22

B y the time the twins are up and down, Poppy is crying, Mel is comforting her, and Orsen is apologizing for stepping on Mel’s toes. It’s my turn, and Dane doesn’t offer me his hand like the other partners did—just walks right into the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets.

He doesn’t look at me when I join him, or when he takes my side and pulls me closer to him. The touch burns, but when my hand slips into his free one, a blazing inferno blasts through me. Fire and electricity and a forbidden urge to melt into him.

My core pulses, my clit throbbing against the material of my panties.

Concentrate .

I’m trying, I admit.

The academy is trying to do things the way mortals do and has found some songs to use for the dance. But for me and Dane, the headmistress doesn’t play the same song the rest danced to.

A piano rendition of the song begins, the faint melody filling the ballroom.

“Follow Dane’s lead,” his mother says. “This is not your typical slow dance, Miss Winters. I will excuse myself. I don’t think I have the stomach to witness my son kissing a human.”

Before I can offer a retort, reminding her she’s the one who refused to let us switch partners, Dane spins me so my back is to the door, where his mother exits.

The students had chatted while previous partners danced, but now, everyone is silent and still. They’re watching us, not making a sound as their gazes follow us around the dancefloor. My feet do exactly what Dane’s do, and each time he twirls me and snatches my waist again at each crescendo, he keeps his eyes everywhere but on me.

Why isn’t he looking at me?

He abruptly dips me, my hair touching the floor, and our eyes crash together like thunder in the middle of a stormy sea, the waves of recognition and regret between us making everyone around us disappear. He keeps me in this position, his hand on my thigh, gripping, tightening, his throat moving as he swallows.

Suddenly, I feel overwhelmed again. I’ve felt like this before, like I was suffocating on my own thoughts, but now it’s an emotion that’s flooding me. One I can’t pinpoint.

He pulls me to my full height that’s barely to his chest, and takes my hand to the right, his other on my waist again as I follow his steps. Him being around eight feet, I struggle, but with the grip I have on his shoulder, I somehow don’t let go.

“Please pay attention. Your feet are not moving correctly,” he says quietly, spinning me away and then back to him, and I slam into his chest. “You said you weren’t a virgin.”

He gives me whiplash with how abrupt his conversation is. “Why are you bringing up my virginity?”

He swallows, and a wave of nerves hits me. “Tell me what happened.”

I laugh, but he glares down at me, so I ask, “What, the first time? Why?”

He stops moving, and I trip over his feet. “There have been other times?”

This guy is unbelievable. “Obviously, Dane. I’m not talking about this, okay? Pay attention.”

“Who?”

“Not telling you,” I reply, refusing to tell him about mine and Grayson’s friends-with-benefits set-up. He’ll call me a whore like he always does, and I can’t be bothered with his mood swings. “Poppy looks like she might throw a hex at us if we keep missing steps. She’s very serious about this dance.”

“Valin?”

I sigh and drop my head back. “Just shut up.”

“Yes or no. Have you fucked Valin?”

“What is your deal with him?” He’s silent, so I raise a brow. “Did he steal your girlfriend or something?”

“He stole something,” he says. “Stay away from him.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

The cult studies professor tuts. “You have stopped moving!”

We both huff, and Dane pulls us into the routine again.

I know the routine for some reason. I move before he does, and he needs to follow my lead. I slide my leg up to his side and throw myself back in another dip.

His hand is warm at the small of my back, holding me in place. I let go of him, running my fingers through my hair as he lifts me into the air by the hips, my navel in line with his mouth. He looks up at me, eyes dancing, shining, a flicker of silver sinking in as I slide down his body to my feet.

He watches me the entire time now, and without meaning to, or knowing that I can, I dive into his mind and the wave of loneliness and grief I find there nearly chokes me. I gasp as he holds me in his mind, traps me, and I see a river of blood flowing, rapid, full of the faces of everyone I love.

He releases me from his mind, and before I can push away or react, the song ends, and Dane dips me one last time. His mouth lands on mine, and I shove my hands into his hair to hold him to me as I kiss him back. I’m not sure what kind of kiss we’re supposed to be ending this with, but Dane’s fingers wrap around my thigh, my back sliding onto the ground as he settles on top of me.

