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“You see me,” he gasped, his breath ragged as he worked harder to pull another orgasm from deep within my body.
“I see you,” I breathed, giving into the crash and sucking tide of his body’s movement as he toppled us both over the precipice, our voices crying out together as the steam slowly covered over our reflections in the mirror.
The vines dissolved from my wrists and retreated from the room, and Rush gathered me in his arms, wrapping us both in a large towel as he stumbled toward the bed. We burrowed into the blankets and each other, exhaustion descending rapidly.
Sleep was calling me like a siren as I nuzzled my face into his neck, breathing in the rich, clean, wild scent of male fae as he stroked my damp hair away from my face. My eyes slid closed, and our breathing slowly evened out.
“I don’t deserve you,” Rush whispered just as I drifted into the stillness of sleep, the words so soft I wasn’t sure I’d heard them at all.
CHAPTER FIVE
KANA
I woke to a surprisingly quiet palace and a handsome thief bringing me breakfast in bed.
Rush was still sleeping soundly beside me, and I carefully untangled my limbs from his, gratefully taking the warm clothes Kas offered from my closet. Together, we settled onto the couch in the living room, speaking in soft voices as I caught him up with the gobbelin attack from the previous day as well as the new mystery of Rush’s twin brother.
“I trustyourtrust, but I can’t say I’m happy about that development,” Kas admitted, his eyes searching mine, heavy with unspoken words.
I sighed, leaning my head onto the back of the couch and staring up at the ceiling. “I know. But we can’t control our families. I know that better than anyone.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t know to come help with the gobbelin fight,” Kas said after a moment of silence, and I smiled at him, taking his hand in mine.
“The ice wolves were amazing. I spoke with their leader, Valanga. She’s Vento’s second, and I think the wolves were the break we needed. How are the people your crew gathered from the city?”
“Scared. But safe, and I think having so many of them here is giving them hope. Me too,” he added softly, and I wondered if he was thinking of his mother and the rest of the vampires in the countryside. I had no idea how to protect them, and it was making me a little crazy to feel so helpless.
Kas set his plate to the side and stood, his face dark with anger. “But there have been a few reunions. Families searching for missing vampires, then finding them among the blood slaves. What good is finding someone if they’re still captive in their own minds? We have to figure out how to help them, Kana.”
My heart squeezed as I thought of Cade, still unconscious and nonreactive, just like all the blood slaves we’d managed to rescue or recover from those Merden had left behind.
“Sounds like a good day to pay a visit to Jillian,” I said, standing as well. I grabbed my boots and knives, checking on Rush once more before hurrying into the hall with my thief.
Jillian hissed at us through the bars of the cell Grand-mère had been kept in. Someone had at least cleaned up the bodies Merden had left, but Jillian was understandably unhappy with her new room.
“Let me the fuck out of here, you foul cunt,” she growled at me, her eyes solid black with rage and blood lust.
“Don’t count on it,” Kas snorted, rolling his eyes at her. “But we don’t mind bringing you a snack, in exchange for some information.”
He pulled a vial of blood from his pocket and tossed it through the bars at her. She pounced on it, but there was barely a swallow inside. Just enough to get her fangs out and break her will a little.
“Tell me more about how the blood slaves were created,” I demanded.
“You haven’t figured that out yet? So stupid,” she cackled, chucking the empty vial at the iron door.
“Suit yourself,” Kas said with a shrug, tipping a second vial of blood back into his mouth and offering me one. Jillian screamed through clenched teeth, her fangs biting deep into her own lips.
“It doesn’t matter to me. They’re just going to die anyway, no matter what you do,” she hissed.
“Everyone dies, Jilly. Even your brother,” I taunted, licking at the blood in my vial. It was cruel to mention Janus, but I’d had enough of Merden’s favorite torture team. Jillian would follow him into the mist soon enough.
Kas held up another vial of blood. “You told Kana in the labyrinth that the slaves were drained of blood three times. But what were they given to stay alive?”
“Blood, you idiot,” Jillian said, smiling sweetly. I clenched my hands into fists, narrowly resisting slamming open the door and punching her teeth out.
“What kind of blood?” I managed. Now that Rush had planted the idea of gobbelin blood being poisonous in our minds, we were all wondering what effects different types of blood would have on a drained vampire.
“I have a whole pitcher of blood waiting for you if you just give us the fucking information,” Kas snapped at our captive.
