10. Bryony
brYONY
My legs still preferred the chair.
Stellan watched me from the dais as I crossed the throne room. His eyes were almost completely red now, and the hunger rolling from him made my empty stomach clench.
I kept walking.
The bandage on my palm stayed in place. I’d rolled my jumper sleeve above my right wrist instead. There was no open wound there, which meant he would have to bite me.
I stopped outside his reach and wrapped my left hand around the loose length of chain attached to his restrained wrist. The iron was warm. If I pulled it hard, I could drag his arm away from me.
Stellan looked at my bare wrist. His free hand flattened against the stone.
“I’m going to feed you.”
“Tell me why.”
He wasn’t asking me to defend myself. Hunger had stripped the charm from his voice, leaving the question plain.
“You’re the only person down here who knows what Adrian is and how this court works.
If you lose control, I’m trapped with a starving vampire.
If you die, I’m alone with a Crown that keeps trying to put itself on my head.
Feeding you gives both of us a better chance.
I also want to know what the bite feels like, but curiosity isn’t making the decision. ”
Stellan held my gaze. “That’s honest. Hold on to that reason. The bite may make the pleasure stronger than you expect, so if you want me to stop, pull away.”
“How much reaches through the bond?”
“I’ll feel fear, pain, pleasure and when your body begins to tire. I’ll know whether you’re moving towards me or trying to get away. You’ll feel my hunger, pleasure and relief. The strongest part fades once my mouth leaves your skin. No thoughts, and no control in either direction.”
I took that in without moving. “Good. Tell me where you want me.”
His gaze travelled over me. “You understand that I’m trying very hard not to answer that honestly.”
“Try harder.”
A trace of amusement touched his mouth. It vanished when another wave of hunger tightened his body.
“Come to my right,” he said. His voice had gone rough. “Kneel at the edge of the dais and keep hold of the chain. Don’t put yourself between my knees.”
I moved to his right and lowered myself onto the stone. The dais was high enough to bring my face level with his chest. I stayed close to the edge, with one knee still on the floor.
His free hand remained flat beside him.
“Closer,” he said.
I shifted forwards until his knee touched my hip.
The contact sent a warm pull through my stomach. Stellan felt it. His nostrils flared, and the red in his eyes darkened.
“If you tell me to go back to the bedroom now, I may hit you with your own chain.”
“I want your blood far too much to pretend this is noble restraint.” He turned his hand over on the stone. “Give me your wrist.”
I placed my right hand in his.
His fingers closed around mine, large and careful. He didn’t pull me closer. He turned my arm until the inside of my wrist faced him, then rested my hand against his shoulder.
“Hold on to me. The first bite may make you jerk back.”
I curled my fingers into his shirt.
The amusement returned, warmer this time. It made him look less like a starving king and more like the dangerous man who had been watching my mouth since I entered the court.
He lifted my wrist.
His lips touched my pulse first.
The contact was gentle. The reaction wasn’t.
Heat ran up my arm and spread across my chest. My nipples tightened under the soft jumper, and my breath caught hard enough to embarrass me.
Stellan’s eyes closed. He drew in my scent with a slow breath, then opened them again.
He paused with his fangs against my skin and waited.
I tightened my hand on his shoulder and pressed my wrist to his mouth.
His expression changed.
The hunger remained, but control settled over it. His free hand moved from mine to the back of my neck, holding me steady without forcing me nearer.
His tongue passed once over my pulse.
Then his fangs entered my skin.
Pain flashed. It lasted less than a second.
Pleasure followed so quickly that I gasped against his shoulder. My grip on the chain tightened, but I didn’t pull it. Stellan’s mouth sealed over the bite, and the first draw sent heat down my body.
The connection between us opened wide.
I felt his hunger meet the blood on his tongue. Relief struck him first, sharp enough to make his chest rise under my hand. Then came pleasure, deep and controlled, feeding back into mine until I couldn’t tell which part had started with him.
His thumb moved against the back of my neck.
My body leaned towards him.
His knee slid between mine. The chain around his waist pulled tight, keeping him against the throne, but his free arm drew me safely against his chest.
He drank again.
The ache between my legs sharpened. I pressed my thighs around his knee and bit back a sound.
Stellan heard it anyway.
His pleasure changed. Hunger no longer filled all of it. He liked the way I reacted to his mouth, and the knowledge reached me as clearly as the heat spreading under my skin.
I turned my face into his neck. His skin was cool against my cheek, but warmth was returning to him with every swallow.
His hand moved into my hair. He gathered the loose length at my nape and held it firmly enough to make another shiver pass over me.
“Stellan.”
He eased his fangs free but kept his mouth over the bite. His tongue pressed against the small wounds, slowing the blood. “Fuck.” His voice was rough against my skin.
“Slowly,” he said against my skin.
“I’m fine.” My voice didn’t sound steady. “I wasn’t expecting your knee.”
His mouth curved against my wrist.
Red light moved over the iron.
Stellan went still. The amusement left him at once.
“The court is taking some of it,” he said. “I need another mouthful.”
