“To your own tailor?” I said drily. “I doubt it.”
And now the tailor would definitely be punished. This was Yiti’s revenge, and I wasn’t about to stand in the way. If the head tailor survived, then it would be due to his own cunning and skill.
The demon king didn’t answer, and I imagined he was imagining the same thing as me right now—that if he slid his large hands under the neckline of my dress, then both of my breasts could be in his hands.
My chest rose, and I pressed my thighs together. “Take your hands off me, Carmine.”
He did so, but only after sliding them down my upper arms. I sighed, and my head arched to one side of its own accord.
He trailed a finger down my neck, and I shot to my feet, whirling to place my back to the table.
Carmine kicked the chair out of the way, then crowded me. I arched back to keep space between us.
He whispered, a few inches from my face, “Thiswill get worse after our intention ritual. What will you do then, sweet Syera?”
Lust wasn’t my sole thought. It was more like the ninth or tenth… until these moments where lust exploded like a fucking dam. I squeezed my eyes shut. “I don’t know.”
“What is it that you used to say?” he mocked. “You’re playing with fire.”
I snapped my gaze open to glare. “I’m not the one who created an ultimatum so I’d agree to the next step. You’re bringing this on yourself. Why are you angry at me?”
He inhaled, gaze furious. “I am so fucking angry at you, Syera, but I’m not the one afraid of being burned.”
“You should be. All demons can go up in flames.”
I edged out along the table, but he hooked an arm around my waist when I was nearly free. He pressed his torso to my back, and I bit back on the urge to press my ass back against his cock. I had to get out of here.
Carmine spoke next to my ear. “I could never be afraid of our mating. You are the only thing that has ever made sense in my existence.”
I swallowed. “Whatever this mangled mess is by now, it’s meaningless tome. You need to let go of the idea that we will exist together.”
“The past could never have been different, but I wish that I could erase it all to regain what we had.”
He released me.
I put distance between us, then whirled back. “All we ever had were lies. You could have chosen to let them live.”
“No I couldn’t,” he roared.
The switch was so sudden that I jumped.
He stormed closer and grabbed my hands when I stumbled back. “Why do you cling to this denial? You know that I could do nothing other than kill such a threat to my throne.Youwould be dead if you weren’t my mate. I cannot deny the force that comes with being king.”
My throat worked. His mother had touched on this, too, but Carmine had never allowed me so much insight into being king. “What do you mean?”
He released me and turned away. “There is much you don’t understand. That you will never understand.”
“I wonder why that is.”
Even this conversation was more than he deserved. There was nothing Carmine could do to erase the past, and without that, I could never forgive him. “Whether you had control of their deaths is irrelevant,” I finally said. “What matters is thatyoumurdered them, and I could never love that person. So there’s the answer to your question. I’ll control my lust after the intention ritual in the same way as I do now.”
He remained turned away, but I could see that his body vibrated.
I was done.
I said to his back, “I need to visit the Pinnacle, so I’ll portal early today.”
“Why?” He growled the word.
