by River Starr
Slowly, Zavian placed kisses up the inside of one thigh, closing in on my core but instead skipping over where I needed his lips the most, only to kiss down the other thigh.
I groaned in frustration, which only led to him smiling.
“You’ve been bad,” he said.
“So punish me already.”
Zavian touched a single finger to my most sensitive spot. Not moving, not teasing, just barely touching. “I will when I am ready.”
Oh no. No, that wouldn’t do. I was sitting here, burning beneath his touch, about to fall apart, and aching so horribly. “Zavian, please.”
He raised an eyebrow, a cocky smirk still on his face. “Please what?”
Was he for real? He really wanted me to beg for him to touch me?
“I want you to make me pay for what happened with Dax,” I said, my voice breathy. “I want you to make me come. I want you to punish me the way I deserve.”
As soon as I finished my words, Zavian’s finger moved and the world around me exploded in pleasure. I moaned loudly and bucked beneath his touch, my hips moving of their own accord in search of more fiction, more touch. But instead of doing so, Zavian drew his finger away.
I was about to complain about that very thing when his mouth closed around me and the room spun with pleasure. My legs buckled beneath the work of his tongue, my back arching with every motion. By the time he slid a finger into me, I was ready to topple over the edge and cried out his name.
Zavian pulled back then and removed his finger. “You’re not allowed to come yet.”
I lifted my head to look at him. “What?”
“Not. Yet,” he growled and slid two fingers inside of me.
My head fell back and I moaned again. He had to be kidding me. There was no way I could hold out with the things he was doing to me. “Zavian, please. Please let me come.”
He kissed the side of my arousal as he moved his fingers in and out of me slowly. “Maybe. Did you enjoy the vampire’s venom in your blood?”
“What?” I asked again.
Zavian added another finger. “Did you moan as you do for me? I hear it’s pleasurable, being fed upon.”
“Gods. Yes, it was and I did. But not like this. Nothing has ever been like this.”
Zavian’s eyes met mine for the briefest of moments, but the intensity in his eyes pinned me to the desk more than his threats of leaving me had. “May you never forget I can do things to you that no one else can.”
He returned his mouth to me, making good on the promise he’d just given. The combination of his fingers and mouth, along with the dancing of our magic along my skin, sent me spiraling right back to the edge of the cliff. My pleasure climbed and climbed, building until I thought I’d burst.
“Please,” I begged.
“Come for me,” he whispered breathlessly.
He then angled just right and I barreled over the edge. My back arched, my toes curling, and I lifted my hands from the table to hold his mouth to me as I came fast and hard.
He growled and tore my hand from his head, only to slam it against the top of his desk and hold my hand there. Relentless, he kept up his ministrations until another release peaked and crashed through me again. My hips lifted off of the desk, but Zavian pushed them down again and gripped my thighs, continuing his “punishment” of me.
“Zavian,” I breathed, my voice shaky. The sensitive sensations made my body shake. Before I knew it, another release was on the horizon as Zavian didn’t let up at all. This time, I grabbed his head with both of my hands, orders be damned. I came again on his lips. I wasn’t sure I could withstand more onslaught like this without breaking completely apart in his hold.
Zavian removed my hands and looked up to me, fiery passion clouding his eyes. My core throbbed, aching. I needed him inside me. Now. I was desperate for his full touch.
But instead of giving that, he stood and pulled me up against him, kissing me with my own taste on his lips. After he’d ravaged my mouth with his tongue, he leaned back.
“If you ever let another man mark you again,” he said darkly, “I will rip him to shreds and make you pay for it forever.”
I gulped. “Understood. Now—”
Zavian was ahead of me, already reaching for the zipper of his own uniform. He had it halfway undone, the bulging in his pants obvious, when the door suddenly swung open. I yelped and crossed my arms to cover myself.
In walked the tattooed fae who’d watched our first trial with Zavian from the window box full of fae. When he spoke, his voice sounded familiar too. Almost like the fae who’d interrupted us the first time we’d been in here making out.
