Page 67 of Heart of the Raven Prince

I had always assumed that burning blue flame inside of me was anger. Now, if I focus hard enough, I can see that fire lighting a path leading me straight into the creature’s core. There’s very little of its mind for me to truly understand. No deep emotions or layered memories, only an intense need to consume, to feed. It is ravenous. It is hunger. It can smell me, and fuck, I get momentarily lost in how frenzied the demon is becoming at the peppery smell of my blood.

Need. Need. Need.

The sound emitting from deep inside the beast echoes those words, and I nearly lose myself, completely obsessed with the idea of sinking all those many teeth into my flesh and ripping me wide open. Then I hear that roar of anger again, and the shadowy trace of Caden’s powers snaps me out of the trance. There is a crimson light in the center of the creature’s mind. I aim that raging blue fire at the scarlet light, but before I can even think what to do next, it attacks.

The creature pounces, sinking rows of teeth into my shoulder. That endless clicking grows louder, and I shriek through the pain as with the last of my strength I jerk my arms free and grab the beast on either side of its gaping maw. It yanks back, ripping its teeth from my shoulder and shredding my skin as it positions its mouth over my head. Drool and droplets of my blood dribble onto me, sliding down my cheeks as it lets out its own nightmarish scream.

“Fawn, fight, gods-dammit!” Caden’s voice shouts from somewhere behind me. I hadn’t realized I was holding back until his words hit me, and the moment they do I release my grip on that flame. Instantly my mind is engulfed in the rabid desire of the creature, but this time I am not lost in it. Instead, I grip the red light shining at the center of its mind, and like the queen did with the pulsing red heart in her hand, I shatter it.

The clicking ceases, the forest filling with an eerie silence. The beast goes limp, and I brace myself for when its massive form will collapse on me. Instead, the creature is pulled off me, those barbed hands ripping from me as the body is tossed aside. I would cry out at the pain if I wasn’t so stunned by the sight of Caden standing before me. Death and power pour off him like a waterfall, his shoulders rising and falling as he drags in ragged breaths. His black eyes glow, and I think at first he is angry. Then I realize the emotion shining so brightly isn’t anger.

It’s pride.

“Don’t move, Oisín,” he says, his voice strained. He drops to his knees beside me and begins methodically touching the tips of his fingers to the numerous wounds littering my body, healing them. His power thrums, the call of it lulling my tense muscles.

“What was that thing?” I ask breathlessly as he heals the deepest wound on my leg.

“A demon, one of her many nameless creations.”

“We might need to rethink your plan,” I say, wincing as he touches a particularly nasty gash. “I was fairly useless when it counted.”

“If that were true, I would be burying your body, not healing it.” He flashes me a half-smile that has me chuckling in response before hissing in pain when he touches the next wound. It’s a strange thing…to be healed by someone so steeped in bloodshed.

A soothing, cool trace blooms from where he touches me, and relief begins to replace the pain. He works from my feet, all the way up my body, until at last he is cupping my face. Everywhere else he touched me was cold, but as he holds my face in his hands, I feel nothing but a burning heat. He’s leaning in, his black hair tickling my forehead as he whispers, “You were not useless, Fawn. You were magnificent.”

His thumb swipes across my cheek, now free of any trace of injury. There is no reason to keep caressing me, but still he does not let me go. I need something to distract from how close he is, from how entranced I am by his aura. From how much I want this.

“It nearly killed me.”

“It nearly did,” he agrees, not even attempting to sugar-coat the doomed reality of my life. “But I think perhaps you’re too stubborn to die.” He flashes me a grin that has a soft laugh escaping my lips.

He stays like that, his face so close to mine, and I think he might be breathing in my scent. Because I can’t keep the words locked in anymore, I blurt out, “I’m sorry, Caden.”

“What could you possibly have to be sorry about?” He blinks, genuine confusion clouding his features as he pulls back ever-so-slightly.

“For earlier. For what I said. When I…the queen,” I’m stumbling over my words, my erratic heartbeat not helping my racing mind. Inhaling deeply, I hold his gaze and say, “You were not groveling before the queen.”

“You don’t have to…” he trails off, his eyes widening. A stricken look crosses his face, illuminated under the crimson light of the moon. He swallows hard, his voice sinking low before he says quietly, “Thank you.”

The midnight sounds of the forest surround us. I expect him to drop his hands now that I am fully healed. I expect him to move back. Instead, he trails his thumb over my bottom lip, his gaze lost entirely on my mouth as he says, “I’m sorry for this, Oisín.”

“For what?” I breathe, my heart hammering so loudly in my chest I’m surprised it’s not echoing around the forest and calling more demons to us.

“For wanting to know what your lips taste like, and for being too weak to stop myself.”

Then the Raven Prince closes the distance between us and presses his lips to mine.

He does not crash into me like a wave. For all his talk of being weak he shows immense restraint. He takes his time, savoring this soft moment. Heat ignites in me when he brushes his tongue over my bottom lip. A silent question that I answer by opening for him. He sweeps his tongue inside my mouth, and I moan at the taste of him. He is like the night and the skies, flavors I have never tasted before but ones that I am now desperate to try again. I move to throw my arms around him, but he is already pulling back.

The kiss is over before it ever truly began, and I am left breathless in its wake and aching at its loss. Caden stares down at me, his expression nothing less than miserable. A similar emotion echoes inside of me. He sits up straight and offers me his hand to help me rise. Together we stand, and I turn to look at the lifeless body of the demon I killed. I can’t meet his gaze as I whisper, “You’re not weak, Caden.”

His hand grazes my cheek, turning my gaze away from the demon on the forest floor to the one standing in front of me. The one that looks like he wants to devour me just as badly. Caden sighs. “Yes, I am. But you’re not, and that’s the only reason we have any hope of winning this war.”

Caden, the Raven Prince, my sworn enemy and the man I have vowed to slaughter, turns and walks off toward the cave. I don’t think I have ever been so utterly heartsick in my entire life. I wish I didn’t know what his kiss felt like. I wish I didn’t crave more of it. Because the reality is becoming too glaring to ignore. I may wish all of those things, but I’m beginning to think I no longer wish to kill him.

But that knowledge doesn’t change reality. Glancing back at the carcass of the demon on the ground, I shut off the ache in my heart. He is right. If we have any hope of winning this war, then I cannot be weak. This battle won’t ever truly end until every single demon is dead.

Including Caden.