Page 82 of Nocturn

“My lord,” I mumbled, frustrated.

Burrowing harder against my sex, his hands spread my legs even wider. His shoulders shuddered, and he thrust his tongue deeper into my channel. The explosion sent sparks across my vision, and I strained, writhing. Then he turned his head and sank his fangs into the inner side of my thigh.

My mind went blank. Slickness came from my sex, coating his jaw.

“Saints!” I choked on my breaths.

Lord Draven pulled his fangs from my thigh and climbed over me, jostling the bed. I struggled to comprehend through the searing pleasure.

“I am the only name you will be shouting,” he snarled, reaching down to press the tip to my entrance. My channel gave way to him, welcoming him to where he belonged.

I fluttered around him, then he seated himself until I met his base and he stopped again. He settled into a slow, gliding rhythm, driving me mad with need. He made a rumbling sound, deep and vibrating in my chest. My limbs clenched. Unlike the angry sound he made from earlier, it made me needier for him.

“Cassiel.”

I ran my hands up his neck, buried my fingers into the base of his hair, and lifted my hips to take every single thrust. He lowered and sank his fangs into the side of my breast. I cried out, riding the wave of pleasure.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Lifton Village

Asweet apple scent wafted from Abrax with every stride. Even after starting our journey, the scent kept reaching me. By the look of his shiny coat and exuberance, they had taken good care of him while stabled.

Almost as well as Lord Draven had taken care of me last night. I had ended up draped across him, limp. If only I hadn’t woken up to him being curt again.

His ups and downs frustrated me to no end. My only consolation was the fact that I did not let myself react, which seemed to put him more ill at ease.

But my concern was my behavior last eve. I had lost restraint, or the rice wine had done it, and that could not happen again.

After much of the same surroundings—green, rolling knolls, and lush, compact trees—we reached a section where thick smog coated the sky. There was a vast difference in seeing something on a map and seeing it with one’s own eyes. A startling reality. Imagining how truly large a place was impossible without experiencing it. And I truly had not recognized the vastness of Sycarious, even though logically I knew how far the realm stretched.

Abrax’s pace was relentless, even as a chill intensified.

Then, the horrors began.

“Is that a body?” I breathed.

A corpse lay with a tear beginning from the throat, down to the navel, innards spilling out. The Hollows must not have had enough moonlight to feed on this one. They tended not to leave anything behind.

Another corpse stretched out behind him, half the large intestine trailing out of the cavernous torso. Maggots swarmed the inside, moving with jolting little wiggles that turned my stomach.

Abrax clopped over another two corpses.

“What happened?” With the wind billowing, my hair whipped around my face.

“Hollows,” Draven answered, no inflection in his tone. The clopping resonated ominously.

“Evidently,” I said dryly. “But how were they able to have access to so many people?”

Everyone knew to stay inside when night came.

We neared the crackle of a fire. A bitter scent of searing flesh clouded the sky with ash. Were those bodies?

Limbs poked out from the pile.

Horror gripped my gut and I squeezed Cassiel’s arm. I wrenched my gaze away from a smaller body, attempting not to vomit.

“Why did this happen, Cassiel?” I breathed. “I thought any villages close to the Barren were well-guarded.”