Kingdom of the Cursed (Kingdom of the Wicked, #2)

by Kerri Maniscalco

This was the kingdom of the wicked, and he ruled them all.

“Tell me,” he whispered, his voice sliding like silk over my flushed skin. “What?” My own voice came out breathless. “I am your favorite sin.”

“One thing I can promise,” his voice was deep and sensual in the dark, “is you won’t ever doubt it’s real when I touch you.”

“Have I ever told you your anger is like my own personal aphrodisiac?”

“You said you wouldn’t.” “Wouldn’t what?” The rumble of his voice vibrated in my chest. It was oddly comforting. I pressed my cheek against his heart, listening to it beat faster. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. His bare skin blazed against mine. Almost painfully so. “Take care of me. You said you wouldn’t...”

“Tell me you hate me, that I am your worst enemy. Better yet, tell me you don’t want to kiss me.”

‘Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.’

“Call it selfish. But I do not want there to be any outside forces driving you into my arms.” He tilted my face up, his lips hovering above mine. “When you decide to come to my bedchamber, I want you to know whose sheets you’re climbing between. I want you to call out my name.”

“If I am, I would tell you that you are mine. That I am choosing you as my husband. There is no one I’d rather confront my demons with, no soul I’d travel through Hell with. And no one else I want standing beside me when I go to the Shifting Isles tomorrow.”