Chapter 7
They walked in silence, only the soft hiss of the waves audible as they traversed the narrow beach around the Bite. Aster had listened, as he knew she would. She shed tears for his people. She agreed to trade her freedom for theirs. It was a sweet victory, but it tasted bitter.
Damir could tell by the rhythm of her breath and the sag in her shoulders that she tired as the night wore on.
The sands grew rockier, demanding they pick their way through the sharp shards, but she did not complain, and he did not insult her by requiring her to rest. Not until the mouthwatering scent of her blood reached him over the marine bouquet of sea things the retreating tide left behind.
He stiffened. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” she said quickly, twitching her skirts to cover her exposed toes. “I’ll be fine. Only a little farther.”
“Let me see it.” Without waiting for her protest he sank down and folded the heavy hem back. As he’d guessed, red seeped from her foot, staining the sand. This was no scratch. It was an offering to Salaan, and the planet was starved for a taste of her, sucking away as much as she spilled.
He offered his shoulder for her to balance and took her foot in his hands, turning it so he could see where her sole was sliced across the heel. Her blood welled appealingly, begging for his tongue, and he had to swallow the rush of venom released by his fangs at the sight.
Never had he craved his prey like this. And he wasn’t even hungry.
“I stepped on a shell, I think,” she said apologetically.
“It won’t fester with my venom so recently in your veins.
” He held her ankle steady with the barest touch and kept his voice level, though it roughened with the memory of how she’d tasted.
“May I sacrifice some of your skirt for a bandage?” With his other hand, he fingered the thick fabric, knowing his claws could easily rend a usable portion.
Aster bit her lip and then shook her head.
“It’s better if I arrive home bloody and damp with skirts intact, I think.
If I’m too…cared for, my father will be instantly suspicious about my ribbons.
I’ll be a bride of Corek before the sun rises, and as you’ve witnessed yourself, I’ll make a wretched nun. ”
Damir tensed. The idea of Aster being a bride to anyone, even the brother moon, did not sit comfortably with him.
Even less so, the idea that her own father would begrudge her care—the man she’d insisted was not cruel!
If she called her cousin crueler than him, she was doomed. These were the men he condemned her to.
They were also the men who’d already condemned the females of his kind, he reminded himself.
The ones who held them hostage for generations and mutilated their bodies beyond repair.
Aster was the price that must be paid in ransom, and even she could see it was the only path. She was willing to bleed for it.
“Let me carry you the rest of the way, then,” he said, standing and lifting her in one movement, grateful she did not struggle as he cradled her to his chest.
No, she wound her arms around his neck and clung to him, her lids falling shut as he strode toward the bar that marked the start of the sand bridge. The path she’d take away from him, forever. He slowed his pace, stretching these last moments together as long as possible.
Night Mother, it was unfair to have delivered me this female, knowing I cannot have her. Was it a starcursed test? Must he prove with further sacrifice his worthiness to lead? He was already willing to do anything, give up everything—and now he must give up still more?
“Aren’t you angry?” she asked abruptly, as though she’d read his thoughts.
“Furious.”
“But you will honor the treaty’s provisions anyway, knowing the council will not do the same? Knowing you will have no choice of bride but the one they set before you?”
“It does not matter who she is.” Because she is not you. “As long as the council releases the nightmaids, it only matters that she is willing and human.”
“She is those things.”
Shock speared through his spine. Aster knew her. It was a small island, and they would be near the same age. But somehow, he had not expected it. “A friend of yours?”
“No. The council brought her from the city beyond the sea. Do you know of it?” Damir nodded, and she sighed deeply.
“I did not, of course. I met her, only once, when she first arrived. She told me she came of her own accord and did not dread the match. Relations between Nightborn and humans are not uncommon where she comes from, she claims, although she told me other unbelievable things, so perhaps she was not being truthful about the place. Still, I hoped it would be better than the colony.”
“Is that where you planned to escape, to the city beyond the sea?”
She gave a jerky nod, her voice thick with emotion. “But I was ill-prepared for the journey, as I proved so readily when I did not even make it out of the Bite.”
He was silent, thinking of how near to death she was when he found her. Perhaps the Night Mother was merciful after all. Perhaps that was her gift, her recompense to him, the knowledge that Aster was alive and safe, even if he could not keep her.
Aster added, like an afterthought, “She’s very pretty.”
“Who?”
She stayed silent and the question answered itself. They’d reached the sand bridge, he realized, the gleaming path to the colony gates already partially exposed by the receding waters. The tide was not yet at its ebb, but it would be soon. Reluctantly, he let her down.
“What will you tell them?” he asked, stalling the inevitable but unable to let her go until the last minute. Unable to keep his hands from stroking her shoulders, trailing over the edge of her bodice until his fingers grazed her bare throat where his bite, though mostly healed, was still visible.
“As little as possible. I doubt they’d enjoy the details.
” Her mouth bunched in wry amusement as she looked up at him, her hands flat against the muscles of his abdomen.
He did not let himself indulge in her dark humor, and she sobered quickly.
“I will tell them what they believe already, that I am weak and helpless and was lucky to wash ashore after falling into the sea. It is not a lie, exactly.”
“If he hurts you—” he broke off, realizing how na?ve he sounded. “When he hurts you, I will do my best to help. I will do whatever is in my power to get you as far from him as possible.”
“Who?” she asked blithely, but her tears gave her away. He caught them one by one, first with his fingers and then, when he could not keep up, with alternating kisses to her eyelids as he held her face in his hands and let her salt burn his lips.
“You did not debase me,” he murmured against her skin. “You did not. You honored me with your trust. You honored me with your blood. You honor me with your tears. I will not forget your strength, Aster. I will never forget you.”
With a soft, despairing cry, she pressed her mouth to his.
He froze, lost in the frantic kisses she bestowed on him, hardly daring to breathe for fear he would interrupt her, like she was a wild thing he was trying to snare.
She was tentative at first, but her shyness wore off, and she was soon rising up on her toes to demand more from him, sliding her hands into his hair as she kissed along his jawline up to his sensitive earlobe.
It had his cock stiffening and his heart stuttering all at once.
This was an end. This was goodbye. This was—like nothing he’d known, and it seemed impossible that in mere moments it would all be gone, she would be gone, like the sea had given him a treasure and stolen it away again in one rushing wave.
When she returned to his mouth, still begging for more, he gave in, tugging her chin down so she opened for him, let him in to trace her teeth and dance with her tongue, let him devour her, let her scent and taste consume him until he was barely conscious of the night.
When she finally pulled back, eyes glossy and cheeks flushed, it felt like she took something with her.
“You’ve ruined me,” she murmured.
“No—”
She put her fingers to his lips, stopping him. “You have. I am forever changed by you.”
He could not refute it, so he did what must be done and let her go.