But this is not the Caspian I remember.
This is the Prince of Thorns. Every movement he makes is predatory, calculated. The power Cas kept so locked inside radiates off him in waves. I could get drunk on the feeling of that power if I’m not careful.
He drops his head, trailing his lips a breath away from my skin as he travels lower down my body. He inhales, as if he could get as drunk on the scent of me as I can from him.
“I’m not a fool. I know you hate me,” he says.
I take his face in mine and draw him closer. “You once told me you would know me in any form. Caspian, Prince of Roses, I will love you in any form.”
And maybe it’s the light, maybe it’s my own delusions, but I swear for a moment his eyes flash purple.
So I kiss him.
I breathe him in as he tugs me flush against his body. He makes a desperate male sound in the back of his throat, and I tangle my hands in his hair.
With a strong hand, he grabs my thigh and hoists it up over his leg so I feel his hard length press against me. “Cas,” I sigh against him.
He huffs a breath and pulls away, kneeling on the bed and peering down at me. “Don’t call me that. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that’s who you’re kissing. Look at my eyes, Rosalina.”
They’re green.
His smile widens. “If you choose to stay in this bed, then I am going to fuck you. And it will not be the sweet, tender wayCasdid. You are mine. To play with. To torment. To use.”
“What about your bargain?” I breathe. “Are you willing to lose me for one night of pleasure?”
He tilts his head. “I can control myself when I need to. Staying means you accept that. Choose, Princess.”
My chest heaves in my throat. He’s a beautiful nightmare, lust and power radiating off him.
But maybe there’s a way for me to save him and the rose.
Will our love, my touch, be enough to pull him from this haze?
And if not… What if he did lose control? Would I have time to grab the rose before his bargain with Keldarion took over? I could whisk the rose away to safety.
This is possibly the best and worst idea I’ve had yet.
And it only requires sleeping with the Prince of Thorns.
So I take my hand and draw the strap of my nightdress lower, revealing the curve of my breast. “I told you. Any form.”
23
The Prince of Thorns
Athrum of satisfaction courses through me at her obedientlittle smile. “Perfect.” I smirk, then stand off to the side of the bed. “Now, kneel and suck my cock.”
It’s cute, the immediate flash of defiance in her eyes. That pitiful thrall the Winter Prince sent me would have slobbered on me from dawn to dusk had I let her.
No, that didn’t interest me at all.
Not like my real Rose.
Keeping my eyes locked with hers, I draw the laces from my tunic and drop it to the ground, then unlace my pants and step out. My cock is already impossibly hard, as it always is around her.
Her gaze turns appreciative, and she stands.
“Naked, please,” I tell her, holding up a palm.
