‘Who?’
‘Your husband.’ A slow smile crept across the woman’s perfect face, one that revealed teeth like pearl-tipped blades. ‘But you can have him, if you wish. There is another here… so like him.’
She gestured towards the far side of the chamber, where a familiar figure paced the perimeter. The moment Mal’s gaze met Thanatos’, a heat flooded through her, hot and molten, a craving so fierce it stole the breath from her lungs.
‘Why… why do I feel this way?’ she whispered, her voice unsteady.
The woman shrugged, her many arms flexing. ‘Is pleasure something to be feared?’
‘No, but… not him,’ Mal muttered, already trying to resist the pull.
‘Don’t fight it,’ the woman crooned before vanishing into the haze, replaced by Thanatos himself.
‘What did she say to you?’ he asked at once, concern etchedinto every line of his face as he sat beside her. ‘You mustn’t listen to Asmodeus.’
‘That was Asmodeus?’
‘Yes. He wears many faces. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes both.’
Mal’s teeth sank into her lower lip, her thoughts wandering dangerously towards Thanatos’ mouth. Without hesitation, she straddled his lap, delighting in the flash of astonishment that crossed his features like a storm breaking.
‘What are you doing, Melinoe?’ he asked, his voice a low rasp, more breath than sound.
She offered him a mischievous smile, tracing a single, languid finger down the line of his jaw. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘Don’t feign innocence,’ he said, though his tone lacked conviction. Those fathomless black eyes glittered with something close to panic, yet beneath it, a hunger brewed, one that made Mal press herself more fully against him.
‘You think I don’t want this?’ she whispered, her lips brushing against the cold skin of his neck. She smiled when he gasped, when her tongue tasted him. ‘If you truly didn’t want this, you’d have pushed me away by now.’
‘Please… don’t,’ he croaked, voice strained, his breath hitching. ‘I’m not strong enough to deny you.’
‘Then don’t,’ she breathed, her voice velvet and heat.
His hands, trembling faintly, slid to the hem of her dress. He lifted the fabric with aching slowness, fingertips grazing her skin, leaving fire and goosebumps in their wake.
‘You’ll regret this,’ he whispered, though the words fell hollow.
Mal laughed softly as her fingers toyed with the buttons of his black shirt, undoing them one by one until thefabric hung open, revealing the smooth expanse of his chest. She leaned in, brushing her lips against his skin.
‘Are you nervous?’ she asked, her breath warm against him.
‘If I had a heartbeat,’ he said, voice rough, low, ‘it would be pounding like mad right now, Melinoe.’
Her brow furrowed slightly as she pressed her palm to his chest. ‘You don’t have a heartbeat?’
‘I am Death itself, Melinoe,’ he replied, his tone teasing, almost reverent.
‘You enjoy saying my name, don’t you?’
‘I enjoy you,’ he said simply, his hands tightening around her waist, drawing her nearer. ‘And right now, I’d enjoy doing all sorts of unspeakable things to you.’
‘Such as?’ she asked, arching an eyebrow, well aware of how hard he was beneath her.
His lips brushed the shell of her ear. ‘Such as letting you fuck me in front of every soul in this room,’ he whispered, his voice a decadent promise. One hand rose, trailing a slow, deliberate path from the hollow of her throat, between her breasts, and down, halting just at the edge of her dress.
‘Won’t you?’ she asked, her smile wicked and taunting. ‘Or are you feeling shy?’
Without warning, the world seemed to tilt. Mal found herself on her back, the supple leather of the sofa cool against her spine. Thanatos loomed above her, a shadow spun from silk and fire, his arms caging her in, his presence overwhelming and inescapable.
