Chapter 61 No secrets
Nyxara
I lay on the bed, staring at the white ceiling of Eryx’s chambers, the stone cold against my back even through the furs. Numb. Not seriously worried or concerned about Maureen—not the way most people would be. Worry was inefficient. It slowed decisions, clouded judgment. And yet…
“What is it…?” Eryx murmured against my skin, lips brushing my nipple before he closed his mouth around it, sucking slow and deliberate. Heat sparked low in my belly despite myself. He moved lower, parting my thighs with rough palms, tongue dragging a long, deliberate lick along my wet folds.
I exhaled through my nose, fingers threading into his dark hair.
“It’s been a week,” I said quietly, “and the Luna is yet to wake.”
Eryx froze for half a heartbeat—mouth still pressed to me—then continued, slower now, like he was trying to drown us both in sensation.
“We are forbidden to speak on that matter,” he growled against my clit, the vibration making my hips twitch. “Vuk’s orders. Palace-wide.”
I tightened my grip in his hair and pulled him up until his face hovered over mine. His eyes were dark, pupils blown, lips glistening with me.
“I’m worried,” I admitted. The words tasted strange. Foreign. “Sounds unlike me but… I’m worried. She’s a beta girl who’s been long poisoned with wolfbane—years of it, slow and subtle. Unfortunately—or fortunately—she gets mated to the highest being. A child of the gods. A demigod. Her body takes him—gods know how much he takes her in—and now this…”
“Nyx!” Eryx’s voice came out rough, edged with warning. His hand clamped around my wrist, pinning it beside my head. “We shouldn’t speak on this matter.”
I swallowed hard. I’d crossed a line. I knew it.
He pulled my legs wider, notched himself between them, cock hard and thick against my entrance.
“Eryx…” I held his face between my palms, thumbs brushing the sharp line of his jaw. “I won’t speak on the matter anymore.”
I promised.
He searched my eyes for a long second, then smiled—slow, dangerous, relieved—and kissed me. Deep. Claiming. His tongue stroked mine like he was starving for it, teeth nipping my lower lip hard enough to sting.
“Do you want to go out?” he asked, breaking the kiss, nose nuzzling into my neck, inhaling deep like he could pull my scent straight into his soul. Gods, this man was obsessed.
“No, I uhm… I have somewhere to go…” I kissed him tight once more, tongue sliding against his, tasting the faint salt of myself on him.
He pulled back just enough to look at me, eyes hooded and pleading. “No. Stay. Please, Nyx. Just stay.” His voice cracked—raw, needy, nothing like the iron-willed warrior everyone else saw. “I need you. Fuck, I need you so bad. Don’t leave yet.”
His cock twitched against my thigh, already leaking, smearing wetness across my skin. He rocked forward, sliding the thick head along my slit, teasing my entrance without pushing in.
“Eryx, I have to—”
“Please.” He begged. Actually begged. Voice low and wrecked. “Don’t go. I’ll do anything. Let me fuck you again. Let me feel you come around me. Please, Nyx—stay. I’m begging you.”
He thrust in hard—deep, sudden, stretching me open until my breath punched out of my lungs. I arched, nails raking down his back, leaving red lines he’d wear like badges tomorrow.
He didn’t give me time to adjust. He started moving—long, punishing strokes that hit the deepest part of me every time. His hips snapped forward, cock dragging against every sensitive spot inside, the wet slap of skin on skin filling the room.
“Gods, you’re so tight,” he groaned, forehead pressed to mine. “So fucking perfect. Please—don’t leave me. Stay. Let me keep you here. Let me fill you again. I need it. I need you.”
He angled his hips, grinding against my clit with every thrust, the pressure building fast and filthy. One hand slid between us, fingers rubbing rough circles over my swollen clit while he fucked me harder, faster, chasing both our releases like he was terrified this was the last time.
“Come for me,” he panted against my mouth. “Please, Nyx. Come on my cock. Let me feel it. Begging you—come. I want to feel you soak me.”
I shattered—hard, shameless, clenching around him so tight he cursed under his breath. My thighs shook, vision blurring, pleasure ripping through me in waves that left me gasping.
He followed seconds later—burying himself to the hilt, hips stuttering as he came with a broken moan, flooding me with heat. His cock pulsed inside me, spilling deep, marking me in the most primal way.
But he didn’t pull out.
He slid down my body again, mouth latching onto my oversensitive pussy—tongue plunging into the mess he’d just made, licking up every drop of us with greedy, obscene sounds. He sucked my clit hard, fingers curling inside me, stroking that spot that made my hips buck uncontrollably.
“Don’t go,” he begged between licks, voice muffled and desperate. “Please. Stay. I want you. I want you so fucking bad. I’ll make you come again. I’ll eat you out until you can’t walk. Please, Nyx—don’t leave me. I need this. I need you.”
