Page 50 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

Of course,he did what I asked; he was my subject, my creation, hehadto do what I wanted. As time went on though, I could see, in hindsight, how instead of his machinations growing more complex as he tried harder to win, perhaps instead they could have been to find new ways to challenge me.

Did he understand then? That my greatest enemy, the bane of my existence, wasn't him—it was boredom.

When a mere thought could create whatever I wanted, it never took long for almost anything to lose its novelty. It was why I spent so much of my time pouring over our 'games' as I'd called them. Our contests were the only challenge I'd ever experienced. And as much as they infuriated me, they gave mereason.

As my creations grew their own thoughts and opinions, they stretched my mind and my abilities, but never anything, anyone, as much as Orcus.

He was a puzzle to me, and for centuries I'd cursed myself for creating him so perfectly.

But maybe...

Just perhaps...

I'd made exactly what I needed.

I finally opened my eyes and gasped at the vulnerability I saw in his eyes. He wasn't only asking for me to open myself; hewas laying himself bare, too. I opened my mouth, attempting to speak, but it was too much, too soon, and I knew not what to say.

Instead, I nodded the slightest shift of my head, but I watched him see it. His eyebrows raised, his eyes opened just a bit wider, and his cheeks rose, softening the fierce lines of his face in awe.

I'd seen awe before, been looked at with it plenty of times, both real and feigned from my many subjects, but this was something entirely different. This wasn't reverence of a god. It was the pure, astounding shock of joy at the realization that something you'd thought lost to you might be within our reach. No, this wasn't the distant, impersonal worship I was so used to. It was intimate. It was hope.

Perhaps letting him be my safe place and being his in return wasn't an admission of defeat. Perhaps it was a gift.

I tilted my head and looked at him, and like the spark of creation that came so easily to me, I could see the beginnings of something. I could see the edges of me, where they ended and where he could fit. I could see the holes within myself he'd fill, and even how I could do the same for him.

I'd given him my magic, but when I touched it now, it didn't feel any different. It still felt likeme.Creating him had been one of my first ever challenges. It had taken several tries. Time and time again, his predecessors had been flat and eventually, I'd needed to carve off a large portion of myself to give him enough life to truly be a worthy foe.

Perhaps then, it wasn't weak if I needed him... perhaps we were each other's soft place because with each other, we could be truly whole.

In Which Orcus’s Plans Bear Fruit

“Yes,”I whispered.

Immediately, as if he was barely holding himself back from touching me, his shadows were on me. The massage, as seductive as it had been before, took on a decidedly ravenous tone. Shadows and fingers roamed my body, only distinguishable by the faint drag on his claws.

“What do you want from me, Aviana?” he asked. He shook his head. “I mean, tell me if I do anything you don't like.”

The shadows on my wrists tightened, drawing them above my head once more and again his movements shifted. His touches were purposeful now, it seemed, pressing and kneading in places designed to draw pleasure from me. They skated down the sides of my neck, toyed with my thighs, and skirted my breasts.

Through it all, he watched me with an intensity I'd never seen before. Or rather, it was an intensity I'd never seen directed at me. My subjects needed to have sex to procreate, so of course I'd seen such a look, but never had I been the object of such desire, and I'd certainly never felt the appeal. But now? It was as if he was reflecting my own feelings back to me, amplifying them.

Our magics thrummed between us, alive with our heightened state, and I was awed to see that his shadows, though still black themselves, emitted the blue-green glow of my own magic. While I'd given him control of my magic, and it still felt out of reach to me, itoriginatedfrom me.

I'd created millions of beings, and never had I seen my own magic behave the way it did then. Like Orcus himself, my magic steamed out of my skin, wisps of it grasping and reaching for him where my hands could not.

I moaned underneath him, writhing as his shadows moved to caress my lips. I'd seen all of this happen, but it was nothing tofeelingit. Desperately, I chased his shadows with my lips, letting out a growl of frustration when they slid out of reach.

Orcus chuckled, as if this were the best game he'd ever played, as if his own desperation weren't written plainly across his face.

“Orcus, please!” I cried, bending my back off the bed as he teased my breast only to retreat before he touched my nipple.

“Do you want something, princess?” he asked.

“Please,” I gasped. “Please, kiss me.” I must have surprised him, because his mouth dropped open momentarily.

“Of course,” he whispered. He lowered himself so that he lay next to me, the length of his body a decadent heat against my own. Vaguely, I was aware that I'd been sweating, my gown was damp with it, but my conscious mind was solely focused on his lips. He licked them with his dark tongue, making them glisten in the low light. I barely had time to ponder their beauty before I was assailed with the feeling of them. Soft, slick, plush, and so, so decadent, I moaned at the feeling of him.

When I opened my mouth? I was done for. Lost to the sensation of his tongue as it slipped against my own. I'd never quite understood kissing before. It had always confused me. It was unnecessary to procreate, though admittedly, my people did mate much more often than they needed to produce young. And many for no purpose at all except their own pleasure, occasionally with the express intentnotto produce young. And yet, it had always been a conundrum, a mystery of mortals beyond my ken, and I'd assumed, never to be understood.

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