Chapter 20

ChapterTwenty

The closer they got to his bedroom, the more Selene noticed he changed. Lust went from exhausted and almost sad to vibrating with anger. His usually soft mouth twisted into a dark line and his eyes flashed with another emotion she could not name.

He looked different. More so than she’d ever noticed.

But the bunching of his muscles and the way he kept flexing his hands at his sides warned her not to mention anything. Maybe he needed some time to himself. The evening had been busy, she supposed, and having his brother here didn’t make him happy. But it seemed more that his anger was directed at her.

Was he going to start a fight with her over this? She didn’t want to be in a fucking orgy, nor did she want to sit there and watch one happen in front of her. It was too much to ask!

So, by the time they made it to his bedroom, they were both angry. Perhaps a little too upset to even be safely in the room together, but Lust apparently didn’t care in the slightest. He slammed the doors open and snarled at the two maids who were cleaning the room.

The women froze like rabbits before a wolf. They looked at her, then at him, their eyes widening with each frozen moment.

“Get. Out.” His snarled words slapped through the air and both the women rushed to do his bidding.

One of them stumbled as she passed Selene. The woman reached out as though to brace herself, but her hand never touched Selene’s arm. Lust had lunged forward so fast that Selene didn’t even see him move. One moment the woman was reaching and the next, Lust had her wrist in his hand and the woman was dangling from it. He yanked the maid upright and nudged her toward the door.

He wasn’t rough with her. But there was no way anyone would hesitate after that. He’d made his point.

No one was to touch Selene. Not a man already well into his cups. Not even the maid.

Even angry at her, he wouldn’t let anyone get close. And in some way, that was... sweet. Just like how he’d said she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

She hated herself for softening towards him. He was an ass, and he’d ripped her out of that room after making her endure an hour of discomfort. She shouldn’t care that he had a softer side. It didn’t matter. None of it did.

And yet, she needed him to trust her so she could find his weakness. So she could betray him. Selene watched his heaving shoulders as he glared after the maids, and she thought that maybe she’d succeeded already. He certainly was protective enough over her.

Perhaps this wasn’t the best moment to test that theory. The door slammed shut behind her and they were alone. Those molten eyes turned to her and the force of his anger pinned her in place.

Not just at her, she thought. He glared at her like she was the heart of his problems, and maybe she was, but he never once moved toward her. Instead, he just stared until her entire body felt like it was on fire.

Damn it, she wanted him. More than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything. She wanted to touch him. To be held by him. But right now, she mostly wanted to slap him and then kiss him until he stopped looking at her like that.

She had no idea how long they glared at each other with the sexual tension running so high she could almost taste it. Eventually, he ran his hand over his face and turned his back to her.

“I am in no mood for servants,” he said, his voice still a snarl. “You will have to attend to me.”

“You can sleep in that ridiculous outfit,” she replied.

“Selene.”

There was no arguing with that voice. The hissed start of her name that ended in a growl. He knew she would never do what he asked unless he ordered it, and so he ordered it with a single word.

She didn’t want to attend to him. She didn’t care if he was uncomfortable or if he spent the rest of his days bound in that damned corset. All she cared about was getting out of this dress, covering herself up, and forgetting all the embarrassing things she’d seen tonight.

If she saw another pair of breasts being groped, or another dick that gleamed with a wetness she didn’t want to name, Selene thought she might explode. And not in a good way. She’d conjure up a damned sun to keep them all away from her.

Sighing, she strode up to his back and grabbed onto the ties. “Fine. I won’t be gentle about it, though.”

He jerked back at her first hard tug, and then a low groan echoed from deep in his chest. “Oh, I’m counting on that.”

Why did that sound so... sexual? He shouldn’t want her to hurt him. He shouldn’t feel better because she tugged the ropes so hard they would leave a mark on his skin.

But it took a while to get him unraveled, and she found it was impossible to be gentle. Whoever had laced him into this corset had done so as if they were tying him in for life. This corset was tight. Tighter than she’d ever worn hers, and she was no stranger to making herself thin. Minerva loved a waif-like waist, and Selene had seen some of her sisters test the limits of their own corsets. This one was laced so tightly she feared he hadn’t taken a single deep breath all night.

