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"What time do you think it is?"

The silence that met my question was almost as thick as the blackness wrapped around us in thesound finally broke the silence

"Kristoff!" I said loudly

A muted snort answered, followed al, in a voice thick with sleep, "What?"

I stood in the middle of the room, or what I assumed was the , weren&039;t you?"

"No Possibly" He cleared his throat The chair creaked as if he had been leaning back and suddenly sat upright "What was the question?"

"How can you sleep at a time like this!"

"I&039;m male I fall asleep after sex, and when I&039;m trapped in a s else to do but think about how hungry I a to you about various escape plans, and you&039;re using the fact that I can&039;t see you to doze off! And you snore!"

"I do not snore Dark Ones do not snore," he said sternly, and I i at h the darkness toward hi in the wrong direction "What are you doing?"

My fingers struck his chin I followed the line of his jaw up to his forehead As I suspected, there was a wrinkle between his brows "Just seeing if you were frowning at ured you were"

Silence filled the roo?"

"Oddly enough, I do," I said slowly, after soh his hair, playing with his curls until I realized what I was doing and stepped away a foot or so "I&039;ve always maintained that a jolly vampire is better than a pissed-off one When do you think they&039;ll let us out? We&039;ve been down here for hours and hours"

"Are you so anxious to see me murdered?" he countered

"Don&039;t be silly" I recoood at esti to let them murder you"

"And just how do you expect to stop the the steps "They can&039;t do anything ritualistic without a real Zorya, can they? If you&039;re my husband, then I&039;m not real At least, not by their standards And if I am real, then all I have to do is refuse to participate in the cleansing cererunt

"It&039;s not like they canyou were a Zorya, I can think of any number of ways they could force you to do just that, but if you wish to persist with the belief that ignorance will protect you, so be it Nohat are you doing?"

"It just occurred to , I feltbeside hiry When&039;s the last tie to it "You should know; you were there"

"Last night, you ry Here, have an arhly in the direction of his face

He head butted"Whatever else you may think of me, I am not a cannibal"

"Don&039;t be obstinate You know full well I was intending for you to have a sip of Vino Pia, not eat my arm"

"I don&039;t need your blood," he said in a voice that continued to bristle with surliness

Hunger hung in the air like a thick, red mist

"Yes, you do Look at it this way - you&039;ll be weaker if you don&039;t, and frankly, I&039;d rather have you bri with health e have to deal with Kristjana, especially if the ritual fizzles That worunted an assent

"So stop being stubborn, and eat I had breakfast, you didn&039;t Eat" I shoved my wrist in the direction of his face

"I don&039;t like to drink frood&039;s sake fine" I hauledhim have the inside of my upper ar little pinpricks of pleasure along my back and belly

"I don&039;t think that would be wise," he said, his voice sounding oddly choked

I couldn&039;t help ainst my mouth That faintly smoky scent that see ht, Kristoff I don&039;tyou, I really don&039;t"

"You knohat happened last tiher I heard him s "I told you before that to a Dark One, the act of feeding can be arousing"

"You said there had to be a shared attraction" My heart was beating madly I knew I should stop, knew I should back off to the farthest corner of the tiny cell and let hi was absolutely true - not only was the proof growing beneathjust from the nearness of him The scent and feel of hi, I wanted to taste him, wanted him to taste ht," I repeated, too overwhelmed by emotions to listen toto a stop

"I don&039;t think Alec and I arewith surprise that it was true It was a drea dream, but a dream nonetheless

"If you&039;re his Beloved, your blood will be poison tothe suddenly sensitive flesh

"We won&039;t know until you try," I whispered into his hair, unable to keep fro the top of his ear I shifted on his lap so that I was straddling his legs, undoing the top couple of buttons on ed open "If it is, we&039;ll have the answer, and we&039;ll stop If I&039;m Alec&039;s Beloved well, I&039;ll deal with that"

"He&039;ll kill me for this," Kristoff said hoarsely as I archedthe upper slopes offast as I pulled off roan of pleasure echoing ain "To hell with it You taste too good"

"Too ainst hi fro that we had the previous time he fed offa bit downas rough as his breathing in the confined space

I thought of Alec, locked in an identical rooht about what he ht about how he made me feel wanted, cherished, even loved Kristoff didn&039;t wantfrom me but satisfaction for the sexual itch that we seemed to share, and he certainly didn&039;t need rief, and I suspected that I simply filled the role of physical relief, and yet, I felt closer to hiht very likely spend the rest of ht about all of that in the space between heartbeats, and wrapped my ar, apleasure Kristoffainst hi but the sensations that were rippling through ue lathed a spot on my arm

I felt the need in him, a need not just for my blood, but one that was instantly answered by hter than a clockwork, and felt like I ht explode at any second

"Well ahead of you," I said, sliding back on his legs to find his buckle and zipper He lifted his hips slightly as Iwith the forot the zipper down, not at all surprised to find him hot and hard and clearly as aroused as I was I held hiroans of ecstasy h ive in to He made a distressed noise as I rose off his lap, but that quickly changed to an unintelligible gurgle as I knelt and tentatively took hi hts

All of theht before, selfishly used hi his lost love I wouldn&039;t do that again

"Pia, I don&039;t think I&039; that," he warned, the huskiness of his voice sliding along ive you pleasure, Kristoff," Ia rhyth pace "To thank you for what you gave e aue curl around the sensitive underside of his penis, the hs as hard as ce "Dammit, I wish ave each other pleasure, and ill do so again"

There was a coainst the velvety tip of hi "I think it&039;shiue

His rossed out if I kiss you?" I asked as I rose, quickly reain At least I wouldn&039;t have to worry about hirowled

His ue the saed into e of tolerance