Heavy strands of diamonds hung around my neck. There were so many in varying lengths, it felt as if I was carrying an extra five pounds around my throat. It was so excessive, even Envy would be appalled instead of jealous.
I leaned precariously over Wrath, my face close to his. I wanted to kiss him. Possibly break a bottle and stab him first. But then definitely kiss him.
“You’re getting me drunk on purpose.” I gave him what I thought was a saucy grin. “Naughty demon.”
“Being under the influence of alcohol or other substances will greatly reduce your ability to sense a prince of Hell’s magic. Especially Gluttony’s. He will push you to drink little by little until you lose control and he can take over.” His tone turned harsh. “You need to fight back.”
I was trying to pay attention to the lesson, but I was fascinated by the shape of his lips when he spoke. I reached over and touched them. He pressed them into a firm line.
“Emilia. Focus.”
“Oh, I promise I am. I am extremely focused at the moment. Enthralled. Or is it enchanted?” I drew my attention up. There were two of him, glowering. I blinked until only one annoyed demon remained. “Why haven’t you seduced me?”
It was difficult to be sure, but I thought he removed his influence.
“If you cannot battle through the haze of alcohol, then it’s best to avoid drinking anything at the feast. You may accept a toast, but only pretend to sip it.”
“You worry too much.” I smoothed the furrow between his brows. “Nonna says all of the steam from the kitchen will keep wrinkles away. Vittoria and I will remain ageless. Like you.”
“Considering you’re not human, I imagine there’s truth in that.”
“You never answered my question. About seduction.” I swayed a little on my feet. His lap looked comfortable enough. I plopped onto it. His body tensed, but he didn’t lift me. I internally grinned at that small victory. “Fauna said the whole court would like to know.”
“Lady Fauna talks too much. Perhaps I ought to insist she visit a distant relative.”
“Don’t take your foul mood out on her; she was only passing along gossip to me. And I’d like to know, too. Maybe I want you to seduce me now.” I leaned on his shoulder and rested my chin in my palm, gazing at him. Belatedly, I realized I must look like a mad person, staring the way I was in our current position. “You know, some believe avoidance is a sign of cowardice.”
“I’m aware of what you’re doing, and it won’t work.” His scowl deepened. “I am not seducing you because I currently do not wish to. It’s as simple as that.”
If he’d stuck me in the heart with a knife, it might hurt less.
I twisted around and pulled the plate of chocolate-covered berries to me. I added a dollop of whipped cream to them and speared one with a fork. I missed. The fork connected with the dish. A berry catapulted across the table. Goddess-cursed things.
It was definitely their tiny, round forms, and not my current state of inebriation.
I took aim and squinted at the plate. Berries were swimming. They were no match for me. I aimed again and another berry went flying. I swore roundly.
Wrath’s deep exhale tickled my bare shoulder as he reached around and took the fork from me. He stabbed a chocolate-covered berry and swirled it into the whipped cream.
He paused with the fork to my mouth.
“If you so much as breathe one word of this, I vow revenge, my lady.”
“Very well. Though I doubt I’ll even remember this extreme act of chivalry in the morning.”
I leaned against his shoulder, head thrown back, and waited for him to feed me the dessert. With only a fraction of hesitation, he did. I swore the food tasted sweeter. I felt like a pampered Roman goddess as he fed me one decadent berry at a time.
“Mmm. I can hardly recall a word of what we were saying already.”
“Liar.” He set the fork down and brought his mouth close to my ear, suddenly taking the lobe between his teeth. Heat spread through me and my toes curled from the sensation. I wasn’t sure if Wrath had done it, but any inebriation I felt vanished. “Then again, so am I. In a sense.”
TWENTY-THREE
Wrath trailed a line of searing kisses down my neck, igniting my desire.
The chocolate-covered berries were forgotten. There was a new indulgence being served. And I’d gladly take my fill of this pleasant delight. I’d asked for seduction, and the prince was delivering. His hands drifted along the silhouette of my body, pausing to rest on my waist.
It didn’t feel possessive as much as it seemed like he was holding himself in check. Or maybe he was contemplating clever ways to slowly torture me. He fiddled with the clasp on one of my necklaces. The excessive strands of diamonds were hardly a barrier, but I wanted them gone all the same. I wanted nothing between us.
He brought his mouth to my body again and my mind emptied of all else.
I tossed my head back, lost in ecstasy as his tongue smoothed over the sharp little nip he’d given me. He pulled me against him, his teeth now lightly scraping where my shoulder and neck connected. Chills danced over my body in the most tantalizing way. This feeling… it was not sinful, as mortals tried teaching their daughters. It was natural. Blissful. If it was socially acceptable for Wrath to take a lover, then the same right should be afforded to me.
After all, there were two people involved in such encounters.
I arched into his touch. I owned this desire, enjoyed it. And it did not make me lustful or wanton. It made me feel human, in control of my wants. Denying my passions no longer.
I braced myself with a hand on each of his thighs, gripping him as he lavished all his attention and kisses on my neck, my shoulders. I wanted to spin around and face him, needing to explore his body as languidly. For some reason, even with my newfound conviction, I hesitated.
