Page 32 of The Crimson Queen

“Atyourrequest,” she corrects me, grabbing my right hand with two of her fingers and holding it up at eye level to get a better look. “We need to speed up the process somehow. If we do need to go back there, there’s no way you’ll be able to cast with doll hands, let alone hold a sword.”

“Among other things.” My eyebrows raise into my hairline.

“I’ll see that you’re taken care of,” she says, and my heart stills as I pinch the bridge of my nose with all of my fingers.

“As honored as I’d be, that wasn’t what I meant.” Her head tilts as she eyes me with an innocent form of curiosity.

“So you don’t like it when I–” I cut her off, quickly shaking my head ‘no.’

“Not what I said… but the last thing I was thinking about…Nevermind. What I meant was I’m not sure how I’m going to hold a fork or how, in Hell’sfucking glory,am I going to aim to pee?” I hold my hands out to my sides, spreading my itty bitty fingers wide to exaggerate my position.

“So…” she drags out the word, biting her lip as she steps closer. “You do like it when I…” her eyes trail down my body before making their way back to my face.

“Of course I do. Everyone likes that, but with you it’s um… Interesting. It’s like playing Russian roulette.” I try to force myself to stay the course and look at her, no matter how badly I want to dart my eyes away. Her beast is always hovering beneath the surface and if she even scents that I’m incapable of being dominant–man enough not to quiver in her presence–I’m a goner. “You’re,” I clear my throat, my eyes flicking away just for a moment, “quite good at it for being so new to things. Not to mention it’s an interesting feeling. There’s pleasure, of course, and…fear.A lot of it.The never knowing when your other half will come out.”

“I’d never let her hurt you. Besides, you’ve grown on her,” she says, trailing a finger down my chest. It takes everything I have to swallow.

“She no longer wants to eat me, then?”

Her lips twist into a wicked grin. “No. I’m afraid you were right. You’re too gamey.”

“Well… Isn’t that a relief? It only took me losing my hands to earn her affection.”

Her hand slips lower, traveling down the length of me and pulling a groan from my lips. “I don’t think… Now is probably not the best time.”

She shrugs, looking at the castle in the distance. “What else do we have to do? And considering your… condition, I did promise to take care of you, and you seem like you’re in need of being taken care of.”

Her tongue lashes between her full lips, wetting them at the mere thought of me being between them, and that makes it terribly hard to breathe.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve trained me to be turned on by fear,” I admit, my words coming out as a partial laugh. She lowers in front of me, kissing her way down my torso while keeping her eyes on mine. It’s the sexiest thing in the fucking world… “Eva… We shouldn’t. I’m not sure I could survive losing my dick right now, too.”

“Stop me then,” she teases, undoing the laces holding the front of my pants closed.

“With what hands?!” I hold up mine just as something booms in the distance, splitting the air. The crowd around the castle starts to chant, their voices traveling through the vast distance between us and them. “What’s happening?”

Eva stands, staring at the place she once called home. “The ceremony is starting. They’re waiting for the king to walk out onto the balcony and make his address.”

“Which means?” I ask, taking her hand in mine. Even knowing she could kill me faster than I can blink, her touch is the only thing that could ease the nerves clawing at my throat.

“Well, the fact he hasn’t yet is a good sign.”

19

Alice

“Aren’t you a beautiful creature?” the king praises. He hasn’t tried to touch me beyond the one time and clearly, my boot colliding with his crotch was enough for him to not attempt it again. “We’ll have to, of course, shed you of the will first, but if what my grandson says is true, you’ll be the reason Hell prospers. At least, our children will.”

Bile rises up my throat as Asmo pushes me into a seat in some dining hall. If they think I’ll willingly eat a single bite, they’ve thought wrong. I’ll take digits before I swallow down their courtesy.

“You’ll be pleased to know she is as you expected. She has access to two forms of power. Her soul, like most in our realm, and she has the ability to draw it from things around her. Taking life from nature to use as her own.” My eyes narrow, turning to glare daggers into Asmo.

“Says the traitorous, forgotten prince with daddy issues.”

“You’ll hold,” he turns to look at me, “your tongue.” He pops a bite of meat into his mouth, pulling it with ease off his fork before dabbing the napkin against his lips. For someone so against the finer things in life, those to which being royalty provides, he certainly fits in well.

“How about I bite it off,” I sneer, shrugging away from his stare as if he means nothing.

“Go for it, princess. It’ll grow back.”

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