by River Starr
“Now you’re not making sense.”
I pulled over the medical bag and began searching through it.
Dax sighed heavily. “You know me better than anyone else here, Nyx.” He sounded despondent and desperate.
“I’ve never met you before yesterday.” I wasn’t sure what he was on about, but it was definitely some sort of case of mistaken identity. When he didn’t respond to that, I looked over and found Dax unconscious.
I worked quickly, happy he wasn’t awake for me to take care of him. I wasn’t confident a vampire could use their powerful regeneration abilities and heal fully without feeding on blood, but I could at least patch Dax up.
So I did. I washed the blood off his face first, careful to avoid irritating the burn mark too much. I was no doctor, so I avoided his nose altogether. With his face cleaned up, I wanted to check on his ribs. Slowly, hoping to avoid waking Dax up, I undid his uniform, unzipping it to just below his waist.
Shit. Purple bruising had already formed, and one of his ribs poked out at a weird angle against his skin. There was definitely nothing I could do about that.
I dug into the medical pack again and found some simple pain relievers. After taking two myself, I slipped a few into Dax’s mouth for him to dissolve while he slept. Then, while Dax was still unconscious, I slipped out of my uniform and bandaged the wound on my thigh. I went to do the same to the wound on my shoulder and found it completely healed over.
Zavian. His touch had literally healed me.
I looked across the hall to see how Frost and Titus were doing. Titus scowled, his uniform half-undone, as he leaned forward and let Frost patch up a wound on his back. Scales covered most of Titus’s chest, shoulders, and back in amber waves of gold and red. Each and every one of them glowed like an ember in the ashes. It was beautiful.
A rough voice croaked in the low light. “If only you looked at me like that.”
I glanced down at Dax. “You’re awake.”
“I am, and you’re dry.” He sounded mildly disappointed by that fact.
“I have an extra uniform. I have no idea how to get your extra one from over there.” I thumbed toward their cell.
“I could try tossing it across if you send me mine,” Frost called from the other side.
“Sure.” I gathered her uniform and tied it into the smallest ball I could.
“Not really necessary,” Dax said. “I don’t mind being without a uniform.”
“Yeah, well,” I said as I made my way to the bars, careful not to actually touch them. “I mind you being without one.” I tossed Frost’s uniform across the corridor. She caught it and tossed an extra one for Dax to me.
I threw it into Dax’s lap and turned to face the back wall of the cell. “Change quickly.”
“You don’t have to look away, you know.” Dax smirked, his voice full of mirth and teasing.
“Glad to see you’re feeling like yourself again.”
“Sort of.”
I was about to ask what he meant, but then I heard him stagger against the bunkbeds. “Dax?”
I turned and found him half-dressed, the new, dry uniform covering only his bottom half. His eyes moved as though he were dizzy, and he had a death grip on the side of the top bunk.
“Is he okay?” Frost called.
I placed a finger over my lips, shushing her. The last thing we needed was another inmate thinking one of us was weak. But I guessed there was no hiding a hungry vampire.
Especially not when you looked back to him and found him already staring at your neck.
I slipped back against the farthest wall from him. “Dax…”
He blinked and sat on my bunk, then held his head in his hands. “I’m sorry. I can’t think straight.”
“The vampire king of Cornwall apologizing,” Titus huffed. “You really have gone soft in here.”
Dax hissed, barring his fangs.
I swallowed hard.
How much longer could Dax make it without blood? A day? Maybe not even a day if we had another trial tomorrow. Besides, he needed to heal or he’d be utterly useless in another trial or an escape if one was to be had.
Something about Dax was off. From the very moment we’d met aboard the coral transport on our way to the prison, he’d acted as if he’d already known me. As if we were already familiar.
Could I trust that to mean he wouldn’t kill me?
If we didn’t all survive, we’d all die to the Deep One anyway.
Time passed slowly for hours until the lights went out for the night. I watched Dax as his conditioned worsened. At some point, I nodded off due to pure exhaustion from having not slept the night before. But when Dax slipped from my bunk to sit on the floor and lean against it, the sound woke me up.