He didn’t ask me to decide again. I’d already done that.
I lifted my wrist back to his lips.
His eyes held mine as he bit into the same marks.
This time I knew what was coming. It didn’t help.
Pleasure rolled through me, slower and heavier. My fingers slid from his shoulder into his silver hair. The strands were soft, and gripping them gave me something real to hold while his mouth worked over my wrist.
His hand tightened at my nape.
I felt how badly he wanted to pull me across his lap. I felt the fight it took to keep me on his knee, where the chain couldn’t trap me between his body and the throne.
That control made the danger hotter.
He took one more deep pull. My hips moved against his thigh, and the answering growl vibrated against my skin.
I stopped caring whether the fucking court could hear me breathe.
Stellan lifted his head before I moved away.
Blood shone on his lower lip. His eyes were red, his fangs still down, and his free hand remained buried in my hair.
“Enough,” he said.
He sounded as if he were arguing with himself.
“Are you sure?”
“No.” His thumb moved once at my nape. “That’s why I’m stopping.”
He licked the bite closed with slow strokes. The wounds tingled, then tightened. By the time he lowered my arm, only two red marks remained.
My pulse kept racing under them.
Stellan watched it for a moment, then looked at my face. Some grey had returned to his eyes, although hunger still moved under the relief.
“How do you feel?”
“Like my wrist made one decision and the rest of me joined in. A little dizzy.”
“Stay where you are.”
I released the chain and settled fully onto the edge of the dais.
Stellan shifted his knee away, put both my hands against his chest and held me securely around the waist.
“Breathe slowly. The first feeding can leave a human light-headed. If your hearing dulls or the room moves, tell me. I’ll keep you upright until it passes, then you’ll drink water and eat something salty.”
“My body is having a very eventful day.”
“Mine has improved considerably.”
A tired laugh escaped me. I rested my forehead against his shoulder and listened to his stronger heartbeat.
His hunger no longer cramped my stomach. It sat at the edge of my awareness, present without hurting. Desire remained much closer.
Stellan’s hand spread over my lower back.
“Was the pleasure all you?”
“The bite caused the first rush. After that, the bond passed both our reactions. I felt where the pleasure moved through you, and you felt what drinking from you did to me.”
“Did it make me want you?”
“No. It made touch more intense and lowered the pain. It didn’t create attraction. What happened between us was already there.”
I looked at his mouth. Blood no longer marked it, but I remembered the red shine on his lower lip.
“You wanted to kiss me,” he said.
“And you waited.”
His expression became serious. “You were dizzy, I was hungry, and the court was taking part of everything you gave me. I wanted the kiss. Waiting was still right.”
“You’re still thinking about pulling me into your lap.”
“Yes. I’m also thinking about the locked gate, Adrian and how much blood you lost earlier.”
There was no joke in the heat that followed. His gaze dropped to my mouth, then returned to my eyes.
I could have kissed him.
The urge was strong enough to move me closer. His hand at my waist tightened, but he didn’t close the remaining distance.
I stopped with my lips a breath from his.
Stellan waited.
The feeding had given us enough for one night. I wasn’t ready to find out what a kiss would turn into while he was chained and I was still learning which desires belonged entirely to me.
I eased back.
His hand opened at once.
The lack of pressure made leaving his arms harder, not easier.
I climbed down from the dais. My knees felt loose when I stood, but the room stayed level.
“Water,” Stellan said. “Then food.”
I collected the cup I’d left near the service doorway and drank half of it. When I turned back, he was watching me with an expression that managed to be hungry and satisfied at the same time.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes.” I checked the marks on my wrist. “The bite is almost gone.”
“It’ll be healed by morning.”
“And you?”
He flexed his free hand. Colour had returned to his mouth, and the shadows under his eyes had eased. “Lucid, stronger and still chained. What you gave me will last for hours, even if Harrowmere takes another share.”
“Could you feed from someone else if the gate opened?”
“Yes. Ordinary blood would keep me alive, and I’d choose it over asking you whenever possible. It won’t loosen the chains because the court recognises only yours. Feeding from you feels stronger while the Claiming holds, but it isn’t the only way I stay sane.”
“So you need my blood for the chains, not for every meal.”
“Exactly. Adrian benefits if you believe otherwise.”
He hadn’t taken as much as he wanted or turned the pleasure into permission for more.
I wrapped the abandoned bandage loosely around my wrist. “You look pleased with yourself.”
“A beautiful woman fed me willingly after threatening me with my own restraints. It has been an excellent ten minutes.”
Heat returned to my face. I turned towards the royal suite before he could enjoy it too much.
Metal cracked behind me.
I spun around.
A single link in the chain at Stellan’s waist split open. It struck the dais, bounced once and landed at his feet.
The remaining chain slid through the throne with a hard scrape, leaving a new length of iron loose across the stone.
Stellan rose as far as the restraints allowed. This time, when he stepped from the dais, the chain followed.
He stopped at the entrance to the royal suite.
Close enough to touch me again.