Page 40 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Celestina

“Sorry about that,” Soren murmured when he returned. He bent and kissed me deeply in front of everyone. “My brother…” He shook his head. “He’s fine.”

Driscoll’s mouth dropped open with disbelief. “But he’s with—”

“With exactly who he wants to be with,” Soren finished for him. “And I believe discretion on his behalf is what the kingdom needs right now.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Driscoll bowed. But he didn’t look happy about Soren’s decision to leave his younger brother alone.

I had to agree with Soren, though. Cullen was an adult. He should be allowed to make his own decisions. After living as a slave and then living under the overbearing rules of the clan, I fervently believed in individual freedoms. Even if those freedoms meant making poor decisions.

The string quartet began to play a pretty tune I recognized from balls in Earst. “Shall we get our one dance out of the way, my handsome prince?” If I had my way, we were totally going to dance until my feet gave out, but Soren didn’t need to know that yet.

Thankfully, for my toes’ sake, he hadn’t lied about his dancing ability. He moved with grace around the dance floor, sweeping me into intricate twirls. His eyes reflected the delight I felt with him taking the lead. The rest of the revelers seemed to disappear as he held me in his arms. I imagined we were floating on sound waves as the melody swirled through the ballroom.

Goddess, I loved my vampire.

Every moment with him felt like magic.

Amaya

That vampire had wrecked me. I lay boneless on the chaise, staring at the coffered ceiling, wondering if I was dead.

His hands had clenched mine when he’d followed with his own release. His hot throbbing cock had had my body pulsing and clenching on him as he’d peppered my face with sweet kisses and the most scandalous promises for future couplings. At the end of it, we were both breathing hard. And he’d collapsed on top of me. But instead of feeling trapped or crushed underneath him, I felt safe. And happy.

A lizard caught my attention as it scurried across the ceiling. Where are those little pests coming from ? The entire continent seemed suddenly infected with them.

Cullen traced the contour of my face with a fingertip. “What are you thinking about?”

“Lizards.”

He frowned. “Not what I expected.”

“Have those green lizards always been in the palace, or are they new?”

“Hold on, you’re actually thinking about lizards? And not about us and what just happened?”

“Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. “The lizard on the ceiling was staring at me and, well—”

He kissed me. I kissed him back. And since our bodies were already touching in the most interesting places, I forgot about the lizards and focused on the vampire prince who was too handsome for my own good.

Afterward, Cullen framed my face with his hands. There was still dried blood staining his fingers. We seriously needed to get cleaned up. I didn’t even want to look in a mirror. He’d touched me everywhere with his blood-smeared hands.

“I’m making sure you’re keeping your attention on me this time,” he said when I squirmed underneath him.

“We’re filthy. This sofa, the rug, our clothes, there will be no cleaning them. They’ll all have to be thrown away. And then someone is going to ask you why.”

“Darling dragon, I’m a prince. They can ask, but I don’t have to answer.” He sucked my lower lip into his mouth. My lips already felt bruised and swollen. How noticeably bruised and swollen were they? Would I be the talk of the palace in the morning? Would everyone be wondering if Prince Cullen had ensnared a dragon of his own? Was that his plan?

And if I returned to the plateau, what would my parents or Anther or the others say about how I looked? Would they be able to smell the spicy, slightly metallic scent of vampire on my skin?

“Let’s get you back to my chambers. I’ll call for a late-night snack to be brought up. Fruit? Or do you need red meat to replenish your blood? We can clean up”—he kissed me senseless again—“and then we’ll get filthy all over again.”

Cullen didn’t ever need to use compulsion. All he had to do was ply me with his drugging kisses. I lost myself in his mouth for a while. It didn’t matter that my lips were sore. I wanted to keep living this forbidden fantasy…with him. Forever.

“I’m leaving with Soren to head to the front tonight,” he said when we finally came up for air. “I’ll make sure the staff takes care of you in my absence. I can talk to my sister, too. She’ll make sure you have everything you need.”

He…he expected me to stay? And wait for his return like one of those silly helpless damsels in the horrid novels Trace would bring back from Earst? The damsels who’d drone on endlessly, whining about how lonely their lives were while waiting for their simpering lovers to return from war?

“Why are you scowling? You don’t want to stay in my chambers? They’re comfortable and spacious, I’ll promise you that. I try to keep the bulk of my books in the library. Or, if you’d prefer, I could arrange for you to travel with us. But I doubt the situation at the front will be pretty, or safe. Not that you couldn’t hold your own.”

Cullen expected me to stay? With him? We-we couldn’t.

No. No. No. What have I done ? We. Were. Enemies. His people and mine. Were. Enemies.

I slapped his chest and wiggled out from underneath him. It wasn’t a graceful escape. I ended up landing hard on my hip.

“What are you doing?” He sat up.

“I’m leaving.”

“Leaving? Why?”

“Why?” I flapped my hands and paced while searching for where he’d tossed my pants. I must have been quite a sight, marching around the fancy (but now blood-splattered) parlor, wearing a blood-stained top that was nothing more than dangling straps and no pants or underwear. “Why?”

“Yes, why, Amaya?” He stood and buttoned up his trousers. “What did I do that’s making you want to run?”

My heart started to pound so hard I could hear it.

“Amaya, talk to me. Tell me what I did wrong.”

“You called me dragon!” I screamed. I didn’t care that there was a crowded party happening just outside that door that might overhear me. I didn’t even care that this wasn’t the thing that had my heart beating like it wanted to break free from my chest. Those were the words, the emotions that needed to come out. “ The man called me dragon! He never cared about my name! He only cared about what I could do for him!”

“Goddess, Amaya, I would never…” He closed the distanced between us.

But before he could touch me, I turned to air.

I knew I shouldn’t have done it. Not after overhearing how his soul found relief in just having me around…just like I found calm in his voice. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stay here. This thing between us—whatever it was—could never find a happy ending.

My life had never been my own. Celestina and I had been protected for hundreds of years until a shift in the fates caused our eggs to hatch. We existed for the dragons. We belonged to the dragons. And right now, my only focus should have been on ways to remind Celestina of her duty to her own kind instead of chasing an orgasmic high that would never last, not even with a vampire prince who liked to play mind games.

As air, I passed through walls, through crowded halls, out a window, and into the cool night where the ocean winds ruled by the ever-silent and often cruel Aquas, God of the Waters, wanted to take me.

“You promised to stay with me.”

I never promised anything.

“You made that promise with your body.”

I scoffed at that.

“Amaya?”

The ocean below me glittered in the starlight like someone had sprinkled diamonds on the surface of the undulating waves. It was perfect in its beauty. I would have preferred a storm.

“Please, Amaya. Curse me. Threaten me. Talk to me.”

I’d let him take my blood. No wonder I’d started experiencing all these unnatural feelings. I’d taken his blood. And now he had mine. We’d formed a bond. One I didn’t know how to break.

He was the enemy. He only wanted me for what I could do for his kingdom.

“I need you. I need your—”

I slammed a barrier down between us. I couldn’t let him tempt me with his calming voice, not when I was feeling emotional and weak because of him. Because of him . First, he made me feel giddy. And now I was feeling guilty for running away like a damned coward. I should have skewered him like a hunk of meat instead of running.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I whispered in my head, even though I knew Cullen wouldn’t be able to hear it. My mental walls were too strong. Maybe I was whispering the apologies to myself.

I could never come back.

Not for him.

Not when he was poison.

The worst kind of poison.

The kind that had made me care.