Winterly (Dark Creatures Book 1), стр. 67
Mina felt her belly clench with both fear and desire as his scent enveloped her, his silver hair cloaking them as his mouth descended. His tongue was soft against her bottom lip, demanding with deceptive gentleness that she let him in. At last she parted her lips, at once hating herself, yet thrilled by the heat of his kiss. The kiss was deep and languid, and when he lifted his head, his nose brushed gently over hers.
She knew she was his favorite and that both disgusted and pleased her. They three were his treasures, as he called them. The only blue blooded watchers in his vast coven, and the only three beings on earth in whom his trust and love and confidence was heart-whole.
He ran his fingers into Mina’s hair, marveling, it seemed, at the autumn reds and browns limned by the lamplight. “How fares my sweet kitten?”
She drew back, her head bowed. “I have news, Malach.” The name held no terror for her, not like his true name (that name held power and there were few permitted to use it).
Malach’s eyes narrowed as he watched her. “Good news, I expect.”
Her throat constricted with dread and it was all she could do to keep her smile in place, for she knew the intelligence she must impart in due course would anger him. “Will you have some wine?”
“We shall all have something to drink,” said he, retrieving the bag he had brought with him. From within he lifted his meed, wrapped all in butchers paper. “And a light repast.”
Tanith laughed and joined him at the scarred table where she was wont to cut her herbs and mix her potions. She peered around him to watch as he unwrapped his parcel and then passed the butcher’s knife to him when he held out his hand to her. “It’s still beating,” she said, delighted.
“Only the freshest for you, my love.” He leaned over and touched her nose fondly with a bloody finger. Then he ran that finger down to her mouth and pressed it between her lips.
Tanith obliged him with a sultry moan and sucked delicately, which he rewarded with another hot kiss.
“And you, Medusa,” said he. “Do you have news for me?”
“I do.” Tanith turned, hiding the wrath that had suddenly darkened her brow. But Mina saw it.
“We all do,” said Ana. She was the only one whose tidings would not incite Malach’s rage. “A letter from our dear Emma.”
“Indeed?” He prowled towards Ana and placed a cube of quivering heart between her lips.
Ana wrapped her lips around his fingers and took the flesh between her teeth. Once she’d swallowed it, she said, “Emma writes to say she is ready to know more. I think our Miss Rose finally sees the dragon for what he is.”
Malach kissed the blood rills from her mouth. “Yes, and it was rather clever of you, Diana, to plant that little impulse; well done. If she hadn’t taken the book she might not have come to that realization as quickly as she did.”
Ana preened under his adoring looks and licked her lips.
“Now, Medusa, my love,” said he, “what morsel have you to share?”
Mina girded herself against the rage she knew would be ignited by Tanith’s news; and it would flare up again when it was Mina’s turn to divulge what she had discovered.
“What has my snake found out?” He went back to cutting the heart, but his red eyes were fixed upon Tanith.
“The eldest Rose seems to have gotten herself infatuated with the beast, even suspecting what he is.” Tanith paused, wary, when he turned to give her his full attention. “I saw her give herself to him in the abbey.”
His voice was deceptively gentle. “Give herself? Not…”
“It was a kiss.”
Some of the murder left his gaze. “Ah, just a kiss.”
“Not just any kiss,” said Tanith. “A kiss of promise. I think it will not be long before she spreads her thighs for him.”
The butcher’s knife came down with force and a little more of the heart was cleaved. “An abbey of all places. A fitting scene for a seduction, I’ll give him that, the clever bastard.” He was thoughtful a moment. “But she remains intact?”
“For now.” Both Tanith and Malach looked to Mina for confirmation.
Mina smoothed her brow and nodded. “Yes, she has kept mostly to her room since then.”
“Fine, fine,” said Malach, taking a deep breath. “And what else have you to say, Minerva? I see your dander is all in a flurry. Out with it.”
“It’s about Millicent.” There was no way to soften the blow, Mina would just have to come directly to the point. “She is compromised, my lord.”
His flesh paled and cracked with hideous efflorescence—as though it might explode into dust at any moment. The red lens, through which pulsed the soul, was suddenly subsumed by an opaline glare; it was the face of death and obliteration. “Compromised how?”
“Bitten.”
Malach stared, unblinking. “Only once?”
Mina shut her eyes against his burgeoning wrath. “I’m afraid it wasn’t one of Markus’s…”
Without warning, Malach drove his fist down over the table, splitting it in twain. Flesh and blood was bestrewn across the wall and floor. Tanith screamed and cowered against Ana, their eyes pale with terror. When the white fury in Malach’s gaze ebbed back into his sockets, and the red shone out once more, he advanced on Mina. With a long claw-like finger, he stroked her cheek and trailed it down her neck. Suddenly his hand was tight around her throat. “One of Gabriel’s then?”
Mina gave three rapid nods.
“You are sure?” He spoke in the old tongue.
She licked her lips and nodded again, her lungs aching