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Chapter Thirty-One

RUNA

Since the day an arrogant vampire lord tumbled into my hands, nothing about my world had made sense.

He was Carcerem’s savior and my downfall.

Whether he claimed the throne or abdicated, he could never be mine.

But for one night, I could put that reality aside, pretending we were two souls finding comfort in each other.

Pretending we were peasants with simple goals and desires.

Pretending what we were about to do together meant nothing.

I shoved every thought from my mind but one. I would exist in this moment. Claim it as mine. The memory would be mine to keep and one he would never forget.

“Choose, vampire, which of my identities shall I reveal to you?” I wasn’t about to drop all my barriers, making myself vulnerable.

“Your tired and neglected wife of five decades?” I unfastened the buttons on my frumpy dress, shrugged out of the sleeves, shoved the course material down my legs, and kicked the garment onto a bed of straw.

Standing before him in my moth-eaten shift, I groped my breasts, saying in a false voice, “Take me quick, Morgue, before the younglings break out of the cellar.”

Victor coughed a laugh. “It concerns me how easily that role comes to you.”

“Careful, husband, or I may fall victim to a horrible headache.” I cast him a glare before turning my back to him. “Perhaps you’d prefer the shy milkmaid?” I offered a coy smile over my shoulder while I slid the strap of my chemise down my arm.

Slowly, with teasing movements, I followed with the second strap. Then, bending at my waist, I guided the fabric over my hips and down to the ground where it hit with a masculine sounding exhale.

Breasts bare, in little but a pair of skimpy undergarments, I spun, prowling a path directly to him. “Or maybe I’m the leader of a band of thieves, an evil sorceress with a penchant for seduction.” A devious grin tugging at my mouth, I placed a hand in the center of his chest and shoved.

Custodis fell upon a mound of hay with nary a word of objection.

With the vampire under my spell, I set a foot on either side of his hips and lowered to straddle him. “Tell me. What’s it going to be?”

He grinned, enjoying my game. “That depends?”

I canted my head in question.

“Who do you want your partner to be?” His eyes flashed with mischief.

Suddenly, I found myself rolled and pinned.

“Am I the neglected husband who must take his pleasure quickly before my wife falls asleep or the younglings escape the dungeon?” He ground his impressive erection against my core, grinding in rhythm that made me breathless before grabbing my breast in a rushed manner that had a rare giggle threatening to emerge .

“Or am I the coarse farmhand, eager to experience anything the milkmaid will allow me to get away with?” He plumped my abused breast, then feasted on my puckered nipple. His skillful tongue circled, laving, tempting me in a way no simple laborer could pull off.

Desire pooled at my center, heat flooding my veins. I grasped his silken hair, arching my spine. “Farmhand,” I gasped. “Definitely the farmhand.”

“Or perhaps I’m the dashing descendant of a god?” He nuzzled a path along my ribs, his lips brushing my skin, and I held my breath.

“A divine being thrust into a strange world?” Across my stomach, he burned a trail of heated kisses and gentle nips.

“Determined to ravish any sorceress who dares to make me her captive?” His tempting mouth brushed my center, his warm breath penetrated my undergarment. Over the hated fabric that separated us, he nuzzled the sweetest of places.

“Divine,” I croaked. “I was wrong. You are definitely divine.”

At my admission, my vampire dragged the offensive barrier aside and slid his tongue the length of my slick channel.

“Ah!” I tossed my head. Every nerve ending between my legs lit up at the attention.

“If I were truly a god, would you pray to me?” He teased with a long stroke that had me writhing.

“Pray?” I gasped, confusion swirling through the lusty haze in my mind.

His talented tongue paused in its ministration, firm hands tightening on my thighs, and I wanted to cry at the loss.

“Pray to me, little thief,” he commanded.

I discovered I’d do just about anything in that moment. “Please, my lost king, my divine vampire.” The second I caved, he set back in, laving, stroking, tormenting. Words left my mouth. What? I hadn’t a clue. He was my imaginary husband, my fantasy lover, my heavenly conqueror.

“Close. I’m so close. So—” Stars exploded behind my eyes. Sparks erupted along my nerve endings. Victor’s hungry groan rang in my ears as he wrenched every pulse, every ripple of bliss from me.

Fabric rent, clothing shuffled, and Victor’s heated flesh pressed against mine, skin on skin. I curled my legs around his naked hips, caressing his shoulders.

VICTOR

Runa’s orgasm was the sweetest of victories. In that moment, I truly felt like a divine being. Over the centuries, sex had been a necessity, a political advancement, or the consummation of a pact. It had never been this.

With Runa, my pulse raced, my heart skipped, and my soul sang. Together, we were witty, playful, and passionate.

Real.

This was what I’d been missing with my perfunctory coupling. Despite the game we’d played, Runa was my devoted wife, my dream lover, my seductive sorceress. Everything I’d desired, yet didn’t know I needed.

In my moment of distraction, I ended up pinned beneath my curvaceous conquer.

Runa peered down at me. A predatory glint blazed in her eyes. Slim fingers curled around my throbbing cock and a low growl rumbled in my throat.

“Tell me, what am I to do with this divine king that I’ve captured?”

At the first tempting stroke of her skilled hand, my eyes rolled back .

“Shall I pull him from the jaws of a hungry beast and lock him up in shackles?”

Before I could formulate an answer, Runa’s mouth covered my nipple, her teeth grazing my tender flesh while her talented palm did wondrous things to my aching shaft.

Her molten tongue set off on a delightful journey down my ribs, over my abdomen, and across my hipbone.

