Chapter 23
I jerked awake with a start. My eyes blinked open, taking in the familiar room around me. The bed beneath my fingers was the same one I’d slept in the last few weeks. My hand slid out, feeling the cold sheets next to me.
Blackthorn must have gotten up hours ago.
The thought of him had me remembering last night. I lifted my arm, my eyes moving over the two dots on my wrist. I was no longer bleeding and, if I wasn’t mistaken, the wounds were already healing.
Frowning, I wondered at such a phenomenon. I had never thought about what it would have been like to be bitten. It certainly wasn’t anything like I expected. My cheeks burned at the thought, making me laugh. Blushing had been what had started it after all.
The bedroom door opened. My shoulders tensed, and my chin dipped to my chest, eyes on the bed.
“Oh, well, look at you, mistress, still in bed at this hour.” Fran placed a tray on the bed before me before putting around the room. She pulled the drapes back, showing the sun had already started to set.
I’d slept all day and then some. My fingers traced over the red marks on my wrist. Must have been the blood loss.
“Here.” Fran offered me a hand.
I quickly hid my wrist, pushing the covers back and slipping out of the bed on my own. “It’s alright, Fran. Thank you.”
Her brow quirked, and she stepped back, not saying anything.
Keeping my arm hidden behind my back, I shifted around her to walk into the closet. I grabbed a dark blue robe made of silk and wrapped myself in it. My senses were filled with the scent of Blackthorn. It was then I realized the robe I’d taken belonged to my captor.
“Mistress?”
Pulling my face away from the collar, I stepped out of the closet. “I’m here.”
Fran took her usual seat on the couch, pulling a book into her lap. “I thought we could return to our topic of your...” She struggled to say the word ‘spell’ for a moment before it came out as, “mole.”
I snorted, shifting my skirts so I could sit down. “It’s definitely one stubborn mole.” I picked at the fruit on the plate, picking a strawberry up and removing its stem. “You mentioned something about a loophole?”
Fran didn’t answer right away, her eyes focused on something else.
My sleeve had fallen down when I lifted the strawberry to my mouth, letting her see the marks on my wrist. I quickly placed one hand over them to cover them up and averted my eyes from hers.
Fran was silent for a moment longer before she cleared her throat and went on. “Yes, as I was saying, unless you are a powerful sorceress, it’s almost impossible to break a spell like Rumple’s on your own.”
“I was afraid of that.” I sighed, closing my eyes against an oncoming headache. I should have known that Rumple wouldn’t make it easy for any of us. “And the loophole?”
The older woman hesitated, her eyes darting to my covered wrist before back to my face. “There is one way to break any spell. True love’s kiss.”
My brows shot up. “True love’s kiss?” I barked a laugh. “People still believe in that kind of stuff?”
Fran smirked. “Don’t you?”
I picked up my glass off the low table and took a small sip. “True love isn’t something I dream of. Common decency is more likely to be what’s in most people’s future if they’re lucky. Pain and heartache, if not.”
“And you?” Fran cocked her head to the side. “What did you dream about?”
I began to tell her about my dreams of coming to the capital, searching for excitement and adventure, and yes even true love. Something stopped me.
Instead, I said, “Dreams are for those who can afford them. It’s been years since I’ve been so rich.”
“And, while it may not be your dream, do you not at least believe in true love?” Fran prodded, her eyes seeing more than I was comfortable with.
I wanted to. The dreamer inside of me wanted to believe in that one person who was meant for you. Except too many years breaking my back with no end in sight made it hard to see past my own pain and suffering.
Even if I did believe, it didn’t matter. Blackthorn didn’t love me. I didn’t love him. Or else that kiss in the gardens would have broken the spell Rumple had over me.
“No,” I murmured, sipping from my glass. “I can’t say that I do.”
Fran didn’t say anything else on the matter. She left me alone with my thoughts after helping me dress for the day in a pale pink dress with a dark purple corset. I didn’t know what was worse: her prodding or my own thoughts.
I spent the day staring out the bedroom window, my fingers stroking over the marks on my wrist. Blackthorn hadn’t made an appearance yet. Part of me was relieved at his absence, while the other half screamed and protested at his lack of attention.
It was a blessing and a curse. The longer I was here, the more I wanted his attention. His presence made me feel... different. Wanted. Protected. Something I hadn’t felt in years. Especially not in the factory.
Eventually it was time for supper, and I couldn’t delay seeing Blackthorn any longer. Fran and I were silent as she dressed me for dinner in a gossamer gown of deep green, leaving my shoulders and neck bare. I didn’t know if she chose this gown on purpose or if it was simply a coincidence.
I couldn’t protest without admitting how I felt about Blackthorn biting me. Something I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I knew how I felt about it.
“You look lovely, mistress,” Fran stated once we reached the dining room door.
I inclined my head. “Thank you.”
Fran hesitated, her face clearly showing she had more to say.
