Page 68 of The Shadowbound King

Rane kept his hand in my hair, his fingers achingly gentle as he stroked my scalp. “I think you do. I think you’re made for it, Mirella.” He slid his fingers down my neck to the metal around my throat. “It’s why you took so well to Andrin’s collar.”

Heat blistered through me, embarrassment flowing in its wake. Andrin continued speaking to my father. Their voices drifted back to me—a constant reminder that Rane and I werenotalone. Lord Vilgot’s eyes bored into me. The knights flanking my father’s tent stared sightlessly, but they had ears. And somewhere behind me, Kassander and his men kept watch.

In a perverse twist, my mortification only fueled the hot, aching restlessness between my legs. I squeezed my thighs together under my yellow skirts.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said under my breath. “I haven’ttakento the collar. I didn’t ask for it.”

Rane’s tone was as gentle as his fingers stroking down my throat. “Sweet Mirella. Sometimes, the things we don’t ask for are the things that bring us the most pleasure.”

Ribbons of shadow flowed from his wrist down the valley between my breasts. The black, serpentine mass whispered over the beading on my bodice.

“What—?” I drew a shuddering breath as the shadow grew more solid. “What are you doing?” A little black tongue peeled from the mass and lapped at my nipple through my gown. I gasped, pleasure frazzling through me.

“…unjustified delay!” my father shouted, his face reddening as he argued with Andrin.

“Stop,” I told Rane as loudly as I dared. “You can’t do this.”

“Not if you don’t want me to,” he said. “But we both know that’s not the case.” His shadow slid to my other nipple, the little tongue lashing hard against the tender peak. A sweet ache throbbed in my breasts, which felt swollen and heavy above the band of shadow nestled under them. Rane trailed his fingers down my neck, coasting dangerously close to the swell of one breast that rose from my bodice.

“These are lovely,” he said as I stifled a moan. “So plump and pretty, Mirella. I confess I’ve wanted to see your tits from the moment I met you.”

That wasn’t possible. Not after what I’d seen him do with Andrin. “But you…”

“Yes?” He pulled my hair back, exposing the collar and my flushed skin. “Tell me.”

“You like men,” I whispered.

“I do,” he said, indulgence and a hint of amusement in his voice. “But that doesn’t preclude me from liking women. And you might have noticed I have a particular fondness for redheads.”

My gaze fastened on Andrin, who continued to speak to my father.

“Andrin likes them, too,” Rane said. His fingers stroked my rapid pulse above the collar. His shadow teased and taunted my breasts, flitting from one nipple to the other until they were stiff and throbbing. “Redheads,” Rane clarified softly. “I’ve known him a long time. Longer than you’ve been alive, little elfkin, and I can guarantee he wants to know if the curls on your pussy are as red as your hair.”

A moan escaped me. Across the Covenant, Lord Vilgot’s eyes latched onto me.

“Are you wet, Mirella?” Rane asked, his voice whisper soft. The shadow slipped down my waist. I sucked in a breath as it flowed over my knees and descended my legs.

“Please,” I gasped, squeezing the arms of the chair. He had to stop. Everyone was watching.

“I will, sweet,” Rane said. “I’ll give you what you want.” The shadow thrust under my skirts.

Gasping, I pressed my thighs together, but it didn’t matter. Tickling and caressing, the streamer of magic climbed my legsand delved between my thighs. It squirmed through the slit in my drawers and lashed the pulsing center of my desire.

Pleasure struck, parting my thighs as my body sought more. Immediately, the shadow plunged deeper. It wriggled up and down my sex, flicking its little tongue from my clit to my opening. A cry caught in my throat. I dug my fingers into the chair’s arms, squeezing to the point of pain as I tried to block out the shadow’s exquisite, quivering dance. My breaths came in ragged gasps. My heart thundered in my ears as I struggled to maintain control, to keep from crying out at the hot, slippery sensations licking between my legs.

“Tell me if you want it to stop,” Rane said. “Say the word, my lady.”

The shadow licked faster, swirling over my clit. Moisture trickled from my opening and wet my inner thighs. The phantom tongue delved to my core and lapped it up, its movements frenzied and shocking. I opened my mouth to put an end to it. But the words didn’t come.

“No,” Rane whispered. “I didn’t think so.”

My cheeks burned. The shadow returned to my clit. Silky and agile as quicksilver, it slicked tight circles around my pulsing center.

“So wet for me,” Rane said in a reverent tone. He hooked a finger under the collar and stroked my skin. “I knew you’d be this way. You sat so prettily at Andrin’s feet, your collar shining in the candlelight. Do you want to know a secret?” The shadow twisted between my legs, stretching and shifting. Now, instead of one tongue, there were two. One continued fluttering and licking my clit as the other slid to my entrance. But it didn’t lick. Itentered, parting my folds with a wet sound that made new heat flood my cheeks. Pressure filled me, the sensation new and exquisite. My inner muscles clamped around it, and I bit my lip against a helpless whimper.

“I wanted you to defy Andrin that first night,” Rane continued. “I hoped you would bite his finger and force him to follow through with his threat. I wanted you stripped and kneeling, Mirella, nude except for a golden collar around your neck. Can you picture it?”

Gods help me, I could. The image blazed in my mind, lurid and forbidden as the shadow between my legs pressed deeper. In my mind’s eye, I knelt naked at Andrin’s feet with a hundred pairs of eyes on my body and the bite of elven gold around my neck. Heat seared my face, and a whimper huddled in my throat as Rane’s shadow continued its wicked dance on my clit. Across the Covenant, Lord Vilgot watched me as if he knew exactly what transpired beneath my skirts…and in my head.

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