The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash 3)

“Because I’d probably like that.”

I sighed. “Cas.”

A faint smile appeared. “I will try not to blame myself. Okay? The guilt that I feel isn’t something that will go away immediately, but I will try. For you.”

“For us,” I corrected.

“For us.”

Exhaling softly, I nodded even though I wanted it to go away immediately. “I knew I would see you again, even as I was held captive.” I slid a hand down the satiny hardness of his chest. “I knew I would either get free, or you would find me. And you did. You found me.”

“How could I not?” he asked. “I will always find you. No matter what.”

My heart squeezed as I cupped his cheek. “But when that bolt struck me, and I was lying there? I thought I would never get to feel you hold me again. That I would never feel your kiss or see your stupid dimples.”

He grinned, and the dimple on his left cheek appeared. “You love my dimples.”

I drew my thumb over the indent. “I do.” Dipping my head, I placed my lips where my thumb had been. “What I felt when I woke up earlier, when I was…hungry. I’ve never felt anything like that before. That need? It was terrifying, and I…” I briefly closed my eyes. “You know exactly how that feels. You were driven to that point time and time again when the Ascended held you. I don’t know how you dealt with that.” My eyes met his. “You said I’m strong, but you…you are the strongest person I know.”

“I hate that you had to learn what that felt like. I knew that would happen, especially if you Ascended. I should’ve—”

“You were there. You would’ve let me keep feeding.”

His gaze continued to hold mine. “I would have given you the last drop of blood in my body if that was what you needed.”

My breath seized. “You can’t do that. You shouldn’t have let me drink for as long as I did. You had to be given blood, didn’t you?” I remembered the conversation now. “You…you fed from Naill.”

“I did, and I’m fine. My blood replenishes itself quickly,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not. His chest rose with a deep breath. He placed his hand over mine, lifting it and placing a kiss to the center of my palm. “Are you still hungry?”

“No. I don’t feel that way now. All I feel is you.”

“My blood—”

“No. Not that.” Well, I could feel his blood in me, dark and lush, but it had cooled. It no longer drove me—drove both of us with reckless abandon…

Oh, my gods.

I realized then that Kieran had been there. He’d been in the room when we—when Casteel and I came together the first time. He had stopped me from taking too much blood. Spine stiffening, I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting the wolven to be standing there. I didn’t recognize the room at all.

“Kieran left,” Casteel said, splaying his fingers against my cheek. He drew my gaze back to him. “He stayed because he was worried.”

“I…I know.” I remembered. I’m concerned about both of you. I waited for shame to drown me, and embarrassment did settle over me, but it had nothing to do with what Kieran had witnessed. “I…I tried to eat Kieran.”

“He won’t hold it against you.”

“I tried to eat Kieran while I was naked.”

“That’s probably why he won’t hold it against you.”

“That’s not funny.” I stared at him.

“It’s not?” One side of his lips curved up, and his dimple appeared in his cheek.

That stupid, stupid dimple.

“I don’t understand. How did I go from trying to eat Kieran, to eating you, to this? I mean, I feel emotion. I feel normal. That’s not how a recently made vampry feels, right? Or is it because I fed from you?” My heart thumped heavily. “Does my skin feel cold to you? Do I have fangs?” I vaguely remembered hearing one of them say that I didn’t, but I reached for my mouth anyway, just to be sure.

Casteel caught my hand, pulling it away from my face. “You don’t have fangs, Poppy. And your eyes… They are still the color of an Atlantian spring. Newly turned vamprys cannot get enough blood, no matter how much they feed. I know. I’ve seen them in the hours and days after they’re turned,” he told me, and I hated that he had experienced any of that. “You would be going at my throat right now if you were a vampry. You wouldn’t feel warm and soft in my arms or around my cock,” he said, and I flushed a hot pink. “You didn’t Ascend.”

“But that doesn’t…” My gaze traveled past the bed to the doors. Sunlight. The Ascended could be in indirect sunlight without injury. But direct sunlight?

Totally different story.