Taming the Merman - Chapter 4

I suspected Lan Shiyu had not blocked all the lust demon’s poison after all.

Nothing else could explain why my mind went blank and I actually opened my mouth and bit down.

It made no sense. Absolutely none.

We were nemeses, and nemeses did not—

I tried to withdraw my reckless mouth, but Lan Shiyu seemed to foresee it and pressed me firmly against him.

“Let go… mm…”

When I spoke, my teeth accidentally grazed him. The man who had mocked my flat little teeth shuddered from that single touch.

The body against my waist tightened like a fully drawn bow, all strength and beauty.

I was in no mood to admire it.

I smacked my lips without thinking and tasted something far too sweet.

When I realized what it was, I went numb with shock.

No book had ever taught me how to handle the catastrophic experience of being nursed by my nemesis.

Should I spit it out, throw back my head, and laugh at how unimpressive he tasted? Or swallow with perfect composure to prove that a real woman feared nothing?

No. Neither of those was right. What would a normal person do?

While I wrestled with the question, Lan Shiyu kept my mouth occupied.

When I stopped sucking, he pinched the back of my neck in confusion. “What is it, baby? Eat. Don’t you even know how?”

Eat my—

I spat the milky liquid out. “I don’t have time to indulge your madness. Put your clothes on.”

Once I took him back to the sect and handed him over to a healer, I still had sword-tempering materials to find.

The thought of my precious sword dispelled most of my confusion. My reason returned, and I tried to push Lan Shiyu’s body off mine.

His eyes abruptly darkened.

I did not notice. I was still struggling to climb down from his waist when one foot finally touched the ground.

Then tremendous force closed around me.

The world spun. Lan Shiyu caught my waist, turned me around, and pinned me facedown over his tail.

“Why won’t you listen? Why must you always run away from me?”

Perhaps it was the nature of his kind, but Lan Shiyu possessed a voice that could melt one’s bones. At that moment, however, even its beauty could not conceal the darkness twisting through his words.

As he spoke, he deliberately breathed against the skin behind my ear. Yet when my hairs rose as he intended, he seemed displeased.

“You’re afraid?” His fingertips traced behind my ear, then wandered to my lips. “I love you so much. How could you be afraid of me?”

My thunderous heartbeat drowned out his words, but years of opposing him made me retort on instinct.

“Who’s afraid of you? I just… I think you’re unhygienic…”

Enlightenment dawned on his face.

With an indulgent smile, he took my hand and guided it toward a peculiarly shaped scale beneath his tail.

“So my baby is being picky.” His voice turned hoarse. “That’s all right. As long as you stay beside me like a good girl, I’ll give you anything you want.”

“If you’re picky, you can eat something else.”

At last, I dredged a scrap of theory from the darkest corner of my memory.

The most terrifying thing about a lust demon’s venom was not its toxicity.

It was that the stuff was considered the most powerful aphrodisiac in existence—and there was no antidote.