Shawna Jalbert

“Vane is possessive of his toys, and I am his favorite one, even if he likes to break me again and again. He licks his way up the sensitive line of my throat, and I shiver beneath him. Maybe I don’t hate him. Maybe he’s just enough like his uncle that it quiets that incessant gnawing in my gut. All of the Maddred men are dark and dangerous and monstrous. And dark, monstrous things like to be in the company of other dark, monstrous things. I think that’s why we’re terrified of losing each other, why we cling to one another, not with love, but the opposite: obsession. Friction builds between us. I’m hot and warm and cold all over and when Vane’s teeth tickle my neck, I jolt away from him. “Hold still,” he says, yanks my head back, and sinks his teeth into me. The first hot gush of blood surges out of the puncture wounds. My veins fill with honey. Getting bitten by a jabberwocky feels like your bones melt into stars.”
― Nikki St. Crowe, Dark & Darker Still: A Vane and Roc Origin Story