Page 53 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood (Tales So Wicked #2)

Lenore

T here are estates and sights scattered all around.

Many of them I do not recognize. Apparently they are more places where my in-between is crossing over with someone else’s.

We pass a home, large enough to belong to a noble family.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of hell they’re experiencing right now.

I take Harrow’s hand, squeezing. He squeezes right back, reaffirming nothing will happen to me with him by my side.

“You’re struggling to accept the fate of the others.

I understand. I love the way your mind works, but try to keep it from wandering to anyone else.

It will only bring you pain to overthink things in a place like this. ”

That’s easier said than done.

The twisted, ominous trees looming above us take new shapes. I recognize those varieties. Stepping through a dense thicket, I find a familiar sight. Finally, something I know is meant for me.

“That’s the cabin Cassius took me to!” I exclaim. The outside is identical. This is the first hope I’ve felt since Harrow rescued me. He said it would be something familiar. Dragging Harrow with me, I race to the entrance. “Maybe the door back to my world is inside.” I reach for it.

“Cassius took you to a cabin?”

Harrow’s tone makes me freeze. It’s deceivingly casual. Which mean I’m in deeper shit than I realized.

My fingers are resting on the handle. Swallowing, I respond, “Yes.”

I attempt to keep my voice even. Harrow doesn’t know what happened. He didn’t even know about the cabin before this moment. That much is obvious.

Long, elegant fingers reach around my jaw, slowly tipping my face upward. Harrow’s face is tilted in a smirk. I find it more terrifying than if he were scowling. “When, pray tell, did Cassius take you to a cabin? And for what purpose?”

I settle on the truth. Part of it, at least. It shouldn’t get me into too much trouble. “As soon as you left me in the maze, I stumbled into Cassius. I just”—my mouth is thick—“I needed to get away from everything for a few days and I didn’t have anyone else to turn to.”

Sadness flickers across Harrow’s steely gaze. He sighs. “I should never have left you.”

“I asked you to. It was my fault.” Realizing it really was my fault, I add, “I’m sorry I sent you away. I shouldn’t have blamed you. My heart was just so broken and I was angry.”

Harrow surprises me when he leans down and presses a gentle kiss to my lips.

“Please know that if there were anything I could have done to save your mother, I would have. If there had been any way to delay it, to bring her back, I would have done it for you. I hunted down every source I could but the dead are dead. With the exception of your animals, of course.” He gives me a half smile.

“I tried, you know. I tried to bring her back.”

His arms are firm as he pulls me into his chest. “You are miraculous, but there are limits even to your gifts.”

I lean into his armored breastplate. The skull emblem near the top corner digs into my cheek. “Thank you for coming to save me.”

“Don’t mention it. Now let’s find that door and get the hell out of here. The sooner we leave this place, the sooner I can have you away from all this terror and back in bed.” He gives me a wink that has me blushing and grinning like a lovesick fool. He’s so damn hot.

The interior of the cabin is also an exact replica.

I set to work, scouring every inch. I look through every window, open the closet, check beneath the furniture.

I even roll up the rug, hoping there’s a trap door beneath.

“It has to be in here. Is the door always shaped like an actual door? Or could it be something sneaky?”

“There’s only one bed.” I turn to find Harrow staring at the bed. His pointed gaze sweeps to me. “You went away for a few days with another man and there’s only one bed. Where did he sleep at night?”

My pulse rises. “I got sick that first evening. Cassius left to get help so we never spent the night here.” Technically the truth.

Harrow’s eyes are like glass, cutting through me, seeking the unspoken words I’m sure he can sense are hidden on the back of my tongue.

“Lenore.”

“We should go. The door isn’t here.” I make for the exit, reaching for the handle. A shadow wraps around my wrist, stopping me before I can grab it.

The room darkens as Harrow’s shadows cover the walls and floor. “Lenore.”

The way he says my name makes me shiver. Reluctantly, I turn. “Yes?”

“Did you let him touch you?” My sharp intake of breath is confirmation enough. I hadn’t expected him to ask me so directly.

His metallic eyes blaze.

I swallow, lips parting. A shadowy tendril encircles the lower half of my face, silencing me before I can speak.

Harrow tuts. “I can see the mistruth weaving itself together behind your eyes. Don’t waste your time.”

