Page 40 of The Serpent’s Bride (Bloodlines #1)

He was holding her like she mattered to him. Or like he wanted her there. It made her want to break the moment. Picking her head back up, she pushed herself to her elbows and looked down at him. “These rumors about you and your ‘guests.’ Can I ask questions now?”

“Mm?” He thought about it for a moment. “I suppose you’ve earned it. Very well. Go ahead. I will answer your questions.”

“Whips, chains, straps, all that—how much of that is true?”

“Enough to have earned the reputation, but likely the more inventive things you’ve heard are fabrications.” He smirked. “No one has ever been flayed alive. I save the true horrors for my enemies.”

She let out a breath. “And what if I wanted to…” She paused, trailing off.

A slow smile formed on his face. “You wanted to, what?”

“What if I wanted to be the one in control?”

He sat up, forcing her to do the same. She was straddling his thighs, sitting on them as he smiled down at her.

Even like this, he was still taller than her.

She expected him to laugh. She expected him to scoff at the idea—to call her an idiot, a fool, to maybe be moved to anger or fury at the notion of someone like her having the gall to even suggest such a thing.

But instead, she saw only the strangest kind of excitement . As though what she had just said was enticing to him.

Slowly, he slipped his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her in close, lowering his lips toward hers as if to kiss her. He stopped, a hair’s breadth away. His words sounded like thunder on the horizon, a whisper of a storm. “I would love to see you try…”

A threat and an invitation.

Open arms and a bloody knife.

What a fucked-up pair we make.

Closing the distance between them, she kissed him.

He responded in kind for a moment before pulling his head away and placing his fingers against her lips to stop her from chasing after him. “Ah, you hungry little thing.”

Sighing, she glowered at him.

Laughing at how put out she looked, he tossed her rather unceremoniously onto her side on the bed.

“I am not going to get into another round with you. Or else I will be railing you into oblivion for the next two hours. You will be a bruised and battered mess for dinner, and I will not hear the end of it from my family.”

“You could tell your family to get wrecked. Say you’re spending time with your new wife.

” The words left her before she could really consider what she was saying.

What was wrong with her? What had he done to her?

She knew humans could get wrapped up in what it felt like to be bitten by a vampire—but she hadn’t even been aware of the bite.

Her head was already scattered from the intensity of the sex and everything else she’d been through.

The moment he’d sunk his teeth into her neck, she had passed out. She hadn’t really experienced it.

Had it done something to her? Was she his thrall now?

A fresh wave of fear hit her. No, no—that wasn’t possible. She was just playing the part. And he was handsome. And she hadn’t been laid in a long time. And she had never in her life ever been laid like that .

Maybe there was also some relief in her that he hadn’t realized she was fae after feeding on her. Her glamor had held up after being bitten. There was a lot to attribute it to.

Raziel was already changing, laughing at her comment as he pulled on a pair of trousers.

“As much as I appreciate the sentiment, and as much as you will come to regret it later, I’m afraid I will have to insist. If you still feel the same way later, I’ll take you up on your offer after a bottle of wine. How’s that sound?”

“I’m just trying to avoid your mother.” She flopped back down onto the pillow. “But also…we’ll see.” She smirked at him in the mirror.

He smirked back. “Trust me. I would much rather be introducing you to the truth of the rumors about me than listen to my family prattle on.” His expression faded. “While they will be impressed with your performance, I’m certain they will find some reason to needle. They always do.”

He pulled an undershirt over his head. She watched the muscles in his back flex as he did.

Moons, she wanted to lick every single line of them.

I clearly needed to scratch more itches in my life.

She laid her head back down on the pillow.

The painkillers were starting to work, and the ache in her lower back was easing up. “How long until they get here?”

“A few hours. You have time to get some more sleep before they arrive. I’ll send someone to wake you an hour before to give you time to dress.”

All he got in response from her was a grunt. She was already on her side and half buried in the thick comforter. When she felt him sit on the edge of the bed next to her and stroke her hair, she didn’t know what to say.

When he kissed her cheek, she didn’t know what to think.

“Get some rest, my little murderer. You’ll need it.”

When those words made her smile, she didn’t know how to feel.