“Do you know the Ocean of Lir has magical properties?”Desmond asked carefully.
I shook my head.The air was crisp and salty, and breathing it in was a balm to my soul.
“I’m not surprised since it’s faerie territory.”
“Some say swimming in it can show you your future.”He shrugged, sinking his feet into the sand.
“Unless you’re water-touched, of course,” he said.
“You don’t believe it?”I asked.
He shrugged.“Even if I did, why would I want to see my future?I already know what it is.”He said the words with sadness.
“What is that?”I asked, feeling strangely vulnerable.“What lies in your future Desmond O’Neil?”
“To break the line,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.“Well, according to my father, my destiny is to be King of course.”His words were heavy.
“No queen?”I asked curiously.
“I’d have to get married first, Bane.And in order for that to happen, I’d have to find a woman who could ignite my heat, or at the very least...tolerate mypredicament.”
“You think they’d be put off because you are a virgin?”I asked as Desmond chewed on his lip.
“I’m a virginal incubus who hasn’t gone into heat, Bane.If that is not a sorry excuse for a prince, I do not know what is.”
“Sex isn’t everything, Desmond.There is more to a relationship than?—”
“Says the incubus who hasclaimeda mate and is on track to being aconsort.”
He turned his gaze on me and I could see the jealousy there.His eyes glistened red for a moment and I swore I saw his monster shake beneath the surface, but he stuffed it down.
“All I’m saying is we’re more than just objects of desire.”My words were heavy between us with the weight of the truth.
I’d thought such things for years, but it wasn’t until I met Violet, that I’d truly felt that desire, thathopethat someonecouldwant me for more than my incubus charms and my cursed cock.
He shook his head.“I’d be lucky to find a consort, but unless I go into heat...”
I watched his shoulders slump.
“I need my heat to come,” he said solidly.“Without it, I will never have a consort.I will never have the chance to marry, and I will never have the chance to have an heir, and...”He slid his hand through his hair, shaking his head.
“Without your heat, you can’t be king,” I said as the truth fell out of my mouth.
“Precisely.”
“Hey, you two!”Delaney said, skipping over to us.Her long red hair blew in the wind and the sun lit up her pale skin like a halo.She bounded over to us, her ample breasts bouncing with each motion out of her triangle-cut yellow polka dot bikini.
Desmond looked up, and his entire body tensed.“Delaney, you, uh—” He cleared his throat.“Yellow is a beautiful color on you.”
She stopped just before us, grinning as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
I watched their interaction intently.The heat rolling off of Desmond was not missed and it was practically a flame all on its own.
He fought to keep his gaze on her face, but I knew he wanted to look at her breasts.Lust was pouring off of him.
And I realized our virginal incubus could indeed lust.
And if he could lust, he could covet.He could give in to his heat and have everything he wanted.He just needed to free the monster he kept trying to hide.
