Amid Clouds and Bones

by Ella Fields

Prince Atakan’s gaze flicked toward the faint sound, then fell upon me, glimmering with green shards. “Let me make myself crystal fucking clear, little thing.” My eyes widened at the ease with which he’d cussed. “Out of all the dangers awaiting you in my court, I’m the one you’ll need to be protected from.”

Worth it. Atakan’s bulging eyes immediately found mine as he stumbled back into the shadows of the staff entrance. I raised my goblet to him, then sipped. And for the first time since I’d met him, true joy made me smile.

Bernie patted my arm, her voice wistfully soft. “Love knows no bounds for mortals and has no end for faeries.”

“I can see that.” He glanced pointedly at my chest. Looking back at my mouth, he warned with breathiness, “But you’ll be whatever I want you to be.” I didn’t like that. Not one tiny bit. So why was I without words—my mouth drying the more he looked at it?

Green embers sparked within that bronze gaze. “A beast who wants to kiss your pretty mouth until it bleeds.” “Why?” The question both betrayed and assisted me, a little breathless as it fled between my tingling lips.

Wrapped in silk and delivered with slowness, his answer wasn’t what the foolish part of me longed to hear. “So I can lick it clean until you heal, only to kiss your lips raw again.” A rumbled noise coated his harsh exhale. “And again.”

It was his attention that awakened my body. That made it betray me by hungering for the one thing I should never crave. I didn’t want him.

His nostrils flared, and his eyes met my mound. A slow blink, almost drowsy, and then his gaze jumped to mine. “You’re aroused.” Tilting my head, I frowned and feigned confusion. “I can smell it.” His voice was rough, crinkled brows further confirming his perplexed state. “You know I can.”

Perhaps Etheria, the goddess of this realm, was as cunning as her children. Monsters shouldn’t look like him. Shouldn’t be granted the beauty to disarm their prey with a simple, half-dimpled, portrait-worthy smile. Every inch of Atakan Ethermore was a trap designed to entice and torture and kill.

“I want to fuck you.” The gritted words burst between his teeth as though he’d been biting them since he’d arrived. A shocked laugh fled me, my head shaking like I’d been slapped. Eyes fell upon us, piercing and curious and prying. I forgot about them, and about where we were entirely as I read Atakan’s earnest expression. The utter stillness of his skull-sharp cheeks and features. “You mean that.” He just blinked slowly. “You truly do want to, and I think you hate it.”

He bit it, then whispered, “I want to do this while your tight little cunt struggles to adjust to my cock.” And the way he’d said it not only made me shiver, but it made me believe he hadn’t done it before.

Ceaselessly, I’d tried not to think about it. I’d tried to think of anything else. He’d broken my innocence with his fingers, yet not even that could take up space the way that stupid kiss did.

That earned my whole attention. “No. Do you know what is disrespectful?” She blinked, then raised a daring and slender brow. “You.” I smiled brightly. “Sitting on my betrothed’s lap.” Phineus coughed, thumping his chest as he gave in and laughed. Ruelle glowered. “Unlike you, halfling, I am wanted here.” “But you’re not,” Atakan said, then promptly picked her up and dropped her into the seat beside him.

One tangled in my hair, his hold tight, and his rough words exhaled into my mouth like much-needed air. “I want you. I want you as much as I loathe you—so much, it feels like I can’t breathe.” His parted lips dragged across my cheek, his whisper scathing near my ear. “Give me back my fucking breath.”

He withdrew and glanced between us. “So gloriously wet.” He hissed as he eased back in. “One might think you loathe me as much as I loathe you.”

It should have been impossible for a creature intent on giving me pain to gift me pleasure beyond words. And as every part of me tensed and shook, bliss falling through me from my scalp to the tips of my curling toes, I wondered if maybe—just maybe—I could do more than survive this rotten prince. As he stilled and jerked, I wondered if I could enjoy him, claim him, and perhaps even ruin him the same way he was ruining me.

“When you laugh, I remember what joy feels like.”

“Atakan.” My voice croaked. “Tell me what really happened.” He halted before the door. Without looking at me, he dragged his hand through his hair, pushing it back over his head as he exhaled roughly. “We mated.”

“You are,” he said, voice thick. “Everything about you, even your tiny hand fluttering over my cock, is maddeningly perfect.” I stopped again, frowning at him. He smirked.

His eyes closed. “I want your unyielding defiance, your mischievous curiosity, your ceaseless muttering in your sleep.” His eyes opened. “Your buttery hair in my hands.” I wasn’t sure I breathed. Wasn’t sure that if I looked away from him, I would believe this wasn’t a game. The conviction roughening and firming his voice held me utterly still. “I want you, Mildred. Always and incessantly, I’ve fucking wanted you.”

He whirled as he growled, “And accepted that I couldn’t fucking do it.” His chest rose and fell sharply. He dragged a hand through his hair, held it there as he gazed up at the muraled ceiling. “You were mine.” His eyes returned to me, ablaze with the anger roughening his voice. “I knew then that I would rather remain trapped for eternity than let anyone think you’re theirs.”