Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Excellent,” I say, waving the paper to help dry the ink before folding it and putting it in my pocket. “Now, shall we take in the grounds?” I hold out my arm to her. My demeanor is calm, but her eyes look behind me, and I realize my damn tail is giving away my happiness at having her so near, whipping back and forth in the air.
Sometimes, it has a mind of its own. With a little concentration, I manage to get control of it. It curls forward, the tip of it settling at the small of Lo-Ren’s back as she takes my arm, urging her forward.
She gasps a little, looking behind her but not pulling away from the touch of my tail. Or my arm. In fact, I might say she tightens her hold of me as we head down the stairs.
We’ve certainly come a long way in a short while.
In no time at all, we’re on the ground floor. I lead her through the large, arched dining room and push open the front of the castle door. I feel pride in leading her across the threshold, which is an unusual feeling for me. Sadistic joy, happiness at the expense of others, nihilistic rage at the pointlessness of life—those are the emotions I’m familiar with.
But this? Pride at having a beautiful woman on my arm who seems to want to spend time with me?
My chest feels weird and squishy, and my throat is a little choked up.
She slept in, and the mid-morning sun is dappled as it streams through the tall trees onto the lake by the castle.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathes out, squeezing my arm a little tighter as she tugs me forward at a quicker pace. I easily keep up with her smaller legs as she hurries toward the lake. It’s summer, but the cool breeze keeps it from being hot.
I’m mesmerized by the feel of her beside me as we head to the edge of the lake.
“The water’s so clear!” she exclaims, looking away from the lake for only a moment to gaze up at me in wonder. Then her eyes are back on the lake. “I didn’t think water could be so clear. Look, you can see the fish swimming!”
I can only stare at her. I’ve seen a thousand fish in my life. But only one of her.
“I never imagined it would be like this,” I say.
Her eyes shoot back to me and get very wide. Searching. “What do you mean?”
I feel my brow furrow. “Taking a consort. I thought I knew all the feelings there were in the world. But you make me feel things that are”—I put a hand to my chest to emphasize the strange sensations she makes me feel there—“new.”
She cocks her head sideways. “Good new or bad new?”
“How can you ask that? You mesmerize me every moment. I never thought a human could bewitch a god, but I am completely under your spell.”
Her eyes search mine, moving back and forth, and for a moment, I swear she’s drawing closer, breathing in and out so deeply that her bosom heaves closer to my chest with her every inhale.
Until she suddenly yanks back and shakes her head.
“I can’t be sure if you’re real. If any of this is real,” she exclaims. “I mean, sometimes it feels so much more real than my old life I left behind. But then you say things like that.”
“Like what?” I ask, baffled.
She tosses up her hands, looking back at me. “Things that sound too perfect. Like something out of a movie or a romance novel.”
I frown. “And this is bad?”
“No, I mean—I just don’t know if it’s real.”
“I won’t lie to you,” I say, closing the space between us. “I’m many things, but I am not a liar. I’m telling the truth when I say I’ve never felt like this before.”
I grab her hands and place her palms on my chest. “This is real. You are real. I am real.”
She steps even closer as her palms press against me. “I can feel your heart beating,” she whispers.
I look down at her as she lifts her face to me, and we’re mere inches from each other.
“Do you feel it, too?” I ask. “This draw between us that feels like crackling lightning?”
She’s close enough that I can feel it when she trembles. “Yes,” she whispers.
Fuck patience.
I bend down and press my lips to hers.
She gasps into my mouth, so soft and sweet.
I feel a spark light inside my entire body. Lust and the need to devour her. This is what it must be like when the gods strike you with lightning.
I cup her jaw, my hands moving to tangle in her thick hair as I kiss her more deeply. Her mouth opens to mine and though I am not capable of it, I swear I die in that moment as I’m swept away in her sweetness.