Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(29)

“By no means, and neither are you, I know,” Laish murmured. Suddenly, he drew his hand away and stepped back from me. “But the Sin Tax is.”

“What?” I was so dizzy from desire I didn’t understand what he was saying at first. I turned to face him. “Why…why did you stop?”

Laish raised an eyebrow at me. “You mean why did I stop without giving you satisfaction? I do not like to leave you hanging, as it were, Gwendolyn, but I was under the impression that you didn’t want to do any more than was absolutely necessary to pay the toll.”

“And…we did? It’s paid?” Without his hands on me, I was beginning to get a little control back. It occurred to me that I was standing there with my breasts still completely bare and I had just begged him to touch me. Not just touch me—penetrate me. Blushing, I pulled up the top of the red silk dress and pushed down the bottom, trying to ignore how wet I still was between my legs.

“Yes, I believe it is.” Laish was still looking at me steadily. “At this early juncture it was enough for you to simply admit your lust aloud. Now we should be able to cross over the river to the second circle.”

“Great,” I muttered, smoothing down my dress and feeling like a fool. Not just any fool either—a stupid, horny fool. Ugh. “Perfect. Just perfect.”

“Gwendolyn…” Laish lifted my chin and made me look at him, though I was so embarrassed I never wanted to meet his eyes again. What must he think of me now? With just a few kisses and touches he had reduced me to a whimpering pile of hormones. “Gwendolyn,” he said again. “You should know that it was perfect—for me, anyway.”

“What do you mean?” I muttered, still having trouble meeting his eyes. “You didn’t, uh, get satisfaction either. Did you?”

“No, but that is not important,” he said softly. “What was perfect was the way you trusted me. The way you put yourself in my hands and allowed me to give you pleasure. You have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to do that.”

“Yeah? Well don’t get too used to it,” I snapped. “And anyway, I only did it because I had no choice. How else was I supposed to get to the next circle?”

“How else, indeed.” The warmth went out of Laish’s eyes and he dropped my chin abruptly and stepped back. “Come, then—let us board the ferry and move on.”

Abruptly, I felt sorry for my outburst. “Laish—” I began, but he appeared not to hear.

“Come.” He beckoned to me but made no more attempt to take my hand. “Charon is waiting for us and he will not tarry forever.”

“Fine.” I stepped aboard the ferry feeling miserable. What was wrong with me, first reacting so strongly to Laish’s touch and then snapping his head off like that? And what about the feeling I’d had when he was touching me? The sensation that I was finally going to reach that elusive peak that had been denied me all my life? If he’d gone on a little longer, would it finally have happened?

Stop it, I told myself uneasily. Stop thinking like that. You ought to be more concerned about how you reacted than how you felt. Not to mention—what are you going to have to do in order to pass into the next circle of Hell?

I had no idea but I was afraid I was going to find out.



Chapter Eleven

Laish





After we paid the Sin Tax, Gwendolyn had no further trouble in climbing aboard the infernal ferry. For my part, I decided to give her some room. I stood beside Charon while she gravitated to the far end where Kurex was standing patiently, waiting for the ride to be over.

I watched as she stood close to the big horse, stroking his neck and taking comfort from the gentle way he nudged her with his nose and nickered softly. She wouldn’t look at me at all, preferring instead to stare into the distance. If she was trying to make out the other shore, she was out of luck—the Styx is always shrouded in mist. The great city of Baator and its outlying areas would not be visible until we landed and traveled a little distance to the Iron Spike.


Though I tried to control my frustration, I couldn’t quell it completely. Why was she so stubborn, so unwilling to accept any gesture of affection from me? I wasn’t thinking about the way she had responded to my hands on her body—she had given herself freely then, gasping and trembling in my arms until I longed to do much more than simply run my hands over her lush flesh. I loved the deliciously wanton way my little witch gave in to her emotions, to the pleasure of my hands on her curves. That part of our encounter had been delightful.

It was afterwards, when I had bared a little piece of my heart (if a demonic creature like myself can be said to have a heart) which bothered me. Or rather—her reaction to me, bothered me. Why was she so quick to turn away? So defensive and unwilling to let me in, even a little? I understood that she feared to lose part of her powers but it seemed that there must be something else, some other reason she resisted feeling anything for me. Would I ever find out what that was?

As I mused, the flat bottom of the ferry at last ground to a halt against the pebbles of the far side of the river. Gwendolyn and I had made the passage safely—a passage few living mortals had made. Even fewer had come back, but I promised myself that Gwendolyn would be one of them. No matter what I had to do to keep her safe, I would protect her until the end of this journey we were taking together.