Page 37 of Chained to the Devil's Daughter

I shivered. Ash’ren straightened, a calm mask of propriety and indifference falling into place as he resumed our walk, my cheeks hotter than the longest day of Inferno.

We strolled the flagstone path of the public gardens into the center of the labyrinth in easy silence. I was pleased to know our comfort with one another had not worn away like the little bit of my soul that’d withered without his presence. Every breath filled my lungs with fresher oxygen, the frost air crisper, the scent of the flowers sweeter. With every furtive glance, his pupils dilated, full of the same addictive emotion swelling my heart. But even inthe easy silence, I longed to fill the space with the alluring sound of his voice.

“I—”

“I—oh, no, you go ahead,” I said with a giggle when we both began talking at once.

“No, you go.”

“I was just going to say, erm,” I trailed off, searching the sky for random words to summon that would make him talk to me for hours. “No, I’ve lost it.”

“I didn’t have anything to say. I wanted to hear your voice. I was gonna wing it.” He bumped my side with his hip. “Best I came up with was, it’s nice to walk with you this way.”

“I know.” I wasn’t sure how I’d walk alone ever again. “It really is.”

Our steps fell quiet as we toured the colorful garden to its center. Curtains of metallic orange vines that crawled overhead hid the oasis, casting glittering shadows on the flagstones. A statue of my father lorded over a water fountain.

“Don’t worry. Soon we’ll have a new king to keep watch of the—er, not anytime soon though, you know. Rules.” I shrugged casually, but Ash’ren’s sneer didn’t twitch away from the effigy.

“Elements, no. We’ll have a queen to kneel to.”

“Nobody must drop to their knees before me other than you.”

A feral growl rumbled from his inner beast. The ground escaped from under me. Then I was standing on the ledge of the fountain with a starving demon at my knees. The black-and-silver gemstones on my peekaboo heels—I couldn’t very well wear an outfit with no black at all—sparkled against his cheek as he kissed my toes. His thumbs bore down on my muscles as he licked up my ankle. Hitching my leg toward his shoulder, he gave the sensitive inside of my knee a sultry kiss that made me wish his forked tongue would grace me somewhere more useful.

“Ash!” I fell forward, catching myself on his shoulders. His hands clutched my waist in the next second, twirling me down from the pedestal. My feet touched the ground as a guard clomped by on the other side of the vine wall, my skirt swishing into place.

I shoved Ash’ren. “You are reckless!”

“Yes, but that’s something you love about me,” he drawled, his hands coming to my hips, snapping them to his. “My recklessness led you to the best cock in your life.”

“Because it’s the onlycock I’ve ever had.”

“True,” he said with a vulgar grin, obviously pleased to be my only lay, “but that’s not the only reason.”

Invading my space, he placed one leg between mine, resting his foot on the water fountain. His bulge kissed my fluttering pussy between our clothes. Seeing as how my heels barely got traction on the flagstones with a thick thigh between them, he easily took control of my hips and dragged me along his erection.

With a shiver, I fell onto his chest.

“Ash, oooh, frick, Ash, we can’t be seen.”

“Shhh, Firefly.” His warm breath was an erotic tingle against my neck, pitching my core into a steady pulse of arousal. “I’m aware.”

Very well. That meant he was watching out. Which meant I could relax the control into his hands. Which meant . . . I fumbled at his pants, wanting to shove my hand down them and stroke his length.

But Ash’ren chuckled, this laugh darker than those before. He swatted my hands away.

“Dirty girl, what’s your plan?” Sweeping under my skirts, he slid the lace covering my pussy aside and ran a thick digit through my slickness. “You want to take my cock out, to stroke me until I come in your panties? You want to walk around with my mess in your thong all day. You dirty little slut.”

I whined. “H-hurry up!”

“I’ll worship my queen however I like. Do not rush me.”

“B-but—”

The pad of his thumb pressed my clit, silencing my protest. The woven fabric of his tunic sleeve bunched in my fists as a long, thick finger slid inside my pussy, working me at an unhurried pace.

All the lonely one-handed orgasms I’d given myself the past nine yearscombinedhad nothing on the feel of him fucking me with a lone finger.

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