Page 33 of A Queen Of Broken Realms
“What about you?” I ask.
“What about me?”
“Where will you sit? Where’s your throne?”
“I will stand. Next to you.”
I look from my finger where I’m still pressing into the fabric and meet Ashen’s watchful gaze with a furrowed brow.
Ashen stalks closer until he can take my hand away from the soft velvet. “I will not rise from a chair to meet an attacker. I’ll already be standing, ready to kill.”
“Well, that’s…bleak. Sweet and reassuring, but bleak.”
Ashen pulls my hand to his lips and places a kiss to my fingertips. His eyes burn with intensity. His voice is low and quiet when he speaks. “You and I both know that this is the Shadow Realm. We need to be ready for anything.”
We watch one another, unmoving. The reality of his words is already known to me. He presses another kiss to my fingers before lowering my hand, but he still holds on.
I shift my attention toward the soldiers that wait in the shadows for their next instructions. I nod at the one who I figure ranks highest among them. “Please take the skin throne and leave me and my…demon…alone.”
I can almost hear Ashen’s eyes rolling. “Husband,” he says, letting my hand go to press on the mark on my chest. I grin as I swat his hand away.
“Person of romantic interest.”
“Hus. Band.”
“Booty call. Is that still a thing?”
“Vampire––”
“I’ve got it! I’ve got it.Bae.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Yes, please leave me and my bae. We have work to do.”
The guards give each other a confused glance before they turn and depart with the sticky skin throne, shutting the hall doors behind them. I hear four of them stride off down the hall, the two that remain standing guard outside the door.
I turn to Ashen as I kick off one shoe and then the next. He gives me a heated look in reply. I can tell he wants to argue about this relationship status thing, but he also doesn’t.
“This is a beautiful throne,” I say, thinking of the sea surrounding my home long ago on Anthemoessa as I run my finger along the polished stone. I turn and slowly lower myself onto the seat, placing my hands onto the curved ends of the armrests. The heat of Ashen’s gaze hasn’t left my skin. “How do I look?”
There’s a beat of quiet, and in the silence fills with the whoosh of blood flooding through Ashen’s heart. “Like a goddess.”
A faint smile passes over my lips. I shift my gaze to one of my hands. “Do you remember the first time you called me that?”
Ashen prowls closer. He places his palms on my wrists and traps them against the chair before he leans in close. “You think I would forget?”
I shake my head as I run a foot up Ashen’s ankle, drawing my pointed toes in a slow procession up his calf and past his knee, my gaze not leaving his. Sparks illuminate his pupils as I hook my leg over the armrest of the throne.
“Vampire,” Ashen rumbles as one of his hands leaves my wrist to flow up my thigh. I drape my other leg over the remaining armrest. My dress dips down, covering my center that’s already wet and throbbing with need.
“Yes, Reaper?”
Ashen leans closer and takes my earlobe between his teeth. “What exactly are you up to?” he whispers when he lets go.
“Seducing you into helping me christen this beautiful throne, of course,” I reply, my voice breathless as Ashen kisses my throat. He pulls the neckline of my dress down, then my bra, taking my breast into his mouth. His tongue slides across my nipple as he palms the other. He sucks more of my breast into his mouth and flicks his tongue across the tight pink nub. When he breaks away to run his tongue all the way up my chest, he leaves a path of gooseflesh in his wake. He stops when he reaches my ear.
“You are my Queen,” Ashen whispers, his palm sliding across my skin to warm my mated mark. He pulls back to watch me for a long moment. “You always have been, my Lu. You know I cannot say no to you.”
