In a flash, a powerful hand encircles my throat. It’s a loose hold, but I go still nonetheless. Eyes on mine, he doesn’t stop there. The king cages me against the sill with his body, lean hips imprisoning mine, and his free hand fisting in my loose hair. He pulls, making my back arch slightly, and desire burns through me at the press of his groin on my stomach. Hishardgroin. A depraved shudder runs through me.
Nostrils flaring, his lips part.
“Are you afraid of me, Starbright?” he rasps, that gravelly voice doing more to me than his controlling hold. His thumb caresses my hammering pulse.
I bare my teeth. “Never.”
He bends, mouth ghosting over my jaw to my earlobe. He bites, and I wince even as lust shoots through my veins. Beneath my bodice, my nipples bud painfully, and a traitorous, throbbing heat gathers in my core. My magic rears up, runes unspooling down my arms as my bracers flare. That unsettling, predatory gaze flicks to the silvery coils and darkens even more. His tattoos writhe, snapping at my skin. Not for the first time, I wish the cuffs gone so he can feel the full answering force ofmymagic.
I’m far from unprotected, not as I yank my dagger from its holster and wedge my arm up between us to press the point of the blade to his throat. Shadows instantly wind around my forearm, but I keep my hand locked in place as a drop of blood swells. Sands, the sight of it shouldn’t enflame my lust even more, nor should I have an indecent desire to taste the scarlet bead. Perhaps I am as much of a monster as he is.
I laugh coldly. “We all have demons, don’t we?”
“Notlike this,” he says, his gold-sheened onyx stare drilling down into mine. “A god cursed me to never consummate my soul-fated bond that is my divine right. Anything Ifeelwill trigger the curse, and when I claim my soul-fated, I will be condemned to the beast for eternity.” He scoffs, an awful, derisive sound. “So you see, Starbright, my so-called demons herald my end. Canyousay the same?” he asks mockingly.
Dazed, I blink at him, thoughts churning. Anything he feels? As in emotions or physical sensations? Isthatwhy he has been pushing me away every time we get too close? Why he’s been keeping me at a distance? Because he feelstoo much?
“Are you going to kill me, pátni?” he murmurs, unaware of the chaos unspooling in my mind.
“What does that even mean?” I snap.
His eyes bore into mine like burning embers. “Wife.”
“I’m not your wife.” A shiver climbs my spine.
“The Royal Stars have decreed it so.”
“Fuck them,” I spew recklessly.
The king smiles slowly... a full one that curls his lips upward and makes starlight sparkle in those night-sky onyx eyes. My breath hitches when he laughs.Laughs!Sands, it’s fucking beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sound like that, but one thing’s for sure: I absolutely do noteverwant to hear that again because of how utterly weak it makes me for him.
“That irreverent tongue of yours, Starbright, will earn you their wrath.”
“Still obsessed with said appendage, I see.” That saturnine gaze drops to my mouth. I lick my bottom lip, and his eyes dilate. “Infinitely.”
My heart is still fluttering at the stupid effect of his laughter. His fist tightens, tugging my head back, the sting of my scalp riding the pleasure simmering in my veins. Looming over me, he presses down, and the tip of the blade sinks into his throat, the bead of blood becoming a small rivulet that runs into his collar.
“Don’t.”
“You think a mere blade can stop me?” he murmurs, and then groans as I lick my dry lips again. “I’d welcome any blade for a single taste of you. Let you bleed me dry. Tell me to stop, Suraya, and I will.” His entire body shudders as if he’s been holding himself back the whole time, as though he’s about to climb out of his skin. “I am selfish and craven. And I fear I am not the least of what you deserve.”
“But you’re what I need,” I whisper, lowering my arm and releasing the dagger so it clatters to the floor between us. “Exactly as you are.”
His eyes widen with despair and hope, the shine of gold eclipsing the obsidian for a frenetic heartbeat before that beautiful jet stare returns. Desire rides him, as does the curse. His fingers on my throat tighten, drawing me up to my tiptoes. A small snarl escapes him as he angles me to where he wants me, and then his mouth crashes into mine.
Chapter Twenty-Six
THENIGHTKING
The first real taste of my soul-fated is sublime and dangerous, like a shot of the most potent aphrodisiac. I want to bring her to the ecstasy she can only reach at my hands. On my tongue. On my cock. I want to claim her. Mark her. Own her.
Fuckher senseless.
Driven by pure carnal instinct, my mouth ravages hers, the beast inside of me making his needs known as his primal consciousness rides mine. I force myself to calm, not wanting to lose myself to the curse too soon, but the softness of her lips, the decadent wellspring of her mouth, and those soft moans and whimpers of desire will be my undoing.
Gods...
I drag my mouth away, licking along the tender line of her jaw to her throat. I suck harder when she moans, desperate to see my mark on her gorgeous, lustrous skin. With my free hand, I yank up her skirts and lift her so that she can wrap her legs around my waist. When her hot core grinds again mine through the thin barrier of her undergarments, my knees nearly buckle.
