I tense under the onslaught of Richard’s fingers.He doesn’t fly us straight back to the capital of Kholar – something I know even with my eyes closed because it takes us so long to get there.
It’s like he’s punishing me because he hates me, and it’s the reminder I need to tell myself his death will be a good thing.Seeing the cruelty on his face as he looked at Karl made me sick.How long until that’s how he looks at me?
As much as Karl hurt me, he never broke any of the rules.Brownies have sex with everyone atall times; only in Fabia’s books is it called cheating and seen as wrong.SoI was the one who was a bad brownie.I was the one who tried to stop him from having fun.My sister is beautiful; of course he would want to fuck her.Half the town’s slept with her.And when I saw them together, it was my bad feelings that were the issue.So no wonder he ran into the comfort of my mother’s arms.She gives the best hugs.
ButI’ve only been with two people.Everyone thinks I’m not pretty enough or good enough in bed or whatever enough, but my sister is so popular.And I was just hurt that once again, shegotit all while Igotnothing.
“Karl’snot a bad brownie,” I rasp as the wind rushes past my face.“Please don’t kill him.”
“Don’t talk about him,”Richardgrowls.His teeth dig into my shoulder, and I jerk against him on a gasp.
“But he –”
His lips close over mine as he turns my head, swallowing down my protests.I start to pull away, but the bird drops in a sudden dive, and I clutch at him on a squeal.He turns me in place as Maeve levels out; now I’m sitting facing him.My heart still pounding, I wrap my arms and legs around him, desperate not to be dropped.
He holds me tight against him.His lips roam from mine to my neck and back again.My hands are locked too tight around him for him to explore any further.“Relax,” he says, his tone deep and guttural rather than the smooth silk it was on the way over.Demanding rather than seductive.Taking rather than giving.
His hands slide into my hair.“Look at me.”A slight tug at my roots causesme to shiver.I keep my eyes squeezed shut and shake my head hard.
“Dammit, Arienna, look at me.”
I suck in a breath at the harshness of his voice.But there is something else beneath it that calls to me in ways I don’tunderstand.Cracking one eye open, I look at him.
And the wind fades away, smothered beneath the blood rushing through my ears.The bird, the height, theblurringtrees – they’re all gone.It’s just him and me, and eyes so violent and raw and… broken that I –
His lips crush down on mine.His hands slip between our bodies.He pushes me back, just enough so he can lean down and claim my nipple between his teeth.I gasp as he bands an arm around my waist and pushes his dick against my pussy.Even withthe clothes between us, the friction is too much.Too demanding.Too promising.Too wicked and dark and possessive in a way that causes me to shiver.
To buck.
To grind, chasing those sensations until I fall apart in his arms.
He groans against my breasts, licking and sucking and not relenting, forcing me to take more than I feel like I can bear.My body convulses against him.My words lost to the wind.My mind lost to his touch, and my heart lost to those dark, troubled eyes that look at me like I’m going to be the death of him.
But he’s the one who’s killing me.
I cry out as another orgasm takes me.His hand is in my jumpsuit, his fingers curling inside mewickedand slow.His lips are back on mine.His fever runs hot and wild as he takes and takes.And all I can do is hold on, consumed by a fire that leaves nothing but ash in its wake.
By the time Maeve lands backatthe castle, my lips are swollen and mybody is marked beneath the wet stains on my clothes.He lifts me off the crow, sets me on the ground, and immediately releases me.My legs give out, not from theflightthis time but from thetiltingof my world.How can he touch me like that?Twist my body to his will like that?And with those same hands, go to kill Karl like it’s just another summer afternoon?Will he hesitate at all when he kills me?
“Will you show him mercy?”I ask, looking up at him on thefloor of the balcony.Will you show it to me?
His jaw tightens.His eyes harden, the glimpse ofearlier vulnerability I saw in them nowgone.“Think of all the stories about the Demon of Raza,” he says coldly.“Has he ever once given mercy?”
Then he turns.Leaving me here, on my hands and knees, he strides away and doesn’t look back.
Thirty
To proveherself(or himself)worthy of the throne, a princess(or prince)must challenge those in line to a fight in a fairy ring.
The Court can never knowhow I killed Aurelia.-KingRichard
I toss the blade at Jace’s feet, challenging him to a fight in my private gym.He bendsdown to pick it up in acceptance, and when heriseswith a sneer on his lips, I smilecruelly.“You look a bit pissed there, Jace.”
He rotateshis wrist, twirling the weapon.“I wonder why that might be?”He chucklessharply, his laughter a chill across my spine.Thisiswhat I’vewanted, though, from the moment my own wife accused me of being a monster.It’sa term thathasbeen spat at me multiple times before – too many times to count, but this time… coming from her…
I shift onto the balls of my feet, needing this fight.
“Could it be because you flew off without a guard?”Jace asks, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.
