Chapter 24

ChapterTwenty-Four

No, no, no. This was all going so wrong. She had to get control over herself and the situation or she was... lost.

Selene laid on the floor of the balcony, staring up at the sky while trying to cajole herself back underneath the icy waves of her mind. But every time she tried to convince herself to shove those emotions back underneath the ice, it just hurt. Physically made her ache, like she was putting away something very important.

She was being stupid. Her mother and her sisters had sent her here for a reason. They’d left their mark on the back of her neck so she would never forget they were her real family. They were the ones protecting her.

He needed to be under her thumb, not the other way around.

Lust didn’t know how much he affected her. Of course, he could sense her desire now, and he used that to his advantage. But if he really knew how fond she was of him, how he’d wiggled his way into her heart, then he would exploit that. She knew he would. He had to. He was a demon, after all. He’d want to know that he had somehow changed her for the worse.

“For the worse?” a melodic voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Affection, please don’t read my mind. You know I don’t like it when you do that.”

“I didn’t mean to this time! Your thoughts are so loud.” The spirit gathered itself on her chest, coiling on her like a cat. “He’s not going to hurt your feelings, you know.”

“You have no way of knowing that for certain.”

“I do. Because I can also look into his thoughts, and I know he’s very enamored with you. You’re the first person he’s ever had to work for, you know?”

She had no idea what that meant. “Because he doesn’t like me, but he wanted to understand what makes me tick? Of course. But now he knows the answer to his question and he can do whatever he wants now. He can send me back to the Tower. All I had over him was that I was a curiosity, and now he can make me leave with satisfaction that he figured it out.”

She’d been so stupid! Why would she offer him up the truth that easily? Everything she’d worked so hard for, gone. In an instant.

Selene had no more cards to play. Nothing to hold over his head to get her mother and her sisters here so they could at least try to bind him. Nothing. Now she was just another woman who had come to the castle, and what use was she to him?

Affection leaned over her, sunlight playing through its form. It had... features, now. Sort of. A cute little button nose and bright red lips that sort of floated in the mass of color.

The spirit looked a bit like a puzzle missing pieces, but it was clearly trying to look more mortal.

“What happened to you?” she asked at the same time Affection spoke.

“He’s not going to toss you aside.”

They both stared at each other before again answering at the same time.

“Why wouldn’t he toss me aside? He’s figured out the question he wanted an answer to.”

“Nothing has happened to me. I thought you would be more comfortable talking to me like this.”

Selene took a deep breath and blew it out. “Can you listen to my answer before you talk?”

Affection nodded, although sullenly. “If you ask questions, then I’m going to answer them.”

“Yes, I understand that.” She sat up, letting the little spirit roll into her lap. “Why do you think he will not toss me aside? He has every reason to now. There are plenty of women in this castle who will warm his bed, and I’m sure some of them are even keeping secrets from him. There’s no reason to keep me around.”

“Other than for the reason I already said. He’s never had to work for anyone to like him. All he had to do was snap his fingers and people threw themselves at him. Women. Men. Everything in between. He’s been viewed like a god here for many years.” Affection rolled over in her lap, staring up at her with wide eyes. “But now he knows what it’s like to fight for someone. And he’s very intrigued by it.”

“I don’t want to be intriguing.” Or maybe she did. She could use that to her advantage, but her gut said she didn’t want to be some new shiny toy for him. She wanted... wanted...

No, this was all wrong. He could think whatever he wanted as long as he wanted her happy. That she could use. Everything else didn’t matter.

Which meant she needed to get him even more addicted to her. If he wanted her around after finding out her secret, then she needed to manipulate him even further. She needed to... give in.

He’d been begging for her body since the moment she walked through these doors. Since he bumped into her on the street and thought she was pretty. Would that be enough to keep him around? Would that be enough of a temptation to convince him that he did actually want to be with her for longer than a couple of days?

If that was the price she had to pay, then she’d pay it. Sure, it made the feeling of her desire a little duller. It made sex with him feel like a transaction. Her body for the right to be here and continue this game a little longer.

Suddenly, all this felt less about her and more about him. She could please him, even though all she knew about sex was much less than what he knew. Still. If he wanted a pleasing partner, he should have picked someone less confrontational.

It would do. She’d endure sex with him, telling herself she didn’t have to enjoy it because it was all for her family. She’d keep that barrier around her heart intact and nothing would threaten that.

