Page 32 of Battle for the Shadow Prince (A Bargain with the Shadow Prince #2)

32

Confessions of a Blood Whore

ELOISE

“ T hree months? You knew. Somehow you knew what I was here to do.” I point an accusing finger at Marabella, my eyes stinging with tears.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t know the specifics. I certainly didn’t know you were Damien’s mate! Congratulations on landing that fish by the way, and you’d best know you haven’t made any female friends today.” She winks at me.

I wipe beneath my eyes, my face feeling swollen. “Why three months if you didn’t know?”

“Because, Eloise, no one who looks like you with blood like yours sells themselves to a blood brothel without an ulterior motive. All I needed to know was that you were obsessed with the palace and I suspected you were up to something with someone of means. If I’m going to lose you, I’m going to have three months of top earnings for my trouble.”

I follow her up the steps and back into Marabella’s, through a packed waiting room. I feel a dozen eyes track me through the room. “Please,” I say as she lets me back into my room, “Just Damien. He’ll pay you anything you want. I’m sure he will.”

She sighs. “Look, I like Damien. He was once a very good customer. I’m sure he’ll be visiting me with an offer very soon. But you have three slots a week to fill, honey, and he only needs one of them.”

I shake my head. “I won’t do it.”

She comes into my room and closes the door behind her. “Have you bothered to stop and consider that I’m doing you a favor?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

She tips her head. “I sent you the best of the best, Eloise. Marcel—the commander of the guard—if he gives the word, the entire army will bow down to you. Everald—a vampire so wealthy he controls the marketplace. He can get you any weapon, anything you need. And George—did he tell you he’s the master of the Liberty coven? They were forced into this hive because they didn’t have the numbers to fight her, but he’s no fan of Valeska’s, I’ll tell you that.”

“So, what, are you trying to tell me you sent me those vampires out of the goodness of your heart?”

She scoffs. “Certainly not. I did it for money like I do everything.” She says it flippantly, and I get the strongest sensation that she’s… lying. But why would she? “I’m just trying to help you see what’s right in front of you. These are powerful men, Eloise. Powerful allies to have in your corner. And they are bonded to that strange and luscious blood of yours. You should be thanking me for holding you to this contract. It gives you an excuse to maintain those connections. They just might prove useful.”

“I’m mated to Damien. He will never allow another to feed from me.”

She narrows her eyes and approaches me. “Then it’s up to you to convince him he must.”

I roll my eyes in frustration.

“You haven’t been in Night Haven long, so let me tell you how this will work. In three days’ time, you will meet Valeska in that silo, and all the elites of Night Haven will gather to watch. They’ll take bets. They’ll cheer you on. Do you seriously want everyone in that room betting on Valeska? Or would you rather have some of the most powerful vampires in her coven cheering your name?”

I’m speechless. I never thought of any of this, and a deep pit in my stomach tells me she’s right. Marabella isn’t my friend, but she does have an interest in keeping me alive. I suddenly realize how valuable that is. I give her a silent nod.

Our eyes meet and hold for a few long moments. She leaves, and the lock clicks into place behind her. I throw myself onto the bed, burying my face in the nest of my arms as the tears flow. The way Damien looked at me, like I’d betrayed him by donating my blood to a vampire, tells me everything I need to know. He was so concerned with me forgiving him for telling Valeska my name. Who knows what else he did with her under her influence? I forgave him instantly. I understood it wasn’t his fault. But when it was time for him to forgive me, to understand what I had to do to save him…

My heart aches as if it’s tearing down the middle. What if I win Damien only to find out he can’t look at me? Can’t forgive me? What if he hates me?

I inhale sharply when I feel a hand stroke down my spine. I lunge away from the touch. Has Marabella given someone my key so soon?

But it’s Damien’s hand that reaches toward me. Damien who sits on the side of my bed. I’m not sure how I can possibly have any more tears to cry, but I do, sliding my hand into his and allowing him to pull me into his lap. He rocks me gently, holding me firm as I fall to pieces in his arms. My monster. My shadow. My mate.

