How I was feeling? I had been fine for a couple of days now. Did I hear him correctly? Hewantedto see me? I brushed it off and told him to come in and set the tray on the table while I sprinted to grab my robe.
He set the tray down and noticed my half-empty bottle of wine.
Darkness crept into his eyes. “Who gave you Faerie wine?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.
“Oh, the library did. It is by far the best room in the castle,” I replied, trying to make small talk.
His posture straightened. “We were given strict orders not to let you consume any,” he saidseriously.
“How come? It is particularly good. The best I have ever had, actually,” I asked.
“Because Faerie wine is expertly crafted to function as a powerful aphrodisiac for Fae. Can you imagine how it would affect a human?” he explained, his voice heated, though not with anger. It was a different kind of intensity altogether.
My eyes widened. Well, that explained... a lot. That was why it had been so difficult to put the toy down. I had unknowingly drugged myself into a state I barely recognized. His gaze remained intense, but still polite. I blushed, cleared my throat, and swallowed hard.
“Oh, I was unaware,” I replied, my voice coming out a little breathless.
That was when his gaze dropped to the open box on the bed. The Faerie wine had left my thoughts scattered, and I had completely forgotten what I had tossed inside. I tried, far too late, to block his view, but the damage was already done.
His breathing changed, and the weight of his attention suddenly felt heavier. I felt an overwhelming need to explain myself.
“Oh, that. Um. I am pretty sure it is a joke,” I said quickly. “Titus sent it and called it my homework, but I honestly have no idea what that is supposed to mean.” I hesitated, then added, “It is not exactly practical.”
I followed the explanation with an awkward, nervous chuckle.
I winced at myself.What the hell did I just say?
My cheeks burned red-hot with embarrassment. Oh God, this was a disaster. Did I just allude to the fact that I had thought about using it? I was horrified by my own word vomit.
But much to my surprise, Aurelius’s expression did not change. He kept the same serious, heavy gaze locked on mine as he steppedtoward me, closing the space between us. He paused for a moment, as if deciding what to say next. Then, softly, he spoke. “I know it’s all the Faerie wine bringing this out of you, but your scent is absolutely irresistible, Lady Delilah,” he admitted in a soft, hungry voice.
I shuddered. I was breathing so heavily, hanging on to his every word. I felt my pulse quicken, my palms growing sweaty. He swept my hair from my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. He looked into my soul with those mysterious amber eyes. My jaw and cheek rested in his large, callused hand.
He inhaled deeply and said, “If you are worried about completing his homework, then you could not possibly handle my extra credit.”
He enticed with a small, seductive grin. His eyes shifted to my lips, which made mine part automatically in trepidation. He tilted his head down as if he were going to kiss my needy lips, but then, he slowly brought my hand up and kissed the back of it, inhaling my scent as his warm lips pressed against my skin.
Just then, a flash of heat and light blasted from the fireplace, as if someone had dumped gasoline on it. Aurelius paused to study the flames, pure, unfiltered fear crossing his expression.
“Good night, Lady Delilah,” he said plainly, then departed quickly, not looking at me once.
He left before I could say good night back. I could not bring myself to move my feet. I tried to determine whether I had imagined the whole thing. Perhaps it was the Faerie wine causing me to hallucinate, but I could have sworn Aurelius had just come on to me.
I exhaled a deep, shaky breath and forced myself to move again. I sat on the bed to gather my thoughts. My heart was still racing, heat still pulsing through me, much like the lava flowing through this castle.
I felt sick to my stomach that someone else had touched me,
and that I did not hate it. I was so ashamed of myself, I thought I might throw up.Was this place changing me?
His palm on my face and his kiss on my hand were more intoxicating than the magic wine flowing through my veins. I think after so long of being in unrelenting pain and agony, pain that made me push everyone away, my body ignited at the slightest physical touch.
Aurelius was attractive, but I knew I did not have any feelings for him. It simply felt so good to be desired, to feel sexy again, and honestly, just to feel like a damn woman again and not the sick girl. I felt as though I had resurrected a part of myself that had been dead for far too long. I had the ability to shake Aurelius from his normal, polite, professional disposition into a hungry, feral male. I may be a mortal with no magic, but tonight I was the most powerful one in the room, and that power was the most addictive of all.
I couldn’t sleep; my body still thrummed from earlier. I felt a relentless aching pressure building between my legs. I tried to ignore it, but it was not going away. Exasperated, I gave in and decided to slide my fingers under my nightgown. I liked to go commando when I sleep so I had unrestricted access. I felt the slipperiness of my flesh, collected it on my fingertip, and trailed my finger up to my needy swollen center. The lightest touch had my body thriving with pleasure. My breath quickened and became more rhythmic and shallower while my pulse carried waves of tantalizing electricity throughout my extremities.
My back arched and the peak of my pleasure was in reach, but I just couldn’t quite climb to its summit. I withdrew my fingers in frustration, I needed more, it was then I saw the thick head of the red giant peeking out of its box. Part of me hesitated, but the other part of me, the one that was in control, took over and jumped out of bed to grab it, I was not proud.I blame the Faerie wine.
I suctioned it to the tile floor in front of the fireplace upright. I sank to my knees straddling and lining up the position to strike true. Slowly I sank down onto it, the stretch was a twisted mix of pleasure and pain that my brain could not decipher.