His tongue flicked faster, relentless, filthy. He looked up at me—eyes glassy, cheeks flushed, chin dripping with us—pleading like a man on his knees even while he had me pinned to the bed.
“Eryx—gods—stop, I have to—”
“No. Please.” He sucked harder, fingers thrusting in time with his tongue. “Stay. Just one more. Let me taste you again. I’m begging you. Don’t go. I’ll do anything. Anything.”
Another orgasm crashed over me—sharp, almost painful, my body convulsing as I cried out, thighs clamping around his head. He groaned against me, licking slower now, savoring every tremor.
Finally he lifted his head, lips swollen and shiny, eyes wrecked.
“Promise you’ll come back?” he whispered, crawling up to kiss me—slow, deep, tasting like sex and desperation. “Soon?”
I nodded, still trembling. “I’m coming back.”
He smiled then—relieved, boyish, broken—and let me go.
I slipped from the bed. Dressed quickly—black leathers, cloak, boots. Eryx watched every movement like he was memorizing me, like he thought I might vanish.
I reached for the door handle.
Behind me, sheets rustled. Footsteps—fast, desperate. Then strong arms banded around my waist from behind, pulling me flush against his chest. Eryx buried his face in the crook of my neck, lips pressing frantic, open-mouthed kisses along my skin, teeth grazing the sensitive spot where my pulse hammered.
“Don’t go yet,” he whispered, voice thick and wrecked. “Please, Nyx. One more minute. Just one.”
His hands slid up my sides, possessive, trembling. He turned me in his arms, cupped my face, and kissed me—deep, slow, like he was trying to pour every unsaid thing into it.
When he pulled back just enough to speak, his forehead rested against mine, breath ragged.
“I love you,” he said. Quiet. Broken. Like the words had been clawing at his throat for years. “I fucking love you. Come back to me. Soon.”
My chest tightened—sharp, unfamiliar.
I nodded once. Couldn’t speak. Didn’t trust my voice.
He let go slowly, fingers trailing down my arms until only our fingertips touched. Then nothing.
I walked out without looking back.
The corridor swallowed me in silence.
Outside the palace gates, I flagged a cab—black, unmarked, the kind that didn’t ask questions. The driver didn’t glance twice at my leathers or the hood pulled low over my face. Just nodded when I gave the address: an abandoned warehouse district on the edge of the frozen docks, where deals were made in shadows and blood never quite washed away.
Twenty minutes later, the cab rolled to a stop. I paid in cash, stepped out into the biting wind off the water. Snow swirled in lazy spirals under the single flickering streetlamp.
The warehouse door creaked open before I even knocked.
A tall figure stepped into the light.
Lord Cassain.
He wore a dark tailored coat, collar turned up against the cold. His face was half-shadowed, but the bandages around his lower jaw were unmistakable—fresh white linen, edges still faintly pink. The small black device clipped to the side of his throat glinted under the streetlamp: a sleek vocal synthesizer, matte black, the kind that cost more than most people’s yearly salary. It translated his thoughts into a smooth, emotionless electronic voice—precise, almost clinical, but carrying the unmistakable cadence of his arrogance.
He smiled—slow, cruel, eyes glinting gold in the dim light.
I scoffed, turned on my heel.
A gloved hand clamped around my upper arm—hard, bruising—and yanked me back. My spine slammed against the side of a sleek black car parked in the shadows. The metal was ice-cold through my cloak.
“Leave me alone,” I hissed, shoving at his chest.
He didn’t budge.
Instead he leaned in, close enough that I could smell expensive cologne, faint copper, and the sterile scent of medical tape. His fingers caught my chin, tilting my face up. The device at his throat hummed faintly before speaking in that flat, synthetic tone.
“Shh… I have a job for you.”
I jerked my chin free.
“I no longer do that kind of job.”
He released me. Stepped back one pace. Lit a cigarette with a silver lighter—flame flaring briefly, illuminating the scar tissue visible above the bandage. Inhaled deeply. Exhaled smoke in a slow plume that curled between us like a promise.
The device spoke again, calm and mocking.
“Say you didn’t know it was me.”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
He tilted his head, studying me like prey.
“Yes, you tongueless wolf,” I said, voice low and venomous. “Now let me fucking go.”
I turned again.
He moved faster—hand slamming against the car door beside my head, caging me in. The other braced on the metal behind me. Trapped.
The device hummed once more.
“You owe me.”
“I don’t fucking owe—”
“Oh, you do.” He leaned closer, breath warm against my ear despite the cold. “Now imagine I went to report to the authorities… and told them you slipped into my bed while I slept… milked me so thoroughly… left me so fucking sick… so sick for weeks.”
My heartbeat slammed against my ribs—rapid, erratic, loud enough I was sure he could hear it.
The cigarette dangled from his lips. Smoke curled between us.
He didn’t smile this time.
He didn’t need to.
Cassain had no tongue left to lie with.
But he still had power.
And I still had secrets.