Chapter 35

ChapterThirty-Five

Bathilda talked her ear off the whole time they walked down to the dining hall. And Selene had no idea what she said. Not a single word.

Her mind was back in her old bedroom. Where a long-limbed man waited for her, white furs caressing his skin as he stroked that massive cock. His words haunted her every step, trying to drag her back to that room.

“Hurry back. I’ll take the edge off, but then I expect to need you all night, little moon.”

All night? Was that even possible?

Selene had been with a few men before, but the memories were so foggy now that she’d survived Lust’s touch. He’d branded himself into her, wiping away any and all men who had touched her before. And now, she couldn’t remember what sex was like.

Only that it had been something to endure. The men had tried. She remembered that. They had touched her thighs just like Lust. But none of them had lingered so long with their tongue in her pussy. None of them had eaten her like she was the elixir of life and they were a dying man. And none of them, none, had looked at her like he had.

She sank onto her old chair, staring down at the dining table like it was a foreign scene. Her mother sat at the head of the table, all of her would be sisters grinning at her like they’d won something. And maybe they had. Maybe they’d argued on her behalf for such a long time that her mother had finally gone blue in the face.

That must have been it. She could feel the tension in the air but no longer cared that it existed.

“Welcome back,” Minerva said. “Would you like to fill your sisters in on what you have encountered in Lust’s castle?”

She took a plate offered by Ursula and met Minerva’s gaze. “It was warm.”

The silence ringing after her statement was enough to make her smile. Selene demurely ate her food, her thoughts still on the man upstairs. Had he affected them all? Maybe she was feeling his power through the floor, and that was why she couldn’t focus on what was happening in front of her.

But no. None of her sisters were wiggling in their seats like she was. And she couldn’t imagine they could stay still if their thighs were as slick as hers.

Why was she here?

Minerva frowned. “Anything else? Anything more interesting than that?”

“Not really.”

“You were sent there for a reason. Did you forget that purpose?”

“I did not. I was sent there to get the demon king under my thumb, and if I could not do that, then I should gather as much information about him as possible so that we can all take the castle. You claim it is our rightful place in this kingdom.” She popped a cherry tomato into her mouth. “I did not forget.”

“Then have you failed?” Minerva’s face turned bright red. “You were always a worthless little foundling. I trained you for years, preparing you for when you could save us all. And instead, you have forgotten your entire life’s work for a man who has made the entire world fall to their knees before him. He has corrupted you.”

Corrupted? Yes. That was the word for it. She felt him deep inside her, even though he’d never been there before. Did it matter, though? She didn’t mind being corrupted, and he certainly enjoyed corrupting her.

Clearing her throat, she nodded. “Perhaps he has. But he also was kind enough to offer me a home in that castle. A place to rest my head in safety, with people who wanted me to be happy and welcome. It’s more than I can say for my life here.”

She could have cut through the shock with the butter knife next to her plate. Everyone stared at her as though she’d grown a second head, and maybe she had. A better one. A better mind that knew how to deny her mother from her cruelty and how to prepare herself for the life that she actually wanted.

She wanted a life with him.

A life with Lust that would be filled with color and warmth and sure, some things that made her nervous. Moments that would push what she thought was right or proper, but did that matter in the slightest? No. Not at all.

She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be with him.

“Mother,” she breathed. “I want to have a relationship with you all here. I want to have you in my life and I want to know that you are happy. But I do not want to live here forever. What he has offered me is something I hope to someday offer all of you.”

The color drained out of her sister’s faces, but she never stopped meeting Minerva’s gaze. She wouldn’t back down this time.

Minerva put her fork down. “You will stay here for the two weeks we require of you. Clearly, you are not the daughter I sent away.”

“I am not.” Selene stood. All the weight she’d been carrying with her seemed to drip off her shoulders as she said the words that freed her from this place. “And I don’t intend to stay. If you’ll excuse me.”

“I’m not done speaking with you.”

“But I am done speaking with you.” And with that, the chains around her shoulders released. She could almost hear them clang as they hit the floor, and she left them behind in that room. Her sister’s jaws remained open as she swept out of the room she’d just entered.

Selene didn’t care. For the first time in her life, Minerva’s opinion of her didn’t matter. And by all the seven kingdoms, that was freeing.

Her feet flew up the stairs to her old room. It wasn’t the highest point in the Tower, but she was breathing hard by the time she stood outside her door. Her fingers itched, her hand raised to push open the door, but her stomach twisting in fear. Did she want to do this? Could she?

Before she could overthink everything that had just happened, she heard his voice. “Get in here, Selene.”

