Page 60 of Witch’s Ruin

and darkness freed,

the price is life.

So ends our creed.

I blinked, coldness seeping into my bones. “Whose creed? What does it mean.”

“Whose do you think—?”

Crack.

The door to the roof burst open, and Rixon stood in the doorway, eyes fearful. I turned, but the demon was gone. Only a distant sound of flapping wings told me I hadn’t imagined the whole thing.

Rixon came straight for me, glancing between my face and the journal in my lap. His concern cleared, and he took my chin in his fingers, tilting my face up, looking down at me. “It was here, wasn’t it?”

I nodded.

His jaw clenched. “Did it hurt you?”

“No. It…it said it wouldn’t. I’m all right, I promise.”

Something flashed across his features. It took effort on his part, but he didn’t press the matter. Instead, he pivoted. “I’ve been looking for you. My father’s wretched council meeting let out an hour ago and I need you to calm me down before I stab someone, preferably Lord Holland.”

A grin replaced my irritation at his interruption. “That bad, hmm?”

“Worse. But I’ll spare you the details. Mina—” he hesitated. “Why don’t we just leave this place. Leave it all behind.”

I got to my feet, studying him. “You’re that frightened of it? Of the room below?” His throat bobbed. He didn’t need to answer. I saw it clearly in his gaze. Even so many days later.

“It’s a portal to hell,” I told him.

He flinched. “And who told you that? Your demon friend?”

“It’s not my demon friend,” I said, voice serious. “And, yes. Rixon, something is going on here. And…I don’t know if your father knows what it is, or if it’s more to do with the keepers, being that we found it beneath the library. But…”

He swore under his breath. “But, you want to get to the bottom of it.”

I took a deep breath. “We swore an oath, Lord Wielder.”

“I’m aware, Lady Witch. But that oath didn’t include things relating to demon portals. This kind of information is for the Citadel—the council.”

And yet…I just couldn’t let it go. He saw that, clear as day.

“Fucking fuck!” he hissed. “Mina.” I didn’t respond. He took a step back, raking his hands through his hair until it looked wild and unruly, just like him. His eyes looked skyward, as if there’d be answers there. “Fuuuuck!” he hissed again, fists tightening, arms flexing. The vein in his neck pulsed erratically.

I watched him, hiding my amusement. When his gaze returned to mine, I said, “Are you quite done with your temper tantrum, Lord Wielder?”

He took a deep inhale, then closed the distance between us. Seconds later, my scalp smarted. He wasn’t gentle as he twisted his fingers into my hair, wrenched my head back. His mouth claimed mine. Warmth dropped straight into my belly. I groaned into the wetness of his kiss.

Never mind that we filled our spare moments with an excess of sex. Rixon had a way of claiming me with a simple act that made everything feel new and unexplored. And yet, I knew the taste of his tongue as it invaded my mouth, recognized it as deeply as I recognized my own name.

I collapsed into him, submitting. There was always this. No matter how stressful our lives became, we had this.

He pulled me tight in his arms. His erection pressed against my stomach. When his lips moved away, his next words curled something deep in my belly. “I’m going to fuck you right here, Mina, against this parapet overlooking the city. I want the world at your feet while my cock is buried in your cunt.

My chest rose and fell, faster and faster. I stayed rooted in place, gaping at him. A heady mix of something dark and oily dumped into my system, racing outward from my soul, crackling through my veins, like the strike of a match, swallowing up dry wood. Rixon’s pupils dilated, drenched with desire. His gaze roved over my face, observing my reaction. A haughty smirk pulled at the corners of his lips.

He snatched me up, planting my hips on the battlement between two crenellations. His movements were erratic, desperate. There were no soft touches, no whispered words of love as he took what he wanted, hiking my gown up around my hips, roughly forcing my legs apart, wrapping them about his waist. I gasped, grabbing hold of the crenellations on either side of me.