“Don’t be a stubborn ass; turn around so I can undo you.”
“I’d rather cut off my ownarmthan let you untie my dress,” she seethed, finding the strength to throw as much hatred and disgust into her glare as she could muster.
Cassius raised a brow, arms crossed over his chest. It was only because of lack of oxygen that the thought of how beautiful he looked flashed briefly in her mind.
“You’d rather pass out?”
“Yes.”
Cassius rolled his eyes, stepping nearer. She raised her dagger feebly, but he took it from her hand easily, turning her around. “You’re still such a bad liar,” he muttered.
Thalia couldn’t even bite back a retort, not as darkness crept to the edges of her vision.
“Fuck, who tied this?” Cassius grumbled out.
Thalia didn’t know, couldn’t speak as Cassius tugged at the ties of her dress. Slowly but surely, air slipped down into her lungs.
But apparently he couldn’t get it untied either, because he let out another curse. Then Cassius ripped her dress in half. Thalia gasped as oxygen burrowed into her lungs like a fox in a hole.
She leaned against the settee, breathing deeply, letting her world return to normal now that she could inhale again.
Once the world had stopped spinning, she whirled to Cassius. “You ripped my dress!” Indeed, the back had been ripped clean open, cold air rushing over her heated skin. It hung awkwardly off her shoulders, nearly slipping off from her turning.
Cassius stared at her in disbelief. “You were going to pass out, andthisis what you’re mad about?”
“You could have untied it!”
Cassius’s face darkened. “You are truly unbelievable.”
Thalia surged forward.
She didn’t have her knife, but she still had nails and her fists.
Cassius easily outmaneuvered her, appearing at her back. “You’re also incredibly predictable.”
She spun, tripping over the swaths of her gown as she stumbled after him. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Aren’t you getting tired of this, Thalia? I certainly know I am,” Cassius drawled as she swung again and he moved out of the way like mist dissipating.
She panted, raising her fists again, but suddenly Cassius clamped his hands around her wrists. Thalia let out a squawk of surprise as he twisted her arms behind her. His chest brushed against her bare back as he said low, “We could work together, you know. These courts are deadly, full of vipers. I could help you navigate them. Help you figure out how to handle the other lords.”
“Fuck. Off.”
He chuckled, his lips brushing the shell of her ear and caused an unwanted shiver to cascade down her spine. “That dirty mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day. Perhaps you need a lesson in manners.”
“And are you going to be the one to teach me?” Her voice dropped.
She felt Cassius’s shock at the change in her tone, the way she’d deepened it into an almost seductive curl, the words seeming to have come from nowhere.
She leaned her head back against his chest, feeling the rise and fall of it. He wasn’t even winded. Prick.
“Shall you fuck those foul words right out of my mouth, then? That would surely teach me manners.” Her words curled again. A small, traitorous part of her remembered what it felt like to be fucked by him. Her whole body heated at the thought, and Cassius whirled her around to face him.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, his pupils so wide they nearly devoured the blue of his irises.
“Shall we start our lessons right now?” Her words were a silk sheet wrapped around a dagger, full of wicked promise. That depraved heat in her chest traveled lower, pooling into her belly.
Cassius’s heated gaze flicked to her parted mouth. Their bodies were pressed so tightly together that his arousal pushed against her stomach, heating her treasonous core further.
