Reaper's Dark Kiss

by Ryssa Edwards

  Julian was on his feet in a second. He rounded on his brother, hands curled into fists. “You know I can’t let that happen.”

  They both looked at the door as if someone had knocked. “What does he want?” Julian said.

  “He has been researching the matter.” Marek raised his voice and said, “Enter, Seeker.”

  A man dressed in a black robe that reminded Sky of a priest’s cassock pushed the door open. “I came as soon as I found something, my lord,” he said to Marek and laid a scroll on his desk.

  Julian let out a frustrated sigh but said nothing.

  “You have my gratitude, Seeker Dagon,” Marek said in ritual tones. “We are grateful for the light you bring. What does the scroll say?”

  “Nothing useful,” Julian grumbled.

  Sky recognized the long-suffering patience of a priest as Seeker Dagon turned to Julian and said, “You have the right to seek intercession, my lord.”

  Julian made a sour face. “Oracle? All he does is talk in riddles.”

  “Your light is always of service,” Marek said. “Go and be welcome to return.”

  Seeker Dagon slipped out.

  Julian waited until the door shut before he said, “I’m taking Sky home. Let Vandar come to Montana and try to take her.”

  “Must I repeat the law to you, brother? If you leave with SkyLynne with the intent to break the contract,” Marek said, “you will break the law. A known lawbreaker cannot be bonded. SkyLynne will go to Vandar by default.”

  “He’ll have a hard time claiming her with my blade running through his left eye,” Julian said.

  His voice was so savage, Sky didn’t dare protest being talked about like a takeout pizza.

  Julian turned in a half circle, running a hand through his hair. Then he went unnaturally still. His chest stopped rising and falling. No part of him moved. It was as though he’d gone to a place inside himself, a crossroads where the decision he made would change his life forever.

  Marek stood as still as his brother. Sky realized she wasn’t breathing, and forced herself to take in air.

  As suddenly as he’d gone, Julian was back. There was grim certainty in his eyes, a soldier who’d decided to walk into battle, whatever the cost. He got down on one knee again, bringing him eye level with Sky. “You have to come with me. That’s how Oracle works. But I can’t force you. You have to consent.” He glanced at Marek. “In front of a witness.”

  Like she’d just sit around and wait for things to get better? “Where you go, I’ll be there,” Sky said. “All the way.”

  Rising to his feet, Julian faced his brother across his desk in stuttering candlelight, obviously waiting for Marek to say something.

  “Duly witnessed,” Marek said. “The one-day grace period before the contract goes into effect has begun.” He plucked the Seeker’s scroll from his desk and handed it to Julian. “Take this. There are rules for consulting Oracle.”

  “And none of them make sense.” Julian took the scroll without a thank-you and swept Sky toward the door ahead of him.

  Marek came around his desk, took Sky’s hand, and kissed the back. “I’m sorry to first meet you in such grim times,” he said.

  Before Sky could react, Marek turned to Julian. A look passed between them that told Sky all the yelling didn’t matter. This was brother to brother. “You are not only SkyLynne’s last hope; you are heir to my empire. Have a care with both.”

  “I won’t start a war unless I have to,” Julian said.

  After Marek closed the door behind them and they were moving down the narrow stone corridor, Harli said, “I owe you my life.” He spoke with a flat, almost frightening finality. “Tell me what I have to do to help you.”

  Julian gave him the scroll. “Read through this for me. Later, I want you to tell me and Sky how many fires we have to dance through to get Oracle to see us.”

  Harli’s face lit up. “Yeah, Julian. I’ll be in the library.” He took off at a quick walk.

  As they moved farther down the corridor, the torches were replaced with fat candles in deep niches in the stone walls. They moved through firelit tunnels in silence for a while, Sky thinking furiously. “In Marek’s…” She stopped, unsure what to call the place where they’d met Julian’s brother. “Is that his office?”

  “Audience chamber.” Julian stopped. A part of the wall before them pulled up into the roof, revealing an archway that opened into a pitch-black tunnel. “Stay there a minute,” Julian said and went inside. He was back in a second with a candle.

