Page 52 of Vervain

Serun steps out of the darkness, leaving the shadows behind. He sits on the couch beside me, his elbows resting on his knees, slouching forward. Looking at me from the corner of his eye, he smiles, easing the knot in my heart. “You lost control and let your magik eat at you—except this time, you were aware it was happening.”

I slowly nod, recalling the feeling of nature wanting to devour me.

“Try again.”

My fingers twist together in desperation. “What if it happens again?”

Serun shrugs. “I know how to stop it now that I have observed you.”

Isn’t he a fast learner?

I close my eyes and repeat the exercise until the rustling returns. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I sink, falling through the couch. I float in the darkness, waiting for something to happen. And, like clockwork, fear finds me. My arms tense as the vines wrap around my ankles.

I bring my hands to my chest, but the thorns quickly restrain my wrists, coiling and stretching out my arms. Pricks of pain from botanical fangs pierce my skin in clean, red lines.

“You think you can hide from me, Saya? We are blessed for a lifetime.” He stands over me, his cruel voice tightening around my throat. I am nothing but a platter laid out for him to violate.

The vines inch up my thighs, cutting away the fabric. His magik wants to consume me—like the Elder and all the men in Cherry Bloom always wanted.

Eat my flesh until I am bones.

“Kamai…” A whisper of Serun’s voice slips through the darkness, slicing through vines like a sharp blade. Before I can think, ice tingles against my skin, splintering cracked, dry lips. With it, the pain bleeds away. Vervain and moonflowers sprout from the soil beneath me before he comes into existence. Familiar and gentle frozen fingers wrap around my wrists, pinning me to the ground, and one of his knees lifts close between my legs where heat burns.

Serun’s shadows drift from his shoulders like a cloak, his body hovering over me, his icy lips still pressed to mine. From behind him, the stars appear, and the swirl of the milky moon trails silky lines of light over the valley.

My fingers curl into loose fists as Serun’s eyes slowly open, settling on me as he unshackles my wrists and pulls back to look down at me.

“Was this ruse to make a move on me?”

He breathes a soft laugh. “I don’t need illusions to kiss you.” Before I can refute his words, he looks at the valley around us. “This is your sanctuary. Behind that sea of anger and fear, this is where you tenderly hold your magik.”

Propping myself on my elbows, I scan the valley and frown at all the purple blooming among the moonflowers. “I’ve never seen vervain here before.”

“It is beautiful.”

Facing Serun, I murmur, “Now would be the perfect time to make a move. Or are you still scared?”

Serun sighs, nearing me enough to taste his poisoned breath as he breathes, “Taunting me will get you nowhere.”

I lift my chin higher, hoping my mouth grazes his. “Then why are you so close?”

Serun’s mouth collides with mine, filled with passion, starvation, and depravity. He presses me back into the ground, and my thighs grip his waist. Lifting my hips, I press my heat against a thick cock, somehow bulging without blood.

Serun’s hand slips into my hair, tangling in the strands that seep into the soil. Moonflower petals graze against my bare flesh as his other arm wraps around my waist, enveloping me in his embrace.

Entwined like vines along a fence line, my legs coil around him, and my hands run through his silky hair, pulling at the strands.

Our mouths open, tongues on the verge of rapture as the tips touch, dancing slowly, burning with fiery passion. A passion that burns beyond eternity—stars so close to each other, but light years from finally colliding.

Everything about him pulls me in. His scent. His voice. The way his hands move, ghosting across my skin, but fiercely gripping my hair. I’m losing control. Unable to think. Unable to remember my fucking name…

And then I crumble. Words shatter into a thousand letters when his tongue starts to fuck mine. Slow.

Torturously slow.

In a way that I may need to pray to Mother to repent for the sin of it.

Breaking away, I breathlessly say, “You’re all I see, Serun.”