Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“Hold still,” I told Krynn, when he started to fold his wings back into place so they lay flat against his back. “Let me just…” And leaning forward, I traced one long whip mark with my tongue.
To my satisfaction, I saw that the long cut healed at once, the flesh knitting itself neatly together, just as Seldarin’s wrist had healed when I’d licked it the night before.
Krynn shivered as I licked him again.
“Oh…my Lady,” he said in a low, choked voice. “Please, you mustn’t debase yourself in this way.”
I pulled back for a moment.
“Debase myself? What do you mean?”
“Healing the wounds of a Needer is considered to be lowering yourself. None of the High Fae will do it,” Sel explained.
“Lady Elgiana would never heal my wounds,” Krynn told me. “Though it was well within her power to do so. She said the scars should stay there and serve as a reminder of my shame and my servitude to her.”
“That bitch!” I said indignantly. “How horrible! Infecting you with a disease and then refusing to help you with the complications of that same disease—it makes me want to slap her!”
“You must not, my Lady!” Krynn turned his head to look at me, his eyes wide with fear. “She is a poisoner—a very cunning one at that!”
“Krynn’s right—it’s better not to pick a fight with Lady Elgiana,” Sel said, frowning. “Princess, when you’re done healing him, I want to see if you can shock me again. I’d like to know the extent of your magic.”
“I still don’t know how I did it,” I said and then licked Krynn again, tracing another whip mark with my tongue. It was very satisfying to see his light platinum skin healing almost as soon as I licked it. Also, his blood tasted slightly different from Seldarin ’s, I thought. It was a bit sweeter.
“It must have been instinctive,” Krynn said softly. “You thought Sel was hurting me and you wanted to stop him.”
“Well, I was fucking hurting you,” Sel pointed out. He was standing to one side, watching as I healed Kyrnn. “It’s a good thing I refused to fuck you,” he remarked. “Imagine if the Princess had woken up to see that going on.”
I felt a deep shiver go through Krynn’s entire body and suddenly I felt a sense of longing so strong it nearly took my breath away—a desire so deep and desperate it made me want to ball my hands into fists and cry out.
I pulled back from Krynn…and the feeling stopped. I looked at him with wide eyes. That emotion I’d been feeling…it wasn’t mine.
“My Lady, are you all right?” Krynn turned his head to look at me again.
“Fine. I’m fine,” I said quickly. Maybe I had imagined the feeling. Leaning forward, I licked him again, tracing the last whip mark to close it.
Once again the emotion swept over me. The deep longing and need filled me like water fills a cup. Was this how Krynn felt all the time? Or was it just because this was the peak of his “Needing Cycle?” I didn’t know, but the desperation I felt from him was hard to bear.
I finished healing the lighter Fae’s back quickly and drew away once more. When I lost skin contact with Krynn, the longing vanished once more.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” Sel was studying my face with lowered brows and a frown at the corners of his mouth. “What just happened?”
“She healed me!” Krynn stood up and flexed his wings. “And not only the wounds you just made—she healed the scars!” he exclaimed. “The skin between my wings isn’t nearly as tight and painful now.” He flapped his wings again and I thought it looked like he was moving them more easily and with better range of motion than he had in the past.
“Yes, but something happened to her when she did it,” Seldarin said impatiently. “I could see it on her face. What was it, Princess?” he asked me.
I bit my lip.
“I…I think that for a minute while I was touching him—healing him—I felt what Krynn was feeling,” I confessed. “I felt his emotions. At least, I think I did.”
“You felt my feelings?” Krynn turned to me, his eyes wide. “But you’re not a Sin Eater—are you, my Lady?”
I shook my head.
“I’ve never had anything like that happen to me before. I mean, I’ve never felt anyone else’s feelings.”
“It must be because she tasted your blood when she healed you,” Sel said, speaking to Krynn. “It’s the Blood Magic working again—the same way she was able to absorb some of my Power over lightning, she absorbed some of your Sin Eater traits. What did you feel?” he asked me.
I stood up from the lip of the marble tub and cleared my throat, wanting to buy some time. I wasn’t sure if I ought to explain or not. The desperate longing Krynn had felt when Sel talked about fucking him, was that because Krynn really wanted his best friend sexually? Or was it because he just needed to be fucked? If he was secretly in love with Sel, I didn’t want to expose him. It might make things awkward between them.