Affection shrank a bit in her lap, gathering itself tighter into a bright coil. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Then get out of my head.”

“Again, you’re a very loud thinker, Selene! But Lust, he’s not interested in you for your body. He doesn’t want to only sleep with you. If you would just listen to me—“

She’d already dumped the spirit out of her lap and walked toward the wardrobe. She had made up her mind. Tonight, she would seduce Lust so that he would not let her go. He’d keep her here, and she could continue to interest him until she could either control him, or destroy him.

She wouldn’t fail. Even if it felt like she had sold herself to a demon.

Wasn’t that the point of this all? A flash of anger ran through her, and Affection latched onto the thought.

The spirit tumbled in front of her, getting itself kicked in the process. “You’re right to be angry at them! You got sold. They wanted you to do this, knowing how it would make you uncomfortable. They don’t care about you, Selene.”

“Please stop.”

“But you know I’m right! You know they don’t care about you at all. They want you to believe you’re only worth this. To sell your body for the Tower and then do their bidding again once it’s all done. But you’ve found yourself here. With him. And I know you haven’t made any friends other than that, but it has to count for something that you’re happier here! You’re free, Selene. Don’t throw that all away by trying to deceive him again.”

Softening, she bent and patted the top of Affection’s head. “I have made friends here, little one. I’ve met you.”

Affection sighed, turning into little more than a glimmering puddle on the floor. “But that’s not the same and you know it.”

“I have made no effort here. If that’s what he wishes, then I will do so. I’ll lick the boots of the nobility if he wants just to get my family here. Where we all belong.” She threw the wardrobe door open and pawed through the layers and layers of silks.

She’d never chosen to wear the clothing he’d given her thus far. Her clothes were just fine, and if she didn’t have to put on the flimsy silk, then she would rather wear her own thick wools. No matter how warm it was. But tonight, she needed to seduce him. And that required her to look the part.

A flash of memory had her think of Lara. The woman had worn a white gown that was entirely see through just to clean the castle. How did Selene compete with that?

In the very back, she found the perfect nightgown. The silver fabric looked like moonlight in her fingers. It trickled through her touch, tiny sparkling bits whispering with the slightest movement. It was lovely and fine and barely a gown at all. It was perfect.

“Selene,” Affection whispered one last time. “Please let me convince you this is wrong.”

She shook her head. “I need to get ready, Affection. I don’t think you’ll want to be in the room for this.”

The little spirit slunk out of the room underneath her door, and her chest burned with guilt. She hadn’t meant to make the poor dear sad, but it shouldn’t be in the room while she seduced its master. After all, it wouldn’t take much to convince Lust to sleep with her.

Just the thought of Lust made her body clench. The hollow between her legs ached to be filled, and she knew denying these feelings would only prolong the inevitable.

He would not be a terrible man to have between her legs. She’d enjoy touching him, just like in her dream. And considering how many women he’d fucked in the last ten centuries, he would probably be an excellent partner in bed.

So why did this still feel wrong?

Sighing, she stepped into the pretty nightgown and resolved herself to wait. She spent the hours dry brushing her skin until it was so soft it felt like velvet. Then she took a comb to her hair and counted to one thousand until each strand was as liquid as the gown that covered her body.

Until she heard the door open and voices angrily hissing at each other on the other side.

“Enough, Greed,” Lust snapped. “I’m going to bed.”

“I’m telling you, there is more to this story.”

The door slammed in Greed’s face, all while Lust muttered about meddling family members. “The man has no boundaries and refuses to take no for an answer. I know why he wants to investigate the situation. All so he can hold it over my damn head and request that I pay him a price for something I already could figure out on my own.”

He didn’t even look at her. He just shed his clothing, layer by layer, muttering more about his brother as he stomped into the wardrobe.

“Do you have anything to say about it?” he shouted from within. His shirt hit the ground next to the vanity. “You didn’t seem to be all that fond of him. I’ll admit, I could use someone agreeing with me that he’s an idiot.”

“He’s an idiot,” she replied, amused. Selene stood, and the dress clung to her form, cold and unfeeling as the rest of her. “But you are no less of a fool if you do not use him to your advantage.”

“Ah, right. You’re from the Tower and all they teach you is court politics.” A grunt followed his words. “Not everything has to be political. My brother can be both right and an idiot.”

“Those two do not usually go hand in hand.” She set his shirt on the back of the chair before calling out, “Lust?”

