Page 43 of The Poison Princess and the Lord of Misrule

“Oh Princess, beg for me.” His smile is cutting. “The gods know how I’ve desired to have you begging beneath me, love.”

He drops his forehead to mine. His hand at my pinned wrist tightens, fingers digging in hard enough that I gasp. “Aldric, you’re hurting me.”

“No, not yet.” His voice drops low, almost tender beneath the abraded caress of it. “But I promise you will enjoy every second when I do.” His chuckle is a dark rumble in his chest, vibrating against mine.

I seal my eyes shut.

Ren is waiting.

The thought hits me with a force that nearly buckles me. Ren is in the library right now, pacing in front of the bookshelves, waiting for me.

And I’m not coming.

“Open your eyes, love,” Aldric commands.

When I refuse him, his hand drops from my wrist. And for a wild, hopeful second I think I’m being released—then his fingers grab my jaw and force my head up.

“Look at me.”

My eyes snap open.

He’s so close. Wine, sweat, the cologne of vetiver and cardamom, and underneath it all something herbal and acrid I recognize with a fresh stab of horror as the dwale.

“You owe me a taste,” he whispersacross my lips. “That’s all I want, what you teased me with, Seravyn. Or were you only playing me as an actual fool before?”

I turn my head to the side, internally scolding myself for how I tried to seduce him so I could lace the wine, just to end up right here in his vile grasp.

“I would never mislead you, My Lord.”

“Is that so.” His thumb drags slowly across my lower lip. “You did tell me how curious you are to my talents. So…” His mouth grazes the corner of mine. “Let me sate your curiosity, love.”

“Aldric—”

“Touch yourself for me.” It leaves him in a broken rasp.

My stomach dips. “No.”

“Mm,” he hums. His hand moves from my jaw to my wrist, hauling it down, pressing my hand against my thigh through the high slit of the skirt. “Yes, my tempting Threnmere girl. Either you show me here, in this corridor with my hand guiding yours, how you like to take your pleasure—” his fingers press mine up against my sex, wrenching a soft sound from me “—or I haul you over my shoulder and take you into that chamber, where I show you how I like to take mine.”

The wall is so cold against my back, and he’s burning against my body. His pupils are so blown.

“All I’m asking for is a taste, Seravyn.”

I’m shaking, and he licks his lips, tightening his hold on my wrist against the wall until I can feel bruises blooming under his grip.

With the smallest surrender of my breath, I let his hand guide mine beneath my skirt, his fingers directing my fingers, moving, swirling over the thin material.

“Fuck,” he murmurs, his eyes squeezing shut. “Spread your legs.” But he doesn’t give me the chance to obey as his bare foot slides between my slippers and forces my feet apart, my thighs opening to him.

My breath hitches.

A small, traitorous sound escapes me.

Aldric groans, a sound of appreciation rumbling from his chest as his fingers guide mine beneath the fabric of my undergarments, and I’m mortified to find how wet I am. The swirl of my finger makes a scandalous sound, and Aldric thrusts his erection against my hip.

“Realms of hell,” he grates out, his voice wrecked. “I can hear how soaking wet you are… Fuck, I’m dying to feel you, to taste you. If you just command me, I’ll fall to my knees for you, Seravyn Morvaine. Take you in my mouth.”

A deep pulse of traitorous heat throbs in my core, my body responding to the sensation as my back arches against the stone wall.