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“Neo, this is mortifying,” I repeat from history—one-sided history.
Ignoring my statement, Neo closes in. Backing me against the window, he grips the ties of my robe. An irritated huff leaves his throat as he works at the knots.
“You’ll live with a mere few nights wearing whateverIdesire, Elysia,” he growls low and cruel, his fingers unraveling the next knot. Sorrow settles like ash in my stomach because his words don’t belong to him. He doesn’t kiss my cheek like he did the first time. “Even if it’s only your blood-painted skin,” he adds, voice scythe-like and dangerous.
“Where’s Lux?”
He undoes another knot. “Myfirstwife deserves some much-needed rest after our honeymoon. She will undoubtedly be sore for quite some time. Now, it’s your turn.”
I wrinkle my nose, but Neo tugs hard at the next knot, pausing, glowering. He grips my chin hard. “Not one word from your smart mouth,” he orders, voice bordering on deadly, expression dark beneath his furrowed black brows. His thumb rubs my lower lip. “It was your choice to pull a disappearing act on our wedding night. My Father informed me of how you used your power to wipe my memories of months before Lux’s arrival. And how you broke our oath during that time. You will pay the price tonight. And perhaps redeem yourself in my bed.”
So, that’s what he believes. I press my teeth into my lip, hating his words, his dangerous, foreign tone. The breath of those words travels like poison into my lungs. I should thank him for filling in the gaps, but I won’t. I promised the Father I’d rise to his challenge.
“Why my blood?” I narrow my eyes as Neo finishes, his thumb circling along my navel where gold vines blossom with rosebuds.
Neo jerks the robe sash from its belt loops. My breath hitches when he coils it around my neck, tugging me closer, eyes turning to pretentious silver weapons. “Oh, sweet bride, why do you think?”
I grimace. Inject ice into my voice. “No.”
He cocks his head to the side, eyes like silver blades. “What was that?”
“No,” I repeat louder through gritted teeth.
Neo testing boundaries is nothing new, but I still freeze, longing to go to Flight when his hands cup my hips, thumbs digging into my pelvic bones. “Shall I take the little fire cat and fling him back into the Chasm then?” He sharpens the invisible scythe, threatening me with the purpose behind our blood oath. “I have granted you peace for several weeks. Now, it’s time you fulfilled your marital duty.”
Neo slides his greedy hands up the sides of my body, mouth diving to my neck. His dark growls tremble down the curve of my throat, traveling to my breasts. Tonguing the painted blood, he snarls, appreciative. A hiss catches in my throat. The glint of his fangs winks at me. Liquid heat stirs in my center, and I gasp, working so hard against the desire rising inside me. My body grows firm, flush against him. My limbs shudder with the need to touch my lips to his, for him to lick his way around the edges and curves of my body as he once did.
“Be a good girl, satisfy me, and I’ll make it pleasurable for you.”
He could. He would. His voice, alone, would become a delicate caress to tickle my ear. The Prince of Destruction has centuries of practice in the art of pleasure. Heat thrashes in my core, inviting a shiver along my spine. If I narrow my world to his breath, his body, his masculine energy, and the deep purr of the dragon inside him, I could do this. My breasts, barely covered by the robe, grow heavy…and ache.
Horror gnaws at the lining of my heart—a reminder that I am more than just flesh and blood, no matter how starved. We crashed together like black holes of infinite gravity. I won’t settle for anything less than all of him, thaneverything. I deserve that. So does he.
With his lips like warm gossamer along the curve of my neck, I somehow summon my resolve. My hips jut out at the same time that I shove him back. “No,Neoptolemus.” I mark him with my eyes and thrust an accusatory finger. “You willnottreat me this way.” I fasten the robe ties again, pressing my mouth into a stubborn line.
Desperate, I plead to royalty. “I’m a princess if you remember.”
“And I am still the highest authority in the land.” He brandishes a finger, stabbing it at me like a spear. “Perhaps I’ll treat you like one of my harem girls, so your stubborn high and mighty ass may learn a little humility,” threatens Neo, closing the distance between us. I swallow a petrified knot as he cups my neck with one hand, fingers curving around my throat like a prison. “Perhaps I’ll put a collar on you, drag you to Court, and keep you beneath my throne as my pet.”
My breath hitches. He wouldn’t.
Neo’s fingers slither along my chest, and he glowers at the Grail piece at my neck. The Halo scalded a flawless circle in his flesh. Our wedding rings. He blinks, eyes narrowing in confusion. Hope floods me at the memory of the night I learned the ring was the first piece of the Grail.
Shaking off whatever sense of Déjà vu, he recovers, dismissing whatever his mind told him—he’s returned to some master deception of mine. He probably believes I forced him to give me the ring.
Eyes burning, I stand my ground and stab out my chin. “If you want a pet, Neo, then you’ll see just what abitchI can be. But we know you’ll do no such thing. I will not lie down like a dog. I’d rather be dragged and eaten byhellhounds.” Another lost memory, but I’ll try with everything I have. Even if his mind doesn’t remember, thebodyremembers. His heart just needs to follow.
Guilt throbs in my chest from how I used his analogy, comparing the girls in his harem to a dog. Puppies, maybe. I can’t help but smile when I consider how those girls herd around him.
He told me his harem doesn’t suffer—except when he’s between his visits or theHarem of Hadesfilming. Our honesty oath was in place then, so I know it’s true.
Hard and destructive, Neo grips my jaw and crashes his mouth on mine, silencing me. His tongue stabs past the seam of my lip to tangle with mine. Some hint of the passionate Prince of Hallowtide lingers deep inside him. The same master tongue that could make my fire-blossom weep. His deep groan reverberates in my breasts like a low purr of thunder.
Traitorous liquid gold drips more as I bend beneath his power force. A wealth of heat flourishes in my womb, curling downward, marrying with the coiled tension.
I’ve spent these months craving him. Replaying our honeymoon night again and again in my head. I’ve touched myself. Every night, I’ve tortured myself with a path that led to nowhere but a burning bridge. I’ve dreamed of his hands, his mouth, his tongue exploring every inch of my skin night after night. But never get off. Empath Elysia won’t let me.
He shoves the sides of my robe down the curves of my shoulders to bare my front to him, scooping up my breast and pinching one rosebud nipple. My inner muscles clench as his mouth devours mine.
