Page 72 of A Touch of Poison
A low grumble echoed from her, like she was annoyed for young me.
“But it made me work harder. I trained any moment I could. I learned the dirtiest tactics. I watched for my classmates’ weaknesses and noted their injuries. I didn’t hesitate to use them. The ends justified the means.”
She half looked over her shoulder, and I caught the smooth line of her wide cheekbones. “Like aiming for the crotch.”
“Exactly. And it paid off. Eventually, I started to win.”
“Good.” The viciousness of her voice cut through the dark like my Shadowblade.
I could’ve kissed her for it, licked the taste of it from her tongue, fucked her and begged to hear more of her simmering anger. I had to adjust my trousers around my hardening cock.
Down, I ordered it. Yes, I’d apologised, but words were cheap. I hadn’t earned her forgiveness—shown myself anywhere near worthy of it. Not yet.
The story was a welcome distraction. “Then one winter, after I turned sixteen, I shot up. I grew a foot in the space of a few months and bulked out. Everyone else’s gifts had already developed, but mine came then.”
“So fae aren’t born with powers.”
“Stars above, no. Can you imagine toddlers with the power to crush bones with a thought? Or babies who can wield the weather?”
The hay rustled as she shuddered. “The stuff of nightmares.”
“Not that teenagers are much better. I’m sure my poor fathers would callthata nightmare. They suddenly had a moody boy with unpredictable shadow magic on their hands. Meanwhile, my classmates started to pay attention to me, and not just because no one could beat me in the training guard. My hideaway became a different kind of retreat when I brought them up here.”
“Privacy,” Kat murmured.
“Until I was recruited into the Queensguard, the only privacy I could get.” I scoffed at the memory. “I’d wait in here until everyone had disappeared before frantically stripping whatever lover had come to sample Bastian Marwood, the traitor’s son. We fucked, they asked me to do all kinds of things, like they had a list in mind before they came up here, then they left me in the hay, their curiosity and lust sated.”
The silence drew on. I didn’t regret my past lovers, but something about admitting this to her felt… high stakes.
“You were… a novelty.”
“Not many fae with shadows—not in this realm, anyway. They enjoyed using me, and I had my fun. But… I have different preferences now.”
“You like to be the one in charge.”
She wasn’t wrong, but low in my belly something tightened to hear her say it out loud.
Keeping her hands off me in Albion had been an attempt to remain in control—of the situation but also of myself. But it was a broader preference too. In the bedroom and in life.
When I lost control, that was when things went wrong.
Another yawn dragged on me, saving me from responding.
“Goodnight, Bastian,” she murmured.
My hand pressed into the space between us to stop it from reaching for her hair, which spilled over the makeshift pillow. “Goodnight, Katherine.”
* * *
I droppedinto the depths of sleep at once, like a stone cast into a lake. At some point I woke. There was no sound other than Kat’s breathing, which wasn’t the slow rhythm of sleep.
“What’s wrong?” I mumbled.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m just a bit cold.”
No fire, like we’d had in camp. And we were nearing winter. “You should’ve told me.” I lifted the blankets and wrapped my arm around her waist. “Come here.”
With a soft sound that started as surprise and melted into a sigh, she slotted into the space in front of me. Back against my chest, backside tantalisingly close to my dick, thighs curled over mine. I was too tired and already sinking back into sleep, unable to do anything about it other than squeeze her close and nuzzle against her hair and enjoy that simple, perfect pleasure.
