by Meg Xuemei X
And that was our only way out.
Chapter 11
PRINCE SETH
The princess stopped in her stride with her companion in the tunnel, evidently noticing the new condition of the hidden door.
I didn’t want her to get away again. I’d been chasing after her this whole time. I wasn’t tired but irritated. I needed to lure her out instead of scaring her away.
“Come on out, Princess,” I called out loud. “I heard you, and I’d smelled you long before I heard you. This is probably the only exit you can find on such short notice. After a naughty adventure, you must be exhausted and in need of a good bath.”
Bath. The word put the image of her nudity in my head. My cock hardened.
The princess and her companions resumed their steps with determination.
That was my girl.
Rose ducked her head out first, followed closely by her blond guard.
Her scent hit me hard and straight, but I restrained myself from lunging at her, grabbing her, and burying my face in her neck to get more of it. I closed my eyes for a second and simply let myself bask in her intoxicating natural perfume.
She wore a scribe’s gray cloak with a hood. Even that hideous attire couldn’t diminish her beauty. Despite my former rage and worry, I almost smiled, relieved that she was unharmed.
I didn’t say another word but eyed her solemnly, intending to let my silence unnerve her.
She’d misbehaved.
She looked relieved at first at the sight of me, before quickly putting on a defiant expression.
The blond guard raised her sword, stepping in front of her mistress.
I drew my dagger, twirling it in my fingers. I was up to it if the guard wanted some fun.
“Prince Seth!” the princess warned, trying to shove her guard behind her.
I’d thrown my dagger. The guard raised her sword to block it, just as I’d expected and wanted her to do. My dagger knocked off her blade and sent it flying across the room.
She cussed in pain from the impact.
No one was good enough to go against me.
“Run,” I told the guard. “Soon the guardian angels will swarm this place. They’ll turn over every stone near the proximity of the vault to find whoever dared break into it.”
The guard kicked the hilt of her blade on the ground and caught it swiftly as it flipped into the air. She broke into a run. “Let’s go, Highness.”
Rose followed.
I blocked the princess. “Not you.” And she bumped onto my chest.
The guard returned. In her hand was a new dagger, which had originally been forged by angels. It could cut us and bleed us.
“I can snuff out your pathetic life with a snap of my fingers,” I told the guard. “I haven’t hurt you only because I intend to keep your princess safe and happy. Disappear now. Your princess will stay to discuss unfinished business with me.”
A dark light flashed in Rose’s eyes. Did she assume that I would blackmail her and force her to sleep with me in my library after I’d caught her?
What kind of angel did she think I was? Nevertheless, my cock was hard for her. If, and only if, she consented, I wouldn’t mind getting on it. It was better we just got it over with.
“Not a chance,” the Mysthian guard spat. “You think I’ll leave my princess alone with you?”
“I promised her I’d keep her safe, and I’ll keep her safe,” I said. “I didn’t make that promise to you. You need to be gone rather than bring her to the attention of a flock of guardian angels.”
“Like I trust your words,” the guard said. “And I don’t take orders from you.”
“Go, Lexa,” Rose said.
“And don’t linger,” I added. “Leave through the side door back to the princess’s suite. You should have no problem finding your way back.”
“Prince Seth will escort me back after this discussion he insists on,” the princess assured her guard while giving me a hard stare. “It’s in the prince’s benefit to keep me alive.”
I grinned at her.
“But Your Highness—” the guard protested.
“Don’t ever question my order again,” Rose said icily.
The guard swallowed, then dropped to her knee with a torn look, her fist on her forehead. When she rose, trust for her mistress was in her green eyes. “My apologies, Your Highness.” The next moment, she was gone.
I hid another smirk. The princess had no intention of letting anyone know about our deal.
I stalked toward her. She stood her ground with a daring look, her chin lifted. I kept moving toward her, until her back hit the wall.
My body was a few inches away from hers and I planted my hands on the wall to each side of her elegant head. I controlled my need to eliminate the empty space between us and press my body against hers.
She was a magnet that kept pulling me to her core.
She peered up at me, cold calculation wheeling in her whisky-colored eyes and heat burning in them as well. She must be pondering how to pounce on me effectively while offering me a sign of feigned submissiveness.
The Prince of Mysth was anything but submissive. But no matter what her moves were going to be, this time she was trapped.
This time, she was going nowhere.
As I said, a naughty girl needed to be spanked.
A naughty girl needed to be fucked hard.
The princess and I were going to have a lot of wicked fun, right here, right now.
She wouldn’t make it easy for me, though.
That I also expected.
Chapter 12
PRINCESS ROSE
I’d survived the Forbidden Glory.
My heart still drummed from the narrow escape as Lexa and I rushed along the subterranean passage. My blood iced over when we neared the secret exit in the high prince’s library.
The door had been hacked open.
The Dragonian’s map didn’t show another exit. Returning to the vault would be suicidal, and only a fool would gamble for a second miracle after one had stared into the fire of death.
