Page 31 of Of Song and Scepter
I followed Odissa without question, out of my father’s mansion, and crossed the Drink with a glowing, gelatinous head to light my way. We found my mother’s body long dead in Vespyr, and without a second thought, Odissa asked me for my first kill. She saved my life, she said. I owed her a favor.
“It was too easy,” I whisper, and Pearl taps my cheek twice.
“Let’s get you to bed, hmm? Up we go.”
I’m slouched against a bookshelf, I realize too late, and with a heaving squat and pop of bones, Pearl lifts me from the floor.
I lean on her for a moment. She wraps her arm around my hips and pats me there—three strong swats. “There you go now,” she says. “Right as the tide.”
My heart is a flutter of chaos. My throat is tight. And forfuck’ssake, I’m wide awake. I shake my head as panic grips me. Will I ever sleep tonight?
“Thanks, Pearl,” I choke. “But I’ve got to go.”
I leave her there, puzzled, as I bolt down the steps two at a time, not even pausing to see if they shift.
I need air.
I need water.
And I’m not going to find it inside these walls.
Chapter nineteen
Soren
My clothes cling tomy sweaty skin like I’ve rolled in hot sugar. Audrina has passed her peak in the sky, and I should be dead to the world by now. Sleep evades me. The arcing filigree of my ceiling spirals under my gaze, and the lines morph into watchful eyes.Hopping feet.
I groan and roll out of bed. This female—she isnotmy princess. I should be thinking of Aris. But when I recall the princess's face, my mind goes blank.
I strip off my nightclothes and fold them neatly. A saltwater pool concaves into my chamber floor, steam rising from the calm waters within. Sinking beneath the surface, I let the slow beat of water in my ears drown the noise in my head.
My gills flutter, their easy tempo soon disrupted as the handmaid's face reappears. Seawater drips from her wet hair. Adroplet follows the slope of her dark eyebrow past deep purple eyes. It traces the planes of her sharp face and slips into the fold of her plump, pale lips. Lips that part to reveal an impressive set of fangs and a soft, pink tongue.
And then comes her voice, rich and haunting:Seen enough, my lord?
I reopen one eye. The smooth stone wall of my bathing pool greets my irritated gaze. I roll my shoulders, willing the tension to leave me, banishing the intrusive thought.
I flutter my tail and ease into a slow lap around the pool. A thin, black spine rising from sunburned skin, wicked and dripping in blood. My cock hardens within its sheath.
Enough.I hoist myself up onto the pool’s edge and scan my bedchambers for disorder. The door is closed. The windows, closed. My bed remains a mess of sweaty sheets. My desk is untouched. My clothes lay folded where I left them.
Everything is in order.
I transition quickly into my two-legged form and wrap a towel around my hips, then pad on damp feet to the patio door. It’s unlocked, but that’s not unusual. My bedchamber is on the top level. Only a highly trained acrobat could scale these smooth walls.
The air is humid, but my wet skin pricks with chill. The moon casts a weary haze as the waves crash in steady rhythm. The city of Aquisa slumbers, cocooned in a warm glow of lamplight. It’s too late for mind games.
I lean against the cool stone of my balcony, strung like a lyre. One touch, one glance from her now would bring me to climax. The strength of my attraction is sickening. My stomach twists into knots thinking about her. And she’s not even mine.
Gods, for the moment I thought shewas, I was ready to submit to my fate. I would have dropped to my knees and worshipped her for the sheerjoyof being bound to an equal. Mycock swells against the towel, and I hiss, pressing myself against the railing. The pressure sends a flood of electricity through my nerves, and I groan, grinding again.
It’s not enough to ease the tightness in my soul. I drop the towel, and my cock bobs free, hard at the thought of her.Just a few strokes.To rid the memory of Enna, my almost-queen, and then I’ll get myself under control. I grasp my shaft and pump.
Gods above.
My thumb slides from the base to the tip, coating the soft flesh with the droplet that formed in anticipated release. I clench my teeth as pleasure ripples through me.
That was two.My quota met, I grunt in frustration, holding my swollen cock. But then, out of the corner of my eye, a white shape appears on the beach. A female walking in the moonlight. She’s not hopping now, but I’d recognize the sway of those hips anywhere, the spikes of black hair. My wicked dancer. My personal demon has come to torture me in my moment of weakness, as if I’d summoned her with my thoughts.
