Page 18

I tried to tug my foot out of his grip, yanking the cloth his bed was made from. It felt like a similar texture to his shirt, but the insides moved a little more than a mattress from Earth, as if it was filled with feathers or wool.

“Stay still,” he ordered, pulling my leg until I was once again on my back, flicking aside my ripped skirt. It parted to the middle of my thigh, and I tugged it under me to keep it from riding up and exposing my still-sensitive sex. He lowered his head and ran his tongue along the cut.

I propped myself up on my elbows, watching him clean away the dried blood, taking care to collect every speck of it. The slow glide of his rough tongue spawned butterflies to life. He swirled his tongue along the top of my foot.

Was he . . . ‘bathing’ me?

This was turning me on when it really shouldn’t. I licked my lips and dropped my shoulders from their tight position near my ears. He swiped his long tongue up my leg, lulling me until energy leaked out of my limbs, and I fell back.

“Corvus?” He stilled, head slowly lifting to peer at me. “Corvus Zypher?”

He grunted and continued running his tongue across my ankle.

“If you weren’t born, who named you?”

“I spawned knowing my name.” He cocked his head. So, when he . . . spawned. That was so strange.

“I like it.” He blinked at me. In a swift movement, he let go of my foot and crawled up my body. I tipped my chin higher to keep my eyes on his. He watched me with such intensity, it made me nervous. “Why did those Novians try to kill you?”

“How do you know about Novians?” There was no inflection in his tone.

“One of them said that’s what they were.”

He made a sound similar to a disapproving tsk.

“There are many realms, but you fragile humans are blind to them.” Realms sounded crazy and mind-boggling. I’d always believed in more than Earth and humans being out there, but not realms . The confirmation stunned me.

“Why did they say your name like they could make you obey?”

“Villagers tell tales. They weave and twist stories of the beast living in his castle. A creature of darkness.” That must have been where the title of Lord came from.

“I remember the days when they used to provide sacrifices and tie them to podiums.” He bared his teeth in a macabre smile, dropping to his side and leaving one leg sprawled over me, which was much heavier than he could have understood.

I wiggled to lessen the pressure on my femur.

“They served as nothing more than lovely snacks. They go from worshipping to hatred.” His tongue flashed across his lip.

“Novians are as fickle and pathetic as humans.”

I huffed, offended. The feather-like hair framing his forehead fluttered.

“You know, we’re not all like that, and stuffing all humans in one box?—”

His hand curled around my mouth, cutting me off. My words turned muffled, and I sank my teeth into his palm.

He yanked back, hand raised, gaping at it and then at me, mouth slightly parted to show fangs.

“That’s what you get,” I grumbled.

He blinked once, and a coughing chortle left him. He wound his arm around my waist until I was tucked against his body. His wing fell over me, enveloping me in warmth and darkness.

“You will rest.”

I grumbled again, but couldn’t deny my exhaustion as it dragged me into a peaceful sleep.

I swam closer to the deep end of the water, kicking my feet as I reveled in being clean. Corvus leaned against the furthest point in the granite pool, head tilted back and eyes closed, his face turned toward the sky.

“I wish I had soap,” I mumbled, dog-paddling across the deep end.

“Soap,” Corvus murmured, peering at me. “I will get you soap.” He held his hand out, and his shadows pulsated and expanded before evaporating, leaving behind a bar on his palm.

I gasped and swam to him, exerting more effort. The water felt denser here, and the coloring wasn’t a trick of the light; it was a deep, startling blue.

“How did you do that?” I sputtered as water fell from my mouth. Once I reached him, I lunged for it, clinging to his arm to give myself a rest.

“My feeding allows me to bring things across the realms.”

Feeding .

“You fed on the Novians?”

“Devoured their souls,” he grunted.

“And that’s why they became husks,” I breathed, understanding how his shadows had been able to bring my bed now.

He’d fed on the woman’s soul, the one I’d been in the cell with, and after that, he brought my bed over.

I scrubbed the soap between my palms, the fragrant scent pluming to my nose, a mix of bergamot and .

. . lavender? I sniffed again. It was kind of like lavender, but there was an undertone that I couldn’t match.

“And you can bring anything over?”

“Larger items require a larger sacrifice.”

“Oh,” I whispered, scrubbing the suds over my arms and keeping my eyes lowered. “Then why do you need me if you can feed on souls?”

Silence to the point that all I could hear was the suds.

I peeked up through wet eyelashes.

He studied me with those black fathomless eyes, so dark I could see my reflection.

“I must feed on a pure soul spawned from greed.” My heart dropped into the water, along with the bar of soap.

I scrambled to grab it and dunked under the water, flailing for it.

Holding my breath, I swam under, the water pressure making my movements slower.

His words resonated in my head. How could I be ‘spawned from greed’ ?

He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, and I breached the surface of the water with a gasp. I swiped my palms across my face.

“Do not do that,” he bellowed, his chest jerking violently, his fangs showing with the curling of his lip.

“What are you talking about?” I heaved a breath in.

“Humans cannot breathe under water,” he shouted.

As I caught my breath, I studied the stiff line of his face, the sneer, the furrow at the bridge of his nose.

He was worried.

“I’m okay,” I said, winded. His hand on the back of my neck softened its grip, and his features smoothed out. A thick, dark cloud spanned the surface of the water.

