Page 23 of The Demon Court

“Don’t you worry. I’m not so much a monster that I will force you to do anything you don’t want. You will always have the ability to say no.” He leaned closer, inhaling at her neck. “But I don’t think you’ll want to say no.”

She trembled in his arms, as though she were some weakling who needed him to hold her up. How dare he make her feel like this? She stuffed the emotions away. Fist fulls of them until she could breathe without wondering if he could scent the lust on her. Finally, she replied, “You’ll have to work a lot harder to convince me that I want someone like you.”

His warm, wet tongue traced up her neck and a tendril of desire almost escaped. Almost.

“Your lust will taste all the more sweet for the battle to earn it.” Then he released her, letting her stumble back as he shouted for a servant to bring her to her quarters.

Selene stood there, waiting for someone to guide her, legs shaking and her heart hammering in her chest.

She’d almost ruined everything when his tongue had touched her. And it was then that she realized how difficult this was going to be.

ChapterEight

He let her get settled in, not because he had no idea what to do with her and certainly not because she’d turned his world onto its side. She could suffer in any way that she wanted while in his castle. And ignoring her would only make that suffering all the worse.

Except he knew he was lying to himself. This strange little woman had turned what usually was his sanctuary into a rather terrifying place to be. He worried that he’d run into her in the halls. What he’d say if he did see her.

What he’d do.

No woman had ever resisted him this long. He’d always been the one that they all wanted. Lust was an easy emotion for mortals to feel and even easier for them to bend to. They wanted to indulge in that particular feeling. He just gave them what they wanted.

Except her. She didn’t want to bend to lust, or she had some strange ability to avoid it entirely. And he hated it.

It made him feel weak, and he hadn’t felt that way since he’d taken on his physical form. The feeling became so uncomfortable that he didn’t want to look at her. Or even think about her. So he went about his day as though nothing had changed.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

Lust walked into his office, an austere room filled to the brim with gold accents and plush, velvety pillows. The long curtains at the window moved with a gentle breeze, the gauzy fabric making the entire world look white. Like snow. Like her.

Damn it, he couldn’t even work without bringing her into it somehow. He’d only just sat down when his door burst open and some insane thought whispered maybe it was her. Maybe she’d decided that she couldn’t wait any longer, because she felt his lust pulsing through the castle as only he could make it do.

Lust sat up straighter, only to slump back when he realized it was only one of his nobles, followed by a very familiar misty spirit.

“My lord,” the man said, bowing until the top of his head almost touched the ground.

Theo was a good man with good intentions, but he simpered far too much and frankly, that had become rather annoying of late. He was, unfortunately, an extremely good noble, and that made it hard to hate him. Even if he would lick Lust’s boots clean.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, already annoyed, Lust asked, “What is it?”

“I came to congratulate you on your bride.”

He could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed from that statement. Affection peered around Theo as though it were looking for whatever expression might then show on his face.

A bride must mean that Affection would be fed soon. He blinked at the little spirit and saw it had not changed in the slightest. Therefore, there was no proper amount of affection in this castle. As he’d expected.

He swallowed hard, hearing the audible click in his dry throat as he asked, “What did you say?”

“Your... bride?” Theo’s face burned bright red. “Everyone is talking about it. In the castle, in the streets. I’d be surprised if the entire kingdom wasn’t aware that you’d taken a bride from...”

The man trailed off as he saw anger blooming in Lust’s features.

Lust expected his horns had suddenly grown because he wanted to put his damned fist through a wall. He flexed his hands on his thighs, claws suddenly digging through the fabric.

“Those fucking sorceresses,” he snarled. “Meddling bitches. Of course, they spread a rumor. Why didn’t I anticipate that?”

Affection rolled toward him, its mist undulating in tendrils that reached out to comfort. “Because you were so caught up in your new bride?”

“Do not touch me.”

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