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“Oh, Goldfinch.” Oh, Goldfinch.
“You haven’t been paying attention. Not at all.”
“This isn’t going to be some casual dalliance. This isn’t going to be temporary,” he purrs, reciting his previous words back to me. “I get your soul.” A kiss pressed to my cheek. “Your mind.” Another pressed to my forehead. “Your body.”
“I get your past.” Another button. “Your present.” Another inch. I’m panting now, three buttons undone. Only the thinnest bandeau trimmed with dainty black lace covers my breasts. “Your future.”
“That’s what you promised me, isn’t it, Goldfinch?”
“You want to climb a mountain—I’ll be right there to make sure you don’t fall,” he goes on, just as the first inch of his fingertips grazes over my panties. “You want to build something? I’ll be handing you the tools.”
“You want to flirt in a pub?”
“You can flirt and play all you like,” he purrs, tongue lapping, moving to my other nipple, making it match in wet heat. “You can make men and women desire you, crave you, and I will crave right along with them.”
“You want a friend? I’ll be very friendly to you for the rest of our lives.”
“And you want to kiss a stranger?” he adds, the caress of his breath a dark smolder. “Go right ahead.”
“If you need to kiss and fuck and play in order to feel free, then that’s what you’ll do.”
“But remember, Auren. Your body—your pleasure—you gave it to me. So I will be there, wherever you decide you need to be. At a pub. In a sea. On a bed. I’ll be there with you. Watching you. Joining you. You are mine, and I am yours, and whatever pleasure you seek, I will be there to watch you get it, and I will feed it to you tenfold afterward because you are mine, and I will see that you get what you need.”
“And if you want to experience someone else? Then you say the word, and I’ll take you to the nearest brothel and you can take your pick.”
“Your desires are not to be staunched or controlled. I am not intimidated by your curiosities, because they’re natural—and because you have been restrained for far too long. I’m never going to clip your wings, Goldfinch.”
“I mean you’re mine to please. To pleasure.”
“You’re mine to protect. To adore. To hear. To see. To experience. To love.” A pitted lump burns in my throat. “You’re mine, Auren. As wholly as I am yours. If there’s something you crave, if there’s some freedom you want to try the taste of, then you will do it, and I will be right there with you. Watching you devour your wants. And then I will devour you.”
“You’d really go anywhere with me, do anything? Even stand back if I wanted to kiss someone other than you?” “Make no mistake. I will watch you with hunger and feast on the scene of your thrill. But after you’ve had your fill, I’ll be there, driving my cock into your sweet cunt, purging all others from your skin as I take you. Over and over again. Until you remember that I’m the one you crave the most. The one who will always give you what you need. Until you remember that you’re mine all over again.”
“Go on, Goldfinch. Slip your fingers down to my cock and claim what’s yours.”
“Yes. Look at that,” he says as he taps his crown against my outstretched tongue. “Naughty tongue. Profanely plush lips. And you here, willing to kneel between my legs with your eyes on my dick. Such a perfectly wicked girl you are.”
“That’s it,” he croons. “Now sink down on my cock. I want you facing out. I want your eyes on the window. I want you to see all those people right outside while I fuck you. Claim you.”
“I want your slick to coat my cock. I want your pussy to clamp down around me so hard that it demands me to come with you. I want to burst inside of you until my cum and your gold comes dripping from this hot”—thrust—“tight”—thrust—“cunt.” Thrust.
“Great Divine, you’re even more beautiful than he described,” Isalee, the older woman, says as she comes forward. Her delicate hands grip mine as she beams at me. “Described?” I ask, flicking my eyes over at him. “He said gold was his new favorite color,” she says with a grin. “I can see why.”
my mind strays to Rissa. Been doing that a lot lately. She fucking kissed me. It was weeks ago now, but ever since, I’ve been feeling like a damned animal in a rut. I’ve caught her scent, tasted her mouth, and every time I’m around her—or even when I’m not—I’m thinking about grabbing her lush ass, pinning her up against the nearest tree, and fucking that temper right out of her.
“Alright, I’m turning in,” Ryatt says as he gets to his feet. “Sick of wearing this fucking helmet.” “I prefer it. Means I don’t have to look at your ugly mug.” Even though I can’t see it, I can feel him roll his eyes. “Yeah, fuck off.” “Just admit that you missed me,” I tell him. “I know that’s why you came back. Using Hojat as an excuse.”
“I’ve been thinking. I know we’re going to reach Fourth’s capital soon, and...well. You know my plans on leaving, but I thought...” I’ve never seen her so unsure before, stumbling over her words and looking around nervously. “You thought...” I prompt. “Maybe you were right. About making good mistakes.” I arch a brow but say nothing. Irritation blooms over her face. “Do I have to spell it out? I want to fuck.”
“Yeah, but you also kissed me, and that didn’t stop you from regretting it after. I’m all for actively enjoying some fucking great mistakes, but I’m not interested in regret. That’s something else entirely, and we both know that’s exactly what you’d condemn it as.”
“You know what? Fine. I just thought we could do it to pass the time, get whatever this is between us out of our systems. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’d ever come back to you now. I know my worth.” I level her with a look. “So do I.”
“You are the worst bad mistake I’m glad I never made,” she hisses. “And you’re still the best mistake I can’t wait to make,” I retort with a smirk. “When you’re ready to admit it.”
that quickly?” Judd asks. “Some,” Osrik pipes in. “Radishes, spring onions, spinach, turnips—those we can harvest in about a month.” Everyone stares at him. He shrugs his shoulders when he notices. “What? You shits know I was from First Kingdom.” “Yeah, as a mercenary,” Judd replies, his brows lifted up. “How the hell do you know about farming?” Osrik shifts in his chair, the bulk of his body making the wood creak in protest. “Hired to kill a farmer who didn’t pay his taxes once. Ended up staying there to help him so he could pay instead of murdering the poor fuck.” Lu grins at him. “Aww, Os.
