She laughs, and my frown carves deeper. Who else has she tasted with that mischievous little tongue? “I wasn’t joking. How many others’ palms have you licked?”
“Just my sister. Kid stuff. I drove her crazy when we were little. ‘Ada, can I play with you? Ada, can I wear your shirt? Ada, can I use your lip gloss? Ada, who’s that boy on your lock screen?’ Eventually she’d get sick of it and sit on my chest until I couldn’t breathe.”
Why does she lookhappyabout suffering this abuse? I have even more distaste for my brother’s mate now. “I knew I disliked her.”
Lena’s face falls. “Don’t say that. She’s a really good sister.”
“So good she tried to suffocate you?”
“She was just playing. I liked the attention, and she got her frustration out. Didn’t you ever annoy your brothers to get their attention?”
I think of my brothers when we were greenlings and still small enough to be wandering the palace passages instead of training in the pits. I mostly hid from them. Lothan was so serious and always ready with a reprimand, as though he werean adult and not a mere two summers older than me. Thren, whose fists were readier than his words, would simply knock me down if I spoke to him. Fenix made me the butt of every joke, most of which I didn’t understand. And Kyaal would lead me on long chases that ended in my abandonment in some desolate corner where Nik would find me hours later, my tears dried by the dust. Why would I want his attention when he only saw me as pitiful?
Plus, he stole the stuffed braxa I slept with every night and used it for target practice. That was the kind of attention I could earn by annoying my brothers.
“No.” I eye her with new suspicion. “Is this what you are doing? Plaguing me because you want my attention?”
“Maybe? No, I really can’t sleep. If I’m not thinking about bad things happening to other people, I’m thinking about doing bad things to you, if you know what I mean.”
I tense, instantly on guard, scanning for any weapons within arm’s reach of the bed. Not finding any, I relax. “If you think you can subdue me with your hands alone, you underestimate my strength and training.”
“Not my hands alone,” she says slyly. “My hands and mouth, maybe.”
I snort. “It’s true, you could probably talk me to death.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be talking.” She walks her fingers down my torso like a tiny warrior striding to his match, slow and confident. As she nears my waistband, I can feel my cock rising to meet its opponent, and her words—the ones my cock understood and I did not—sink in. She means to subdue me with pleasure, not lethal force.
Stunned by the wrongness of my own assumptions, I let her unfasten my sash. She slithers downward like a serpent before I have the sense to stop her. One of her small, cool hands wrapsaround my shaft, and then I’m lost. Completely defeated, no weapon necessary, not even her mischievous little tongue.
Defeated by one hand. I’ll never tell her.
“God, you’re beautiful,” she says, breath whispering over my weeping cock like a prayer.
“Goddess,” I correct. The one I curse and criticize, the one I blame. She gets the credit for this exquisite torture.
And torture is the word for it. Lena’s exploration is slow and wicked, designed to make me beg. And worst of all, she never stops talking. Every squeeze and hot swipe is interrupted with a useless statement of fact. Do I need to know her nipples are tight and tingling? Or that she’s wet between her legs? It only makes my balls ache and my seed leak.
“You taste likeor-an-jez,” she announces, like that should mean something to me. “Makes me want to bite you.”
“Go ahead and do it. Maybe then you’ll be quiet,” I snap, nearly out of my mind with need.
She tests her teeth on me and my back arches in response, my cock sliding further into her mouth until it hits the back of her throat. It convulses, rejecting me, and I quickly pull out so I don’t choke her. When she looks up at me with eyes full of tears, shame blankets my illicit enjoyment.
But then her face lights up. “Do it again.”
I’m instantly suspicious. “Why?”
“It felt incredible.” She bobs back down, but I pull her back by her hair. Her lids flutter and her cheeks go pink, and she strains to take me in her mouth again.
“Youwantto choke on it?” She doesn’t answer, gaze fixed on my cock. She thumbs over the fresh pulse of seed, stroking it down my shaft. It makes my thighs shake with the effort of holding back. Thank Alioth we’re lying down, because I’m not sure my legs would support me.
I give her hair a tug until her attention is on me again. “Answer the question.”
Her lip catches in her teeth as she blushes and nods. “Yes, please.”
“Why do you want me to be cruel?” I don’t wait for her reply before I push my cock between her lips, forcing her jaw open. She groans around it, tongue struggling against the underside. I stroke into her mouth, testing her limits, desperately trying to sate both our needs without hurting her.
Even if she wants it, I don’t. I’m tired of being the executioner for other people’s pain.
