Chapter 8
ChapterEight
He let her get settled in, not because he had no idea what to do with her and certainly not because she’d turned his world onto its side. She could suffer in any way that she wanted while in his castle. And ignoring her would only make that suffering all the worse.
Except he knew he was lying to himself. This strange little woman had turned what usually was his sanctuary into a rather terrifying place to be. He worried that he’d run into her in the halls. What he’d say if he did see her.
What he’d do.
No woman had ever resisted him this long. He’d always been the one that they all wanted. Lust was an easy emotion for mortals to feel and even easier for them to bend to. They wanted to indulge in that particular feeling. He just gave them what they wanted.
Except her. She didn’t want to bend to lust, or she had some strange ability to avoid it entirely. And he hated it.
It made him feel weak, and he hadn’t felt that way since he’d taken on his physical form. The feeling became so uncomfortable that he didn’t want to look at her. Or even think about her. So he went about his day as though nothing had changed.
Until he couldn’t anymore.
Lust walked into his office, an austere room filled to the brim with gold accents and plush, velvety pillows. The long curtains at the window moved with a gentle breeze, the gauzy fabric making the entire world look white. Like snow. Like her.
Damn it, he couldn’t even work without bringing her into it somehow. He’d only just sat down when his door burst open and some insane thought whispered maybe it was her. Maybe she’d decided that she couldn’t wait any longer, because she felt his lust pulsing through the castle as only he could make it do.
Lust sat up straighter, only to slump back when he realized it was only one of his nobles, followed by a very familiar misty spirit.
“My lord,” the man said, bowing until the top of his head almost touched the ground.
Theo was a good man with good intentions, but he simpered far too much and frankly, that had become rather annoying of late. He was, unfortunately, an extremely good noble, and that made it hard to hate him. Even if he would lick Lust’s boots clean.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, already annoyed, Lust asked, “What is it?”
“I came to congratulate you on your bride.”
He could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed from that statement. Affection peered around Theo as though it were looking for whatever expression might then show on his face.
A bride must mean that Affection would be fed soon. He blinked at the little spirit and saw it had not changed in the slightest. Therefore, there was no proper amount of affection in this castle. As he’d expected.
He swallowed hard, hearing the audible click in his dry throat as he asked, “What did you say?”
“Your... bride?” Theo’s face burned bright red. “Everyone is talking about it. In the castle, in the streets. I’d be surprised if the entire kingdom wasn’t aware that you’d taken a bride from...”
The man trailed off as he saw anger blooming in Lust’s features.
Lust expected his horns had suddenly grown because he wanted to put his damned fist through a wall. He flexed his hands on his thighs, claws suddenly digging through the fabric.
“Those fucking sorceresses,” he snarled. “Meddling bitches. Of course, they spread a rumor. Why didn’t I anticipate that?”
Affection rolled toward him, its mist undulating in tendrils that reached out to comfort. “Because you were so caught up in your new bride?”
“Do not touch me.”
“Because you wanted to make her more comfortable and forgot to announce to the kingdom that you’d found someone who was important enough to put at your side?” It reached up a tendril, slowly stretching toward his knee.
He moved. “Stop it, Affection.”
“Just a taste.”
“There is no affection between myself and that lying little witch who has hidden in her room since the moment we got here. She is an enigma I am trying to understand, and a little lie between myself and the High Sorceress. That does not mean she will be queen!” He slammed a hand down on his desk, nearly breaking it with the force. “Why didn’t I see they would try to force my hand?”
Theo cleared his throat. “Well... I should let you know that the entire kingdom is waiting for an announcement.”
“An announcement?”
“They are expecting to at least... meet your bride.” Theo shuffled his feet and then tucked his hands behind his back. “My apologies. I thought this would be a happy occasion, not one of strife.”
“It’s not your fault,” he ground out through his teeth. “It’s the monstrous fools I allow to stay in their Tower while the rest of my people work for their food.”
He had to figure out a way around this. Minerva had played her hand already, and he hadn’t expected her to turn his entire kingdom against him this quickly. If he didn’t show off his new bride, then he would look as though he was trying to hide her. And why? The rumors would fly, soon becoming a wave that he could drown underneath.
But if he fell into the sorceress’ trap, then he really would be forced to marry her. He couldn’t take Selene out into his kingdom and introduce her to his people, only to then say she wasn’t a good enough fit. Minerva knew this.
Of course she did. The old woman had more guts than he’d given her credit for.
The only person who could help him get out of this was Selene herself. She knew what her people were planning. She knew how to get around them as well, he had a feeling. All he had to do was trap her in the right way. Get her to be uncomfortable enough to tell him anything he wanted, and he knew just the way to do that.