...more
Because he’s right. My priorities have changed. And I will let the world corrode and crumble in order to protect her.
At first, I think I’m seeing a reflection or a speck of dirt, but I see that’s not the case. It reminds me of when a piece of bread has been left too long over a fire, its crust singed from the flames. There’s just one splotchy edge around my gold that’s darker than the rest, making it look charred. Frowning, I dip my fingertip in it, watching the dark blot dip down, but then it just mixes with the rest, going away completely.
I can’t even tell you how utterly sick I am of sleeping in a tent and being caught in the shadow of that hairy oaf every night.” That’s the second time she’s mentioned him. “Did something...happen between you and Osrik?” I ask carefully. The flare of irritation in her eyes is withering enough to make my brows lift. “Me with that lout? Of course not,” she replies hotly. So hot that there’s another blush burned on her cheeks. Interesting.
“Honestly,” Rissa grumbles behind my back as she and Polly follow me out of the room. “Me and him. The very idea.” The very idea indeed.
“We’re powerful,” I repeat, giving in to his request, my breath embarrassingly fast as I do. “That’s right,”
“With gold and rot, we will protect what is ours. We will be our worst when we need to and be our best together. And at the end of the day, we will fucking destroy our enemies.”
“Because why, Auren?”
“Because...” I pant, eyes locking on him as I reach toward the ties of his pants, pulling them loose. Instead of being afraid of the whole damn world, I could make the whole damn world afraid of me. I sink my hand in and grab his cock at the same time that I say, “Because. We will be the villains for each other.” He grins. Slow, emphatic, licentious. “That’s exactly right.”
“Look at the mess you’ve made, King Rot,” I say, just as I take my finger and swipe some of the beaded drops still collecting at his tip. His eyes flare as I bring my digit to my mouth and suck. His salty flavor bursts on my tongue, and I hollow my cheeks until I pull my finger out with a pop. He lets out another curse. “Are you trying to kill me?” My smile returns, as does my grip on his dick. “Kill you? Considering what I want, that wouldn’t be very handy.” He grits out a chuckle. “You’re being very handy.”
“If you’re not going to make me come, I’ll do it myself.” “No,” he says with a shake of his head. “You won’t. So long as I’m in the room, I’m the one who will bestow pleasure upon you. I’m the one who decides when you come.”
“Look at this,” he murmurs, his other hand grazing around the wet spot on my stomach. “You’ve made my cock a dripping mess. It’s practically salivating to feast on your pussy.”
“Mmm. Maybe I should just make you watch. I could spill the rest of my cum all over your pretty dress. Watch you writhe and whine as I hold back this cock that you want so badly.”
“You don’t even know what you’ve unlocked, letting my cock drip all over your pretty dress,” he says, movements slow. Even. As if he’s not torturing me with this erotic tease. “It makes me want to sink my teeth into your neck and leave a mark in your skin. Makes me want to strip you down, your mouth open, tongue out, and cum all over your chest, your pussy, your face. Makes me want to smear it over your tits, rub it against your pouting lips, watch you swallow it down as I smooth the cream right over your throbbing pussy.”
“Fuck. Me. Now.” My snarl is demanding, my hand on his cock. “If you don’t give me what I want, I’m going to knee you in the balls so hard all that cum you want to paint on my body will be choked up for a week.” Most men would probably gape and recoil at that threat. But Slade? He goes fucking wild.
“I’m going to let you come this time,” he tells me, and I nearly cry in relief and in need, my breasts bouncing obscenely with the intensity of his rough thrusts. “And when you do, you’re going to gush all over my dick and scream my name, and then you’ll thank me for edging you because you’re going to come harder than you ever have before.”
“You’re so fucking gorgeous. Gushing as I fuck you.” And I am. I can hear how crudely wet I am by the sound of our skin slapping together, the way his dick is coated in me. “I want your sweet pussy to cinch around me, Auren,” he purrs. “Choke my cock and make me come with you.” My babbling beg is indecipherable, but surely, I can’t do it again. “One more. You can give me one more, because you’re my perfect fucking female who loves when I fuck into you so hard that you see stars. You love it when you tease me, squeezing my balls, making my dick so wet it weeps. Isn’t that right, Goldfinch?”
“They do like to spend all their time there, don’t they?” she replies, looking put out. “Captain Oaf is always down there.”
“And that...bothers you? That Osrik is at the base a lot?” I try to ask as nonchalantly as possible, but I think I fail miserably, because she stiffens up. “Why would it bother me?” she asks defensively, arms crossed in front of her as she stands before the fountain. “He’s a lout and a ruffian. An army base is the perfect place for him.”
Manu. “It’s nothing personal, Doll,” he says quietly, dressed in blue so dark it’s nearly black, his arms bare, hair tied back tight. “But I am loyal to my sister.”
“Just knock her out and leave her,” Manu says. Relief trickles through me, though the drug has even affected that, making it murky in its echoing gurgle. But then the robed man shakes his head, and my entire body tightens. “No. We can’t afford loose ends. Kill her.”
When I see the man holding her start to plunge the dagger through her chest, time speeds up. Like it’s trying to get this over with, like my body and mind are far too slowed down for what’s happening. I try to scream, but all I get out is the faintest of whimpers, and my vision starts to go black, my head pounding. I watch as Rissa’s eyes flinch with pain and shock as she’s stabbed through. Fast. Too fast I can’t stop it. Too fast that I can’t do anything.
