There was something about being so exposed, with the lamps still on and the curtains not yet drawn, that was terribly humiliating even though Archie knew no one could see him like this. And he liked it. His chest and throat were so tight he could barely breathe and tears leaked in the corners of his eyes. Even as the shame coursed through him, he was harder than ever. It felt as though if Damaris so much as brushed against his cock, he would come undone immediately.
Still no?whispered Damaris. He wasn’t stupid, he knew Damaris was goading him, akin to fattening him up before the slaughter. And yet, he couldn’t help but play into it.
Archie could sense him, even though he had no human-like form, that the head of the demon hovered, tantalizingly close to his cock. Archie moaned, fighting against his shadowy restraints and managing only an unsatisfying squirm against the bed.
So stubborn. I don’t know why you humans deny yourselves so.Damaris trailed the lightest of touches up from the base of Archie’s cock, and Archie near screamed. He thrashed, Damaris keeping him on the bed and his mouth covered.
“Yes,” garbled Archie through his gag of shadows. “Yes, I want it. I want you.”
Good boy.Damaris enveloped him, a thick pressure that undulated around Archie’s cock. Sweet relief. But it was the words that made the blood go to his face, that heady mix of humiliation and pleasure that Archie didn’t know how to deal with pushing him over the edge. He felt Damaris feeding,feeding, feeding, his magic sliding across Archie’s skin like a lover caressing him. If he’d had a body, it would have been perfect.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT HAD BEEN weeks since Archie had seen his eldest brother, and yet there he was at lunch. Already seated in what Archie had come to think of as his seat, Charlie had the gall to look at him as if he were the interloper.
“There you are, Archibald. Have a seat,” said Charlie. No one else called him Archibald unless he was in trouble; Charlie just did it to be obnoxious. The maid, Grace, was swiftly setting out the extra place at the table, which meant Charlie hadn’t even informed the servants to expect him. Ass.
“Charles,” said Archie sourly, settling into the last seat. The remnants of hazy pleasure from Damaris’s touch curdled in his stomach, and he sighed to himself that Charlie could have such an instantly unpleasant effect on him. Charlie, naturally, didn’t even notice. Mother had other plans today, so it was just father trying valiantly to make stilted conversation. Archie wished he’d thought to go out to Crothby’s even if it was to dine alone.
“I knew I shouldn’t have had lunch in, this tastes like slime,” said Charlie, pushing his fish soup away with disgust.
“The Queen approves the food from the palace kitchens,” said father mildly.
“Then why is the palace food worse than anything you can get down Fairbank? Ye gods if it wasn’t so much faster to get to the Mile District from here, I would have never bothered.”
“You’re going to the Mile District? The Assembly of the Lords is this afternoon.” As father regarded Charlie over the top of his eyeglasses, Archie silently dunked a piece of bread into his soup and stuffed it into his mouth to save himself from needing to contribute. The soup was delicious, creamy with fresh herbs and lemon to cut through the fish, he honestly didn’t know what Charlie was complaining about.
More.
Archie twitched silently; he hadn’t expected Damaris to join in. Mostly, the demon seemed content to share Archie’s body with only the occasional observation, which was a relief.More…?
Soup.
Oh, huh.You like salmon soup?
Demons do not taste.Damaris sent Archie a confusing jumble of images of them tangled together; it took Archie a moment to realize that Damaris had been literal when he fed on Archie. The desire that he took from Archie was the food that sustained his demonic ability, which must mean he didn’thave the ability to taste in the same way that humans lacked the ability to sense magic. The knowledge that the only way Damaris was tasting food was through Archie’s body was an oddly intimate revelation.
But I’ve eaten many times since meeting you.
Your human body reacts in many strange ways. As our bond gets stronger, the differences become easier to discern,said Damaris with what Archie only describe as a slight sneer. He deposited a number of other examples in Archie’s mind.I still do not understand the pleasure of sweating.
Sweating isn’t meant to be pleasurable, it’s just something that happens when you’re hot.
Can you not cease?
I – no, humans don’t really have control of our bodies like that.It was difficult to explain when he’d experienced first hand the way Damaris could manipulate his entire being.
No wonder your fleshy prison gives you so little joy.
Ouch. That one felt a little too close to the truth for Archie’s liking, and he had no good reply. He wasn’t going to be able to explain why he was the way he was, and why he wasn’t supposed to be like this. He took another sip of soup, instead, in the hopes it would distract him.
I have so many flavors to show you. Not just soup, but all different kinds of food,Archie thought as if he were trying to tempt a child, and received a satisfied rumble from Damaris in return.
Archie was brought rudely back to the conversation at the dining table as Charlie shoved his chair back, scraping the back legs harshly across the polished wooden floor. He nearly toppled Grace over from her post, jostling the water jug she held. Charlie raised a hand and she shrank away, back hitting the wall.
“Charles!” Father snapped. Charlie aborted his move with a jerk of his arm and hissed an insult at her that made Archie gasp before storming away. They watched him go as in appalled silence before father spoke again. “Grace, no, leave that, go clean up and take a moment to compose yourself. Nell, why don’t you go with her.”
“Yes milord. And I’ll fetch cloths to clean this immediately.” Nell folded an arm around Grace and ushered her from the room.
