Chapter 1
Present day.
Ever Graves.
ARIES
Fresh blood trickles onto the paper as I cross another name off my list. The ruby red is a stark contrast to the rust-colored stains that surround it. Each mark is redemption and overdue vengeance. And it doesn’t even belong to me. But I own it.
“Mors vincit omnia.” Death always wins. I pull my dagger from the bastard’s thick throat as I mock his own motto.
I shoot a text to my twin sister. I got another one, Lib.
She doesn’t reply. She never does. Not anymore. The weight of what happened to her is so heavy it threatens to crush us both. So I made a vow to kill every single fucker who ever violated her. But it never seems to be enough. It won’t be until I get the one who caused it all.
Our father. Who’s not in heaven. Yet. Hallowed be thy name.
She told me she wouldn’t ever get a good night’s sleep as long as he still breathes.
I urged her not to worry. Told her to live her life.
To fuck and frolic and indulge in every fucking whim she desires.
And that I, Aries Thorn, loyal brother, dutiful son, lover, friend, and prince of poison, I alone would end it.
This legacy of poison has tainted these lands of Melancholia.
I wipe the blade with my favorite handkerchief. It’s black with silver stitching, and in the right-hand corner lie the initials BC. Bones Crane. A man as fierce and as deadly as my blade. Mine. Both him and the blade.
I punch in his number and put him on speaker phone when he answers. “You should see the fucking mess I made, baby.”
He chuckles through the line. “I can only imagine, you fucking psycho. Are you playing with their blood again?”
Mmm. He knows me well. “I’m about to. But I need some coaxing.”
Bones breathes heavily into the phone. “Tell me. Let me hear you.”
I set the phone down so I have both my hands free. I cradle my cock in one and smooth the flat of my blade up and down my shaft. “I’m so fucking hard right now.”
“Yeah? I bet you are. You looking at his mangled corpse? Admiring your artistry?” I can hear the rustling of Bones’s pants. The sound of his zipper coming undone.
I feast my eyes on the dead body, my cock growing in size. I give it a tight squeeze as I rub the blade’s cool, steel surface over my tip. “Mmm. Fuck. I severed a few arteries… There’s so much blood, baby.”
He draws heavier breaths. “I’m gonna cum so hard with you. Go on, Ries… you know what I like.”
I’m so close to exploding in my own hand, I have to bite my lip hard to bring myself back to the present. I’m about to get lost inside my perverse mind. This abomination deserves it. And nothing gets me off more than punishing those who are worthy of it.
Bones coaxes me through the phone. “You’re such a good fucking boy, Ries. Fuck. I’m already… cumming. Uhhh. Fuck.”
Tears soak my face as I unleash my anger, my rage, and my cum.
“Fuck. You,” I grit out. Thrust. “Fuck. Nocturnus.” Thrust. “Fuck!” Oh my god.
My orgasm builds into another one before I can even soften, then harden again.
I’ve become addicted to this rush. To this act of vile revenge.
I do it for me as much as I do it for her.
Because I’m sick and twisted and fucking diabolical.
As all the Thorn men are… It’s the poison in our veins.
In our minds. We are something other than men now. Something monstrous.
Bones grunts into the phone. “That’s it, baby. Let me hear your chaos. I bet you feel so fucking good with your cum all over his dead lips.”
Only Bones understands my tastes. Draven and Mia let me do some fucked-up shit. But this… they don’t know about this. Only Bones. And the fact that he cums with me makes me love him even harder.
“Promise me you’ll punish me when I get home,” I rasp out.
“Mmm. You have been a bad boy. Get your ass back here so I can scar it,” he taunts.
This only gets me hard again. But I’m done looking at this piece of shit. After tucking my cock back inside my pants, I pour out the rest of my poison onto his body, a ritualistic gesture that reminds me and the gods that I’m the one in control.
I launch the corpse into the incinerator, then strike a match and use it to light my cigarette before flicking it into the flames. “May you burn in hell forever.”
Pressing my forehead to the cool iron door soothes my heated flesh as I latch all three bolts. Only a psychotic Thorn in a fucked-up world like Melancholia would have access to an abandoned morgue that is still in working order. Cheers to ancient bargains with Bishop witches.
I take three deep breaths, my cock still twitching. And then a smirk takes over my lips. Only a few of these bastards are left, and then I’ll have to figure out a new kink. That will be fun.
I shoot Bones a quick text once I’m back on the road. There’s one more stop I need to make before I crawl into his bed. And the thought of this wild errand gets my cock even harder.
