“It’s nothing.” Nymiria snapped. “Aziel and I arenottogether..” Aziel’s brow raised, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Nymiria felt lightheaded, that familiar heat crawling from her neck and settling into her cheeks. The weight of his gaze felt like hands upon her skin, filling her mind with memories from that night—her pressed into the mattress, his mouth moving over every inch of her skin, his fingers pumping rhythmically between her legs. “Stopthat.” She hissed.
Aziel rolled his eyes, that same smug expression still fixed upon his face as he turned to face Everand. The poor man still looked halfway to heartbreak, dark eyes sad and his features drooping. “My apologies. Seeing as I have rudely interrupted your conversation, I will be taking my leave now.” He dipped his head in a slight bow, backing away one pace before turning on his heel.
Nymiria watched after him, anger and white-hot desire flooding her senses more and more with each languid step he took. She drew in a shaky breath before slowly turning to face the prince in front of her. “Would you excuse me?” She asked apologetically.
Everand’s eyes were still clouded with confusion and disappointment. It was almost too much for her to bear, but the desire to rip out Aziel’s throat was stronger than her desire to sit there and pretend like she was alright. The man gave a small nod and Nymiria smiled, patting his shoulder before she charged off in the direction that Aziel went.
She was panting for air by the time she finally caught up to him, grumbling curses under her breath as she watched him step into the forest. Balling her hands into fists, she quickened her pace until she was only inches from him. She lifted her hands, preparing to shove at his shoulders, but the moment her palms opened up against his back, Aziel had turned.
She’d forgotten his speed, how breathtakingly quick he could have her laid out on the ground or pressed against something. And she was suffering from her mistake right at that moment. All of the air was knocked from her lungs the moment her back collided with the rough tree bark, her stomach dipping dangerously at how close his face was to hers.
Aziel’s eyes flickered over her face, his hand fitting perfectly to the curve of her waist. “You are a horrible liar, Moonflower.”
She did her best to steel her features, clamping her mouth shut to keep an embarrassing squeal from leaving her lips. It hung there, thick in her throat, as his hand fell to her hip. She cleared her throat, relaxing the muscles of her face as she lifted her eyes to his. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Even Everand knows what I’m talking about. Do you think that the men around you cannotsmell meon you, Nymiria?” He stepped back so swiftly that her body was left slumping and cold against the tree at her back.
Nymiria continued to stare at him. Her ribs felt too tight against her lungs, her stomach swirling. She would only be lying to herself if she claimed that she did not enjoy it. He’d been correct before—that his promise of violence excited her. That watching him be exactly who he was made her body react in the most obscene ways possible.
Aziel took another step back, as if it was to test her strength—to see if she was strong enough to resist the tension between the two of them. She wasn’t. She knew that she wasn’t. She had tried so hard to get him to stay away that it’d nearly destroyed her, but everything she believed about herself and who she was became so blurred and skewed when he looked at her this way. It was almost as if she was seeing herself from another perspective, entirely, any moment that he was around.
He drew in another steadying breath before reaching for the tips of his gloves. He pulled them off, finger by finger, until his hands were left completely bare. The gloves fell to the earthen floor, his eyes still honed in on her.
Chapter 19
Nymiria desperately tried to control the heat of her body. Perhaps she was still feeling the after-effects of her cycle, or perhaps this was justher. She couldn’t tell. But there was no denying that the aching of her skin begged for his touch.
“Say it again.” He said, his voice velvet.
“Saywhatagain?” She tried and failed to sound angry. She just sounded desperate—her voice far too quiet, too breathy.
Aziel’s fingers were suddenly tangled in her hair at the back of her neck, his face so close to her that she could almost taste his words when he spoke again. “Say that we are nothing, Nymiria.” A gentle tug forced her head back against the tree, her whole body trembling the moment he leaned towards her neck. “It doesn’t sound very truthful when you smell like this. I’d like to hear you say it again, just to see which one of us is truly lying to ourselves.” A small gasp escaped her lips when she felt the sharp points of his incisors grazing over the delicate and sensitive skin.
She wanted to grab him, wanted to take hold of his head and push him further into that spot. She wanted his teeth.
“We are…” She had every intention of saying it again, but before the words could leave her mouth, his lips were closing over her throat. Her body arched into his in response, her hands grappling at the front of his suit jacket. That heat was back with a vengeance, her thighs and the walls of her sex clenching around nothing.
He pulled himself away from her neck, his eyes hooded with animalistic lust as he peered down at her. Moving his thumb along the swell of her lips, parting them just enough for her breath to coat the tip of his digit. “Tell me, right now, if you don’t want to go any further.”
Aching, Nymiria let out a breathy laugh. “Shouldn’t my answer be obvious?”
Aziel shook his head. “I’m not doing anything to you unless I hear that youwantthis.”
Shewasstubborn.Good gods, she was stubborn. Because even if he already worked her body into a frenzy, there was a part of her that wanted him to suffer from the same humiliation he was now inflicting onher.
She believed that it was a test. But as she stared up at him and saw that gleam in his eyes turn to shadowy concern, she relented. It was not about forcing her to admit her desires—about winning or losing. It was him caring. Even with that wild look in his eyes, even if his body radiated with the unmistakable scent of his arousal, he would walk away if she insinuated that she was not enthusiastically willing.
The thought made her chest ache, made a flurry of emotions cloud her mind. “I want you to touch me,” she began, swallowing down that lump in her throat. She took hold of the hand that was still cupping her jaw, slowly dragging it down her neck andchest, applying more pressure against her breast before moving further. “I wantyou.”
She released hold of his hand, their gazes never wavering. Even as his hands reached for the skirt of her dress and began pulling it up her legs, they did not look away from one another.
Aziel gravitated closer, one hand dipping between her thighs, the other taking hold of her chin. “Then kiss me like you mean it, Moonflower.” Nymiria did not hesitate. The moment their lips met, Aziel was between her thighs, her ankles locking at his back to keep him close. The bark of the tree dug into her spine, the burning from the scratches drawing a low groan from deep in her chest.
Too distracted by his mouth to register much else, the world was suddenly moving—turning and shifting until she broke away just enough to realize that he’d placed her on the altar. “Aziel—” She gasped. His hands moved down the length of her body, palms pressing against her knees. Her dress was already bunched around her waist, the only thing shielding her bare lower half from the world being Aziel. He smirked.
“Easy access?” He crooned. Despite her narrowed eyes and the venom in her stare, Nymiria blushed. “Don’t look at me like that. You’d be surprised to learn that our undergarments are matching.”
The blush intensified, her mind wandering back to that night, all those months ago, when she’d first put her mouth on him—how every inch of him glistened with her essence. “Easy access?” She mocked, voice failing her.
