My mind was swirling with confusion. What the hell was happening?

The woman reached the top of the steps and then, to my shock, climbed onto the man’s lap, straddling him without hesitation.

The scene felt wrong. Perverse. Yet the act was full of sensuality.

My thoughts were racing wildly, just as a hand clamped down over my mouth.

“Caught you,” Blake’s voice murmured into my ear.

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CHAPTER 42 - BLAKE

I had her right where I wanted her.

“You didn’t actually think I didn’t know you were following me, did you?” I whispered against her ear.

I yanked her to her feet. I could feel her trembling.

“They’ll see us,” she whispered.

So, she was afraid. She was right to be. She had no business being here and if anyone else but me had found her, the votaries would have slaughtered her without a second thought, red hair of a rider or not. Of course, Viktor would have been furious. But it would have been too late. She had violated the Sanctum by coming here uninvited.

“No one is up on this level and no one down there is going to bother looking up.” But just in case, I blew out the nearby candles, throwing us both into shadow.

Once she felt slightly safer, she tried to pull away from me. “You bastard,” she hissed. “Let go of me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who followed me, Pendragon. No one made you come here. Did you really think vampire senses were so useless that I couldn’t hear you stomping along behind me?”

“You didn’t the last time,” she shot back.

The last time I’d been so desperate to get to a blood brothel and feed that I hadn’t taken my usual precautions. I’d dismissed my qualms about any noises I’d heard as my imagination. But now that I knew she knew where the passage out of Bloodwing was, I’d never make that mistake again.

But I decided to fuck with her.

“Maybe I wanted you to follow me. Maybe I didn’t care. Ever think of that? Maybe I liked it when you watched.”

She stiffened in my arms.

“Just like you seem to like watching right now.” I nuzzled my face  against her cheek. “Can’t take your eyes off them, can you?”

“What are they doing?” she whispered back.

“Watch and see.”

Down below, the girl playing the Bloodmaiden sat upon the masked highblood’s lap, her white robe a stark contrast to his dark garments. Innocence waiting to be marred.

The silence in the courtyard seemed to thicken as the highblood raised his hands to the girl’s shoulders. Slowly, he began unfastening the clasps that held her robe in place.

The girl remained still, her eyes half-closed, her chest rising and falling in slow, deep breaths.

The man’s hands moved lower, tracing the length of the girl’s arm before moving down to the curve of her waist. There would be no rush tonight, only the gradual reveal of the woman beneath the white robe.

The masked observers stood in silent reverence for the rite. But despite their air of sacred solemnity, the atmosphere was undeniably carnal.

I felt Pendragon’s breath catch in her throat as the clasps finally unlocked and the white robe slipped off the girl’s shoulders, revealing an expanse of lush white skin.

The girl’s breasts were on the smaller side, but firm and high.  Her dark red nipples puckered in the cool air. The Sanctum always made sure to pick a lovely blightborn specimen.

But it wasn’t the girl down below who had my attention. It was the one I held in my arms.

My hands gripped Pendragon’s waist, holding her steady. Her hands had slipped over the balcony rail, and she peered forward. She seemed to have almost forgotten my hands were there, a single layer of fabric keeping my skin separated from hers.

The rite had her captivated. Unable to look away.

I leaned forward slightly, burying my face in her hair. She smelled incredible. Like fresh fallen leaves with a hint of jasmine. And underlying it all, the iron tang of blood.

“What are you doing?” she asked suddenly, her voice uneasy.

But still she didn’t pull away.

“I call truce,” I murmured lazily. “A one night truce. You don't want me to make you leave, do you? Should I call for the votaries? Have you thrown out? Because that can be arranged.”

She hesitated a moment before shaking her head.

“Good. Stay then. Here, with me. I’ll keep you safe. If anyone finds us, I’ll say it was my fault. That I brought you. I broke the rules.”

“You’d do that? For me?” She sounded shocked.

As if I hadn’t already protected her, time and again.

I said nothing, just slid my hands slightly lower down her hips.

She gasped slightly as her eyes moved back to the spectacle unfolding below.

The highblood man was skimming his hands over the girl’s  smooth, white breasts. His fingers played with her nipples, stroking and squeezing.

The girl leaned back, her head tilted upwards, throat bare and exposed.

The highblood man leaned forward. Not to the girl’s neck, but to suck one pert nipple. Together we watched as he drew the luscious bud into his mouth and licked and teased it with uninhibited abandon.

The girl moaned, her hands moving up to clutch his shoulders, her fingers grasping at his black robe.

Hundreds of eyes watched as the man pushed the girl’s robe down around her waist, exposing the curve of her spine, the delicate swell of her flared hips.

He cupped her body, drawing her closer towards him, her breasts flattening against his chest as he moved his mouth to hers.

They kissed deeply.

“She’s enjoying it.” Pendragon’s voice was shrill with disbelief. Her body hadn’t stopped trembling since I’d grabbed her. “I don’t understand.”

I couldn’t stand it another moment. I had to get closer to her. I let go of her waist with one hand and raised it to brush away the hair from her neck on one side, then lowered my mouth until it was inches away from her skin. As close as I dared get. For now.

“So are you,” I pointed out. “Enjoying it, I mean. It’s a beautiful scene. The girl is lovely and willing. Why shouldn’t she accept pleasure? But she’s nowhere near as stunning as you.” I brushed my other hand down her body, skimming the flat plane of her stomach and then inching lower.

She reached down and grabbed my hand, stopping it in its tracks. “Stunning? Since when do you give me compliments like that, Blake Drakharrow.”

I grinned to myself. The words were strong but her voice was weak. I could sense her hesitation, her confusion. She was vulnerable. Defenseless.

“Surely you know how much I want you, Pendragon,” I murmured. “How much I’ve wanted you since that first day I saw your unbelievably beautiful naked body.”

Her hand had frozen over mine. She hadn’t pulled it away, only stopped me from going any lower.

“I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since then,” I confessed. “I want to feel your body against mine. I want to bury myself inside you. Don’t you understand how much I crave you?”

Maybe it was the bloodwine talking, but I had no shame left. I risked it all. I lowered my mouth to her neck, not to feed, but to suckle her sweet skin. I kept my fangs in check, simply moving my mouth over that sweet, sensitive flesh.

She gasped. “What are you doing to me?”

“Nothing you don’t secretly want me to do, little dragon. I won't feed from you, if that’s what you're worried about. I swear it on my life.”

I teased my tongue over the curve of her neck, wishing I dared turn her around and taste her lips. But I knew the spectacle unfolding below was what was driving her desire. She wanted to watch. And I wanted to watch her watching.

“On some level, you need this,” I murmured against her neck. “No matter how hard you've tried to deny it.”

“Oh, gods,” she moaned, tilting her head back slightly to give me greater access.