A Duel with the Vampire Lord (Married to Magic, #3)

by Elise Kova

“You really think you could never be safe around me?” “You are my sworn enemy.” My voice has fallen to a whisper without my bidding. “But what if it didn’t have to be that way?”

In this moment, I want more. I want to cast it all aside and just be Floriane—not the forge maiden, not the hidden hunter. The woman.

“Will it hurt?” Excitement and nerves render my words barely audible. “Never.” There’s so much wrapped in that word. “I will never allow harm to come to you.”

“If any human was to trick me, I think I’m glad it was Floriane.”

Your presence here has been the first thing to break the endlessness of this unyielding pain that I have known for my entire life. To bring a glimmer of warmth, of optimism. I’ve already accomplished the impossible with you at my side.

“Please, tell me you’re lying.” It’s the only thing I can think of to say. The only thing that I want to beg to be true. “I can’t lie to you; and I never would.”

“You wanted to use me to get what you wanted. You saw me as nothing more than a tool,” I counter. “I wanted to be good to you but you made it very hard in those initial hours.”

“I suppose, if any human is to walk among us, I’m glad it’s you, forge maiden.”

“And I feel for you.” He pulls me a bit closer, his hands still around mine. “I ache for you. I burn for you. I want you.”

“Don’t hide it, Floriane. Don’t be ashamed. Moan, scream, weep so long as it is from pleasure. Let me hear you.”

Giggling kicking my feet twirling my hair

I want to tell him to go away. I want to tell him I’m fine and that last night meant nothing to me and will never happen again. But I know neither is true. My heart has never soared beyond my chest, or fallen from my body like it does when it’s around him. Even if I want to ignore it, even if I harbor guilt for it, this isn’t something I can brush aside…and doing so wouldn’t be fair to him either.

“You, my bloodsworn, may call me whatever you please.

“I wonder just how much there is we don’t know about each other’s worlds, still.” “A good many, wonderful things, I think.” He smiles slightly.