Page 26 of The Lord of Whispers

She squirmed, and her hand pumped again. Her hand went white as she tightened her grip on the headboard. She whispered my name again, this time dragging it out as a moan as she rode the surge of the orgasm overtaking her.

I’d remained frozen at the top of the stairs. The polished wooden banister trembled and creaked under my grip, and I’d had to tell myself to remove my hand or the wood was going to give way and crumble. Only my hundreds of years of training and discipline kept me from busting into her bedroom to finish the job she had started, making her moan my name over and over again until she begged for a reprieve.

I’d stood at the top of the staircase for longer than I would like to admit, before I finally regained my composure and convinced myself to turn right, instead of left, toward my own room.

A knock at the front door jerked me back from my reflection. I rose from the table we shared, putting a hand in my pocket to circumspectly tug at the front of my pants. Seeing that she was entranced by the book she was reading, and unable to stay the ache of my palm any longer, I lightly ran my hand across her shoulders to grab her attention. She looked up at me through her thick black eyelashes.

“Be back shortly,” I muttered, reluctantly dropping my hand from her.

12

Alarie

Inodded, feigning casualness even though it felt like my skin was on fire where he had touched me. After a few minutes, Jay returned to our table and returned to work.

Unsurprisingly, talk regarding Lord Belford consumed the High Court in the days following his murder, in the days Jay had been gone. But what was surprising was that it was more so the fact that Lord Belford’s wounds couldn’t be healed than the fact that he had been stabbed and left to die in a hallway that dominated the chatter. I wondered if that’s where Jay had been—smoothing over relations with House Belford, cleaning up House Tragon’s messes.Where was House Belford?I stood up from my chair, reaching for a book on the far side of the table in which I knew a map with a location of each House was located in the front of the text.

Seconds after I sat back down, Jay closed the book in his hand so forcefully that it made a definitive clap. I jumped. Then he rose from his chair.Probably just another messenger at the door.But then I felt his strong hand grab my small face between two fingers.

“Alarie,” he purred, his tone deep and thick with his intentions.

He forced my face to turn up to his. I met his eyes, laden with his desire, and the growing heat between my thighs exposed the truth of what I’d tried to deny for weeks.

“I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time,” the high lord explained matter-of-factly.

“And what is it that you have been thinking about, Jay?” I asked flirtatiously, forcing more confidence than I felt into my voice.

A devious smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. “Of how you’ll taste.”

I swallowed hard, gulping down the air from the deep breath I’d taken. The heat pulsing within me ignited, forming a burning flame of desire.

“Every morning, I sit at breakfast with you wondering if you’ll taste as sweet as the berries you run across your lips, teasing me,” he said.

He ran his thumb across my lips like I’d done with a strawberry many times before.

I tried not to blush at being called out for my efforts to get his attention. It was true that I’d never really given up on the crush I had on him. I’d thought of the high lord almost incessantly since I’d arrived at the manor, wondering what he was doing when he wasn’t around me, trying on every outfit and thinking of whether it would draw his eye, finding ways to casually touch him when we sat next to each other each day in the library. I’d been thinking of him, his body pressed against mine, last night while I’d lain in bed.

But he couldn’t know that, I reassured myself.

His thumb ended its journey across my bottom lip, plunging forcefully into my mouth and catching me off guard. He ran the pad of his thumb over my teeth, before prying my mouth open farther, like he was examining how far it could open. Seemingly satisfied, he closed my mouth.

“I plan to find out.Right. Now,” he growled, his voice simmering with the promise of things I’d only dreamed about.

I considered for a moment, not because I didn’t want him—I did. He was stern and domineering and bossy, and his every word pushed the flame of my desire for him higher and higher—but to consider the implication of getting involved with my high lord and mentor. The only real thing that gave me pause, I decided, was his wife. I thought I already knew the answer to my question based on what I’d already seen and heard, but I had to know.

“And Lady Vitruvian?” I asked, my voice a low whisper.

I couldn’t keep the reluctant hope out of my voice. The high lord continued to grasp my face firmly.

“There’s an arrangement. So,this”—he indicated his hand on me— “isn’t a problem,” he replied curtly, clearly not wanting to distract from the moment to elaborate. “Andthat, my dear, is all that you need to know for now. Now the next words that come from your pretty little lips better be my name, yes, or some combination of the two,” he ordered.

I took a deep breath, raising my eyebrows at his overtly domineering demeanor. He stared right back at me, his hard gray eyes unflinching and unapologetic. To my own surprise, my desire for him to touch more of me overpowered my normal instincts to rebel against anyone who ever tried to tell me what to do.

“Yes, Jay,” I said, aiming to please.

“Good girl,” he purred, letting his hand drop from my face.

I felt both warmth from his praise and a chill from the loss of his touch.

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