Page 49 of The Song of the Void

“Please…Reiven…” Only the pounding of my heart and the ragged breaths we shared broke through the silence as he took in my needy voice, my body beneath him. “Like that?”

“Yeah,” Rei breathed. The energy between us shifted, along with the glow in his eyes, from dark hunger to…something else. Something I'd never seen before. “I'd tell you that you look so fucking beautiful beneath me…That you're taking it like such a good girl…”

I couldn't move, much less breathe. Reiven…he called me beautiful. Of course, Sirens are naturally beautiful, but hearing it from him gave that one word so much more power.

And…no one had ever called me a good girl before.

Reiven smiled and brushed some hair out of my face, then intertwined his fingers with mine, another gentle act that completely threw me. His hair tickled my forehead as he leaned closer. “Another thing you like, hm? Being called a good girl.”

All I could do was stare up at him, slowly giving him an enraptured nod that made him glow with pride. I was losing it. Losing control of myself, of this situation—faking emotions was my game, not his, but he was playing it so well that I was falling for his deceptions. Or…were they deceptions?

His gaze had grown so soft, some tender emotion had taken over the pure desire there. “Feels like every moment I spend with you brings me closer to an edge, where I'm tempted to leave safety behind and jump into some void. I don't know what's inside it…maybe sharp rocks and a crash landing. Maybe an endless sea of stars in a crystal-blue sky.”

My breaths quickened as he moved closer, eyes fixed on my parted mouth.

Is he going to…

For an aching moment, before my senses returned, I wanted him to do it.

No, no, no. He’s a Human. Pirate. Siren-hunter.

I stammered, probably a bunch of nonsense until my brain finally managed to put together words that spilled out of my mouth, completely out of nowhere. “Y-you could come inside me.” I was word vomiting, desperate to keep him from attempting any kind of loving contact. Luckily, it kept him from moving closer, since it took him so much by surprise.

“That…sounds dangerous.”

“It’s not. Nightwhisper’s owner put a Druinnic-enchanted implant in me, to prevent…” I trailed off, nodding at the scar that marked the pale blue skin of my arm. The implant had been a threat of Ipheri’s, that she would sell my body if I didn’t behave. After the third or fourth time, I learned to stop biting Humans that paid for my kiss, because there truly were worse things they would do to me. Just another reason to hate the Humans in my past. Reiven was a Human, so I hated him too, didn’t I?

Not when he furrowed his brows and tightened his grip on my fingers, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?”

There I had gone, killing our playful mood, leaving me without a clue how to bring it back to life. Awkward silence settled over us, so I tried to break it with a teasing question.

“A-anyway, what about afterwards? I bet you’d leave as soon as possible to drink away your mistake of sleeping with a Siren.”

“You really think I’d leave?” he muttered. “Use you like some kind of toy, then disappear?”

No. He wouldn’t, and I wasn’t sure how I knew that with so much certainty.

“So, what, you’d stay in bed with me? You’d hold me close, staring deep into my eyes before kissing me?” I tried to give him a flirtatious smile, but it faltered at his serious expression.

“I might drown in the ocean of your eyes, but yes.”

Oh no…

I shouldn’t want any Human, especially not one that used to be a pirate, but my body was filled with a frantic desire to see Reiven make good on everything he claimed he’d do to me. I wanted to feel him closer, rocking into me with the motion of the waves, meeting my eyes with such confidence as my smug facade slipped away. Maybe he could make me feel all those things I never thought possible. Perhaps I could forget I hated Humans long enough to see him become someone else—someone I couldn’t hate.

“Reiven…”

He was too close to me. I could still distinctly feel his arousal, his breath on my face. It seemed like he was searching for the right words to say, but he was back to studying my lips, as if I kept some dark secret between them he had to unearth.

Too late, we heard the light footsteps and the plunk of wood on the floor outside our door.

“Guess what, y’all—” Ash flung the door open and took a step inside, but froze with a comical look of horror on his face. Silence hung in the air for a solid five seconds, then all three of us sprang into action.

Yelping like he had been burned, Ashkade retreated as fast as he could, slamming the door behind him.

“Fucking hell,” Reiven growled. He leaped out of the bed and nearly stumbled in his haste while I fixed my nightdress. There was nothing to do about the purplish marks on my neck and chest, though. “Ashkade Taleus Synnex, don’t you dare go anywhere!” Rei shouted, storming out the door to drag a whimpering Ash back inside by the collar. He slammed him against the wall. “This is why I told you to knock, you shrimpy ditz!”

“Because y’all are doin’ that? I-I mean, I didn’t see anythin’!” Ash hurried to correct himself at the rough shake to his shoulders. He threw me a look, and I couldn’t interpret if he was begging me to intervene, or just plain scarred for life. “I gotta go burn my eyes out so I can never see anythin’ again.”