Page 108 of Wicked Curses
Zeth shut the door behind her and walked over to sit on a couch made of rocks and twigs. Straw padded the top, and a plush blanket covered it.
“You have to feed,” he stated.
Sahira closed her eyes and nodded. She’d considered going to Elsa, but though the witch had said she would provide blood to Sahira while in the Barren Lands, Sahira wasn’t ready to test their friendship by asking for this.
Maybe one day she’d be ready, but not yet.
“You’re not feeding from the dark fae?” Zeth asked.
“Not in a….” Sahira gulped back the unexpected lump in her throat.Get it together!“Not in a while. He was the one assigned to me, but since you and Elsa both said you’d be willing to let me feed from you while we’re out there, I was thinking… I washopingmaybe it could happen before we left.”
“I see,” Zeth murmured.
And Sahira knew he did see what had transpired between her and Orin. Feeling completely exposed, she shifted her eyes to the far wall with its strange red symbolic paintings covering it.
No matter how often she told herself it wouldn’t happen again, if her lips touched Orin’s neck and his blood hit her tongue, it would be over for her. And then shewouldhate herself, and Zeth saw this.
Zeth held his hands before him as the lantern’s radiance played over his red horns and yellow eyes. “It would be better if you fed before we left and safer for all of us. If it’s been a while, you’re hungry and weakened because of it.”
Unable to speak, she kept her attention focused on the wall. She’d never seen symbols like them before but didn’t ask what they were. They were obviously demon symbols, and he had a right to keep their meanings to himself.
When she felt his eyes on her, she finally met his gaze again, but he was the one who spoke. “The dark fae uses his blood as a weapon against you.”
“Everythingis a weapon to Orin.”
“Such is the way of the dark fae.” He patted the spot beside him. “Come and sit down.”
CHAPTEREIGHTY
Taking a deep breath,Sahira straightened her shoulders and strode toward him. After all, this was what she’d come here for, but the idea of feeding from him had her stomach in knots, and those knots weren’t because she was hungry.
She lost control the last time she did this; she couldn’t let that happen with Zeth. Being with someone other than Orin made her nauseous, and she wasn’t ready to jump into someone else’s bed.
Still, she had to feed and couldn’t go to Orin to ease her thirst without risking her sense of self. And she couldn’t leave this town weakened when they had no idea what they would face out there.
She’d put them all at risk if she did. She could handle making things more dangerous for herself but not for Zeth and Elsa.
When she perched awkwardly on the couch beside him, she discovered it was far more comfortable than it looked. That did little to ease her nerves.
They’d gotten to know each other over the past month, but this was such an intimate thing. Not to mention, after what happened with Orin, she was half afraid she’d lose control and maul the demon.
While she wasn’t against a good lay, she felt no attraction to Zeth. There was no room for that when Orin kept haunting her waking and sleeping moments.
She wanted his smell, feel, and taste out of her head, but he was worse than a poltergeist as he continued to haunt her.Damn him!
She pushed the dark fae out of her mind and focused on why she was there. She edged closer as she tried to figure out how to do this. The bony hooks on Zeth’s shoulders would be difficult to navigate, but she could do it.
With a smile, Zeth took pity on her and held out his wrist. “I think this would be easier, and my wife would appreciate it more.”
“You have awife?” she blurted.
“And a son waiting for me at home… I hope. I’ve missed a lot of his life but intend to be there for the rest of it.”
It now made more sense why Zeth went to the pub, drank, and played his games but never interacted sexually with any women or men. She’d assumed he brought them home to entertain them here, but it was because his heart belonged to another.
“Why didn’t you mention them when you were talking about your family?” she asked.
His gaze darted away, and his eyes closed as anguish crossed his face. “Some things are too difficult to talk about.”
