Page 91 of May: Bloom & Bane

I pull back enough to look at him. The left side of his face has gone translucent, revealing the reaper underneath.

“Are you okay?”

“I want you,” he rasps, his hand sliding from my hip to the center of my dress. “In a way that doesn’t feel safe anymore.”

“I don’t want you to be safe.”

A low growl escapes him, and his hand fists the fabric of my nightgown. “How do you know that, when that’s all you’ve ever been with me?”

His form flickers violently; his claws bite through the thin cotton of my nightgown. “Eden, please. I’m trying to be good. I have a surprise for you.”

“What if—” I slide my hand down the center of his chest, feeling the seam of smooth skin and hard bone beneath my palm. “I want this as my surprise.”

I wrap my fingers around his cock and give one slow stroke.

“Mí’aevúna, I am asking you nicely.”

“Mm,” I whisper against his lips, “maybe that’s why it’s not working.”

He grabs the hand I have wrapped around him and squeezes gently. “I could devour you, Eden.”

My whole body trembles against his, heat pooling low in my stomach. “I think I would like that very much, Vaelí.”

CHAPTER 29

you have fangs

“Keep them closed.”

“They are closed.”

“Eden.” His breath warms my ear from somewhere behind me, his broad hands steering my shoulders. “You are peeking.”

“I have a blindfold on. How could I be peeking?”

“Because I know you,” he rumbles against the curve of my neck. His thumb slowly traces over the silk wrapped around my eyes, pressing gently against the bridge of my nose. “And I can feel your eyelashes fluttering against the fabric.”

The meadow hums under my bare feet, soft and warm where the sun has been shining all morning.

“Where are you taking me?” I whisper.

His hands slide from my shoulders down to my waist, his long fingers pulling me tighter against his chest as he guides my steps. “We’re almost there.”

I can hear the soft, gentle lapping of water, and Sage’s heartbeat practically beating through his ribs.

“Ready?” he asks as he works the knot loose. The blindfold slips off, and my breath catches.

“Oh my God, Sage. This looks like something out of a fairy tale.”

There’s a bath sitting in the middle of our meadow. A pale porcelain tub, smooth as the inside of a pearl, wrapped in flowering vines. Steam curls off the water and blossoms float along the surface, carrying the scent of crushed petals and rain. Large, gilded mirrors lean against the ancient trees surrounding the clearing, catching the morning light and throwing it back across the rippling water.

“You said,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck, his wings giving an anxious flutter. “Last night. You said you wanted to bathe in the glazeberries. You likely do not remember.”

He reaches into a hollow tree nook and pulls out a wide wooden bowl piled high with plump, violet fruit. “I thought… I could feed them to you while you soaked in the bath.”

I look from the steaming water to the giant, beautiful creature standing before me. “You grew me a bathtub, just because of one drunk sentence?”

“I would grow you a lake for a sober one,” he says, dropping to his knees in front of me. His hands slide up to the hem of my nightgown, his eyes searching mine. “Do you want to get in the water, mí’aevúna?”