Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
“Ouch.” My fingers pressed into the smooth surface of the desk. I’d most definitely opened the door and walked right into that comment.
“Did that offend you?” Those wisps in his eyes swirled.
“Not really. It’s true,” I said, glancing down. “I know all the ways to…” My eyes narrowed on the book. I frowned. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but is it not odd that so many with the same exact name died today?”
Nyktos said nothing.
A grin tugged at my lips. “You were pretending to still be writing names, weren’t you?”
“I thought you’d realize that I was busy and decide to be less distracting,” he told me. “Obviously, that didn’t work.”
Losing the battle against a smile, I let out a throaty laugh. “Maybe I will find someone else to distract,” I taunted, pushing off the desk.
I didn’t make it far.
His hand snapped out, closing around the nape of my neck. My breath caught as my gaze locked with his. “I want to make one thing perfectly clear, Seraphena.”
The pressure he used was slight, only enough to force me to place my hands on the desk as I bent until we were at eye level, our mouths inches apart. My pulse skittered recklessly. His hold wasn’t painful. I could slip out of it if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I’d wanted his attention, and now I had it.
“As long as you’re my Consort,” he said, his tone deceptively soft, “you will be very selective about how you spend your time with others.”
“I assume when you reference how I spend time with someone, you’re speaking of what typically comes after the act of seduction?”
The Book of the Dead slammed shut and slid across his desk. Neither of his hands had moved. “You know exactly what I’m speaking of.”
“Then I’m confused,” I said in the little space between us. “You said I was to be your Consort in title only.”
His gaze dropped again, just for a brief second, but I knew where he looked. “I did.”
The breath I inhaled was all him. My blood heated and my skin flushed. “Then what of my needs?”
“Your needs?” he repeated, his voice smoothing to a decadent drawl that I wasn’t even sure he was aware of.
“Intimacies. Touching. Skin-to-skin contact. Sex. Fuc—”
“I think I get it.”
“So, what of them?”
He curled his arm, and it stretched me even farther. There was a really good chance my breasts would exit the gown. His head tilted. It was only a slight move, but it lined up our mouths perfectly. If either of us leaned forward an inch or two, our lips would meet. “I’m sure you can resist those desires or handle them yourself.”
“Because you watched me do it.” I wet my lips. Nyktos said nothing, his gaze now on my mouth. “You watched me last night. You touched me,” I whispered, feeling a faint tremor in the hand on the back of my neck. “I felt you. Inside me. That was highly inappropriate of you.”
“More inappropriate than you fucking your fingers while you knew I was watching?”
The breath I took went nowhere as liquid heat flooded my veins. The way he said “fucking” conjured images of silk sheets and tangled limbs. “What would’ve been more inappropriate was if you hadn’t taken care of it, and I had to do it myself.”
His nostrils flared.
“Why did you come to my bedchamber last night?”
“Arm’s reach,” he murmured. “Remember?”
“I remember, but was it truly that? Or did you sense my need? My want? Of you.” I inched forward, half-expecting him to retreat. He didn’t. When I spoke, my lips brushed the corner of his, and I felt a faint zap of static. “I was thinking of you when I fucked my fingers. Imagining that it was your touch—before I even knew you were in the chamber.”
“Sera,” he warned—or begged. It sounded like both.
“Just thought you should know.” I drew back, stilling when his molten silver eyes locked onto mine. “I can take care of my desires, but that only goes so far.”
“You’d better make it stretch as far as it can go,” he ordered softly.
“And if I don’t?”
“What I did to those gods in the throne room will pale in comparison to what I do to whoever satisfies your needs.”
A jolt of surprise shot through me, quickly followed by a really twisted dose of pleasure at his jealousy-fueled threat. Anger was right behind it, though. I had no intention of satisfying my needs with anyone. But what he demanded went beyond arrogant when he claimed to want no such thing from me. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, Nyktos. If you want me as your Consort in title only, then you have no say over what I do or with whom, from this point until I take my last breath—whenever that may be.”