Page 15 of Blackwarden

Keres

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It hadn’t been my intention to use my shadows on her, but she wouldn’t stop asking questions, ones I wasn’t capable of answering.

Each one stabbed into my soul like a poisoned barb, reminding me I was bound by this fucking curse.

I was well aware of what it felt like. I’d endured the Hag Queen using my own shadows against me for centuries.

Rosalin’s willpower had shredded my magic faster than I could press them into her muscles.

With my weakened abilities I’d struggled to hold her in place and used more energy than I’d planned.

Now, in the quiet of my personal quarters, I was replaying the moment her anger and pain had turned into wanting.

I wrapped my fingers around my neck and squeezed before dragging my hand over my chest. The way her eyes could strip me bare was truly terrifying. ..and I wanted more.

It was rare that one of the maiden’s feelings were strong enough to sway my own.

Most of them were young, shallow creatures, barely old enough to understand the difference between love and lust. But this was different.

The heat had drawn me closer like a pathetic moth to a flame, unable to stop from being burned .

Too close, when I knew I wasn’t allowed.

She’d opened her emotions to me without realizing what she was doing, and I hadn’t found fear. I’d found a searing desire that soaked into my own and set me on fire.

She left me hot, even with the ice of my magic ripping through my veins. Her name on my tongue tasted like the most delicious forbidden fruit. It snuffed out all the frustration I’d had seconds before when she’d spat my greatest vulnerabilities in my face.

I was far more susceptible to curses. I couldn’t lie, like all Fae.

And I was unable to get her out of my fucking head.

I needed some distance, or I’d never manage to finish her portrait before this curse would force me to take her through the gate to the Unseelie Court.

I’d be too busy finding ways to make her breath catch and her heart race.

Or worse, I’d try to figure out how I could spare her from the Hag Queen’s harem where she’d be forced to do degrading and hedonistic things whether she wanted to or not.

I couldn’t afford the distraction. Now that I’d learned about the loophole in my punishment, everything had to go exactly right, like every other time.

I’d rather not spend the next five hundred years in chains beside the Hag Queen’s throne again.

Not when I could be free from this life.

Exhausted, I flopped down on my bed, hoping I could sleep before I’d need to endure her questions and her wanting that never failed to snatch away my breath. Wanting that was becoming so much harder to push away.

How was I going to get through five more days? Five more days of her fear mixed with tantalizing desire. Five more days of her fucking questions. And why did I crave those questions as much as I despised them?