No Rest for the Wicked (22 page)

isn’t a parasite?”

“Me.”

“Do you eat meat? Drink wine?”

“No, and no. I ingest nothing.”

“How is that possible?” he asked, incredulous, though the kobold had said as much that

night at the Pole.

“Just the way I was engineered,” she answered in a tone that made it clear she’d say no

more on the subject.

Damn it, he’d have to return to Blachmount and ask Nikolai about this. “Engineered? As

in designed?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t I look as if I could have been designed? Do you look at me

and think, obviously an accident of nature?”

“No,” he said, realizing he’d insulted her once more. “Not at all. I just—”

“Our kinds are going to war. Did you know that? A war like you’ve never imagined—”

“Yes, the Accession,” he said in a dismissive tone.

“It’s hardly something to wave away.”

“My brother told me you would bring this up as an obstacle between us. He’s assured me

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) the Forbearers will ally with the Valkyrie.” When she began to argue, he cut her off.

“Whether the Valkyrie want them or not.”

She pressed her lips together. “You seem quite iron-willed,” she finally said. “Why not use

that will to rid yourself of this compulsion for your puny, undesigned Bride?”

“Why would I put time and effort into attempting to forget you when I could spend that

same time and effort to win you?”

“Because winning me is impossible. The other option may not be.”

“I have to try.” There was no way to rethink this. “I want you. In my life.”

She tapped her chin. “And by ‘in my life,’ you clearly mean ‘in my bed.’ ”

“I won’t deny that I want both.” He’d had a taste of her passion, and he wouldn’t rest

until he’d claimed her. “I constantly think about what it would be like to take you.”

Pink flushed across her cheeks, and she nibbled her bottom lip. That habit of hers never

failed to charm him. “But you don’t love me any more than I love you.”

“No, I don’t,” he admitted. She fascinated him, frustrated him. And every hour since she’d

blooded him, he needed her, but even he understood that it wasn’t love.

She rolled her eyes. “A hint, Sebastian? If you’re courting a woman, you could pause a

nanosecond before declaring that you don’t love her. Maybe act as though you’d

considered the possibility. Or you could lie. Or you could gloss over it by predicting that

you will in the future.”

“I won’t lie to you. And about love? Unions have been built on far less than we have

between us. We’d have passion. Attraction. Respect.”

“You flatter yourself,” she said, examining her broken claws.

“And one thing I can promise you. The next thousand years of your life will be nothing

like the last. Not while I live.”

Her gaze shot up. “What does that mean?” she asked in a measured tone.

“I know about your... blessing. You didn’t feel emotion for a millennium.”

At his words, her face paled. “Do you know why it happened?”

Had her voice quavered? “No. Nor how it came about. Only that you woke one morning,

and there was just... nothing.”

She gave him a sharp glare. “Don’t you dare say it like that! As if I were lacking.”

“Kaderin, not to be able to feel is to lack.”

“You assume it’s necessary to feel to get by? Or that I would want to, anyway?”

“No, I—”

“You know from my blood, right?” When he nodded, she said, “Because you stole my

blood, you have my memories. Lovely. How much have you seen?”

“I’ve seen old battles, and hunts, and random flashes of conversation—like Riora telling

you about a blind mystic’s blade.” He had seen her attacked by dozens of kobolds, barely

defeating them, then peering down to find her leg from midcalf down was gone. No

wonder she’d taken out the kobold in Antarctica . And I’d traced it to her prize.

“Now do you understand why I was incensed? You can know my secret thoughts. And

deeds. Have you seen me with other men?”

“No, and my brother has told me that I won’t, because you are my Bride,” he said.

“Have you seen why my emotions have returned?”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “I believe I had something to do with it. You said as

much that first morning.”

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)

“I spoke rashly.” At his look, she added. “It was coincidental.”

“Perhaps I could believe the timing coincidental had you not been my Bride.”

“So you figure I awakened you physically and you awakened me emotionally?” she asked

in a scoffing tone. “Tea for two?”

“Yes. Precisely.”

“Even if that were true, it doesn’t mean we have a future together. I’m not what you need

and will only make you miserable. This I can promise you. Besides, if I accepted you as

mine, my family would ostracize me. I’d be shunned.”

“Myst the Coveted doesn’t seem to concern herself with that.”

Kaderin tilted her head, then grew very still. “What are you talking about?”

“My brother’s wife, Myst.”

She shot to her feet. “Myst may have the morals of an alley cat, but even she wouldn’t

dare marry a leech.”

“You do not know about this?” He frowned. “They’ve been wed for some time.”

Kaderin was going to kick Regin’s glowing ass so hard...

Myst had married... a vampire! Kaderin put her forehead in between her thumb and

forefinger. “Your brother—he’s the Forbearer general who freed her from the Horde

prison. Wroth. Nikolai Wroth.” I knew she wasn’t over him!

“Yes. You’ve met him?” Sebastian asked.

“I’ve heard of him.” And now that everything was becoming clearer, she realized she’d

heard of Sebastian as well. The four Estonian brothers. Warlords so fierce and unyielding

as humans they’d even drawn Lore attention.

They’d been fierce and unyielding—defending their people.

He studied her expression. “I wonder if this news helps my cause or hurts it?”

“I... I don’t know... anything.” Not anymore. So Forbearers were fair game? No, Dasha

and Rika would never stand for her accepting a vampire.

“Then just tell me one thing, Kaderin. Do you ever think about me when I am away?”

Lie to him. Could she have an affair? Of the most illicit kind? Just to enjoy his responsive

body for one night?

Myst had freaking married one! And Myst was a pagan like her! Kaderin doubted very

seriously that General Nikolai Wroth had agreed to wed in accordance with orthodox

paganism.

