Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
The realization sent a dark thrill through me before my stomach clenched with a confusing mix of revulsion and desire.
Finally, he broke the kiss, stepping back just enough to look down at me. A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with his thumb, his eyes never leaving mine. “I didn’t know you were a biter.”
“How dare you?” I hissed, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to control it. “Don’t you ever kiss me again. You have no right!”
“You didn’t seem to mind it the night before our wedding,” Adrian drawled lazily.
My chest heaved with each breath. “That was different. I was—” I stopped myself, unwilling to admit the truth even to myself. I had been drugged, confused, not in my right mind.
“You were what?” he pressed, his hand still at my throat, his thumb now tracing my pulse point. “Wet? Eager? Begging for more?”
Heat flooded my face. “I was drugged. Someone gave me something that night.”
His expression hardened. “Are you accusing me again?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore!” I pushed against him again, and this time he released me, stepping back. “Everything about you is a lie. How am I supposed to know what’s real? You’re confusing me and I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore.”
He towered over me, his cold, calculating presence filling the room and I hated how it made me feel so out of control. “You don’t know yourself at all, Serafina. You’ve spent your entire life being what others wanted you to be.”
“I know I hate you,” I said, my voice shaking with the force of my emotions. “I know I’m not your possession. I know you’re a monster who—”
“If you keep running your mouth like that,” he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, “you’re just begging to be kissed again at this point.”
He leaned into me again, as if to make true his threat, but I ducked away, my eyes scanning the room frantically. The coffee table, where Elena had left a fruit platter earlier, had a small paring knife beside it.
“Serafina,” he tsked darkly.
I lunged for it, wrapping my fingers around the handle and pointing it at Adrian.
“Stay away from me,” I warned, my hand trembling slightly.
He froze, his eyes narrowing as he looked from the knife to my face. For a moment, I saw something like admiration flash in his gaze.
“Careful, wife,” he said softly. “Knives are dangerous.”
“So am I,” I replied, surprised by the steadiness of my voice. “If you ever come near me again, I will kill you.” I waved the knife in his face, my lips curling with the threat.
“Never point a weapon at someone unless you’re prepared to use it.”
He took a step forward, and I raised the knife higher. “I mean it, Adrian. Don’t come any closer.”
“You won’t use it,” he said, taking another step.
“Did you think I would just lie down and accept my fate?” I spat. “Did you think I would be your obedient little wife, grateful for whatever scraps of attention you deigned to give me?”
He moved so fast, his arm shooting out, and he grabbed my wrist, twisting my arm and holding the knife to my throat instead.
My heart thudded and my pulse fluttered wildly, frightened and confused.
“You can’t spill blood, Princess.” He leaned closer, his breath feathering over my lips. His grip was hard and unyielding and he pressed the blade of the knife into my skin and I gasped. I felt the sharpness and then… a nick. “But I can.”
My throat bobbed with a swallow and I felt it… a single drop of my blood sliding down.
He let go of my wrist, and my arm dropped to my side, the knife sliding from my fingers and falling to the ground. Adrian slowly dragged his thumb over my throat, lingering over my pulse before he brought it to his mouth.
His thumb was coated with my blood and I watched, shocked and outraged, as he licked it.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
His lips twitched. “Sweet.” He licked the corner of his lips as if he wanted to taste the remnant of me, of my blood. “Careful, wife. Next time you try something like that I might be forced to spill more blood and that would be very sad. Because I happen to like your pretty throat.”
Adrian took a step back, a low chuckle vibrating from his chest. “A knife isn’t a toy. Don’t play with things you can’t handle, wife.”
My mouth opened, but I couldn’t form any words.
And my husband, he seemed very pleased with himself.
Fuck him.
My fist clenched at my sides.
Adrian sauntered away, leaving the room. The door closed behind him, but his mocking voice seemed to echo within the four walls of the room.
Don’t play with things you can’t handle, wife.