Page 72 of Bonds of Starfall

His father never hurt him—no, he saved that cruelty for others, making Cyrus watch.

Called to the throne room, standing before incubi and succubi prisoners, forced to choose one to live, or all would die… Finding one-night stands strung up on the palace balcony, dead bodies swinging in the high winds.

He was not allowed attachments. They made him weak. Or so said his father.

So, when Cyrus snuck out one night, tucking his red hair under the hood of a dark cloak and venturing into the outermost towns of the capital, he never expected to stumble upon her.

Vesperin Vox.

A human slave, purchased at an underground auction.

The mere thought made anger simmer in him. The auctions were wicked, depraved—humans stolen from other planets, smuggled in cargo ships, and paraded naked on stages as incubi and succubi bid for their so-called assets. Most were bought as easy food supplies, raped repeatedly.

So, when Cyrus had ventured into the night-soaked town and found a shivering Vesperin huddled on a narrow street, eyes filled with tears and bruises blooming on her skin, he snapped. He slaughtered her buyers and took her for himself, letting her stay at one of his homes nearer to the coast—far from the capital and his father.

She melted into him when their hands first brushed, trembling but hoping he wouldn’t hurt her as she whispered, "We’re Soulbonds."

And with her soft, hesitant trust, Cyrus did the unthinkable…

He starved himself, unable to stand the idea of feeding from someone else after meeting her, smelling her sweet cherry scent.

His downfall came after months of hunger, watching her breathe, her delicate throat work as she sucked on grapes and nibbled on cheeses in the privacy of his cottage—a place for just the two of them.

One night, under the sparkling, clear sky, the curtains billowed in the open air as a breeze from the ocean blew in from the windows.

She lay so beautiful in the bed—alone, because he did not trust himself to share it with her.

His body ached, spasming with hunger, and she looked so enticing among the sheets, brown hair splayed over the pillow, chest rising and falling beautifully with steady breaths as she dreamed. He told himself to leave, to run—he had no right to touch her like this.

But his body wouldn’t listen.

He found himself walking to her, hovering over her in bed, feeling her sweet exhales, cooling his lips as he leaned down and tasted her as she dreamed. He kissed her and felt his hunger rage, making him take more. His hands wandered, brushing her nightgown-clad chest, feeling the shape of her. And when she woke up and found him hovering over her, she did not scream, but her soft, biteable lips parted. "Cyrus, what are you doing?" she asked, tone breathy.

"Make me stop… if you can," he replied. "Hit me, knock me out. Anything." His hands were firm on her skin.

She saw the war he waged with himself, and she only looked up at him with knowing brown eyes and said, "Take from me, Cyrus. It’s okay, I know you need it."

Those words had been his undoing as his hunger consumed him, making sparks of red fill the air and his purple eyes alightwith power as he all but ripped away the sheets from her body, the tangled sheets kicked down to their feet.

His movements weren’t careful or gentle, not like she deserved. Not with everything she had faced. She took it all from him, even when tears glimmered at the tips of her lashes and her hot walls clenched around his cock as he drove inside her, she took it sweetly, quietly. Pliant as a doll.

When they both had finished, she cupped his cheek and brought his face down to hers, pressing her warm lips to his and murmuring, "I forgive you. I love you."

"I don’t deserve you, Ves." The name slipped off Cyrus’s tongue, making her sweat-slick cheeks grow a deeper shade of pink. "Ves," he repeated, sated and drowsy from his fresh feed. "Ves, I love you forever. I’ll keep you safe." He said each word between kisses. "Forever." Those teasing brushes of his lips had traveled down her jaw, her neck, until he lavished kisses on each bit of her skin, tasting the sweetness of her arousal, taking a first from her that she had never experienced as he licked over her heat and twisted his tongue on her small bundle of nerves…

But their forever had not lasted long.

Vesperin had forgiven Cyrus once. Could she forgive him again?

He was a monster, consumed by his baser instincts. At one time, she had loved him, grown with him. Used him to deal with her trauma and let him show her there was more to sex than taking, than pain.

With her soft brown hair and delicate brown eyes, it was love at first sight. Then, their hands had brushed, and he had known:

She was all he would ever want.

If only he had been able to have her for longer than a few years.

It had been everything—shehad been everything. Until his father had found out and forced him to watch as he killed her.Cyrus didn’t think he would ever be able to forget the sight of her hot blood slipping from the wound in her chest as she lay on the floor, eyes glassy.