Page 26 of The Demon Court

Snatching the gown out of the closet, he stalked back into the room like a man going to war. He’d battle with her again. Lust had no question about that. She wanted to claw his eyes out, and he wanted to throw her onto his bed and... and...

His mouth went dry.

She stood in the middle of his living quarters in nothing but small scraps of cloth. All that smooth, pale skin that had never once seen the light of day. He loved freckles, loved kissing them, and finding their secret hiding places, but this woman... By all the seven kingdoms, she looked like a marble carving come to life.

Selene glared at him, ever defiant, with her hands at her sides so he could see every inch of her. His eyes trailed up her long—fucking long—legs to the pale stomach with a single dark mark next to her belly button. She was lean but soft, every bit as strange as her personality. Graceful arms, full breasts hidden with a strange binding that wrapped all the way around her. But so pretty they made his mouth water.

A chuff of breath escaped him before he remembered what he was doing.

Gruffly, he rasped, “Come here.”

“Why?”

He held up the dress in his hands. Like an idiot who couldn’t talk at the sight of her, but he... Shit.

She lifted a brow. “What am I supposed to do with that? It’s just a hunk of fabric and rope.”

Right. She didn’t get out of that Tower much, and he could guess she hadn’t seen what most of the higher born people in his kingdom wore. He needed to pull himself together. She was just another woman, like all the others he’d seen before.

Lust approached her, gesturing for her to turn her back to him. And that was a stupid choice.

He stared down at the round curves of her ass, the tiny hollow in her back where twin dimples waited for his tongue. His hands flexed at his side and he had to close his eyes for a few heartbeats. Steeling himself for a battle that shouldn’t be so fucking hard.

Rope first. Lust reached underneath her arms, winding the rope around her waist, her ribs, then up and over her shoulders. Intricate knots went between her breasts, pressing that binding closer to her skin because he damned well wasn’t taking it off. Not when this much of her skin made him a drooling idiot.

He needed to fuck someone else. That would help. It had to.

Neither of them spoke for a while as he tied her up. It was just clothing, he kept telling himself. He wasn’t making these intricate knots, so she was easier to grab, or to tie her up to his bed, or the hooks in the wall. She was innocent. She was a woman who couldn’t handle all the things he wanted to do. All the things he’d started doing because everything else bored him.

He could control himself. He was a thousand years old! No one made him feel like this anymore, and this was merely confusion because he couldn’t feel her lusting for him as well.

Lust bent down to grab the fabric from the floor and gently glided his hand along the outside of her thigh. A sharp intake of breath made him pause, reaching out for the lust he would surely find, but... nothing.

The red fabric dripped off his hands like blood. It turned from black to crimson, the ombre meticulously dyed by the finest of artisans. This he secured to the ties around her neck, covering her breasts with pleated layers that criss-crossed over her chest and then bound at her back. Another two strips of fabric hung from the knots just underneath her ribs, and then at her waist. It left a small diamond shape of skin and rope just beneath her breasts, while her sides remained completely bare.

Because he knew she wouldn’t want that much skin showing, he gave her another layer around her waist so she had somewhat of a skirt. And then finally, he attached two gossamer pieces of crimson fabric to her wrists with heavy golden bangles, threading the fabric through the ties at her back so they wouldn’t drag on the floor.

Tugging pieces of hair free around her face, he left the rest in the heavy braid.

“There,” he said, palming her hip with a too familiar hand and dragging her shoulder blades to his chest. “I’ve always found dressing someone to be far more intimate than undressing them.”

“I don’t want any intimacy between us.”

“That’s a shame.” He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, then sank his teeth into the flesh at her neck. Hard enough to leave a mark, but not break skin.

She froze underneath him, hissing out a long breath again. And for a moment, he swore he felt something. Not a wave of lust like she should have felt, but... something. No taste on his tongue. No scent in the air. But it was a start.

Lust laved his tongue over the red mark on her lovely swan-like throat. “You’re to be my bride, little moon. Your mother made sure of that. Intimacy will only grow between us. From now until our wedding.”

ChapterNine

She’d known the moment the magic protecting her emotions had cracked. But how was she supposed to not react when he’d bitten her neck? Selene hadn’t realized such an action would send tendrils of desire rushing through her body.

The warmth of his hand had sunk through her skin. She’d wanted him to touch more of her. She’d wanted him to drag his hand up her thigh, move it around her hip, and delve it into the place that desperately needed to be touched.

He’d find her wet if he did so. He’d realize how much she wanted him, even though he couldn’t feel it. Her body couldn’t lie, regardless of the feelings she’d buried so deep.

Already, in just a few days, she needed to release the pressure that built up. If she didn’t, then the entirety of the prison she’d built for her emotions would overflow. He’d feel it. All of it.

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