Page 61 of The Poison Princess and the Lord of Misrule

And there it is, rising between us in the guttering candlelight—the bruises I found on her, the bite she called merely flesh. I watch her weigh the mercy of another lie against the cost of it.

I take her face in my hands. “Tell me this isn’t what you want,” I say, not sure if I’m pleading for her or myself. “Tell me, Sera.”

She holds her mask in place. But it’s the slight part of her lips, her eyes glazed with desire, her breath catching and her hips shifting forward that answers. And gods, it’s torture. The most sinful kind.

She’s never looked more striking.

Aldric hums in amusement, touching her beneath her nightgown. “Yes, Seravyn—” he says her name deliberately “—you only have to say the word, and I’ll relent. Do tell us what you want.”

Sera leans close, her lips at my ear, and her whisper is only mine. “You know this has to happen.” Her breath shakes. “The draughts make him some base creature,” she whispers. “I don’t understand as it’s never done so to another. But I failed to recall the effect it had on him that night… Goddess forgive me, but yes, I want this with you, Ren. It’s the only way for us to be together.”

“I’ll take it,” I say to her. “Anything you’re willing to give me. I told you that on my knees, delivered as my vow. I mean it still. Whatever you give me.”

“You have me,” she says.

Then her mouth crashes into mine, and I am lost to her.

“That’s a good wife,” Aldric says. He shifts away, sinking onto the bed behind her like a king taking his throne.

Sera breaks our kiss and looks back at him over her bare shoulder with the loathing and the wanting fused.

“Now, suck your jester’s cock while I finger this sweet cunt,” he commands her. “Show him how Threnmere girls like it, how they crave it. How well you can take it, love.”

With one last glance into my eyes, Sera offers a small nod of reassurance:it’s going to be all righther eyes say. But when she lowers my trousers all the way and takes my erect cock in her hand, I know nothing will ever be right or the same again.

Because, the gods damn my soul, the moment her hot mouth surrounds me—her tongue guiding my crown deeper, skillfully stroking my shaft—I come undone.

The pleasure buckles my legs and tearsan oath from me. Her cheeks hollow as she sucks, taking me deeper.Seven hells, I’ve never been this hard in my life, it’s almost painful. And I know it’s wrong—but fuck, I can’t stop my hands from gripping her hair, rocking forward to hear her gag.

And Aldric is watching every second of my unraveling with a devious grin tugging at his mouth. He takes sick pleasure in kneeling behind Sera, dragging her gown up to display her ass, rubbing his fingers over her until she’s moaning against my cock.

I hiss out a breath between gritted teeth. My eyes flay him, but he only smiles that cruel, wicked smile that ignites his pale eyes.

He pushes his fingers inside her, and Sera’s hips buck. Hells, maybe I was cut down in that throne room, and this is one of those hellish realms, a place where debauchery lives. Because when Aldric removes his fingers and brings them to his mouth with a crude sound of appreciation to taste her, I nearly come in her mouth.

He senses my moment of weakness, and like a fiend, he scrapes his fingers into her hair and tugs her head back. “Come here, love,” he says, hauling her back against his chest. He angles her face toward him, taking her mouth in a sensuous kiss.

I’m throbbing, my cock painfully erect, as I watch him trap her nipple between the rings on his fingers and pinch to provoke a muffled cry from Sera.

Some carnal sound leaves Aldric as he breaks away and turns her. He lays her back against me. “I get to break her.”His voice is ruined with need as he unfastens his belt. He lowers his breeches, his cock springing free before he grips himself, thick and long in his hand.

“I want her writhing, jester,” he says as he moves over Sera. He rips her bodice, tearing her nightdress the rest of the way off. Then his thumb strokes across her cheek gently, travels over her swollen mouth. “Fuck, love. This is going to hurt. But I promise to soothe the pain. Spread your legs for me.”

With a dark groan, he settles himself between her parted thighs. “Touch her,” he commands me. “Make her feel good. Fuck, make her squirm.” Then, with a low growl, he thrusts inside her, hard, deep—robbing a cry from Sera’s mouth.

I take her hand and thread our fingers together. His next unguarded thrust has her nails biting into my skin. He pulls out and fucks into her again. And again. Aldric is mad with lust, mindlessly licking across her body, teeth scraping over her shoulder and neck. His hands roam wild, frantically grasping her thighs to anchor her as he sets a relentless pace.

And all the while, I hold her, her hand, her breast—my fingers greedy with the need to feel her for myself. Her peaked nipple I twist, watching how her hips rise to meet his. Satisfaction thrums through me at the way she arches into my touch, her head grinding against my cock until I’m just as mindless, watching her take him, watching him fuck her, my stomach drawing taut withaching need.

Aldric fucks her like he hates her; hates how badly he wants her. He mutters filthy things against her throat, his thrusts punishing. And the moment her body tenses, her pleasure cresting, climax nearing release, he fucks her like it’s worship, his hips snapping against her until she cries his name, and that’s what undoes him.

“Gods—that’s it, love,” he says, voice wrecked. “My name on your lips as you come on my cock.Fuck.”

Aldric collars her throat and drives into her once more, a primal grunt torn free, his hips jerking with sharp spasms as he releases deep inside her.

And I can’t name what I’m feeling, this tight thing in my chest. Not jealousy, not quite—some form of envy, covetousness over her pleasure, a hunger like nothing I’ve felt.

Aldric shifts back on his heels, his chest heaving, the proof of breaking her streaked faint and red along his cock, the evidence she’s a maiden no more glistening on him.