A cold chill ran down her spine.
Trying desperately to hide her panic, she lowered her eyes. Even she herself had no idea why she had said sothing like that.
Her heart pounded violently, as though it might explode at any mont. The thought that he might hear its thunderous beating made goosebumps rise all over her body.
Thrown into a panic, Talia floundered helplessly before starting to blurt out whatever ca to mind.
“Just imagining it is horrifying, isn't it? So stop shoving that awful dicine at . I hate it that much, that's all...”
But the words she uttered to cover herself only seed to reveal her true feelings instead, and heat spread all the way to her ears. She wet her drying lips with her tongue.
She sensed Varkas, who had been standing motionless, approaching the bedside.
Yet she could not bring herself to raise her head.
Surely he was wearing an incredulous expression. A woman who had been rampaging like a possessed demon only hours ago was suddenly saying absurd things. He was probably disgusted. Perhaps he was even looking at her with cold ridicule.
As though being chased by sothing, she rambled on.
“Do you know how terrible that dicine is? It makes even my insides hurt after I take it. But you keep forcing , so I just ant that I wanted you to stop...”
“Talia.”
At the voice sounding right above her forehead, Talia stopped speaking.
Slowly raising her head, she found herself staring into eyes like a winter lake before dawn.
Looking at her as though she were an unsolvable puzzle, the man spoke quietly.
“I'll feed it to you, so co here.”
Talia blinked blankly.
She couldn't fully comprehend what she had just heard.
Her confused gaze dropped to the dicine bottle in his hand before drifting to his smooth-looking lips.
Suddenly, a strange thirst arose within her.
She bit at her dry lips and turned her eyes away.
“I only...”
I was just saying it. Why are you taking it so seriously?
She was about to mumble that out when he uncapped the bottle.
Talia jerked her head up.
His clear, unreadable eyes watched her as though confirming her intentions. For a mont, it felt as though he could see straight through her mind, and her heart dropped.
Keeping those mineral-like eyes fixed on her, he brought the bottle to his lips.
If she told him to stop now, she could at least preserve the last shred of her pride.
Hadn't she struggled desperately all this ti not to lose even that?
Without it, she truly would beco nothing.
'But...'
She looked up at him with trembling eyes.
The mory of the day his lips had touched hers surfaced in her mind.
If sacrificing a little of her pride would let her confirm that night once more...
Talia shut her eyes tightly.
Then a large hand with prominent joints wrapped around the back of her neck.
The scent of water, mint, and that sll of wind that always made her uneasy brushed against her nose. Then lips carrying the fragrance of wild flowers covered her own.
Once, those lips had uttered nothing but sharp words that made her chest ache. When she was young, she had even imagined that touching them would feel like being cut by a blade.
Those cruel lips were now shaking all her senses.
Unconsciously, Talia gripped his shirt tightly.
Tilting her head back, he pressed his lips down more firmly. Talia's body stiffened, but unable to resist the pressure against her cheek, she parted her lips. Concentrated herbal liquid flowed over the tip of her tongue.
She frowned at the bitter taste that seed to burn her mouth, but only for a mont.
A soft tongue slipped between her lips.
Startled by the deep intrusion that seed about to pierce her throat, she pushed against his chest, and the slick flesh retreated slightly. But before she could even feel relieved, the sensitive flesh inside her cheek was crushed once again.
Unaccustod to such stimulation, Talia shrank her neck.
The damp flesh changed direction, rubbed against the roof of her mouth, then wrapped itself around her tongue. Saliva pooled in her mouth.
The bitter liquid and both of their saliva mixed together and flowed down the corner of her lips. Before she even had ti to feel embarrassed, his thick tongue delved deep again.
Her throat tightened on its own, drawing him in. The instinctive act of swallowing sothing had transford into sothing unbearably obscene.
A strange moan escaped her lips, one she had never imagined she could make, and she shuddered. The wet sounds echoed all the way to her ears. Unable to endure his increasingly intense movents, she pounded his iron-like shoulder with her fist, and only then did his lips finally part.