  “Where are we?” Sky asked, taking his hand.

  “Back door.”

  She followed him into a featureless tunnel. “In Marek’s audience chamber, you sounded like you knew the rules for Oracle. Why send Harli to go research?”

  “Because if he thinks he’s helping me, he won’t be thinking of a way to go after Vandar and get dead.” The tunnel took a sharp turn, then ended beside the wardrobe in Julian’s room. Behind them, the door sealed in place almost silently. “You should get some rest,” Julian said. “It’s late in the afternoon.”

  Sky settled into a chair. The emerald cushion molded to her body. Her feet didn’t touch the ground. “Family’s family. I let you and Marek talk about me like I was a package for delivery. I didn’t say a word. I want answers, Julian. No more bullshit.”

  He sank into the chair opposite her and leaned forward, hands between his legs. “Where do you want me to start?”

  * * * *

  Julian told her almost everything. It was forbidden for him to tell Sky about the haeze until she consented to be his.

  When he’d finished, Sky said, “CJ told me he wouldn’t check up on you.”

  “Your brother’s a warrior. He made you a promise, but keeping you from harm comes first in his mind.”

  Troubled, Sky leaned close to Julian, elbows on her knees, face on her palms. “How do we find Oracle?”

  “We need help,” Julian said. “But we can’t go anywhere until nightfall.” He wanted to carry Sky to his bed. She needed to rest. But if he did that, she’d be as mad at him as she would be at her brother. “Why don’t you lie down awhile? We have a long night ahead of us.”

  She eyed his bed. “Do you sleep?”

  “Not much,” Julian said.

  “I’m not staying here alone.” She looked around with a shudder. “Feels too much like a dungeon in Dracula’s castle.”

  “I’ll be right here.” He stood and offered her his hand. “Watching over you.”

  Taking off his shirt, Julian had told himself he’d lie with Sky until she fell asleep, and then he’d go to his desk and answer scrolls. But now, feeling her warm body curled up beside him, her head resting on his chest, her soft breath caressing his bare skin, his beast came wide awake.

  He stopped running his fingers down Sky’s back. But he couldn’t stop breathing in her scent. It would be good to sink his fangs into her and drink, then take her, then drink again. But he couldn’t do that without marking her. He wanted Sky too badly to stop himself.

  His beast growled, urging Julian on.

  Mine.

  Protect her.

  Mark her.

  The haeze possessed him. His beast seduced him. His mind filled with thoughts of Sky naked, moving under him, her hips rising and falling.

  One strong tug, and Sky would be free of her jeans. Julian would strip so fast, she wouldn’t know anything until she felt him naked on top of her, sliding into her and…

  He couldn’t be this close. He couldn’t stand it. Sky was asleep. He slipped her head to a pillow and eased off the bed.

  Immediately awake, Sky propped herself on her elbows, head to one side. “What’s wrong?”

  Trying to let off excess heat, Julian was almost panting. “I have work to do,” he said. “You rest.”

  She sat up on the edge of the bed, suspicious. “What could you be hiding this time?”

  He’d promised to tell Sky the truth. A reaper didn’t break h
is word. He’d tell her as much as he could. “I don’t think I can be with you and not mark you. That wouldn’t be right. You’d be bonded to me.” He made himself look away from her hard nipples. “Go back to sleep.”

  Sky leaned into Julian. She ran light fingers over his belly, trailed slow kisses after her touch, and asked, “Why?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Julian pressed his lips together and willed his fangs to recede. “It’s not right to mark you without you knowing what it means,” he said.

  “So tell me.” Sky kissed just above Julian’s navel, her warm lips lingering. “I’m a good listener.”

  “You’d be mine,” Julian said. “You’d have a mark, a…” He hissed at the feel of Sky’s probing tongue. “A tattoo that could only come from me.”

  Kissing his belly, her tongue licking solid, molded muscle, Sky said, “I like tattoos.”

  “No,” he said, shivering. “It’s not like that. By our laws, I have to ask you in front of a witness, get your consent.”