“She can refuse to allow me to pay your debts, but she can’t stop me from using the shadows to be with you,” he says softly.

“I thought you were angry. I thought you couldn’t stand what I’d done.”

Damien’s expression sobers. “As I thought you would detest what I had done in your absence, how I’d taken Valeska’s blood, allowed her to touch me, bent to her will and betrayed your name. You should hate me, little bird. I would not blame you for shrinking from my touch.” His voice is barely a rumble but carries so much emotion. Shame. Anger. Frustration. Grit.

“You had no control over any of it, Damien. I saw the way she tortured you. You would’ve died?—”

“I tried to die. I would have preferred to die.”

I shake my head vigorously. “No. No. Don’t say that.”

“There was a time I thought it was my best option.”

Silence unravels between us. Nothing said, yet so much hanging in the air around us. “Did she force herself on you? I mean, did you have sex with her?”

Now he cracks a smile. “No.” He hesitates, looking away from me. “But she touched me, everywhere, with her fingers, with her mouth.”

I have to grit my teeth to keep from reacting to that confession.

“She wanted to force herself on me further. She tried. Only my mating bond to you made it impossible. I thank the gods for that.”

I swallow hard, knowing in my heart that plenty of damage can be done by touching alone. Valeska violated him. My strong, virile warrior mate might not want to admit it, but I understand the wounds a violation like that can cause. Wounds that, if we survive this, will have to be healed.

He strokes my hair, his lips pressing to my temple. “Will you tell me, Eloise?” His voice is so low it seems to rumble in my bones. “How you came to be here. How you learned about the challenge. How many vampires you’ve fed. Let us have no secrets between us.”

I adjust myself, straightening in his lap until we’re face-to-face. And then I tell him everything, about Morpheus and Cassius and Sabrina and Tobias—how his brother Nathaniel’s blood runs in my veins. About how it was Sabrina’s idea for me to use the blood brothels to get into Night Haven and how she told me about the challenge. I tell him about training with Maeve and then with Cassius. Even though it’s hard, I tell him everything about my time here too. About the vampires who’ve visited me and why I signed the agreement with Marabella. And then, finally, about Phantom. The fox appears at the sound of their name and strides toward us, their bushy red tail wrapping around their feet as they come to sit and stare up at me.

When I’m through, he just stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time.

“Say something, Damien. Can you accept what I had to do to get here?”

His eyes crinkle at the corners. “The night we met, you trembled like a sparrow caught in the first freeze of winter. A true damsel in distress. I wanted to save you then. I could have saved you, killed Tony, and ended your nightmare.”

“Sometimes I think I should have let you.”

“But look at you now. A true warrior with magic at her fingertips and a familiar by her side.”

I give a hard laugh. “I’m not sure about the warrior part. I can handle a blade though. It’s saved me on a few occasions.”

He frowns.

“And Phantom is my anchor and my ancestors. But I suppose you could call them my familiar. I have for simplicity. But my magic isn’t like Maeve’s magic. I’m limited when it comes to what I can do without a spell.”

A hint of a smile turns his lips. “Anyone who claims you have limits is a fool. You can win this, Eloise.” His gaze traces every part of my face, and his eyes sparkle. When he speaks again, his voice is heavy with emotion. “You must win this.”

My heart swells. Damien believes in me. As much as he wants to protect me from all this, he believes I can win. And that means everything. “I will. Sabrina told me that the magic makes the challenges fair. It won’t give me a challenge I can’t best. The question is if Valeska can complete hers faster and better.”

He nods slowly, his face turning grave. After a few long moments, he says, “I asked you to share everything with me, and now I’ll do the same. I believe you can win, but if the worst happens?—”

“It won’t.”

He tucks my hair behind my ear, his fingers hovering near my temple. His lips part, but the words seem to catch in his throat. “If you…” He shakes his head. I can guess what he means to say—if I lose the challenge and forfeit my life. “I will end myself, Eloise. I cannot be mated to her, not only because she is vile and revolting but because she will use me as a weapon for an eternity. That existence would corrode my soul, a slow, bitter murder of not only my will to live but of everything I am. I can’t let it happen. Better I join you in the Darklands.”