Glancing down at the mountain of paperwork he was about to leave, Lust sighed and stood from his desk. “Send for the woman. Have her delivered to my private quarters.”
“My lord?”
“I’ll answer no more questions, Theo.”
Lust stalked from the room, back to the same damned place he’d just left. This couldn’t wait, though. He had to nip these rumors in the bud, which meant he had to throw another fucking party after he’d just finished up the festival circuit.
Could he not rest? Or catch up on all the work he’d gathered along the circuit?
He couldn’t contact his brothers. They always made sure the other kingdoms were still doing well, or at least well in the way they wanted to run it. He still had to connect with all of them to...
Fucking hell. He wouldn’t be able to sleep for a month if he wanted to get all this done on time.
Lust made it to his rooms and picked up a pillow from the floor. Shoving his face into the soft, decadent fabric, he screamed into it until he got himself under control. At least a little more than he was moments ago.
He needed his wits to battle with the sorceress he’d foolishly let underneath his own roof.
In the time it took her to arrive, he’d made sure everything in the room was in place. Everything from the thick cushions near the fireplace, the plush carpets covering the floor, to the desk in the corner where he sometimes worked late into the night. He closed the door into his bedroom. No need for her to see that just yet, and then he lounged on the cushions before he heard the tell tale clacks of her shoes.
Those damned heels would be the death of him. Just the sound of them made him want to know what it would feel like if she put them on his throat. The gentle pressure, the knowledge that all it would take was one twist... He hissed out a low breath.
No. He was not going into this fight already wanting her. He refused.
The door opened and a lilting voice from the other side called out, “My lord. The lady Selene.”
Lady. As if she was worth the status of that title.
“Enter.”
If he made sure that his body was laid out a little more comfortably, that was only to ease his muscles before they tensed. Not because he wanted her to see him from his best angle.
She walked through the door like a fucking nightmare. Those heavy woolen skirts that must be too hot, even for this late in autumn. The wide square neckline that both covered everything and somehow made her throat all the more exposed. She wore long gloves that even covered her fingers. Even her hair was severely smoothed back from her head and twisted into that awful bun.
She glanced around his room, unaffected by the splendor, and instead focused her attention on him.
A flash of something burned in her eyes. Not quite lust, but the start of a similar emotion, until it fizzled as though she’d snuffed out a candle with her fingers. Curious, but exactly the battle he was looking for.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“You.”
She visibly flinched, but stood her ground as he rolled onto his feet. Lust prowled toward her, knowing the firelight glinted off the skin revealed by his unbuttoned white shirt. He had made certain he was a temptation.
Why was she so easily able to brush him aside? It was maddening.
“Your mother has already made problems for us,” he snarled.
“Oh?”
“She’s told the entire kingdom that I have taken a bride.”
“That was the deal.” She folded her hands primly at her waist. “Unless you wish to make a liar of yourself.”
“You seem to think I always lie.” Lust stalked around her, attacking the pins in her hair. “Now, you are going to help me.”
“My loyalty is to the Tower.”
“If you are to be my bride,” he leaned down and dragged his nose up the side of her neck, inhaling deeply. “Then you are loyal only to me.”
She couldn’t hide her little shiver or the creaking sound of her gloves as she curled her fingers into fists. “And how am I going to do that?”
“Strip.”
Her breath caught in her throat. He’d managed to startle her, at least.
She growled, “What did you say?”
Oh, but he could get used to that sound. The surprise in her voice mixed with a heady combination of indignation and a slight tinge of fear.
“I already told you,” he whispered against her skin. “I am not a monster. I will not force you to do anything you do not desire. But your mother has made a problem for the both of us. We need to remedy this by allowing some of my people to see you, but not the entirety of them.”
“I fail to see how I need to be nude for this.”
He hummed low under his breath. With quick fingers, he plucked the last of her pins and then gathered up the heavy length of her locks. “You have very long hair for a sorceress. I have seen few of your kind who keep their hair as long as yours.”
He knew that a change in subject threw her off her guard. Lust twisted the strands into a long braid, waiting for her answer. She’d soon find he could wait for a very long time.
Finally, she snarled, “I’ve always kept my hair long. It’s a personal choice.”
“I like it.” Finishing the braid that nearly reached her hips, he wrapped it around his fist twice before tugging her head back. Hard. “But your clothing choice offends me, little moon. If you do not remove them, I will.”
She hissed at him like a cat. Teeth bared and eyes flashing, he almost took the warning for what it was. A threat.
Instead, he scooped his hand underneath her chin, tilting her head back even more with the rope he’d made of her hair. “Your choice, Selene.”
