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And she was nothing short of a feast. An endless banquet.
He could not get enough.
And because of her, Orion understood things he hadn’t before. The magic of touch. The madness of wanting anyone that much, of thinking it might cause actual, physical pain to go without. The things he longed for now could all be wrapped up with a bow and calledmore.
He wanted to be closer. He wanted to ignore every last responsibility in his life and focus only on the things they could do to each other in that bed.
Perhaps the word he was searching for when he thought about Calista washumbled.
She made him all too aware that the only reason he had ever been able to wrap himself in his upright, moralistic cloak of self-righteousness was because he hadn’t met her yet.
“You’re staring at me again,” she said, archly, from beside him. They were packed into yet another royal vehicle, en route to the last Christmas ball they would attend as an engaged couple.
Because next week’s ball on the night before Christmas would be their wedding reception.
He wasn’t sure he could name the way that beat in him, these days. He felt...possessive. Impatient. Because it was one more way to have her, and he intended to make sure he collected them all. Every last possible way there was to make her his, he intended to do it.
There was just this last week to get through.
“Can I not behold the woman who will be my wife?” he asked idly.
He held her hand in his, as had become his habit. He could not seem to keep himself from toying with the ring he’d put there, that great and glorious symbol of the queens of his people. And Calista was the last, best queen, by his reckoning. “In a mere week, Calista. Seven short days.”
She glanced at him, and as ever, he saw that tension in her. A kind of wariness in her expression, but warmth in her gaze.
He chose to concentrate on the warmth.
And if he felt a kind of drumming intensity, as if they were hurtling toward an end he couldn’t foresee—well. He chose to concentrate on the fact she would be his wife. Above all else.
“I can’t decide if you’re counting down to the day of our wedding with joy or if it’s all become a bit dire,” she said then, sounding almost muted. “Remember, Orion. You are being blackmailed into doing this.”
“Did you imagine I might have forgotten that?” He never forgot it. Though he was aware that somewhere in his mind, he had separated Calista from her father. Aristotle was the person blackmailing him. Maybe that made Calista innocent. Maybe he only wished it did. “I assure you, it is never far from my thoughts.”
“I can’t say I understand you.”
Tonight she looked particularly beautiful, but then, every time he saw her it was as if she’d transformed before his very eyes. There was a point at which he wasn’t certain he would be able to look at her directly. That was how much she seemed to glow, brighter than the coming Christmas.
“What is there to understand?” he asked.
“You can’t possibly trust me.” She sounded outraged by the notion. “It’s not possible. I’m the daughter of your enemy, and—”
“You are the daughter of my blackmailer, yes,” he said. “But your father is not my enemy, Calista. How can a parasite be an enemy? It can only be what it is. A leech, nothing more.”
She did not look mollified.
“The first day we met, I told you exactly who I was,” she bit out, and Orion was astonished to see her eyes were stormy. “I made it clear that no matter what happened, I would never be on your side. Did you forget that?”
“It’s not that I forgot it. It’s that things changed.”
“Things have changed for you.” She sounded desperate.
And the truth was, Orion deeply enjoyed her desperation in all its forms. The fact that he could make her beg when she was naked. The sounds she made, the pleas and the sobs. He had never heard any music he liked more.
Even if this had a harder edge, it was possible he was enjoying it more than he should have.
“Is this another patronizing discussion about my virginity?” he asked, amused. “A casual observer might note that you seem...obsessed.”
She pulled her hand from his, but not before he felt the tremor in it. “I’m not obsessed with it. I just think that it’s entirely possible that the experience of losing it has affected you more than you imagine. Sex is just sex, Orion. It doesn’t mean anything. It certainly doesn’t mean that you should trust someone who’s never given you any reason to do anything of the kind.”
