I hold his stare for a few thundering heartbeats before calmly taking a step. I pick up the slip, fingers clawing into the precious silk as I peel my eyes off him and inch toward my sack—as if these slow, soft movements will take the edge off this moment’s sharp significance.
Cainon sighs, and I look up to see his eyes darken. “I told you to tug out those roots, Orlaith. But you’re so determined to cower in his shade.”
I pause, hand tightening around the silk. “Cower?”
He prowls toward me. “Yes.”
I spin—calves flush against the wooden bed frame, the slip held against my chest like a shield.
“You have everything right here, staring at you,” he says, arching over me until I’m forced to fall back against the mattress as his eyes dip to the pillow slip. “But your hands are too full to accept it.”
Heart in my throat, I scramble up the crisp, white sheets, but he cages me in with strong arms planted either side of my head, knee notching between my spread thighs, making my skin burn.
I gasp …
He looks so big and powerful above me like this, and the towel separating him from my nakedness suddenly feels so thin.
He leans close, lips skimming my ear. “What did he do to get so far inside your head, huh?”
I open my mouth, close it … Realize there’s no way to explain without airing out my weakness like a still-stained shirt fresh from the wash.
Since I began seeing Rhordyn around the castle a few years back, he’s been a punishing presence trying to push me out the door. Telling me to get out andlive,like he was furious with me for not spending my heartbeats the way he deemed appropriate.
But with all that pushing, all I felt was apull.
He’d drift into the room and I’d fall into his gravity. He’d glance in my direction and every cell would feel pinched by his perusal.
When he touched me on that balcony beneath a fall of rain, it felt real, butnot.Like there was some sort of veil separating us that held a deadly significance.
Truth is, I fell in love with a ghost. Now I’m gone and still ...haunted.
Cainon’s hand threads through my hair, gripping, gently tugging until my head is tipped as the residue of my thoughts thump through my body. Make meache.
Face hovered above mine, Cainon looks down from beneath the lusty crush of heavy lids. “Did he fuck you, petal?”
The crass words are a purred attack, reeling my mind back to the feel of Rhordyn’s fingers skirting around my entrance …
Pushinginto me …
I throb, hips threatening to grind against the memory, choking on the fragrant scent of my arousal.
My cheeks heat.
Cainon’s brow shoots up.
“No,” I rasp. “He did notfuckme.”
“So, if I took you right here, right now …” He eases his other leg between my thighs and forces them wide. A gasp slips free as my bare core is exposed to the fire’s licking warmth. “You’d bleed for me?”
Bleed for me …
The words slap me.
My face hardens, and for one thrilling moment, I picture myself pulling that talon free from my open sack, pressing its lethal length against his throat, and asking him the very same question.
Part of me wants to, just to see the look in his eyes.
I set my hand against his chest andshove, snatching his wide-eyed stare as he rears back, frowning. “Yes, Cainon. I would.”
