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“You’ve… ruined the velvet,” he croaked. It was true; the god sword’s blade had rent a three-inch-long hole in his black velvet waistcoat. I gave him an apologetic shrug. “Annoying by-product of killing,” I said with a sigh. “Your opponent’s clothes often don’t survive the process, either. You know all about that, though, don’t you?”
Listen. I was just looking out… my window, and… I saw something—” “It’s called a sunset, Swift. If you want to live to see more of them, I can always escort you back to Cahlish.
And he could have his reasons, so long as none of them involved him harboring any sort of hope that Saeris was going to confess her undying love for him. That wasn’t happening.
“What do you think I’m doing?” I snarled. “I’m saving the fucking fox!”
He’d left the safety of Cahlish. For her. He’d climbed the mountain. For her. He’d snuck through Irrín and crossed the river. For her. And now he was being chased across the dead fields of Sanasroth by a horde of feeders. He must have been tired and ready to give up, but he was still coming. For her. And I was not about to let that little fox die.
The footwork was there. Almost. And when the ravening feeders fell upon us, he didn’t immediately die. Shocking.
“And the day you save me on a battlefield, I’ll put on a dress and dance a fucking jig.”
“Healing is a small magic for me,” I whispered to him. “I guess it’s lucky for both of us that you’re small, too.”
“Don’t you know? There isn’t much I wouldn’t sacrifice to make you happy, Osha. A little healing magic is the least of it.”
“It isn’t a garrote. It’s a belt,” Fisher replied amicably. In my head, he said, It’s a garrote. I tried not to laugh.
“Can you—look, can you just behave yourself out there?” I murmured under my breath. He looked bemused, the faintest hint of a dimple forming in his right cheek. “I can,” he answered. “I can’t promise that I will.”
But, regardless,” I called in a clear voice. “I am no child. My name is Saeris Fane, and I am your queen.”
“Come now, Taladaius. The girl’s a virgin—” “Excuse me?” I couldn’t stop myself. My indignation erupted from me before I could reel it back. “I assure you, I am not.” Algat gave me a pitying look. “Not of the body, child.”
“Just do it, Osha.” “What?” “Bite me. Drink.
“Block them out. Don’t pay them any attention. It’s just you and me, okay?”
This… isn’t how I imagined this, I thought to Fisher. As he slipped his bracer free, his eyes found mine, burning with intensity. A slow, intrigued smile kicked up the corner of his mouth. Oh? So you’ve been imagining this, then, have you, Little Osha?
You can own your fantasies with me, Little Osha. There is nothing in this realm or the next that I won’t give to you if you desire it. All you ever need do is ask.
In those long, heady moments, I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t taking anything from him. That I was giving something to him instead.
“Don’t even think about it, or I’ll take you right here,” he panted. Holy. Fucking. Gods.
She was breathtaking as she turned and faced the hall, her eyes lit with a galaxy of stars. She was the center of that galaxy.
She couldn’t have known what would happen if she stilled with her canines inside me and didn’t drink, though. It was my own fucking fault. I should have told her. I should have explained.
“She dosed you? In front of the whole Sanasrothian Court?”
Did you tear her clothes off in front of everyone?”
“He gave Saeris a new piece of ink. She had to feed from him before they’d crown her,” Renfis said. “And she accidentally dosed him.”
If Carrion fucking Swift somehow landed himself in shit and dragged the love of my miserable life into it with him…
Years later, I discovered the truth: that Taladaius had been there that night, overseeing the assault on the mountain. When asked, he’d said that he had done it as a kindness to me. That he had fed Foley his blood and then drained him, if only so that he might have a choice in whether he lived or died.
I didn’t have to feed to survive the way Taladaius and the other members of the Sanasrothian Court did… but I wanted to.
What I cannot do is attack you like it’s real. And that’s what you need, if you truly want to learn how to fight with a sword. The stakes must be genuine for you to learn how to think and react under pressure. And I will never come at you with everything I’ve got. You are my mate. I’m in love with you. I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. Which… he added softly, I do not.
“Do you like having fingernails, Carrion?” he asked politely. “I—” Carrion gaped. “I do, actually.” “I thought so.” My mate said nothing more.
“She isn’t my girlfriend. She’s my mate,” Fisher said quite amicably. “And if any part of your body, literally any part of it, comes into contact with hers, then I will remove it.”
“Alchemist,” she said curtly. “Danya,” I answered. “Where’s the redhead?” “Who?” “The annoying male with witty comebacks.”
I can hear you from here, y’know. Fisher’s deep growl brushed against my mind like velvet. What? I didn’t say a word. I didn’t even think anything. The left side of his mouth kicked up a touch. You didn’t need to. Your eyes are saying plenty.
Be under no illusion, Little Osha. You are all I can smell.
“Oh. Oh, I don’t think—you don’t need to call me mistress, Archer. I’m not the lady of the house.” “Yes, you are.” The words sent a bolt of panic through me. Fisher was behind me, and he’d heard every word. “No other will ever claim this seat.” He said it matter-of-factly, drawing out the chair in question, gesturing for me to sit down. “From now on, you are Lady of Cahlish.”
“I’m not.” His eyes were burning. “The marrying type. I never have been. Before, the very idea would have sent me running for the hills. I just… I could never imagine the kind of love I would need to feel to choose that path for myself. But now I don’t need to imagine. Now I can’t think of anything I want to do more. Marrying you would be…” He shook his head, his eyes searching my face.
It’s sacred because they give each other their names. Their true names. And I can give you everything else, Osha. But I can’t give you that.”
“I don’t know it,” he whispered. “I’ve never known it. We usually receive our true names on our fourteenth birthdays, and my mother—” He blinked. “Well, she died before I turned fourteen. And my father was already gone. So…”
“I love you, Fisher.” It was the first time I’d said it. “I love you, and nothing else matters beyond that. Wherever you are, I’ll beg the gods and all the fates to let me be there, too,” I whispered.
“There are too many pricked ears in this godscursed manor,” he groaned. “They aren’t going to like what they hear over the next few hours.”
“Now, those scents are amplified a thousandfold. You smell like excitement. You smell like laughter. And peace. And love.”
“You forget that I’m a winter creature, Saeris,” Fisher murmured. “I don’t crave the attention of the sun. The snowcapped mountains, the forest, the frozen river… those places are my home. You are home.”
was hard. Everywhere. All of him. His chest was all packed muscle. His arms, wound tight around me, were bands of steel. And his cock? I could feel just how hard that was, straining against his pants; the head of his erection dug into my stomach as he curved himself over me and rocked his hips forward, groaning. “Three nights. That’s how long I’ve paced this room, fantasizing about fucking you raw, Saeris Fane.”
“Only… the past… three?” “I was praying you’d live all of the others.”
“You taste like the end of the fucking world,” he purred. “Just kill me and be done with it. Nothing will ever be better than this.”
“Come now, Osha. Where else would an acolyte kneel to worship but at the altar of his god?”
Fisher had bitten me and had started to drink. The gods only knew how much of his venom he’d injected into me at once, but I came. On. The. Spot.
“Thaaat’s it. Good girl. Ride it out.”
“What… the hell just… happened?” “You passed out,” Fisher murmured into my neck. “Passed out?” “Just a little.” He made it sound like it was no big deal. That he made females pass out all the time. “Only for a second.”
“You’re not human anymore, Saeris. Think you can keep up with me now?”
When I sink all the way down onto your cock, you’re not allowed to touch me, I informed him. I’m just a male, he answered in an agonized tone. I’ve never worked a miracle in my life. What gives you… the impression I’d be able to start… working them now?
