"Yes, ma'am," he murmured. And for the first time in a long time, he smiled like the prince I remembered.
Chapter Nineteen
Selena
Someone knocked on the door. “The spell’s almost ready,” Valentin said from the other side.
Balthazar would be here soon.
I stiffened, my body going rigid against Rocco’s chest. Every ounce of warmth and safety I’d felt in his arms evaporated in an instant, replaced by something cold and sharp that coiled tight in my stomach.
Not what I wanted to hear. Not now. Not when I’d just had the first taste of what it felt like to be his.
Rocco must have felt the change in me because his arms tightened, pulling me closer. His lips brushed my temple. “I promise I won’t let him hurt you.”
I nodded against his chest, wanting to believe him. But Balthazar wasn’t some low-level demon who could be intimidated or outmaneuvered. I’d seen what Balthazar could do firsthand. I was there that afternoon at the palace—the afternoon Rocco was possessed. Even Angelo Santi, a man whomade kings flinch, had barely survived the encounter. And now we were summoning the demon on purpose.
Promises meant nothing against that kind of power.
We untangled ourselves from each other slowly, reluctantly—his arm sliding from my waist, my fingers trailing across his chest before letting go. The comforter was warm where our bodies had been, and leaving them felt like stepping out of the only safe place left in the world.
I climbed out of bed and winced. My thighs ached—a deep, delicious soreness that sent heat rushing to my cheeks. Evidence of everything we’d just done. Everything he’d just given me.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the dresser mirror and almost laughed. My hair was a wild tangle, my lips swollen, my skin flushed and marked with the faint red trails of his stubble. I was a mess. Not just from our lovemaking but from the running, the blood, all of it.
“I just need to clean up.”
“Go ahead.” Rocco propped himself up on one elbow, his dark eyes tracing over me with a lazy heat that made my stomach flip. “But you look beautiful to me.”
Heat crept up my neck and spread across my cheeks, warm enough that I was sure he could see it. I hadn’t blushed like this in years. Damn him.
I headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, stepping under the spray and letting the hot water sluice over my aching muscles. I closed my eyes, tipped my head back, and for just a few stolen seconds, let myself feel nothing but the warmth.
Then Balthazar’s name crept back into my mind, and the warmth wasn’t enough anymore.
I needed Rocco beside me. The thought surfaced before I could stop it—raw, honest, and a little terrifying. Twenty-four hours ago, I’d been his prisoner. Now I couldn’t stand being one room away from him.
What the hell had he done to me?
I stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around myself. When I looked up, Rocco was standing in the bathroom doorway. Still naked. Completely unbothered by it. He leaned against the frame, holding a stack of clean clothes, his dark hair damp with sweat and falling loose around his jaw.
My eyes betrayed me, traveling the length of him before I could rein them in. Every sculpted line, every scar, every inch of tanned skin I’d just had my hands all over.
Focus.
“I brought these for you.” He held out the clothes, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He’d caught me looking. Of course he had.
I snatched the clothes from his hands and wrapped the towel tighter around myself with as much dignity as I could manage. “Are you going to get dressed, or are you planning to greet Balthazar in your birthday suit?”
His smirk widened into a grin—a real one, the kind that crinkled the corners of his eyes and made my traitorous heart skip. He stepped closer, cupped the back of my neck, and kissed me. Slow. Warm. The kind of kiss that promised more.
“Just wanted to rinse off too.” His voice dropped, his thumb tracing circles against my nape. “But you’d better get out of here before I drag you into the shower with me.”
The heat in his eyes told me he wasn’t joking.
I pressed my palm flat against his chest and pushed—gently, because if I lingered even a second longer, I was going to let him. “Balthazar, Rocco. Demon. Summoning. Remember?”
He caught my hand before I could pull away, pressed a kiss to my knuckles, and let me go.
