He hesitated. “Cirri, we’re both old enough to know that life is not a fairy tale. You have only seen… what I’ve allowed you to see. This is not all there is to being a fiend.”

Bane touched his face, the same tentative gesture I’d seen him make when he was ashamed of himself, when he didn’t want to speak of what he was.

“There will be times when I’m not myself. Not civilized.” His lips drew back, exposing his fangs. “Times when I’ll be a danger to you, as much as I am to anyone else.”

I already know that, and I still want you. I lifted my chin, staring at him.

Bane dropped his hand, making the face that meant a smile. “I know, and I want you despite knowing what I am. I am a very selfish man.”

Then be selfish. Keep me for yourself. 

He exhaled, staring out over the balcony into the darkened Bloodgarden. I allowed him to think, keeping my hands still, admiring him as he considered.

He was beautiful to my eyes, monstrous as he was. The silver moon on his ashen skin, the perfect symmetry of the organic armor of his body, even the strength in those broadened jaws and clawed hands.

Once I might’ve found the nobleman’s clothes a silly affectation for a being like him, but now I saw my lover, as handsome as any lord.

“I propose an agreement,” he finally said, his deep voice pitched low.

I tipped my head. I’m listening. 

“As I said, life is no fairy tale. We’ve both experienced our fair share of disappointments.” He took a breath, looking at me. “I don’t want to be one of yours. Live with me for a year and a day as a human. See me as I am, both the good and the awful. When that last day comes, if you still want me, I will not hesitate. I will make you mine for eternity.”

I gazed up at him, reading the emotions in the ash-scattered gold of his eyes.

He wanted me. The crushing weight lifted from my chest.

And I could agree. Life would not always be roses. We would disagree, fight—as our vows had claimed, there would be hardships. There would be pain to temper the sweet.

A year was nothing next to eternity. If it would prove to Bane that I was sure about him, more sure than anything in my life, a year was a perfectly reasonable compromise.

You must do the same, I said. You must see me as I am, every virtue and flaw, before you decide. 

He smiled slightly. “My lady, I’m already sure. My only fear is that you’ll wish one day to be free. Once you’ve had my blood, there is no freedom. I will feel you, every second, for as long as you live. And I would never be able to let you walk away.”

Never, I said fiercely. One year and one day, Bane. And then I’m yours.

I rose onto my toes, gripping his shoulders, and kissed him. I wasn’t careful, and the tip of a fang caught my lower lip with a bright flash of pain. Blood welled, a single crimson bead, and Bane’s forked tongue lapped it away.

He grunted low in his throat, pulling me closer, and I opened my mouth for him. The prongs caught my tongue, wrapping around it and stroking, teasing me as he’d teased my clit to an orgasm with the prehensile tips.

I gasped into his mouth, my body crushed against his, and I felt his cock throbbing hard against my belly.

There is one flaw between us now, I signed, grazing my teeth over his tongue as he withdrew. We’re not in bed. If you’re willing to take me, I want you willing to give yourself to me. I want to fuck my husband, Bane. I want to feel all of you. 

Bane’s eyes were wild, burning with inner heat as he stared at me.

How can we have children one day without practice? I smiled up at him sweetly.

Without another word, he scooped me up in one arm, clasping me against him.

He launched himself upwards, clinging to the stone walls of the keep with his clawed feet and one hand. My arms tightened around his neck, the crimson petals of my skirt flapping out into the open air, and my stomach flipped.

It was a long drop to the Bloodgarden below.

But Bane’s arm was clamped around my waist, securing me to his side. He climbed with smooth confidence, claws digging between the stones, as easily as a man might walk.

He growled as he climbed towards the Tower of Winter, clinging to the sill of the open window to the bedroom, and carried me inside. I was reminded of human wedding traditions, how a groom would carry his bride over a line of silver and rowan dust on the way to bed, but this was a beast carrying a woman off to his tower.

I shivered with anticipation, burying my face between his neck and shoulder.

He landed on the floor with a heavy thud, adjusting his grip until he cradled me in his arms, gazing lovingly into my eyes.

He shook his head. “I don’t know why, but I love it when you say ‘fuck’. It does something to me.”

I giggled despite myself, a flurry of nervous breaths, and unlooped my arms from his neck to speak. Maybe because that’s what I want you to do to me. 

He growled, carrying me to the bed. I half expected him to toss me in, but he put me carefully on the floor. “This comes off.”

I reached behind my back, feeling for the laces of the bodice, my knees shaking with anticipation, hands shaking with the desire to get this damn dress off already.

But Rose had knotted them too tightly. I tugged at a lace, my fingers picking ineffectually at the knot, until the entire bodice suddenly loosened.

Bane held up a claw. “I’m impatient.”

So am I. Take that off. I want to see all of you.

Bane tugged the shredded laces away, tossing the loose panels of the bodice to the floor, but his hands slowed as he moved to the crimson underdress.

He stood behind me, his breath ruffling my hair as he slipped the sleeves over my shoulders, peeling the dress away inch by inch. A hungry rumble resonated from his chest as it slipped over my breasts and down my waist.

A tickle touched my spine; his tongue flicking over the nape of my neck, down my back, as he tasted me. The edges of his fangs grazed flesh, not quite hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make me shiver.

I stepped from the gown, turning to face him. His eyes roved over me, gleaming with a ravenous light.

Now for you.

He shrugged out of the brocade overcoat, and I stepped forward to unbutton the shirt beneath. His breath was raspy, and he raised his hands to trace his claws over my shoulders, caressing the edges of my breasts and teasing my hardened nipples.

I pushed the shirt aside, exposing the wide, hard planes of his chest, the thick muscles of his abdomen. Bane shrugged it off, peeling his trousers away and throwing them aside.

In the moonlight we gazed at each other. He was primal, powerful, every limb delineated with muscle, his shoulders and back weighed down with the horns and spines. My eyes slid lower, taking in the heavy thighs, his steely cock with its ridged length and barbed crown.

Heat blazed to life inside me, overcoming my nervousness. I abandoned myself to the sucking pool of lust, veins aflame, and as one we crashed into each other.

I kissed him with abandon, uncaring of the flares of pain in my lips when his fangs cut me—he licked the blood away, healing me before scars could form.

Bane picked me up, his hands cupping my backside as he carried me to the bed. He sat down hard, straddling me on his lap, the thick shaft between my legs cradled against my wet core.

I was already throbbing with need, gasping as his tongue clasped mine again.

“Slow, lover,” Bane breathed, grasping my hips before they could rock forward. “I want to give you what you want, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

I dredged up willpower from places I’d never known existed inside me before, and leaned back from him. He kept his hands on my hips, holding me in place as I signed.