The sea fae wore a surprised expression that quickly turned into a sly smile. “Oh my. Well, I certainly didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”
Zavian roared and charged toward the man. “Get out. Now.”
The fae lifted a finger and wagged it in front of Zavian’s face. “Now, now. Is that any way to talk to your superior?” His gaze flitted to me. “I do apologize for finding you in such a state. Please do feel free to get dressed, although I do admit I like what I’m seeing.”
Zavian reeled back a hand, but the sea fae caught it in a white-knuckled hold.
“Do not strike me, cousin,” said the sea fae. “Or I will make your life a living hell.”
“Just leave,” Zavian said through gritted teeth. “I’ll return her to her cell.”
“Do,” the sea fae said. “Before I lose the kindness I feel for you in my heart, cousin, and instead report you to the queen for fucking an inmate.” He then turned to me and waved happily. “Enjoy the rest of your day!” His jovial smile betrayed everything he’d just said to Zavian.
As soon as he left and the door was shut again, Zavian stalked back toward me. “Get dressed.”
I raised a hand to touch his arm and try calming him down. “Hey—”
“Don’t.” Zavian seethed, his chest heaving with deep breaths. “Get dressed so I can bring you back.”
In this angered state, Zavian’s harsh words actually made a chill run down my spine in fear. “Okay.”
I started piecing my uniform back together. Disappointment echoed through me, especially that we’d been interrupted again.
There wouldn’t be too many other times like this. Not when my unit had planned on escaping soon.
And I was going to escape.
I may have found my mate here, and our chemistry might be off the charts on fire. But my sister was waiting for me, and she couldn’t wait much longer.
Zavian waited for me to get dressed before leading me back through the runic teleportation circle to the cell blocks—only partially satisfied and very much confused.
18
Nyx
“He’s freezing cold!” I screamed into the night, trying to inject as much genuine fear and worry into my words as possible. This was mostly fake, after all. The first part of our plan to escape the prison was in motion. I just hoped Zavian could forgive me for it. “Someone, help!”
The inmates I woke sent curses flying back my way. I gripped the bars of my cell anyway, Frost right beside me, and made it look like I was trying to pry them apart. My palms burned from the iron, the smell of it tinging my nostrils the longer I hung on. And gods, did it burn. But I had to make this look convincing. Like Titus really was sick and I genuinely cared.
“Shut the hell up, bitch!” someone shouted from a few cells down.
“He’s in a bad way,” Dax added with as much fervor as he could find to dedicate to this cause. He didn’t like Titus at all, but escape was something we all sought. Thus pretending to care for his dragon shifter inmate suddenly going cold became part of the act.
The first part of our plan was simple. Titus had said a fever for his people meant low body temperature, which could truly result in death. If we assumed that the prison guards enjoyed their sadistic sea fae tendencies, then they’d rather see Titus die in a trial or by fighting another inmate, not simply pass i
n his sleep to sickness. And given how cold the prison was thanks to its depth in the ocean, it was entirely plausible that Titus had somehow gotten a dragon fever.
Except he hadn’t. Frost had simply concentrated her magic carefully, sending pulses of it across the cell block corridor until Titus had fallen unconscious from it. Now, while he warmed back up enough to help act with the next part of the plan, he appeared to have dragon fever.
It was hard to keep from smiling as guards made their way down the cell block to see what was going on. This might work after all.
As one got close, he lit the end of his electrical stick with an orb of magic. I recognized this guard as the male who’d wanted me to die to the venomous eel creature during our second trial. “What’s going on?”
I pointed through the bars to Titus. “He’s not well. He’ll die.”
“A shame.” The guard’s icy tone was colder than I’d anticipated.
“Please, he needs the infirmary,” Frost demanded. “If he dies here, he can’t very well compete in trials, can he?”
