I cleared my throat. Shut down those thoughts. “Since we’re here for a reason, and that reason is to spy on Aereus, maybe it’s time we figure out a specific plan. What else do I need to know about him?”
“Aereus is competitive with me.”
“Hence the room.” I lay down stiffly, keeping my eyes trained on the ceiling. Every one of my muscles was tensed.
“He’s furious that my curse hasn’t set in, that I inspire more fear than he does. He will want to steal you from me like the spoils of war.”
Adonis leaned on his elbow, looking over at me. I tried to ignore that his searing gaze was roaming over my shoulders. I pulled the sheet tighter around me, clutching hard to it.
“That explains how I can capture his interest. Maybe he’ll want me alone.” Already, the gears were turning in my mind, and I started to envision myself functioning as a honey trap. “Any clue at all where he might be keeping these Stones of Zohar?”
“No. As you’ve seen, the palace itself is enormous. But they’re so powerful, so valuable to him, that I’d guess he keeps them close to him, locked up safely in his bedroom or his office of war.”
I took a deep breath. “I can probably contrive to get into either of those.”
A troubled expression crossed Adonis’s beautiful features. “He’s dangerous—not just for who he is, but for what he can inspire in you. He’ll draw your violent thoughts from you like nectar from a flower. He can sense inner conflict—and he can exploit it. I want to keep a line of communication open with you if you’re alone with him.”
“How exactly?”
“If you allow it, I can link our minds, so I’ll be able to hear your thoughts.”
My jaw dropped. “You must be joking.”
“You can control it to some degree, but I’ll be able to hear if you’re in danger.”
“I’m guessing it’s not reciprocal. You’d never agree to me hearing your thoughts.”
“It doesn’t need to be reciprocal. I don’t need you to save me. In any case, it’s only temporary.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything.”
Adonis’s dark eyebrows furrowed. He reached for me, tracing his fingertips over my collarbone. His touch left a trail of tingling heat. “Goose bumps. You’re still freezing.”
He ran his fingertips over my skin, and his magic began to whisper through my blood, warming me and soothing me at the same time. Even from that light touch, my back began to arch, my breath speeding up. I knew a flush had spread over my chest, giving away my real desires, even if I wanted to keep them hidden.
He leaned in close, his breath warming my neck. I felt as if my body were straining against the dress. I wanted him to touch and tease me with his fingertips, to let them roam over my thighs again. I knew this was a bad idea.
Slowly, his fingertips trailed over the neckline of my dress, gently tugging it down.
“I want to see all of you,” he rasped, inching down my dress.
I arched my back, a silent invitation, and he tugged the fabric down to expose my breasts. The look on his face as he took me in was positively starved, like he’d emerged from a famine to find a succulent feast before him. He kissed my throat, his mouth searing, teasing me with a hint of teeth, and I felt my legs opening. I groaned.
I wanted him, needed him to touch me, so badly I was practically shaking. One of his hands moved up the inside of my thigh, and liquid heat pooled in my core, between my legs. Already, my hips were rocking, anticipating his touch moving higher…
From a corner of the room, Drakon let out a growl, and my body jolted. I pulled away from Adonis, pulling my dress up again.
What was I doing? This was all wrong. He was a power-hungry, maniacal death angel. I slammed down the iron door on my desires, and elbowed him away from me.
“This isn’t a good idea.” Granted, my body was screaming at me in rebellion, but I wasn’t going to let him lure me in.
Adonis rolled over, disappointment etched across his gorgeous features. “Is there a reason a pleasure-loving fae would deny herself what she wants?”
I pulled the sheets up around me, my body suddenly freezing at the loss of body heat. “How about the fact that you’ve straight up told me you’re evil?”
Candlelight danced over his skin, and he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. As he breathed in, he pulled the light from the room, dimming the torches to a low burn—just enough to keep me comfortable.
