Chapter Eight #3
Cupping the back of my head, Radu lifted my leg and dipped me backwards—the windswept brooding hero fresh from the moors—ready and willing to have his way with the princess.
Tongues battling, lips swelling, core melting—my cries of protest faded into moans so quickly, I forgot what I was protesting about.
We broke apart gasping. The room was spinning again, but this time the knot in my stomach wasn’t motion sickness.
Hand moving of its own accord, I grasped Radu’s chin with my thumb and forefinger, and drew his lips back down for—
“Feed me.”
Heavy lids tossed off the weight, and I snapped my eyes open. “Wow.” I shook him off and fell, plopping down on the chaise. “Way to kill the mood, Prof! I can’t believe you’re trying to seduce me for my blood. I’ve had a lot of guys pull a lot of crap to get something from me, but that’s a first.”
Santino’s smile went nowhere. Dropping to his knees, he grasped my thighs—sending ripples up my body.
I hated that my resolve was already breaking, and all he did was draw my knees together and rest his chin on them.
“Feed me, my sweet, my honey, my love,” he whispered—a grin dancing on his perfect, pale lips.
His strange color-changing eyes had settled on an oddly enchanting gray.
The man and the monster—yin and yang—in perfect harmony.
“I want you in my mouth. Sliding down my throat. Filling my body, my veins, the hole that was once my soul.”
I swallowed hard.
“I want to be all you, Charlotte Hunter. I want to be the black rose you pollinate. I want to survive on your mercy and whims alone. If you deny me your blood, then I deny my existence,” he murmured, dropping kisses on my bare, sensitive thighs. “For I only want to live if you allow me to.”
“I— I—” Gods, help me, why is this working?! “But I can’t,” I stammered out. “Ronin did this to me.” I showed him my shoulder. “He said he doesn’t want me having anything to do with you, and then he said a little something about killing you when he removed the fang marks from my thighs.
“I know we have a deal, but that bastard can make my life”—I shook my head—“he can make Dora’s life very difficult if I go against him. I can’t put her at risk to save myself. I just can’t.”
“You also can’t protect her if something happens to you,” he said softly, stopping my arguments before they left my lips.
“It’s not just my kind who are a threat to you.
Just the other day you were almost killed by the shade.
If your life is lost down here, Ronin Belphe will have no reason to continue extending his protection to your sister. ”
I shook, nails pricking my palms. I wanted to deny it so badly, but not a single thing Radu was saying was untrue.
“Do you know how I knew of their plot to take you, even though they went to great pains to hide it?” He flapped a hand at the headless corpses.
“It’s because after weeks of sharing your blood, I’m once again at full strength.
Every single other vampire is weakened and slowed by three hundred years of hunger.
Not me. I am now the strongest and fastest that I’ve ever been.
Without the screams for blood ringing in my ears day and night, I hear more and farther than I ever have.
“I can and I will protect you from all threats, my sweet honey.” Gray orbs sucked me in, and drowned me.
“And you know this because you see it when you look into these eyes that frighten and arouse you in equal measure. You know that you are the most important thing in my afterlife. There is and never will be anything that I desire and cherish more than you.”
“But that’s... that’s...” My voice was a thin rasp. “That’s not me you want. It’s my blood. You’re only so obsessed with me because I keep you alive. Your reasons are shallow,” I cried. “They’re self-serving.”
His smile widened. “And isn’t that exactly what love is? Isn’t that why we desire it? Because it sustains us. Because it gives us the means and the reason... to live.”
Why couldn’t I disagree with him? Why did this happen every time?
My jaw worked, but nothing would come out.
“Feed me.”
“If— If he sees a mark on me, I’ll pay the price,” I forced out. “I’ve been punished by the sub bond before. I never want to experience that pain again.”
Again, Radu did not look deterred. “If you’ll indulge me, sweetie, I have an idea to get around that...”
LATER THAT EVENING after classes, I carried my and Dora’s dinner back to our room.
The two of us were done eating in the mess hall for the time being.
Even though the other demons put their heads down and walked in the opposite direction when I came in, Ronin had too much of a love for making an example of people in public, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
“Nik was telling me all about the dryads, Rosacea.”
“I’m pretty sure that is no one’s name,” I muttered.
“Their magic is so cool,” Dora gushed. “They don’t just speak to animals.