She shivered at the dark promise in his voice. Breath catching in her throat, she stepped into the darkness of her bedroom. Night had fallen quickly, and there was no light other than the candles he’d lit next to her bed. A bed that was absent of the large man she expected to see.

Instead, all she saw was darkness and furs in glimmering golden light.

His dark voice whispered in her ear, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I am.”

That dark voice deepened even further, the rasp of a demon in her ear. “I will consume you, Selene. There’s no going back.”

A bargain with a demon. Never to be unmade again.

Swallowing hard, she froze as his heat pressed against her back. “I know.”

“Tell me you want this.”

“I do.”

“Tell me you want me.” A warm breath fanned where her neck and shoulder met.

“I do.” She shivered again, goosebumps raising all down her arms.

“I need to hear you say it, Selene.”

“I want you,” she whispered, feeling like she was falling apart. “I want you, and only you, Lust. I want to feel you inside me and I want to be consumed by you.”

As though the words unlocked a chain around his throat, he lunged. He grabbed her by the waist, his fingers nearly touching as he spun her around. Lips crashing down on hers, he seized one of her thighs in a punishing grip. Hiking it up over his hip, he ground himself against her as he kissed every part of her he could. Her jaw, her neck, biting at the cord of muscle there before he grabbed her hair and tilted her back. Spine bending, she dangled in his arms as he devoured her.

Kisses rained down from her throat to her chest. He snarled against her skin, little more than the demon she’d always thought him to be.

Hissing, he dragged her toward the bed. And all the while, his teeth bit down on her shoulder, leaving bite marks on her neck while he rocked against her.

Soft furs hit her back. She gasped at the sensation of warmth and heat as he crawled over her.

The light illuminated him. His eyes burned bright violet, and his horns had grown. She was certain of it. But as she reached up to trace them, trying to prove to herself that they were indeed larger, he tilted his head back. That grin, that dangerous, terrifying grin was back.

“Just how much do you want me?” he asked.

“More than you know.”

“Good.” His warm body poured over hers, and she felt the fabric rip. “Then I’m going to tear you out of this dress and make you scream.”

That should terrify her. But all she wanted was him inside her, and it didn’t matter what he said at this point.

She arched up, helping him pull all those fucking layers of fabric off her until he finally pressed himself bare to her. Her chest molded against the hard plank of his, his thigh wedged between her legs, and she rubbed her wetness against him.

He groaned at that. “So wet. All for me.”

The kiss he gave her was searing, but not nearly enough. She needed him to touch her.

No, she needed to touch him.

Even as he palmed her breasts, stroking his thumbs over her aching nipples, she knew she’d never get tired of this. She ran her hands down the muscles of his back, but she wanted more. It was like he wasn’t close enough, even though she could feel him all around her.

Bucking beneath him, she ripped her mouth from his to whisper in his ear, “I want to taste you.”

His hand trailed between them, bumping between her breasts and down her tense stomach. She knew what he was doing before he reached his goal, but she still felt her breath wheeze from her lungs as he cupped between her legs. His fingers stroked between her folds, gathering up the wetness there before holding his fingers up for her to see. “I think I’d like to taste you first, little moon.”

No, she couldn’t survive it. He’d already made her come more times than she wanted to admit without ever taking anything for himself, and right now, she wanted to take care of him.

Gritting her teeth, she locked her legs around him and rolled them both. Any other time, she might not have been able to. But he was so surprised that he went with it.

And then the sight of him beneath her? She could see the heat flushing his cheeks and how affected he was. Selene brushed her hair back, astride him for the first time, and feeling ever so powerful.

Now she could look at him. She could run her fingers over his beautiful chest. She could count the freckles that dotted down his body, and the long lines that brought her to that beautiful, massive cock.

Her mouth watered. She’d never wanted to taste a man, but this one? She refused to wait.

Sliding down his body, she looked up at him as he fisted the furs at his side. “Selene, you don’t—“

His voice choked as she licked him from base to tip. His head slammed back into the furs, the cords of his neck standing out in stark relief as she slowly tongued him. And if this didn’t make her feel even more like a goddess. Here was a demon king in the palm of her hand, literally, and she had never felt more in control over anything in her life.

He was too thick to swallow, but she tried her best. She tongued his head until that pearlescent liquid glittered at the tip. Salty and musky, just like him, she licked it up before sucking him deep into her mouth. Over and over, she worked him until his breath was little more than a hiss from his lungs.

And then suddenly, she was flipped again. He splayed her out on the bed, breathing hard and glaring down at her like she’d done something wrong.

