Chapter 17 Mercy
MERCY
Rin placed the Argent pill on her tongue, her cupped palm under the tap in the bathroom as she collected water and brought it up to her lips to drink. The pill went down easily—it should’ve, considering how well-versed she was in swallowing down medicine.
The plastic bottle was smooth under her fingers as she tucked it under a pile of towels in the small cabinet.
Now, to wait for it to take effect. The bottle had said it was fast-acting, so she had to move quickly for her plan to work.
She’d been able to sneak out a few nights ago for a measly thirty minutes; she doubted she could leave for longer without them finding her.
And she would have to, for what she had planned.
The time was now, and this had been the only way she’d been able to come up with. By targeting Rhyden’s weakness: silver.
Rin opened the bathroom door.
The clicking of the keys on Rhyden’s laptop ceased as her bare feet shuffled on the floor.
"Sneaking up on me, wife?"
Rin tiptoed to the kitchen island and braced her forearms on it, eyes traveling from Rhyden’s beringed fingers to the veins in his hands, all the way up to his throat, until she finally met his red eyes. "I doubt I could sneak up on you."
"You’re getting smarter each time we talk. Where did you hide all this intelligence? Because I sure as shit didn’t see it in your last life," Rhyden commented, eyes dropping back to the laptop screen.
That wouldn’t do.
Rin steeled herself, placing a pale hand on the back of his laptop as she slowly shut it. He let her.
"We’re alone, and you’re going to ignore me?"
His lip twitched, revealing the tip of his fangs. "I didn’t realize you were so desperate for my attention. What? Your other Soulbonds not cutting it?"
She huffed. "What were you looking at?"
God, she was terrible at this. She would be an awful femme fatale. It was an effort to stay the trembling of her fingers, so she tucked her sleeves over her hands. His eyes followed the motion, like a predator.
"If you must know," Rhyden started, each word dripping with amused lechery, "I’ve been searching for information on the Blackfalls. I keep coming back to one thing—if only I’d have searched for you in Solar City, I could’ve found you so much sooner.
The words landed heavily. She hadn’t thought of that—what would have happened if he had gotten his claws into her sooner.
Rin swallowed, interest overtaking the pressing need to carry out her plan. But maybe this was how it started. With a glimmer of curiosity.
On a shaky breath, she allowed herself to give in. "What would you have done… If you had found me?"
"Depends on when." He licked his lips, watching her.
"Let’s say, when I was young," she countered.
"You are young. You’re like a child against the years I’ve lived, wife."
Her cheeks warmed, betraying how deeply the words cut.
But not only did they cut deep and remind her of how little she knew—and how little life was in her compared to him—they also tapped on some uncharted piece of her, that thrived on misery and belittlement.
Hers. The air crackled, and shame coiled lowly in her gut, not unwelcomed.
She had never felt this way before—except with him.
He made her feel things she hadn’t even known were possible.
"Younger than I am now, then." Her voice was huskier than she wished it to be. She went along with his words. Better to play docile.
Rhyden hummed, and the distance between them was too vast, and too near.
"I would’ve watched you. I would’ve followed you.
" The leader of Noctis tapped a finger against the counter. Her eyes fell to it, mouth growing dry. "I would’ve watched you at home, with your parents, followed you to school. I bet you were a dutiful little schoolgirl, weren’t you?
Straight A’s, no missed assignments. You were so enchanting—I bet you had all the boys wrapped around your finger. "
She hadn’t. She had been alone, rarely any friends that stayed—none but Kit. She did not comment, entranced by this version of history he portrayed.
"I would’ve scared all those fucking little boys away from you—made sure no one touched you. They wouldn’t have known what to do with you, anyway. And when you were old enough, I would have taken you for myself."
His low croon made her dizzy.
"What do you mean, taken me?"
"Do you want it in plain terms?" Rhyden’s red eyes flashed. She grew utterly aware they were alone. If he wanted to reenact what he had done in Lunar City, no one would stop him… least of all her. "I would have kidnapped you and made you mine."
Shocked, her mouth dropped open. "You would have taken me from my family? From Kit?"
Rhyden didn’t know the whole story with Kit, or so Rin assumed. But she knew that Rhyden knew, Kit meant everything to her.
He nodded.
"What if I had screamed?" She tipped her chin up in defiance.
"Then I would make you be quiet," Rhyden shot back.
