Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Come, Seraphine. The night is not limitless. We must hurry. I want time to taste you after we are done.
“Taste me?” I shrieked and cleared my throat. “You should be full from the woman on the table. The very dead woman.”
She could never fill me like you.
“That’s not my concern.” I followed him. “By the way, I do not want to watch you kill people. It’s wrong.”
But, we are about to kill these vampires.
“That’s different.” My stomach twisted. “Don’t. . .do what you did earlier in front of me again. I don’t like it.”
His dark chuckle slipped into my head. Was it that I fed on her or is it only that she is dead?
I looked away. “Both. Don’t do both in front of me.”
Hmmm.
“What does that mean?”
It means we should begin, because I want you and already it is difficult to hold my lust for you back.
Chapter 14
The Lesson
The Quiet King
Every time I looked into Seraphine’s entrancing eyes, the dagger of desire was thrust ever further into my broken soul.
I—the Quiet King—who held dominion over countless souls, found myself absolutely enslaved by this enchanting blood mage.
How will I get her to understand that she will forever be mine?
Seraphine kept maintaining five feet of space between us as if that would matter to me.
I will let her enjoy this false sense of security for tonight.
With a firm, clear command, I summoned my elfkin orchestra forward.
Blindfolded and eerily silent, they moved as shadows, their steps careful yet determined. In this moment, they were not simply musicians. They were the keepers of the night’s rhythm, their melodies the backdrop to my second queen’s torture of her enemies.
Once they arrived, the orchestra readied their instruments near us.
I looked to her, hoping she would appreciate this rare gesture.
She didn’t notice.
Also, I saw nothing in her mind so I began to delicately rummage through her thoughts, making sure for certain that there was no other lover.
I will kill him!
But it appeared that there was truly no one to murder. She barely had held any conversations with males.
The only face that came up was Ian’s, and that surely didn’t make me happy. My stomach churned with hatred. The line of my jaw twitched.
I will not share this one with you, brother.
At least there truly was no other love in her life.
She is all mine.
I mentally commanded the orchestra to begin.
They placed their instruments in position. With a single, drawn-out note, music rose in the air. It was a haunting melody, a complex blend of longing and power, echoing in the cool darkness. The song seeped into our surroundings, winding around the tree trunks and rippling across the moonslit clearing. It was a score crafted for this very moment, its lyrics unwritten but resonating in every note that danced on the wind.
I slipped my thoughts into Seraphine’s mind.
Now the torture can begin.
Seraphine, still standing in front of the floating grimoire, seemed entranced by the spell the music was casting. Her eyes were alight, not with fear, but with an unrestrained determination.
Meanwhile, the blood-inked pages pulsed with the echo of the orchestra’s notes, as if the Codex itself was singing in response.
She responded in my head. So many spells. It is a lot to take in, Nai.
My heart warmed at her use of my name.
I do not know where to begin.
Her gaze darted from one page to another, taking in the intricacies of the Codex.
You can begin anywhere you want to, my queen.
I will try.
There was a unique elegance to her movements. Instead of physically turning the pages, Seraphine began to manipulate them with her magic. A simple flick of her finger was all it took to trigger a page’s turn, the parchment flipping with a delicate rustle that merged harmoniously with the melody surrounding us.
Soon, she will scare even me with her magic.
Seraphine was standing on the precipice of her own power, teetering between vulnerability and unmasked strength. And it was that potent mix that aroused within me a heightened sense of desire that I hadn’t known existed.
A wicked smile spread across my face.
I’m going to utterly enjoy showing her the power of darkness.
I put my view in front of me and whispered in her mind.
Lysander. Magnus. Draken. Which one will you kill first, Seraphine?
My gifts to her dangled grotesquely from three trees. Their toes barely touched the ground. Each neck was adorned with a thick black rope that had been expertly knotted around the branches above them, preventing any chance of escape into death’s grip.
They also couldn’t focus on us as they desperately tried to keep themselves from choking.
I could have entered their minds to see what they thought, but I knew that it would simply be them yelling for me to help them. I had blocked their thoughts out long ago.
The sight was gruesome, yet I could not help but feel a twisted sense of satisfaction at the thought of her receiving my macabre offering.