Read Online Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole - Free Book Online

you’re ignoring them. On the night that Myst left Nikolai, he was about to torture her for information in Mount Oblak’s dungeon. Our sisters rescued her from that fate, and they wanted to kill Nikolai, but Myst left him alive. Your brother owes her his life.”
    â€œWatch what you say, plika .”
    â€œChit? You called me a chit?”
    Figured she’d know Estonian.
    Her own ire clearly mounting, she said, “And what’ll happen if the plika doesn’t watch what she says? Will you hurt me, your one and only Bride?”
    â€œYou think I’m bound by this? Bound to you?”Even as he sneered the words, he had to resist that unbearable pull toward her. Resent it. “You think that I’ll follow you around like a dog as you scorn me?” His eyes kept straying to her neck. Would she notice?
    â€œScorning you hadn’t even been in the decision tree for me, but now that you bring it up, it makes total sense, especially considering the repercussions otherwise,” she said. Yet then she frowned. “Wait a second. I see what you’re doing. Trying to scare me off.”
    She rose, tucking the sheet around her like a towel. “Look, I’m as freaked out about this as you are. But the fact is that I . . . liked you, up until five minutes ago, and I wanted to see you again—even though I’d be risking ridicule at best and ostracism at worst.” She took a step closer to him, that vulnerability in her expression. “I’m sure this is all overwhelming for you. One minute you’re going about your business, and the next you’re blooded with a Bride—”
    â€œOne I didn’t choose .” He was taking his frustration out on her, and he couldn’t seem to stop. “I didn’t manage monogamy as a human, though I could have wed my pick of the most ravishing women in my country. How do you think I’ll fare with a female I can’t touch?” Especially now that he could have others.
    Her eyes narrowed, and lightning struck outside. “Monogamy? I’m not angling for a wedding!” All shades of that previous vulnerability were gone, replaced by haughtiness. “And if you don’t think I can hold my own against all those eighteenth-centurymortals you were out tagging, then you’re a fool, Casanova.” At his expression, she added, “Oh, yes, I know all about you.”
    He went still. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œI was alive back then. And all the Lore heard about the ruthless warlord brothers from Estonia. The general, the scholar, the enigma, and . . . the manwhore .”
    He clenched his jaw at the thought of having his life analyzed, especially by creatures he didn’t even understand. The Forbearers could garner little information on Lore beings—their lives held secret—and yet they’d been actively following his own exploits?
    â€œA manwhore?” Was that all he’d been remembered as? “Maybe I left behind the women I’d enjoyed because I didn’t want to deal with exactly this .” Even now he wanted to end this argument by kissing her and taking her to bed, which confused him even more. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the hour we just shared was the best we ever will—it’s all going to go downhill from there.”
    â€œYou don’t have the sense to realize you were blooded by one of the only Valkyrie who would accept a vampire in her bed.”
    â€œTo do precisely what there? Freeze?”
    In a flash, she drew back her blistered hand to slap him.
    â€œDo it, ice queen. And feel the sting with me.”
    Lightning struck again as she lowered her hand. “You’re not worth it, leech,” she said, but he was scarcely listening. Below her collarbone, a small lineof blood had just risen from the last remnant of her wounds.
    That stark red against her alabaster skin called