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I lower my head between her legs and chuckle as her eyes widen. “I’ll burn the world down for you…” I spread her pussy open and drag the tips of my forked tongue up her wet slit once, then again. “But I might burn you first.”

She bucks and lets out a bloodcurdling scream as I wrap the two halves of my tongue around her swollen nub. I suck hard, obsessed with the way she trembles with pleasure and fear. There is a line between pleasure and pain that I deviate across, teetering back and forth between gentle and rough. I ache to destroy then to soothe. Then she melts in my mouth as I thrust fully inside, licking both sides of her pussy at the same time.

“Oh, Bell… I am unwell, my lord. For I am a glutton for your deviancy. An untamed beast hungry for more than I’ve already been given.”

I gaze up at her beauty. With her black hair sprawled around her head, her eyes a deep shade of cerulean blue, so dark they’re almost black. She is ecstasy in the flesh. The very sight of her is enough to bring me to my knees. But the taste of her is pure fucking chaos. No one should be allowed to taste this divine.

I growl as I come up for air. “I need more. Give me your knife, Arkana.”

She hasn’t let go of the dagger since I first came in here. But she blows out a quivering breath and hands it to me. The act of trust is not lost on me. First my tongue, now this… She is surprising me every day. And wrapping me around her finger by the second.

I yank her hips down, forcing her body to slide across the marble until her thighs are around my waist. I stroke the outer edges of her pussy as I guide my cock inside. “Ohhh… Fuck, Arkana. I love how you choke me.”

She clenches so tight. “Oh gods. I will cum soon. Bell… I am yours to ruin. I don’t wish to be suitable for anything other than your destruction.”

I burrow in until every inch of me is inside her. I fight the urge to cum this instant with deep breaths. “I want your blood, Arkana.”

She whimpers and tugs my hand to her throat. “Then take it.”

A sharp spasm nearly pushes me over the edge. I take another deep breath and slide the flat of the blade over each of her nipples before pointing the tip at her throat. “This will sting only for a second, beloved.” I drag the knife down the nook of her neck to her shoulder.

She hisses, then moans as I pull my cock back and slam it back in. “Everything feels as if it’s on fire.” She rolls her hips up and rubs against me.

The second my tongue touches the first droplet of blood, my cock swells. I grow feral like an animal as the bittersweet taste of her coats my mouth. I gnaw on her flesh like a starved vulture, yet still gentle enough as to not mutilate her.

She writhes for me, coaxing me as I feast. “Cum inside me, Bell. As you take my blood, fill me with your essence.”

Blessed be to whatever deity charted my path to this moment. It has made every sad and lonely night worth suffering. “Cum with me, my love. Give me your fire as I fill you with darkness.”

We moan together as I fuck her hard on the cold marble. Our screams echo through the halls of Erebus Manor, deafening and thunderous. Three ravens perch on the open windowsill, quiet and still. They watch us as we drown inside each other. But I do not tear my eyes away from hers. The longer I look into them, the more she becomes mine, and I become hers.

I leave her side only to fetch a bottle of whiskey and return with haste. We stretch our legs out on the floor, our backs against the red and black brocade wall, and catch our breath. Covered in bite marks and bruises from my fingertips, she’s a beautiful mess of blood and cum. A new ache festers as I watch the way her throat bobs when she takes a swig from the bottle.

“Now that I’ve exorcised the proverbial demons from your soul, you can tell me what’s really troubling you, Arkana.” I snicker before taking my turn at the peppery whiskey.

She sighs. “It’s my family. Silas hasn’t returned home since my father’s passing, and my mother has tasked me with finding him. It is up to me to convince him to come back, or else my uncle will appoint Finn as the new elder.”

The burdens she bears are now mine. “You know where he is, I assume. I’ll go with you.”

She turns her delectable frame toward me, sweat still clinging to her skin. “Yes, of course, I know. But I cannot ask you to be bothered. I’m sure you have your own affairs to tend to. You’re still settling into Raven’s Gate, and—”

“Arkana, stop.” I place my hand on her chest. “You did not ask me; I offered. In fact, I insist. Isn’t that what husbands do?”

She lifts an eyebrow in contemplation. “I suppose it is. We are most unusual though. I fear you are not done provoking me.”

The more of a rise I can get out of her, the better. “I will find ways to infuriate you every day of your life, beloved. It is your fire I am most drawn to.”

“You are toxic, my lord. As potent as the poison that blooms outside this window.” She steels her gaze to mine, defiantly.

A smirk plays at the corner of my lips at the sight of her pouting. “And that is your favorite thing about me, Lady Erebus. You would surely throw yourself out of the window rather than face a life of boredom with a husband who doesn’t ignite you.”

She flashes me a grin as a rosy blush falls on her cheeks. “Lady Erebus has a nice ring to it. You’ve never called me that before.”

“Do you like the way I say it?” There is something ironic about the way I hang on her every word as she does mine. Years of avoiding any sort of intimacy, other than a shallow fuck in a brothel, decades of building walls around my heart too thick for anyone to penetrate, only to end up naked and vulnerable in a peculiar manor with a woman so intoxicating I would literally start a war for her.

She sweeps her hair up into a pile on the top of her head, revealing the tender pulse in her neck. How it quickens still under my gaze. “I like the way you say everything. When you call me your beloved… your woman. I have never ached to be ruled by anyone, but…” She looks away, the hue in her cheeks deepening to crimson.

I palm her thigh and squeeze. “But what? Confess your darkest desires to me, Arkana. So that I may have a chance to fulfill them.”