Page 38 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

His gaze darkens as he inspects her mouth. He lowers his head for a kiss but Dream Nel pushes him away. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and struts to the dining table.

We need to avoid kisses from now on. Even in my dreams I will not forget my pledge.

Walls of bricks, not of straw.

My dream version understands my feelings well. She pours the wine into a glass and drains the entire thing down her throat. At a time like this, we both wish we had fae wine instead.

“Are you all right?” Dream Svenn’s voice accosts her from behind. He pulls her into his arms and gazes at her with a genuine look of concern in his eyes.

She stares right back at him.

“You came,” Dream Nel says with a wide, triumphant grin. “I win.”

He draws her to his chest and she sinks into his embrace. “Yeah, you win, little Fawn,” he mutters.

We did it!

A warm sensation spreads in my chest. I’m proud of Dream Nel. I’m proud of me.

“You’re amazing, Nel,” Dream Svenn praises, stroking her hair. He pulls back to look at her face. A smile tilts his lips as if he is happy for her too. “But it’s my turn now, is it?”

My feeling of victory is short-lived.

“It is…” she mutters as she stares at him.

A soft kindness flashes in his eyes. I don’t like this. Stop it… don’t give me that look.

Walls of bricks, not of straw.

Dream Nel detects the agony in my heart. “Let’s head to the bed then and get it over with,” she says, trying to make the whole thing sounds like a chore.

“What’s the rush?” He grasps her arm. “You want me that badly, sweetheart?”

“Don’t kid yourself. That’s not what I meant.” She dismisses. “I don’t want you.”

A dark emotion plays on his face over those last words. Even when he kills, Svenn doesn’t rage. Right now, he is staring at her with a wrath that could swallow the sun.

“Get on the table.” The authoritative command sends a shiver down my spine.

Gone is the tenderness from before, replaced by violence and chaos. It has Dream Nel hesitating and backing away. Before we can think to escape, he pushes her to the table, bending her over. She tries to wriggle free but it’s useless when he locks her arms behind her back. He lifts her nightgown, baring her bottom half.

I watch the scene play out in front of me with a mix of horror and intrigue. He nudges her legs to spread open. My heartskips when his fingers slide down between her thighs. I feel the gentlest of caresses there, like a whisper of the wind.

“You’re soaking wet, Nel.” He shows her the way my arousal is making a thread on his thumb and fingers. Then he brings them to his mouth for a taste. “Sucking my cock turn you on?”

Heat rises to my cheeks at the question and his vulgar act. Poor Dream Nel is blushing like hell too.

It’s nothing,I calm myself. It’s just my body reacting to the way he used me for his pleasure.

He licks his fingers with a reverent expression, as if he’s tasting fine wine. “Fuck, you taste exactly how I imagined.”

“Hurry up and finish this,” Dream Nel says, closing her eyes shut.

Good for her.

While I’m stuck out here to see him positioning himself behind her. He coasts his free hand on her back and her hips. I feel each and every one of his touches burning on my body.

He claims her with one powerful thrust of his hip. I gasp as I watch him fill Dream Nel—me—to the hilt. My knees buckle from the feel of him, filling me to the brim.