More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Not at all. I was admiring the view.” A small smile curved his lips, his head tilting slightly in my direction. “I thought that line was old and tired.” “Luckily, I am not.”
“Sit.” “Shall I heel next?” I clapped a hand over my mouth. But it was too late. I’d unleashed the demon. Axton advanced on me, his expression impossible to read as he raked his gaze over me. “Don’t tempt me. I would do unspeakable things for you to obey my every command.”
Val went to leave, then paused in the doorframe. “Your Highness?” I glanced over. “What is it?” “When you omit the truth, your eyes narrow right before your jaw tightens. You might want to address that so no one else picks up on it.” “It’s impossible for me to lie. You know that.” She gave me a rueful smile. “Are you certain?”
Sophie’s eyes gleamed with triumph as Eden snatched her plate from the air with grace. I prayed my plate would knock me out cold for the remainder of the dinner.
“When you take the gown off tonight, I hope you at least acknowledge the good it’s done. You are free to donate it and do what you like with the coin.” He started to walk away, then stopped. His hands curled into fists, and after another long pause, he finally turned back to me. “Just to be clear, I didn’t so much as kiss any of the suitors tonight. I was too busy thinking of how distractingly beautiful you are in that gods-forsaken dress to indulge anyone else’s desires.”
Sophie’s jaw was so strained from biting her tongue, it gave me a delightful burst of elation. The only one permitted to needle Adriana was me.
“It’s just a fantasy. I’m not certain I’d ever actually do it. I think it’s the danger, the anticipation of possibly being caught, more than someone watching that’s enticing. What are your secret desires?” “To make your fantasies come true.”
“You want brutal honesty?” he asked. “Yes. I’d like to know what you’re interested in.” He was silent for another moment as if debating his response. “I want to strip you down, bend you backward over the railing, and eat your pussy until you come all over my face.”
“What I desire is to have you shouting so loud that every last guest races to this roof, watching as I hook your legs over my shoulders and feast. I want them to know they’ll never make you come like I will. That your body is mine to pleasure and mine alone.” He grinned over at me. I must have flushed from head to toe. “I want your fingers in my hair as you ride my face, lost in ecstasy. Once you’ve begged for mercy, and once I’m certain you can’t take another moment of pleasure, I want you on your knees, choking on my cock as I ruthlessly fuck it.”
Well god damn
The moment she stepped onto the roof wearing the cloak I’d had made specifically for her, an odd sense of warmth spread through me. It hadn’t dissipated yet. If anything, it grew stronger. I shouldn’t feel relief, but I’d be lying if I claimed otherwise.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.” From the earnest sound of his voice, he made it seem like years, not days.
He was nestled between my legs, his face mere inches from the place that still throbbed for him. Part of me wanted to put the masks back on and finish what we’d started. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time we indulged.
I didn’t need to use my supernatural senses to know she’d been terrified of dying. Rightly so. Another moment and I would have been too late. My own pulse raced as I shoved that thought deep down, focusing on the present.
It was a mere crack in the mountainside, barely wide enough to fly through unless I pulled my wings as close to my body as I could without losing momentum. It was the perfect location for a demon who craved daring adventures; getting here was impossible without wings. And on the off chance anyone did make it, I’d warded the cavern from the world, keeping it a secret from everyone. Until now. Adriana would be the only other soul who entered my personal domain.
Her eyes fluttered shut, some color rising in her cheeks. “Thank you.” I paused, the muscles in my body tensed. Surely the world was about to collapse. “That’s it. I’m taking you to the royal healer. Now.” She glanced up, a furrow forming in her brow. “Why?” “You thanked me. You’re obviously out of your senses.” She offered me an obscene hand gesture, confirming she was truly on the mend.