I swallow and press my forehead to his. My instinct is to fight him on this, to tell him to go on without me. But what he says is true. It wouldn’t be a life on the other side for him. It would be a prison. I kiss him fiercely, communicating my acceptance of his decision even as tears sting my eyes again. He holds me until the noise filtering in from the street outside quiets.

“The sun is rising,” he says, although the light doesn’t change in this subterranean world. He just knows. He feels it.

I stand from his lap, resting my hands on his shoulders. “Will you stay the day with me?”

His silver eyes lift with one crooked corner of his mouth. He brushes his knuckles over the curve of my cheek, his voice a low growl as he says, “Oh yes, little bird. You summoned me and struck your bargain, mated me, and came for me. Now that I’m free and we’re together, you must know I’ve spent every moment since we parted, waking and otherwise, thinking of you.”

“Every moment?” I flash a teasing smile.

He answers with a kiss. Damien’s kisses are always intoxicating, but this one is positively silken. His lips dance with mine, and his tongue strokes against mine like the lick of a flame. It’s hot and deep and just a bit sharp as his fangs get in on the action. I tap the tip of my tongue to one as he draws back.

My entire body feels flushed. It’s been so long. Too long. The throb between my legs takes on an ache only he can quench. His hands land on the waist of my tunic, then drift down to grip its edge. He smoothly lifts it up and over my head and tosses it aside, leaving me standing in front of him in my bra and leggings, my daggers strapped to my thighs. He stares up at me through his lashes, and my heart flutters, my breath coming in pants at the heat in his eyes.

He draws the dagger from my left sheath and presses the cold side of the blade to my belly. “Did Cassius tell you that these daggers came from Tenebris?”

“No.” My voice comes out breathy and uneven, the cold edge of the blade barely tracing up my skin toward my left breast. My daggers are insanely sharp, but I trust him even when he presses the point right under my pebbled nipple. The lace of my bra is no barrier, and I feel the icy bite, just on the edge of pain. Oddly, as cold as the steel is, only heat rushes to my core. Wetness pools between my legs. I straighten, my breath coming faster with my excitement.

“Oh yes. These are Stygian blades, forged by Stygarde’s renowned blacksmiths in the belly of Mount Damocles. Warrior blades. Perfectly balanced. Made of the sharpest metal our world has to offer. It’s a silver alloy, effective against vampires and shades alike.” He uses the blade to cut the lace beside my nipple. Although I feel the edge, he doesn’t so much as scratch my skin. My breast spills from its containment, the tip straining toward his mouth.

He pauses, simply staring, as if the sight of my breast is too beautiful, too distracting, to even remember to breathe. The adoration in his eyes sends a rush of heat through me, causing my breath to stutter. He hears it and flashes me a wicked smile before removing the blade and replacing it with the curl of his tongue. He sucks the tip between his fangs. The scrape of his teeth against my skin is exquisite. I feel it all the way down to my clit. I gasp and bury my fingers in his hair. The rumble of his growl tickles my flesh as he draws back and uses the dagger to cut through the other cup of my bra. I press my thighs together and squirm as he sucks my other nipple between his fangs, heat kindling deep inside until I think I must burst into flames.

The entire time, his eyes are on me, worshipping, hungry.

“You owe me a bra.” I slant him a grin, then snatch my other dagger from its holster, bringing it to the collar of his shirt. I grip the cloth with my opposite hand and cut it off him, throwing the garment aside.

“The shirt makes us even.”

I trace my hand over the smooth expanse of his broad chest, hard bands of muscle leading my touch south. I point the tip of my blade toward the tent in the front of his pants. “Will you remove those, or do I have to do it for you?”

His eyes dart from the blade to my face. “I think I’ll do the honors.” Tossing the blade in his hand aside, he stands from the bed, forcing me to take a step back as he toes off his boots and strips off his pants and everything underneath. I release the blade in my hand, and it clatters to the floor.

