Page 99 of Disillusioned (A Lay of Ruinous Reign #2)

“All too well,” he muttered, his fingers forming a light collar around her throat. “Do you think your wedding gown will cover this if I get carried away?”

Recalling the dress Herlinde had promised her and Garin marking her neck at his farmhouse, Lilac growled, pushing at his chest. She slid off of him and onto the cot.

In one swift motion, he was on the floor, kneeling between her legs.

Cursing him, she slid her tongue into his mouth again.

She lifted her chin and encouraged him to her throat, all care and caution blunted by the burn of her skin—and the thought of his mouth bringing ecstatic relief.

Garin pulled away. “Things we cannot have.”

“Tell me what to do,” she demanded. She didn’t know precisely what she wanted or what she was offering him—or at least, how to ask for it without shame and incredulous desire. Lilac only knew she needed release. Wanted her vampire to bring her to it, to whatever end. “Please.”

His eyes were wild. She watched him rock back onto his heels, his fingers curled as if it pained him to remove them from her.

“Lay back on the cot,” he instructed, voice hoarse.

Lilac obeyed, for once moving faster than the force that shifted her bottom to the center of the mattress.

He then got to his feet, towering over her. “Slide your dress down.”

All too willingly, she removed the sleeves from her shoulders and shimmied out of them.

Garin’s throat bobbed as she bared her breasts for him. “Further.”

She slid her thumbs into her dress and peeled it down, savoring the way his pupils widened as the material reached her navel. Everything she’d said just moments ago was meaningless, meant to hurt him and protect herself. Her mouth watered at the thought of slipping him out of his trousers and?—

“Stop.” Garin nodded, satisfied with her half-bare torso. Then, he turned on his heel. He stalked out of the makeshift room of curtains, toward the glow of the hearth.

“Garin?” Lilac crawled to the edge of the cot and made to get off, but her muscles seized when he spoke again.

“Stay there.”

There was the sound of pouring liquid. Then, clanking iron.

Frustrated, she yanked away the curtain dividing Garin’s cot and the next.

He stood with his back to her at the apothecary desk on the right of the hearth.

Dozens of rows of shelves were stacked upon each other above a long station, with tools and cups to Garin’s left, and bottles of various liquids to his right.

He was peering into the collection of cups and containers, and plucked out a granite mortar and pestle. “Rose. Typical.”

Lilac strained to hear him as he continued to mutter to himself. She tried to shift off the bed, curiosity getting the best of her—but his power held her there, so she sank back onto the mattress.

Garin held something small and grey over his shoulder while pulling open one of the larger drawers at the bottom. Isabel’s tin. “I didn’t know you visited the apothecary that night. ”

“I didn’t. One of my handmaidens, Isabel, gave it to me tonight before the feast.”

“Isabel.” He sounded like he was only half-listening.

Concentrating, Garin pocketed the tin and grabbed a handful of what looked to be dried flowers and dropped it into the mortar.

He fell silent, searching again, and opened another smaller drawer up top—sniffed, then took a pinchful.

He did this again with the drawer under it, and a drawer on the opposite end, then got to grinding it down.

“And how did your Isabel procure this salve?”

“She made it. She and her twin sister Yanna used to work at The Fool's Folly before coming here.”

At this, Garin pivoted to shoot her a look of concern. “They’re young. I didn’t know they were taking on apprentices.”

“Yanna and Isabel were orphaned in Rennes before they began working there.” Lilac watched him pound the herbs down, the veins in his hands prominent as he gripped the stone.

She squeezed her thighs together. “Then my parents announced they were seeking potential handmaidens while the kingdom searched for me. They travelled to the castle, where my mother hired them right away.”

Garin’s brow furrowed, but he swallowed whatever he was going to say. “Your parents assigned you a pair of fine handmaidens.”

“They’ve turned out to be worthy friends,” she agreed, waiting for him to explain just what it was he was doing.

But he only turned and took the mortar to the kettle hanging over the hearth.

Garin lifted the steaming lid with a cloth and tilted the pulverized herbs in, down to the last crumb.

Then, he finally faced her, leaning against the desk with his arms crossed.

His neatly placed hair from supper had retained its tousled bounce; Lilac’s heart skipped a beat when he brushed it back.

