Page 35 of The Rat King
“Is that what you think?” he asked, leaning back a hair to raise an eyebrow in my direction. His low chuckle reverberated through our chests, but I ignored it.
His mouth brushed my earlobe. “Am I not correct in thinking you liked it very much? Or was I mistaking your fear for desire?” he asked. I swallowed, all too aware of the way the vein in my neck fluttered under his scrutiny.Focus on loathing.He continued, “I enjoyed it very much, and I came back to give you more. After you had time to consider it, it seems you remembered the nature of the monster chasing you. But don’t worry, witch,” he said the name he knew annoyed me. I understood it was just to goad me. “Soon enough, the same feelings will stir within you, and you will be mine.”
I couldn’t suppress the goosebumps that erupted down my neck. He let his mouth linger and his hot breath tease my skin. Did he even want me to be his?
I groaned in agitation, but he ignored me and started tracing idle circles on my hip. Had the horse slowed? It had. Nighval eased it into a melodic trot and the movement was too similar to being rocked, because the warlock knew exactly what he was doing. I leaned my head back against the crook of his shoulder and tilted my head up so I could see him. He was staring off into the distance, probably patiently waiting for me to fall asleep. Maybe Nighval was right, and this plan he’d hatched would be what it took to save both of our people. But how could it work if he used magic to make me fall for him against my will? Surely that was some critical component of the curse, and this would all be for naught.
I studied him, the hard line of his face and the serene, settled press of his wide mouth as he stared at the tree line ahead. How the hollows of his cheeks dipped in, and the bone beneath his eye curved outward at an angle almost too sharp. If it were only a smidge softer, like how he’d changed himself when he’d picked me up, he’d be desperately handsome. If his eyes weren’t quite as deep set and his brow weren’t so strong, he’d appear much less intimidating. Now I wasn’t sure what was worse, the real him or the rat-him.
My eyelids drew down, and I snapped them back up. He couldn’t ride forever and if I had to ride with a rat-man, so be it. As if he sensed my losing battle, he brushed a strand of hair off of my face and said with more tenderness than I imagined him capable, “I wish we’d had more time, Avery.”
A warm sensation punched into my stomach, almost painfully, before it flooded through me in gentle, cozy waves. I tilted my head back further, and at the edge of my vision, I caught the knowing glint in his burnt caramel eyes.
Chapter 23
Nighval
ThanktheGoddessthewitch was asleep. I needed to think. I had to figure out what she wanted in a man, and become that if only for a few short months, so she’d fall for me. The problem was, she wasn’t like the girls they’d sent before. I supposed that was a plus since they’d all run away or… well, never mind that. Still, she had screamed and fainted, so that wasn’t new. But she had writhed in passion against me, which was different.
She was picky, outspoken, and didn’t know when to let it rest. Xavier had eventually told me she forced him to share the details of the curse and in exchange, she married him, so I understood my brother’s motive now.
With our kiss, I’d made it further than I’d gotten in almost eighteen years. I wasn’t sure if her knowledge of our curse helped or hurt my case at this point, but hopefully the pill would do its job. It was only a matter of time. Perhaps I should have gotten the pill before to try on a witch sooner, but I’d been too stubborn and now my stupid brother was dead. Plus, there had never been chemistry with any of them like there was with this one. Now that was something to build on and the fragile hope caused my chest to swell.
It was a mistake to exile me and leave the fate of our people in Xavier’s hands, regardless that I’d failed each time prior. As soon as I had stepped away for the sake of my people, Leviticus stepped in and bent my brother’s ear. And the idiot had been about to execute their last hope. I’d be damned if I’d remain a nightmare for the rest of my long life, much less allow those witches to keep me from my power on all but twelve nights a year. I’d make them pay, but I’d much rather have this woman in my arms fall for me and get my power back without having to wreck the other plane. It would throw off the balance and that would only garner trouble.
Now I had a task on my hands, and I needed to mentally prepare. I glanced down at her. She looked so peaceful when she wasn’t arguing or snarling, though if I was being honest, I didn’t really mind that either.
Her pink lips parted, and she let out a slight whimper. Perfectly arched eyebrows pinched together and the pupils beneath her eyelids darted back and forth erratically. It took little to imagine the nightmares that haunted her dreams.
