“Do you remember the night we danced in the tower?”
Nox spins me to face him again, one hand holding mine between us and his other resting on my lower back. It’s so easy to get lost in the way his eyes swallow me whole, how everything about him draws me in.
“Of course. It was my first time dancing, after all.”
“I almost kissed you that night,” he confesses, leaning in until our noses touch. “I could tell you wanted me to; it was written all over your beautiful face. The way your chest was rising and falling. How you were pushing yourself closer to me.Gods, did I want to. I had dreamed about how you would taste—how your body might feel in my hands—for so long. But when the moment came, I hesitated. Then we were interrupted, and it felt like it wasn’t the right time anymore. I do wonder sometimes how things might have changed if we had kissed then.”
“There is nothing stopping you from kissing menow.”
Heat sparks in his eyes as his lips hover over mine. “If I kiss you now, I may not be able to stop,” he says quietly, his breath warm against my lips. “Because, I need to be honest, the moment you said yes to marrying me, I have thought of only one thing.”
“And what is that?” I ask, my fingers digging into the muscles of his shoulder.
“Getting you alone and slowly undressing you from thisverydistracting dress so that you’re only wearing my ring.” He pauses, his gaze flicking up to my head before dropping back down. “I suppose the crown can stay on too.”
“So weshouldn’tkiss, then?” I ask, pushing myself closer to him as desire pools low in my belly.
“Not unless you’re fine with leaving this party.”
The song ends, the slow beat replaced by one that’s more lively. New couples form and begin dancing around where Nox and I now stand. My hand roams from his shoulder to his collarbone, tracing the indent there until I reach the unbuttoned portion of his shirt.
“And if I askedyouto keep your crown on, would you?”
He makes a noise deep in his throat, his voice dark and seductive when he answers, “I’ll dowhateveryou want me to.”
“I want you,” I rasp against his mouth, and that’s all it takes before he’s guiding me through the crowd and back towards the palace.
Chapter Seventy-Six: Rhea
Our steps are clumsyas we stumble into his room, Nox kicking the door closed behind him before bringing his lips to mine.
“Do you haveanyidea how you torture me?” he asks. My mouth opens to his as our tongues tangle together and his hands roam over my backside and squeeze, lifting me so that my legs can wrap around him. His arousal is a hard line between us, and I gasp desperately for air when he grazes his teeth down my neck while his fingers dig harder into my flesh. “I think about you allfucking day. Your eyes and your smile and your laugh. The way you taste. How perfect you feel around my cock.All day, Rhea. It’s godsdamn torture to be apart from you.”
My nails scour the back of his neck, words beyond me as I writhe against his body. The sitting room is alight with the glow of spelled flames, but Nox leads us right to the bedroom, somehow having the grace to give me all of his attention without crashing us into any furniture. Closing the bedroom door, he spins and gently presses my back against it, his hands sliding up my sides as his calloused skin scrapes against mine. My heart soars in my chest, desire a cresting wave building within me with every sweep of his tongue in my mouth and brush of his thumbs on the undersides of my breasts.
“This dress could bring an entire kingdom to their knees for you,” he says against me, teasing me when one hand moves lower and his fingers apply pressure to the apex of my thighs.
“I don’t need an entire kingdom on their knees for me. Only you.”
He growls, and then we’re moving lower as Nox does just that. Shadows slide against the floor and up my body, their icy touch contrasting the fire burning within me. Midnight tendrils wrap around my waist and upper thighs and help to hold me in place when Nox places each of my legs over his shoulders, moving the fabric of my dress off to the side while he positions his mouth right at my center.
“Is this okay?” he asks, one hand pressing low on my stomach while he inhales deeply, as his star-flecked gaze peers up into mine beneath his dark waves and the crown resting upon them. “Prince of Stars” Selene had called him, and I find that I whole-heartedly agree.
“Yes.” I wrap a hand around the back of his head, my other pressing firmly into the door behind me. He lays his tongue flatagainst me, my arousal seeping through my undergarments and making him groan in approval.
“So wet—you are alwaysso wetand ready for me.”
I nod, the ache to have his mouth and that wicked tongue drawing along my flesh, to feel him deep inside of me, nearly unbearable.
“Nox,” I gasp, attempting to press closer to him while simultaneously yielding to his control. The pressure of his tongue darting out, only to be blocked by the thin layer of fabric again coils my desire more tightly.
His laugh is dark and rough at my frustrated whimper as he skims his fingers down the inside of one of my thighs, taunting me while his icy shadows dance along my skin in juxtaposition. “Do you need more, Sunshine? Do you want me to fuck you with my tongue?”
“Gods, your mouth.”
“Answer the question, love. Tell me what you want me to do.”
My chest heaves, and I’m beyond the point of caring about anything but relieving the way my entire body is strung tight. “Put your mouth on me, Nox.Please.”
