Chapter Thirty-Four Inana
Chapter Thirty-Four
Inana
“Bite me,” I say in a rush, before my nerves can falter. We stand on the snowy bank beside the rushing river. The opposite shore is in sight, across the narrowest and gentlest expanse we could find close by. Yet it isn’t near enough. The water is still too treacherous to swim across.
Dominic’s eyes darken, but he says nothing in reply.
“Just…just do it. It’s fine. What if it’s the only way?” Anxiety claws at my chest. As much as I’ve enjoyed…certain benefits from being stranded with Dominic, I’m eager to get back to the others. To ensure they’re safe.
The sky is darkening toward evening, and this is the first break in snowfall we’ve seen.
Yet even though Sloth insists he briefly sensed Dominic’s blood coming from somewhere nearby, we still haven’t seen any sign of the others.
Dominic cut his palm and spilled his blood in the snow to aid Calvin’s efforts in finding us, but that was at least half an hour ago.
It doesn’t help that we can’t see the road from here.
Dominic heaves a sigh. “I said it would be a last resort. We haven’t reached that level of desperation.”
I roll my eyes. “I said it’s fine. Besides, this is the perfect tree.
” I point at the old tree not far down the river.
It’s mossy and weathered, tall but not too thick, with hardly any lower branches left on it.
And it looks tall enough to fall straight across the river, and then some.
“If we’re going to make our own bridge, this is how, right?
What if the river is interfering with your captured Shades’ senses?
What if crossing will help us find them? ”
He glances from the river to the tree, then back to me. His expression takes on a tormented edge. “I don’t drink fresh blood if I can help it. It…it’s how I separate myself from them.”
“That’s why you drink from vials? Does that mean you’ve never tasted fresh blood?”
“I wouldn’t say never,” he says, tone laced with regret. “The first thing we feel after regaining consciousness following the Absolution ritual is an intense thirst. The priests who perform the ritual sacrifice an acolyte, locking them in a room with us until we feed. The acolytes don’t survive.”
My heart aches, both for him and for all those sacrificed acolytes.
Gods, how many humans have been sacrificed for the Sinless, between Absolution, lighting the braziers, and general feeding?
How many Sinless even are there? I never realized quite how many there were until I lived in Nalheim, where Sinless lords and ladies could be seen on almost every street.
There must be…thousands across the continent.
Which means there are seven times that number of Shades, minus the ones that have been killed after becoming Incarnate.
Just when I’d gotten a respite from my swirling, nagging thoughts and questions, my anger sparks all over again.
But none of my anger is at Dominic.
I step closer to him and place one hand on his chest, over the cold leather of his jerkin. “I’m not offering myself as a sacrifice. I’m giving you my blood as your Summoner.”
His breath hitches and he fists his hands at his sides as if to keep from reaching for me. “You don’t understand. Fresh blood…It’s different. And since it’s been so long since I’ve fed, I could lose control, especially if it’s coming from you.”
“Most definitely if it’s you,” Lust says. It isn’t quite dark enough to see him clearly, but I feel a wispy touch running through my hair. “And I like losing control.”
Another caress, this one against my cheek. It seems his Shades are rebelling against Dominic’s determination not to give in and touch me. “It would be a godsdamned honor if you let me taste you,” comes Pride’s voice.
“I’ll be a good boy.” This voice is far more innocent than the others, and it comes with a bump against my leg. I pat Sloth’s head with my free hand.
“Will you three give her some space?” Dominic chastises. His Shades retreat, though I can feel their reluctance to obey in their lingering touches. “It’s bad enough with just me fiending for her.”
“Who said it was bad?” I step in closer, holding his gaze.
His eyes flick down to my throat, and I can almost feel the thirst radiating through him, written in the arch of his upper lip, the slight baring of his canines.
This is the first time I’ve considered how hard it might be for him to hold off his thirst for days on end.
From what I’ve gleaned, he doesn’t feel the need to feed as often as a true Sinless, but still.
A groan rumbles in his chest.
