Page 51 of Nocturn

And now to find . . . he was the reason? He had wanted me back when he had not known I read Larien. What had drawn him to recall me so swiftly?

The question was swallowed by his thrust. He hovered above me, the line of his straining body shone with slight sweat.

Every touch, caress, and bite rewrote any ideas I had of lust and desire; how I functioned and the limit of my desire. That scared me more than anything, because I had not known how viscerally I would change now that I had tasted ecstasy.

My essence blazed with heat.

Upon breathing in, I caught his unique smell—copper and leather, now perfectly entwined with sin and desire—caressed my senses.

“You are driving me toward insanity,” he murmured against my ear. A shiver ran down my spine.

No wonder there were so many rakes.

“We are yet to be done, mortal,” he rumbled in my ear, sending tingles through every inch of me. I exhaled shakily.

If society afforded me the same privileges that came with being a man, I would have also chased this searing pleasure.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Feeder Wing

“Miss Nadien!” The shout wrenched me from deep slumber, shocking me upright.

I scanned my surroundings. Cold air touched my breasts, pebbling my nipples. I yanked the blanket up to cover myself, scanning the space.

Lady Drusilla stood at the end of the bed, her arms stiffly at her sides. Disapproval flashed across her features, and it was gone just as quickly. Eliza stood near the doorway, her head lowered, but I did not miss the twitch of her eyebrows before she smoothed her expression.

Exhaustion weighed my limbs down, and even holding the fur to my chest caused my arms to pinch.

“Get dressed,” Lady Drusilla commanded. “I shall await you in the foyer.”

I rolled to the side and tossed my legs over the edge of the bed, hugging the blanket to my chest. A huge mistake. Soreness washed over every inch of my limbs. My thighs, my hips, my calves, my neck; all of me hurt. I took a step and stopped with a hiss.

I wanted nothing more than to return to the bed to hide and perhaps rot for the rest of my existence. Embarrassment forced my gaze to remain averted after a peek into their faces told me they knew exactly what had happened last night. After tucking the blanket under my arms, I reached for my dress, pooled at the side of the bed.

As I held it up, the slice across the bodice showed how easily Lord Draven had torn through it—as if the fabric was nothing more than parchment. It split right through the midsection where my breasts were. There was no possible way this would remain on my body. Perhaps if I could get my hands on a sewing kit, I could make it close to new.

“I placed a fresh dress in the bathing chamber,” Eliza drawled from behind me as I ran my finger over the ragged edges of the tear.

I kept my spine straight and carefully set the dress aside. Keeping my head raised, I tugged the fur blanket around my shoulders and went to the bathing area. Each step was as if I waded through mud. Upon entering the bathing chamber, I found a fresh sapphire dress hanging on the hook beside his robe.

I replaced it with the blanket and donned it. None of the mess from his bath remained in sight. No cloth on the floor, no soap bar upon the side table; each item had been carefully returned to its place.

I struggled to reach for the final sashes at my back. Last time Lord Draven had done the bit that was not within my reach.

His hands gripped my hips, thumbs stroking the insides of my thighs.

A tremble coursed down my spine, just a kiss of the pleasure I had suffered at his hands. My plan did not call for this softening. I could not. My pulse picked up, and the discomfort between my legs grew. I squeezed them together, and all that did was make me hiss a breath out from the sensitivity and soreness.

For one as inexperienced as I was, I doubted the length of lovemaking from the eve before was the smartest course for my body. Because I felt every moment of it.

Shaking my head, I huffed in exasperation and marched out of the bedroom. Eliza was in the middle of changing the bedding, a pile of fresh blankets folded at the edge of the mattress. So she was the one to clean his chamber.

“Can I bother you for some help?”

She stopped mid reach and raised an eyebrow at me. I turned to show her my back and pointed.

Eliza approached with a purse of displeasure.