Dax’s form began to shiver and shake uncontrollably. That was when my worry—and exhaustion—overtook reason.
I glanced over at the cell holding Frost and Titus. I couldn’t see Frost in the darkness, and I didn’t see any of Titus’s scales glowing, which meant they were both probably asleep beneath blankets.
I turned back to my vampire cellmate. “Dax.”
His eyes flitted up to mine, a mix of desperation and hunger in his gaze. “Yes?”
I slowly approached him, afraid he’d lash out and suck me dry before I even gave him the okay to do so. I kept my voice low, barely a whisper. “Feed on me. It’s okay. I’m half-fae, too, so my blood should be a little more sustaining than normal human blood.”
“What?” Dax hissed.
“We’re all dead if you don’t eat,” I said. “And be quiet. I don’t want anyone to know.” It would be obvious in the morning, with a bite mark somewhere on me and Dax’s complexion back to normal. But for some reason, letting him feed on me inside this cell felt shameful and embarrassing. Wrong, even.
Dax’s eyes widened. He whispered, “Why would you save me?”
“It’s selfish, I assure you. Don’t get it confused.” I knelt before him and pulled my hair back. “I don’t really know how this works, but please keep in mind that you need me to live as much as I need you to. We all do.”
Dax’s eyes became hooded with need as he licked his lips. I knew it had nothing to do with me specifically and everything to do with the warm blood pulsing in my veins. “It won’t hurt that much.”
“Just get it over with,” I snapped. He seemed momentarily hurt by the statement. “Hurry.”
Dax growled and, in a flash, had pulled me toward him. The aggression had me second-guessing this decision, my life flashing before my eyes. My sister’s future sinking away. He pushed my hair back entirely and bared my neck, his touch rough but gentle at the same time. His grip on my arms held me in place and I had one moment to start to protest, my natural prey instincts kicking in, before he sank his fangs into the hollow of my neck, right below the magic-muting rune tattoo.
I gripped one of his shoulders, my other hand pressing against his back and balling his uniform into something I could hold on to. Fire flashed through my veins and agonizing pain blinded me. I tried to escape, even though I’d offered this, but Dax’s iron grip held me in place in his lap. He forced my legs around his middle as he fed. His strength scared me. It was as if I were simply a rag doll being moved however and whenever he wanted.
I cried out but then bit my own hand to keep from screaming. I didn’t need the prison guards knowing what was happening, assuming they couldn’t somehow see it through cameras or magic anyway. Not like they wouldn’t know someone had offered to let Dax feed on them when they saw his rejuvenated self tomorrow.
But as soon as the pain began, it receded, paving way for white-hot pleasure that slipped from my neck right down to my core. Dax’s vampire venom swept through my veins. My mouth parted as ecstasy became euphoria, which in turn became something more primal and erotic as Dax’s tongue lapped against my skin. I let out a sigh, moaning as Dax ground against me as if this were a very different sort of act. As if, for him, the two were often connected
or done at the same time.
Something about letting Dax feed on me while I lay caught in his embrace felt so incredibly right despite a solid portion of my mind wanting this to end now. But I didn’t want it to end. I hadn’t been in this intimate a position with anyone in a long time, and it was making me feel alive.
And yet as his grip loosened and my breath grew ragged and my head grew light with loss of blood, I didn’t pull away. My core was on fire, my hips moving in ways against him I couldn’t stop, and then… then…
Black spots danced along my vision and my grip on Dax’s shoulder and back fell. Darkness crept in along with blood loss, and the last thing I saw before falling unconscious was Dax pulling back. His eyes held a hint of concern, but also gratitude.
Then the world went dark.
11
Eos
I came to as Nyx’s head rolled back. Never in my life had I seen a vision as beautiful as Dax’s handsome face pulling back from my neck. He grinned, licking blood from the corners of his delicious mouth.
I pressed a finger against his full lips. “Do you need more?”