“Shh…” I urged, rubbing her waist soothingly. With the care she took maintaining her appearance, she’d probably hate the fact that I was studying her so intently in her current state. But I knew what lay beneath the film of grime she acquired in prison.
I had to have her, and while I wished I could have done it without the magic, there just wasn’t time. Too much weighed on this and the urge to make it happen soon was like a drive imprinted in my DNA.
I’d known that much the night I caught her making her first escape attempt. The wind caught that black cloak and, as it soared in the air, I couldn’t peel my eyes away from her. I didn’t want to think about that inch of belly, her flaring curves, and the way her amber-gold eyes lit with fright and something else more delicious. Then those pretty full lips clamped down into a scowl, and I hated my brother a little more than I did before.
Of all the women over the years, how was this the one that had gone to Xavier? But now the witch was in my arms, and I had my hands on those gorgeous hips and her adorable nose pointed up to me. Long black lashes a few shades darker than her waves of cool brown hair splayed out across her unmarred cheeks, which were dappled with kisses from the sun. I’d hated them at the wedding, but now they were mine, and I wanted to run my fingertips across them, then my lips. One day I would. Too bad whenever she opened those soft lips, which had yielded so willingly, they only spewed venom in my direction.
I tore my gaze from the witch warming my lap and shot a glance up toward the waning moon and stifled a grumble. Gently, I fished around in my pack, fetching the caps for my claws. Soon, I’d need them.
Still, I planned to ride until she woke. Then we would find an inn and rest. I meant what I’d told her. The more reasons I could find to be physically close to her, the more she’d warm to me. Having to share a mount was obvious. In a week or so, depending on how things were going, I’d make sure there was only one room available at whatever inn we stayed in. Whatever it took.
There were no stars in the sky as I made my way through the winding forest path by the light of the moon. Several hours passed since Avery fell asleep and the way her eyes flared right before sleep claimed her suggested the pill had taken effect. I couldn’t help the eager jumble in my stomach that I almost recognized as butterflies as her eyelids fluttered. The logging town at the edge of the forest where I’d caught her before was about half an hour away. She could sleep a little longer.
A branch snapped under Eclipse’s hoof, and she started. Goddess, the woman felt so good, too good in my arms, pressed against my chest. “Sleep,” I said, my hand rubbing idle circles on her waist, dropping a few inches lower to rub soothing strokes onto the curve of her hip.
Something about having her now soothed my soul. I don’t know if it was a new sense of control over our destiny or her mere presence. I found myself watching her again as she slept instead of the road where my attention should be focused.
She’d killed Xavier. What type of creature did I hold and what had happened that had driven her actions? When my mother had questioned me for still wanting her after hearing what she’d done, I hadn’t understood, but now I had weeks to think on it. I realized I didn’t believe her to be guilty. At least, not in the sense that she was some type of murderer. Even now, my instinct was to blame him. He must have done something unforgivable, and she hadn’t needed me or anyone else to save her from it. She saved herself which was almost as much of a turn-on as anything else about her. And now that Xavier was dead, there would be no need to annul the marriage. For the next three months, she’d be mine. Maybe longer if I played my hand right.
My hand shifted over her stomach where the pill’s magic had taken root. What would it make her see? The pill was a mystery, and my mother hadn’t been forthcoming before we’d gotten the news of Xavier. I had no idea if she would see some version of me, perhaps like the image I presented her when I picked her up in the forest, or if she saw her own version of prince charming. Maybe even a lover from the past, from her world, who she missed. There was no way to know. And it didn’t matter. It wasn’t not like I wanted her to want me. Did I?
In the woods that first night, as her eyes had roved over my notably softened form, I thought I’d sensed approval in her eye. She likely suspected I was her intended and as she’d assessed me and came to a positive determination, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it felt good.
But when she saw the real me in the library, she was terrified. Horrified, even. Almost as much as when she’d seen me as the curse had taken over my form and she understood her new reality. She’d been cold to me ever since, with the exception of the moonlight chase and our picnic.
I smiled as I relived the memory, and a soft groan drew my attention. I turned my attention to the stirring woman in my lap. Wide amber-gold eyes stared up at me, and I said, “Hello, Avery.”
Chapter 24
