Page 14 of Brimstone

Breathe, Saeris.

“Look at her, just standing there. She’s stalling,” Zovena muttered down on the platform. I glanced behind Fisher, a wave of nerves cinching tight in my gut, but Fisher gently took hold of my chin and tipped my face so that I was looking back up at him. The ink at his throat was going wild; I could see the black linework morphing and shifting over the top of his gorget. There wasn’t much quicksilver left in his eye now, but the small amount that remained was also shifting, forming the geometricshapes and patterns among the vivid green of his iris. “Don’t look at her. Look at me. You’re okay.”

And I was.

When Fisher let go of my chin and turned his hand, offering me his wrist, I didn’t think. It was instinctual. The warmth that lived at the back of my throat now became a roaring inferno. I took hold of his arm, a pulse of pleasure already aching in my mouth as I sank my canines into his flesh.

Deep.

So deep.

I hadn’t meant to . . .

I froze, not understanding the overpowering urge I felt to wait . . .

“Drink, Saeris,” Fisher said in a ragged gasp.

No.

No, I needed to wait.

“For the love of the gods, fucking drink,” he begged.

In those long, heady moments, I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t taking anything from him. That I wasgivingsomething to him instead.

I blinked as black ink shifted beneath Fisher’s skin, pouring like water down his arm. It banded his wrist and then disappeared, transferring to me. I felt the cool prickle of it settling right in the center of my chest, just below my collarbone, but I didn’t care about the new ink.

I only cared about my mate.

And theblood.

When I drew from Fisher for the first time, pulling at his wrist, I felt the reversal of a flow between us. The changing of a tide. As soon as his blood touched my tongue, an explosion of color and sound lit up inside my head like a thousand fireworks. Fire chased through my veins. Need pooled between my legs, sending a rush of pleasure up through my body so powerful thatI wanted to scream. I couldn’t, though. I’d have to stop drawing from him to do that, and—

“Fuck, Saeris.” Breathless. Mindless. Desperate. Fisher’s voice was thick with his own desire. His next words went against everything my body was screaming for. “Stop, Osha. Enough.”

Suddenly, we were in the Hall of Tears.

I tore my mouth from Fisher’s wrist, panting as if I’d been doused with a bucket of cold water.

The Hall of Tears . . .

A thousand Sanasrothians, on their feet, cheering at my hunger . . .

My pulse raced away from me, refusing to listen, refusing to be still.

I turned to Kingfisher, lips parted, another wave of heat and pleasure rocking me to the tips of my toes when I saw how flushed his cheeks were beneath his stubble. His pupils had completely swallowed his iris and banished the greenandthe quicksilver. His labored breathing had his chest rising and falling so fast. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and the primal hunger I saw there landed like a physical blow. He was barely in control of himself. If I touched him—

“Don’t even think about it, or I’ll take you right here,” he panted.

Holy.

Fucking.

Gods.

“Well done! Well done!” Ereth stood back in position at his point of the star. His applause echoed above the raucous cheering that flooded the hall. I paid no heed to the Keeper of Evenlight, though. I couldn’t tear my gaze from Fisher. He couldn’t tear his gaze from me. My mate and I stared at each other, panting, our bodies tensed taut as twin bowstrings. The feeling coursing through me was like nothing I had everencountered before. It went beyond want. There were no words to describe it.

We hadn’t slept together since I’d woken. I’d still been sick from the transition and sore from the injuries I’d sustained in the maze at Gillethrye. But now . . .