Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
My gaze dropped to the fading red fingerprints on her throat. “Aydun said as much. He also said you weren’t alone. That you were with another like him. Holland?”
“I was, but he got knocked out.”
My nostrils flared. “You were left on your own?”
Pressing her fingers under my chin, she lifted my gaze to hers. “Yes, but I kind of held my own against him. And Holland did get me out of there before…” Her chest rose sharply. “Before the city I was in was completely destroyed.”
“You shouldn’t have had to hold your own. And you shouldn’t have had to feel all that pain and death,” I said. “I would give anything to have taken your place so you didn’t have to feel any of that.”
“I know.” She slid an arm around my neck and lowered her forehead to mine. “But I’m okay. I swear, Cas. I’m fine. You can see that for yourself.”
The breath I let out was ragged. I could see that she was fine. Physically, anyway. The bruises would heal. But I could taste her sorrow and knew that what she’d seen and felt would stay with her.
“I’m okay,” she repeated. “You can see that, right?”
I closed my eyes. “I can.”
“Do you?”
I nodded, even as Aydun’s warning thundered through my head. She’s not indestructible.
Those three words haunted me. And they would continue to do so. Dread pierced my gut. What if she hadn’t held her own? The last time I’d held her like this, kissed her like this, it could’ve been the last time in this life for both of us. The mere thought of that was more painful than taking the bone blade to my chest. More terrifying than all the seconds I’d spent as the Blood Crown’s prisoner.
Poppy stiffened in my arms. “Are you all right?”
“I’m…” Her concern was thick in my throat, and I knew she was picking up the same from me. There was no point in pretending. “I’ve been so…” I closed my eyes, struggling to find words that adequately captured how fucking terrified I’d been. “When you disappeared, I had no idea where you were or what you were facing. I’ve never felt more helpless.”
She clasped my cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t.” Opening my eyes, I leaned back so we were eye to eye. “Don’t apologize for something you had no control over.” I folded my hands around her wrists. “I understand that you had no choice but to go.”
Poppy spread her fingers, seeming to enjoy the feeling of my stubble. “And I hate that you had to worry about me when I left. I…” She trailed off, the tang of guilt mixing with the warm vanilla of her empathy. “I wish you hadn’t gone through any of that. I wish you didn’t have to worry. That you were…” Her inhale was sharp as her eyes searched mine. “I wish you hadn’t spent a second afraid. I would take that from you if I could. I would do anything—”
I was moving before I knew it, capturing her mouth with mine. Her lips were so godsdamn soft. So perfect as they parted. My fingers curled around her hair as I flicked my tongue over her fang, fully intending to pull back. But her breathy moan evoked the best kind of madness.
Poppy’s fingers sank into my hair as she kissed me with a fervor that branded my soul and sent a bolt of red-hot lust down my spine.
The kiss was supposed to be just that…a kiss I couldn’t help but take before I let Poppy go. I’d planned to be responsible. Dawn had come and gone while she was away, and there was still so much we needed to discuss. Everything that had happened with the Ascended. Pensdurth. The shit Aydun had said. What had happened in the land beyond the Veil and Iliseeum. But who was I kidding?
A kiss with her was never just a kiss.
The moment I tasted her lips, felt her against me, nothing—fucking nothing—else mattered.
Desire thickened my blood as her jasmine scent increased, and the taste of her arousal gathered in my mouth—spicy and smoky with a hint of sweetness.
I needed her.
Needed to feel her and know she was here. That she was safe and well. I just needed her.
Always.
A deep, throaty groan rumbled up from my chest as she rocked against me, clearly swept up in the same madness I was. I ached for her, and my hips rose on reflex, earning me another soft moan. Her nails raked my chest, sending shivers down my spine. Godsdamn, I was so hard for her. So greedy. So addicted.
It never failed to amaze me how easily she could turn me on. Sometimes, it took only a look. A brief touch. For fuck’s sake, being in the same chamber as her could do it. No one, absolutely no one, had ever had that kind of allure—that kind of power over me. I wouldn’t want anyone else to have that kind of power.