Page 10 of Vicious Prince (Violent Kingdom)

"Hey." Normally a voice in a space reserved for the dead would spook somebody, but I've been expecting this one. A lighter sparks to life, lighting a candle.

"Hey, yourself," I say, kicking off my shoes, feeling the cold of the old marble tiles on the floor as I make my way toward the voice.

"I thought you were never going to get here," he says.

"Well, I'm glad you waited for me. I had a lot of things to confess."

Another candle is lit, and this time, I reach my hand out for it. We've done this a thousand times before. We have our whole ritual down pat now. But today … today will be different. Today will be final.

Something cold settles in my chest as I think of the conversation that I had with my father and my uncle about how differently I thought tonight was going to turn out, but how I'm not surprised at all by the turn of events.

"Happy birthday, baby,” Will says. His face is illuminated by the candle he holds, his perpetually messy dirty blond hair hanging in his eyes..

“Did you just wake up?” I ask, running my fingers through his hair. He jerks his head back, using his free hand to mess it up again. “It takes hours of my time to get this happening,” he smirks. “But I’m pretty sure you didn’t come here for hairstyling tips.”

All of a sudden, my boyfriend — the one I’m not allowed to marry — pulls me toward him, wraps me in a giant bear hug, almost lighting my hair on fire.

"Hey. Whoa," I say, getting my balance, holding my candle as far away as my outstretched arm can. "We're going to burn this place down if we're not careful," I say. Will ignores my concerns. He smiles as he bends down to kiss me, the knuckles of his free hand tipping my chin up, his tongue meeting mine. I let out a little sigh as the tension in my body melts a fraction, chased away by the tongue-sex we’re having. Will’s kiss is long and deep, and it takes my breath away. It distracts me for a few seconds from everything that's about to happen, and for that, I am grateful.

"You're quiet," he says, pulling away, taking my candle from me, placing both candles on the altar at the end of the room. “Pussycat got your tongue?”

"I've got a lot going on in this head," I say, looking at the floor.

"Well," he says, wrapping a hand around my waist and pulling me towards him again, "let's see if we can get rid of some of those thoughts for a while. Huh?"

I nod, closing my eyes as he presses his lips to my forehead, then my cheek, and finally, over my mouth. "Yeah,” I breathe between kisses. “I’d like that.”

He palms my breasts through the black fabric of my dress, then tugs. The dress is tight, but the straps are wide enough that he manages to shove them down my shoulders, letting my tits spill out of the top. My nipples stiffen against the cold, and I groan when he sucks my right nipple into his mouth and bites ever-so-gently, repeating the action on the left one.

He grins, his blue eyes full of desire. “Lift up your dress.”

A thrill of lust pulses through my body and settles in my core, a steady throb that demands attention. I take the hem of my dress and drag it up my thighs, slowly, savoring the way Will watches me, as if he’s a lion and I’m the prey he’s going to sink his teeth into. His hands go to my panties, pulling them down my thighs, unhooking them from my feet, holding them up to his mouth.

“Jesusfuck,” he mutters into my soaked panties, and somehow the words sound so much worse because of where we are. I watch, mesmerized, as he sucks on the fabric that was against my pussy just seconds ago. He shoves them in his pocket; they belong to him, now. My heart sinks as I realize this is probably the last time he’s going to steal my panties from me.

Will unbuttons his pants with one hand, releasing his cock. It bounces out, hard and thick and pointed straight at me.

“Come here,” he says, his voice strangled. He pumps his cock, a bead of precum appearing on the tip. I lick my lips, watching as he swipes the tip with his thumb and brings it up to my mouth.

“Suck,” he murmurs.

I take his thumb into my mouth, the salty taste of him a tease of what’s to come. I suck hard enough to make him groan. “Avery, you’re fuckingkillingme.”

No, but I’m about to. I release his thumb from my mouth with a wet pop, sinking to my knees. The marble floors are hard and cold, but I barely feel them as I wrap my fingers around Will and guide him into my hungry mouth. I moan around him as he threads his fingers into my hair and pulls, bottoming out when he hits the back of my throat.

I gag, my eyes watering as Will pulls out of my mouth, strings of saliva glistening like tiny webs between his cock and my lips. I take a shuddering breath before he pushes into my mouth again, the back of my head braced against the side of the altar as Will fucks my face. I wrap my hands around the back of Will’s knees to hold myself steady, my clit throbbing, begging for stimulation.

My father’s words come back to haunt me as I shiver in the cold darkness:You can be married to one man and in love with another.If there’s one thing I know about Will, it’s that he’s too proud to be somebody’s dirty secret. The only reason he’s my dirty secret now is because I’ve promised him things in the dark that I’ll never be able to give him in the light of day.

Things he deserves. A wife who loves him. Babies, made with love, in a bed in a house, not made in a fucking cemetery or during a secret tryst. Emotion threatens to consume me, to turn my lustful pants into full-on sobs, but I push my tears down. If he sees me losing my mind, the gig is up. Not yet.We need more time.

“Fuck me,” I pant when he pulls out of my mouth.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Will deadpans, letting go of my hair and putting his hands under my shoulders, yanking me to my feet. His cock is a rod of molten steel pressed between us as he molds his hips to mine. He fuses my mouth with his, his body covering mine, and he tastes so fucking good, I can’t bear it.

Am I ever going to kiss him again?

He fumbles in his pocket, producing a foil packet that he rips open with his teeth. I watch as he rolls the condom on, pressing my thighs together to try and ease the throb between them a little, when I grab Will’s wrist.

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