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He scooted closer and took my hand. “Because I am drawn to you like to no other woman. Please trust me, even if you hear unpalatable stories about me. I will keep you safe.”
My hand seemed small as his fingers closed over mine. His skin was calloused from his sword practice, and his forearm corded with muscles that contracted as he squeezed gently. I felt that telltale scritching of his powers against my mind, but it stopped immediately.
“I apologize. Force of habit.” He sounded sheepish.
I didn’t know where I took the strength to say what I did next. “Bleddyn. If you want this to be a thing between us, you’ll have to choose. Your uncle or me. And that’s only the start. I won’t be with someone who isn’t honest with me.”
He dropped his head. “You do not know what you ask of me. You ask me to betray my oath to my liege lord.”
His eyes were wild, his eyebrows pulled together as he chewed on his lip. I watched his inner struggle play out, without any idea how he would decide. After all, I’d asked him to walk away from his job, his life at the palace, his identity. When he finally spoke, I steeled myself.
“I will do it to keep you safe.”
Pulling me against his side, he placed his arm around my shoulders and kissed me. I closed my eyes and got lost in the bitter juniper and cool earth scent that defined him, and the slick slide of his tongue playing against mine.
When he pushed me on my back and slid inside of me, I offered no resistance. And when I came on his cock while his fingers played with my clit, it felt like finding a slice of home in this hostile world.
***
DAEARY
I left the house and bent over, catching my breath. My legs barely carried me. I listened to Beth and that stupid Fae warrior first argue, then make up. At least they would not kill each other while I was gone.
Beth’s inner turmoil had tasted like fart-nettles to me. Hopefully, I would never have to explain why I knew that, and that I was able to taste emotions like a rich man might enjoy a bottle of wine.
Bleddyn was in love in with her. Beth did not know that, but the honey flavor of their mutual attraction made my teeth ache with its honey flavor. There was pepper there as well, but most successful relationships had a bit of spice.
When Bleddyn took her, some of the energy drifted through the open window, and I lapped it up like a starved cat might devour a bowl of milk. It was enough to help me amble to the river and find a young woman harvesting watercress. Within seconds, I had her bend over and offer me her pussy.
I doused her with incubus power, and she came and came until I had to hold her by the hips and pour myself into her unconscious body. I did not harm her, only left her asleep by the river banks. She would wake up and remember little of our encounter, but I was replenished to live another day.
The hangover hit me within minutes. I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach as the world turned black around me. The attack only lasted for a short while, and I came to nearly immediately.
I was vaguely aware of Fae passing by me. Somebody kicked me to make sure I wasn’t dead. Then they left me alone, probably thinking I had overindulged, even though it was early in the morning still.
I kept my eyes scrunched shut as the truth dawned on me. In all my hundreds of years of living, this had never happened before. I had taken life after life, always giving my donors the most satisfying death I could. Not once had I had a reaction like this.
But over the centuries, I had heard whispers and read snatches of texts in ancient libraries, when I was researching my heritage.
I knew now what had happened to my father, even though the knowledge had come too late for my mother. All these years, she had been convinced he had abandoned her, not realizing she had been his mate. Without it, I would not have been born, because incubi could only impregnate their mates.
I had found my mate, and by doing so, I had doomed myself.
I would no longer be able to feed from others, because my demon fire had accepted Beth and bound her to my soul. Yet if I fed from her, I would drain her and kill her as I had so many.
This was my punishment for the lives I had taken—the choice between killing my mate, the most precious thing to an incubus or, in saving her life, starve to death myself. It was what killed us all in the end, and why no incubus child was ever raised by a father.
It had been too long since I had drained a Fae. After all, I had not expected to meet the half-human, and now it was too late. The weakness I felt now was nothing compared to what was to come.
Feeding off Bleddyn and Beth would top me up for a while. But if I took too much, they would both die in my arms. I clutched my head in my hands, squeezing my eyes shut. I had days left at most.
And wasn’t that a suitable punishment for a demon creature like myself?
I had found my mate, and by doing so, I had doomed myself.
Chapter twenty-eight
BETH