But his hands were gentle as he stretched her arms over her head. Arching up, she presented herself like some kind of offering for a dark god.

“You’re fucking perfect,” he snarled, his voice at odds with his words. “And you drive me mad.”

The broad head of him settled against her entrance. Too big. She knew he would fill her to near pain and for some reason, the thought had a rush of adrenaline running right to her head. “No more than you drive me mad.”

One of his hands released hers, sliding between them as he dragged his cock against her slick folds. “Are you thinking about those other men right now?”

She shook her head, biting her lip. “Only you.”

“Why’s that?” That flare of jealous violet grew even brighter.

“There are none worth remembering.”

“Good.” He pressed against her, not enough for the head to enter her, but enough so she could feel a slight burn. “You’ll never remember anyone but me after this.”

She spasmed, only to feel him press further into her. Stretching, aching, pulsing with so much heat, he speared through her.

A choked sound erupted from between her lips as he slid inside her with a groan that she could feel deep in his chest. Deeper, continuing, could he go any deeper? Surely not. Surely there wasn’t more of him that she had to take?

Selene didn’t know if she was even breathing. He drew back, and she sucked in air, only to feel it all rush out of her again as he pulsed forward, more of him pressing inside her until she felt his hips brush against hers. Seated. Fully. Stretched beyond what she’d thought she could take and so. Damned. Full.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, his arm banding beneath her shoulder blades and tilting her back, sinking deeper with even that slight movement. “Absolutely beautiful.”

He sucked her nipple into his mouth and started moving. Stroking inside her, slow at first and mimicking each long flick of his tongue.

Was she supposed to move? She couldn’t remember. All she could do was let him hold her as he fell into a rhythm that felt so good she could already see stars. Her core spasmed around him, and he groaned again.

“Yes, baby.” Lust nipped at her, the sting of pain quickly soothed with the long stroke of his tongue. “Let me feel you come.”

Like lightning had struck, that was all it took. She exploded around him, clenching so hard he had to stop moving as she whimpered in his arms. She’d never felt like this before, as if the stars were close enough to touch.

As she spiraled down, he snarled in her ear. “I said to scream my name, Selene. We won’t stop until you do.”

And then he slammed into her. Hard. Enough for the pleasure to get brighter, and that wasn’t possible. She’d come. She’d already gotten so close to the stars and every hard stroke of him seemed to prolong it. To thrust her closer to that bright pinprick of light with every movement until she was shaking her head. “What are you doing?”

“What I’m good at.”

“Lust.“ No, it was too close to pain now. Too close to pleasure that bit and ached and shattered.

He didn’t listen to her. Every hard stroke was merciless to her whimpering pleas, and he slid a hand between their bellies to press his thumb hard against her clit.

It was too much. Belatedly, she realized she could feel his power. The air was thick with it, pouring out of him in waves that wrapped around her senses until she could almost feel his own pleasure. The way he slid into her so easily and the grip of her pussy around him, how she held onto him with every retreat as though she didn’t want to let him go.

She refused to endure this on her own. This was them, together, and it always would be.

Wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, she pulled him back to her lips. Snarling into his mouth, she said, “You are mine, just as I am yours. Come with me, Demon.”

He bared his teeth that suddenly looked filed and sharp. And Selene opened the floodgates in her mind. All her buried lust. Years of it. Drowned out with so many emotions that came barreling out at the same time.

Though they were locked in a stare, she saw his eyes roll back in his head. His fingers flexed against her, pressing harder and circling around her clit until it was too much. The perfect feeling as those talented fingers brought her closer and closer.

He nipped at her neck. “I want to feel you come around my cock, little moon. Come for me.”

Every inch of her body did. She seized around him, squeezing so hard that she could feel his own orgasm rip through him. She felt the pulse come up from the base of him as a heat spread through her. He groaned, long and low as she tilted her head back and screamed his name.

Breathing hard, she gathered up the stars in her arms and tossed them down to him. All that light and energy and brightness she would bring back to his underworld. For if he was the demon king, then she would be his willing slave for all eternity.

Arms wrapped around him, she held onto his shoulders as if he were a lifeline. Lust pressed his forehead against her shoulder, trying to catch his own breath.

And then he pulled out of her and rolled her onto her belly.

Limp, pleased beyond delight, she happily sighed. “What are you doing?”

Her eyes snapped open as he slid into her again, seemingly harder than he’d been before. “I told you, little moon.” He gave her another sharp, hard thrust that left her gasping. “I’m not done with you until the sun rises.”