Page 65 of Blood Ties

I checked for its voice. Nothing pressed against my thoughts now.

“It’s gone.”

“Good.” He swallowed and winced as the collar moved against the cut. “The court spent me to hold the doors. Give me a minute, and I’ll get up.”

He didn’t have a minute. The blood reached his collarbone and kept running.

I looked towards the sealed throne room, then back at the vampire who wanted my blood and had hurt himself to keep the Crown away from my hands.

I was still angry about what he hadn’t told me. He was also dying in front of me.

The chain at Stellan’s throat tightened another link.

His eyes closed.

17

STELLAN

The darkness lasted only a few seconds. Bryony’s hand was already against my face when I opened my eyes.

“Stellan.” Her thumb moved over my cheek. “Can you hear me?”

My fangs ached.

“Get back.” The words scraped over the cut in my throat. “I’m too fucking hungry to have you kneeling there.”

She didn’t move. “Can you feed without hurting me?”

“I can stop once I start, but it’ll cost me. The court took too much, and you’re kneeling with your pulse against my hand.”

“You stopped last time.”

“Last time I wasn’t bleeding onto the floor.”

Bryony sat back on her heels and rolled up her right sleeve. Two faint marks remained from the first bite.

“You need blood. I have it, and we know you didn’t take too much last time.”

“Bryony.”

“You nearly tore your throat open getting me away from that Crown. I’m not watching you die because you’ve chosen now to become bloody polite.”

She moved between my bent knees and put her wrist against my mouth.

I turned my head.

Bryony followed the movement and pressed her pulse to my lower lip. She didn’t ask again. Her other hand slid into my hair, holding me there with a firm grip that sent a different hunger down my body.

I caught her waist with my free hand. “Pull away the moment you want me to stop.”

Her fingers tightened in my hair, and she pushed her wrist against my fangs.

I bit.

Her blood filled my mouth. The first swallow stopped the shaking in my arm. The second eased the pressure in my chest, and the collar loosened enough to let me breathe. Bryony’s body softened between my knees as pleasure followed the bite. She made a quiet sound and leaned closer.

I kept one hand at her waist and drank slowly. Her pulse ran fast against my tongue. Each mouthful repaired the damage at my throat and returned feeling to my hands. I still knew the exact moment her body had given enough.