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April 24 - May 6, 2023
After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts. And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.
Take my heart
Damned shame. Youth is wasted on the young. Beauty, too.
Yes.
Vincent had carved these lessons into me. Never trust. Never yield. Always guard your heart.
Yeah, I'm all in for this sort of personality trait.
Death isn’t frightening when weighed against an insignificant existence.”
I actually think about this a lot.
“Are you deaf, or just stupid?” “You’re unfriendly.”
Do you really think you’ll survive another night here? It’s almost dawn now, but after that? Your scent is all over the Moon Palace right now. I could smell you even from the east tower. And let me tell you, you smell fucking delicious. You need to stop that bleeding, fast.”
*melting*
Those muscles tightened slightly as he gave me a rueful almost-smile. “You don’t give an inch, do you?” My eyes flicked coldly up his body. “Do you? Or is an inch all you have to offer?”
*heavy-breathing*
“Sleep well,” he said. “I hope the knife under your pillow doesn’t give you a crick in your neck.” “I’m used to it.”
😌😌
“A lot of people don’t know how to love. Raihn has a lot of flaws, but he knows how to love. Or at least he…”
*melting*
“That, and he’s a very good cook. A very good cook.”
*melting complete*
“Don’t let them take her,” I choked out.
Crying
“Don’t let them take her,” I begged again.
Crying harder
And Raihn leaned very close to me—closer than I ever allowed anyone—as he murmured, solemn as a vow, “I won’t.”
*initiating combustion*
I didn’t like when they flew above me. I may be the serpent, but even snakes run for cover when hawks soared overhead.
“That fucking face,” he said, shaking his head. “No, I was not waiting for you to apologize. I’d be disappointed if you did.” “I have no regrets. I’d throw you out that window again.” “Oh, I know, princess. I know.”
*princess*
anger is a series of physical responses
This.
“A human life should not be worth so little,”
❤️
“You’re worried about my self-control? How sweet.” He leaned close enough that I felt his words skitter over my cheek. I didn’t know why I didn’t move. “I have plenty of self-control, Oraya,” he murmured. “Don’t you worry about me.”
*combustion evolving*
And then I realized. I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens. That it becomes rage. That it becomes power.
He was on his knees, staring up at me. And that—the way he looked at me—was the first thing that felt real. Real, and raw, and… and confusing.
Because he looked at me in sheer awe—like I was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Like I was a fucking goddess.
You see what I'm talking about?
Raihn rose slowly at first. And then so fast that I didn’t have time to react when he closed the space between us in several long strides—and then he was all around me at once in a firm embrace, and my feet were off the ground, and my arms were around his neck, and I was allowing him to hold me. Allowing myself to cling to him. Allowing myself to bury my tear-streaked face in the warm space between his chin and throat.
My heart feels funny
“Never be ashamed of exceeding expectations,”
His gaze traveled from my eyes to my mouth, down my throat, shoulder, side, all the way down the bare curl of that leg. It lingered there, on my thigh, and I didn’t so much as breathe as I watched his lips curl. “Dangerous,” he said. Yes, I agreed, silently. “But resourceful.”
Yesss
“Don’t be so quick to throw away your humanity, Oraya,” he said. “You might find you miss it once it’s gone.”
“I’ve lived through some injustices in the last couple of centuries. Seen some fucking travesties. But one of the biggest, Oraya, is that anyone taught you that you should become anything other than exactly what you are.”
My heart
“I got a nasty cut at the trial. Even the healing didn’t help it much.” “You… what?” “Do you think I should be concerned?” I didn’t move. He rolled his eyes at me. “Honestly. Just come here.”
1....
I did. He held open the lapels of his jacket, his head tilted back against the wall—a broad triangle of bare skin, and his throat, completely exposed to me. Me, who was armed. While his sword was over there, out of his reach. All at once, I understood what this was. What we were doing. He was offering himself to me. He was presenting me a perfect opening. He knew it. I knew it. We both knew the other knew it.
2....
“Your heart is beating fast,” he murmured. “You must be very concerned for my well-being.”
3....
“Or are you afraid?”
4...
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not afraid.”
5....
“Are you going to kill me, Oraya?”
6...and...
“Not tonight.”
...and I'm dead.