“Can you handle it, love?” His words felt like balm on a sunny day. Ironic, because sun would kill this gorgeous man of mine. He leaned in and kissed me quickly, but thoroughly, leaving no part of my mouth untouched by his tongue. The copper tang of my own blood filled my mouth.
I leaned away and smiled warmly. “If you need it. You must have been in a bad way if Nyx let you feed from her.” I ran my hand along his neck and let my fingers tangle in his hair, wrapping my legs around him tighter. Already, the skin around his bite mark healed shut thanks to his vampire venom.
Dax pulled back and winced, a confused, hurt expression twisting his eyebrows and drawing his eyes tight. It was if he’d suddenly realized something awful. “Eos? Gods.”
He went to unhook my legs from around him, but I put my hands on his. “What? What’s wrong?”
Dax glanced over to the cell bars, and his friends in the cell opposite us. They seemed to be preoccupied with sleep while we whispered. “This.”
I cocked an eyebrow and dipped my head to place kisses on his neck. His grip on my legs grew firmer in response. “It’s never bothered you before.”
Dax hissed. “I didn’t realize the full scope of the situation.”
“‘Full scope.’ You’ve got to be kidding me. She gets locked up, and suddenly you don’t like her body anymore? It’s me on the inside, Dax.”
He lifted his cold hand to cup my face. “You never told me the body you inhabit wasn’t yours.”
“It is now.”
Dax brushed a lock of jet-black hair off my shoulder. The barest hint of touch from him sent a shudder down my spine. Couldn’t we just ignore this and enjoy the time while we had it?
“Is it?” Dax asked. “Because the woman I met on the transport here had no idea who I was. She acted as though she had no clue about the time we’ve spent together.”
I ran my hands down his back, dragging my fingernails against his thin prison uniform. “Because she’s not me.”
“Yet she’s paying for your crime.” Dax’s tone was even. Not accusatory nor seeking.
I sighed dismissively. “It’s her own fault for not getting out of Alexandria quicker. I can’t help it when I’m forced to return to the soul-cage that is Nyx’s mind.”
“Nor is it her fault your souls became intertwined, is it?” Dax questioned, his eyebrows lifted.
I pressed my finger once more against his lips, even when his eyes narrowed in protest. “Now, now. I’m still mad at you for questioning me on the transport. That wasn’t very nice.”
Dax leveled me with a stern stare that lasted for several moments before he captured my mouth with his. His kiss was rough, fast, and possessive. His fingers trailed into my hair. He grabbed a fistful and pulled me close to him, pressing our bodies together until there was not a single inch of space between us. He inclined his head, deepening the kiss and exploring every part of my mouth. I moaned as excitement spiraled through me, my toes curling. He lifted us up just enough to lean me back against the stone floor. Dax stretched out above me, his free hand pressed against the sea stone.
“Aren’t you worried they’ll see?” I asked between kisses, my breath shaky.
His only response was to pull back and stare deeply into my eyes. “I have just enough magic left to create the illusion of us talking,” Dax whispered. “As long as we’re quiet.”
I grinned, my cheeks flushed with warmth. “I can be quiet. You, on the other hand…”
That was when Dax did the unthinkable. He let go of my hair and rolled off of me to his side. “This is not your body, Eos.”
My eyes narrowed. A white-hot flame of anger bloomed inside my chest. “So what? I’m doomed to eternity locked inside Nyx until she dies, never to live again? How exactly is that fair?”
Dax lifted his hand, but I knocked it away. I didn’t want to hear any argument he had. I’d had my soul torn from my chest, had died against my will, and had been left to wander in the grey lands between life and death for centuries. Then came along a pretty little half-fae from the sea court, Nyx, who’d made a horrible miscalculation regarding curing a death curse.
Had I taken the opportunity before me? Yes.
Had I meant to end up as a twin-soul? No.
Unfortunately, I’d miscalculated too.
How was it fair that I had to continue living like this instead of just living?