“Is there something you want from me, my lady?”
“You don’t have to call me that when we’re alone. There’s no need for a show.”
He smiled against my neck. “Any other requests?”
“I…”
“Assert your wants. You need not apologize for them.”
“Even if I want you to stop?”
“Especially then.”
“Take my diamonds off. Please.”
The prince undid each strand of precious stones, letting them clink to the ground.
“I’m curious.” His voice was velvet soft as he leaned in and removed the final necklace. “About the Sin Corridor. What you experienced that night you called out my name. Tell me.”
There was no magical command or demonic thrall attached to his request. Only genuine curiosity. I realized the feeling of dizziness brought on by drinking was also gone. I was no longer under the influence of anything, save being drunk on my own passions, and hadn’t been since before he first kissed me.
Maybe it was our current position—the fact I didn’t have to see his face—that made my confession easier. Or perhaps I simply did not wish to feel guilt or shame regarding my body and the things I wanted and craved. I gathered up my courage, knowing precisely where this admission would lead. Praying for it to travel that path, really.
“You were… you were behind me, like this. Except we were laying down.”
He rewarded my honesty with a gentle stroke along my arm. “And?”
“I was wearing your shirt and you were unbuttoning it. So slowly I was going mad.”
“I imagine you demanded I remove it.” His fingertips ghosted across my shoulder, then my clavicle, before dipping lower, teasing the skin exposed above my décolletage. My breath hitched as he paused his ministrations, one hand slipping beneath a strap of my gown. Only the thin scrap of silk stood between us. “And I obliged. Is that correct?”
“More or less.”
“Would you like me to do the same now?” With only the slightest pause, I nodded. “I need to hear the words, Emilia. Do you wish for me to stop?”
“No.” My gr
ip on his thighs tightened as if I could keep him there forever. “No, I do not.”
He moved my hair aside and leaned back in his chair, allowing enough space between us for him to lightly massage my shoulders. Gripping one strap in each hand, he pressed his lips to my spine, kissing me there as he slipped the top of my gown off.
Cool air blew across my flushed skin.
“What happened next?”
Fantasy and reality were colliding. My breaths quickened in anticipation. “You wanted me to tell you that you are my favorite sin.”
His chuckle was low, deep. It made me ache for him all the more. “Am I?”
“At the moment, yes.”
“You didn’t confess it then.”
I heard the question even though he hadn’t phrased it that way.
“No.” My eyes fluttered shut before I opened them again. “You started touching me and I could think of nothing else.”
He nuzzled the back of my neck before reaching around to cup my breasts. Heat shot through me. His fingers traced the outer curves, circling closer to the peaks in the center. When he brushed across them, they hardened. My breath caught as I sunk my teeth into my lower lip. I inched back, craving more of his heat, and noticed how affected he was.
“Tell me what I did in your illusion that made you call for me.”
I flushed. There was no way I’d tell him about that part. I closed my eyes and gathered my resolve, forcing myself to not be embarrassed. With renewed confidence I allowed myself the freedom of letting go. “You were gently pulling me against your arousal and your hand slipped under my skirts. You touched me. There. With your fingers.”
“Did it feel as it did in the Crescent Shallows?”
“Almost. It felt incredible, for a mere moment. Then I awoke.”
“Before you climaxed?”
“I… believe so.”
“Allow me the honor of making that up to you now.”
He didn’t move right away, and I realized he was waiting for my consent. Wrath would never take without permission. “Please.”
“With pleasure.”
He slipped one hand beneath the silk gown and his light touch slid over my calf, against my inner thigh, then slowly traced circular patterns there, roving a bit higher with each daring stroke, until I could no longer stand it. I stopped pressing my knees together and he dragged a finger across the apex of my body. It felt better than the Sin Corridor and Crescent Shallows combined.
Wrath pressed me forward until I was nearly bent over him, then trailed kisses down my spine. My skin tingled with each pass of his lips. All the while his fingers teased and danced across my body, driving me into a frenzy.
Once I was convinced I’d perish from the pleasure, he slipped them inside me. I stilled, getting accustomed to the feel of it as he slowly began moving them.
Unable to handle how good each sensation was, I sat up and pushed against him, his arousal hard and welcome against my backside. He paused his kisses and gently bit my neck.
My breathing quickened. I was chasing a feeling, almost familiar and not quite. It was magnificent. Ecstasy unlike any other. Sensing my growing need, Wrath’s fingers moved faster and that ache turned into the most glorious tidal wave of euphoria.
I stopped being self-conscious and shut out thoughts of everything except that incredible feeling. I moved against him, chasing the rapture, realizing Wrath was now letting me take my own pleasure. I was setting the pace and moving as fast or slow as I wished. That I was in command of my own body, my own desires, that no mortal rules would bind me…
… I came undone.
I cried out as pleasure broke through my body, in one marvelous tingling wave after another, then finally slumped against his chest, breathing as if I’d just run for my life.
Once I stopped trembling from the release, Wrath slowly removed his hand from beneath my skirts and righted the top of my gown. A long beat of silence stretched between us as I adjusted the straps with more care and attention than was necessary.
