Page 90 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

“I don’t know if I want to kiss, fuck or slap that sassy mouth.”

“I want to sow yours shut.”

“Be good for me and open your mouth for something other than lies, hm.” I pushed the spoon between her lips before she sputtered some remark. “The valley stone,” I said, buttering her a slice of bread. She hated eating any sort of soup without one. “It is similar in colour to the necklace stones you have given Driada.”

Her glaring attention was on the ceiling, and she didn’t answer.

Hooking a finger under her chin, I pulled her face to me. “Thank you.”

She bit into the bread almost identical to how Memphis bit into her prey. “Do me a favour then, if you are so grateful.”

“What favour?” I asked, wiping a bit of butter from her mouth with my thumb.

“Die.”

That made me chuckle. “You’d miss me.”

“I’m used to missing. You taught me that.”

I placed another buttered slice next to her bowl. “I deserved that.” Her stomach rumbled a bit and my brows rose. “Hungry now?”

She went from angry to calculative in a blink. “Hunger,” she echoed, still in a trance, looking down at me. Again, identical to how her bonded studied prey. “That’s it. I am hungry.” Her fingers rested on my chest, moving up to my neck and then grazed my lips.

“Snow,” I warned when they slowly descended low down my chest.

A smile bloomed in her face—one painted with intention. “Just a tiny, little taste. You owe it to me. For making me hungry.”

“You think that’s all it is?”

“I think you know that that is all there is.”

I pushed loose strands of hair behind her ear, and she leaned in on the touch. “It was more than lust and you know it.”

“Right now, I can’t remember it being anything else. We both wanted it, perhaps if we’d relented we wouldn’t be at these odds.”

“You were always more than just a fuck.”

“Can’t say the same.”

“Using all that pretty mouth for lies again?”

“I think you know exactly what will happen if we fuck.” She leaned in, her lips almost brushing mine as she whispered, “I’ve always been a little too obsessed with a particular toy. It would never leave my system till I’d had my fair play with it. Come, play with me, Adriatian, I'm bored.” She fisted the front of my jacket, her pretty brows knitted together and something soft touched her icy stare, all roundness and shine. It reminded me of Isjord. Had she pretended then, too?

“Cute, really,” I said, bopping her nose. Absolutely adorable.

With a sigh, she let her features smooth back to how they’d been not even a moment ago. At her command, she went from one Snow I knew to the one who she showed to her enemies. “Had to see if my best trick in the bag still worked.” She trailed a lazy finger over my jaw. “It used to do wonders on you before. Guess it only worked then because it suited your plan, isn’t it so?”

I grabbed her face, bringing it close to mine. “If I fuck you, no one else ever will. If I fuck you, love of mine, you will want to fuck no one else.”

“You give yourself too much credit.”

“Tell me, have you let any other man touch you since I last touched you?”

“Maybe this might be just the right encouragement.”

“Love, you want my cock and you haven't even seen it yet.” After kissing that spot on her neck that made her squirm I said, “How about you get off of it now before I am unable to stand from this table.”

One short fading distance, we were in Adriata. Snow followed at my side as we made our way to the meeting, still huffing at my rejection. If it made her feel better, my cock was huffing, too.