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)
I don’t understand the joke, but he chuckles, so I smile back anyway. My knee trails up the bed until it presses against his balls, and I lick the salt off his cheek. I’m baffled by the way his stubble feels on my tongue, but it’s a good, ticklish sensation that soon makes me grin.
“I’ll give you everything.”
“But freedom?” he asks yet runs his fingers up my arms.
I still as dark clouds dim the fire inside me, but I remind myself that his reaction is understandable. As someone who’s spent all his life in hiding, my individuality and personhood taken away, I ought to understand what Luke is afraid of. But I would never want him to hate me, so I press a kiss to his sweet lips and ask, “What kind of freedom do you want?”
Yesterday, he tried to attack me. Today, despite these silly grievances, he’s docile as a bird drunk on fermented berries. Maybe he needed my body as much as I needed his.
“I want out of this pact. I want to go home,” he whispers, yet instead of looking into my eyes as he pleads, he’s focused on my chest, his fingertips following an eel off my bicep and down my collarbone.
Anger flares up within me, and he takes his hand away as the fish twist faster, reacting to my mood. I take a deep breath and grab his chin, making him face me. “Why? What’s so special about your home?”
A family, friends, things you never had, so you can’t understand, my self-loathing mind suggests, making me jealous of every single person in his life even though Luke hasn’t mentioned a single soul. They have no claim on him, and I do.
Luke swallows, drawing my attention to his cute Adam’s apple. “I just… I want to decide things for myself,” he mutters with a little pout, which chokes some of my anger.
“I don’t plan to keep you in a cage. When we’re married, you will have your own security. You will have access to the whole palace, and I will make sure your every whim is fulfilled. It is an honor to spoil my Dark Companion.”
Luke cocks his head. “Every whim? What if I want to sleep until…” He hesitates, glancing at the rising moon. “Midday, then eat cakes for breakfast, then read for the rest of the day without getting dressed?”
I chuckle and knead his small, warm ear with my fingers. “As long as we don’t have any official engagements that day, you will be free to do that. So you like to read?”
He seems caught off guard by my question but never stops petting me. I’m already addicted to his touch and wish the wedding was over with so that I can spend another night putting my mark on him. And inside him.
“I do. Especially fantastical stories and horror,” he says as he traces the golden symbol over my heart. “So this… I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it, I know, but what is it?”
I stall as shame burns the back of my throat, threatening to choke me. He doesn’t know what the sun means, because he isn’t from this realm, but if I tell him the truth, whatever sympathy he feels for me will fizzle out.
I pull away, placing my hand on the symbol, as it’s making me feel stripped bare. “It’s very complicated.”
He sighs, and no matter how ridiculous that is, I’m upset over disappointing him, because I meant everything I said. I want to spoil him, I want to shower him with gifts and affection, I want to leave him a moaning mess. But this answer, I cannot give him yet. It’s not safe for me.
“I’m not stupid, you know,” he complains, but before I get to reassure him, there’s a single knock on the door before someone strides in, heeled shoes clicking on the marble floor.
“Good mornin—” Behind the bars that keep us both safe from intruders, Reiner stops talking as I glare his way. But then Luke pulls me close with more force than I expect from him and twists us so my back is turned on my house master.
I want to chuckle at his modesty, but when he splays his palm over the golden sun on my chest I realize he’s… shielding me. Despite my refusal to tell him the truth, he’s chosen to protect me.
My heartbeat speeds up, and I kiss the top of his head, charmed by his kindness.
I scowl and look up at my servant. “You shouldn’t stride in before you’re invited.”
Reiner purses his mouth, standing straight as he watches us through the bars. “Forgive me, Your Highness, I had no reason to expect you here.”
Damn it. Of course.
It’s in bad tone for me and my Dark Companion to spend a night together before the wedding, so I use my shadow to let Reiner in and meet his gaze once he comes a bit closer. “You did not see me here.”