I shifted in his lap, noticing his arousal hadn’t abated. My heartbeat sped up. We could complete one of the next steps of accepting our marriage bond in moments.
Right here. In the weapons room. Only his trousers and my gown lay between us. And they could be removed easily enough. Perhaps it was the euphoria still running through my veins, clouding my senses, but it didn’t seem like such a terrible idea.
If a ceremony was needed as the final step, we didn’t have to perform it. We could indulge in carnal pleasure and remain free from any bond that would tether us for eternity. I shifted in such a way that our bodies intimately rubbed together. The sensation it created, especially after the pleasure he’d just wrought from me, was a new level of rapture.
Wrath didn’t move. He was giving me leave to choose.
I grabbed the hem of my skirts and slowly brought them up, over my thighs, my ass. Now all Wrath had to do was release himself from his trousers. I sat back, and the friction of his arousal against my body had me swallowing a moan. His hands tightened on my hips.
A bolt of alarm shot through me, stealing my breath. I no longer knew if sleeping together was a good idea, or if my judgment was impaired from what we’d just done. It was probably nerves. I steeled myself, refusing to succumb to second-guessing anything.
“Our training for this evening is done.”
In one swift motion Wrath stood, bringing us both to our feet. I spun around, staring at him. He was wholly unreadable. “Training? That’s how you’d describe what just happened?”
“You asked for seduction. I obliged.” He bent at the waist, offering a polite bow. “Now that you know what you enjoy, you may find the same pleasure at your own hand. Good night.”
TWENTY-FOUR
“He said what?” Fauna’s eyes were as big as saucers. She looped her arm through mine and escorted us out onto a covered pathway. “Maybe you misheard him. Or misinterpreted his meaning. That’s possible. Isn’t it?”
“Of all the things he could have said after that moment.” I exhaled, my breath clouding in the frosty morning air. I was too annoyed to be embarrassed. After the incident in the weapons room, I hadn’t seen Wrath for the rest of the night. “I well and truly loathe that demon.”
My friend snorted but held her tongue. We strolled across one of the long stretches of covered parapets that surrounded the castle. Guards nodded from their stations on the wall as we passed. Once we were far enough away, Fauna leaned in. “Perhaps he only said it because he’ll be envisioning you doing that from now on.”
“Doubtful. He couldn’t remove himself from the room fast enough.”
“I bet all of House Greed that he took himself in hand last night and thought of you while he spilled his seed.”
Even with my newfound confidence in owning my desires and feeling no shame, my face heated from the openness with which Fauna discussed such private matters.
She’d called on me first thing in the morning and managed to wrangle what had been troubling me before I’d donned my velvet cloak. Fauna hadn’t blushed or batted an eye at the topic, one that would have caused shock and scandal back home. She’d simply asked if I’d returned the favor with either my hand or my mouth, then giggled wildly when I’d asked for clarification on the latter.
“Maybe he didn’t want to take you in the weapons room where anyone could walk in. You are to be his wife. It’s not out of the question that he’d protect you from prying eyes.”
“Please.” I nearly snorted. “Half this realm is content to fornicate in public. I doubt he’d let someone walking in on us deter him.”
He certainly hadn’t minded an audience when we’d ended up in the corridor outside our rooms. I gritted my teeth at the memory. Facing him after that encounter hadn’t been awkward. The same could not be said for when I saw him next. I had no idea how to act.
“Actually, public rendezvous are not as common outside of House Lust and House Gluttony. Sure, other princes show o
ff debauchery on occasion, like Greed and his gaming hell, but not to the extent as those particular Houses. His highness may want you to be certain you’re choosing him with a clear head. Perhaps he wasn’t sure that’s what you wanted and he left before he did something he thought you’d regret.”
Frustration built in my chest. “Lifting my skirts was a clear indication of my wants. If he wishes to secure the marriage bond, he’s not convincing me that’s something he wants.”
“From what you described, my lady, it sounds like physical attraction is not the issue.”
I halted in my tracks. I had no idea why this was this getting under my skin. Regardless of what transpired the night before, I still did not want to secure our bond. The thought that he felt the same shouldn’t consume my thoughts. Especially when I had a hundred other things to be concerned with. Like the fast-approaching Feast of the Wolf.
I shook off the annoyance and proceeded toward the tower with my friend. “Enough talk of princes for now. I don’t want the matron to overhear us and report back to Wrath.”
Fauna laughed. “That, I can promise, will likely never happen.”
“I take it their animosity isn’t new.”
“Not at all.” Fauna pulled us to a stop, then glanced around. “Rumor claims it’s centuries old. Some say her daughter was cursed and the prince did nothing to save her.”
“Is her daughter in the castle?”
“That’s just it… no one knows. There is speculation that his highness banished her from this circle. For a time, at least. It’s possible the matron retrieved her and has her hidden somewhere.”
For some reason goose bumps rose along my skin. I thought of the wailing that floated up from below the statue of the woman and the serpent. I couldn’t imagine Wrath punishing someone by sending them deep underground. Perhaps that was because he hadn’t done it.
Even though I hardly knew her, I didn’t doubt the matron could have done something like that. Especially if it wasn’t to punish, but to protect.
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