by Marian Tee
She was crying inside of her, but she was unable to make a sound because it was already as if the monster inside of her had taken control.
“I d-didn’t---”
A tear slipped from the corner of Soleil’s eye, together with a drop of blood.
“Stop it,” Fleur screamed. “Stop making her---”
The clock chimed.
Two minutes.
“If you go, then you’re cursing me to an eternity without happiness and love,” Ilie said harshly. “I’m half-demon, Soleil. Do you fucking know what that means? I’m a half-demon, and so the words that you want to hear will not come easy---”
Tears and blood continued to mingle.
God. He could feel her life seeping out of her, and outside, the wolves in the kingdom went berserk at the pain Ilie was feeling.
I think…I could have made you say the words…if I had more time.
The words seemed to take everything from her, and Soleil’s eyes drifted closed.
No.
NO!
He shouted in his mind, Listen to me, goddamn you. You don’t need more time because you already have it.
And it was true.
Now, he knew it was true.
I would never admit it if this didn’t happen---
And maybe that was why you had to be cursed---
Why God, who fucking knows everything---
He knew it was the only way I would know.
Ilie drew her up.
The clock chimed.
One minute.
He pulled her tightly to him. She felt lifeless, but he refused to believe she would leave him. Be my heartkeeper, ma lisse.
Take my heart.
Share your soul.
Spend eternity with me.
He rocked her in his arms, and he, too, bled tears of blood.
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
Seconds away from midnight---
The monster’s jaws snapped open.
Soleil choked out, Yes. I will be your heartkeeper.
The clock struck twelve.
And pain engulfed both of them.
CHAPTER NINE
Do you know you are causing a commotion in the entire world? But Adrijan sounded more amused than anything.
Commotion is a vast understatement, Mihail commented mildly. Scientists all over the globe are going crazy, trying to figure out the reason behind the howling phenomenon.
Is that what they have been calling it? Silviu chuckled. A howling phenomenon? And just because le Marquis di Lunare has deigned to fall in love---
Fuck off. But even he was hard pressed to hold on to his anger as the demon duke and the rest of the Galere laughed. Even with his body still blazing with pain, struggling as it was to accept his heartkeeper’s soul, Ilie welcomed every damn bit of his discomfort.
After all, this pain was proof that Soleil was his.
More importantly, it was proof that she was alive.
Sensing the sober change in the marquis’ mood, Silviu asked, Are there any complications with the process? Little was known about heartkeeping, with most of the information either deliberately destroyed in previous wars or guarded zealously in the libraries of Sulphur.
Only that it hurts like the bloody hell.
Silence.
Ilie bristled. What?
You almost sound like you enjoy the pain, Adrijan marveled. As Mihail and Silviu politely coughed to cover their amusement, Adrijan continued, It is unlike you to be masochistic---
Fuck you.
But it is true, my friend, Silviu interjected. You almost sound mellow, even though I know from experience that the pain of heartkeeping is unimaginable.
Ilie didn’t bother to answer, disgruntled at the way they could so easily see through him. Instead, he asked, How long will this pain last?
According to Maricha, it varies from case to case and would be mostly dependent on how, err, sinful you have been.
Pause.
Then in unison, the three other men said, You are fucked.
Ilie grimaced. You don’t have to sound so damn certain. But in truth, even he thought the same thing. Of the four of them, he had most likely committed the greatest sins. Silviu, despite having been sired by one of Hell’s most sadistic demons, had also been tempered by his mother’s angelic blood. Mihail had always been too noble to commit any obscene wrongdoing while most of the time, Adrijan was too cold-blooded to even care to sin.
But Ilie?
Sin had always been his favorite pastime, but apparently heartkeeping was the moment when he had to atone for them.
Lie low for now, and that is a command, Silviu didn’t hesitate to add, knowing how stubborn the shapeshifting marquis could be.
Ilie scowled. If you have need of me---
I do, and my greatest need is for you to take care of yourself. You will be much stronger, but only when the process has been completed. Until then, you will not possess even a tenth of your power. You may even find yourself deaf to your heartkeeper’s thoughts.
But it did not happen to you and George, Ilie protested.
Silence again.
What? Did it?
No, it did not. But this time, the demon duke had opted for a private thread of thought, one that was only between him and Ilie. Do you know, Ilie? This is the first time that you spoke of George without pain.
Ah.
No, he said slowly. I had not noticed, but I am unsurprised.
Because that moment he had thought his heartkeeper would die on him---
I have loved my heartkeeper all along, and yet I had been blinded by my fear without being aware of it.
But you are not afraid now?
I am, but of something different. I am afraid of ever losing her.
Ah. I am well acquainted with that fear. And I have bad news for you, milord. Silviu smiled. That fear will be your faithful companion for the rest of your life.
The sound of footsteps reached Ilie, and he said to Silviu and the others, I must go.