  “Will there be a witness when you rip off my clothes?”

  “Sky, don’t—”

  She traced her lips over the outline of Julian’s hard cock through his jeans. “When you sink so deep inside me I’ll never want it to stop, who’ll be there?”

  No one would be there. There’d just be naked writhing bodies, skin on skin. No. There would be more. For the first time in his long eternity, Julian felt lifetimes of loneliness lift. He was with his Forever Mate, and he loved her. That love was alive, drawing them together, stronger than any instinct he’d ever felt. “You’re enough to make me fight through a whole army for one kiss.”

  She looked up at him, serious for a moment. “Can you mark me”—she brushed her lips between his legs—“like this?”

  “No,” Julian said. “Not like that.”

  Sky trailed a nail down the teeth of his zipper. The metal vibrated against his swollen cock.

  “Sky.” Julian gasped. “You’re torturing me.”

  “I am?” She kissed lower. “This is for all those questions you wouldn’t answer.” She moved her lips even lower. “And this is for not telling me you had fangs that feel so good.”

  The beast in Julian rose. A snarl of need thrummed through every nerve. He fell back, out of Sky’s easy reach. But she went all the way to her knees and came after him.

  “Last October,” Sky said, kissing between Julian’s thighs, “I did a story on a hot-dog-eating contest. I had to be in it, compete, get a feel for it.” She unbuttoned Julian’s jeans.

  “I’ll buy you a hot dog sometime,” Julian choked out.

  “You know how you eat a lot of hot dogs fast?” She slid his zipper down.

  Julian groaned. “Sky—”

  “You learn to control your gag reflex. I learned really good.”

  He should have stopped her, should have moved too fast for Sky to follow. But her lips felt so good, and Julian wanted her so badly, it was impossible to do what he knew he should. He tangled his fingers in Sky’s soft curls. He moaned through clenched teeth as she took the length of his heavy cock between her soft lips.

  Her desire was without words. Sky tilted her head back and offered him her throat. Their eyes met. Julian tried to hold back. But Sky grabbed his hands, locked her fingers between his.

  It was their first time getting to know each other’s rhythms. As he stroked into Sky’s mouth, nothing mattered but the bliss on her face, the soft feel of her breasts, the sweet touch of her lips tight around him.

  The beast in him purred, spreading pleasure through Julian in heated waves. A delicious pressure built in his throbbing cock. He pumped his hips in and out, taking her mouth in long, slow strokes. He caressed her face, learning the smooth feel of her. She was relentless, drawing him deeper each time, forcing groans of pleasure from him.

  She pulled away and licked him, her face buried between his legs, her hands resting on the ripples and ridges of his belly. The scent of her desire filled Julian. He curled his hands into fists. It was all he could do not to toss Sky on his bed and take her in one smooth thrust.

  Kissing his clenched fists, she said, “Did I tell you I won the contest?” With a wicked laugh, she took him into her mouth again but didn’t move. She held him there, not touching him. Their only connection was him inside her mouth.

  When Julian couldn’t stand any more, he slowly started moving his hips, feeling his beast rise. He threw his head back and felt his hips moving, pistoning in a way he couldn’t control anymore. He tried to pull away, but Sky grabbed his hands, holding him near. Then he was groaning loudly as he emptied himself into her willing mouth.

  Mine, his beast purred. Take her.

  Breathing hard, he reached for Sky, meaning to ravage her. But she eased back. “No,” she said. “Not until after we have a witness, right?”

  It was more complicated than that. Even knowing that, only his warrior’s discipline kept Julian from seducing Sky until she begged for what he was desperate to give her. He turned away and went to his wardrobe to change his jeans. “I can’t let you go, Sky. Even if this didn’t happen, I can’t.” He couldn’t tell her about the haeze, but he could tell her that much.

  The Crypt’s staff must have known he had a mortal female in his room. A silver decanter of wine and two copper goblets had been left on a corner of his desk. He poured wine and brought it to Sky. She’d waited on the edge of the bed while he changed. He ran his fingers through her hair, down her cheeks, and then he crouched before her and took her free hand in his. “Did you hear what I said?”