“What?” he asked.

“I can’t believe my eyes. Are you making tea?”

“I am.” He lifted the tin from the desk and sniffed at it. “Rose, wormwood, mugwort.”

“All I could sense was rose.”

“I personally don’t care for the taste. Its healing effects are also far too subtle for my liking, but some insist on throwing it into their concoctions.

” His lips twitched, but he said nothing in response to that.

“This was her tea recipe. She made it all the time for herself at home and taught it to the owner of The Fool's Folly when I was young.”

Lilac watched him in awe, swallowing her several burning questions about Aimee. “She worked at the apothecary, didn’t she?”

“Sometime after my mother began helping those in town with minor ailments, rumor quickly spread that she was a healer, the daughter of talented physicians across the channel. The brothel’s Madame at the time approached us one day at the market.

Cornered us in the old bakery for her expertise in medicine.

” Garin took a porcelain mug from a stack at the back of the desk, stacking a round sieve on top.

“She specialized in helping women with various ailments. Wanted and unwanted. She needed my mother’s help in perfecting her methods. ”

“It sounds somewhat different from what your father did. He researched, didn’t he?”

His laugh was rough. “You could say that.” Swiftly, he unhooked the kettle from the rack that supported it and poured the steaming liquid over the sieve. He collected the covered tin before returning to her, mug in hand.

Lilac scooted back, supporting herself on her arms against the pillow as Garin perched onto the side of the bed.

“I would’ve guessed the salve recipe, either way.

Our sense of smell is extraordinary when it’s not hindered by a thrall bond waiting to snap in place.

For instance, tonight I can tell which ingredient your loyal handmaiden had forgotten.

Pennyroyal is most potent and will relieve abdominal cramping caused by menses, swiftly and efficiently, by soothing the muscles of one’s uterus.

” He cocked his head, considering. “I can tell when it’s about to rain. ”

“I can do that, too.” She enjoyed this version of Garin. It was one she’d never truly seen. Unguarded and free, safe enough to tell her about his family and brag about his abilities.

“I can tell,” he said, placing the mug onto the tray and walking his fingers up her shin. “That you’re on the first night of your bleed. I thought I might’ve sensed it last night based on your taste, but blood was everywhere.” He shrugged. “I was too distracted to ask.”

Lilac’s smile faded as she struggled to keep her eyes off of his full lips.

“I can tell you were caught by surprise. Stress can bring it on early, or cause delay. You’ve been under large amounts of pressure lately and are in need of much reprieve.

Relief.” Garin slid his hand over her hip, leaning over her.

Boxing her in. “Which, normally I’d be more than happy to provide you.

But I’d consider myself a monster if I didn’t warn you of my potential disservice. ”

“What disservice?”

“Helping you in the way you suggest will naturally drive you to offer yourself up to me, either your throat or your body, one consequently leading way to the other, given the bond you chose to enact with me.”

Her irritation only made her want him more. “You are the one who first suggested it.”

“I did no such thing.”

“You asked if I’d ever touched myself during my bleed, immediately after we discussed you feeding. You said you didn’t want anyone else's blood.”

“It was a simple question. I did not infer anything you didn’t already know: that I’d topple kingdoms for your blood.

All I said was, as it stands, that I will not bite you.

” He pursed his lips, an animalistic smile on the brink of breaking through.

“If anything was amiss, your carnal human mind filled in the gaps for you.” The ghost of his smile then vanished.

“You have made it clear what you are comfortable offering me, and what you are not. I am grateful for all of it and do not wish to cross those boundaries with you.” His words were genuine, making the hunger in them all more saccharine.

Lilac swallowed thickly. “Then don’t cross them.”

“As you’ve noticed is not so simple. With our thrall bond, it is better to avoid me sinking my teeth into you, or taking it by other—” His eyes sank appreciatively to her throat, lingering over her breasts, then lower— “Other means. Unless you decide you want me in all the ways I wish to devour you, because that is what it will inevitably lead to. I’m sure you’ve noticed how painstakingly easy it is for those lines you’ve precariously drawn to become blurred.

Fortunately for you, I am honored to do it whether I am your husband or not. ”

“That’s never stopped you before,” she said, her head pounding. “The true honor is having my hand. Which, you do not.”