“Come on out, Princess,” Prince Seth called, his voice taunting and triumphant. “I heard you, and I’d smelled you long before I heard you. This is probably the only exit you can find on such short notice. After a naughty adventure, you must be exhausted and in need of a good bath.”
He knew I had no other option but to go to him.
I hadn’t expected the prince’s return to Atlantis so soon, but I was glad it was he who waited on the other side of the door. If it had been other angels—especially Victoria and her gangs—I’d have been done for.
I guessed that was another miracle for the day.
How did he find me?
Then the truth hit. He had admitted that he could scent me. He was attuned to my natural perfume, as I was to his. While I hadn’t smelled him from the underground, he’d still found me out.
I’d taken precautions ever since he’d inquired about what type of soap I used. I’d changed to an unscented shampoo instead of my favorite gardenia jasminoides soap. Yet the prince still plucked me out when he wanted.
I wondered in dismay how I would ever shake him off, because soon I would have to leave Atlantis.
The only solution I could think of was to merge my scent with my courtier Femi, who had the gift of glamour, and have her confuse and mislead the prince in the future.
Yet the picture of Seth on top of my beautiful courtier didn’t look too appealing. I had no intention for him to get laid that easily. Once he had, my hold over him would be non-existent.
As I stepped through the door, Seth’s eyes brightened at the sight of me. A heartbeat later, a blank mask fell back in place, turning his face stone-cold.
He ordered Lexa to take a hike, but she refused to put up with his crap.
The prince threw a dagger and disarmed her, and he threatened her, though I knew he wouldn’t harm her while I was around. Then the notorious angel insisted on discussing unfinished business alone
with me.
My people didn’t know that I’d agreed to the prince’s indecent proposal. Though I would never truly go through with it and I was only using it to stall him, I still didn’t want anyone to know about that contract.
So, Seth and I were on the same page with eagerly sending Lexa away.
My guard darted a glance between the angel and me. She must have wondered what was between us.
A thought leapt in my mind.
The inscriptions on the vault’s doorframe indicated that the Forbidden Glory wouldn’t harm the chosen son and daughter. In the hologram, I’d seen Seth deploy it to destroy a whole species. He was the chosen son.
Was I the chosen daughter?
My people called me Earth Mother’s favorite daughter.
If I was the Earth daughter, then Seth was the sky son.
Were there deeper connections between us other than lust?
I shook off those thoughts, knowing I shouldn’t read too much into it and confuse myself.
Illusion was the worst enemy to harsh reality.
The high prince and I were bitter enemies, which was the only acceptable relationship between us.
I braced for him to blackmail me and force me to have sex with him, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve to throw him off.
I wasn’t surprised when he stalked toward me, like a predator closing in on prey, as soon as Lexa was out of sight.
Only I wasn’t his damn prey. So I stood my ground, my chin held high.
His golden wings arched from his shoulders, his muscles taut on his hard chest, and his legs moved in a powerful, graceful manner.
He was trying to show me how magnificent he was.
No wonder the female angels chased him, even though they thought he’d lost his taste for bedroom antics.
His supreme sexual appeal had never faded.
As he kept advancing toward me, I had three options:
One, move into his arms. Which was bad. I wasn’t that easy or cheap.
Two, fight him. Which my common sense suggested that I abandon. He had already caught me and could use the angels’ laws to punish me after exposing me for my ‘crime.’
Even if the king still wanted to keep me until the wedding day to have my legitimate title transferred to him to rule Mysth, he would kill all of my guards. He would lock me up in the dungeon, rape me on our wedding night, and kill me afterwards, tossing my body to the wilderness.
It was a no-win for me to piss off the high prince now.
So I followed the third and last option. I backed up, until my back hit the cold wall.
The prince was no gentleman. He kept pushing me to the corner, until he trapped me with his hard body.
His breath was warm on my skin.
I caught the scent of faint pine in the winter and fine wine under the summer sun spiced with a strong, healthy male’s clean sweat and musk.
As his scent called me, my female instinct reciprocated, urging me to pull him closer and throw my arms around his neck.
I would do no such thing.
“So,” I said, looking up at him as he peered into my eyes, trying to figure out what was in my head. “I’m here.” I shoved enough bravado into my voice to indicate that I had every right to be where I was.
The strong preyed on the weak. That was the course of nature. I needed to play on the strong side.
Illusion would become reality if you knew how to twist it.
“You’re dirty,” he said, and used his thumb to rub the soot from my face.
I blinked. I hadn’t expected his gentle approach, but I didn’t stop him from wiping the dirt off my cheek.
My goal was to pacify him, then get out.
Satisfied that he’d cleaned me up, he let his thumb and fingers hold my jaw and tilt it up, turning my face left and right to inspect me further. “You’re unharmed,” he said softly.
“Do you wish me to be harmed?” I asked.
“If I wished you harm, you wouldn’t be here in my arms.”
“I’m not in your arms,” I said.
“That can be corrected easily,” he said, and before I could protest and explain that I was trying to contradict him, not to invite him, he’d pressed his body against me. I felt his every hard muscle.