The guard shone a light on Titus’s shivering, blue-tinged form on the floor of his and Dax’s cell. Shit. He looked worse off than I’d imagined, since we’d had no lights to view him with.
“Inmates die all the time,” the guard said. “Get him a blanket and make him comfortable.”
I banged on the cell bars. “What? How the hell can you say that? Wouldn’t you at least like to see him suffer at your hands before he dies?”
The guard spun back to me and held up his electrical stick inches from my fingers. I held my ground. “You’re a fucking weird bitch, I’ll give you that. No, he’ll die there as he should: a king slayer and a traitor.” The guard got as close as he dared to the cell bars, standing just out of reach of me—and the iron that’d burn him all the same. “As evil as you.”
I pressed myself against the bars. “You haven’t seen evil yet. Get. Him. Help.”
The guard slammed the stick against the bars, sending electricity sparking against them. I didn’t move my hands quick enough. My muscles locked up as the electricity struck me, sending numbing pain throughout my body. I teetered backward and slammed into the ground, gritting my teeth against the agony sliding through my limbs.
“Oh, come on,” Frost said, a playful lilt to her voice. “I’m sure we could arrange something, couldn’t we?”
Another set of footsteps sounded down the hall, but I didn’t dare turn to see who it was. His honey-like voice, stern and annoyed, gave him away. “What the hell is wrong?”
I froze on the floor where I lay. Zavian. Did this man ever sleep? We’d started our plan to get Titus to the rune circle at night because we’d thought that was when Zavian wasn’t on duty.
Zavian’s footsteps stopped outside our cell. “Why is she on the ground?”
I rolled to my side and glanced up. As always, Zavian wore the slim-fitting guard uniform for Atlantis Prison. Zavian had a torch of his own with magic on the end lit up and illuminating my form. As soon as I made eye contact with him, he glanced across the way to view Titus better.
“What’s wrong with him?” Zavian asked, his voice thick with annoyance. Maybe someone had woken him up to report this.
The other guard sneered. “They say he’s sick. He should rot for what he did either way.”
Zavian scowled at the guard. “That is not how we do things.”
The guard stepped closer to Zavian and looked up at him as Zavian towered over the man by several inches. “I know you’re new here, but you need to understand how we do things.”
Zavian’s hard stare shrank the guard. “I believe you are aware of who I am. You will do as I say, or I’ll lock you in one of these cells myself. Is that clear?”
My mouth fell open.
The guard opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again for a moment. “Yes, sir.”
Dax stepped toward his side of the bars. “He’s got dragon fever. Probably from how cold it is down here.”
“The other dragon shifters are fine,” Zavian said, his tone precise. “We’re careful for this exact reason.”
“We were outside in the cold ocean water not that long ago,” Dax continued. “And the chill down here is persistent. Maybe he didn’t fare as well as you thought.”
In fact, that was pretty plausible, although Zavian and the other guards would have had no way of knowing. Titus hadn’t moved in the water, so he’d effectively sat still in a near ice-cold bath. I wondered if maybe that, combined by the ocean chill that permeated the prison walls, was why Titus looked so blue and unwell now. Maybe Frost’s magic had gone a little too far.
Zavian studied Titus for a moment longer, then looked to the other guard. “Summon two more men. This inmate will be taken to the infirmary to be stabilized.”
Yes! I schooled my features to keep from grinning. “Will he be okay?”
“He’ll be fine,” Zavian finally said. “Unless you all fail your next trial.”
Great. So another one was coming. We definitely needed to get out of here soon, then. If today’s mission succeeded, our unit had agreed we’d try to escape two days from now. Dax planned to spend the next two nights and as long as possible during the days cracking the mystery of the old fae teleportation runes, while in the meantime, Frost and I would come up with ways to get rid of our magic-muting tattoos. So far, everything we’d come up with involved an ice shard knife and a lot of blood while Titus recovered and was sent back to his cell.