Our bodies become one as our lips part in unison, tongues moving together, tasting each other’s sins as we ignore all the students and keep going. His hand inches higher on my leg, a shadow of a touch on my throat as his other hand presses to the ground to keep his full weight off me.

I sink my teeth into his bottom lip, and he growls, a low growl that makes me want to kill everyone in the room so I can have all of him.

He tilts his head to deepen the kiss, devouring me with an audience. He laces one of our hands together, and my palm stings. I ignore it, ignoring the people around us, ignoring my own thoughts telling me to get a grip as I hook my ankle behind his leg and slide my tongue against his.

“No one can see us,” he says against my mouth. “They think we are still dancing, mortal.”

I pull back and glance around—a dome of black is over us, an image of us reflecting off it, Dane spinning me around and me following his lead.

Something wraps around my throat, holding me to the ground. Dane sits up, looking down at me. “I could kill you right here, and no one will know.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

The Prince of Darkness cracks his neck to the side, eyes burning silver. “I’m undecided.”

For some reason, I smile. “Shame. This—”

I halt my words as Dane forces open my thighs with his shadow hands, pinning them to the floor as he hovers over me. “Shut up. I’m undecided if I should kill you or…” He trails his middle finger up my inner thigh, and my core pulses. “If I should finish all the tasks right now.”

“Both sound terrible.”

He smirks down at me. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

He drags his bottom lip between his teeth as he grabs the waistband of my skirt and drags it up, until the only barrier is my panties covering my pussy.

“You’re wet. Your scent is so strong, I can practically taste you. Is that because the idea of me fucking you with my fingers sounds terrible?”

I swallow, my lips parting as he runs his finger up the seam of my panties, teasing me, gathering wetness on his fingertip and rubbing it between his finger and thumb.

“You’re a little liar, aren’t you, mortal? Do you want me to drop the spell, so everyone can see how desperately you want me? Do you want me to do this?” My back arches as he pushes against the material with the tip of his finger, right against my entrance. “And they can watch?”

Sliding two fingers against my core, he pinches my clit between them, cupping my pussy in a firm hold.

“So wet for me, human,” he says with a groan, caressing me as he rubs against my core, his eyes lighting up as I moan. “So much hate, yet you want me to keep going, don’t you?”

I nod, and the invisible vine tightens around my throat, forcing me to stare at the ceiling of the black dome, stopping me from seeing what he’s doing.

“Words.”

“Yes,” I breathe, trying to slam my thighs together to ease the tension as he moves his hand away. My clit throbs to be touched, to be kissed and licked and stimulated.

My heart pounds with exhilaration and something far more terrifying as Dane appears above me, resting his elbow beside my head, the shadow hands still keeping my thighs open for him.

His gaze stays on me as he shifts aside my underwear then smirks as he sinks a finger into me, making my entire body tense. His ring is cold against my heat, pressure I can barely handle as he sucks on his lip again. He eases his finger into the knuckle, pressing his thumb to my clit and circling. I try not to moan, but I can’t stop the sound from leaving my throat.

I’ve been fingered before, and it’s never felt like this. I’m not sure if it’s a magical thing, or if his powers make the tingling sensation more intense, but as he pushes a second finger in, my toes curl, my hands shooting up and fisting at his shirt.

I want to grind against his hand, but the hold the shadow hands have on me keeps me completely still.

They caress my thighs as Dane fucks me with his fingers, watching me, not breaking eye contact as he thrusts in and out, his thumb pressing harder to my clit and making my back arch off the ballroom floor.

My breath catches, and I screw my eyes shut as another wave of pleasure smacks into me. I’m tipping over the edge as he snatches my jaw.

“Look at me,” he grits, the shadow hands opening me wider. “Fucking look at me.”

I do, and as soon as I see the hunger in his eyes, a coiling heat starts at the base of my spine, swiftly wrapping around it to the tattoos on my neck. They tingle, sending similar waves ricocheting around my body, my nerves on fire as I let out a strangled moan.

His strong shoulder rises and falls in my vision as he drives into me.

Whatever pleasure I’m feeling, it’s vibrating across a bridge between us. And I can feel him harden, swelling against my outer thigh, his own pleasure tightening at his balls.

His jaw tenses, my walls clutching at his fingers as my pleasure builds to blinding heights.