That’s when I reach for his hip and unsheathe his dagger. “Bite me,” I say, bringing the blade under his chin, “and if you drink too much, I’ll stab you in the fucking face.”
He blinks a few times, the hunger draining from his eyes and shifting to amusement. With a slow exhale, his posture relaxes. “Fine. Just not in the face.”
I give him a coy smile. “Very well. I’m starting to like it, after all.”
“Only now?”
“It has its merits. But this…” I sweep the blade down his neck, then lay the flat of it across his throat. He doesn’t so much as flinch. “I could live without you talking for a day or two. So behave, all right?”
His answering smile is so warm, so godsdamned beautiful, it makes my breath catch. “All right. Let me prepare the tree first.”
We proceed to the tree and I watch as Dominic gets to work.
First he takes his second knife and slices off the outer bark for a smoother surface, then he begins to carve.
His moves are precise, his cuts even. I’m surprised by how efficiently he works, drawing something so complex.
Once it’s finished, he turns to me and sheathes his knife. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I say, though my words come out a little breathless.
If someone had told me I’d one day offer my blood willingly to a Shadowbane, I’d never have believed them.
But a lot has happened that I never would have predicted.
The most pleasant of these surprises being Dominic.
My feelings for him are more complicated than ever, but my attraction to him is undeniable.
My respect for him is strong. And I do know one thing. “I trust you not to hurt me.”
“Keep your trust in that blade instead,” he says, nodding at the dagger still clenched in my hand. He motions me closer. “Where do you want it?”
“Oh,” I say, the blood leaving my face. I shudder, remembering how woozy I got from watching Calvin and Dom with their vials. “Not anywhere sensitive, and not over a vein.”
“Blood flows easier from the places you consider sensitive, and faster from a vein. It would be over sooner that way.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.”
He chuckles at my unease. “I suppose a tougher area would force me to drink slowly. It’s up to you.”
I can’t keep the look of disgust off my face as I extend my arm and pull back my sleeve. Dominic slowly takes my hand and presses his lips over my knuckles, all while holding my gaze. Then he turns my hand over and kisses my palm, then my wrist. It’s sweet, but now my panic is growing.
He trails kisses up my inner forearm.
“The other side,” I rush to say, shifting so my outer forearm is toward his lips.
His mouth curls in a wicked smile. “Very well. Get your blade ready.”
My heart races, my hand trembling as I press it to his throat.
For all my earlier bravado, my nerves are fraying now.
Just when I think I might give in to my panic completely, a familiar weight bumps against my leg again, steadying me.
Then a light hand on my shoulder, bracing me.
Another smoothing my hair, calming me. My lungs relax as Dominic’s shadows wrap around me in exactly the way I need.
My anxiety shifts into anticipation. I feel just as bold yet vulnerable as I did when I stood naked for him in the cave, daring him to look at me, quivering for his touch.
He holds my eyes again as he presses one more kiss to my outer forearm. He pauses, a question in his eyes, and I nod.
I don’t let myself look away as he opens his mouth and presses his teeth against my skin. I see it before I feel it, the tips of his canines sinking into my flesh. Then there’s the sting, a sharp pressure that has my breaths shortening.
“You’re doing so good,” Lust whispers.
“That’s my fucking girl,” Pride says.
A flutter of euphoria soars through me, pooling low in my belly.
Dominic extracts his canines, then presses his mouth over the wound.
Another sense of pressure, but this time it’s from the mild suction of his mouth as he pulls blood from the lesion.
He swallows once. Then another pull, another swallow.
Just as fear begins to darken the edges of my mind, he breaks away, lips glazed with my blood.
With slow, gentle movements, he brushes his thumb over my puncture wounds, collecting a dab of my blood.
His Shades remain close to me as he releases my arm and turns toward the tree, where he smears my blood over one of the lines of the diagram.
The ritual circle sparks with light, but Dominic returns to me at once, cutting open his palm and painting my wound with his blood.
His Shades whisper more comforting words, offer more tender touches, until the sting eases.
The punctures close until there’s nothing but smooth flesh smeared with blood.