A bond like marriage was a huge deal for Valkyrie and for immortals in general. Until

death do us part took on a whole new meaning when both parties could potentially live

forever.

No, Kaderin couldn’t have an affair. Not when she was Sebastian’s Bride. Because he

would never accept only that and she could never give him more. “Think about you?

Sebastian, I’m a busy person. I don’t spend a lot of time with introspection. How about I

leave that up to you?”

“What does that mean?”

“Seems like all you did for three centuries was think.”

He was furious, as she’d planned. “You know nothing—”

A roar sounded to their left, shaking the cave. And then, from their right, another one

answered. Somewhere even farther in the distance, a third called.

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) They were nearing, gathering.

Here.

22

K aderin leapt forward, tackling him into the dirt.

A quick kiss, seal the deal. Get him to move the rocks . She grabbed his stunned face, then

pressed her lips to him.

Quick. To get what she wanted. Stop lingering! “There. I kissed you,” she said, sounding

breathless. “Now, move the damned rocks—”

His hands landed heavily on her ass, forcing her against his already hard shaft. When she

couldn’t prevent a moan, he took one hand and clutched her nape, pulling her down. He

took her mouth with his own, slipping his tongue between her lips, sweeping it against

hers.

The hand on her ass moved between her legs, cupping her firmly. She gave a startled cry

against his lips, and before she could stop herself, her knee shot up to allow him more

access.

He groaned, rubbing and kneading her there with his big palm, his mouth slanting against

hers over and over. His kiss was desperate, a night before the gallows kiss.

They were rolling in the dirt in the face of attack, both of them sweating, his sword hilt

poking her hip bone, and she couldn’t get enough of his taste.

He flipped her over, just as he had that morning in his castle. She wanted it as much now

as she had then. “You drive me mad, Katja,” he rasped. “I can think of nothing but you.”

He rolled to his side, hand pinning hers above her head. He bent down to place an open-

mouthed kiss on her collarbone. As his other hand dipped toward the waist of her pants,

he said at her ear, “Tell me you think about me.”

She might have murmured that she did think about him while he was inching that shaking

hand down her belly. Was he shaking in anticipation of touching her flesh? He began

pulling loose the tie on her pants, and she yanked her hands free—but not to stop him. No,

she was letting him.

Only fair, she thought deliriously, since I’m stuffing my hand into his pants. With her first

touch of him, she moaned. He threw his head back and yelled out, bucking into her fist. So

hot, so smooth and hard. She thumbed the slit in a wet circle.

When he faced her again, his eyes were black with want.

“We’ve got to stop this,” she whispered, even as she moved her fist on him. “These

beasts... ”

“Are suitably terrifying. Doubtless.” He pressed a brief, hot kiss to her mouth, then met

her eyes again. “Appreciate it if you’d keep... stroking.”

She did. Her hand seemed magnetized to his shaft, loving when it pulsed and jerked in her

palm. But even as he seemed to be losing control, he took his time with her, teasing her

belly, then lower to her sex. She wanted passion, swift relief, but she got the impression

that this was very important for him—that he wanted to savor every second.

Just as he was about to work his hand into her panties, he froze, palm resting low on her

belly. She shimmied up to get his hand lower.

“Still,” he murmured. He shook his head hard, as if clearing it. She arched her back and

looked behind her.

Fifty yards away, slitted eyes the size of footballs glowed green in the dark.

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) He exhaled. “I’ve seen better timing.”

“You have such a gift for understatement.” Whose amused tone was that? She was in a

sweltering cavern with vicious dragons about to be breathing down on them and a

vampire’s big fingers inches from being worked inside her. “And you don’t seem suitably

terrified.”

Her fight to keep from grinning ended when he said, “I’m sorry, Bride. I have to trace you

from here.”

She snatched her hand from his pants and his from hers, then rolled away.

“I can fight them while you push the rocks.” Back on her feet, she retied her pants, then

unsheathed her sword.

The largest basilisk edged closer, no doubt thinking them trapped. Basilisks had a

waddling gait that was completely misleading—a biological advantage that served to make

prey docile. The tunnel wasn’t wide enough for more than one to pass, but when they got

into the chamber, they could charge them at once.

Sebastian stood as well. “That is not how this will work.”

“I freaking kissed you! If I get into trouble, then you can trace me, but just try the rocks.

Or you break our deal.”

“For another kiss, then. Later. We need to finish what we’ve started here—”

“You’re curb-boosting me?”

He clearly didn’t understand the term. “You want out, then you’ll agree to get to

somewhere dark within an hour after you get that prize.”

Who was this new ruthless vampire? “Fine.” Very uncool. “You have a deal.” I’m lying

like a rug. “Now, get your ass in gear and push.”

With another shake of his head, he rose, surveyed the basilisk’s unhurried but steady

progression, then set to the rocks.

She should have been readying for a battle, scouting the lead basilisk’s crimson scales for

weaknesses. And yet all her desire-saturated mind could think about was how utterly

delicious the muscles of his back looked, bulging with strain, threatening to rip through his

shirt. She wanted to squeeze them, scratch them, lick them.

She should be worrying about the siren, about the contest, or, hey, how about the

dragons?

The beast slowly pressed down on them, and she could make out a second’s eyes peeking

out just behind it. As soon as the rocks went, they’d spring in attack.

She kept jerking glances over her shoulder. Regin had asked her what her type was. As he

turned to push with his back, displaying chiseled abs beneath his sweat-soaked shirt,

Kaderin admitted it to herself.

She apparently fancied black-haired, grave-eyed vampires of the excruciatingly gorgeous

type. With scars and rough hands. She bit her bottom lip. And if she continued staring at

his powerful, sculpted body, she was in danger of spontaneous orgasm.