He moves, no, prowls toward me. As much as I try to look past what he truly is, he’s more dangerous than that spider in the forest. I’m the helpless human trapped in his web. Each step heightens the wild beating of my heart. Harrow’s movements are slow, deliberate.

He waits to speak again until he’s standing toe to toe with me, peering down from the vantage point of his great height. “Did he fuck you?” The shadows slip from around my mouth as he waits for an answer.

“This is not the time or place to talk?—”

“Ah, so he did fuck you.”

“I never said that.”

“You never denied it.” His icy stare brings fire to my cheeks.

“Harrow—”

“Did you come?”

I almost choke on air. “Why are you doing this?”

His hand rests beneath my chin, face tilting until his breath ghosts across my lips. “Answer me, Lenore.”

I prefer Roseheart or little raven. I can sense the weight behind my first name. Like a punishment when you’re caught doing something naughty as a child.

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Just once.”

There’s an almost imperceptible tightening of the hand on my face before it loosens again.

Harrow releases me and takes a step back.

Emotions whir through his eyes. They speed past each other in a fight for finality.

“Once. I suppose that will be an easy record to break.” He unfastens the chain holding his cape in place.

It drops to the floor, landing in a pile like silky ink.

His wrist shields come next, followed by his breastplate.

My mouth hangs open. He can’t be serious. “We’re doing this here? This doesn’t seem like the right time.”

“I don’t care if we’re in the middle of a hellscape. If you think I’ll go another minute without re-claiming you after another man has touched you, been inside you, then you’ve severely underestimated my possessiveness.”

His torso is bare. A soft glow radiates off each edge of his carved figure like moonlight.

I’m staring, speechless, even as he drops his pants and bares his lower half to me. Harrow’s smooth, long cock juts upright, hard and ready. If it’s possible, it looks even larger than the last time I saw it. His wings expand outward, dwarfing the room.

Harrow snaps. The dark veil that’s been acting as a dress and shielding my body vanishes. He crooks a single finger, his silver rings glinting in the soft cabin lighting.

I stop when there are just a few feet between us. Harrow reaches an arm out, wrapping it behind my back and pulling me flush against him. The reaction I have when our bodies meet, skin to skin, is electric. Heat races through me, settling between my thighs.

Harrow leans down and grazes his nose along the underside of my jaw. “Where did it happen?”

My brain overheats when he runs his tongue up the column of my throat. “The… floor…” I’m panting already and we’ve barely touched.

When Harrow pulls back, white flames burn behind his eyes. “You let him take you on this filthy floor like some animal rutting you in the woods?”

My cheeks flame. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Wasn’t it? Allow me to see for myself.” His fingertips hover beside my temple, waiting for my permission.

He’s going to delve into my memories again. No, he’s asking me if he can see my memories. Oh gods, this is going to be humiliating. There will be no denying it now . I nod. As embarrassing as this will be, I don’t want to keep secrets from Harrow. It’s too draining.

Harrow sifts through my recent memories.

I feel his fingers twitch, his search slowing as we pass my mother in the chapel.

Just as quickly, he speeds past, halting when he lands on my time in the cabin with Cassius.

The pressure of his fingertips against my temple intensifies as he replays the memory of Cassius pinning me to the floor.

Having to watch it for myself is brutal. The encounter looks worse than I realized. Cassius is unrecognizable as he takes me on the floor.

Harrow says nothing as he pulls free from my mind. His body presses against mine, backing me toward the bed.

“What did you see?” I ask, hoping he wasn’t able to view it as clearly as I just did.

“Enough to know you’ve been a very, very naughty little raven.”

“It was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“ Clearly .” His eyes narrow. “This took place the day after I made your bed my own. After I pleasured you until the sun rose. Did I leave you so unsatisfied that you were in need of another man’s touch so soon? Was my giving nature undesirable?”

“No. I told you. I wasn’t thinking clearly. There was a lot going on. Cassius was just trying to help.”

“ Help ?” The word comes out as a snarl. “The way he treated you was unacceptable. He borrowed your body and now he’s on borrowed time. How does it feel to know you’ve condemned him?”

“You can’t kill him if it’s not his time. You told me that.”

“I never said I would kill him. Use your imagination, Lenore.”

My throat is tight when I swallow. “What will you do?”

“I ought to turn his dick into a turnip and force you to bite it off.” A flicker of joy passes across Harrow’s serious features.

“I’ve always hated turnips.”