Chapter 398: A Delicious Snack
A red and golden haze filled the edges of Nryielle’s vision, obscuring the edges of the dining room and limiting her view to Ashlynn, the sword of flame and the few people gathered immediately around her. For a moment, her heart skipped a beat when Ashlynn’s hand hovered over the hilt of the blade. Just the presence of the blade had already weakened her to this extent, but if her love were to ignite the blade, she wasn’t certain that she’d be able to tolerate its presence any longer.
At the same time, she dared not tell Ashlynn to stop. The weapon presented too many opportunities to ignore, and at the same time, too many dangers. As much as her body cried out for her to shatter the blade, hide it away, or flee from it, she refused to be absent when Ashlynn attempted to use the deadly weapon. If anything went wrong, while she trusted that Ignatious and Heila would do their best to intervene, neither was as capable or as versed in sorcery as she was.
Finally, a wave of relief rippled through her when Ashlynn chose not to ignite the blade and instead handed it off to Ignatious for safe keeping.
"My darling is wise," Nyrielle said, gliding across the floor in her best approximation of her usual grace. The haze still clung to her vision but the echo of Ashlynn’s heartbeat called to her like a church bell, guiding her across the room toward the warmth of her lover’s embrace and the hot, pulsing force of life within her.
Those who had extraordinary senses or knew her well might see the uncharacteristic haste with which she rushed to Ashlynn’s side or the tremble in her hands when she took Ashlynn in her arms, but if anyone other than Ashlynn understood what was happening, they said nothing.
Her throat burned with thirst, and each beat of Ashlynn’s heart echoed in her ears like drums, calling her to the hunt. The scent of her beloved filled her nostrils, woodsy and green like spring leaves after rain, but beneath it pulsed the rich metallic sweetness that called to the predator within her. Each breath drew that scent deeper, until she could almost taste the crimson droplets on her tongue before they’d been spilled.
"Step outside with me..." Ashlynn’s whisper fell on Nyrielle’s ears like rain on the desert sands, calling out to her hunger and stirring the deep emptiness within her that ached for her lover’s sweet, tender taste. The subtle flush beneath her beloved’s fair skin called out to her and she barely heard Ashlynn’s whispered plea to step outside before gave in to temptation. Her body shivered and it took every bit of restraint she had left to sweep her darling up in her arms and rush out of the room in a cloud of dark, swirling mist.