  “Remember what you promised in the alley?” Sky was staring down into the wine, tracing the rim of the goblet with her thumb.

  “That I wouldn’t let death take me from you?”

  She nodded. “If you ever do, Julian, I’ll be really mad.” She gave a weak laugh, but when she looked at him, there were tears in her eyes. “Okay?”

  Sky was taking the biggest risk she’d ever taken in her life. She was letting someone in. Julian knew how much it took for her to do that. He’d fought beside elite guardsmen who thought nothing of giving up their lives in a fight. Ounce for ounce of courage and guts, Sky was as brave as any of them at this moment, and he loved her for it.

  “Let’s go for a walk,” he said, getting to his feet. “I want you to see my world.”

  * * * *

  Sky had never done anything like what she’d just done with Julian. It wasn’t her first time, but she’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted him. Something was drawing her to him, something big and powerful, a magnet the size of the Empire State Building.

  They were in a curving tunnel and Julian was on his knees. A low grunt from him was followed by the sound of stone sliding over stone.

  “What are you doing?” Sky asked.

  “Unlocking a back door.”

  A part of the wall slid back, and she was looking into a cavern with a roof so high, it seemed like a blue-black sky. Julian waved her ahead of him and closed the stone wall behind them with a nod. The cavern was filled with blue-green light, as if they were underwater. “Where are we?” Sky said.

  “Kind of like our version of the botanical gardens.” Julian moved through slanting columns of purplish light, a distant look on his face.

  Sky passed her hand through a beam of light. It was strangely cool. “Why aren’t you burning?”

  Pointing up, Julian said, “It’s filtered sunlight. Special glass. No UV.”

  Impatiens, daisies, violets, and other flowers Sky couldn’t name painted swaths of color beside cobblestone paths. They twisted between improbably tall trees. Casually dressed people walked the paths in pairs or small groups. She noticed many of them had the harried look of travelers on a long trip. High overhead, panes of colored glass—green, blue, purple—shed light.

  “I never noticed glass in the sidewalks,” Sky said.

  Julian laughed. “They do it with mirrors somehow, hidden under your world.”

 
Groans of unmistakable pleasure came from under a tree so big it could have sheltered a house. Sky turned to Julian, a question in her eyes.

  “It’s different with us,” he said, giving Sky a look that made her sure he was thinking about hot dogs. “We don’t hide it when we enjoy each other.”

  Heat rushed to Sky’s cheeks, and to other parts of her too. She let Julian lead her down a winding path. They moved almost in step, Julian wrapped in his thoughts. Giving him time, Sky took in the wide ledges that ran around the cavern. They were balconies that jutted out at odd angles and went up as far as she could see.

  “Marek can’t consent to me marking you until this thing with Vandar is done,” Julian said. “If I ask him now, he’d have to deny me to avoid starting a war between the Creed and the Dominion. And he could never reverse his decision.”

  Sky thought back to the alley. She shuddered. Vandar had looked at her as if he were starving and she was a gourmet entrée.

  “With the binder signed, I can’t bond with you unless I—” Julian stopped and looked up at the jagged rows of balconies as if he’d lost something. “I can’t bond with you. Vandar won’t forgive me for claiming you,” he said. “I’d walk across the Sahara at noon for you, but life with me won’t be easy.”

  Didn’t Julian know Sky would be with him no matter what? She couldn’t let him beat himself up like this. “How about a trailer?” she said.

  He looked down at her, sidetracked. “A what?”

  “Like in the movies. A minipreview.” She pointed to a far corner of the garden. “Race you to the tree. You get there first, I take off one piece of clothing. Your choice.”

  “What if you get there first?”

  “You strip.”

  “You only take off one thing, but I get naked?”

  Good. His mind was off wars and the Dominion. “What?” she said, hands on her hips. “Afraid I’ll win?”

  “We have a saying,” Julian said, moving toward her. “Don’t count out gold your blood can’t pay for.”