Page 33 of Sands of Atonement

Ezra dropped me onto the floor, and I sprinted across the hallway.

Chapter 8

Ezra

“Nine, eight…”

The girl who looked all too familiar met my eyes across the hallway. She stopped running.

I’d met a lot of men whose murderous gazes wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to hers.

Incomparable.

Remarkable.

She wanted to kill me. And I liked that. Which surprised me. I didn’t usually care for women who thought they could outsmart a man, physically or mentally. Not because I thought of them as below me, but because I didn’t like unpredictable women. I liked to be in control. I thrived on it. Perhaps these new sensations were why it was called Lover’s Bite, wasn’t it? I couldn’t rationalize my thoughts clearly. She had bigger balls than half of my men. Maybe all of them. In fact, I knew for a fact none of them would ever try to kill me—they knew better. Maybe this woman was just an idiot, but a beautiful one. I wondered who she worked for.

She reminded me of someone I once knew, but I knew it was impossible—it wasn’t her. The world had believed her to be dead for the last eight years.

My pants tightened around my groin.

I had to get control of myself before I hunted her. It wasn’t going to be easy since the venom was already in my veins, affecting me more than I would care to admit. I was immune, yes, but not to all the side effects. The annoying side effects. Her gray eyes cut through me like ice, and it almost brought me to my knees. In between her thighs, I imagined for a moment.

It was getting feverishly warm in this hallway, and I knew she could feel it too. The top of her chest glistened with sweat. Her breasts pebbled, begging me to hold them. Or bite them.

Maybe I’d take her before I killed her. She wanted me just as much. I could tell by her shallow breaths and her heart pounding out of her chest. It was just a matter of time before she gave herself to me.

I hadn’t had these types of thoughts in—well, years. I forgot how good it felt to touch soft skin, soft lips…

God, I hated this feeling!

Weakness. Stupid venom, and this stupid woman trying to kill me. I knew I had a few more minutes of uncontrollable lustful thoughts before it subsided. Last time I sampled the Silver Snake, it took forty-three minutes until the effects ended. Every time I microdosed with a sample, I wondered if it would be the dose that would kill me.

A simple gamble on life.

I hated this part of myself. Sex was the last thing on my mind day in and day out.

I tilted my head. Now, this girl showed up and slipped it unnoticed into my drink. What did that say about me? Or my warriors, my guards?

“Six, five, four…” My grin slowly reappeared.

She matched it with her own.

I barely knew this woman, but I already hated her. I was going to take my sweet time with her.

She had set me off twice in the matter of one week. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew she was attempting to kill me, and I was going to find out why—preferably before I killed her.

I heard a sound nearby, but I refused to take my eyes off her.

“You really have grown into your curves, Eshe.” Casimir’s voice floated across the hallway, his steps coming to a stop.

Eshe.

How did Casimir know this woman? He didn’t mean Princess Eshe Barazi from Zyriah. It couldn’t be.

My head tilted to the right.

The girl’s eyes darted to Casimir.