Burning Up

down at him as she rode. His face was drawn tight and stark with hunger, black eyes wild, fangs bared. His long hair tumbled around his bare and brawny shoulders. Sweat and streaks of blood marked his skin, muscles flexing in hard relief with each powerful driving thrust.
    She wanted to free him. Wanted to experience all that feral passion, to know exactly what those black eyes promised. To feel his bite, his kiss, his hands on her breasts.
    He shouldn’t be any man’s captive. Especially not Korban’s.
    Give him your blood , temptation whispered.
    She imagined what it would be like—the stinging pain of penetration, the magical connection binding them together in drugging pleasure as he drank.
    She could almost see his big body surging with the power of her blood, snapping the chains. The guards would have no chance against him. He’d free her and Marin, and they’d flee together.
    Red God, she wanted to trust him. And every instinct she had swore he’d never play her false.
    He surged upward so hard he lifted her clear of the bed, his body bending into a bow until only shoulders and heels touched the pallet.
    Her climax hit like a ball of fire, blazing its way up her spine, detonating in her skull. She screamed, dimly aware of his roar of pleasure as he found his own peak.
    Until she collapsed over him, both of them gasping, sweating skin to skin in a dazed heap.
     
    R aniero had known Blood Roses—too well, in fact. His stepmother had only been the first. They might be beautiful and seductive, might even seem kind if it suited the moment’s purposes. Yet their focus was always on their own advancement. Any vampire who forgot that was a fool who’d soon find himself paying the price for his gullibility who’d soon find himself paying the price for his gullibility.
    As he had.
    But none of those women would have risked their lives as she’d done.
    Still, that left him with one nagging question. He asked it as they lay together, panting in the limp aftermath of passion. “Why do you work with Korban? Especially considering he seems to have formed some kind of alliance with the Varil.”
    She lifted her head off his chest and met his gaze, her sensual lips pulling tight. “He seeks a way to breach the Great Barrier. He’s at work on the spell now. He believes his allies will make him ruler of Ourania after the conquest.” Amaris snorted, a surprisingly indelicate sound. “More like he’ll find himself king of rotting corpses.”
    “So why in the name of all the gods do you aid him? Even if King Ferran manages to drive the Varil back and repair the breech, hundreds will die. And without those peasants to work the fields, there’ll be famine. Death will pile on death.”
    “I know.” She rested her hands on his chest and propped her chin on them, her expression brooding.
    “Then free me.” Raniero lifted his head to meet her eyes in urgency. “At least let me taste your blood that I might free myself. I can alert the king and stop Korban before he destroys us all.”
    She considered his proposal for a long moment before she finally shook her head. “It’s not so simple.”
    “But it is.” He searched her face. She looked torn, as though she struggled with herself. “If you fear his threats, I can protect you. I have power, and the skill to use it. I would not be the king’s investigator otherwise. I can get you away from that madman and his plots.”
    “It’s not myself I fear for.”
    “Then who?” When her eyes slid away from his, he felt an inexplicable surge of jealousy. “A lover?”
    Amaris blinked at that, and a quick, ironic smile flashed across her face. “Hardly.” She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself to trust him. “It’s my sister. She is but three years old, an innocent, yet she has great potential power. That’s why Korban sent my father to kidnap her. Tannaz murdered my mother and stepfather and forced us to accompany him.”
    Suddenly too much became far too clear. “Breaching the Great Barrier will require vast magical resources. He means to sacrifice the child for the power it will give him.”
    She nodded tightly. “The Varil gave him a magical object called the Blood Orb, so called because it requires a death to trigger it. Fortunately, there’s some part of the spell he still hasn’t mastered. Once he does . . .”
    “The child is dead.” He flexed his fists restlessly. “Amaris, surely you see that I am the only chance you and your sister