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Could demon senses do that?

His fingers wrapped around my chin, tugging my face up to his. Suddenly his lips were dangerously close, parting ever so slightly, beckoning me closer with nothing but their seductive curve. His eyes had gone fierce – gonehungry. A storm was raging in the depth of that gaze, thunderclouds drawing together … But no storm would ever harm me with his arms around me, and my body screamed at me to lean into that safety, into the blissful, all-encompassing presence of him.

So much for my attempts at torture.

‘This is unfair,’ I breathed, unwilling to surrender, unable to move away. ‘Using your body to get what your words can’t.’

Mischief gleamed in his eyes, a glimpse of almost boyish amusement that made my heart stutter pathetically.Didn’t I earn a second kiss with my point about loyalty?

Oh. Gods help me. He had.

I pressed a single kiss to his sharp jaw – a chaste virgin’s peck, but if I lingered just a moment longer, I doubted I’d ever pull away again. Heknew, of course. A satisfaction far too close to smugness shone in his eyes, a gleam of self-assured triumph that made it almost impossible to believe this was the same male who could not compliment himself to save his own damn life.

‘This is not how any of this works, Your Highness,’ I informed him in a husky whisper, planting a finger in his chest. The tremble of his suppressed laughter did not help, damn him. ‘Youwere the one in trouble here. You can’t just start kissing me without doing anything to deserve it.’

Even his wings were shaking now, but his face remained gravely serious apart from that twinkle in his eyes, lighting up the bottomless black.I wouldn’t dare to start kissing you. I have the greatest respect for your honour and innocence.

My honour and innocence had slipped out of the window hours ago, I suspected, and run off for a night of carousing in dubious establishments. At the very least, they were nowhere to be found as I clenched my teeth, jutted up my chin, and tersely said, ‘Well, I’m not kissing you either.’

A most respectable decision.How did he manage to look like he was laughing when those sensuous lips of his didn’t so much as twitch? And why did I feel likeIwas losing this game all of a sudden, when I’d started out in a position of guaranteed victory?

‘Unless you give yourself another compliment first,’ I added quickly – perhaps a little too quickly. There. That should give him something to feel a tad humbler about, shouldn’t it?

Except that he didn’t look humble at all, or flinch, or stop smiling that infuriatingly satisfied smile at me.

I have excellent taste in partners, he signed dryly.As opposed to you, if I may be so free as to make that point.

‘That’s not a compliment! You can’t just—'

His left hand fisted in my hair, and then his lips were on mine – claiming, triumphing. I was too late to object. Too late to think. His tongue brushed against my lower lip, seeking entrance, and I gave in before my good sense could override my instincts, opening my mouth to him. His tongue swept in, and the world blurred, turned liquid. I moaned before I could help myself, clutching my hands around his jaw. He tasted like freedom. Like starry nights and velvet wings flaring wide, and I drank him in like an addict, unable to get enough of every single breath and moan.

His hand in my hair pulled me back, breaking our kiss.

I gasped, disoriented, as I came back to myself in that darkening nymph dome, surrounded by braided twigs and the continuous sounds of a forest full of life. My hands had left Creon delightfully ruffled below me, his hair tousled and his lips a bright, gleaming red – but that little smirk on his face was far too controlled, and far too content.

‘You said …’ I almost forgot to keep my voice down. ‘You weren’t going to kiss me, you …’

His innocent blink was about as convincing as floating gold.I was just collecting my prize.

‘You weren’t going to get a prize for that sorry excuse for a compliment!’

He lazily ran his tongue over his lips, holding my gaze.If this is how you kiss when you’re unimpressed, I think I’ll stop trying to impress you.

Heat bloomed in my lower belly, radiating all the way to my cheeks in a blush so fiery it must have been visible even in the dusk. A dazed laugh fell over my lips. ‘Creon …’

Look at me.He sat up straighter, the motion swift and sudden like a viper’s attack. There was no moving back with his left hand still tangled in my hair; all that still separated us was his right hand, signing the words with breathless speed.I can’t see myself through your eyes, cactus. It feels too close to a lie. But I can feel you see me.

Oh, gods.

Demon eyes, again.

I couldn’t have looked away even if I’d wanted to, drawn into the abyss of his eyes like a sailor lured into the depths by sirens’ songs. So many contradictions in that one look – a plea and a challenge, self-hatred and arrogance … I swallowed and made myself take in the sight of him, the cruel scar cutting through his eyebrow, the sharp slashes of his cheekbones. His full lips, capable of such glorious smiles. The silk-black hair I played with when he was falling asleep in my arms. The sharp tips of his ears, which would show dark blue smudges after long days of reading, when he’d tucked back dark strands with ink-stained fingers a little too often.

Warmth flushed through me, and this time, it had very little to do with lust.

Look at me. He mouthed the words. Smouldering eyes drank in the breathless stutters of my heart as he leaned closer; warm breath brushed over my lips, and I forgot about prizes, forgot about compliments and rewards. His right hand wrapped around my hip, tugging me closer. His left hand drew a torturous line down my spine. I didn’t dare close my eyes beneath those worshipful caresses, even as pleasure slowly unfolded through me.

But at last his lips found mine, and my eyelids fluttered shut.