He didn’t let me go; instead, he toted me out of the pool. I scrambled onto my tiptoes, grabbing at his side to keep myself balanced.

“What are you doing? We aren’t done talking.” I wasn’t done getting answers was more accurate. “What do you mean ‘spawned from greed’?”

His nostrils flared the slightest bit.

“Mina Garcia.”

The name struck me across the face.

“My mom . . .” I whispered.

“Bargained your soul before your birth.”

“No, that doesn’t make sense.” I shook my head so hard it made me dizzy. “She didn’t give my soul away. She died giving birth to me.”

“No, she did not.”

My mind raced.

“You’re saying she abandoned me?” I croaked in disbelief.

“Abandoned?” His eyelids narrowed as if he was mulling over the meaning of the word.

“Being deserted or cast off . . .” he said lower.

“Yes.” He cocked his head, onyx gaze settling on my face.

“You were ‘abandoned.’ I heard her pleas for help during a Blood Moon. I assisted for a price. Your pure soul was mine, she agreed.”

“Do you know where she is? Did you kill her?” My breath hiccupped on a gasp, and my nose burned with restrained tears.

I wouldn’t be able to hold them back much longer.

There was no love lost toward the woman who birthed me, but the discovery hurt.

He strode toward the edge of the bathing area like he hadn’t rocked my world with his revelation.

“She is dead.”

“You killed her,” I choked out.

“No. She did it herself.” He dragged me forward.

“Wait, my stuff,” I gasped, trying to turn around to where I’d laid my clothes and shoes out under the sky. I’d been hoping it could help them dry faster, but honestly, it wasn’t going to make a difference; it wasn’t like there was a sun.

His arm curled under my knees, and he lifted me against his hard chest, the side of my soft body pressing into his cold surface. The shock of being lifted undid the barrier I’d erected around me.

Tears trickled down my face, and I sucked in a breath, trying to cut myself off from the emotions bubbling through the cracks. Aunt Vee had been all I needed, but the discovery that my birth mom killed herself still sucked.

“You are.” He paused. “Crying?” His tone tilted upward at the end, almost like he was confused. He seemed to know things, but in the most basic sense, there appeared to be a disconnect with understanding, as if from an observer who has never felt these emotions on a personal basis.

“Little Mortal.”

He leaned down, and his rough, long tongue glided up my cheek. It stunned me so much that it dried my eyes. He continued to stride down the long hallway, but I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. All I could focus on was the sway of his wide gait and his side profile.

My stomach continued to flip and roil, the same way it did when I was excited. I couldn’t stop the bubbling emotion expanding in my chest. I already knew I was attracted to this odd beast, but I shouldn’t be feeling anything for him.

With a suddenness that took my breath away, he plopped me down on a bed of accumulated shadows.

My body hovered feet off the ground, and I gasped, reaching out for him, but he was already sprawling on his throne.

I wobbled unsteadily, sure I would fall, but the inky tendril wrapped around my waist, keeping me upright.

They slowly floated me over to him, and I couldn’t focus because all I could see was the long, tapered torso leading to his stiff, unusual cock.

As soon as I was within his arm's distance, he plucked me to him, gripping onto my hips.

His shadows wound around my knees and spread me in the same motion that he impaled me on his cock.

A breath stalled in my throat. My channel fluttered around his shaft as if trying to pull him deeper. Ohhhh, that felt so good .

His claws dug into my hips, and he seated me all the way to the base of his cock, wrenching free my gasp.

“Yes,” he hissed. “No crying.” He thrust with a grunt, my channel clamping down on him as my knees widened, bracing against the divot near his hips.

The simmering heat blossomed into full-on lust, and I writhed, moving my hips in a circular motion.

My head fell back, making my hair tickle my lower spine.

Sensation rasped across my nipple, and I tucked my chin to my chest to study the soft graze of his claw against the tip of my breast. The dark, onyx claw rubbed the sensitive brown point, and all I could do was pant and wiggle atop him. The careful touches seemed exploratory.

“I have observed humanity for ages and have never witnessed beauty close to yours.” The purred words made my sex clamp around him, and he made a sound that had no human equivalent. It was something between a purr and a groan.

I placed my hands against the tuft of feathers above his cock and below the spot where there should have been a belly button. The plane of his strong torso dipped with hints of muscle. I glided my hands upward until I reached the small feathers along his neck.

There was something so viscerally appealing to his face when he came—a viciousness that rocked through me. I bunched the feathers along his shoulders and leaned forward, pressing my knees into the dip against his throne, and lifted until I rose over him.

With me propped like this, we were at eye level. Although he didn’t have pupils, I could tell he was staring at my face. Maybe it was the sense I’d developed with the years upon years that he’d watched me with his shadows.

I kept my gaze glued on his features and slammed down.

“Corvus,” I moaned, the name escaping with pants.

He snarled, head falling against the back of the throne, and the bridge of his nose scrunched. His hips lifted, driving his cock into my sex. I gasped again, and his cold hands slid down my bare sides, following the curve of my body until his claws dug into my lower back.

I fell over the edge and into an orgasm that rocked my entire frame, but I didn’t stop moving. My thighs trembled from pleasure and exertion, but I refused to stop, it felt too good.

Within the whirl of need, the glaring truth sank into my reality. I felt comforted . . . by him.

I squeezed my eyes shut, losing myself in the pleasure of riding his cock.