Page 136 of A Taste of Bliss

Lyra smiles. The effect it has on his face is disconcerting, like his mouth has no business being in that shape. “Hayden, take her back to her room.” He says nothing more, exiting the room.

I ready myself for bed, showering and changing into a set of plain but comfortable pajamas. There’s a selection of books in the room, a hearty fire roaring, and a plush velvet armchair and ottoman that’s honestly perfect for curling up on. I’m settling in for another long evening of reading when a knock sounds at the door.

I jump up, wondering if I’m about to be set free, when the door swings open. Pinkie leads a grungy and—I sniff—smellyPisces into the room. He hasn’t shaved in days and he’s wearing the same blood-covered clothes as the day we interrogated Jinx. His under eyes are hollow, his cheeks gaunt.

“Stars, what have you done to him?” I ask, running over to Pisces and helping him into the chair I was just about to curl up in.

“You’ve met Lyra. You think he’d waste a room like this on a Made fae?” Pinkie says, throwing some PJs onto the bed. “Grim pulled some strings.” Pinkie heads to the door, about to lock us back up in the room together.

“Wait! He hasn’t fed in days!” I call after him, but Pinkie just shrugs and closes the door anyways.

Pisces groans, drawing my attention back to him.

“Pisces, are you alright? What can I do?”

He mutters something, but I can’t hear. I lean in closer, aching to reach out and feel him. I place my hand on his cheek. “What did you say?”

He opens his eyes, looking up at me with those beautiful but still runeless blue eyes. “I said,” he says louder, “get the fuck away from me.” He knocks my hand aside and closes his eyes.

“Pisces, please, let me help. At least let me explain.”

“What’s there to explain?” he snaps, eyes opening again. There’s hate in them as he takes me in. “I’m just a liar, right? Just a mongrel siren with lesser morals?”

“I—” I’m about to say that I didn’t say that. But I did; not the mongrel part, but everything else. They must have played Pisces a video of my interrogation. Damn Grim. He didn’t pull strings, he set us up. “Please, let me explain.”

“No. Leave me alone, Bliss.” I can hear the exhaustion in his voice.

“Okay, fine, I’ll leave you alone, but you have to feed first.” I put my arm out in front of his face, closing my eyes in apprehension. His teeth look like they’llhurt. Badly.

“I said get the fuck away from me.”

I open my eyes and roll them. He’s recoiled from me as much as he can in the armchair. “What, you don’t like the taste of succubus?”

His eyes flicker to mine, and a blush colors his cheeks faintly. He turns away from me completely. “Stay away from me,” he repeats, but his words are a bit muffled, as if he doesn’t want to open his mouth too wide.His teeth,I think. His siren teeth must be coming out and he doesn’t want me to see them.

“Well, either you hate me and should have no problem ripping into my flesh, or you don’t hate me and don’t want to harm me, so best to feed while you’re still in control.”

He pins me with a withering look. “I’m not going to feed from you at all.”

“Because I disgust you?”

He growls deep in his chest. “I won’t feed from you because I’m not going to subject you to that kind of pain.”

I think back to the time I sleepwalked to him. “Is there another way you feed?”

He shrugs, looking away from me. “I need to shower,” he mumbles, taking the collar of his shirt and smelling it. I swallow what I’m about to say and nod, going to sit on the bed with my book and give him some space.

Only when he’s inside the bathroom and the shower starts, do I realize the pajamas Pinkie left for him are sitting on the foot of the bed, still neatly folded. The door to the bathroom doesn’t lock—I checked, wondering if I could lock myself inside to avoid Grim’s interrogations—so I could quickly chuck the clothes in, but I don’t want to invade his privacy. And the shower has a glass wall, so I’d likely get an eyeful, which in a different situation would be totally welcome on my end.

I barely make it a few pages in my book before my thoughts drift to Pisces’ eyes. I put the book down and put my face in myhands. I need to explain to him. I need him to understand that if I saw a rune in his eyes, I would have said something. I would have done something. Cried in relief? Ran up to him and hugged him? I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t have ignored it.

The shower stops running. A few moments later, Pisces steps back into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist, allowing my eyes to roam over his chest. My eyes keep trailing over his piercings. He has silver, straight barbells running through each nipple. I think my brain short-circuits for a minute. My eyes trail down his abdomen, following the V that’s visible just above the towel.

My power is definitely waning if even the seriousness of our situation can’t stop me from lusting over a guy I thought was an asshole until recently and who currently hates my guts. He picks up the folded pajamas, taking the bottoms into the bathroom and leaving the shirt on the bed.

Part of me hopes he never intends on putting that shirt on.

He comes back out in the pajama bottoms, his bare feet padding on the carpet over to the armchair. Droplets drip from his hair still and the image of him in the shower, with me joining him, jolts me, goose bumps erupting over my arms.