From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“After you, Princess.” I turned, eyes narrowing as he stepped aside. “You need to stop calling me that.” “But I like it.”

“I was wrong earlier when I said you looked lovely,”

“What?”

“You look absolutely exquisite, Poppy. Beautiful,” he said, giving a little shake of his head. “I jus...

I’ll be there with you, and not just watching over you.

“You’re such a bad influence,” I murmured as I placed my hand in his. Hawke curled his fingers around mine. The weight and warmth of his hand was a pleasant shock. “Only the bad can be influenced, Princess.”

“I’m the Maiden, Hawke,” I reminded him—or myself, I wasn’t sure. “And I don’t care.”

“I did. And I’ll say it again. I don’t care what you are.” Hawke’s hand slid off my back. A moment later, I felt his palm flatten against my cheek with unerring accuracy. “I care about who you are.”

“And you do want.” His whisper danced over my cheek. “What you want is me.” My breath caught. “That doesn’t matter.” “What you want should always matter.”

“Hawke?” I whispered, my heart crashing like thunder. “Kiss me. Please.”

“Gods,” he breathed, and one hand returned to my cheek. “You don’t have to ask me twice, Princess, and you never have to beg.”

Some truths do nothing but destroy and decay what they do not obliterate. Truths do not always set one free. Only a fool who has spent their entire life being fed lies believes that.”

“They have no idea what’s going on. No clue that my hand is between the thighs of the Maiden.”

“But we won’t do that tonight. We can’t. Because if I get any part of me in you, every part of me would be in you, and I want to hear every sound you make when that happens.”

“Never thought I’d find anything having to do with the Craven sexy.” He swung, lopping off the head of the one nearest him. “But watching you fight them is incredibly arousing.”

“I hope you realize that no matter what anyone has ever told you, you are more worthy than anyone I’ve ever met.”

He accepted me. And I trusted him with my life. With everything.

“There is no way I could be in that bed with you and not be all over you in ten seconds flat. We wouldn’t even make it to the bed before that happened. I know my limitations. I know that I’m not a good enough man to remember my duty and yours or that I’m so incredibly unworthy of you it should be a sin. Even knowing that, there is no way I wouldn’t strip that robe from you and do exactly what I told you I’d do when we were in the forest.”

“I’m not just going to hold you. I won’t stop at kissing you. My fingers won’t be the only thing inside you. My need for you is far too great, Poppy. If I stay, you will not walk out this door the Maiden.”

But this…this I wanted. Hawke was who I wanted. This was my choice.

Hawke wasn’t the catalyst. He was the reward.

“You’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered, his voice thick. “And so damn unexpected.”

“As if you could stop me,”

Gods, I’d fallen for him even though it was forbidden.

“You will do this,” he repeated. “You will drink. You will live. Make that choice, Princess. Do not force me to make it for you.”

“I plotted to take you from everything you knew, and I did, but that is nowhere near the worst of my crimes. I’ve killed people, Poppy. There is so much blood on my hands that they will never be clean. I will overthrow the Queen who cared for you, and many more will die in the process. I am not a good man.” He swallowed hard. “But I am trying to be right now.” A nervous flutter filled my stomach. His words…they should infuriate me, but I…I wanted him, and thinking was…well, it was all I ever did. I didn’t want to do it anymore.

What I felt was…it was messy and raw. I hated him, and…I didn’t. I cared for him, as idiotic as that was. And I wanted him—his kiss, his touch. But I also wanted to hurt him. We weren’t lovers. We were enemies, and we could never be anything else. I was surrounded by people who hated me.

But he also took my heart. And made me fall in love with the Dark One.

“If you wanted to kill me, you should’ve aimed for the head, Princess. But worse yet, you forgot.” “Forgot what?” “That it was real.”

“Tell me you want this.” His hips were still churning against mine. “Tell me you need more.” “More,” I whispered before I could even think about what we were doing, what we’d done—who he was. “Thank fuck,”

“I will kill them,” he whispered. “I will fucking kill them all.”

“I want you to say my real name.”

“It’s you admitting you are fully aware of who is inside you, who you want so badly, even though you know you shouldn’t. Even though you want nothing more than to not feel what you do. I want to hear you say my real name.”

You can’t do anything wrong. How have you not learned that yet?”

How could I stay with him? No matter what I felt for him, I could never trust him, and what I felt for him was also something I could no longer pretend didn’t exist. I loved him. I was in love with him.

“I won’t let you weaken or starve yourself because you’re mad. And I do get it. I get why you’re upset. Why you want to fight me on everything, every step of the way.” He took that step toward me, and my spine locked up as I refused to back away. His eyes burned brighter. “I want you to, Princess. I enjoy it.”

“So, fight me. Argue with me. See if you can actually injure me next time. I dare you.”

“I promised you they’d pay for what they did.” He didn’t sound or look smug. He didn’t sound proud. “And now the others know what will happen if they disobey me and seek to harm you.”

“We go home to marry, my Princess.”