They also understand the whispers of the trees and plants.
They can make the tiniest seed blossom into a full-grown tree in minutes, and they can do something called tree-striding.
As in they can walk through an oak tree in one part of the realm, and walk out of an oak three hundred miles away in an instant. ”
“Wow, that is actually cool. I wish we were learning about stuff like this in Connard’s class instead of listening to his endless bigoted droning.”
Pushing open the door, I peeked inside, saw it was empty, and then gestured for Dora to come through.
That night’s dinner was chimichurri grilled flank steak with creamy mashed potatoes and grilled corn on the cob with a glass of red wine and a mango sorbet for dessert.
Far be it for me to say something positive about hell, but I couldn’t deny that the two of us never ate this well when we were topside.
I stole the coffee table from Ronin’s room and set it in ours for us to enjoy our meal. The door slammed open in the outer room before the fork could reach my lips.
“I know you’re in there,” Ronin barked. “Get out here. Now.”
Sighing, I said goodbye to my peaceful dinner and got up. “Stay and eat, D. I’ll be right back.”
Ronin was waiting for me by the fireplace. He spun on me, clutching his phone in his hand. I could hear it vibrating from where I stood. “What the hell did you say to Raven, Sauda, and the others?”
“Me?” I crooked a brow. “Does that mean they admitted it was my idea? The last I heard from them, they were jumping all over each other to take credit.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “That was the last I heard from them too. All of them swearing up, down, and sideways that this empire of sin shit was their grand idea, but it’s got you written all over it, mortal.”
I hummed. “Why don’t you look happy? The ladies thought it was genius. So good, it saved me from the beating Raven desperately wanted to give me.”
“I bet it did,” he shot back. “They’ll never say it, but they all respect you now. In their eyes, you’re not much more than a worthless weakling. But now you’re a clever worthless weakling.”
Ouch. The promotion is nice, but it still stings to hear how low I measured in their estimation. “So what’s the problem?”
Ronin’s eyebrow twitched. “What’s the problem? All fucking five of them have been calling and hounding my father’s advisors—selling him on the dream of retirement. They’ve been going on and on about how Father won’t have to lift a finger with not one or two, but six rulers on the throne.”
“And he won’t,” I chirped, clapping my hands. “What good news for Papa Sloth. He must be thrilled. So, when’s the wedding date? Or should I say, dates?”
“It’s not happening,” came through clenched teeth.
“I’m not marrying one or any of them—which you’ve now made a million times harder.
Before, I could delay claiming I needed time to choose the right alliance for House Sloth.
Now you’ve got them believing there need be no choosing—all Houses can align with sloth. ”
“What’s the problem? It sounds like they can.”
“They can’t,” Ronin sliced off, staring into my eyes. “Why in hell would I make a woman my queen, if that woman isn’t you.”
I stilled, smile freezing on my face. The question went into my ear, passed through my mind, was immediately deleted, and was gone before it made it out the other side. No part of me could deal with what he just said, so I wasn’t even going to acknowledge it was said. The end.
“Well, I’d reconsider if I were you, Belphe,” I breezed. “Those ladies need to get out from under the thumbs of their misogynistic fathers, and you need to do what’s best for your House. Win-win.”
Ronin studied me, his head tipping to the side. “Oh, I see why you want these marriages to happen. Did you think if it does, I’d leave you be out of respect for my wives, or for the mere fact that I’d be too busy with all five of them to bother with you?”
I returned one of his devilish smirks with one of my own. “The thought did cross my mind.”
“Then you might want to pull it back, because what will actually happen if your plan comes to be is that one or all of my wives will have you put to death, so that you can’t assassinate them and take the throne—and me—for yourself.”
My eyes bugged. “P-put to death?! Buggering hell, why!? You just said I’m their favorite person now.”
“Why?” Ronin laughed. “Because that’s literally what all of them are planning to do to each other the minute this grand plan is carried out, and power is consolidated into one kingdom of sin.
Only two sins will rule on this throne—not six.
” He shrugged. “Honestly, that’s why they all both hate and admire you now.
You just devised the most brilliant coup in the history of hell. ”
“It’s not a coup! It’s a plan for unity and diplomacy.”
Ronin blank-stared at me. “And those words mean...?”
“My gods! What is wrong with this place?! It’s—”
“Hell?” he finished, grinning away.