A Touch of Poison (Shadows of the Tenebris Court, #2)

by Clare Sager

“The poison and the magic have… fused in your system. You will poison anyone you touch.”

“So, what? I have to touch you every day in order to stay alive?” My words dissolved into laughter, because it was the most incredibly fucking ridiculous sentence I’d said in my entire life.

Any destruction I turned upon her, I made into the little deaths that she made such sweet sounds for.

“They don’t have experience of dealing with humans and their pretty, lying mouths.”

The rules for Elfhame were clear: bargains were currency, lies were weapons, and your heart was your greatest weakness.

“Hmm. Did it serve you to keep quiet?” I had no answer. “Or did your silence just serve others and their comfort?”

“You hurt Katherine again, and I won’t just kill you. I’ll fucking destroy you.”

I wanted Bastian. Not just to kiss him or fuck him—not the temptation we’d battled since I’d woken in Elfhame—but something bigger.

Mouth suddenly dry, I barely managed to swallow. “I was wrong. There is no ‘just’ between us. Only everything.”

“I want you, and yet I shouldn’t. Every part of me calls for every part of you, but I don’t want you to regret anything between us.”

“It doesn’t matter. You matter. You matter more to me than I do. And I surrender this last thing to you.”

“Let go of everything else and just be here with me, now.” He gathered my hand and kissed my fingertips. “There is nothing else. Just this. Just us.”

“Sleep, my dear flame, and know how much I love you.”

“I love you. Beyond all reason. Beyond all control. Beyond everything. I love you.”

Just her. There was only her.

“I love you, my beautiful genius—I fucking love you.”