Page 92 of Satanic Shadow

I lower the open pages. “One more off-subject question. What did Valin do to me?” I ask, chewing my lip and looking at the words in my textbook. “You never told me, just that he took me and that’s it.”

“He didn’t hurt you. He removed your memories and planted a new one there in its place. Almost generic.”

“Butwhy? Why did he take me?” I ask, looking back up at him and curling my legs beneath me.

Dane sighs and drops his book, giving up on the questions. “Valin thinks you belong to him after one taste. He’s delusional. I’ll deal with him once I get out.”

I snort. “Why would I belong to him? I’ve never been near Valin for him to get a taste.”

For a second, Dane seems stuck on words. He clears his throat and gets off the bed. “You don’t need to lie to me. There have been multiple occasions where you were alone together.”

Fucking multiple, he says in his head as he fixes his tie.

“Although jealousy on you is catching me off guard, I’ve never as much as kissed Valin.”

“Jealousy.” He scoffs, cracking his neck to one side then the other. “Kneel,” he says, gesturing to me to rise to his height from the bed. “Let’s get this over with.”

I do as he says with a scowl on my face. He wraps his fingers around my wrists, and I take the opportunity to sink my nails into his skin. “Stop being such a dick to me for no reason.”

Dane glares at me. “Do you need to be so fucking violent?” he hisses.

I tip my chin. “Yes.”

He clicks his jaw, tightening his hold on my wrists and tugging me forward on my knees. “I’m starting to think you actually want me to kill you.”

I snort. “I’m seeing that word very differently now.”

I’d kill you if I fucked you.

A long silence, a slow blink, and then he says, “Meaning?”

“How exactly would you kill me?” I ask, tilting my head, a lock of brown hair falling in my face. “An ax to the gut? A ball of lightning to the chest? Maybe properly drowning me?” My eyes light up, and I see amusement in him.

Dane fights a smirk, leaning closer as he pulls me to the edge of the bed on my knees, until I feel his breath on my face. “I have imagined your death in many ways, mortal. But not quite like that.”

“I hate you.”

“You really don’t,” he counters.

“I saw you kill me once,” I say, and his hold falters on my wrists as he looks at me with shock. I keep going. “I was on a stone altar-type thing, and you stabbed me with a knife.”

“Quite imaginative, mortal.”

“The Blade of the Gods.”

Dane’s body freezes, his eyes widening. “How do you know about that?”

“I told you. I saw it in my dreams. You stabbed me with it.”

“What else do you know about the blade?”

“Nothing at all. What does it mean?” I ask. “The dream?”

But then I scream as he abruptly siphons the curse pumping through my veins. I fall into his chest, panting, but neither of us lets go as his entire body goes stiff against me.

My head drops onto his shoulder, and he does everything he can to bear my weight as he takes the burning blood, the dark poison transferring to him.

My eyes close, and my body grows tired and limp.