Page 104

He narrowed his eyes, and I burst out laughing.

The carriage stopped, and he helped me down, murmuring a few words to the driver.

Inside, the castle was quiet. We’d snuck out of our own wedding, and we didn’t see a single person as we made our way up to our rooms.

Someone had left light orbs glowing dimly, along with a platter of food waiting on a table near the window.

Strangely, something was fluttering in my stomach. Lorian leaned over and wrapped me in his arms from behind, pressing a kiss to my temple.

“Nervous?”

“A little. Is that strange?”

“Nothing you feel is strange.”

His voice was a low rumble, and as he turned me toface him, my nerves disappeared. Anyone who had heard of the Bloodthirsty Prince would never be able to reconcile the fact that this was the man with that reputation. The man who looked at me with so much tenderness, my eyes stung.

“Do you trust me, Prisca?”

“With my life.”

His eyes glittered with male satisfaction.

“Will you trust me now?”

I peered up at him.

My stomach fluttered again—this time in anticipation. I nodded.

Lorian smiled. One of those slow, brilliant smiles that made my heart flip in my chest. He reached behind me, and at some point, he’d studied the back of my dress. His clever fingers plucked the ribbons, and my dress fell to my ankles.

I stood in front of him wearing nothing but a few scraps of bronze lace and gold shoes. The material seemed to glow in the candlelight, and Lorian’s breath whooshed out of his lungs.

His smile disappeared, and he took a step closer, gently tracing the edge of the lace along my breast.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to do to you for a very long time,” he said, and my heart stopped as his eyes met mine. They gleamed with a feral possessiveness. “Something I’ve dreamed of doing to you since the moment you stopped time when we were below Sabium’s rooms.”

My breath hitched. “You were so angry.”

“I was furious. I looked up, and you had disappeared, reappearing near the top of the stairs. It was then that I realized that you could leave me at any time. If you wanted to escape me, you could.” He leaned down until his lipswere almost touching mine. “I wanted to tie you to my bed. To look at you and know that for at least that long, you couldn’t leave me, even if you tried. I wanted to make you lose your mind with pleasure, so that when you were finally free, all you would be able to think about was me and the way I felt inside you.”

My thighs tightened, my nipples hardened, and my core ached for him. Lorian smiled. He knew.

But he waited.

It was the ultimate act of trust. But I already trusted him with my life. With the lives of everyone I loved. And the thought of being tied up, displayed for him…

“Yes.”

Lorian’s nostrils flared. And then I was lying on the bed, and he held up four long, thick black ribbons.

“You were planning this.”

“Wildcat, some part of me has been planning this since the moment I caught you attempting to steal my horse.” He dropped a kiss to my nose and then gave me a wicked smile as he took my left hand.

My heart pounded, and he pressed his lips to my racing pulse, his mouth lingering along the sensitive skin of my wrist. I shivered, and his mouth curved against my skin.

“If you want me to stop…”