My body still buzzed with the excitement of his touch. Forget about how good that felt. Think of something vile. I pressed my fingernails into the back of my hand, summoning instead images of blood and violence, of Saturn ripping the head off his child. And when I slept, I dreamt of blood spreading through a field of white anemones, staining them red.
Chapter 24
“I may not be entirely objective, but I do feel the bath would be better with two people in it,” said Adonis.
“Oh, really?” I splashed the soap off my skin.
Wingless, Adonis sat in a chair facing the other direction. Drakon had been banished to the hallway.
“There are delicate parts of your body I could attend to better than you can.” The sensual promise in his voice made my pulse race. “You can trust me on this.”
At his words, a flush spread through my body. “I can manage.”
I tried not to imagine his hand sliding gently between my legs, exploring my body, and I fought the burning ache. I tried not to imagine the sweet release of giving in to him completely.
“Stop distracting me,” I said. “I have to meet the horseman of war. Alone, of course.”
Adonis snatched a silver flask off the bed and unscrewed it while keeping his eyes straight ahead. Despite trying to tempt me with his words, he was acting like a perfect gentleman. “He’s trying to send me another message. He wants to show that he can take what’s mine.”
“What’s yours?”
“As far as Aereus knows, you’re my succubus—a demoness I’ve claimed as my own. We’ve come here, purporting to seek his help, and he’ll want to use it as an opportunity to put me in my place. It enrages him that I remained un-cursed.”
“When I’m finished with him, should I meet you back here?”
“If you learn anything—or even if you don’t—go to Tanit’s room and wait for me there.”
Honestly, I didn’t want to ever leave this bath—especially not to meet yet another possessive, domineering horseman. The warm water licked at my bare breasts, and I found myself staring at Adonis’s powerful back, imagining running my fingertips over his chiseled shoulder blades.
I loosed a long sigh. Yep, I wanted to stay in here forever, thinking about how Adonis’s fingers had felt on my body. Almost unconsciously, I began tracing the path his fingers had taken up my leg, staring at the back of his shoulders.
Adonis folded his arms behind his head. “I want to hear your thoughts when you’re with him.”
I froze. “Oh. That again?”
“If I leave my mark on you, it will allow me to hear your thoughts. Not every single thought—not all the filthy thoughts I’m sure you’re having about me right now while you wash yourself and stare at my back.”
I cleared my throat. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not sure why everyone thinks Aereus is the one with the ego. Wasn’t Adonis the legendary figure who got trapped mooning over his own image in a lake? Is that who you’re named after? It’s fitting.”
“That was Narcissus,” he said sharply. “Not even close.”
“Anyway—you want to read my thoughts?”
“I can link us. You’ll be able to feel me, a little. And I’ll be able to hear if you’re in trouble. You can scream for me in your mind.”
“So…is this a permanent thing, or what?”
“Only if you want it to be. In any case, it’s the only way you should go in there on your own. You don’t know what he’s capable of. He’s quite fond of torture. Mental. Physical. All kinds.”
I cringed.
“Give me a minute to think about it. I’m not looking forward to meeting him, but going alone is probably for the best. All that I know about him is that his ego is his greatest weakness, and if I can flatter it, I might be able to get him to talk. If you’re there, you’ll suck up all the attention in the room like a black hole of narcissism and ruin it all.”
I stepped out of the bath, and water dripped off my skin onto the stone floor. I grabbed the towel to dry myself off, and scrubbed at my hair.
On the bed, I’d laid out one of Tanit’s outfits—a short, silver dress with long sleeves. And by the dress, my most important item: the poison-tipped knife.
Adonis sipped from his flask. “Can I turn around now?”
“Not yet. I’m completely wet and naked.”
A bit cruel, maybe, but I enjoyed watching his entire body tense, fingers tightening around his flask.
I pulled the dress over my freshly cleaned body, completely bare under the luxurious fabric that fell midway down my thighs.
I pulled on the thigh-high boots, then slipped the sheathed knife down the side of one of them. “You can turn around now.”
