Page 130 of GlitchBorn Heart

The fire burning between my legs must be torching my brain.

Kael remains on his knees, frozen, his stare locked to mine. I swear I feel it in my bones; he’s about to pounce. “Praise,” he repeats, like he’s tasting the word. Then his voice drops. “You want to be seen. To be named. To feel your worth in someone else’s mouth.”

His grin tells me everything I need to know in this game. Rook destroys queen: checkmate. It’s over.

“That explains everything. Your fire, your defiance.” He tilts his head. “Good girls get rewarded. Bad girls get a spanking. My house. My rules.”

I hold my breath for a few seconds. He leans in closer, not touching, just hovering, observing. “Lyra.” His voice is a command and a caress. “When I say you’re exceptional, it isn’t just idle words. It’s my truth.”

He’s observant, I’ll give him that, which is also very dangerous. He knows just how to use my confessions against me as leverage. But I tell him anyway. This isn’t just about hate or lust anymore. It’s psychological intimacy.

“Praise,” he repeats again, as if he’s locking the confession away in a file in his mind. I shift uncomfortably, but he hovers closer, his breath warm at my ear. “You don’t have to beg for that from me, Taiyō.” His tone is commanding. “You’re powerful. Brilliant. A storm inside the code. I see it. I see you.”

My chest squeezes. No one has ever said that to me, complimented me like that. Well, not since my parents. I don’t allow myself to open that wound.

“You’ll have to beg me for other things, of course.” He stands, and then his hand drifts toward the wall, plucking one of the masks from its hook.

He brushes the cool porcelain edge along my jawline, making me shiver. “And the masks, that’s because you don’t trust anyone to look at you bare. But here’s another truth...” He tilts my chin with the mask, so I have to meet his gaze. “Even with my face covered, Lyra, you’re still mine to see.”

His words linger in the charged air between us, but I see the shift in him. That dark hunger he had in the lab earlier is returning. He steps in close, the mask still in one hand, he runs the edge along my collarbone then over my tank top, down between my breasts. I shudder at the slow, careful act.

The mandala this time. It wraps around my neck with a tight squeeze. “Say it again,” he murmurs. “What you want from me.”

I can barely speak. “Praise,” I whisper, heat licking at my skin. “And anything else you’ll give me.” I’m on my knees in front of him now, my eyes immediately going where they shouldn’t.

“Let’s play another game, Kael Ryudon.” I lick my lips in anticipation.

His mouth curls into a sharp grin that devastates me. He leans down, his mouth grazing the shell of my ear. “Oh, you’re being such a good girl already.”

The words detonate inside me.

I’m putty in his hands, and he knows it. He tilts my face up, putting pressure on my airway, his mouth claiming mine in a kiss that’s so deep, I might not make it back out alive. His tongue parts my lips, demanding entrance. I stand, my fingers finding the hard lines of his chest, tracing his ink down to the cut V at his waistband. The heat of his body glistening with sweat is impossible to resist.

Quickly, he pulls back, but his hand remains at my throat, thumb tracing the frantic beat of my pulse. His eyes are obsidian and ravenous, but there’s also that silent restraint in them.

“Not yet,” he says, voice rough but certain. “Not like this. Not until you’re truly mine, flesh and blood. I’ll be right back.” He takes one jump down the step past me and disappears into his bedroom.

I take the time to collect myself. I’m left trembling, lips swollen, heat curling deep inside me. I want his hands on me, his fingers to touch me, pleasure me.

Seconds later, he returns, still shirtless, sweat gleaming on his hard chest muscles. The ebony ink of daggers and vines shimmers. He has a black coil of velvet rope in his hands.

He takes me by the hand and stands me on the mat in front of him. Ever so lightly he kisses my shoulder and begins removing my shirt, the holo-clothing pixelating as he removes it. “Yes?” He looks down at me. I nod my approval, because I can’t imagine saying no at this very moment.

He’s on his knees again, presenting the rope to me. The rook is bowing to his queen. He trails tiny kisses on my stomach, hips, thighs, as he slides my pants down my legs and gently lifts my feet out of them. I have no idea what I look like in holo-form. Hopefully as real as my image in the RedRoom did. His mischievous grin tells me he likes what he sees.

I’m left standing on the mat in my red lace bra and panties, bare and exposed, much like my soul is to him right now. I’m taking a huge risk, and he’s going to have to decide what to do with it, break me apart or prove he can hold me without shattering what’s left.

Kael doesn’t move at first. His eyes drag over me so slowly. I think time may have stopped. He knows I’m testing him, seeing what he does when I hand him the power. But he’s also testing me, to see just how far I’ll let him go.

He steps in slowly and deliberately, the hunter who already knows his prey isn’t running. His fingers brush a strand of hair off my cheek, knuckles grazing my skin like fire. My pulse thrums so hard I can hear it in my head. His look doesn’t promise softness, he’s promising possession. And it scares me that a part of me wants it so badly.

He bends down and picks up the rope, brushing his hand over the coils resting in his grip. He doesn’t reach for me right away.

“You told me what you like.” He circles me. “Now I’m going to show you what it means to trust me with it.”

Every nerve sparks alive as he steps closer, rope sliding over his palm like a living thing. When he’s directly behind me, I feel his presence more than the rope itself, an aura of command and patience. The first touch is feather-light, a brush of cord against my wrist, testing, asking.

“Breathe,” he murmurs, his lips on my neck in that spot I like, just below my ear.