“I’m surprised she can still walk under her own power after that display. Take care, Prince, that you don’t destroy the only thing securing your favor.”
“She’s quite well. Would you like to take a closer look? Please, she’s at your disposal.”
“So generous with her now?” Deimos laughed, though a dark edge threaded through the sound. He didn’t care about me—only my body—and what it would give him. If Tallon ruined me, left me broken and barren, he would tear us both apart.
“Come, Nienna,” Deimos said. “Let me see whether he has damaged you beyond repair.”
My heart dropped, sinking into a familiar abyss. I would have to perform and pretend and pose for him—again.
With my jaw clenched tight, I gathered the fraying remnants of my sanity. I was the Dragon’s Heart. I did not yield. And I did not break. Cold detachment wrapped around the splintered pieces of my soul as I rose.
Tallon caught my wrist. My breath snagged, and I met his gaze.
Frigid numbness crept through me. Panic crushed my throat, squeezing air from my lungs.
His mouth curved, fingers easing their hold. “Be good.”
My feet carried me forward, hips swaying as I approached the king’s towering chair. Fire tore across my back, the sultry walk at odds with the wounds striping my skin.
My pulse battered my ribs, each frantic strike a silent, unseen plea.
Deimos inclined his head, attention gliding over me as I neared. I halted before him, weight settling onto one hip, and extended a hand.
“Sit.” He shifted, creating space on his lap.
Horror locked my spine, scalp prickling as my body moved of its own accord. My palms settled on his shoulders while my knees straddled his thighs.
His eyes flared, searching my face. Long fingers traced my thighs before resting at my waist. “You have much to learn, Tallon.” He chuckled, thumbs pressing into my abdomen. “Release her tongue.”
Muted laughter rippled behind me. Deimos was no fool. Whether the ease of my movements clashed with the agony flaring across my back, or he understood I would never straddle another man by choice, I couldn’t tell.
A tiny flood of control returned. My eyes flew wide with a sharp inhale, but when I tugged at my hands, strained against my legs, they remained locked in place. A hiss slipped free as my spine arched, pushing my breasts toward his face.
Had Tallon learned nothing? Velli did not crave and lust as Radaanians did. Too much of his mother lingered in him; he hadn’t mastered his father’s ways. My body was only one fraction of the leverage I had to offer.
“What did you do to incur his wrath?” Deimos murmured. He shifted beneath me, careful to avoid the scabs lining my back. He knew the pain still burned there, regardless of Tallon’s control.
“I went after you,” I said, voice low, hoping Tallon could not hear. Did their blood intake sharpen hearing as it did strength?
“Me?” He laughed. “You thought to seduce me? You’re like the halfbreed, assuming it’s my seed I intend to plant in your belly.”
“I gave up a prince to seize the king,” I whispered, my hand gliding down his chest, feeling the steady thud beneath silk and skin. The words rushed out before my fingers could slip lower. “Do you think I’m as foolish as him?”
He caught my wrist, grip brutal enough to grind bone. My body still strained toward him, betraying me, reaching. Grayeyes gleamed as they locked onto mine, sharp and searching, as if he might pry truth from my soul.
“And what can you offer me? You are a prisoner inside your own skin. Would you swear your dragons will fly beneath the banner of Vellos? That treaty binds your father to Kallias. I already possess what I require.”
And yet, hunger flickered in his gaze, bright as steel under torchlight.
“You haven’t tasted me.”
His thumbs brushed my skin, then stilled. His attention snapped to the fresh cut at my shoulder. Tallon’s saliva had dried along the wound, leaving it tight, chilled against the air.
“Your blood is his. The treaty binds us.”
“It binds as well as the Treaty of Me’orn.”
His lips peeled, a quiet snarl tightening his features, colorless irises boring into mine at the mention of Radaan’s shattered pact. “Careful, pet. I can do far worse than Tallon’s pathetic caresses along your back.”
