Page 296 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
LAZARUS
“Darling, why are we in a broom closet?” My nostrils flare at the scent of stale cheese and mildew as Iwilla blanket into one hand and tug it around Violette’s drenched and still nude form. Staring up at me with wide eyes, her bottom lip quivers, and she spreads her hands across my chest as though to soothe herself. Only a sliver of amber light shines from beneath the edge of the closed door. Her voice is a whisper. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
Cradling her jaw, I stroke my thumbs over her cheeks. “Where would you like to go, precious seraphim?”
She draws in a deep breath as her delicate brow knits with trepidation. “To find Tempus.”
My entire being stills.
Several silent moments pass as unease spreads through me like poison in water.
Tempus?
She must wish to bargain with him... to alter something in history. There is no other reason she could possibly wish to speak with him.
And the mere fact that she has even spoken his name has likely drawn his omniscient eye.
Hellish. Fuck.
“Darling... I wouldbegyou not to see him. You wish to bargain? He is not a fair god. He is mad, and even more manipulative..." My throat seems to close around the question. I’m nearly too terrified to learn the answer. “Is there some part of history you wish to change?” I hesitate, studying her gaze. “... Something about our meeting?”
Violette’s anxious expression softens in recognition of my insecurity, replacing it with a tenderness and adoration that never fails to make my heart leap. “What did we say,dominu cordix eta anima mea?”
Owner of my heart and soul.
The endearment steals my breath, yet again.
Standing on tiptoe, she caresses my jaw. My cheekbones.
My heart flutters as my eyes dip to her tongue sweeping delicately across her plump lips.
Akash almighty, this goddess has me fucking enraptured.
Violette presses a soft, almost chaste kiss to my lower lip as her husky voice drops to nigh a whisper. “There is no amount of suffering I wouldn’t endure..."
Her lips travel to the corner of my mouth, gifting me another kiss. “No price I wouldn’t pay..."
The hand cradling my jaw, tightens its grip as she adorns the apple of each of my cheeks with more kisses. “No bargain I wouldn’t make..."
Her nails sink to the edge of pain as she licks a stripe up the column of my throat until she reaches my ear, and murmurs, “... So long as it leads me to you.”
It is an absolute physiological feat that my heart hasn’t burst in my chest. That my blood and life force isn’t spilling out and collecting itself into a vessel as offering to her.
Violette’s teeth scrape against my ear lobe before she sucks it into her mouth and releases it with a softpop. “Do you understand?”
She draws back to study my gaze and I finally exhale the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding. With a gentle firmness, I grasp the back of each of her thighs to lift and drag her against me. Her arms thread behind my neck as I pin her against the column of a shelf littered with various towels and cleaning implements.
Lowering my mouth to her jaw, my words are spoken so low, they’re nearly a growl that resonates from the depths of my soul. “I understand,dominu cordix eta anima mea..."
The tip of my nose traces her jaw, and down her throat. “I understand that you are mine..." I scrape my teeth along sensitive flesh, making her breath hitch. “Mind, body, heart, and soul..." My fangs tease her throat with a bite. “As I am yours.”
The blanket slides off her shoulders and pools by our feet. One of my hands glides up the curve of her hip, the dip in her waist, and up to cradle one heavy breast as my thumb sweeps over its peaked nipple.
Violette exhales on a soft moan,shuddering in my arms as her hips give a small thrust forward, seeking friction. Her words are spoken with zero conviction. “Wait, you have to take me to Tempus..."
I reply with a noncommittal grunt as my shadows wrap around her thighs, cradle her hips, and lift her higher. A clatter erupts beside us as we knock over a bouquet of brooms and mops with our movements. Violette giggles even as she curses.
Chuckling, I lower my mouth to her other breast, and suck her areola into my mouth; nip and tease its tight little bud with my tongue.
