17
The One Beating Most Swiftly Toward your Destruction
Jesse grasped for his clothes, tripping over the chair and the bedpost. His head was a mess of moments from his latest dream, moments he needed to be well rid of. Esmerelda’s draught had bought him precious sleep these past nights, but once there he’d been trapped by these images of Ravenna, these enticements he hadn’t asked for and didn’t want.
If only that were true. He wanted her well enough. But it went no further than a physical response to her undeniably enchanting presence. Whatever relief it would offer him wouldn’t be worth the cost.
Anything you want, it’s yours, she’d repeated as she gazed down upon him. As she moved in steady, torturous rhythm.
Ravenna’s voice, this time real, cut through the morning fog. “You’ve been