Adonis rose from his chair, and a deep curiosity burned in his pale eyes when he turned to me. He prowled closer. “Do you agree to what I asked?”
I crossed my arms. I’d hardly make a very good spy if I let someone I didn’t trust invade my thoughts. “The whole mind-intrusion thing. Not a fan. Couldn’t I just wear a wire?”
He shrugged, a smooth gesture. “I’m not familiar with that technology. But I can tell you that you’re about to meet with one of the most dangerous beings who has ever walked the earth, and it might be wise to have an even more lethal ally backing you up.”
“Yeah. Not really into it. How about I just call for you?”
“His rooms are often sealed so screams can’t escape.” Adonis’s eyes darkened. “I once watched him trap two human women in his torture room for hours. Just for his own amusement. When he emerged, not a single piece of them was recognizable. He radiated joy that day.”
I swallowed hard.
I leaned against the wall, still trying to gauge how much I trusted this self-professed dangerous being. He’d held back from telling me the truth about things. He wanted an insane amount of power for himself.
But—I didn’t get the sense that he’d lied to me. And more—he was asking permission, when he really didn’t need to. We’d already established that he could control my mind if he wanted to, yet he never did it. “It’s definitely temporary?”
Another step closer, and he was standing right next to me, so close now that his magic slipped over my skin, kissing my bare thighs.
“Just temporary,” he confirmed.
I let out a long breath. In this world, maybe I had to pick and choose which monsters I wanted to trust. The lesser of two evils, as it were. “Fine. Do what you need to do. And if I find out it’s not like you described, I’m carving the thing off.”
Without another word, he slipped his fingers into the sleeve of my dress and gently pulled it off my shoulder. Goose bumps rose over my skin, and I gasped at the feel of his fingertips on me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I need to leave my mark on you, in a place where no one will see it. It won’t hurt.” His voice skimmed over my body, lighting me on fire. “Much.”
I nodded mutely, the power of speech deserting me.
Adonis leaned down closer, and in the next moment, his mouth was on my shoulder, his kiss searing me. Involuntarily, my back arched into him, and liquid heat swooped through my core. Pure ecstasy lit up my body, until I was only dimly aware of my leg hooking around his to pull him closer, or of my fingers threading through his thick hair. His tongue flicked over my skin, then a hint of teeth. I moaned lightly.
Visions burned in my mind of Adonis pulling my dress all the way up, of his hands and tongue exploring my body. Wild heat arced through me.
Then, a sharp pain scalded my flesh below his mouth, snapping me out of my fantasies.
“Ow!” I clenched my fingers tight.
Slowly, Adonis pulled his face from my neck, his eyes burning with desire. It was at that point I realized that I hadn’t threaded my fingers through his hair, but through his soft, midnight feathers, and I’d entirely wrapped my leg around his, sliding my foot higher until my dress rode up, practically to my hips.
“You’re piercing my wings with your fingernails.” Despite the complaint, an erotic tone suffused his voice. “Although I guess I kind of like it.”
Reluctant as I was, I unwrapped my leg from Adonis and pulled my fingers from his wings. “Sorry.”
When I looked down at the place where he’d marked me, I found a small, black tattoo—a perfect circle with a sort of dash in the center.
“That’s your mark?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Theta. The eight letter of the Greek alphabet.”
“Okay, but…why?”
His arms loosened around me, but his eyes remained locked on the mark on my shoulder. “Thanatos. Death. It’s what I am. It’s who I am.”
I pulled up the shoulder of my dress. “I like the name Adonis better.”
A faint smile played over his lips. “So do I.”
“And now you can hear my thoughts?”
“Unless you’re capable of guarding them from me, I’ll hear your thoughts. Particularly if you shout.”
Oh sweet heavenly gods. Had he just heard...? “Were you privy to my thoughts just a moment ago?”
That slow, seductive smile. “I didn’t need to hear your thoughts to know what you were thinking.”
A thin sheen of sweat had risen over my body. “Right.” I smoothed out my dress. “Let’s just forget about that, okay? That was some sort of magic, obviously, when you left the mark.”
