Page 45 of Vale of Dreams

His gaze flicks back up to the guards. “All right, Nia. If they’re going to believe you became my head mistress, and that I’m bringing you with me into Castle Perillos, they need to think we had amazing, mind-blowing sex in this grove.”

“I’m not going to have sex with you.”

He sighs. “Your loss, but I don’t actually need to fuck you right now. I just need you to convincingly fake it. Can you do that?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“And what was the first?”

I shrug, sticking to the truth again. “I always had to fake it with a lover I had when I was twenty. But he wasn’t a sadistic torture enthusiast, so this feels a bit different. I think the worst offense he ever committed was wearing a green suit of cheap velvet with a pink shirt.”

This is, in fact, true. Darren was in a bad glam-rock band and had terrible taste in clothes. He was also shit in bed. So, yes, I know how to fake it.

Talan narrows his eyes. “The outfit you describe is a worse crime than torture. And if I fucked you for real, Nia, I can assure you that you would not need to fake it.” His voice is a deep, velvety whisper that sends shivers over my skin. “But for now, all we need is an illusion for our gossiping soldiers. The trees are bare, so we might need to make it look real.”

My eyebrows rise. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

He crouches for a moment, then he lifts the hem of my skirt, exposing my legs to the winter air. I start to protest, but the next thing I know, he’s lifting me up against the tree, spreading my legs so they wrap around his waist, under his cloak. Now my dress is hitched all the way up to the top of my thighs. His hands are firm beneath my ass, and my thighs cling tightly around his waist. As his intoxicating scent wraps about me, his mouth hovers over mine.

I grip him over his enormous shoulders, holding on.

“Is this really necessary?” I hiss.

“If I’m not mistaken, you could use actual, genuine pleasure in your life, but for now, faking it will have to do,” he whispers.

I’m doing this for Avalon Tower.

My heart pounds in its cage as he stares at me from beneath his black eyelashes and the warmth of his body radiates over me. He leans down, his mouth hovering over my throat now. His breath warms my skin. “Go on. So I don’t have to actually seduce you.”

I hate the way his deep, purring voice makes my thighs clench around him. It’s an instinct, an animal part of my brain that doesn’t understand the bigger picture. The animal part of my brain wants this to be real. It wants us in the dirt, tasting each other.

My feet are hooked together behind him, under his cloak. He’s wearing the softest cashmere sweater, and I can feel his body’s heat through it, and the hard steel of his muscles.

My fingers wrap into his thick black hair, and the memories of some of his thoughts float through my mind. Like the time I heard him spread a woman’s legs open, then lick and kiss her while she gripped his hair, screamed his name. I remember him running his tongue over a woman’s nipples, and his thoughts when he’d hiked up a thirsty woman’s skirt in the castle’s hall, taking her hard from behind where they could have been seen.

I inhale deeply. Talan has a smoky, earthy scent, tinged with something sweet like moonflowers. Jasmine.

Okay. Fine. Why not admit to myself that I’ve always liked hearing his dirtiest thoughts? The way he practically tortures some of the women he fucks, not letting them come, driving them insane?

My breath is already quickening. For the briefest of moments, I imagine what would happen if I were one of his women. If he hiked up my skirt here in the apple orchard and did exactly whatever he wanted to me. Desire coils tightly inside me.

“I’m very curious what you’re thinking about,” he murmurs.

The vibrations of his voice over my throat make my thighs clench again. After this is over, I will remind myself of what a ruthless, terrible person he is. But now, I have a job to do. And that job involves making this seem real.

His lips, ever so lightly, brush against my neck, and the warmth radiates over me. My eyes close, and at the feel of his lips on my skin, the moan I let out isn’t entirely fake. But I make it louder, letting it rise out of my throat. His fingers flex under my ass, and he moves his hips into me just a little. I arch my neck like an invitation. I moan louder, letting it echo through the orchard, and his canines graze over my throat. Warmth plunges through me at the feel of his teeth on me, at the knowledge that I’m completely vulnerable to this beautiful man. My pulse races. He raises his mouth closer to mine.

For just an instant, our lips brush, and he’s breathing as hard as I am.

He lifts his gaze, and he stares into my eyes for a moment before pulling away a little.

He licks his full lips. “That almost sounded real, and my soldiers will certainly not be able to tell the difference.”

Gently, he lowers me to the ground, and my skirt falls to my ankles again. I feel disoriented, like I just lost myself for a moment. Like I’m snapping out of a dream. I suppose it makes sense for him.

He holds me by the hand, leading me back toward the house.

I glance at him. I’m supposed to learn as much about him as I can, but even though I’ve been hearing his thoughts for years, he’s still a mystery to me.

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