“You have until the count of two,” he gritted.
She waited until thetwowas on the tip of his tongue before she cut off the aether flames pouring into his legs. But even though she’d obliged on time, she still ended up shrieking. She … He … His dick wasnotthis spectacularly rock hard and impossible to dismiss beneath her.
He’s twisted. Sick. Depraved on a whole different level.
His arms banded around her stomach when she moved to shoot off his lap. His lips grazed her ear. “Oh no, Princess. You stay right where you are. I was mostly behaving before you went and pulled that stunt. Now, deal with the consequences.”
“Let me up or I will burn your dick off,” she threatened.
“Will you?” he challenged. His hips moved beneath her,rocking into her. “I’ll admit, when your mouth and pussy surrounded it that night, I could almost think you capable of it. The heat of you,” he whispered in her ear, sparking that exact temperature to rise.
“But no, I think you won’t. I think you haven’t been able to get how it felt, how you screamed, how you came undone with me buried inside you, out of your head. And I think you might want to experience that again, Princess.” She tried to rear back and head-butt him, but he grabbed her throat, forcing her still. “Oleander House is nice,” Malachizrien said while toying with the absurdly high slit up her left thigh, “but the pleasures that it offers and its exploits have nothing on the long-standing Moonlit Revelries of the Apollyon Court. If you relieve me of my cock, you won’t get to experience it this night.” He tugged at her dress, inching it up higher. His fingers then glided back and forth over the exposed skin a fraction below the juncture of her left thigh and hip. If he slipped his fingers beneath the thin fabric and slid his hand over a few inches to the right, she would—
Kadeesha clenched her jaw at the thought. It was one she should not be having. One she should not feel moisture between her thighs over. Worst, Malachizrien, damn him, was a fae male with fae senses. He’d easily scent things he shouldn’t.
“I think you want it as much as I do,” he said, breathing in deeply.
Skies damn it!
“Princess, what would your betrothed think of me thoroughly ruining you in front of my court? Of me fucking his bride, the woman prophesied to be his queen and bring him unchallenged power, until you screammyname and cum on my dick in front of my court?”
Kadeesha sucked in a lungful of air. The increased pressurehe applied to her throat should’ve been enough to douse whatever heat might’ve pooled at her core at feeling how hard he was beneath her. And his depraved words should’ve certainly extinguished any arousal. But instead, the iron grip he had on her throat and the image he painted …
She clenched her hands at her sides before she did something infinitely stupid like grind against Malachi in a desperate need to feel more of him.The entire exquisite length of him.“Nychelle,” she breathed, reaching for a life raft.
“What?” he said, almost certainly not loving hearing the name of his auntie after that speech.
“You wouldn’t do such a thing in front of your auntie,” she gasped out. Even Malachizrien wouldn’t cross that line, debased as he was.
The dark chuckle that emanated from his chest was not the response she expected.
“I already told you she wouldn’t be staying all night. No, Nychelle has retired from the revel by now to speak with my marriage prospects in a more intimate setting.” One hand squeezed her thigh while the other stayed locked around her throat as if she was well and truly his plunder he’d seized during a war campaign. “Although you are correct, love,” Malachizrien told her in a voice that was as wicked as it was carnal. “But my auntie would have exited early anyway because neither of us would want her around for the message I intend to send to your betrothed to truly enrage him and dismantle whatever notions he and the rest of Nimani hold that the gods intend for you to be his.”
A deafening bell chime flooded the ballroom. Whatever its source, Kadeesha thanked the Celestials for the distraction. It effectively cut through the thickest, most insane part of whateverspell Malachizrien was weaving around her. It had to be some trickery, some crafty rune work to make her a more docile and subservient guest, she surmised, growing pissed at the realization. As some of the courtiers began uttering good-byes and departing upon the bell chimes, Kadeesha used the respite to think of a dozen different ways to murder Malachizrien once her oath no longer bound her from doing so. Killing a monarch was never an easy task; they were beings who possessed unfathomable amounts of power and magic. But she was a royal too, and powerful in her own right. Plus, she was a stubborn bitch when she wanted to be. She’d also have Zahzah back at her side soon. So she could get the task done if she set her mind to it, no matter how brutal of an opponent Malachizrien was.
“Is the revel over?” she asked casually, keeping her anger on a low boil. She prayed it was, that Malachizrien was only screwing with her before, and she could finally be away from him for the night. She needed space to breathe without his scent clogging her nostrils and his very energy warping her mind.
“The boring portion is,” he answered cryptically. After about half of the courtiers had departed the ballroom, the space transformed before Kadeesha’s eyes. The high tables that had been scattered throughout for eating and chatting around vanished. Overstuffed loungers and sofas replaced the tables. Many of the candles blazing in sconces on the walls winked out. Only a few continued to burn, swathing the room in a more muted light, plunging some of its corners into total darkness. The enormous glass panes of the skylight overhead slid open. Beams of direct moonlight poured into the ballroom. The pulse among the remaining revelers had shifted too. An eager, wild energy spilled across the room. Kadeesha spotted Trystin among those who’d stayed behind. Malachizrien’s cousin stood to the rightof the dais, his arm draped around a gorgeous brown-skinned man. Trystin caught her eye and winked. He was grinning widely, flashing a dazzling grille that was almost as blinding as Malachizrien’s.
“What is happening?” Kadeesha asked anxiously. “Who are the people that remained?”
“Trystin’s handpicked guest list for the rest of the night,” Malachizrien answered. “The first portion was only a ball. Now, one of the Apollyon Court’s infamous Moonlit Revelries officially begins.” He took his hand away from her throat to brush his knuckles along the side of it. Even that simple touch made her inexplicably shiver. “You may learn a thing or two that you can carry back to Oleander House,” he added.
Her mouth turned dry. Her stomach clenched. Although she didn’t know if it was born of distress or anticipation. Seriously, what was wrong with her? What had Malachizrien done to her?
“You’re a bastard,” she hissed, ripping his hand away from her thigh.
Malachizrien laughed, replacing his hand exactly where he’d had it before. “Yes, I am aware of that. But you’ll have to be more specific about what you’re accusing me of this time, love.”
“What manner of charm did you cast on me to make me so pliant? How and when did you do it? Is it woven into the dress? The jewels I wear? Something else? Why am I so … so—”
“Eager for what I told you is going to occur.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact, and she scowled at Malachizrien’s self-satisfied smirk. He ran his knuckles along her collarbone and then down the bare skin that the gown revealed between her breasts, stopping just above her navel. She repressed the newest shudder, but his smirk grew. “Just so you and I are clear, there is no charm. Your reaction to me is all onyou, Princess. I prefer my women to be enthusiastic, eager participants who beg me to fuck them of their own volition.” He briefly caught her earlobe between his teeth. “And I think you’reexactlythat.”
Whether it was fear or exhilaration, she didn’t know. But she shivered, and he felt that, and when he pulled his head away, Malachizrien was licking his lips as if he could taste both emotions and found them delicious.
Trystin ascended the dais with a goblet in hand before she could respond to that, or even figure out how the hell to respond. Malachizrien’s cousin stood to their left grinning like a fool. He took a deep guzzle of what smelled like spiced cognac and raised his cup in the air. “Welcome, friends, to tonight’s Moonlit Revelry. Drink. Indulge. Be merry!”