We don’t break eye contact as he sinks deeper, as my arousal soaks my thighs and puddles on the floor beneath me. The thumbs of the shadow hands rub at the sides of my pussy, parting me wider as Dane adds another finger, sending me crashing into a world of no return.

My vision blurs, and my muscles spasm as my walls clench over his fingers repeatedly. I shake under him, the orgasm rippling through me as Dane curls his fingers deep inside me and fucks me harder, faster, deeper, licking his lips as he watches me unravel.

No one around us knows that I’m screaming. That my mouth drops open, that I grip his clothes with desperation as my orgasm hits its pinnacle, and the white flashes before my eyes slow down.

For a split second, I recognize the man above me. Really recognize him. The man who fastened my corset after a night of making love then escaped the room before my father caught us.

A kiss to my hand.

The deafening scream of his mother when a knife lodges in his chest.

I gasp and stare at him in disbelief. “Dane?”

A tear slips down my cheek, and the recognition comes over to Dane. He nods once, pulling his fingers from my core and wiping away the tears. “If you’re ready—stay. Stay with me.”

My lips part with words I need to say. They’re on the tip of my tongue, but dizziness has my eyes rolling to the back of my head.

The darkness drops over me like a veil, a whisper against my ear of a voice I don’t recognize. It tells me to let go.

An explosion in my mind has me wincing, and he takes my cheek in a soft hold, swiping another tear. “Seraphine, focus.”

“I can’t.” The vine around my neck and the shadow hands at my thighs vanish, and I sit up, wrapping my arms around him and holding on for dear life. “I can’t, Dane. I c-c-can’t.”

I have so much to say to him, but as all the thoughts start to fade, I struggle to contain the crying, the sobs into his chest, the thick presence of loss and guilt and rage.

Then everything goes silent, and my body goes ramrod straight in his hold.

Dane is cradling me against him, and I frown, pulling away, unsure why I’m so upset or why he looks so worried. He lets go of my cheek, and the expression drops.

“What’s going on?” I blurt out, confused.

His eyes darken, his jaw clenching. “Hello, mortal.”

But one second he’s on me, and the next he’s tackled off me and thrown to the side.

I sit up and pull my skirt down, my chest rising and falling, lips swollen, to see Valin on top of Dane. He punches him across the face twice, and all Dane does is laugh and headbutt him. He tells him to hit him again, and Valin does. Orsen drags him off, Dane wiping blood from his nose.

Valin looks down at me with disgust then at all the students gaping before he straightens his shirt and walks out.

Mel fixes the mascara under my eyes as I sit back down. “As hot as seeing them fight was, I’m going to need to know the details. Why is Valin pissed?”

I shake my head, the after-effects of the orgasm having me speaking quietly. “I have no idea.”

“Why was Dane hiding you both?” Poppy asks. “It was so weird. Like we all knew it was fake, but we couldn’t see you.”

Mel shakes her head. “Are you okay?”

I nod. “I think so.”

Dane licks the black blood from his lip, and the split skin heals itself. Orsen offers to kill Valin, but he tells his friend to shut up and that he can handle the professor.

His stare is devastatingly haunting when it lands on me. A silent reminder that task four is only half completed. Even when they aren’t silver, Dane’s eyes are still mesmerizing to look at, making me feel like his teeth and tongue are dragging all over me.

The class ends, and I make it halfway to my dorm before something wraps around me, my entire body tugging from the inside as I’m materialized into the dark forest. I gasp as I fall against a tree, pressing my back to it, unable to see a thing.

The moon shines above the canopy of trees, but not near enough for me to see what’s ahead of me. Something moves in the bushes—footsteps against the snapping branches.

My palm itches, and when I glance down, black tendrils are wrapping around my fingers, climbing up to my wrist. It burns, and the tattoos on my neck burn too.

And when I look back up, Valin is there. He has his hands in his pockets, taking a step forward.

I press into the tree behind me. “What are you doing?”

“Do you recognize me? At all? When you look at me, do you feel nothing?”

My spine crushes against the tree as I try to back away more and fail.

I try to scream, but Valin teleports closer, slamming his palm over my mouth. “You and I are going to have a little talk, and you’re not going to remember a thing. If you do, and you tell Dane what we do tonight, I’ll kill you.”

And then everything goes blank.