Page 10
Story: Stolen Star
One drop. Two. Three.
Aerix’s breathing deepens, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm that matches my pulse. His wings shift behind him, stretching slightly before folding tight again, like he’s physically restraining himself.
The air chills. The shadows hush.
“That’s enough,” he says, rougher than before.
At his command, I stop, pulling my finger away, a stray droplet of blood falling on one of the harpsichord’s keys.
Aerix simply takes the vial from me, his fingers brushing against mine, and slips it into the pen’s reservoir.
“Now,” he says, sealing it with practiced fingers, “it’s complete.”
Before I can respond, he takes my hand again, lifting my bleeding finger to his lips. His eyes lock with mine as his tongue slides across the small wound, pricking the exact spot with his fangs so his magic can knit my skin back together.
“All better,” he murmurs, releasing my finger and reaching for the sheet music I was struggling with. “Now, use it on this.”
I smile slightly, since I’ve been irritated enough with that music to revel in the thought of staining it with my blood. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. So, I press the pen’s tip to the paper, just beneath a particularly difficult measure. It glides across thesurface, leaving a cathartic trail of deep crimson in its wake.
Satisfaction curls inside me as I examine the mark I’ve made.
“I want you to use it daily,” Aerix says, his gaze fixed on the glistening lines. “Draw for me. Write for me.” He pauses, then looks up, his midnight eyes swirling with desire.“Bleedfor me.”
The space between us crackles with tension—his air and ice, and my rapidly beating heart. His wings flare, and even though I can’t see his back, I know just what it looks like when that sensitive place where his wings meet his skin grow taut.
But it’s his face that undoes me. That aching need behind his power. That fragile hunger he’ll never admit.
“I love you,” I tell him, the words coming easier each time I say them.
His wings fold. His breath steadies. And then he kisses me—slow, consuming, and desperate in its restraint. Like he’s starving but afraid of breaking the feast.
The kiss is gentle at first, quickly deepening with the hunger he always has around me.
But even as my lips respond, my mind drifts. Because these walls—this palace—it’s all so beautiful… and I’m drowning in silk-lined silence.
Aerix pulls back, his brow furrowing, frost formingin patterns along the harpsichord’s keys. He studies my face, then glances at the pen.
“You don’t like it,” he says, the temperature dropping several degrees, his wings tensing.
“No,” I say quickly, reaching for his hand. “It’s beautiful and thoughtful. I love it. Just like I love you.”
“Then what’s troubling you?” His dark eyes continue to search mine. “You’re tense. I canfeelit.”
I hesitate, knowing how precarious this conversation could be. But these thoughts have been circling for days, and I can’t keep them contained any longer. If I do, I might burst from it.
“I was just thinking about the future,” I admit, my voice softer than I intended.
“The future?” he repeats, his head tilting slightly.
I gesture around the luxurious room. “Is this all there will ever be for me? These rooms? This...” I pause, searching for the right word. “This gilded cage?”
His wings stiffen, and frost cracks and blossoms along every key of the harpsichord like frozen veins—elegant and deadly.
I misstepped.
“I didn’t mean?—“
“You feel trapped,” he cuts me off. “Even with everything I’ve given you.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10 (Reading here)
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82