Boundaries. That’s what we’ve all tried to give each other these past seven months.
Draven still broods. Bones and I still fuck.
Nox is sexy and dark and dangerous as ever.
And Mia… I blow out a deep breath as I grip the steering wheel.
My little lamb is like a drug. With every hit I take of her, the more feral my addiction becomes.
And when I bury my face between her legs while Bones fucks me from behind, and Draven watches, and Nox holds me down…
I feel like the luckiest fucking monster alive.
But some of us have secrets even from each other. And tonight, I can’t fucking wait to indulge in one of mine.
I turn off the headlights of my SUV when I near the back of Harker Mansion. My adrenaline races as I rumble down the dirt road. Once I’m past the house, I kill the engine and roll the rest of the way down in neutral. It’s become a recurring event.
I’m guessing Nox knows I’m here, but he never calls me out. He allows us to play our little game. He lets Mia and me have our little secret.
The flickering light in the window of the guest cottage lets me know that Mia is already inside. I put it in park before snatching a velvet bag out of the glove compartment. The glass vials gently clank together when I stash it inside the breast pocket of my suit.
I can hear the water running when I push the door open, the hot steam filling the cold stone walls of the cottage. This is what we do. I kill and fuck and then retreat here for a hot shower to cleanse my skin and my sins before I commit more dirty deeds.
Mia waits for me. She begins the night as my poisoned little lamb. But by the light of the last star, she unfurls for me, becoming ferocious and ravenous like a wolf.
She watches me shower. Watches me scrub the dried blood from my fingernails. From my pores and my pale-blond hair. She licks her lips while she admires my cock. Her nipples pebble under her thin cotton nightshirt as I stroke myself. I cum again in the shower with her eyes on me.
“Aries, please. Stop dragging it out,” she whines.
I chuckle and wrap a towel around my waist. “All right. You’ve been such a patient girl tonight. Go get what you want. It’s in my jacket.”
She claps and squeals in delight before skipping out into the main sitting room. But she waits for me like a good girl.
I pluck a vial from the velvet bag and admire the lavender liquid as I dangle it between us. “You know the drill, little lamb. You want a taste? You gotta pay for it.”
She smirks, her eyes lighting up as she nods. “I know the rules, Aries.”
I let the towel fall from my waist as I twist open the vial. “Top first.”
Mia pushes her nightshirt up and over her head, revealing those beautiful and hard fucking nipples. I press the vial to her lips as my gaze roams over her chest. “Good girl. You’ve earned one sip.”
Her throat bobs, the liquid pinching her veins.
“Easy, gorgeous. You’re still my little fledgling.
” I’ve been drinking poison since I snuck my first vial when I was twelve.
I stole it out of my mother’s purse during the Wild Hunt festivities.
She and my asshole father were so feverish, so entranced with their own carnal appetites, they never saw me coming.
But Mia… she isn’t immune like we are. She didn’t grow up in this world. Yet she craves it all the same. This land and its poison have a hold on us all. And it comes for everyone eventually. Even Melancholia’s orphans.
She licks her lips. “More, please.”
I roll my thumb over one of her swollen nipples, delighting in how it sends goose pimples across her flesh. “How does it make you feel?”
She closes her eyes as a sloppy grin possesses her lips. “Like I can fly… Mmm. Like nothing else exists but you and me and this fire running through my veins.”
My cock stiffens, hardening at the angelic sight of her. I lean down to kiss her, and taste the traces of baneberry that still linger on her lips. “And that spark pulsing inside your pussy,” I whisper against her forehead. “Does that set you on fire too?”
She opens her eyes and gazes up at me, her lids heavy. “Give me another taste, and find out.”
I look down between us, my gaze landing below her belly button. “Oh, I intend to. But I’ll need payment first.”
She fumbles with the drawstring of her sweats. All while smirking like a naughty little vixen as she slowly shimmies out of them. “Turn around,” I command, my voice hoarse with need.
With nothing but a thin, lacy black G-string wedged between her cheeks, her creamy ass looks good enough to bite into. I run my finger underneath the length of the fabric, pulling it taut as I trace a path to that sweet spot between her thick thighs.
She gasps when my finger brushes her taint. “Aries… I need more. Please.”
Fuck. I want to devour every inch of her. My devout little lamb. I pull her flush against me and snake an arm around her neck, positioning the vial to her lips again. “You’ve earned another sip. Such a good girl for being so patient. Drink now.”