Page 28 (1/2)

I carry onhow sensitive his hair is to sti the fact I can have this effect on someone as beautiful as him

He trembles "Nataliestop"

"No"

"Stop"

I don’t

Ash plunges his fangs into my throat

I scream, but the sound soon evaporates as the veno s pierced my skin The roo to focus, but there are so h the air I swipe a hand through the rainbows and giggle when the colors burst and turn into butterflies! They dance and flutter around my hand They’re so pretty, I almost cry

Bliss spills over rip Ash’s hair, pull at his clothes, desperate to touch any part of his skin I need to touch him--I crave him more than water, more than air

Why was I so afraid to be bitten? It’s not so bad It’s not like, when Father got attacked, his blood hooooosh all over the floor--

A picture of his dead body bursts into my mind It’s as if he’s here in the rooain Bliss turns to terror My neck hurts Owow

"OW! Get off me!" I say

Ash leaps back, his cheeks flushed His breathing is ragged, his whole body shaking I ish, ht-headed and dizzy, and desire still rages through th to push it aside They’re not real eht on by the Haze

"Youdruggede to say

Ash puts his head in his hands

"I’ers "I warned you I was losing control, but you carried on I thought you wanted this"

"I wanted you to kiss ot carried away, but I didn’t want that You knobitten scares me," I say

"I scare you?" he asks quietly

I don’t answer We’re only sitting a few feet apart, but I feel so distant fro in what it

The bedrooes into the rooaunt face, his hazel eyes wild and crazed He looks co down es for Ash

"You rotten half-breed!" he yells

Ash darts out of the ith lightning speed

"You’ve got it wrong!" I say

Ash shakes his head at me, fear in his eyes I realizeis infinitely worse than a Darkling taking a bite out of ory’s ar ory freezes and looks at me with utter contempt Footsteps run up the stairs, no doubt drawn by our shouting

"You’re disgusting," Gregory sneers ata half-breed feed on you I should tell your mother--"

"It’s none of your business," I say

"How can you let him do that? What are you? A race traitor?"

"Like Chris, you ory’s eyes burn with fury, and he lashes out, hitting rowl fills the roo huer and power

Gregory edges back, his leg hitting the side of the bed

"I’, Ash, please

Beetle and Day run into the bedroorel There’s a bunch of witnesses You won’t get aith hurting ory says to Ash

"What did Ash do to you?" Day says, spotting the blood oozing down s still bared

"Ash, let it go I’ory orders Sebastian

"Seb, if you arrest Ash, I’ll get in trouble too," I say "You owe ful look passes between us He knows I’ for him all these months

"I think you need to leave," Sebastian eventually says to Gregory "And if one word about this gets back to the Eory leaves the roo the door behind hiht?"

I flinch, still angry at hih I knoas partly to blaer at Ash’s chest "If you ever touch her again, it’ll be the last thing you do, nipper"

He takes my hand and hauls me out of the room

Sebastian doesn’t say a word to e of s now?"

"No"

"Then ere you doing with that half-breed?"

I flush at theon the bed before he bit ether

"He’s a twin-blood!"

"You’re one to talk! You cheated on rabsit up! If you’d slept with me, I wouldn’t have needed to find it elsewhere"

"You’re hurtinga hand over his shaved head

"How can you choose him over me? I love you," Sebastian says