Page 35

I lazed against the headboard and raised my goblet to my lips. Blood wine coated my tongue—smooth and full-bodied, carrying the warmth of spiced oak. Jules had always favored the vineyards in the eastern reaches of the Impire, where the wines were laced with florals, but I had long preferred the vintages of the south.

Until recently.

The sweetness of blood lingered as always, but the only flavor I craved now was our bride.

“She bled even more on your cock than she did mine.”

I arched a brow at Jules. My soulbound leaned against the bedpost, a half-full bottle dangling from his grip. Moonlight turned the sheen of glitter and sweat on his hard, sculpted ivory skin into a dewy glow.

He was fucking perfection.

“Lucey?” My gaze flicked up his body to darkening gold eyes. “You’re ogling.”

I sipped my blood wine again. “Are you not mine to ogle?”

Jules grinned slowly. Still gripping the bottle, he crawled across our bed until he kneeled before me. His gaze dipped to the sleeping human at my side, her shoulder brushing against my thigh.

Nessa remained slack in the depths of sleep, her face smooth, her brilliant copper hair a tangled mess beneath her. Jules had tossed a sheet across her lower half earlier, but her stomach and breasts remained bare. Her nipples were red from where we had sucked, the remaining dust on her chest smeared with sweat.

“She’s certainly ours to ogle,” Jules said, his gaze just as fixed on our bride.

“She’s certainly ours.” If our bride hadn’t passed out straight after coming on my cock, we’d have fucked her until dawn. I craved her small, soft body pinned under me, her fingers twisted in the sheets, and her cries echoing through Dawnspear’s gilded halls.

But humans were fragile creatures. Sleeping every night, their bodies folding under pleasure long before ours would. It was an incompatibility we’d have to work around.

But we’d break her in soon enough.

Perhaps I’d wake her in an hour for her first lesson—

Jules reached out and ran his finger along my cock. I twitched at the touch, but kept myself soft as he swirled through the red-streaked wetness drenching my shaft. “Do you think she’ll bleed every time we fuck her?”

She had so far, whether it was our tongues, fingers, or cocks inside her. I had fucked my fair share of virgins over the centuries, but none had bled quite like our bride. But none of those virgins had experienced pain at the first sign of stress or arousal. The soothing rune had kept it pleasurable for her, if her whimpers and the waves of bliss pulsing through our new bond were any indication, but it wasn’t a cure.

“Probably,” I said, my voice all rasp. “We should consult a healer.”

“That wasn’t what I was saying.” Jules raised his stained finger and sucked it into his mouth, his lips closing around his knuckle. With a wet pop, he pulled it free. “But you’re right. She’s our soulbond now. It’d be cruel to make her spend an eternity in pain just so we can lick the blood from her cunt daily.”

This time, I didn’t bother stopping the rush of blood to my cock. “It would be, wouldn’t it?”

“At least human women bleed monthly.” Jules lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a long, indulgent swig before holding it out to me. “Still, I can’t waste this opportunity.”

I stared at the wine for a moment. When he didn’t pull it back, I plucked it from his grasp.

My soulbound reached back, tied his golden-white hair into a knot at the base of his neck, and then lowered his head—

Until my cock was in his mouth.

A low groan escaped my throat. His tongue glided against the underside of my length, swirling around my piercings as he took me deeper. Deeper. His lips sealed around my base, the tip of me nudging into his throat. I dropped my head back against the daemium headboard.

Then Jules sucked hard, devouring our bride’s desire and blood from my skin.

Pressure built in my palm, my fingers curling too tight. The bottle cracked. Then splintered. Then shattered. Fuck. Wine and glass splattered. Our bride was on my other side, so the mess only fell onto our silk sheets. The runes woven into the fabric absorbed it instantly.

I barely noticed. Jules’s mouth was still on me. His tongue slid slow and deliberate along me, lapping up the remnants of blood and wine as if savoring both. My hips twitched up, but he took my length easily, letting me sink deeper like I had a thousand times before.

Slowly, Jules dragged his mouth up, stretching around my sensitive tip before releasing me. He licked a stray drop of red from his lips and pouted. “That was my favorite red.”

“I’ll buy you another.” My skin had already healed the damage from the glass, but I wrapped my wet fist around my length and stroked, spreading a fresh sheen of bloody wine. “Take me back into your mouth, Julien.”

“You’re not the boss of me, Lucey.” But my King of Dawn smiled as he said it. He grabbed the goblet from my other hand, swallowed the remaining wine with one gulp, and tossed it over his head. It clanged in the distance, but our bride didn’t stir from her sex-induced slumber.

Jules dropped his head back down and wrapped that infuriating mouth around me.

I sank back into the pillows as his head began to bob. Perhaps I’d let our bride sleep through the night. She could use the rest. Poor, little thing had already had four orgasms in the last couple hours.

Jules and I could entertain ourselves well enough until she recovered.