Speechless, I took in the sight of her full breasts brushing my thighs, the hungry gleam in her violet gaze, and her plump lips, inches from my manhood, noting the caress of her hot breath feathering my flesh.

“Shall I keep him prisoner to my wicked desires?” Runa’s tongue made a slow journey from the base of my shaft to the aching tip. Then her wicked mouth closed over me, and I forgot the question. In an embarrassingly short amount of time, she had me on the brink.

It took everything in me to make her stop. “Enough, pet. Before you unman me.”

I seized her shoulders, guiding her back up my body where she straddled my hips. A playful smile danced upon her swollen lips.

“Tell me, vampire, have you ever been ravished in a hayloft?”

Despite the state of my aching cock, I couldn’t recall being this entertained during sex. “Can’t say that I have.”

“Good. Then let me be the first.” Runa guided my erection where she desired me, lowering her welcoming heat along my shaft and taking me into her body.

“Flark,” I growled her favorite curse, grasping her hips and thrusting.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she purred, planting her hands on my pectorals and rocking her hips.

In moments, she found a seed-stealing rhythm that had me seeing stars. If I continued to let her have her way, I’d never last .

“Nice?” I snarled. “I’ll show you nice.”

I grasped her waist and rolled, pinning her under me.

“Curse you, vampire,” she groaned. “I was enjoying that.”

“You’ve had your fun, pet. Now, be a good girl and allow me to have mine.”

Her violet eyes narrowed in warning. “Be a good—Oh!”

I drove my cock into her slick entrance, silencing her protests. With every rock of my hips, pressure built at the base of my spine. Desperate hands clawed at my shoulders. The sorceress’s thighs squeezed my flanks, urging me on. Harder. Deeper.

“Oh, that’s it. Faster,” she ordered.

I claimed her mouth, kissing her until we were both gasping for air. “No more commands,” I growled against her lips.

The handprint I’d left on her throat had darkened, glowing with a celestial light. Upon seeing my mark, possessive urges rose inside of me like a gathering storm.

My divine half might have claimed this female, but tonight, it was the vampire’s turn.

Fangs extended from my gums. “Earlier, you granted me a mere taste. Tonight, I want all of you.”

Runa’s gleaming eyes dilated in response. Anticipation blazed across her cheeks. “No vampire has ever taken my blood.”

At her admission, a primal presence stirred in my psyche. This pleased me. “You and I, we’ve experienced many firsts this evening.”

“Why stop now?” she murmured, tilting her head, exposing her neck.

Hunger stabbed my gut. Before she could rescind her offer, I lowered my head and sank my fangs into her throat. One sip and I was lost.

All vampires connected with their prey’s essence when they fed.

It was the reason blood needed to come straight from the source.

Runa’s was the most delightful of nectars.

Her essence washed over me. In that connection, I sensed a magic that was uniquely hers, mixed with tendrils of courage and devotion.

The responsibility she bore for those weaker than her, even kindness, but also a sense of ruthlessness, and a spirit that would never surrender, never quit.

Beneath her unique signature, there was something else.

Something bigger than the two of us. It welcomed me like a lost friend.

Its touch felt like home, safe and nurturing.

Its power was immense. Instinctively, I sensed this was Carcerem.

As a sorceress, Runa was connected to the kingdom and drew her strength from it.

This same connection was a siren’s song calling to me.

Runa’s throaty moan forced my attention back to her lush body. My aching cock. I released her throat, and she uttered a whimper of protest.

“By the fates, it’s all so clear now,” she gasped.

I wondered at her meaning, but the demands of my body blinded me to all but the feeling of her slick heat surrounding me.

Runa’s legs clamped around my hips, and she tossed her head, crying out as her orgasm exploded through her.

The tight, pulsing grip of her channel sent me over the edge as well, and I buried my cock deep into her depths, shouting my release.

Jets of pleasure erupted from me, filling and marking the female beneath me.

Spasms rocked our writhing bodies, and my muscles were powerful and yet weak all at the same time.

It seemed my very soul left my body, floating somewhere above me. My vision turned gold. Once I’d returned to myself, the sensation of gentle, stroking fingers slid over my shoulders and back.

“Still with me?” Runa chuckled.

“I… Yes.” I couldn’t remember a moment when I’d lost myself so completely with a woman. The experience left me shaken.

I rolled to my back, taking Runa with me and tucking her into my side. She angled her leg over my thigh and nestled her face under my chin.

“That was incredible,” she whispered.

“That was…” Beyond incredible. I had no words.

“I think I get it now.”

I struggled to focus. “What’s that?”

“The venom.”

“Ahh.” Despite my wandering thoughts, a smile tugged my lips. I toyed with a strand of her lavender hair.

“I mean. It had to be the effect of your venom, right? Because that was…like nothing I’d ever experienced before.”

“Yes, the venom,” I agreed, though I’d never seen a female react in such a way. It certainly didn’t explain my own reaction.

Strangely, while feeding from her, I’d sensed no desire to utter the incantation that would claim her as my Bride. Perhaps because she was already mine?

Regardless, I had a nagging suspicion that what happened between us was more than sex. It was a spiritual interaction between mates. The idea chilled me. Primal urges rose at the thought. Urges that demanded the sorceress was mine forevermore.

Yes , said a voice from deep within my psyche.

Despite Runa’s efforts, I had not changed my mind about staying here.

Carcerem’s people were little more than savages.

Delightful savages who made the finest fermented brews, danced feet-stomping jigs, and took pleasure in the simple parts of life.

None of that was for me. Was it? It wasn’t. Of course, it wasn’t.