A naked Damien is an overwhelming sight. For a moment I’m left breathless. My gaze roves over the rippled landscape of his abs, thinner now after his time in the silo but as tantalizing as ever, up to the blocky structure of his chest and shoulders, then to his neck. His dark waves are longer now, down to his shoulders, but his face is exactly as it was the night we met. Strong jaw, full lips, hollow cheeks that hold a hint of hunger, and ice-blue diamond eyes that cut right through to my soul.

His lids sink low until he’s looking at me through his lashes. “Do you know what it does to me to see you like this?” His erection, thick and long, juts from between his legs, and I lick my lips, my body throbbing with need. “You’re larger than life. You’re like a god.”

His eyes close as if the compliment causes him physical pain. I remember then what he’s been through, what the queen did to him. I can’t smell her on him the way he could smell vampires on me, but I make a silent vow that by the time this day is over, the only scent on either of us will be each other.

I fist his hips and turn him as I kneel on the bed, his intimidatingly large length swollen between us. Lifting my eyes to meet his, I load mine with all the love and longing I’ve felt these past months. His cock twitches at the feel of my breath, sending a jolt of need through me. Our gazes locked, I flatten my tongue against his shaft and lick him base to tip.

He moans, his hands finding my hair and digging in. I circle the head of his cock with my tongue, humming at the salty bead of moisture I find in its crease. He tastes incredible, and I wonder if this is something that comes with our mating bond or if it’s just him. I can’t get enough. I suck his balls into my mouth until he growls, then lick his full length again, savoring the moment as I swirl my tongue over the tip.

“Gods, Eloise…” His chest rises and falls like he’s in a full-out battle.

I stop, smile up at him, and then suck him deep, opening my throat to allow him even deeper. He’s too big to fit, but I take as much as I can, stretching my mouth wide.

He growls, his expression somewhere between ecstasy and awe. It kindles the fire within me. I squeeze my thighs together as I wrap a hand around the base of him and fall into a rhythm, sucking and stroking until his fingers in my hair grow more urgent, cupping the back of my head as his thrusts grow in intensity.

“Mmmm.” I hum my pleasure, feeling him harden and lengthen.

He finds his release on a silent, shuddering scream. I swallow everything he gives me, our mating scent filling the room like the best musky cologne. When his body finally relaxes, I sit back on my heels and offer him a slow, sinful smile.

He cradles my jaw in his enormous hand, beholding me with a possessive and singular focus. “What a good little bird.” In a flash, he scoops me off the bed and sets me on my feet in front of him. With a firm grip on my hair, he leans down to whisper in my ear. “How shall I reward you?”

Neither of his hands moves, but cool fingers trace up my thighs. I glance down to see his shadows coil up my legs and around my waist. Air caresses my skin as I’m stripped of everything below my waist and currents of darkness lick up my legs like a growing fire. I feel them along the backs of my knees, between my thighs, rounding over my hips, exploring my ribs. They sweep under my breasts, then tease my nipples like a breeze against naked flesh.

“Damien please.” The ache between my legs is almost painful.

The shadows tease their way lower, fill my navel with silken darkness before slithering south to circle the swollen bud between my legs.

I moan, unable to contain the pleasure I’d forgotten my body was capable of. Damien kisses the sound away, his tongue claiming my mouth like an unexplored land. His fang knicks something, his lip or mine I have no idea, but the slight taste of blood flavors the kiss. It must be his. I feel no pain, only a building ecstasy. Desperate for more, I thrust my hips, seeking friction, wanting the shadows to press harder, faster.

I tremble with need.

“Do you know what I thought about every day I was a prisoner in that fucking tower?”

I shake my head as the shadows lick between the mounds of my ass, teasing my back entrance, up my sides. It’s like a thousand tongues flicking along my skin.

“When the pain was too much and I thought about giving up, I thought about you and how if I could just be in your arms one more time and have you look at me like you’re looking at me now, it would be worth every moment I spent burning in that hell.”