The act of untying was almost like weaving, and the tension in her shoulders and arms eased. He didn’t say a word as she worked, but she could hear the music still filtering up from the open balcony.

The quiet moment was almost... nice. She could let go of her frustration with him for a few moments to luxuriate in this domestic scene. Selene could almost imagine that they’d just returned from a ball, although she didn’t know many men who wore corsets and knew even less who went to balls. Lust’s kingdom was not a home for such fineries, not without sex somehow involved.

She let the corset fall in front of him, not even attempting to stop it from hitting the floor. “You are free,” she muttered.

“The shirt as well.”

“You can take off your own shirt.”

“Selene, do not argue with me.” The barked order was yet another one she knew she shouldn’t ignore.

Her fingers flexed at her sides. Why could he not undress himself? She knew he was capable of it. He’d done it since he moved her into his own bedroom. The fool was making her feel even worse, and he knew what he was doing.

Did he have to force her into the status of servant along with everything else?

All while grumbling under her breath, she tugged his silk shirt out of his pants and yanked it up over his head. He was much taller than her, and the fabric caught on his horns, but she didn’t care. The delicate silk ripped as she pulled and his head jerked with it. He snarled, the sound inhuman and dangerously deep.

Selene froze just as the maids had. Her body knew the sound of a predator, even if her mind didn’t. Heart hammering in her chest, she watched him for any movement other than the jerk of his neck from her movements, but he remained where he was. Muscles locked in place, bulging where they were far too tense.

Her eyes trailed down his shoulders, only for her breath to catch in her throat. He was beautifully made, she knew that. She’d seen the way his back flexed with his movements and the long tapered shadows that led to his waistband. Selene knew how much she wanted to press her lips against those muscles and feel them move against her.

But she’d never seen the deep red lines left by the corset. The welts already raised on his golden skin, crimson and angry and appearing so painful she couldn’t help herself.

She trailed her fingers over one line, ignoring the faint hiss of air from between his lips. “Lust...”

“If the next words out of your mouth are not ‘fuck me’, then keep your lips closed,” he snarled.

Another way to scare her, and yet she found not an ounce of fear remained. She touched another mark with her other hand, infinitely gentle as she followed the lines down his ribs. “Why do you wear them if they hurt you?”

Some of the tension eased out of his body. He let out a long breath and when he spoke next, he sounded tired once again. “Because I enjoy the pain, Selene.”

“I don’t know anyone who enjoys pain.”

“There is a certain pleasure in torture, and it is not pain that scars or lasts. Perhaps that is why I find myself liking you so much, little moon.”

The words made her stomach seize, and something deep inside her fluttered. “You think being around me is painful?”

He turned, and she had to take a step away from him. Lust was simply so large like this. Overwhelming. His body took up so much room, but it was more than his broad shoulders and all that smooth, golden skin. His eyes glowed with emotion, the blue turning violet almost immediately.

He prowled forward, forcing her to continue backing away until her spine pressed against the door. He flattened his hands on either side of her, caging her with his body. “Yes, being around you is painful. How could it not be? You claim I have taken your dignity by forcing you into a room while our people enjoyed themselves, but you deny what you have done to me. I was happy before you came here, Selene. I knew what the world was and now you have made me question everything.”

Selene flinched as he snarled the last word. But she never took her eyes off his face.

She wouldn’t hide from him, not even when he was like this. If he wanted to yell at her, then he needed to do so while seeing the emotion on her own face. He needed to look into her expression as he screamed.

But he wasn’t screaming. Not really. Every word made his voice deeper, lower, more intense as he stared into her eyes and willed her to see the world the way he did.

She couldn’t, though. They were two very different people who had seen so many different things. He saw humanity as flawed and simplistic, while she knew they were teachable. Those were not opinions that were easy to change.