She looked me over, her expression impossible to read. It wasn’t exactly the reaction previous lovers had had after I’d delighted them with my tongue. The fact I’d abstained over the last several years notwithstanding. Though I suppose I understood her feelings for me wouldn’t magically soften because I’d made her come. Twice.
you must know, I was imagining it was my stranger, not you.” Her tone was so prim and proper. If I didn’t know what her secret desires were, I’d never guess she’d fantasized about being caught. “I hate to break it to you.” I leaned in, dropping my voice to a low purr. “But I am your stranger. And you liked me just fine when I was on my knees, tasting every inch of you.”
His brows rose. “You’d rather keep what happened tonight a secret from her?” No, I absolutely wished I could go back in time and remake all my choices that led up to this point. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” I muttered. He gave me a puzzled look. “Do you often court the same people?” Now it was my turn to look confused. “I was talking about you.” He opened his mouth, then closed it. My temper flared as understanding dawned. “How positively infuriating. You’ve gone through so many lovers that you don’t even recall the time we shared, do you?” He studied me like maybe I’d gone into some
...more
“Forget it.” “Adriana—” “Please. This night has already been eventful enough. I’d rather not discuss it.” He seemed unwilling to let it go, but from either the steel in my tone or the hard expression on my face, he finally turned away
“My appetites are far ranging and diverse. There are many ways, aside from bedroom activities, to sate my hunger.” “Then why do you spend so much time crafting an image of hopping from one bed to the next?” He gave me a lazy grin. “Just because I was alone in bed this week doesn’t mean I was any less satisfied. I thought of you. Often. Even without the mask.”
“Bloody hell, Gabriellis. How aren’t you sleeping with that female?” “Miss Everhart is a suitor.” “I’m talking about her sister. Don’t act like you didn’t see her hurry by.” He set his glass down and sighed. “I can’t tell if she’d be the best or worst thing to ever happen to me.” My teeth audibly ground together. Lust shot an innocent look my way. “Problem, Gabriel?” I ignored him.
“Filthy, despicable bastard,” I muttered, brushing down my gown to avoid strangling him. Dark laughter echoed from the corridor as he left, annoying me more. Before it faded, I swore I heard him say, “You have no earthly idea, darling.”
He reached down and pulled the little dragon from where I still clutched it to my chest, swearing he’d see to it. The little creature flapped its feathered wings, iridescent gaze locked on mine. “Safe,” I said, not caring if I was speaking to a dragon in a soft tone in front of my brother. It blinked down at me, tucking its wings in tight. Then it looked at Envy and sank its teeth into his hand. My brother cursing the old gods for creating tyrant baby dragons was the last thing I saw before the world went dark.
Envy slipped into the room when she left, eyeing the bandage with distaste. “You smell like a dead goat that’s been baking in the sun for days.” “That’s oddly specific. I’m sorry you’ve encountered that before.”
Eden stood beside her, wearing an amused expression that worried me. She, like her sister, observed far too much.
I sensed her excitement and nervousness but also that she was oddly determined as she rolled onto her toes and… gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek. My lips twitched. If I had to place a wager at one of Greed’s gambling dens, I’d say that had been Eden Everhart.
Oh i been knew about eden
Book lovers made secretly devious bedmates.
IT WAS SETTLED. I was going to the gallows for regicide.
In a very princely manner, I dropped to my knees and crawled across the dirty floor, checking under the straw in the cells. Flipping over any stones the little beast could have crawled behind.
Val assembled a few hunters, and they were all in similar positions, softly cooing and clucking their tongues to lure the hatchling out. I shook my head at the sight. Here stood some of the most fearsome members of my court, crawling around the dungeon, hunting a baby dragon.
The tiny dragon crawled up my neck, nuzzling me, its icy snout causing a slight shudder. I tipped my head back, looking up at the cold night sky as I petted the dragon. “Well,” I said to it. “Your name is Vexus. You little vexing troublemaker.” He bleated excitedly from his grand adventure, the heathen. He belonged to House Gluttony through and through.
A sign he was worried or that the book he was reading was giving his tiny brain a cramp? One could never tell when it came to him.
