Mag-log inBut I forced myself to move.Carefully, I eased my neck from the grip of his fangs, the wound on my throat open. Blood smeared his lips and chin.“Revandrel.” I shook his shoulder. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”No answer.I looked around, and spotted Fabian kneeling beside one of the fallen sentinels. I called his name, my voice hoarse. “Come. We need to move him.”“Yes, my lady.” He rose at once and hurried toward us.The sentinel shifted into his beast form and lifted Revandrel, before breaking into a run.To keep up his pace, I let my own beast rise as well, taking her shape while I run after them. I had no idea where Fabian was leading us, only that I could not fall behind.Sullen Lake lay some distance off, a small town scattered across wide, lonely land.After a while, he slowed, stopping before a gated house half-hidden by overgrown ivy. Striking the rusted lock with a claw, it gave with a groan, and the gate swung inward.We passed through.The house was small and old, i
I waited longer than I thought possible, my blood dripping into Revandrel's slightly parted lips.Doubt began to creep in: perhaps he could not. Perhaps it was already too late. My knees burned where they pressed into the sand, back aching from the curve of my spine as I hovered over him, but I held on.Heart in my throat, mind emptied of every thought except one: Revandrel could not die. I would not let him.It did not matter if he would hate this. If he would hate me more for stealing the choice from him, for binding us in a way he had never wanted. None of it mattered. He needed blood, rivers of it, and who else could give that much without dying from being drained dry? Only a bloodhost, only me.“Drink, Revandrel,” I urged, voice cracking as I rubbed the open wound against his slack mouth, smearing blood across his lips. “Come on…”Hope thinned with every passing second. My legs trembled. My heart sank. I began to pull away—A weak growl rumbled beneath me.“Revandrel?” I pressed
Driving a blade through one throat, he yanked it free as the body crumpled, then buried it in another’s stomach. A third he beheaded in a single clean stroke. There was a brief clash of steel, before his sword sank into the next’s chest and stayed there.Then, he turned bare-handed to the next attacker, dodging each swing gracefully, as if he foresaw every move. His hand moved, doing something too fast for my eyes to follow. There was a twist. A crack of bone. The enemy dropped, head lolling at an unnatural angle.Gods, he was a warrior. Destruction in male form. Brutal, savage, beautiful in violence.They swarmed him like flies. He crushed them like insects.Seizing one attacker by the throat, he lifted the male overhead, and broke him across his knee with a snap before hurling the ruined body aside.My hand flew to my mouth as I watched in stunned fascination.Revandrel was winning.But more enemies poured from the surrounding bush, too many…flooding the road, encircling the small b
The door slammed open.I jolted upright, book nearly slipping from my lap.Revandrel emerged like a storm, face dark, eyes glittering with restrained fury.The merchants filed out behind him, heads bowed, shoulders drawn in, gazes averted. Powerful men in silks and jewels reduced to quiet deference. They passed without a word.He remained in the doorway, hands clasped behind his back, watching them go.The Cel’theren.A name that opened doors across continents, drawing the most powerful men to his table, carrying the weight of empires built from nothing. Sometimes I forgot just how vast his reach had become.“Why are you looking at me like that?”My attention snapped back. He stood before me now. The chamber had emptied. When had he moved?“L-like what?” I stumbled.His eyelids narrowed slightly as he studied my face. Then straightened, turned, and strode past me. “Nothing. Let us go.”I rose and followed. “Are you alrigh—”“Not now, Baevera,” he growled without breaking stride. “I am
LADY BAEVERAThe scars on my back itched when I woke.Some days were like that, phantom sensations rising without warning, echoes of pain long past. Some days it felt sharper, as though the old wounds remembered themselves more clearly than I did.Brushing the sensations aside, I rose and focused on the day ahead.I needed proper preparation, so I went back to my chamber. There was no need to ferry my belongings back and forth to Revandrel’s rooms.Taking my time, I readied myself, and I took more time than I had allowed myself in years.After my slow bath, I chose my garments with care; soft linen underdress dyed the deep indigo of midnight skies, overdress of charcoal wool edged in silver thread, boots of supple leather dyed to match.Every clasp, every fold, every small detail received attention I had long since stopped giving.Then, packed an overnight satchel as well, just in case the meeting in Rosvalley stretched into evening and we were forced to stay the night.The thought se
JOLAN“Just two remaining now, Laila,” I murmured against her ear, voice low and pleased. “You make me so proud.”“Y-yes, Master,” she sobbed, the sound thin and broken.She stood with arms stretched wide and bound high, wrists secured to the iron rings set deep in the stone wall.Her back was bearing my new designs, skin ripped open, blood gushing from the wounds, tracing paths down the elegant curve of her spine, over the swell of her hips, and between her thighs.Such beautiful canvas. Such exquisite artistry on such a delicate body.I was in a perpetual state of arousal.Raising the spiked whip once more, I let the strike land clean across the center of her back.A sharp cry ripped from her throat, her body jerking. Her knees buckled as she swayed, then steadied herself, trembling from the effort.“You will tear your arms if you keep on like this, pet,” I tsked. “Straighten.”Quiet sobs rose from her, but she forced her legs straight again, body shaking.“Good pet. That was not so