“Yes?”
She turned back to me. “There is no shame in it, you know.”
My brow furrowed. “In what?”
“Enjoying the bite.” Fran bowed and then left giving me no chance to rebuttal.
Apparently, I hadn’t hidden my conflicting emotions as well as I had hoped.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the dining room door open and stepped into what would be the first of many tension-filled dinners.
Blackthorn didn’t mention feeding from me nor did he ask to do it again, even several days later. I didn’t know if I was pleased or annoyed by that fact.
Days passed until, one night, I sat on my side of the bed, brushing my hair while Blackthorn moved around the room getting ready for bed.
“Do you...?” I began and then stopped, pulling my lower lip between my teeth.
Blackthorn paused in front of me. “Yes?”
I glanced up at him from beneath my lashes, heat brushing across my cheeks. “I was just wondering... aren’t you...?” I swallowed and licked my lips. “Hungry?”
His eyes tracked the path of my tongue. “Famished.”
“You haven’t fed during dinner.”
Blackthorn was quiet for a moment. “No, I haven’t.”
I shifted in my seat on the bed, staring down at my feet. “Why?”
A finger tipped my chin up, lifting my gaze to his. “Once paradise has been tasted, how could I go back to anything else?”
I blinked up at him. My blush deepened at his attention. “Won’t you die if you don’t feed?”
“Yes,” he drew out.
I shook my head, pulling my chin out of his hand. “I’m not worth all that. Certainly not your life.”
“Never.” His hand grasped the back of my neck, pulling my head back forcing me to look at him.
His eyes full of an anger I’d never seen before.
“Never again do I want to hear you talk about yourself that way. You are worth more than that entire city. Certainly more than my life. Do you understand me?”
My hand came up clasping onto his arm, my back arching into his hold. “Yes.”
My heart pounded hard in my chest, but not from fear.
No one had ever said those words to me. Outside of my family, no one has made me feel as if I were worth more than what I could give them and yet here Blackthorn was, telling me I was worth his life and more. I didn’t know how to respond to it.
His grip on my hair loosened, and I reacted.
I bolted up, my hand diving into his long black hair, yanking his face down to mine.
Our mouths crashed together and, at first, I thought Blackthorn would push me away.
Then his hands cupped the sides of my face, angling my head to the side, his tongue seeking out mine.
I kissed him like he was the very breath in my lungs, pressing myself closer to him. One of his hands slid down my face, cupping my waist. His large form loomed over me, and I wanted nothing more than to feel the press of that form against mine.
Sinking back toward the mattress, Blackthorn didn’t resist as I drew him down with me. My thighs parted, and my hips arched up to meet him. Eventually, I had to pull back to breathe.
Blackthorn licked at my mouth, playfully nipping at my lower lip before dragging his mouth across my jaw and down my neck. His mouth hesitated over the pulse in my throat.
“Do it,” I breathed, hooking my leg over his calves, my body humming for the pleasure that would come with his bite. “Please.”
It was the please that had him.
His fangs sank into my neck. I barely felt the bite this time, not being shocked by the pain. The sting quickly melted into pleasure, pulling a moan from me. My chest brushed against him as I arched my back. The hand on my waist stayed where it was while I burned for his touch.
“Blackthorn,” I panted, my leg pulling at him, body begging for him as his bite drew me higher and higher to that peak. “Please. I need...”
His head pulled away, fangs slipping from my neck, making me cry out in dismay. A trickle of my blood slid down his chin, his tongue dipping out to catch it. “Tell me what you want. Say it, my love.”
My mouth opened and shut, unable to form the words that would make him continue.
Blackthorn’s finger traced the line of my lips, his hips pressing down where I ached the most letting me feel him hard and ready for me. All I had to do was tell him.
Except I couldn’t. Not yet.
My body wanted him, yes. It was already addicted to the sting of his fangs in my flesh, the feel of his hands on me, the taste of him on my lips. I knew without a doubt I would be even more addicted if we moved forward, if he slid inside of me where only one had ever been before.
I couldn’t. Not now. Maybe not ever. Not while Rumple’s spell was still active.
Shaking my head, I let my legs fall to the bed. “I can’t.”
Blackthorn stared down at me, searching my face before he inclined his head and climbed off me. I quickly climbed beneath the blankets, tugging them up to my chin. Without a word, he finished getting ready for bed and slipped under the covers on the opposite side of the bed from me.
I didn’t fall asleep for a long time, my mind racing over all the ways I could get out of Rumple’s spell. Sadly, I could barely think of it for more than a moment before a tug of pain yanked on my stomach.
I clamped a hand over my mouth, holding back my cry of pain.
It was becoming harder and harder to keep my mind on returning to the factory and not on how much better it would be if I stayed here with Blackthorn and the others.
I didn’t know how much longer I could handle it before my feelings took over, and Rumple’s spell ripped me apart at the seams.