The permanent wound over his heart eased, and the presence of the Galere and the demon duke retreated from his mind. Outside, he heard the Orpheline sisters still chatting, but their voices were softer and sleepier now.
The younger sisters sounded hoarse, too, he noted, and that was no wonder, with all the crying they had done downstairs.
While waiting for Soleil to come up, he had been content to listen to them and had thoroughly approved of the way the youngest sister had berated his heartkeeper.
Never do that to us again. Give us a chance to at least convince you otherwise, curse you, Soleil Orpheline!
He nodded grimly at the memory. Every word was damn right, he thought, and his fingers curled into a fist. He hoped to hell that he would never be made to experience such helplessness again.
Throughout the night, the baron and the younger daughters had lectured Soleil about her penchant to keep her trouble to herself. And she had let them, never saying a word in her defense, and if she did speak, it was in calm, soothing tones.
Not once had he heard her cry, Ilie thought, and that alone convinced him he had to be here.
Even though it would have been better and safer to recuperate in Brimstone, he would never abandon Soleil in her time of need---
Soleil’s bedroom door finally opened, and Ilie waited patiently for his heartkeeper to notice him. He watched her shut the door and promptly lean back against it, closing her eyes wearily.
When she opened her eyes and saw him, the marquis smiled. “Good morning.”
Soleil burst into tears.
As expected, Ilie thought in amusement.
In a blink, they were in bed, Soleil in his lap, and as he licked away her tears, he murmured, “Serves you right, thinking you could get away with something like that---”
“I-insufferable oaf.”
“Jerk is less of a mouthful, ma lisse.”
She sobbed obediently, “Jerk.”
He k
issed her hard, and with her hands trapped between their bodies, Soleil could feel the way his heart thundered against his chest.
“Yes,” he gritted out, reading her unmasked thoughts with ease. “I’m still fucking terrified. I don’t think I will ever forget feeling so damn helpless.”
“I’m sorry.” But more than that, she thought dizzily, she was thankful to him. She stared at the marquis, wondering what could she have possibly done in her past life to deserve someone so exquisite like Ilie Marcovici.
“Don’t worry,” the marquis was muttering.
Even his tone was beautiful.
Everything about him was beautiful.
And he loved her!
He loved her!
“I’ll make you pay---”
Her feelings spilled over, and she could no longer contain herself. She moved forward and covered her mouth with his.
Ilie stiffened.
She whispered brokenly in his mind, Milord…I love you.
Ah.
A moment later, and he sighed raggedly, Damn you.
More tears streaked down Soleil’s cheeks. Demon. He really was a demon. No one but a demon could have made such words sound so unbearably sweet.
Silver eyes caught blue ones. How do I punish you when you say that?
She couldn’t answer, gasping as she was for in the next moment, he had her lying on her back under him.
And then he was undressing her---
No, she protested. Milord, stop, no---
Why not? But already he had managed to completely unbutton her dress and was now pulling the sleeves down her arms.
Desire blazed into life between them, and there was nothing she wanted more than to surrender herself to his touch.
Nothing except---
Soleil cupped his face, forcing him to look at her. Are you not in pain, Ilie? She knew so little about heartkeeping, but she was at least certain it was not an easy process. A demon having a soul was like injecting alien DNA in one’s system, one that was parasitic in nature.
Ilie closed his eyes in pleasure. She had called him by his name. But then he thought about how he had gotten so damn close to losing her---
To never hear her say his name again---
A shudder racked the marquis’ powerful body, and this time when he moved, he did not pay her cried protests any heed. This time, he tore the rest of her undergarments away and the moment she was naked, he moved down between her legs, placed them over his shoulders, and sank his mouth into her.
Soleil arched off the bed, her eyes rolling back at the pleasure of his kiss.
He started thrusting his tongue in and out of her, and Soleil clawed the bed as she fought to keep her screams to herself. Oh dear Lord, this pleasure. It was not of this world. It could not be. The way his tongue slid against her folds, the way it stroked the insides of her pussy---
His mouth moved up, and as his fingers thrust between her folds, his lips closed over the tiny swollen nub of flesh.
Covering her mouth, Soleil let out a wild gasp of pleasure.
His hands went under her bottom, cupping each cheek before pushing her up to his mouth.
His fingers drove in to the very deepest part of her.
She started to come.
He bit her clitoris.
And she realized just how hard an orgasm could be and how long it could last.
When she resurfaced, she could only whisper one thing.
“Ilie.”
How she loved him.
The marquis moved up, leaning his weight on one elbow as he stared down at her.
She touched his cheek. I love you.
His lips tightened. I hope you do. I hope you fucking mean it. His voice was tight. Because when I remember the way you felt, dying in my arms---
A devastated look entered his eyes.
Do not leave me again.
His pain reached out to her, and she swallowed back a sob. “Oh…Ilie.” It almost felt too easy to sense his feelings. Too easy, she thought achingly, but she would never, ever take it for granted.
Never, she thought.
From this day forward, she would only give him pleasure.
