With a laugh, I connected our bodies, the arousal between my legs driving him deep into my core. Our moans flowed together as a harmony. He spread my inner walls. Sitri arched up to meet my body, and this time, I spurred him onwards. My fingers ran up his chest and settled around his neck, gripping just enough to pin him, for his heartbeat to thrum beneath them.
“That’s it,” I panted, “submit.”
And at my command, he did.
Weak moans escaped Sitri’s lips, one hand cupping my cheek, his other arm clinging to my back as his breathing grew labored. Ripples of ecstasy, of excitement, coursed through me each time my hips met his.
This was blissful torture for him—and I loved it, loved to see his face twist as I took my pleasure while rationing his. He wanted more.Neededmore. Here atop him, I held it just out of his reach, stirring the demonbeneath his skin, driving him mad with lust. Sitri twisted, his muscles tensed as he fought to quicken my pace.
I sensed Sitri’s hunger, his desires growing more powerful with every stroke. It wasn’t long before I had him snapping and snarling, reduced to a rabid beast. The arm he’d curled around me grew firm, his nails clawed into my back. I gasped, leaned into the pain, let it course through me like lightning.
That small act lit a fire in Sitri’s soul, allowing him to flip the script.
One hand trailed down my neck to my shoulder. The other locked onto my hip, clinging to me tight. Sitri lunged, and in an instant, I found myself beneath him on my back. Hungry, silver eyes bore down on me as the Prince pulled himself from my body. He caressed my collarbone. Fingers made their way between my thighs.
His hot breath stirred over my ear. “Don’t forget who bound you, Lillia. This has been fun, but I think it’s time to remind you that you’remine.”
Sitri’s finger brushed my clit. He thrust deep inside me, and I gasped as heat radiated to my core. Shudders wracked me. Silky lips grazed my neck. Teeth sharp as razors caressed my throat. Goosebumps rose on my skin. It would be all too easy for Sitri to shred my shoulder with his fangs. A single twitch, and they would pierce me to the bone. I wanted the pain, needed him to tear me apart, but he hesitated. My breath hitched.
“Now, what kind of Prince would I be if I wounded you at a time like this?” he purred. “You want to be a tease? How about a taste of your own medicine?”
“Please!” I cried through my moans, arching towards Sitri, and I no longer knew if I pleaded for him to follow through with the bite or to withhold it.
He looked down at me, lips pulled back, mouth nowhere near my skin. Sitri’s right hand pressed my chest to the bed, pinning me beneath him as his left worked furiously between my legs. Pleasure built in myhips, tensing my muscles with every thrust, bringing me so close to the edge.
And those teeth—those beautiful, pearl-white fangs—approached once more, brushing along the crook of my neck as he whispered, “Remember, darling, that Iownyou, that Iclaimed your soul.I will give you whatever pleases me, andyou willtake it.”
A gentle nip to my ear was all he gave, all he needed to give, for my body to seize with pleasure beneath him.
The climax shot through me like a lance, ferocious and unyielding as steel, tearing a cry from my throat. I clung to Sitri’s shoulders, held tight to his back. He throbbed. I trembled and spasmed around him, coaxing him to the edge. With a primal growl into my ear, he spent himself inside me, and our bodies stilled.
The shelter spun as I gasped for air, the last inklings of my pleasure fading into gentle, heavy exhaustion. My skin was painfully sensitive. I whimpered as Sitri rolled off me and stood from the bed.
Then he shot me a grin. “That,darling, is how you dominate in the bedroom. Let this be a valuable lesson. I look forward to seeing just how much you’ve learned.”
“Thank you,” I panted, a blissful smile spreading across my face. “Next time, I’ll give your strategy a try.”
Cleanup was a tender affair. Sitri retrieved rags and oils from one of the hundreds of crates, and we bathed one another, as we’d done before. Once we had finished, the Prince laid out fresh clothes; thick, joyless garments made of layered cloth, meant to complement armor. I’d worn something similar the day we’d gone hunting for Mara.
When Sitri returned, I sought his chest instinctively, and he pulled me close. He planted a gentle kiss on my forehead that left my skin tingling.
“You’re one hell of a demoness,” Sitri murmured, “and you have earned your place as a herald of lust. Did you know that, darling?”
His hand brushed aside stray strands of my hair and had me melting in his arms.
“A fitting consort for the Prince of Lust and Lies,” I replied.
The low, deep hum that rumbled through Sitri’s chest signaled his contentment. “Not my consort; my equal. My demoness and, perhaps one day, my better half. But never again a consort. Never again inferior.”
A finger under my chin coaxed my head upwards. I moved at his insistence. Sitri’s lips returned to mine, this time slow and tender instead of voracious. His gentle caresses calmed me, hypnotic in their whorls and zigzags. My eyelids proved difficult to lift, and I let them drift shut. I threw my arms around Sitri and held him with what little strength I had.
“I just wish this moment could go on forever.”
It couldn’t, though. As the high of our coupling faded, my thoughts turned to the reality bearing down on us. Vapula’s legions would be arriving soon, and we’d been promised a bloody battle. Bronwen thought we’d claim key casualties, but if things went wrong…
With my old mentor at the door, if we failed to defend ourselves…
“I would be out there fighting for you if I could,” Sitri said, interrupting my thoughts. “My presence will change the flow of that battle, supposedly for the worse. I’m not sure I believe that.”
