Page 91 of Threaded

She couldn’t have been more wrong. They were rope-like, of course, but they felt … familiar. Natural. Sensual.

Likehim.

When one of those tendrils teased at the waistband of her leggings, inching to and fro, her thoughts stalled in her mind. Then the magnetism pulled from her front, and knew Andrian was standing there, staring down at her as his magic teased and taunted her.

“My magic has always felt like both an extension of myself … and its own being.” Andrian’s voice rumbled around her as those ropes of darkness continued to work their way lower down her body. “It certainly has a mind of its own, but …”

Mariah’s gasp was audible as dark magic suddenly stroked her center, dipping through her, the sensation indescribable.

Andrian’s voice had turned to smoke. “I can always feel everything it does.”

Without warning, a hand threaded through her hair, the shadow between her legs continued to curl through her, striking thespotthat had her chest heaving.

“I may not be touching you with my hands,nio, but I can fuckingfeelyou all the same,” he growled, closer to her ear than she’d been expecting. “What a dirty little queen, so wet for my shadows here in this dusty old library.” He tsked, the brush of his exhale against her temple as she panted through clenched teeth, her climax racing towards her. “Whatever will we do about that?”

His magic pushed into her, around her, consumed herfaster, and she felt herself being taken away on that wave, letting it edge her higher and higher and higher …

Until it all suddenly withdrew, vanishing into nothing. Mariah’s eyes flew open to find the darkness surrounding them gone, her chest still heaving, a nearpainfulfeeling at her denied pleasure settled deep into the sensitive nerves between her legs. She was still on her knees, and she glanced up to meet Andrian’s stare, his gaze a mixture of both heat and cruelty.

Letting out a growl of her own, she allowed her magic to finally filter into the air as she shifted where she knelt, pressing her knees closer together, desperate for any sort of friction. “What the actualfuck, Andrian?”

The asshole had the audacity tosmirkat her.

“You wanted a demonstration,nio. I did as you asked. Just a taste, remember?”

She made a mental note then to never believe a word he said to her again.

“Fine,” she said as she pushed herself up, stomping her feet as she forced herself to stand before him. She met his gaze again for a brief second before turning on her heel, thoroughly annoyed and frustrated and angry and wanting to be anywhere but there.

Until his deep voice stopped her again in her tracks.

“We need to talk about thePorofirat.”

And there it was. The reason for his … mood.

“What about thePorofirat?” Mariah’s voice was flat and emotionless as she slowly stood, pushing down anything else that might give away the bottle of nerves she was quickly becoming. She’d been filled in by Ryenne earlier that day about the presentation ball rapidly approaching, about its importance both to the kingdom and her future reign.

He leaned back casually against the shelf behind him, as if he hadn’t just edged her with his shadow magic in an ancient, revered library.

“My father will be there.”

Mariah narrowed her gaze at him. “Well, I’d assumed that, considering he’s currently residing in the palace and all. It would be exceptionally poor manners for one of the six Royals to be absent from the formal presentation of the queen apparent.”

“Please refrain from the superiority complex with me,my queen.” The way he always sneered her title boiled her blood. “I need to make sure we’re on the same page about … this.” He gestured between them with a finger.

Mariah scoffed. “And what, exactly, isthis, Andrian? Stress relief? A good fuck? I don’t even know what to call whatever just happened here … maybe adistraction?” Her voice was back to a growl. “We can be on the same page about whatever you want, but I remembereverythingyou’ve ever said to me. And just as I said that first night after the Uroboros attack, I’m calling your bluff, too.” She paused. “And, if I recall, you said it, not me: that I would be yourundoing.”

His tanzanite eyes flashed with cold fire. Pushing himself off the shelf, Andrian stalked towards her, crowding into her space enough to force her to take three steps back until her shoulder-blades were once again pressed against those ancient wooden shelves, his body flush against hers. This time, though, his proximity didn’t send heat lancing through her veins.

No, this time … heterrifiedher.

“Do you think you know me just because you’ve had my dick inside you and know a story from my childhood?” His voice was dark and lethal andquiet. “Sorry if this is a disappointment, but neither of those things make you special. You know nothing about me, princess. I’m not a good man, nor have I ever pretended to be. I told you that you never should’ve Selected me, and I meant it; I will bring younothingbut pain.” His voice nearly broke then, but he quickly regained his composure, and Mariah would’ve thought she’d imagined it if she hadn’t seen the broken flicker in his gaze.

He continued his tirade.

“You … you …trappedme into taking that oath, and I can’t take it back. But I can again vow that I willnevermake the bond with you. Yes, I told you I would be your distraction, but you seem to have forgotten the second part: a distraction isallyou will ever be to me.”

With that, the last of his words still echoing in the tunneling hallway, he stepped back from her, releasing her from his hold.

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