The defiance in her eyes threatened that she would never let him forget this. Good. He didn’t want to. Just seeing the long line of her throat bared to him made him hard as a rock while a growl vibrated through his throat.
He released her before he became even more of a liar. He’d never forced a woman before, and he never would. No matter how tempting she was, or how the hate in her eyes made him burn.
Lust strode away from her, heading to his bedroom, where he knew a dress waited. Not for her. For anyone, really. But he suddenly didn’t want to see anyone else wear it ever again.
The sound of heavy fabric hitting the floor filled his ears. A heavy throb between his legs was the only answer to that sound, and for fuck’s sake, he already needed to scream into another pillow.
He needed to call one of his favorites over tonight, he decided. He couldn’t suffer with this pent up feeling any longer.
Snatching the gown out of the closet, he stalked back into the room like a man going to war. He’d battle with her again. Lust had no question about that. She wanted to claw his eyes out, and he wanted to throw her onto his bed and... and...
His mouth went dry.
She stood in the middle of his living quarters in nothing but small scraps of cloth. All that smooth, pale skin that had never once seen the light of day. He loved freckles, loved kissing them, and finding their secret hiding places, but this woman... By all the seven kingdoms, she looked like a marble carving come to life.
Selene glared at him, ever defiant, with her hands at her sides so he could see every inch of her. His eyes trailed up her long—fucking long—legs to the pale stomach with a single dark mark next to her belly button. She was lean but soft, every bit as strange as her personality. Graceful arms, full breasts hidden with a strange binding that wrapped all the way around her. But so pretty they made his mouth water.
A chuff of breath escaped him before he remembered what he was doing.
Gruffly, he rasped, “Come here.”
“Why?”
He held up the dress in his hands. Like an idiot who couldn’t talk at the sight of her, but he... Shit.
She lifted a brow. “What am I supposed to do with that? It’s just a hunk of fabric and rope.”
Right. She didn’t get out of that Tower much, and he could guess she hadn’t seen what most of the higher born people in his kingdom wore. He needed to pull himself together. She was just another woman, like all the others he’d seen before.
Lust approached her, gesturing for her to turn her back to him. And that was a stupid choice.
He stared down at the round curves of her ass, the tiny hollow in her back where twin dimples waited for his tongue. His hands flexed at his side and he had to close his eyes for a few heartbeats. Steeling himself for a battle that shouldn’t be so fucking hard.
Rope first. Lust reached underneath her arms, winding the rope around her waist, her ribs, then up and over her shoulders. Intricate knots went between her breasts, pressing that binding closer to her skin because he damned well wasn’t taking it off. Not when this much of her skin made him a drooling idiot.
He needed to fuck someone else. That would help. It had to.
Neither of them spoke for a while as he tied her up. It was just clothing, he kept telling himself. He wasn’t making these intricate knots, so she was easier to grab, or to tie her up to his bed, or the hooks in the wall. She was innocent. She was a woman who couldn’t handle all the things he wanted to do. All the things he’d started doing because everything else bored him.
He could control himself. He was a thousand years old! No one made him feel like this anymore, and this was merely confusion because he couldn’t feel her lusting for him as well.
Lust bent down to grab the fabric from the floor and gently glided his hand along the outside of her thigh. A sharp intake of breath made him pause, reaching out for the lust he would surely find, but... nothing.
The red fabric dripped off his hands like blood. It turned from black to crimson, the ombre meticulously dyed by the finest of artisans. This he secured to the ties around her neck, covering her breasts with pleated layers that criss-crossed over her chest and then bound at her back. Another two strips of fabric hung from the knots just underneath her ribs, and then at her waist. It left a small diamond shape of skin and rope just beneath her breasts, while her sides remained completely bare.
Because he knew she wouldn’t want that much skin showing, he gave her another layer around her waist so she had somewhat of a skirt. And then finally, he attached two gossamer pieces of crimson fabric to her wrists with heavy golden bangles, threading the fabric through the ties at her back so they wouldn’t drag on the floor.
Tugging pieces of hair free around her face, he left the rest in the heavy braid.
“There,” he said, palming her hip with a too familiar hand and dragging her shoulder blades to his chest. “I’ve always found dressing someone to be far more intimate than undressing them.”
“I don’t want any intimacy between us.”
“That’s a shame.” He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, then sank his teeth into the flesh at her neck. Hard enough to leave a mark, but not break skin.
She froze underneath him, hissing out a long breath again. And for a moment, he swore he felt something. Not a wave of lust like she should have felt, but... something. No taste on his tongue. No scent in the air. But it was a start.
Lust laved his tongue over the red mark on her lovely swan-like throat. “You’re to be my bride, little moon. Your mother made sure of that. Intimacy will only grow between us. From now until our wedding.”