Page 98 of His Eternal Claim

I stand up and pull her into a tight hug. I hold her against my chest, feeling the frantic heartbeat of a woman who is finally letting go of a ghost.

“Everything will be okay, Mama,” I whisper into her hair, tears blurring my own vision.

Chapter 33

Love You Like Me

THE MAESTRO | Past

Something has shifted in the house over the last few days, and the silence that usually carries a razor-sharp edge feels… different. Quieter.

Selene is happier. I notice it in the way she walks through the corridors, no longer flinching at every shadow, no longer looking at me like she’s trying to locate the exact artery to sever in my neck. Bizarrely, she hasn’t mentioned her Father. For months, his name was a weapon she hurled at me to keep me at a distance. Now? Silence.

Hannah is playing the part of the doting Mother-in-law, blending seamlessly into the background of a happy family. I watch her during our meals together, dissecting every polite smile, every soft word she offers my wife across the dining table.

I am skeptical of her. A woman who carried that much venom doesn’t lose her fangs overnight. But I allow the charade. I let them have their quiet breakfast on the patio.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what Hannah plots; there is nothing she can do to touch me. This is my kingdom. And Selene is my queen, whether she admits it or not.

Besides, the real victories are won behind the closed doors of my bedroom.

She sleeps in my room now, her body instinctively curling into my chest when the night grows cold, even if she still tries to claim the opposite when the morning sun breaks through the curtains. We have our own encounters… vicious, beautiful tangles of pride and desire. I take her whenever the urge strikes, pinning her spine against the cold stone walls, clearing my desk with a single sweep of my arm, or bending her over the plush leather couch.

I enjoy keeping her on edge. It has become my favorite addiction.

Right now, she is trapped between my chest and the wall of the dressing room, the fabric of her skirt bunched up around her hips. She writhes beneath my touch, whimpering as her skin turns a violent, beautiful shade of crimson. She is so fucking responsive; it drives me insane. Every touch eliciting a gasp, every shift of my weight making her arch into me.

“Zagreus… please,” she pants, her fingernails digging through the fabric of my shirt, balancing herself on my shoulders.

“Please what, Dolcezza?” I murmur, dropping to my knees between her legs. I hook her thighs over my shoulders, exposing her completely to the harsh light of the room. She is already dripping, her slick heat glistening against her skin.

I don’t waste time. I press my mouth against her slit, my tongue sliding deep inside her as I suck the absolute soul out of her.

She gasps loudly, her head hitting the wall behind her as her hips jerk forward involuntarily.

“You like that, don’t you?” I growl against her wet flesh, my breath hot against her sensitive skin.

I don’t wait for an answer as I drive two fingers deep inside her, putting firm pressure against her tight walls, stretching her out. I work my fingers, curling them in a rhythm, listening to the ragged symphony of her breathing.

I need to loosen her up. She’s built so small, so devastatingly tight, that if she’s going to take all of me, I need to prepare her cunt properly. I refuse to bleed her out when the time comes.

“Stop… ah! Zagreus, you’re—” She chokes on a sob, her walls spasming violently around my fingers.

“I’m what?”

I look up, my fingers still buried deep inside her, stretching her open as my thumb firmly presses against her swollen clit. “Tell me to stop, Selene. Say the word.”

“No,” she breathes, a defiant, breathless sob escaping her. She grips my hair, pulling me back down toward her. “Don’t stop.”

I let out a low, rough chuckle, deliberately slowing the movement of my fingers to an agonizing crawl. I tease the entrance to her core, never giving her the full friction she is begging for.

“You’ve learned the game, haven’t you?” I whisper, my lips brushing the inside of her thigh. “You still say no when I ask if you want it, pretending your little rules are still intact.”

I pull my fingers out entirely, leaving her unfulfilled, her inner thighs trembling as I stand up and adjust my trousers. She looks up at me from the wall, eyes wide with a mixture of fury and blinding need.

“Zagreus, you can’t just—”

“I can,” I interrupt smoothly, looking down at my beautiful, ruined wife. “Today or tomorrow, Dolcezza… you’re going to spread those legs for me yourself. You’re going to beg me to fill you. And until I hear those exact words slip from your mouth, I’m going to leave you exactly like this.”