“Yes, yes. Having the servants move your clothes in here, as well as mine, made it all the more difficult. I know you don’t like it when I wander around wearing little.”

“I wouldn’t mind it tonight.”

She thought she heard him hit his head against something. “Excuse me?”

“Would you come out, please?”

Nerves had been rumbling in her stomach, but they settled the moment she remembered he was rather awkward around her. And that made little sense, but he wasn’t entirely himself if Selene was in the room.

Maybe Affection was right about a few things.

Lust stepped out of the wardrobe, shirtless in silk sleep pants, only to freeze when he saw her. And she knew what she looked like. She’d checked a million times in the mirror before he got there. Her long hair nearly touched her waist, brushed so many times it looked like water falling down around her shoulders. The dress molded to her body, too tight and yet not showing entirely everything. She wore a single diamond necklace around her neck, a gift from Minerva long ago. When Selene hadn’t yet agreed to be the sacrificial lamb for the man in front of her.

His throat worked in a hard swallow. “What are... What are you doing, Selene?”

“I know that I’ve been avoiding you the entirety of my time here. I know that hasn’t been easy on either of us.” She stepped closer, then paused as her pulse went wild. “I think it’s time we stop playing this game. Don’t you?”

“I...” His hands flexed at his sides, as though he battled with himself not to touch her. “You have given me no reason to believe you were going to give in any time soon.”

“I changed my mind. You can feel my desire, Lust. Surely you know I’m not lying.”

And she did desire him. The broad expanse of his chest made her want to touch him. She thought about her dream, about how she’d wanted to slide her hands underneath that waistline just to feel what she’d seen so much, and he groaned.

“Selene.”

She didn’t want to listen to that voice. She had to stay in control.

So she stepped forward and threatened him with the only thing she had. “I won’t offer again, Lust.”

He narrowed his eyes on her, and for a moment, she thought he would refuse. And she didn’t know what she would do if he decided to wait. She needed to let off some steam, and she needed to know for certain that he wouldn’t throw her away. If this was the only way to convince him to keep her, then she couldn’t afford for him to make another choice.

Why this meant so much to her, she didn’t understand. Familial ties had never made her this crazy, but she… she couldn’t let this go.

She took another step closer and watched his pupils dilate. His nostrils flared as if breathing her in, as she stopped directly in front of him.

So much muscle. So much warm skin just begging for her to touch it. And as she watched, his chest rippled as though anticipating her touch.

“I’ve wondered what you feel like,” she whispered. “I don’t know why I’ve held back for so long.”

She lifted her hands, and he let out a low groan that echoed through her body. Before she could touch him, he’d caught her wrists in his grip and backed her toward the bed.

No, not the bed. The mirror.

The cold glass hit her spine, making her arch into him with a hiss of surprise. And then her breasts were pressed against his chest, cushioned by all that hard plane of muscle, and it made her mind scramble.

He leaned down, and she closed her eyes, ready for the kiss that would sear her very soul. Except he didn’t kiss her. He whispered against her mouth, “Why now?”

“Does it matter?”

“More than you think.”

Because she had no choice. Because she wanted to fuck him, and she didn’t at the same time. Because she was ready and not and if she didn’t do this, then she feared what else would happen, so why was he overthinking this?

Selene couldn’t say any of that. Instead, she looked up into his eyes and she cracked that icy lake inside her mind wide open.

Weeks of lust, desire, passion, and need flooded out through her body. It filled the room, and she funneled it all toward him.

The cords of his neck suddenly stood out in stark relief. He stiffened against her, then let out another groan that echoed in the bed chamber. Lust leaned into her then, his lips against her neck as he rolled his hips against hers.

She felt him rub against her core and the sizzle of heat that spiked through her body promised an orgasm that would change her life. Breathing heavily, she couldn’t think of anything other than the size of that cock and what he was going to do to her.

One last thing. One last attempt to make sure he wouldn’t say no.

Selene grabbed the back of his neck, tugging him so he had to look her in the eye while he drowned in weeks of her lust all at once. She dragged her mouth against his, nipped his bottom lip, and whispered, “I want you.”

The look in his eyes when he pulled back was... soft. Like she’d said something that no one else ever had before.

“You really do, don’t you?” he murmured, before drawing her back to his lips.

She sighed into him and felt herself crack open yet again. For all that she’d prepared to build a wall between them, she had forgotten how he’d already wiggled into her heart.