Adonis just looked at me, that infuriating smile on his perfect lips.
“I have to go.” I moved quickly for the door, trying to gather my thoughts. In the hall, cherubs glided over the marble floor, heads cocked, white eyes on me.
Focus, Ruby. Adonis’s mouth on my neck had just ripped the world right out from under my feet, but I had another horseman to meet, and I needed to keep my wits about me if I was going to have any hope of manipulating him.
I stood before Aereus, in a large hall with a dais that towered high above me. Golden wings swooped from his back over his throne, the feathers blending to a deep maroon at the tips. A crown of chestnut-gold hair shone from his head, lit up from behind by a stained-glass window. Sunlight streamed in from the windows, gleaming over his golden breastplate. The room smelled of roasting meat.
Aereus studied me intently, tapping the armrests contemplatively.
The longer he stared at me, the more my muscles tensed. In fact, as my gaze slid over the humans lining the side of the hall, I picked out a ruddy-faced man with dark eyes. Something about him sparked my rage, and for a single, dizzying instant, I envisioned myself ripping open his rib cage and pulling his still-beating heart from his chest...
Simmer down, Ruby. Already, Aereus’s power was beginning to affect my mind—and the way he was watching me, I was pretty sure he was doing it on purpose, testing the results. Above him, the stained-glass window depicted another image of Saturn devouring his son. A god so ruthlessly driven by power that he was willing to consume his own living child to preserve his throne.
Seemed to be a favorite motif for Aereus.
I licked my lips, desperate to taste blood there.
“Tell me about why you’ve come.” His commanding voice boomed over the hall.
Why was he asking me and not Adonis? Maybe he didn’t trust Adonis. I could start planting the seeds of our plan now, anyway. “You know, the Dark Lord hasn’t really discussed his plans with me, but it was something about Johnny and Kratos rebelling against the Heavenly Host. Johnny ripped Adonis’s wing—I know that much. Oh! And something about Kratos starting to fall? Does that sound right?”
Aereus�
�s primal snarl slid through my bones. “Fall? Kratos?”
I shrugged, feeling minuscule before him. “Adonis thought they were angry about their curses, that they might rebel against the archangels in heaven. Whatever you call them. And he thought they could be coming for you.”
As soon as Johnny and Kratos descended from the skies above the Louvre, Aereus would know. And with any luck, he’d be on our side when we had to face them.
Blood-red veins glinted in Aereus’s eyes. “Coming for me?”
Fury rippled off him, stirring my rage once more, until my mind swam with visions of teeth tearing at flesh.
This was a dangerous game for a feral fae. A succubus had more control than I did—pure seduction and elegance. A bit of soul-stealing through sex, but relatively blood-free. But a feral fae in the presence of the horseman of war? Not a great situation.
Aereus cocked his head, moving for the first time in minutes. “You look hungry, Succubus. Do any of the humans appeal to you?”
The feral snarl that escaped my throat echoed through the hall. “I feed from human males, and there are plenty in here. But none particularly strikes my fancy.”
A faint accent tinged his words as he spoke. “I’d heard that Adonis had managed to tame a succubus, but I wasn’t sure I believed it. I suppose some think Adonis is the most adept seducer in the world, but frankly, I find it hard to believe. Death surrounds him.”
It was quickly becoming clear that despite his angelic demigod status, despite ruling over a medieval palace with chained humans at his beck and call, despite all of his powers—this man’s ego was in need of some serious stroking.
All alike. You men are all alike.
Another white-hot burst of rage tore through me, and for just a moment I envisioned myself with immeasurable strength, ripping the arrogant angel from his throne, hurling him to the ground, and crushing my boot into his neck. My mouth watered.
Aereus begs for his life as I thrust a blade between his ribs...
“You look as though you’ve become lost in a fantasy.” Aereus’s voice boomed over the hall.
Black Ops Fae (A Spy Among the Fallen Book 2) Page 14