A brush of wing here. A caress of breath there. His dark magick tingling and pulsing and raking against her skin.
Something stroked her neck as laughter echoed off the walls.
Gathering her energy, she focused on that wicked, throaty chuckle. There. Before he could move again she blasted her light magick out—
And watched it drain into nothing.
She honed all her attention on his deadly presence. Waited until she felt it materialize—
Her kick was hard and unexpected. Her boot connected with something—his thigh?—and she winced as the impact reverberated up her shin and into her femur.
“That wasn’t very nice, Beastie.”
Too late, she felt the hands clamp around her waist. The arms like marble. That familiar scent of irises and blood mandarin and musk.
She rammed the heel of her boot into his shin.
Once. Twice.
Countless times until the floor disappeared and her stomach hollowed out and—
They were high above the Hall of Light where the chandelier once hung. Suspended in a shaft of delicate moonlight. Flecks of dust sparkled as they swirled lazily around them. Giant windows offered views of the mist-laden hills, the soft glow of runelanterns pulsing beneath that ivory veil where the city slumbered.
The beauty of it all could almost convince her she was dreaming.
But this wasn’t a dream—it was a nightmare.
One arm was slung low over her belly.
The other brushed the wild tangle of her hair, his knuckles sending shivers through her inflamed skin as he positioned it out of the way.
Baring her neck.
Her neck.
She froze as his cool breath fluttered over her jaw.
Closed her eyes as he dragged the tips of his fangs over the tender spot just below her ear.
“You don’t like the taste of blood,” she said, stupidly.
“Don’t I?” His lips vibrated with laughter as they took turns with his fangs, exploring her flesh.
Shock and confusion clouded her actions. Was he trying to teach her another lesson? “Why are you doing this?”
“It’s obvious our nights together have made you forget what I am. I think you need a reminder.”
“Screw”—she grabbed his free arm—“you.”
She wrenched his forearm close to her mouth.
And bit.
Hard.
The second she felt his grip loosen on her waist, she rammed her elbow into his abdomen and twisted.
Her cage of muscle and bone became open air.
She threw out her magick—or tried.
It was gone.
Runes.
Eyes slammed shut, she braced for impact . . . only to blink in surprise as she was halted mere inches from the ground.
Before she could react, she was flipped gently onto her back.
But there was nothing gentle in the hands pinning her wrists to the ground. And the eyes that stared down at her—there was nothing even close to gentle in those.
“That was stupid.”
Her cheeks inflamed with hurt and anger as she glared up at him. “Take a single drop of my magick or blood without my permission and I will kill you.”
“You’ve already killed me once. It didn’t take.”
Bastard.
Head canted to the side, he gathered both her wrists in one hand. The other hand pushed back a strand of hair from her forehead.
“Where were we? Oh, right. You were saying how much you care for me, and how much I don’t like blood.”
Furious, she drove her knee up, aiming for anything she could hit.
He twisted out of her reach, those predatory eyes gleaming in delight as he tsked. “That doesn’t seem like caring, Beastie.”
She bucked, jerking her hips. Trying to throw him off her. Trying to rip her hands from his grasp. Trying to escape the savagery raging from his being.
She’d always sensed that darkness lurking behind those beautiful manners . . . but it had always been tightly controlled.
It wasn’t controlled anymore.
She reached out for her powers . . . only to find a cold, hollow hole in her chest where that roiling magick normally waited.
A noise tumbled from her throat, part snarl and part scream of rage. What the Netherworld was he doing?
“I could drink your magick by force,” he murmured, trailing a fingertip down her cheek. “But then I do believe you would try to kill me. Such a murderous creature you are, Beastie.”
Damn right.
She felt his power stir, felt it slowly reach out, a caress of euphoria that softened her mind. Another stroke of that horrible, wonderful emotion and her muscles relaxed as liquid heat rolled through her in waves.