“You have no idea how tempted I am to cuff you to my bed, Miss Saint Lucent.” And just like that I returned to my senses. “Are you wholly incapable of uttering a sentence that isn’t rakish?” His smile was a quick flash of teeth. “Thinking filthy thoughts again?” “I’m not the one dreaming of tying you to my bedposts.” “Truly a shame. You might have some fun living out your darkest fantasies. I’m sure I’d look rather dashing in your bed.”
“I’ll start. When you walked into the ball that night, I remember exactly where I was. At the bottom of the stairs, ready to ask someone to sneak off to the garden.” “How romantic.” “Then you paused at the doorway, and I lost all sense of time and place. I had to know you.” My gaze sharpened on him. “Why are you telling me this?” “Because.” He held my stare. “I thought you were the most devastating thing I’d ever seen. A comet speeding directly at me. And I was so lost to your splendor, I didn’t care if you wiped me clean out of the realm, so long as I got a chance to admire you, even from a
...more
“I watched from the sidelines for a long while, trying to hunt down clues to what you liked. I wanted to find common interests, impress you. You were surrounded by suitors, and I was plotting clever ways to steal you away to the garden. When I approached you, all my plans vanished. The look you gave me—it was like I’d drowned your pet.” His voice turned soft, quiet. “You hated me then, before I even had a chance to win you over. So yes, Adriana, I think we need to discuss that night. Because in my version, I wanted a much different outcome for our story. I wanted to give you my royal mark.”
“I have another confession to make,” he whispered. “During the contest, I convinced myself Vanity was you. Once I realized my mistake, I wanted to apologize. Right there. In front of everyone.” My heart thundered. “You didn’t, though.” Axton tipped my chin up, watching me as he slowly brought his mouth to mine. “Forgive me, Adriana.”
“You’re going to be the end of me.” He dragged me along his length, and I forgot how to breathe. “And I fucking welcome my demise.”
I still couldn’t quite believe she was knowingly in my arms, just as attracted and wanting. Ten years. I’d hungered for this moment for an entire decade.
Adriana had been so adamant about the All-Sinners Ball, about us getting intimate in the garden. She didn’t know I dreamed about it, that it was something I’d desired since that first meeting. That no lover had ever sated me, no matter how wonderful they were on their own.
“Oh, my gods.” “It’s a little late to be praising them, darling. But I’ll accept your compliments.”
It wasn’t the fact that Adriana had figured out the answer to the problem that we’d been hunting for. In fact, that made me appreciate her even more. It was the fact that my recurring dreams… they’d been real. And I hadn’t known magic was at play.
“I have hungered for you in ways you cannot comprehend. I’ve craved you. More than my sin. You haunt me, Adriana.” I nearly shook from the confession. “My dreams are the only time I get to worship you. Do you have any idea how many careful lies of omission I’ve told over the years? The role I’ve played this last decade. All to hide the truth of how deeply, wholly lost I am to you?”
“The truth is, sweet nemesis”—I lowered my mouth to her ear—“I have not fucked a soul since the All-Sinners Ball. But I have made love to you a thousand times in my dreams. And I have never once yearned for anyone else to visit my bed.”
“Then, once you’re begging for my cock, I’m going to bend you over this table.” He traced a line across the small table before us, slowly pushing the food aside. “And pound your pussy so hard you won’t care if I’m the devil himself so long as I make you come again.”
Ready?” “To enter an unbreakable bond with a Prince of Sin and basically sell my soul? Who wouldn’t be?” His chuckle was dark and deep and made my toes curl. “Sweet nemesis. You act as if your soul hasn’t already been mine from the start.”
I will be controlling your pleasure, but you ultimately control me. Understand?”
“You are my favorite indulgence, Adriana Saint Lucent.”
“Eyes on me. Or I stop.”
I thought the first flick of her tongue over the head of my cock was a spiritual experience.
“Gabriel.” “Close,” I whispered, taking her earlobe between my teeth. “My true name is Gabriellis.” She stopped breathing for a beat, then kissed me like I was the only real thing in her world. “Harder.”