I reach up and dig my fingers in his hair, the shadows up to my shoulders now, like I’m surrounded by a million beating butterfly wings. I tip my head back, groaning as one parts my folds and enters me, stroking deep and leaving me breathless.

With my hands on his chest, I gasp. “Please, Damien, I need you inside me. I’ve waited so long.”

With a growl, he lifts me, and I wrap my legs around him. He kneels on the bed so that I’m straddling his hips, then positions himself against my entrance. His cock teases my opening. As wet and ready as I am, my body invites him inside and I lower myself slowly onto him. He stretches me to my limit, working himself in and out. I breathe deeply. He’s enormous, and it’s been months. It feels like the first time. He slows until my body acclimates to the sheer size of him.

His nails scrape gently along my spine, tracing the length of my tattoo. I arch against his touch, and then I start to move.

“I told you not to risk your life for me,” he says with a deep, punishing thrust.

I moan, the pain giving way to the most intense pleasure. “And I told you I wouldn’t let you die in there.”

“You should have kept yourself safe.”

“Safety is death if it means living without you. I promised I’d come for you. And I did.” I drag my parted lips along his neck to kiss behind his ear.

“I guess you fucking did.”

Our mouths meet in a wild tangle of teeth and tongues. It’s like he’s trying to touch all of me at once. His hands are everywhere. I’m wrapped in his shadows. He’s in me and around me. A second skin. A shield for my flesh. Intense but protective.

Our lovemaking has never been like this. It’s always been hot and it’s always been passionate, but this time he makes love to me like it could be our last time. It’s slow and hard and deep. His teeth are sharp, and he’s strong enough to snap my bones, but his eyes and his touch are tender. He gently lowers me onto my back and melts into me, so deep it feels like he’s trying to possess me. He slows, breathing me in, our hearts beating in time, our skin flushed with exertion.

Every second I only want him closer.

His enormous hand strokes up my side, over my armpit, along the soft underside of my elbow to thread his fingers into mine above my head. He moves over me, picking up speed like a gathering storm.

He hovers. He strikes.

Heat branches through my body, my climax rolling through me until I throw my head back, lost in a cascade of showering light. This is more than an orgasm. As Damien follows me over the edge, it feels like a missing part of myself snaps into place. Like I was walking around with half my soul gone and didn’t know it until this very moment. Now, finally whole, it’s not just pleasure I feel but joy. Pure elation. Connection.

He meets my eyes and he’s trembling. No. It’s not him. It’s me. I’m shaking, our arms locked around each other, breathing each other’s air.

Only then do I realize he hasn’t taken my blood. I tip my head to the side, offering my neck.

“I don’t think you have any extra to give.” He looks at me sadly. “Although I’ll be do my best to change that as soon as the sun sets. Marabella can be bought, but if I can’t find the right price, I won’t hesitate to pay a visit to the vampires on your schedule and show them what it feels like to donate blood.”

His building anger turns his skin cold, and he rolls off me.

I snuggle into his side, stroking his chest. “I don’t think you should,” I say softly.

He scowls at me, flashing fang.

“I have to believe that part of these trials is mental, Damien. Valeska has an entire hive cheering her on. I know this is hard for you to hear, but the men who have fed from me act as if they’re bonded. One of them is the commander of the guard. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it seems wise to keep someone like that in my corner. Keep a bond like that in my back pocket.”

A low growl rumbles in Damien’s chest, and he stares up at the ceiling. “I hate this idea.”

I sigh. “I don’t like it either, but I’ve come to realize lately that sometimes getting what we want in life requires doing a great deal of things we don’t want to do. The magic of this challenge means you can’t leave Night Haven. If you’re not feeding from me, you’re going to have to feed from someone else. Is it so much worse for me to donate blood to someone else than for you to take it?”

He doesn’t answer my question but presses his lips to my temple and sighs deeply. “Sleep now, little bird.” He pulls the blankets over us both.

Only then do I realize just how tired I am. I close my eyes, thinking about how far I’ve come for Damien and just how far I’ll go. My mind still hasn’t settled on a limit when I finally drift to sleep.