Dominic kisses my knuckles again. “Are you all right?”
His Shades seem to know exactly when I’ve regained enough of my calm to allow me some space again.
It takes me a few breaths to find my voice.
“Yes. That was…fine.” Fine might not be the best word for it.
It was terrifying. Fascinating. And, based on the heat at the apex of my thighs, strangely erotic. I sure as hell am not telling him that.
He folds my hand in his and guides me a few steps away from the tree.
The light is contained to the width of the diagram, and unlike the pillar on the bridge, it doesn’t extend in height.
Instead, it gently glows over the bark. The scent of charred wood fills my nostrils, and soon the tree begins to creak.
When the diagram burns through enough to split the wood and send the tree tipping, we step back again.
I squeeze my fingers tight around Dominic’s as the tree falls cleanly across the river to the other side.
My mouth falls open. “It worked. It actually worked.”
He winks. “Did you doubt me?”
Crossing the fallen tree is another ordeal all its own.
I’ve never had anxiety around bridges, but that was before one collapsed out from under me and I got to be keenly acquainted with the terrifying river that now rushes beneath my too-narrow walkway.
Dominic doesn’t share my fears, even going so far as to walk backward across the tree so he can hold my hands and guide me along.
“You’re showing off,” I say, voice uneven.
“You aren’t giving yourself enough credit,” he says. “You’re walking across a half-rotted tree that we just knocked down and is admittedly only precariously positioned on the other bank. Anyone would find this challenging.”
“Anyone but you,” I mutter.
“Anyone but me.” Another wink.
Bastard. We’re defying death and he’s…flirting with me?
Once we reach the other side, I race for the first wide pine I see, collapsing to the ground beneath its shelter of boughs. “I am never doing that again.”
Dominic crouches before me, rubbing my shoulder while a devilish smirk curls his lips. “You did great.”
After a few steadying breaths, my nerves calm down, and he helps me rise to my feet.
I meet his eyes, aware of how close we are.
His hand remains on my shoulder while the other comes up to brush my cheek.
Everything inside me yearns to lean into him, to claim his lips with mine, but logic sobers me.
There’s something we haven’t talked about yet.
“When we find the others,” I say, “this ends, doesn’t it?”
His brows pull together. He brushes a strand of my hair away from my face and tucks it behind my ear. “Why should it?”
“That was supposed to be a one-time thing. I said we’d just get it out of our systems.” My heart rails at my own words while my mind knows they need to be said.
I remember the way he held me this afternoon, brushing tears from my cheeks after the nightmare I can’t recall.
I remember how tightly we held each other.
It was the kind of tenderness I sought to avoid by having him blindfold me.
It’s the kind of tenderness we can’t let grow.
Not with where we’re headed when my term as his Summoner ends.
I’ll be crossing the sea to where I can finally live freely.
He’ll be diving headfirst into a war he probably won’t win.
“And have you, Seamstress?” His voice dips low and he brushes his thumb over my mouth. My lips part in response, my breaths quickening. “Did you fuck me out of your system yet? Get your fill of me?”
I part my lips wider until my teeth close over the tip of his thumb. I bite down just the slightest bit. “No,” I say. “You barely took the edge off.”
I don’t know who kisses who first, but suddenly we’re a tangle of lips and limbs.
He backs me against the tree trunk and grinds his hips into mine.
There’s no satisfaction with so many layers of clothes between us, but we can take care of that.
He’s already unclasping my cloak, groping at my bodice.
I arch into his touch as he frees one of my breasts, just enough to close his mouth over my nipple—
“Are we interrupting?”
Calvin’s voice has us freezing in place. We jump apart to find two faces peering beneath the boughs. Calvin blinks with a look of feigned innocence while Harlow smirks, eyes locked on the hand Dominic uses to cover my bare tit. I swat his palm away and tug my bodice back in place.
“No,” I say, and I’ve never heard a single syllable sound so unconvincing.
Harlow snorts a laugh, and she and Calvin stride away from the pine. “It’s about time,” Harlow mutters.