His large bulge was especially noticeable. It was as hard as a steel rod, pricking against my belly.
My breath became ragged, my mood giddy.
I immediately scolded myself. I couldn’t afford to have my head in the clouds while I desperately needed my wits.
Do not focus on his cock.
I blinked. I was back to reason. Then the next second, my mind slipped off again. He has a splendid cock. It was so exciting to stroke it last time. It would be a thrill to do it again.
I screamed at myself. I don’t care if you think it’s splendid. Just stop it!
“Better now?” the prince whispered, amused laughter in his voice.
“What?” I asked, my thoughts just tangled threads.
Where was his sizzling rage? I’d seen it when I’d stepped through the door with Lexa, despite his look of relief.
He’d known where I’d gone.
A light sparked in my head.
The Prince of Angels planned to seduce me first. As soon as he got what he wanted, he would rain down his wrath. He would probably drag me to his brother personally.
I was about to shove him back to give myself some breathing space, but then I changed my mind.
I could play the game.
I pressed my hands against his chest. It was dazzling and addictive to feel his strong heartbeat against my palm. This angel had incredible strength. He was my enemy, yet his heart pounded just like mine.
“You’re now in my arms,” he said.
I swallowed “What do you want?” I aimed to express my exasperation, but he might not take it rhetorically. He would tell me directly that he wanted to fuck me, but I wouldn’t let him keep pushing me. Not today. Not when I was still half-havocked from the encounter with the Forbidden Glory.
I went on the offensive. “You need to stop stalking me, Prince.”
“Stalking you?” he asked. “I saved your pretty little ass again.”
Before I could retort, his hands dropped from my shoulders to my arms and all the way down, inspecting me. “Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked with concern. “I smelled the burning of flesh.”
“My lady-in—My guard suffered a burned wrist,” I said.
Never lie about the obvious. That was a basic Mysthian court rule.
The angel’s flame had burned a hole in Lexa’s wrist. If I hadn’t thrown her out of the room, she’d have been a pile of ashes in the vault.
“You saw it,” the prince said accusingly, but there was also awe in his voice.
There was no need for me to pretend or deny at this point.
“Yes.” I breathed faster and my heartbeat became erratic at the memory.
No one coming across the Forbidden Glory could remain calm, not someone of flesh and blood anyway. Those who didn’t fear it had long since perished.
I leaned closer and let my breath warm his skin. He seemed to like my scent, so I must get him to inhale more of it to muddy his mind. When the blood in his brain went to his crotch, his walls wouldn’t be as erect as his male member.
“What is it, Prince Seth?” I asked softly, trying to sound as alluring as I could.
“It hurt her but not you,” he said, wandering in his own thoughts. “It must have spared her because of you. No one has escaped its touch unscathed before. I wonder why it let you go. Did you stare into its blue flame?”
“Yes,” I said, coming up on tiptoes and letting my breath caress his earlobe. He gasped. I was achieving something here. I was having an effect on him. “What is it, Seth?” I purred. “I’m only curious.”
He suddenly laughed and pulled away from me. “You think no female before has ever feathered their breath over my skin, used their sexy, breathless voice, and then batted thei
r eyelashes at me to get what they wanted? Most of them had more feminine wiles than you and were more experienced with the art of seduction, yet they all failed.”
I stepped back, picking up my remaining dignity, but I was already against the wall.
He looked a little rueful to throw me off, but kept going. “I’m of infinite age. How old are you? Being honest and straight with me will always be your best strategy, Princess. Playing games will get you nowhere.”
My cheeks felt hot. I glared at him, speechless for a few seconds. Prick! How much could he gain from humiliating me? “If you aren’t playing games, why don’t you just let me go now and never come to bother me again?”
“I can’t do that,” he said, his gaze intensifying on me. “For your offense today, I can actually end you.”
I straightened my back to stand tall. “Then why don’t you just do it?”
“I can’t do that either,” he sighed. “I’m bound by my word to safeguard you.”
This angel actually had honor? I didn’t think so. He still wanted my body. That was why he decided to keep me alive for the time being.
Unconsciously, I glanced down.
His hard-on bulged under his trousers, and the fabric stretched, distorted by his huge erection. I flicked away my gaze, but he’d caught me.
His eyes were silver and dark at once with undisguised lust. Yet he still had the presence of mind to lecture and ridicule me. My strategy of getting his blood flow down to his groin wasn’t working so well. The prince seemed able to multitask.
“Check it out all you want,” he said. “It’s forever hard around you. If you’re curious to see how hard it is, go ahead and touch it.”
“I’m not going to touch it!” I said. “You can’t blackmail me. Our deal is clear: I’ll let you have me, but I’ll decide when and where.”
“There’s a condition,” he reminded me. “I’ll fuck you no later than a week before the wedding.”
I sneered. “Yet I do not choose today to be the day.”
“The longer your delay,” he growled, “the more burn it’s going to cause.”
Why do I care that you burn? I’ll only fuel the fire to toast you!
I smiled. “And the forbidden fruit is sweeter.”