Tassarion raised a brow so high it nearly reached his hairline.
“Dramatics!” The other brow rose. “Coming from the Seraphim who tried to tear my mind apart with blackfire.”
“In my defense,youlocked me away like a criminal in that bedchamber for three dawns. It was only appropriate that I rightfully thank you for your actions.”
Tassarion scoffed, shaking his head. His braids tumbled around his shoulders.
I itched to pull one and coil it around my fingers.
I looked to the side and glimpsed what was beyond the velvet curtains. My jaw hung. Beyond Tassarion’s drapes was a perfect, panoramic view of the Ouanaviel Sea. Like I did in Nahomie Manor, the king also had immaculate oceanfront views that most angels dreamed of having with their homes. And here he was closing it all out with these blasted curtains.
I opened my mouth to question the silliness when I found him turned away from me, as he lazily walked to an ornate desk carved from marble. I stared at his back, a patchwork of stitchesand scars. His body was a mosaic. A work of art. At the center of his spine, his six pairs of feathered, onyx wings hung to the carpeted floor. His wings flapped gently as he sifted through his desk for something.
Tassarion Everthorn was a leviathan of an angel with a hidden darkness that had to have been born from an evil place. Still, I drank in every inch of him, from his braided brown hair to the heels of his bare feet as his toes wriggled in the plush rug he stood on. I pressed my lips together, ogling his muscled body, briefly thinking through what it would feel like to be held by those arms. Pressed down into a bedcloud by them.
I flushed at my thoughts.
And realized Tassarion had stopped moving, his back still towards me.
“It reallyisrude to stare, Phantimèssa,” he purred.
My nostrils flared. Blackfire ignited in my blood, engulfing me in heat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tassarion chuckled, still facing away from me.
“So you’re stubbornanda terrible liar.”
I flushed even more, twitching where I stood.
“I’m not?—”
Tassarion whirled around, a small stack of scrolls in his hands. He let his wings drag behind him as he lazily sauntered over to me, eyes locked on mine.
“So you weren’t feasting on my body with those mesmerizing, amber eyes of yours.”
His gaze leisurely danced down the length of my body, gliding over every curve and bend. My skin burned as he blazed a trail down my frame, drinking me in. I parted my lips, but could utter no response.
“You weren’t wondering what the Monster King could do to you with ropes of muscle for arms and endless sin for a mouth?”
My breath hitched as fire sang in my blood with liquid heat.
“King Tassarion, what are you doing? What do you want from me?”
The words fell from my lips like a plea. He smiled wide, the beautiful sight reaching from ear to ear.
“What do I want, she asks.”
His eyes flashed with midnight before returning to steel. Fire danced along the planes of my arms. Dangerous.
This was so dangerous.
“I wantyou, Phantimèssa. And I’ll make you a deal. You will live in Everthorn Manor. Safe, sound, unharmed. You won’t ever be found by the Ivory Rain. And even if they were stupid enough to come here, I will protect you with my life.”
Tassarion breathed me in like that first dawn when he’d trapped me in his arms. He groaned with pleasure, tugging me close with one of his wings around my waist. Something wild danced in the back of his eyes, making my hearts skip several beats.
He was offering me exactly what I wanted... but at what price?