There was one part I was growing increasingly concerned over though: leaving Zavian. Whatever trust he had in me—genuine or from being mates—would be shattered by this. The hate he felt for what Eos had done would extend to me, and I would never see him again.
“We won’t fail,” Frost said defiantly. “Just get him help. Dragon fever is nearly always fatal.”
Within seconds, two more prison guards had appeared. Although they stood before Zavian, he hesitated to give them orders.
Was it that obvious we were up to something? I hoped not.
Finally, Zavian stepped to the side so the guards could pass him. “You are to escort this inmate to the infirmary and see that he is stabilized. Once he is, return him to his cell. You,” he said, indicating Dax, “are to go to the back of your cell and face the wall. Place your hands flat against it.”
Dax nodded and complied. I bit my lip, remembering how close Zavian had been when I’d last been in that position against a wall myself. My cheeks flushed with warmth.
“You are to accompany him,” Zavian said, directing his words to me. “I want you to be checked over again in regards to that venom anyway. If he dies, you all die. If he acts out, you both will suffer the consequences. Is that clear?”
I knew the words were a threat, but Zavian’s commanding tone sent excited shivers down my spine. Something about him demanding things of me made my heartbeat race and my stomach flutter. “Yes, sir.”
Zavian turned to Frost. “You, against the wall too.”
Frost turned and smirked at me before complying.
“I have business to attend to, but I expect them returned by morning,” Zavian ordered before walking back down the cell block toward the teleportation circle. Probably to go back to whatever the hell he did literally all day and night. When he wasn’t pulling me into his office, anyway.
After extracting Titus and me from the cells, we were marched in the same direction and to the runic circle. I was led through first ahead of Titus, and in a flash, I was on the floor with the infirmary.
All of this seemed too easy, like our plan was perfect and nothing would go wrong. I knew better than to put hope in that. When I worked alone, my plans always went off without a hitch. This plan hinged on Titus being precise with his reveal of not actually being sick, which in turn relied heavily on Frost having not overdone it with her magic. Working with a team almost never turned out well. I’d learned that the hard way by relying on a necromancer to save my sister. The same necromancer who’
d accidentally cursed me in return with a life tied to Eos.
In a movement so small you had to be looking for it to see it, Titus flinched. He was being escorted by a guard on each side. I readied myself to pose as big a distraction as possible given my magic-muting tattoo. My guard, the one who’d initially approached our cells, stepped ahead of me to open the infirmary door. It was then, while his back was turned to Titus and me, that Titus roared and in a burst of strength and motion knocked over the two guards escorting him.
I threw my palm against my guard’s head, slamming it into the sea stone door in front of him and summoned enough water to freeze him there for just a moment. He was a sea fae, so he’d be able to unfreeze himself easily enough.
I spun, readying another attack, but Titus had it covered. His red scales glowed like embers, sending a hint of fire magic to his fist, which he repeatedly slammed into the heads and chests of his guards. With a final blow, he knocked both unconscious.
“Damn,” I commented, briefly looking back at my guard. He wouldn’t be unconscious for long. “We got lucky by surprising them. Hurry and get a good look.”
Titus nodded mutely and focused his attention on the circle of runes along the floor. I bit my lip as anxiety built in my chest. I kept shifting, bouncing from foot to foot.
The guard behind me groaned, and I spun and kicked him in the back. His head hit the door again and he slumped over.
More footsteps sounded in the hallway.
“Titus,” I warned.
“Just a little longer.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have much longer.” I don’t know why I was so anxious about this. We’d get caught either way. It wasn’t like we could really hide the fact that we’d overpowered and fought our guards. The only hope we had was the same that had made Zavian want to punish me by making me go with Titus. Hopefully that would save my unit from immediate death for doing this. What was a few days of solitary confinement in exchange for ultimate freedom if we succeeded?
If only the fae runic teleportation circles weren’t so complicated. Then Dax might have been able to just work them out in a few seconds.