No hesitation. “Yes,” I whisper in a breathy pant, his closeness already intoxicating me. “I like it when you touch me.”
Stars fucking save me, but it’s true.
I want to make him earn his forgiveness. To test his commitment. His loyalty. But when my body is in his hands, the past disintegrates. There is only now. This moment.Him.
The tether snaps taut between us, and his mouth curves into a dangerous smile I can feel rather than see.
“Prove it,” he challenges in a wicked growl that makes me wet at the sound.
Then he lowers to his knees before me, pushing my knees wide, and his hands slide up my thighs, gripping them in a bruising hold.
Beyond the thin curtain—the only thing shielding us from the world beyond—boots pound across the floorboards. Curtains rip open one by one, the guards barking demands, Amarisse’s honeyed laughter trying to stall them in the distance.The curtain to our alcove stirs with the draft as footsteps halt outside.
“Moan for me, my love,” Kael whispers into my ear, before pulling my undergarments to the side and devouring me with a slow, unhurried stroke of his tongue up my center.
A moan tears from my throat, unbidden and raw.
“Just like that, darling. Prove that you like it when I lick your perfect pussy,” he encourages, licking again.
The blindfold blunts my eyesight to nothing, but every touch of his hands, every lick of his tongue, every whisper of his low timbre sets me ablaze.
Then, the curtain drags open.
“Well, well,” a voice sneers, and I can hear the smirk in it. “What do we have here? A male whore?”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
KAEL
I wantto slit his throat. The thought is immediate, visceral. My dagger is an inch from my palm. I could have him on the floor in a pool of his own blood before he even finished smirking. My body begs for it—violence, swift and clean.
But her breath is still trembling under my hands. Her moan still hangs in the air. And it reminds me to play my part. To keep up this act. For all of us.For her.
So I smile instead. Slow. Wicked. The smile of a man paid to ruin women and laugh while doing it. “You’re costing me coin, soldier,” I drawl, my voice pitched into something lazy, indulgent. “Unless you’d like to pay for my time instead? I cost triple the usual rate.”
The guard bristles, stepping closer. My tether thrums hot with Elyssara’s nervous energy, her trust, her surrender. It’s a knife at my throat—because I can’t fail her, not here, not with his gaze drinking in every detail.
His eyes dart to her exposed legs, then back to me. I glide my hand along her thigh, tugging the robe across her hip. Silk moves, skin hides.
I force my posture loose, as though this interruption is nothing more than an inconvenience in my night’s work. Asthough his gaze on my woman doesn’t bother me. I angle my torso to block him, but he shifts around. Trying to take what isn’t his. Inside, I’m a storm—violence snarling against my ribs, desperate to rip him apart limb by limb.
But I smooth my hand over her hip, tender, reassuring.
It’s just you and me—escape into me.I send the words down the tether like a promise, gripping her hips in a vow of pleasure.
Her hands find mine, squeezing me back.
I already am. She moans down the tether.
Her head tips back in carnal want, and my mouth finds her neck. Dressing it with slow, unhurried kisses.
Her breath catches, then steadies. She arches into me, blind trust offered up on a silver platter.And Stars curse me—I’m undone at the sight.
“What’s wrong with you, lad? Can’t wield a blade or smith a weapon? Had to use your cock instead of getting a real trade?” The guard laughs with haughty arrogance, and the sound grates against my fucking bones.
My hands itch to tear his throat from his neck, but I wear the mask of a seasoned courtesan, lifting my face in a flirtatious grin. “People pay more for cock than they do for steel, sir. Perhaps I’m simply strategic,” I quip, and my soul aches as I shove down the desire to run my blade through his heart. He seems satisfied with my answer, nodding in understanding, though he looks down at me with disdain.
“And the woman? Who’s she?” the guard asks, his eyes still lingering on her.
