Page 55 of Bound to the Shadow Prince

“Kinda can’t help but think that.”

“I know.” He sighs and reaches out and rubs my arm, his big hand warm through my sleep-gown. “Today just made me realize a few things, and my thoughts went to strange places.”

“What sorts of things did you realize?” I press, because I’m nosy and needy and I want him to tell me how much he liked my mouth on his cock.

His thumb rubs small circles onto my shoulder. “That I have mocked you for hating Fellians and finding them strange, and yet my thoughts have been polluted with the same sorts of things. It occurred to me that if I told anyone that a beautiful human princess woke me up with her mouth on my cock, theywould think I was insane for allowing such intimacy…that I am deviant for allowing a human to touch me. And more deviant of all, that Ilikedit.”

“So youdidlike it,” I clarify. “You didn’t feel I sullied your honor or something like that?”

Nemeth snorts. “If you had, I would have asked you to sully my honor at every chance. No one has ever done something like that for me…and nothing has ever felt so good. I think that is why it made my thoughts spin to what my people would think.”

I move a little closer to him in the bed, because worry about what our people think? I totally understand that. “My sister wouldn’t understand,” I confess. “She’d think I’m a tramp for touching you. She’d be horrified, and her husband the king would probably toss me out of court. Send me to a convent where I could pray on my ‘lustful and wanton ways.’”

“And yet you still did it.”

I smile at those glowing eyes. “We’re the only ones here. The rest of the world abandoned us. Why should we care what they think?”

His eyes narrow in the darkness, as if his face is creasing into a smile. “You have an excellent perspective on things.”

“I’ve always been the useless princess. Maybe knowing that I’m unimportant except for my family name helps me not care. After all, I can be a whore and someone will still find me valuable because I’m a Vestalin.” I sound bitter, even to myself. “But I’m here for the next seven years because it’s better for the rest of the world, right? We’re martyrs so the fields can be full of crops and the Golden Moon Goddess will hold back her rage. We’re giving seven years of our lives up for everyone else. I think, given that, they’re not allowed to judge us for finding comfort in one another.”

His thumb strokes a teasing circle on my shoulder. “Is that all it is to you, then? Comfort?”

“Well, I don’t know,” I say, trying to keep my tone light. “What is it to you?”

“More.”

Just that one simple word fills me with soft, radiant joy, as if I’ve swallowed a star. One word, and I’m so…happy. “It’s more to me, too,” I whisper. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” His hand slides off my shoulder and he takes my hand in his, squeezing it. “Ask anything.”

“Do your people kiss? Because I’ve been thinking about kissing you and you’ve never even tried to kiss me. So I wondered if you even kiss with those fangs of yours. If I’m being too nosy or forward, feel free to tell me so. It’s just…I was thinking about it.” By the Gray God’s night robe, now I feel like an absolute fool. I’m a princess. Why am I begging a man to kiss me?

Because it’s Nemeth, my mind tells me. He’s different.

He is, and that frightens me a little. If things sour between us—and they always sour with me and my lovers—there’ll be nowhere to hide.

“I’ve never kissed anyone,” he confesses. “And it’s not something my people do, no. We rub horns…but I have seen the humans at the Citadel kiss. Do you want me to kiss you?”

Do I want him to kiss me? The thought makes me want to laugh. I’m here in bed with him, our faces turned towards one another, and I’m filled with such yearning and affection for him. My heart feels both full and empty. Full, because I’m with him and I know he cares for me the way I care for him…and empty, because I desperately need him to show me just how much he wants me.

I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be kissed more.

“I would love for you to kiss me,” I admit. “But only if you want to.”

“If you would like it, I would, too.” He pulls me closer to him in the bed, his gaze on me.

We’re so close now that our breath mingles, warm and inviting. I don’t think I’ve ever liked it when another lover breathed on me. They always smelled of sour wine or something worse. But with Nemeth, I like all his scents. His breath is never foul, and when I feel it against my skin, I know it’s because he’s close nearby, and it arouses me.

Then again, everything he does arouses me.

I slide a hand to his neck, stroking my thumb over his skin. He said his people rub horns. I look at the strange, sweeping cluster of horns that cover his scalp instead of hair, and wonder if he’d like for me to rub them for him, or if that’s a Fellian-only sort of gesture. “Can I touch you?”

“Now you ask?” he teases. “You know that you can touch me anywhere.”

I move a little closer, until our noses are practically brushing. “So…are you going to kiss me, then?”

“You’re impatient.” His amusement makes me flush with warmth.

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