Page 112 of Elysian

His fingertips trailed down my neck, playing over my fluttering pulse. He traced the lines of the Sigil.

“The only time you allow yourself to break free is when I touch you.”

He continued rubbing down my rib cage, prodding lust to life. I could not see him in the dark chamber. The bed moved, jostling me upon it. I could feel his presence over me. Lips pressed against my nose, then my lips. Just the faintest touch. Cassiel nestled his face into my throat and kissed a pathway down.

My breaths came in shorter bursts.

His hand curled under my dress, dragging it up, fingers raising it as they glided along my flesh. My stomach seized. Cassiel pulled down my bloomers, exposing me to the air. I instinctively drew my knees closed, but he pried them apart. My bloomers dangled from an ankle and I could feel him between my legs. His wet mouth lowered on my sex. A tremble coursed through my limbs. I tilted my hips up, pushing for more.

Cassiel gave it.

His tongue curled inside my sex, rubbing against every surface. So easily he managed to render me a fool. I gasped, my channel squeezing around his spearing tongue.

Everything felt enhanced in the darkness. My hands sought his head. I tangled my fingers around the tops of his hair with one hand while the other stretched to the side, bunching the blanket.

‘Do not move.’

His order entered my head.

I stiffened upon it reaching me. Cassiel sank one fang into my flesh. The pierce sharp and painful. But he did not let me wallow in it; he began to suck. I screamed, my spine arching and my hearing becoming irrelevant.

All I could hear was the rush of blood to my ears as he fed. Pleasure unlike any he’d offered before wracked my frame. Searing, achingly perfect. When I floated down from the ecstasy, I found whimpers still leaving my lips. I clamped my mouth shut.

He dragged his tongue up my entrance, licking away the need he caused. Cassiel climbed up my body, making the bed dip with his movements.

“You come alive at my fingers, my mouth,” he breathed. “It is the only time your guards fail around me.”

I panted against his lips that were grazing mine.

“Do not leave my side whilst we are in The Barren.” He squeezed my jaw. I moaned, giving him a non answer. Not that I could provide one with how winded I was.

“It is time to go,” he murmured. I still could not move. Cassiel lifted off me and he pulled up my bloomers. Then his hands bound around my arms to force me upright.

“Soon, this will all be over, and you and I will be left alone.” The promise seemed more like a threat. I stiffened and withdrew from his grip.

Instead of addressing his comment, I smoothed my hands down my dress as I oriented myself. A few strides across the chamber should be the door. My satchel hung from the handle where I had left it.

As I followed the path to the exit where we were all to meet, I scrambled to calm my thoughts. I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, Cassiel followed dressed in leathers. They crossed his chest, attached to the spaulder. A small blade was sheathed at his ribs over the linen shirt.

‘Amara—’

I whipped my head around, quickening my pace. I was fully avoiding him. He seemed to receive the message because he did not attempt speaking to me again.

At the entrance waited Wilem, Jude, Archer, and Liadan all dressed similarly to Cassiel. The only difference was they wore a bandana at their necks. The same ones from those men that had attacked us, that Cassiel had killed so easily.

The men’s hostility had solidified. Cassiel slaughtered their brothers in arms not long ago.

Archer and Tabby were in a tight embrace.

“But what if you do not survive it?” she whispered.

“I cannot ask another to sacrifice themselves if I am not willing to do it myself.”

Tabby’s lip trembled. He leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. The gentle way he combed her hair back made my heart squeeze.

I could feel Cassiel’s gaze boring into me, but I ignored him.

Tabby turned and rushed to me, prompting Cassiel to retreat. “Please be careful,” Tabby said, seizing my hand and placing the small, thin blade I asked her to procure for me into my hands.