hand out. “Let me get you fixed up. I’m so sorry for what’s happened to you.”
She didn’t even look back at me. She simply beat her head against the painting.
The painting that Marcus had seemed so enamored of.
The painting that had been in this room when Dev disappeared.
The painting that Myrddin had given my husband.
I had never liked that painting, but now I truly looked at it. Where had the girl gone? She was missing and the field she’d been in was empty.
I stepped closer. “Myrddin, where did you get this painting?”
Daniel moved in behind me. “He painted it himself.”
“The scene came to me in a dream,” I heard Myrddin say. “I knew the minute I started that it would be for the king.”
I leaned in, the brushstrokes seeming to change, and I heard a humming sound. Arwyna seemed to disappear before my eyes and then the world seemed to twist and turn around me.
“Zoey!”
But I was gone. I felt space and time turn around me and I fell into another world.
Chapter Sixteen
Summer
Marcus’s fangs sank into my neck, but I didn’t feel any spark of pain. My body had come alive in a way it never had before, and nothing seemed to matter except his arms around me, his body pressed to mine. I wrapped myself around him as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through my veins. I could feel the blood pumping through my body, feel the rhythm of my heart beating, and that it had somehow synched to his. I forgot where I ended and he began.
The sweetest sense of peace flowed through me, like something had been missing, some piece of me I’d never known I’d lost had finally fallen into place.
This was the danger Marcus truly posed. He was better than any spell or glass of ale, better than the drugs on the Vampire plane.
He tightened his hold as the orgasm flashed through me unexpectedly. It was far better than anything I’d ever gotten from a lover. A tremble went through my body and I wasn’t sure I could stand on my own as he released my vein. Marcus kept his arms around me and held me close, his tongue dragging over where he’d sunk his fangs in.
“You, bella, are absolutely a companion,” he whispered against my skin. “And I am completely addicted. My companion.”
I knew I should argue, but I’d made a deal with the male and I meant to keep up my end of the bargain. In that moment I wanted to forget everything that had come before or would come after and be nothing more than Marcus Vorenus’s companion. He would take care of me, love me, treasure me. I wouldn’t have to do anything beyond let the vampire worship me.
He kissed his way up my neck, holding me to him with one hand while the other wound its way in my hair. He tugged lightly, guiding me to look up and into his eyes.
His eyes were the color of a moonless night, ebony dark, and there was nothing cold about them. I could fall into those eyes and never come back out.
“I’m going to kiss you now, bella,” he said.
I nodded because I wanted it too, and in that moment I didn’t care if the desire was coming from him or from my own soul. All that mattered was that I wanted. I realized what had been missing from my life. Wanting. I’d gotten so used to simply surviving, to working toward Dean’s future, to every moment of every day being about a penance I knew I could never attain. This was something more. This was beyond lust, though it was absolutely a component. I wanted Marcus. I wanted him for myself.
I relaxed as he loomed over me, his mouth a mere breath away from mine.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you,” he whispered.
How long had I waited for him? For one thing I might have for myself? Was it even fair to let him get close to me when we couldn’t truly be together? When I couldn’t give him what he so obviously needed?
I was selfish, but I let those thoughts go. I let them fly away because nothing was going to ruin this moment. My body was already soft and warm and ready for him. He leaned forward and brought his mouth to mine. He kissed me, softly at first, but then I felt his tongue pressing inside and I let him in. I let our