Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

A whisper of air was the only warning I had before the blankets were ripped from me.

I gasped, jerking around, but he was already climbing into my bed.

Panic shot through me as he came from behind and wrapped an arm around my waist, wrapping his other hand around my neck. I scratched at the back of his hand, drawing blood as he pulled me against him, wrapping his legs into mine until I could no longer move. Until I was nothing more than a trapped animal.

He jerked my head back against his shoulder, my heart racing under his grip. “Letak!” I shouted desperately.

“Useless,” he hissed, his body pressed fully against mine. “I’m using the last ounces of my magic to make sure that we are alone. No interruptions. No eavesdroppers.”

I panted through my teeth, nails digging into his flesh, his blood warming my hands. “Angry that I found out your dirty little secret?” I hissed instead.

He dipped his head, his lips pressed against my ear. “I’m angry that you believed my sister so easily, that you believeanyoneso easily..”

I struggled against his grip. “She doesn’t have a reason to lie. You have all the reason in the world.”

“Your jealousy enrages me, Kyra,” he growled, the vibrations of his chest sliding down my spine, pooling between my thighs.

“I am not jealous,” I seethed, fighting against him again only to feel his hunger pulsing against my lower spine.

He laughed a throaty laugh, sending goosebumps across my skin. “I’ll keep saying this until we are nothing but wisps of memories, do you understandme?”

“Saywhat?”

Without so much as a single hesitation, he slid his hand into my pants, under my panties.

I gasped, eyes widening as his fingers grazed my sick truth.

Trick shuddered against me, my entire body tightening against his. “I am yours,” he growled, and slid his fingers in.

I bit my lip, trying to force myself to shut off. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I wanted to stay angry at him. I wanted tohatehim. I should have hated him.

He pulled his fingers out to the very tip and forced my head around until his eyes were locked onto mine.

They were bright, feral. “You’re making me break my own fucking rules, baby,” he half-panted, his skin flush. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

My eyes widened. “What rules?” He looked almost manic and that should have terrified me, but it only made me throb in need.

“Remind me to write them down when I’m done ruining you.” He slammed his lips against mine at the same moment he slammed his fingers back inside of me.

I groaned into his mouth, arching back against him, the taste of rain and shadows filling me.

My mind stopped working in that moment, something else entirely taking control as his tongue slid into my mouth.

My body melted into his as his hand worked inside of me, faster, harder.

Fuck, hisfingers. I couldn’t help the way my hips grinded against his hand, the way my ass pushed against his cock, the way my body writhed against his.

His hand tightened around my throat, cutting off my air, my blood. I felt like I was going to suffocate. I tried to tear his hand away, tried to break away from the kiss, but he was too strong.

“No,”I heard him whisper through me,“you don’t get control with me. The sooner you learn that the better.”He curled his fingers in, my body convulsing against his, tears springing to my eyes. Something dark and cold started biting my nerves, twisting around my bones, the feeling in the pit of my stomach growing and growing in a way I had never felt before.

His magic was doing something—

Trick moaned into my mouth, his grip tightening, and something about that reaction told me he hadn’t expected whatever was happening inside of me either. That shadow that had infected me, that connected us, it connected us in this too.

He finally ripped his lips from mine only to curl around me, to pull me closer.

I inhaled sharply, nearly choking on the groan that tried to force its way up my throat. “What is that?” I rasped, grinding into him, needing more. Needingeverything.