Page 24 of Cut of the Dark Elf's Blade

And now, inside the empty manor, I am still away from my mother and brother and the hustle and bustle of the zagfers.

I lay in bed and stare up at the ceiling and all I can think of is Neveah.

I have laid claim to her, but I need to do it again and again.

I need to make her mine forever.

It has been two days since I last saw her, since I last spoke to her, since I last inhaled her sweet breath.

It was a fleeting moment, and it drove something home for me.

I do not know how much longer I can go without possessing her.

I know now that laying claim to Neveah by dragging my knives across her skin and eating her pussy isn’t enough. I need to own her. I need her to be my property.

I need to make her mine in every way possible.

12

NEVEAH

He is a fucking psychopath. So why does this feel so good?

I may have only met Luocre two weeks ago, but I already feel as though I know everything about him.

I know who he is. And he is dangerous.

I feel it coming off him in cold waves. I feel who he is, and the feel of it skitters across my skin like cold fingertips trailing down every part of my body.

The feel of it, of him, of Luocre, is cold, silent, deadly.

The only parts of him that feel warm are the parts of him that exude lust. The only parts of him that feel alive are the parts of him that exude rage.

And I am not sure why an icy cold exterior wrapped around fiery rage entwined with lust turns me on as much as it does.

I can feel him watching me now.

I am alone in one of the large dining rooms of the Ilnais mansion, and I am lugging around a heavy bucket filled with cleaning supplies.

My skin tingles when I feel his eyes on me. When I turn, he is standing outside, looking in through the window of the dining room.

His eyes are cold and dark, and he grins then, but it is more of a grimace and reveals his unnaturally white, sharp teeth.

Luocre has taken to doing this all the time. He follows me around, at a small distance, and just…watches me working.

He has scared several of the zagfer servants away – they packed their bags and resigned within days of his arrival here – but that hasn’t stopped him.

I turn away from the window, intending to start polishing the enormous dining table which seats sixteen, when I am pulled into a memory of Luocre trailing the tip of his knives down my skin.

I freeze where I am as the part between my legs pulses with warmth and desire at the mere memory of the pinpricks of pain that bloomed across my arms and legs where he lightly severed the skin.

I exhale, and it is raspy and choking. I hear a dark cackle from outside the window, and when I turn, Luocre has disappeared.

The memory of Luocre and his knives follows me as I continue to clean up the dining room. Then I move onto the bedrooms on the second and third floors of the house.

The Ilnais household is understaffed right now because of Luocre scaring off some of the zagfers. So right now, I am doing double what I used to.

As I work, thoughts about Luocre do not leave me.