When Darkness Ends (Guardians of Eternity #12)(17)

“I need . . .” Her eyes abruptly widened, the emerald flecks in her eyes sparking with outrage. “Do you have a woman here?”

Cyn fought the urge to smile. “Jealous, princess?”

“Of course not.” Her voice was just a tad too forceful. “I’m merely concerned considering that Siljar ordered us to keep our presence here a secret. You could have at least waited a few hours before breaking the rules.”

“I’m a vampire with needs.” He trailed a finger over her hand that was clutching the banister, relishing her tiny tremor before she was yanking away from his light caress. “So unless you’re willing to fulfill them—”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Why?” he demanded. “You just made your list of demands, didn’t you? You have needs that you want sated.”

Her lips thinned. “I have to eat.”

His hand moved to grasp a golden curl, sliding the silken strands between her fingers. “As do I.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, but she didn’t try to pull away, not even when his fingers moved to trace the faint blue vein running down the length of her neck.

“You were feeding?”

“Why do you care?”

“I . . .” Her chin tilted. “I don’t.”

He leaned forward, absorbing the intoxicating scent of champagne laced with an unmistakable hint of arousal.

“Liar.”

Chapter Four

Fallon told herself not to react to the annoying vampire as he joined her on the step, his hands landing on the banister so she was effectively trapped.

When she’d left the privacy of her room she’d been determined to be cool, controlled . . . civil.

It shouldn’t be a difficult task.

She’d been playing the role of the perfect princess for over two centuries.

It should be child’s play to slap a smile on her face and pretend she didn’t want to stab a stake into the center of his chest.

But the second she’d caught sight of Cyn, her good intentions had shattered.

She didn’t understand why her emotions became a tangled mess, or what made her nerves feel as if they’d been scraped raw, but she did understand that her reaction left her vulnerable.

“Cyn . . .” She forgot how to speak as his head lowered and she felt the touch of his lips against her throat. “Stop.”

“Why?” His tongue traced the vein that he seemed to find so fascinating. “I smell your desire.”

Fallon struggled to remember why she was convinced this was wrong. The gods knew it didn’t feel wrong. Not when he was lightly scraping his fangs over her sensitive skin to send jolts of electric excitement shooting through her.

Oh . . . mercy.

She’d never met a man so tactile. His hands skimmed along the sides of her body, as if he was endlessly fascinated by her slender curves, while he continued to nip and nuzzle a path of kisses down her neck to the scooped neckline of her robe.

She instinctively reached to grasp his shoulders, her knees feeling oddly weak.

“I’m a princess,” she forced herself to mutter.

She had to remind herself why she shouldn’t be melting against his hard, savagely male body as his hands pressed against her lower back, urging her into contact with the thrust of his arousal.

His tongue traced the neckline of her robe. “I forgive you.”

Fallon squeezed her eyes shut. He was stirring raw, primitive sensations that were threatening to overwhelm her.

“I mean my father has promised me to another,” she said.

He slowly lifted his head, his brooding gaze locked on her flushed face. “Ah, the fiancé. Do you love him?”

She blinked in genuine confusion. “It isn’t about love.”

His gaze lowered to her lips. “Then it’s about sex?”

“Of course not.”

“There’s no need to sound so shocked.” His large hands gripped her hips, his incredible jade eyes dark with a sensual hunger that made her heart give a dangerous flutter. “The best relationships are based on lust.”

Lust? Toward Magnus? She choked back the sudden urge to laugh.

“My marriage to Magnus is a—”

“What?”

“A melding of two powerful Houses.”

His brows snapped together, an expression of disbelief on his painfully beautiful face. “Is that a joke?”

“Why would it be a joke?” Fallon was genuinely puzzled. Arranged marriages weren’t uncommon among many species of demons. “My father is king and I am an asset he can use to solidify his position.”

A chill cloaked around her. “An asset?”

“Yes.” She warily tried to tug from his grasp. Why did he seem so angry? “Magnus brings to the marriage a large dowry and the loyalty of his very powerful House.”

His hands tightened on her hips, his sensual charm decidedly absent. “And what does he get out of the deal?”

“His heirs will have royal blood.”

The chill became downright frosty, making Fallon shiver. “So it is about sex.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. She should tell him to go to hell. He had no business prying into her relationship with her fiancé.

But she didn’t. It was almost as if his steady gaze was compelling the words from her mouth.