And with that thought, Soleil looked up into his eyes and said shakily, “Take me.”
Ilie jerked. He had only wanted her naked so he could give her pleasure and feel her come, feel her become alive in his arms.
Her smile wobbled. “Milord. Ilie. Take me---”
His jaw hardened. “But the curse…” Even though it had been nullified, it had still taken its toll on her body, and he could sense which parts of it still ached like they had been pummeled from the inside. “You are still hurt---”
“Just as you are still hurt.”
Dammit to hell, she was making it too hard.
And then he felt it---
Soleil, rubbing herself against his chest, and she whispered achingly, “Milord, please---”
His control snapped.
One moment and his clothes were gone, thrown across the room. Another moment, and he was reaching for her still-sensitive folds, stroking them until they were slick with desire yet again. Bending his head, he captured her mouth in a hungry kiss, savoring the taste of her mouth. She wept as she kissed him back, and over and over she said in their merged minds, I love you. I love you. I love you.
Shuddering, he tore his mouth away from hers and moved down to squeeze her breasts up before gorging on them. Other women knew him to be a polished lover, but with his heartkeeper, he was frantic and feverish in his need to possess her.
It was as if the mere taste of heartkeeping had broken the dam of his obsession, and now he could not get enough of her.
He would never get enough of her---
And that was alright.
Because she loved him, and he loved her.
“Ilie.” Her own desire underlined her voice, and the sound told him it was time.
Poised above her, he told her hoarsely, “It will hurt, maybe even more because of your injuries.”
She smiled tremulously up at him. “I don’t care.” And even though her voice trembled a little as well, he could also see that she meant every word. “I want to be yours.”
Ah, fuck.
Ilie sank into her in one deep, sure stroke---
He heard her suck in her breath, saw her eyes widen with pain---
But Ilie pushed deeper, plunging more and more of his cock in until it finally tore past her virginal barrier.
Soleil’s fingers dug crescent marks into his back as her body shook at his possession.
“You are mine.” His voice was harsh and possessive, and his gaze was feral, more wolf than demon or man. It should have scared her, but it didn’t.
Instead, her lips curved in the sweetest and most loving of smiles.
Her blue eyes glowed.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I am yours.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
How perfect she was for him!
It destroyed him anew, completely demolished his control, and pushed the human side of him all the way to the back, together with his demonic nature. All that was left was the wolf, and it was ravenous for her body, her heart, her soul.
He began to fuck her, every plunge of his cock meant to mark her as his territory. He began to possess her, branding her with his kisses, his caresses, his thrusts.
He was wild for her, and she---
The way she stared up at him with eyes clouded with desire---
The way she kept tossing and turning her head on the pillow, her hair spread out like gold silk against the whiteness of her sheets---
The way her legs snaked around his waist, the way her hips began to rise to meet his cock---
The way she started panting his name---
His proper little Soleil was as wild for him.
“Mine,” he growled.
This Soleil was for his eyes only, he thought possessively.
He fucked her as hard and a
s deep as he could.
“Mine!”
And then his hips began furiously pumping over hers, and she was panting even more loudly, urging him with her breathy little cries---
“Mine---”
She clutched his shoulders as she started to come.
He sank into her one last time, plunging his cock so deep he reached her womb, and then he started to shoot his load into her.
“Mine.”
And that had been her first inkling, Soleil thought sleepily hours later, of how insatiable her marquis could be. He had not let her up at all. He had made love to her over and over, and even though she had begged him to stop, thinking that she could not survive so much pleasure, he had not listened to her at all. He had kept making her come and come---
Until she had been reduced into this---
This limp, weak doll.
She could not move at all, too tired to even open her eyes. All Soleil could do was follow him, and right now the marquis had her head on his lap while he stroked her hair like she were a pet.
Over her head, she heard him murmur, “Tell me about your curse.”
Her eyes drifted. “My demon sire – or mother – offloaded it on me, but I hadn’t known about it until I attended LSL and my former adviser Crystal saw it during a checkup. Since then, she devoted her time to discovering all she could about the curse. It was her who showed me how the curse was fashioned after an aneurysm, her who told me that heartkeeping could save me---”
His lips tightened. “And yet you neglected to let me save you until the last minute.”
This time, Soleil opened her eyes. Looking up at him, she said simply, “It was too unfair.”
“Are you fucking serious---”
“I’m sorry.” She reached up to cup his cheek, calming him down with her touch. Soleil said gently, “But it is the way I am, and I think…you would not like me any other way.”
“I want you alive,” he snarled, “that’s what I want the most.” But his damn stubborn heartkeeper only smiled and shook her head.
Lowering her hand back to her side, she told him, “The curse is nullified by heartkeeping, but it is not completely gone. Whoever chooses to end the union will reactivate the curse and die, and that’s why,” she told him helplessly, “I could not bind you to me until I am certain you…”
“Love you?” he supplied silkily when she suddenly felt too shy to say the words.
