Page 143 of Across an Endless Sea

Rhoswyn

Fifteen minutes of walking around the ballroom is more than enough for me, but takes almost an hour for me to escape out onto the patio. I need fresh air. My skin feels tight—itchy—and it’s doing nothing to help my mood.

Of course, I can’t be trusted to go anywhere alone, so I don’t question the footsteps which echo behind me.

What is surprising is the arms that pull me back against his chest, and the lips that nip playfully at my ear.

“Having fun, pet?”

I glance back at Lore with exasperation.

“Lore, we’re in public,” I protest, but it’s a weak objection, made weaker by my soft gasp of pleasure as he runs his tongue across the sharp point.

“How about we ditch this party for a better one?” he suggests.

“What?”

But we’re already blinking away. No sooner have I finished my question than we reappear in my garden room facing… Bree? Lore blinks away—to where, I don’t know—then reappears, holding a mountain of dark fabric out to me like a prize.

He wants me to change?

“Are you in on this, too?” I ask the púca, taking in his casual clothes and wide black wings.

“I am,” he confesses. “In my defence, this time, the redcap does make a good argument.”

“About what, exactly?” I ask.

But my question is muffled as Lore grows impatient and heaps the clothes into my arms, before blinking me behind the screen.

“Come on, pet. We don’t have time for chitchat!”

“Have you told the others—?”

My new question is cut off again as Lore spins me on the spot until I’m facing the screen and starts ripping out the lacing at the back of my corset with his claws. Pieces of ribbon go flying, and I gasp, clutching the fabric against my chest as I try to process the immediate relief of cool air against my skin.

“Of course not. We’re not taking high fae to the under fae party—well, yourself excluded.”

The crown disappears from atop my head, followed by the sword from the belt at my waist, and the rest of the dress falls away soon after. I don’t even bother to try to save it, but I do stiffen when it’s gone, leaving me almost nude and very vulnerable.

My wings flutter against my spine nervously, and it takes a lot of effort to still them.

Glancing over my shoulder, I search for Lore’s expression, wondering why he’s suddenly so silent. Only he’s not looking at my face. Both of his red eyes are fixed on the swell of my ass, alight with what can only be described as a feral kind of hunger. He reaches out and traces the line of my spine with one finger before hooking it under the waistband of my panties and following the ribbon across to my bare hip. The tiny scrap of lace does little to hide my ass, but instead of shame, I feel strangely like preening as he stares and stares.

“If I’d known you were only wearing this under that dress,” Lore growls, repeating the caress, this time with a claw that scrapes lightly against my flesh. “You would have been crowned while riding my cock.”

The filthy image makes me clench and snort at the same time. Lore chooses that second to slice through the tiny string at my hip. I gasp as the fabric falls away, drifting to the floor.

“I like you better bare,” Lore whispers, and his scalding hot palm grazes a new path from my hip, down to the curve of my ass, which he squeezes.

“No. Bad pet. No distractions.” He slaps my butt lightly, and I jerk away, wide-eyed with shock, even as heat blooms between my thighs.

“You like it,” he accuses, with a knowing smile. “Don’t pretend otherwise. Iknow, remember?” He taps his chest, then leans in until his nose is pressed against my neck and takes a deep breath.

His whole body shudders before he dances away again.

“Now, stop tempting me and get dressed. We’re leaving in two minutes.”

Then he blinks away, leaving me to stare at the pile of clothes.

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