Page 65 of Happily Ever Crowned (Underworld Royals 1)

Why do I feel this way? It wasn’t like he belonged to me. We owed each other nothing. And these worries were frivolous, unfounded, and not relevant.

“Good.” Necros finished buckling his pants, then turned to clap Adrik on the shoulder. “Then let’s go.” He started to lead the way, then paused to glance over his shoulder to where I still sat on the floor. “Clean yourself up, Valora. You look like shit.”

The door slammed.

I shuddered.

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What just happened? I’d felt so in control a few moments ago. And now… now I didn’t know what to expect.

Why had Adrik agreed to go visit with Necros’s whores? Would he fuck one of them?

Adrik? I whispered.

No reply.

He’d blocked me from his mind.

Which could only mean one thing—he intended to fulfill his needs.

With someone other than me.

Shutting Valora out physically pained me, but I needed to concentrate. This was a test, not a show of camaraderie. Necros suspected my behavior, as he should. While I’d done my best to cover my tracks, tonight’s time lapse put me in a precarious position. As well as the clear healing of his wife.

Oh, Valora had done a fantastic job of feigning exhaustion and distracting the monster, but Necros had noticed the clean lines of her skin. The lack of blemishes. The clear countenance of her gaze.

It would be abundantly clear to him that I’d been going easy on her. Another negative mark against me in his eyes.

And now he wanted to know why. However, rather than come out and ask me about it, he’d chosen this little game of kiss and tell.

I sipped my wine while twirling a finger idly around a piece of blonde hair that had fallen over my chest from the little seductress on my lap. She nibbled on my ear, played her nails over my chest and down my abs, all with the intent of enticing a reaction from me.

Had she been Valora, she might have succeeded.

“You look bored,” Necros sighed. A female sat between his legs, her head bobbing up and down as she tried to please him, while another sat on the arm of the chair—naked. Valora’s earlier attentions had clearly left him depleted, because the two females were struggling to make him come, despite alternating their mouths on him for the last thirty minutes. Or perhaps it was a testament to his plotting because he’d yet to get to the point of our little impromptu meeting, and I highly doubted the purpose was to watch him indulge his harem.

“Not bored,” I finally said, replying to his comment. “I’m thinking.” I wrapped my fist around the woman’s hair as she drew too close to my belt again, and tsked in her ear. “When I’m ready, I’ll ask.”

She whimpered, her full bottom lip disappearing between little white teeth.

I almost pitied her. Except I knew she enjoyed this. Almost all succubi did. But if anyone would be feeding tonight, it would be me.

“Thinking,” Necros repeated, closing his eyes in the epitome of bliss. “Mmm, that’s a dangerous move in this room.”

Says the man trying to distract me with eager pussy, I thought. “My brother is eager for me to return to Noxia,” I said, deciding to provoke the conversation I knew he desired. “I’m not sure I feel the same way.”

“Oh?” He didn’t look at me, his expression one of euphoria. However, I sensed his astute awareness. It was written all over his tense form. He tried to act like a male lost to the passion of his females, even went so far as to lace his fingers through the woman’s hair to drive her downward, but I saw through the charade.

Because I was playing one, too.

“We didn’t talk for long, as I’d literally just dialed him when your guards approached.” No sense in trying to pretend I’d been in that communications room for longer than a few seconds before they’d arrived. There were cameras everywhere. “Alas, his first words were in regard to my return. And I have no doubt his final ones would have been the same. Apparently, my family misses me.”

“And you don’t miss them?” he prompted, his curiosity piqued.

Good. Yes. Let’s focus on my history, remind you who you think I am.

“I do. But not Noxia. Not my place, anyway. I mean, Grigory’s the heir apparent. And who am I? Just the second child.” I drew my finger across the succubus’s mouth, pretending to be enthralled with the way her tongue peeked out to lick me. “There’s not much left for me there, other than a comfortable life. I’m thinking of exploring the other kingdoms, see what mischief I can find for myself.” I winked at the blonde. She giggled in reply.

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