Page 15 of A Pact of Blood

Her admission sends a thrill through my veins. I muffle my laugh against her cheek. “You concocted one of your clever potions, did you, my brilliant empress? Such a worthy cause. No wonder he’s knocked right out.”

She sounds almost abashed. “I didn’t think I could manage to pretend?—”

“You shouldn’t need to.” I nudge her back against the wall and claim another kiss. My tongue twines with hers until a whimper works from her throat—and a bolt of inspiration strikes me. “How long will he be out for?”

“At least another hour.”

Not as long as this woman deserves, but more than enough to make a decent start on my full apology.

I sink down before her, pressing kisses down her sternum and her belly between my words. “I promised I’d worship you. I owe you nothing less than being down on my knees, venerating you like the goddess you are.”

When my lips brush the spot just above her sex, Aurelia’s breath catches. She tenses just for a second, but before I can worry that she’ll push me away, she runs her fingers into my hair to grip the strands as if settling in for the ride.

And I intend to give her an ecstatic one.

Sweeping the flaps of her robe aside, I plant my mouth right on the slickest, sweetest part of her.

Aurelia clutches at my hair, her other hand stifling a gasp.I suck on her clit and lap my tongue from it down to the dampened folds of her cunt.

Her hips rock toward me, more of her juices seeping out to flood my mouth. With a groan I can’t suppress, I delve deep between her thighs.

I’ll give her every shred of pleasure Marclinus wouldn’t even bother to consider. I’ll leave her with a delicious memory to ward off at least a little of the horrors of her marriage—one I intend to follow with many more, every chance I get.

I don’t know what else I’ll be able to do for my empress, but this is one service where I’m completely sure of my skills.

It’s a shame I can’t bring my gift into play tonight, but I’ve gotten plenty of ladies moaning without it throughout my career as the imperial court’s most notorious rake.

That reputation is dead now. No minor revenge or fleeting sense of power could compare to dedicating myself to the woman in front of me now.

I return the attentions of my mouth to Aurelia’s clit, teasing the edges of my teeth over it while tracing the lips of her pussy with my fingers. As I stroke one up into her hot channel, her body shivers around a moan.

That’s right. Let me erase every bit of awfulness she experienced in that bed while she worked her own subtle craft. Let me replace every kiss, every touch she would have recoiled from if she could.

I add a second finger, working them higher until I find that perfect pliant spot inside that makes her hips buck faster. Her fingernails scrape over my scalp, tugging strands free from my ponytail, but I only suckle her harder. The pricks of pain flare into deeper pleasure.

Aurelia pants for breath, swaying against my mouth, and then clenches up. The force of her climax radiates into mewith the spasming of her cunt and her arousal drenching my hand.

I give her sex one more lingering kiss and then grin up at her through the darkness, meaning to make some approving remark. Before I’ve hit on the right one, she tugs me toward her.

One hand wrenches my face to hers, our lips melding together in a collision of passion. The other yanks at the waist of my trousers.

My pulse hiccups. I wasn’t going to ask for this, but I’m sure as shit not going to deny her, not when my erection is throbbing against my drawers.

As our mouths crash into each other again and again, I help her free me from my clothes. She raises one knee against my thigh to urge me on, and I lift her other leg as I line myself up.

I have no doubt about whether she’s ready for me, regardless of my size. She’s so wet I slide straight into her.

The clamp of her channel around my cock brings me to the verge of release in an instant. I close my eyes and tuck my head against the crook of her shoulder, fighting for control.

“This is how it should always be,” I murmur raggedly. “You should never settle for anything less than this, Empress.”

With an urgent noise, she tilts her hips toward me. There’s nothing I can do but meet her plea, slamming deeper home.

It doesn’t matter that I’m already on the edge. She clings to my shoulders and quivers in my embrace, teetering on the verge of her second orgasm already.

I thrust into her hard and fast, every bit of bliss enhanced by the knowledge that I’m bringing her to these heights while her asshole of a husband dozes completely unaware on the other side of the wall.

Marclinus might all but own my life, but he doesn’t own her.

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