"Would you have… t-touched me?" Rin wanted to know. Here she was, trying to seduce him, and she could barely say the word. She couldn’t imagine an immortal like him having her, especially when she had been younger. It would have been ravaging, plain and simple. She wouldn’t have stood a chance.
He smirked, but didn’t reply.
"Would you have," she continued, "force me if I hadn’t wanted it? In this alternate reality—which really isn’t so far off because you did take me—how can I be so sure you wouldn’t have hurt this younger version of me?"
It was almost like a game, now, between them. He seemed to love to play just as much as she did. She swore, she felt the Argent sweep through her bloodstream.
"Because I think I would’ve seen, from a young age, how innocent you are." Rhyden stared at her, unmoving from his spot. He passed a hand over his lower face, and that drew her attention to his lips. She remembered how they’d felt against her own, and the space between her thighs tingled.
"You would have been so much sweeter, with me keeping you safe your whole life.
I hope that I would have realized how innocent you truly are in what you did in your past." Finally, he moved.
Drawing closer, he stopped just by her side, a heat that burned against her.
The tension between them was undeniable, impenetrable.
"I never would have taken anything from you or touched you in a way you didn’t want.
But I would, when you wanted it." His fingers drifted over the tips of her hair, where it fell over her shoulder.
"You did when you were under me in Lunar City.
" He traced a finger over the side of her neck.
"When my fangs were inside you and your blood filled my mouth. "
Somehow, they had drawn even closer while he had spoken so sinfully to her. Rhyden leaned over her, and she was bent back against the counter, the edge digging into her spine.
"What about now?" Rin’s voice quivered.
"What?" His tone dropped to a low murmur.
This was it. Her whole plan hinged on this moment; though, it was distant, barely a thought in her mind when faced with his strength, his scent.
She lifted a hand and pressed it on his lower stomach, feeling the thin cotton of his shirt under her palms, and the heat of his chiseled muscles. "What would you do now?"
Rhyden smirked down at her, and Rin found herself wondering if he’d break—or she would be broken by him.
"Now? Now I want to touch you. Your eyes are practically begging me for it."
"Is that so?"
"Don’t fucking lie to me again, wife." Rhyden’s eyes were burning red.
"You can lie to me about a lot of things, but never about desire.
I know you." He leaned down, rings on his fingers sending a cool shock of electricity to her flesh as he touched her, brushing her hair away from the side of her neck.
His lips pressed against her earrings. She lamented the fact that everything she wore was white gold—just like his rings.
Like a part of her had known what silver would do… "Intimately."
"If you know me so well," Rin said, a husky note in her voice, "then why aren’t you doing anything about it?"
Her words seemed to be all the permission he needed—she scoffed inwardly at that. As if he needed or wanted her permission.
No. Rhyden Valkar was beholden to no laws, to no man. He was a force unto himself.
And Rin was the thing he had set his sights on. For better or for worse.
Rhyden gripped the side of her neck, thumb pressing deeply into her pulse point under her jaw. He forced her head up to his, and the stretch was almost uncomfortable. Then, just like the last time—the first time they’d kiss—his lips ravaged hers.
It was rapacious, the way he claimed her, as if he wanted to punish her, enact his revenge upon her mouth. Wet and messy, the vampire kissed her. The counter dug into her spine, and she yelped into his mouth; he swallowed the sound down.
In a haze of lust, Rin nearly forgot her whole plan.
Rhyden’s lips traveled down to kiss her jaw, nip at her ear. His teeth tugged on a small hoop in her ear, and she felt the pull tingle through her scalp and shoot to the tips of her toes. And Rin remembered… just as his fangs brushed the side of her neck.
"The bed," she gasped, pulling away from him, her hands on his chest. God, he was hot and hard under her palms. Saliva glimmered on his lips.
"What was that?" Rhyden drawled. His voice was so deep she felt it hook around that tingly spot between her thighs, making her legs tighten where she stood, as if to stave off the sparks of anticipatory pleasure at what was promised in his eyes.
Of course, he was going to make her repeat it.
It was an effort to keep her eyes on his—and not drift to the dark shadows of the headboard, where the rope lay stashed.
She swallowed.
"Take me. I know you want this, want me." Rin reached up and placed her palm on his face, beseeching with her eyes, brows winged, as she implored, "Why deny yourself?"