Page 63 of Crown of Steel

I hesitate. “Yeah,” I finally crack.

“Is that why you hide in the woods at night?”

“No, I—”

Punishment.

Arthur chuckles against my ear while his grip around my wrist tightens, rolling his hips seductively against my back, the sound as menacing as thrilling. I suck in a breath of air as my cock thickens. “Mon chaton, you think I don’t know where you were?” He lets out a smug as fuck grin that makes him sound both sexy and wicked. Gone is the earlier, softer side of my big stepbrother. It leaves me to wonder if he is struggling as much as I am against this spiralling attraction that I feel for him, sucking me in deeper and deeper until I’ll be stuck and defenseless. “You think I got this far in life without knowing where those who are spun in my web are?”

I lick my lips, both surprised and a little shocked. “If you know where I was—” I gulp the rest away. “Then I’m sure you know who else was out there too? They freaked me out.”

“They freaked you out—” He draws against the curve of my neck, his breath making me shiver, before I let out a yawn. I never knew it would be so calming to lay in bed with another person, so warm, and snug. Comforting, despite my cock being hard. “And so you came back running and ended up here with me. In your bedroom.”

“In my defense, I didn’t know that you’d be here. Where did you place the chess board?”

“Relax,chaton. I left it on the floor. It’s your turn to play tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I reply sheepishly. Silence falls over us, and I’m left staring at the darkness of my room—thewrongside of my room—and, despite my fatigue, awake. When I reach counting to one hundred, he’s still here, his breath a steady puff that tickles the back of my ear. And still, the silence drags on.

My body feels heavy against the warm sheets as it sags in relief. Under the sheets, we’re warm and snug, and he’s still… “Can I ask you something?” I ask, cutting off my own thoughts.

Arthur’s reply is a low rasp against the tender flesh of my nape that scatters goosebumps all around my neck. “You already are.”

“Are you not going to your own bed?”

“No,” he mutters drowsily. “I like it here.”

“You…” I cut myself off at the sensation of something warm and tight, that spreads across my chest. I like it too. Like him being here, making the bed less big.

Inhaling deeply, I whisper, “So do you know who was out there, in the woods?”

His hand on my waist tightens as he gets himself comfortable again, purring as he does so. “I know everything that happens around this college. But you don’t have to be afraid of that,chaton.” Thank god he can’t see the roll of my eye. Arrogant shit.

“How do you know?”

“Because I know who they are. Restless brothers who want to play.”

That…doesn’t bring any relief in the slightest. “Play?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. But they can’t play with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re my toy, Régis. Now, sleep,chaton, it’s late.”

“This, us…in the same bed. It doesn’t mean that I like you, because I don’t.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He presses a soft kiss behind my ear, a strangely intimate gesture. “Now, sleep.”

15

RÉGIS

There’s a rattling noise, hollow and metallic. It’s a snappy, popping sound on repeat as I keep on banging the hammer against the bars.

The darkness makes me lose all track of my surroundings, the only certainty being my surrounding iron.

Let…Me…Out.

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