Eldritch (The Eating Woods, #2)

by Keri Lake

“Clearly, you have no idea how irresistible you are if you imagine I can lie next to you even one night without the longing to touch you.”

“How can I convince you that the only thing that could possibly force me away from you is death? And even then, I’d find a way to get back to you.”

if he only knew that behind the “logic,” as he’d called it, behind the resignation, was a girl who longed to get swept away in the safety of his embrace. Who longed to savor the sweetness of her first experiences with him, without all the chaos and confusion. “It isn’t staying to protect you that’s going to kill me. It’s staying away from you.”

“To be fair, your chivalry, however dark and morbid and brimming with lunacy it may have been, warmed my heart. No one has ever offered to destroy the world for me.” “I’m nothing if not fiendishly and soullessly chivalrous.”

“From this day forward, you are no longer the lorn. You are worthy. Superior to the others. You are …” So enraptured by her beauty, his breath hitched. Tears wavered in her eyes, and she quickly swiped at her cheek. “Yes?” “Perfect.”

“If you’re a demon, then I would be punished for speaking with you. But…I would grieve the absence of your voice.”

“To escape my thoughts before, I relied on a very potent toxin. It was all I had to pull me out of my head. I fear that you might be the alternative. My own personal poison.” Brows crinkled, he traced his finger over my shoulder and kissed me there. “The only thing I have to ground me right now.” “I asked you to turn to me. To keep you from hurting yourself alone.” “My concern is that I won’t be able to stay away from you now, moon witch. I crave every part of you—body, mind and breath. You consume me, and gods help you, there is no escape. You’re in my blood.”

“Mercy be damned, I’ll tear the world asunder to feed this relentless ache carved by your hands.”

“Do not imagine there’s anywhere you could go, anything you could possibly say, to keep me away from you now, moon witch. I remember everything, and I will not lose you again.”

“A’miszhla,” I echoed, my accent nowhere near as smooth as his. “What does it mean?” “It’s Primyrian. It means my love.” The words slipped between us, a promise sealed by his kiss, and my stomach fluttered at the endearment.

The smile on his face faded for something more serious. “Beautiful is too ordinary a word for you.” “Ordinary?” I breathed a laugh. “And what would the mighty assassin call me if not beautiful?”

“I would call you the soft glow of moonlight in a pitch-black world. A prayer I never spoke aloud, but somehow the gods answered anyway. The strike of lightning I dare to behold without flinching.” His brow flickered as he ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “The reason I breathe.”

“And you call me stubborn.” “I prefer to call it tenaciously protective of what’s mine.”

“Strange, isn’t it?” Zevander said, and I turned to see him staring at me. “Seeing beauty through the eyes of something so ruined and ugly.” Smiling, I turned back to the view. “If you’re referring to yourself, you hardly qualify as ugly.” “You flatter me.” “For now. I’m still angry, though, so tread cautiously.” Smiling, he hiked his boot up onto the crumbled edge of the stone wall and rested his arm against his bent knee. “Fair enough. But know that your anger bears no effect on how swiftly I would kill to protect you.”

“You kill for coin, as you said. You don’t have to kill for me. Not if it means your life.” He sneered and stared out over the vast expanse of trees. “The world has taken everything from me. My morals. My body. My fucking soul. You’re all I have, moon witch. The only thing that gives me worth, and if it takes my life to keep you safe then I will gladly surrender it. For you.”

“Every time I think I could be merciful and let you go, spare you of all this, you remind me why that will never happen.”