Renaud pursed his lips. “I admit that imagery is disturbing. Very well. I am old, and patient, my halfling. I can wait. I should nottease you. Forgive me.”
“Wait for what?”
He rose, pulling me to my feet but not releasing my wrists. “I keep forgetting that you are a rare thing for a Fae. Innocent.” His smirk turned into a frown. I yanked, but he ignored my struggles. “This will be a touch more tedious if I must to see to your education as well as your seduction.”
I let my own darkness seep into my eyes. Blood on my hands, blood on my lips. “Do you truly think I'm an innocent?” He knew better. He was just taunting me.
“No. You are young, but deep down you are of the Dark. But then, so am I.”
I bared my teeth, the Fae side of my nature feral even as his words threw me into a fleeting confusion. No time to sift through his meaning, however. “I may be a monster, but you're the evil one.”
“I did not call you a monster.” His hands clamped on my wrists. “And if we compare ledgers, what deeds will I find in yours? I await your confession and acceptance of my just wrath.” Bottomless, eyes dark and knowing, bait to lure the unwary. Hell no, I wouldn't ever bare my ledger to him. I enjoyed living. “That's what I thought.”
The nerve of this male. . . “I know you Old Ones like to play with words like you play with your tiny cocks because it gives you something to do with all your meaningless time—dissect every word of a vague, looping conversation to try to figure out its true meaning—but some of us have more immediate concerns. Like living.”
Anything I confessed, he'd twist and use against me. Though, to be honest, my major misdeeds didn't require much confessing. I still wavered on if he knew about Embry and waited for me to tell him on my own, if he only suspected the fate of his missing son, or if he was simply testing me to see what crimes I would reveal.
Renaud lowered his head. Teeth sank down into my lobe, no gentle lover's bite. Sparks ignited between my thighs, and I was helpless to suppress the reaction. My heart beat too wildly, my breath came too fast, and heat scorched my cheeks. Not all of this was hatred, or anger. Or perhaps all along, hatred and anger had been the key to my desire.
Gods.
“Are you insane?” I said through clenched teeth.
“My House believes so. They did not want to wake me, but you drew me to the surface. If they ever learn it was you, you will gain their enmity.”
Baroun already hated me, and the feeling was quite mutual.
“Why did you bite me?” Stupid question.
“There are so many places I want to bite you, but this will suffice for tonight.” His voice was a drug. “Big bites, little bites. Piercing bites. . .nibbles in the most sensitive of places. And where I nibble, I will lick and kiss. And kiss and lick, and then swallow your screaming as you writhe against me. My palace will echo with your screams.”
My knees buckled. He held me upright, voice weaving an enchantment around me, my body helpless to remain indifferent. Not that I could remain indifferent with a ruling Fae warrior looking down at me as if I was a whole snack.
“Renaud. . .I can’t. This is—I need to take a step back.” I forced my knees to stiffen.
He paused, then leashed some of his sexuality and placed my hands on his chest, trapping them. The muscle flexed under my touch. “I want you, Aerinne. In my bed. In my veins. Under my tongue and fingers.” My heart beat too fast as he spoke. “I want you over and over again until I have sated this obsession that has gone on far too long. Though as I said before, I'm old and I know myself. I don't believe I will be sated any time soon.”
“I'll give you a night if you agree to walk away after,” I said, talking fast. “You can do anything you want to me, excluding permanent injury, physical or mental.”
It was a good offer, albeit hasty. I wasn’t thinking too clearly.
“No,” he said.
“What?”
Amusement creased the corners of his eyes. “A worthy ploy. But your opponent is no callow youth. I wait for the true prize.”
Damn it. Gods damn it.
“I do pity you, and I fear I will not be an easy male for you to manage.”
“Our Houses are at war.” I shoved anger aside so I could think, reason with him. “You can't just take me as your concubine. I'll be a target for every petty lordling or warrior who wants the honor of taking me out.”
“We are not at war. We are at the negotiation table. My House knows better than to touch you, Aerinne.” His voice sharpened. “I have made it clear no one in this city is to raise a hand against you except in formal challenge. And I would never insult Maryonne by taking her daughter as a concubine. She would rise from her grave and claim my head. . .though that would be diverting.”
Nora had told me to extract a promise of protection from him if he indicated he wanted more than a one-night stand—and here I'd inadvertently walked into one.
“Well, I'm sorry, I have other plans for my life than to be your fuck buddy for an undetermined amount of time.”
