Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Understanding pools in his eyes, making it obvious that I’m making the right choice. He’s hungry for this power. “You’d… give this to me?” he asks, sliding his fingers onto the warm organ.
Somewhere in the background, I hear the pounding of hoofs and yelling, but whichever hunting party that is, they’re too late.
I slide my arm around his shoulders and pull him close. His eyes shine in the moonlight, as if they’re made of silver, and I give his lips the gentlest kiss before moving the dripping heart to his mouth and giving it a squeeze.
Blood trails down Luke’s fingers, but he doesn’t pull away and hums, touching my hand with both of his, as if he’s afraid I might take the prize from him at the last moment. But I would never do that. He is my joy, my crown, my beloved, and what is this sacrifice in the face of his happiness?
My greedy little monster bites into the heart just like he latched onto mine. He shivers under my arm, so I stroke his back, watching his Adam’s apple bob with every gulp he takes.
“Until it stops beating,” I instruct, but the pulsing in my hand is already so faint, it won’t take long.
Our eyes meet over the heart, and in that moment I know I couldn’t love him more. He wants to embrace everything I give him, and stay with me as my Dark Companion. He’s perfect. With his flush, his hair in a tangle and lips smeared with black blood, Luke is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.
When the heart makes its last beat, Luke’s pupils expand as if he’s breathed in too much fairy dust. He looks around, lifting his bloodstained mouth off the heart, but the blackness doesn’t stop with swallowing his irises, and expands to the whites too as shadowcraft awakens within him.
I ignore the thumping of hooves, enthralled by my lover, who shivers as his world alters forever. Shadows stir around him and crawl out like drops of syrup falling up rather than down, and he captures a few with his fingers as amazement flickers in his eyes.
Luke reaches into the shadow on his arm and pulls out a single black thread. “I c-can see it. My shadow tied to yours. I can sense you.” There’s so much amazement in his voice I want to kiss him to share his joy.
His mouth still holds the tang of blood, but it’s no longer potent, so I hug him and bring our foreheads together. “I will show you so much more.”
When his black eyes gloss over with tears, a sense of dread rises deep inside. Is he scared? Confused? Regretful?
“I… I love you,” he utters, fighting a sob.
It’s like being granted an audience with the moon itself after a lifetime of waiting. My chest swells with warmth. My skin is licked by fire. And with so many emotions taking hold of me at once, I can't find the right words to describe what I’m feeling.
Horses stop right next to us, and I swear it’s Tristan’s voice I hear behind me, but he remains transparent in the face of Luke’s declaration. He will be mine forever, and I shall cherish and protect him for the rest of my days. Our lips meet, and he presses into my arms, needy like a vampire after his first taste of blood.
I'm so spellbound by him I initially push away the hand trying to grab my arm.
“Not now.”
“I understand, Sire,” Tristan says, breathing hard from the exertion of his ride. “I just want to confirm no one was hurt?” His voice drifts off when he takes in Luke’s bloodstained mouth, hands, and his void-black eyes.
Several more riders are approaching, most likely to confirm that the hunt is over. I straighten up with pride.
“My promised—”
I spot the arrow headed straight for my heart half a second too late.
Chapter 34
Luke
My body stiffens when I spot something in the air, but then Kyran brings me closer to his wide chest and shields me from it. Tristan’s red hair flashes on the edge of my vision, and then he falls into Kyran with a dull grunt, grabbing his shoulder.
I sense blood, but it’s not the stag’s.
No, that sharp scent belongs to an elf, and I cover my mouth when Tristan descends to his knees, clutching at his throat with a sharp wheeze. A bolt is sticking out of his exposed thigh, but the veins on his neck turn black, as if poison was spreading from where the projectile broke the skin.
The Marquise gives a choked cry and dashes to our side with her own crossbow ready, but as Tristan collapses from a bolt meant for my Kyran, I’m too shocked to acknowledge her presence.
The contrast between light and dark is sharper, because the shadows feel tangible now. I can’t explain it, they just do. Across the clearing, I spot a shadow moving down an ancient tree and slithering into the bushes. It couldn’t have been cast by anything within sight, and it disappears like a black widow that has just delivered its venom. Kyran’s too preoccupied with helping Tristan to take note of it, but my body remains alert to the presence of this unknown predator.