Page 36 of Wickedly Yours

Averting my eyes away from his, I continued to take in the details. There were paintings on the ceilings that depicted many demons—some so similar to the two who’d tried to attack me earlier. I frowned. What sorts of beings would I meet now that I was in this place full ofmonsters? He’d insisted this wasn’t Hell, but I didn’t know what I believed anymore.

“It’s not what I expected,” I finally murmured.

He hummed in response.

With a snap of his fingers, he’d shed the rest of his human appearance—now wearing a tailored black suit with a long black overcoat adorned in gold.

His gold eyes practically glittered as he turned back to look at me. “Shall we?”

I stared, dumbfounded. “Shall we… what?” I was too busy appreciating the outfit—howrighthe looked in it—to process the rest. It was almost strange how he seemed to fit here. And how natural it was seeing him like this. Like the other version of him had just been a facade all along.

“I thought I’d show you around.” The subtle upward quirk of his mouth told me he saw me checking him out, and I tried not to ignore the way it sent a bolt through my system. Because even if I was still upset with him, my body didn’t know that.

“Oh.” I gave a small nod. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

But I couldn’t pull my eyes off of his bulky frame. The way the fabric rested over his broad shoulders.

How could such a sin be such an utter temptation? Clearly,I was weak. He made me want to be. Because I knew what it was like between us. How good. And that was back when I’d just thought him to be a human, passing through town. Now, everything was different.

Everything except the sparks between us.

His lips dipped low, brushing against my ear. “If you keep looking at me like that, Moonbeam…”

“What?” I said with a sharp inhale of breath.

Zain’s eyes were filled with want, and he took a deep pull of my scent. “I’ll have no choice but to pull that dress up and take you right here.” He shuddered, his nose finally leaving that spot between my neck. “Fuck, you smell so good.”

“Zain,” I whimpered, the heat pooling between my legs. I wanted that, needed that. Could he smell how turned on I was?

He stiffened, and the haze cleared from his eyes. When he stepped back, it broke the connection between us. Whatever spell we’d been under.

“Come on,” he said, and a wall of ice washed over me. Dousing any desire I’d been feeling for the moment. “Let’s go.”

“Right.” I knew it was a good thing, but why did I feel rejected?

I didn’t speak, just following behind him as he led me through the palace, showing me the dining room and the kitchens, the ballroom and the throne room—both with grand ceilings dripping in gold and featuring more of those magnificent but eerie demon paintings on the ceilings—and then to the library.

There were no words to convey how wonderful and insane all of it was, but I especially loved the library.

Endless rows of books beckoned me, begging to be read. I wondered what sort of secrets I could uncover in there—lessons to learn about demons, for sure. Would there beromance novels here? I wondered if a place that housed such wickedness also knew love. My eyes drifted over to Zain, who was watching me with rapt interest.

“What came first?” I mused, running my fingers along the spines as I explored the room.

“Hm?” He asked, leaning against the end of the row, never taking his eyes off of me.

I stopped on a gilded book labeledA History of Demonsand pulled it halfway off the shelf, looking at the cover.“Humans or demons? Did you draw inspiration from us, or did we find inspiration fromyou?” I couldn’t think about this race of evil creatures impacting our world, but even here, there were elements of humanity. Touches of culture that couldn’t have formed independently of us.

Zain scoffed. “Who’s to say we didn’t influence each other?”

Shaking my head, a faint smile spread over my face. “I love this place.”

“You’re free to come here any time you like.” He dipped his head. “It’s yours.”

“Oh.” My cheeks were warm as I pushed the book back into its place. “Thank you.”

His face seemed to lose some of the tension he’d been carrying around. “You’re welcome. Do you want to see the rest?”

I nodded, letting him lead me through the rest of the palace. There was no chance I’d remember where everything was—at least, not right away—but it gave me some semblance of comfort knowing he cared enough to show me where everything was.

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