The fingers that had been stroking her hair slowly traced down the back of her neck.
Without realizing it, Talia tilted her head back. The tongue that never missed a chance to wound her with cruel words now gently swept through every corner of her mouth.
Their breathing gradually grew ragged, and her vision blurred. She could feel the body pressed against hers growing so hot that it was almost unbearable, yet neither of them could stop.
Following Varkas's lead, Talia languidly entwined her tongue with his.
How long had they remained like that?
By the time her lips had begun to sting, he finally drew back.
Talia looked up at him as she struggled to catch her breath. In stark contrast to the feverishly pounding body before her, the silent face gazing down at her bore not the slightest trace of desire. That incomprehensible contradiction unsettled her.
After calming her uneven breathing, Talia quietly turned away.
“I should... be going now.”
Just as she was about to climb off the bed, an arm wrapped around her waist.
“Stay a little longer.”
The mellow murmur against her ear seemed to melt her very bones. His body fit flawlessly against her back as he pressed his lips to the nape of her neck.
Talia's body stiffened.
The reason she had come here was to bear the heir of the Grand Ducal House.
Even surrendering herself to him in the darkness had been nothing more than a necessary step to accept him without pain.
Those lies—lies so close to self-hypnosis—threatened to crumble at the touch of a single gentle caress. She desperately steeled her resolve.
“There's no reason for me to stay here.”
“There's no reason for you to leave, either.”
He said it while absently stroking her hair.
“I'm the patient, aren't I? Just stay with me until I fall asleep.”
There was a faint drowsiness in his voice.
Talia bit her lip.
Why do you want me to stay beside you?
She wanted to demand an answer, yet she feared the disappointment it might bring.
After hesitating for a long while, all she managed to say was,
“...Then hurry up and go to sleep.”
She felt his lips move ever so slightly.
Did he... smile?
No, that couldn't be right. Those lips never moved except to sneer or curl into cold mockery.
Suppressing the urge to turn around, she stared fixedly at the rain-speckled window. At that moment, lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the rumbling growl of thunder.
“Are you afraid of thunder?”
He suddenly asked.
Only then did Talia realize that she was trembling.
She had never once feared storms or lightning, but she did not bother denying it. She had no desire to let him discover that it was the emotions he stirred within her that had left her shaken.
Not long afterward, his breathing settled into a steady rhythm. The heavy pounding of his heart gradually slowed as well.
Has he fallen asleep?
...Or maybe not.
She wasted an absurd amount of time silently wondering about something she could have confirmed simply by turning around. Before she knew it, drowsiness swept over her like a tidal wave.
Little by little, she drifted across the boundary between wakefulness and sleep.
Then, in an instant, she was dragged downward, sinking into a darkness so dense it seemed to swallow everything.
The warmth that had so comfortably enveloped her vanished in an instant.
Darkness became a crushing hammer that pulverized her entire body.
She struggled desperately toward the light, but all she heard was the pitiful clattering of shattered bones grinding together.
Then, amid that sound, she heard breathing.
A low, growling breath.
She saw a pair of eyes gleaming within the darkness.
A monster with crimson eyes slowly crawled toward her, intent on devouring her whole. The grotesque outline of a beast wrapped in scales gradually came into view.
It opened its jaws and crushed her mangled lower body between its fangs.
Not even a scream escaped her lips.
With eyes frozen in terror, Talia watched the creature hidden within the darkness tear her body apart.