Dax and my throne were all I wanted. We’d met by accident, when one of Nyx’s thieving jobs near Dax’s empire had gone sideways. She’d blacked out and I had surfaced—and oh, what a night I’d had. Since Nyx and I didn’t tend to remember each other’s days, I guessed Nyx had had no clue about Dax and me.
“Eos.”
I shot him a glare and hissed. “You have no idea what this is like. I just wanted some fun. Besides, how do you get off telling me this is wrong when you traffic humans for literal blood money? Why do you suddenly care whose body this is as long as you get off and get fed?”
Dax hesitated, his body relaxing.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed as I sat up and stared at him. “She got to you. By offering her blood inside this prison, she actually fucking got to you.”
By Dax’s lack of response to that, I knew I was right. I scoffed and dusted off my uniform, wiping the last traces of my own blood off my mouth, plastered there from Dax’s lips.
Oh, excuse me. Nyx’s blood.
“Fine,” I spat. “Have it your way. But know that even if she manages to get out of here, I’ll always be there. Unless you intend to help her figure out how to un-twin us. If you unbind us, then I can be yours the way you want it.”
I wanted my throne back from the disrespectful usurpers—that part was true. But over our broken time together, spent between bouts of Nyx regaining consciousness, I’d grown to like Dax quite a lot. He was already a brilliant lover and a king, so he’d fit in perfectly in Atlantis. I wouldn’t let Nyx take Dax away from me too, either by never letting me be free or by him falling for her in my stead.
Dax reached out again, and I let him cup my face once more. An excited chill coursed down my spine right to my core at his touch. “The illusion is gone now. I couldn’t keep it going. But know that I do care for you, Eos. And as soon as you’re not in Nyx’s body, I intend to ravish you for weeks.”
Warmth and a deep, genuine caring filled my heart. I winked at him. “Make it months, and we’re even. But first you need to escape this place.”
I intended to help with that as best I could, like teaching Dax how to use fae teleportation sigils so we could escape. To do that, Nyx needed real rest. Then I could be her eyes and ears at night for much longer than a few minutes.
Dax smiled and ran his thumb over my warm cheek. “It’s time for both of you to sleep.”
Swallowing my pride—and my want for freedom—I nodded. “Sure. Fine.” I hated to admit it, but fatigue was starting
to wear me down.
I lay down on the bottom bunk and closed my eyes. With any luck, Nyx wouldn’t remember this when she woke up.
It wasn’t like she had ever remembered before.
12
Nyx
Nightmares followed me through the night. Visions of more black, shadowy tendrils covering Zavian and pulling him into and through walls. As if the walls were swallowing him whole. Darkness loomed around every corner of the prison. Shadows leeched off of me as Dax drank me dry.
When I finally awoke from the chaos, it was to the sensation of my neck burning. My eyes flew open and I jolted upright, my breath erratic as I reached up and rubbed the spot where it hurt—thinking the shadows had gotten me at last.
Instead, I found two puncture wounds.
What in the hell?
Then I remembered. Dax’s lips on my neck, his fangs piercing my skin. The pain and worry, and then nothing but pure ecstasy and a desire—a need—for it to never end. It was hard to imagine Dax having to force anyone into letting him feed off them. Although he held my life in his hands, although Dax could have certainly killed me, he hadn’t. Damn if that power, that utter lack of control, wasn’t alluring.
Still, his bite wound burned.
“It’ll go away.”
I jumped as Dax spoke. My gaze darted to where Dax leaned up against the far wall. He looked more bored than sick, which was good. But there was a hint of some other emotion in his eyes too. Something I couldn’t identify.
“The burning, I mean,” Dax said as he gestured vaguely at me. “I could try easing it, but the process wouldn’t be pleasant for either of us.”
As he spoke, the shadows around him created from the lights above seemed to shift and breathe. I blinked away the aftereffects of my nightmare. It couldn’t be real, even as tendrils reached over him, prying at his skin. “What’s that mean?”
“You don’t want to know. Vampiric venom extraction is not a… relaxing process.” He sighed heavily. “Besides, I doubt you want to run the risk of vampirism.”