Talia stared with trembling eyes at the transparent thread of saliva stretching between them before hesitantly lifting her gaze.
His face was calm, as though he were rely observing her reaction.
Suddenly, deep confusion swept over her.
Could everything that had just happened have been a delusion?
She froze at his peaceful expression, and then Varkas picked up the bottle and gave it a light shake.
“There's still dicine left.”
His low, clear voice tinged with the faint sound of tal brushed against her ears.
Talia's eyes widened before she hurriedly lowered them. Violent pounding rang in her temples.
Leaning close to her ear, he quietly demanded another fragnt of her pride.
“What should we do with this?”
Touching her tingling lips, Talia stared at the wavering red shadows.
How long she struggled in the suffocating silence, she did not know.
Eventually, she nodded.
Yet even after so ti had passed, he did nothing.
After hesitating for a mont, Talia forced the words out through her constricted throat.
“...Feed .”
In an instant, her head tilted back, and the dark liquid flowed into her mouth.
As she swallowed it down, unpleasant heat slid down her throat.
Yet the lingering bitterness was instantly washed away by sticky saliva.
Clutching his shirt tightly, Talia let out ragged breaths.
Warm flesh ceaselessly explored the narrow space. Gradually pushed back by his insistence, her back finally touched the bedsheets.
Talia looked up at him with frightened eyes.
She wanted to sit up, but she couldn't separate herself from him even for a mont.
Supporting himself with one hand on the bed, Varkas leaned over her and continued drawing in her lips.
His face was hidden in deep shadows, and only his eyes shone vividly.
It felt as though she were subrged in cold flas.
All her senses lted away, while her heart grew cold with unease.
“Open your mouth wider.”
His damp voice brushed against her lips.
Looking up at him with trembling eyes, Talia slowly parted her lips further.
Warm flesh imdiately scraped over her tongue and invaded near her throat. As though savoring the sensation of her choking around him, he lingered there before slowly withdrawing.
The repeated acts left her mind hazy.
Turning her head aside to breathe, she found her hair seized.
His long fingers wrapped around her hair and tugged gently, without pain.
Even that felt frighteningly obscene.
“Varkas...”
A pleading tone mixed into her ragged breaths.
She didn't even know what she was begging for.
Looking up at him through clouded eyes, she saw the faint distortion in his gaze. His rough palm stroked her heated neck.
Suddenly, a terrible question arose.
Had he touched soone else like this before?
The image of him kissing Aila flashed through her mind.
He must have laid that woman on a bed too.
He must have kissed her lips as well.
And just as he silently granted Talia's wishes, he must have silently granted hers.
Because to him, such things ant nothing.
“...Why are you crying?”
He lifted his head and asked in a deeply lowered voice.
His callused thumb brushed beneath her eyes.
Talia hid her gaze beneath lowered lashes.
“...I'm tired. I want to sleep now.”
Frowning slightly, Varkas slowly rose.
It was hard to believe that this was the sa man who had so greedily explored another's mouth monts ago. He looked utterly detached.
Walking to the window, he pushed it open.
Cool, damp air swept away the heat filling the room.
Talia stared blankly at his silhouette swallowed by darkness, then turned to the opposite side and closed her eyes.
Her mind gradually grew hazy.
When she woke tomorrow, would she once again think today had been a dream?
Thinking such things vaguely, Talia soon drifted into unconsciousness.
* * *
“I've made sure everyone keeps their mouths shut, so last night's unfortunate incident won't spread.”
Varkas, gently patting Tork, who snorted roughly, looked at the lord of Dorkaen.
The man grinned and chattered carelessly.
“Still, you truly have taken a remarkable wife. To think such a heavenly beauty could possess such a formidable temper...”
“Uzan Darken.”
Perhaps sensing the warning in his voice, the man imdiately shut his mouth.
Varkas added calmly,
“It seems you'd do better to keep your own mouth under control first.”
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