He stopped where the soft sands turned to smooth pebbles, where the firelight was dim but still touched their skin. Right on the cusp between light and shadow, on the edge of darkness and visibility.
Andrian gripped her waist, whirling her to face the fire. Her back met his chest, body curving instinctively into his.
His fingers ghosted down her arm. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about how I would repay you for last night,” he murmured. “But then I realized…the punishment needed to fit the crime.”
“Punishment?” Mariah gasped, her voice low and a little hoarse.
“Yes, princess. You commanded a sworn, bonded member of your Armature to protect your image before a foreign court and then took it upon yourself to compromise that image.” He tsked. “Good queens make my job easier, not more difficult.” His fingers tightened, digging into the skin of her waist.
“But you’re not a good queen, are you?”
Mariah shook her head, just the barest movement. Heat pooled between her legs, her core burning.
No one could talk to her like this. No one but him.
And gods, did she fucking love it.
“That’s what I thought.” His hands relaxed, resting on the dip of her hip. “So, for your punishment, you are going to stand here, right where anyone at this celebration could see, while my shadows feast on you. The more you react, the more sounds you make, the longer it’ll be before I let you come.”
Oh.
Gods.
All that teasing, all that denial of her…she should’ve known it was only so he could plan his revenge.
She couldn’t possibly love it—or him—more for it.
Mariah snaked a hand over her head, wrapping it around his neck. Her fingers buried in the thickness of his hair, back arching into him, pleasure spearing through her at the feel of his thick, hard length. Andrian placed a soft kiss to the inside of her wrist, a surprising moment of tenderness that only made her blood course brighter.
“Do your worst, Armature.”
The kiss on her wrist turned into a nipping bite, a growl slipping past his throat. She couldn’t help but grin.
Her smile faltered, though, when shadows spilled from his arms, winding down her legs.
“You know people can see your shadows, right? Won’t that defeat the punishment?”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry,nio. I’ve learned some tricks of my own in our time here.”
Just as he spoke, his shadows vanished. Melted into the air around them, as if they’d never existed at all.
“What—”
A familiar coolness caressed her thigh, slipping between the panels of her skirts.
“The beauty of shadows,” Andrian said, “is they don’t need to be visible to exist.”
The tendril wound higher up her leg.
“Fascinating,” Mariah said, fighting the urge to pant her breaths. “I wonder if my light can work the same way, when I have it back.”
“I don’t doubt anything you might be capable of,nio. But at this moment, there is one thing I am more curious about.”
The invisible shadow slid around the back of her thigh, under the dip of her ass.
“You didn’t bother with any underwear, did you? Even knowing all these people would be here?”
Mariah knew she would mewl if she tried to speak. She kept her mouth closed and shook her head instead.
