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Beautiful in the way pain was beautiful, because it tugged at the chest and made something visceral come alive in the stomach and caused blood to simmer in the veins. Enchanting in the way she imagined dark magic was, because it twisted the air around it and warped the mind and overpowered the senses. Haunting in the way only very few living things could be, because it sent a shiver down the spine and cloaked itself in the darkness and fed on the energy around them.
“What the hell was that?” she hissed as the other students began to leave the room. Corvina looked at her with a frown. “What?” Jade’s eyes were troubled. “Whatever that was between you two. The air was pulsing, Cor. I’m not even kidding.” Corvina shut her notebook, chuckling. “That was probably all the ovaries in the room melting for him.”
“Damn…” They turned to see a tall, gorgeous black girl who’d introduced herself as Erica, walking behind them. “That was some peak sexual tension. Bottle it, and you’d be the richest fucking girl this side of Tenebrae.”
“Girl,” Erica said, crossing them to the corridor outside, “from where I was sitting, it was lit up so bright aliens could see it probably. Mr. Deverell looked like he’d eat you alive. No, it looked like he’d feast on you if given the chance.”
“Steer clear of me, little crow,” he muttered, his eyes piercing, flaying her open. “You might be a luring siren but I’m no ordinary sailor. I’m a mad pirate and I’m trying to resist your call. If I land on your shores, I will plunder and take away everything worth having. Be very careful giving me those eyes.”
All she knew was his scent, that scent of burning wood and heady brandy, and his voice—that deep, gravel voice that pebbled her nipples—and those searing silver eyes—those eyes that made her breath catch and lips tingle. She was nothing but pure sensation in that moment, from the roots of her wild, loose hair to the tips of her curled toes, and she was only pressed into him.
“Your eyes have such hunger. Your soul is starved, and your flesh is famished. Tell me, Miss Clemm, do you want relief?”
“This is lust,” she whispered, trying to validate it, excuse it. “No, Corvina,” the side of his lips twitched. “I’ve known lust. This is something worse. This is a barbaric need to possess, to eliminate, to own. This is madness.”
“If this is madness,” he told her, echoing her words against her lips, “I’ve already descended too far.”
She’d forgotten how the cells in her body realigned in his field when he focused on her, the electric shock going through each one of them making her entire body warm. God, she wanted him.
“This is our madness.”
‘He’s important, Vivi, this one.’
MACBETH DOCTOR FAUSTUS He turned to the class, tapping the first play with his marker. “A tragedy about the political ambition of power.” He tapped the second one. “A tragedy about a man who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge.”
“It doesn’t have a happy ending, Miss Clemm.” Corvina stared him in the eyes, knowing he would understand the subtext of her next words, “It has a devil in an ancient castle falling in love. What can be more interesting than that?” His eyes blazed. “Indeed.”
DANSE MACABRE. What the hell?
“You play so beautifully,” she mused out loud, in a slight daze. “Even your demons must sing.” His eyes opened at that. “And what do your demons do, little crow?” She looked away. “Scream.” “Come here,” he commanded her, and she glanced toward the stairs.
“This is happening, little crow,” he whispered softly against her lips, pinching her nipple between his fingers. “I’m done denying this. You’ve haunted me long enough. And I don’t care if you’re haunted by forces beyond your understanding or if it’s all in your head. You’re mine now. For as long as this madness ensues.”
“Looks like Old Zelda was right after all. You found your purple eyes.” The sides of Vad’s jaw worked, his cheekbones pushing against his skin. “Let’s hope for your sake she wasn’t right.” Ajax gripped the railing in his hand, giving Vad a cold smile. “I’m taking my brother and getting the hell off your cursed mountain tomorrow.” That brought Corvina up short. “His cursed mountain?” she piped in, looking between the two.
“Ah, don’t you know?” “Don’t,” Vad grit out. Ajax gave a hard grin. “Verenmore had always belonged to the Deverell family line. It’s not common knowledge, but legally, the castle and this mountain are both his.”
But don’t forget to tell her about your history, man. We don’t want a repeat of Zoe.”
thrill to her lizard brain.
“I,” slam “am” slam “your” slam “madness.” He bit the side of her neck, wild in his passion. “I’m in your head, in your blood, in your very veins. I’ve claimed you before anything else ever could. Your body, your heart, your mind, your fucking soul, it’s all mine. Your hunger is mine to feed, your madness is mine to tame. Do you feel that?”
“I’ve waited a very long time for you, little witch.” He kissed her piercing.
“Rest your pretty head, witch. I’m the devil you know, not the devil you don’t.”
“I would’ve kissed you bathed in blood, Corvina. If I had a chance to kiss you while a thousand ghosts rose from their graves, I would have kissed you. Don’t doubt that.”
“You saw me,” she whispered, her throat tight, her eyes burning. “I saw you,” he whispered back, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “You see me.” Her lips trembled, the realization that this man saw her, truly saw her, and still watched her with that look in his eyes making something inside her shift. “I see you.” His silver gaze seared her. “I’ve always seen you.”
He was real and warm and he had been for years that she hadn’t known. He held her face, taking everything she gave him and demanding more and more and more until she had nothing left to give, all of it plundered, all of it surrendered, all of it his. And Corvina knew, kissing him in that darkened classroom of an empty castle building, that his possession of her was complete, and if they were to ever part ways, he would haunt her for eternity.
“You’re taking all of my firsts, Mr. Deverell,” she whispered quietly as a confession. His arm tightened. “I will take all your lasts too, Miss Clemm. Mark my words.”
“This will last until the day roses on my grave stop sharing roots with the roses on yours,” he declared. “I will have you even in death, little witch. I
am your beast. I am your madness. And you, you’re my afterlife.”
“I like watching you.”
“My beautiful, sexy little witch,”
My little witch, I went to Tenebrae on the weekend for a legal meeting and found this. The color reminded me of your eyes right after you come. It was a dress made for you to wear and for me to take off. You’ll find your mask in the box by the shoes. (Yes, I know your size). I won’t tell you what I’ll be wearing. Instead, I want you to recognize me from a sea of masked people. I need you to find me in the sea. Leave everything in the office for now. It will be safe. Collect it on the day before the Ball to avoid questions. I hope you miss me. Your pussy is going to be sore as fuck once I get
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“And this mountain would crack before it let anything happen to your castle. Remember that.”
“You’re the mountain I build my castle on, brick by brick,” she whispered to him, her eyes stinging. “You stand, I soar. You crack, I crumble.”
