Heat radiated from Oliver’s body and a tainted smell rose from his blood.
He cracked his eyes open. “’Bout damn time.” He mouthed the words more than spoke them. “Touch me.”
At any other time I would’ve said this was Oliver being lewd. Any other time but now. The three of us each laid a hand on Oliver’s chest. A moment later the ring of fire and the felled trees disappeared.
Warm wind tore through my clothes from where I crouched amongst wild grass. Wherever we were, the night had the touch of summer to it.
In front of me, Oliver moaned, drawing my attention back to him. That stench rose again from his blood. “What is that?” I asked.
“Poison,” Andre stated. “Their arrows were tipped with it. You can tell by the smell.”
Andre leaned over the fairy. “It’s a flesh wound. There’s a lot more bleeding than actual tissue damage, but the poison can still spread. I’m going to need to suck it out.”
“I always … wanted … you to say … that … to me.”
“Stop hitting on my soulmate,” I teased, earning myself a smile from the fairy. I wouldn’t mention how relieved I was to hear a joke coming out of him. It meant that he’d be okay.
Andre bent to the wound. “This might hurt a bit,” he said, and then he placed his mouth against the fairy’s temple. Air hissed between Oliver’s teeth as Andre drew the poisoned blood out of him.
Staring at the two of them, I couldn’t decide whether the situation looked more awkward or oddly erotic. Either way, it had me shifting my weight uncomfortably.
Next to Oliver, Leanne held his hand tightly, whispering soothing platitudes in his ear. Gradually the smell of tainted blood left him.
Andre pulled away from Oliver and leaned back on his haunches. “The poison is mostly gone from your system,” he said, discreetly wiping his mouth. “How do you feel?”
Oliver groaned. “Like I got nailed with a tire iron—and I do mean iron.” From some dim recess of my mind I remembered that the metal was lethal to fairies.
Andre nodded. “You’ll live—though you’ll have to ride off the last of the fever and you’ll need to eat soon to replenish your blood.”
Andre stood and leveled a look at me. “Soulmate, we need to talk.”
We stood on top of a rock formation that jutted far above the surrounding jungle, giving me a panoramic view. Wherever we were, it was lovely.
Behind us, Leanne murmured to Oliver as the fairy came down from his fever.
Andre and I stared out at the jungle for several seconds before either one of us spoke.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I glanced over at him, vaguely alarmed. I was expecting him to say a lot of things, but not that. “For what?”
He took my hand, the one that sported his mother’s—and now my—ruby ring.
“For worsening your burden. I’m sure I haven’t been the easiest person to deal with for the last several days.” He smiled ruefully.” The truth of the matter is—” he stared at my hand as he spoke, “I’m petrified of losing you.”
He glanced up at me, his thumb rubbing over my knuckles. “I’ve lived for a long time. Long enough to grow apathetic to people, to the world. I’ve wished to die more times than I can remember, and the thing that has always stayed my hand is fear for my people and what lay on the other side of death. Now, for the first time in a long time, I’m eager to live. Yet now I fear something far more greatly than even my people. I can’t lose you.”
There wasn’t anything to say to that, so I didn’t bother. Instead I pressed our joined hands to my heart.
Andre’s fangs slid out, and eyes bright, he kissed me. I hadn’t realized how much I’d craved the touch until he was there, pressing himself into me and enveloping me in his taste.
My mouth parted, and his tongue stroked mine. Against the fire-burned tatters of my outfit, I could feel his taught muscles.
My fangs slid out, nicking Andre’s tongue in the process. He groaned into my mouth as I tasted him. My skin began to glow at the sound. I’d forgotten that my undead boyfriend had a blood fetish. And while that still disturbed me on some levels, a much larger part of me was turned on at the thought.
I was officially a freak—which was why I ran my tongue along one of his fangs until I drew blood. I was rewarded with another one of those delectable groans.
Andre broke off the kiss suddenly, his grip tightening on me. I blinked up at him, dazed and a bit confused as to why we stopped.
“Your scent is mixed with the devil’s,” he stated. The muscle in his jaw jumped.
Well, that just took the fun out of everything. My skin dimmed and my fangs retracted.
“What happened last night?” he asked, his voice gentling.
I extricated myself from Andre’s touch. The devil kept coming between us.
I toed a nearby pebble. “Last night the devil took me.” I kicked the pebble off the side of the outcropping. “I woke up this evening in that circle of fallen trees—that’s where Leanne and Oliver found me—with no memory of what happened after he took me.”
My eyes finally met his. “Hestia called it tasting. He’s essentially getting a preview of my soul. That’s what happened when he took me, though I don’t remember it.”
Andre’s brow wrinkled, his dark eyes shining in the moonlight. His expression was inscrutable, but I imagined horror dawned behind those lovely eyes of his.
“Tasting.” Andre tried the word out. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“I doubt the devil does it very often,” I said.
That muscle in Andre’s jaw ticked. “He took you and he tasted you, and you lost a full day somewhere in there?”
I sucked in my cheeks, then nodded.
Andre brought his hand up to his mouth again and shook his head. I saw the moment Andre truly realized that he couldn’t do a damn thing about the situation. His expression didn’t change, but a drop of blood snaked out from the corner of his eye.