak out.
Cyrus had resigned himself to siphon what he could, but it was thin and empty.
Tiny tendrils taken from underneath the door from the one who tasted of bitter lies, Xara, and grander sips from the one with the joking voice, Keir.
It would have to do. Save for one—or three—slip-ups, he hadn’t fed off of any emotions from his Ves. He would rather starve than break her trust. That was, if he had any of her trust to break.
Slowly, she unzipped the bag again, her pale grey eyes holding his as she riffled through it. "I don’t know—oh," she gasped, and he knew she had found it. She tugged free a tiny, velvet box, different from the clothes stuffed inside. "Do you want me to open it?"
Cyrus nodded, patting the bed beside him. "Come here, doll."
She did so warily, sitting beside him with the velvet box in her hands. He reached forward and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers skimming the curve of her cheek as she opened the box.
"Oh, Cyrus," she choked out, voice thick with… nostalgia—or was he just tricking himself? Within the box, a dainty bracelet, white gold that glittered with Ryuxia diamonds, red gems which were found only on Sibeth, near the sea. She traced the edge of the bracelet. "This is old, isn’t it?"
"Yeah. Three hundred years, to be exact.
I bought it for you months after we met.
" Cyrus didn’t tell her the rest—that he had snuck into the throne room in the night, her body cold and lifeless on the floor, as he had lain by her side, holding her hand and willing her eyes to open, willing it to all have been a dream.
"You loved it. You never took it off," he uttered, gripped by melancholy, except when he found her eyes, he saw the girl he had loved within them; though, the color was different.
Vesperin held the bracelet out to him. "Put it on me?"
She was so, so soft. So, so sweet. He wanted her to be so his.
Cyrus took her wrist, unable to stop himself from kissing the middle of her palm, running the tip of his nose along her flesh, smelling the scent of thick cherries that lingered there. He clasped the bracelet around her wrist, the white gold chain complementing her pale skin perfectly.
"There," Cyrus said, "now you have a piece of our past."
Rin gripped the steering wheel of the car she had borrowed from Xara. Thankfully, her roommate hadn’t minded in the slightest when Rin had asked. Xara told her she would use Keir’s, while Rin took hers.
Tucked underneath a stack of worn blankets in the back seat, the hilt of Rin’s Echosword gleamed where it poked out. Her Echogun was in the glove box. Their bags were on the floorboard—packed for a week, hoping that was all this would take.
Getting out of assignments had been easy.
Rin had broken down earlier at the indoor shooting range, letting tears fall as she made herself remember Kit.
Keir forced her to rest, Director Ilsa witnessing it all.
So, when Rin had asked for a week off, citing mental health, the Director had been reluctant—until Rin had mentioned Sabine and Talor.