“Did you not need to question your life?” she asked. “You say you have lived this way for hundreds of years, but in that time, you have become complacent and bored. Don’t you want to experience something new again?”

Pain flared at her question. “There is nothing new left for me to experience, little moon.”

“Is there really not?” She dared to lift a hand between them and skate her fingers along his jaw. “Or are you just afraid to experience it?”

That flash returned to his eyes as he narrowed them at her. “I’ve never been afraid of any experience.”

Her mother’s voice whispered in her head. That she could use this moment to reel him in, to really get him under her thumb. And weeks ago, she might have. She would have teased him, flirted until he was on his knees before her and then she would have felt the guilt later on. But right now? She didn’t want to manipulate him. She just wanted him to understand.

“I think you’re afraid of a lot of things,” she whispered, so close she could feel the heat of his lips on hers. “I think you’re afraid of me.”

“You?” He laughed, and the air breezed over her face, smelling of sweet wine. “A slip of a woman with no power?”

“Who offers you something new. Neither you nor I understand it, but we both felt it the first time we bumped into each other. It’s been changing since I came here, growing and warping into something neither of us can deny. Hasn’t it? You’ve felt it. There’s a change, and that’s terrifying to someone who has lived the same way for centuries.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“But I do.” Of course she did. That’s why it scared him so much. “Like I said when we first met. I’m the beginning of something new.”

A low sound rumbled through his throat. For a second, she thought she’d pushed him too hard. But then he searched her gaze like he was looking for something important. Something that would change this moment for the both of them.

Selene didn’t know which one of them moved first. She only knew that one moment she was staring up into his eyes and the next, she’d wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips crashed together, not gentle at all but a biting, crushing meeting of lips, teeth, and tongue. This was a punishment for two people who had denied themselves for far too long.

His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue sliding against hers in a delicious glide that made her moan into him. His hands remained pressed against the door, his muscles locked underneath her palms. Selene kept her own locked around his neck or she’d press them to whatever warm skin she could find. But she remembered what his back felt like. She remembered the flex of his muscles underneath her touch, and how strong he felt.

Lust let her lead them for a few moments, and she’d thought they were kissing each other. Until he finally kissed her back.

He stole her breath from her lungs. Lust devoured her with every stroke of his tongue, every bite against her bottom lip, and every guttural groan that he poured down her throat. He kissed her like a man who was starved for any attention from her, as though he’d been waiting for this for years.

She clung to his shoulders, trying desperately to keep up. But he didn’t seem to even want her to participate. His kiss was meant to punish, to show her just how much she wanted him, even if she didn’t know it yet.

It took everything in her not to moan again as his tongue thrust against hers, the slow movement mimicking what she really wanted him to do to her. Her stomach clenched, her whole body seizing up as though it knew what was next.

Her pulse thundered in her throat, between her thighs, all over her body in little pulses that she had to thrust underneath the frozen lake inside her even though she wanted to feel them, damn it. She wanted to feel this. Hiding those emotions felt like she was denying what was between them, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

They parted, and she felt the swelling of her lips and the strange sensation between her legs. She was already dripping for him, so wet she could feel it slicking her thighs. If he would just place one hand there, he would know. It wouldn’t matter how much she hid her emotions. He’d be able to tell, to feel, to release her from this lie.

His fists slammed into the door. Once, twice, three times. She never flinched at the sound, even though her heart quaked in her chest.

Lust drew back, his eyes blazing with anger. “I cannot feel you. I still cannot feel you! Why can I not feel you?“

A pulse of his power rocked through the room, rattling the door behind her, but she still had to endure it. To shove all those emotions until the power inside her nearly overflowed, but she didn’t dare let him know how she felt. She didn’t dare let him realize how much control he had over her.

Lust’s chest rose and fell with rapid, angry breaths. As he raised his hand, she thought his grip would leave bruises. But he scooped his hand underneath her hair and cupped her neck with such infinite gentleness that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

He pressed one more kiss to her lips, long and lingering and ever so heartbreaking, before he swung her around and left.

The door closing behind him felt like the snapping of heart strings.