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If I don’t keep it under control, I might fuck her before solstice.

I ought to be fucking someone else to assuage this need, but I can’t. I just can’t. Since I met her, I haven’t even been able to think about fucking anyone else.

When I open my eyes, she’s focused on her task, working the soap into my forearm. “When you’re done, you’ll have a meal waiting in your room. You’ll eat every bite.”

She pauses for a moment before returning to her task, slightly rougher this time. “Fine.”

“No, not fine. You’ll answer me ‘Yes, Lord Prior.’”

She grits her teeth. “You’re technically the regent.”

“But you’ll address me as prior.”

She looks like she wants to protest, but then her face grows carefully blank. “Yes, Lord Prior.”

I fight the urge to smile. She’s trying to be the hollow version of herself—the quiet, obedient shadow left behind after the kidnapping. But I see the spark of irritation behind her eyes.

She’s coming back to life.

“That sounded a little sarcastic,” I say. “If you’re going to act like a brat, go stand in that corner with your back to me. I’ll finish up.”

Her mouth drops open, her cheeks a bright shade of pink, and it takes everything within me not to howl in victory.

After a beat, she pushes herself up and stalks toward the corner. On her way, her gaze catches on something, and she stops and stares right at it. A glass of wine left forgotten on the table near the balcony. She snatches it up.

“Ava,” I drawl. “What are you planning to do with that?”

She glances back at me over her shoulder, eyes glittering. I know exactly what she’s about to do, and it sends a rush through me so sharp it nearly makes me dizzy.

She’s not just being defiant, but playful too. And fuck, it’s sweet. I’ve missed it so much. Sometimes, I feel like a damn kid with her. When have I ever felt that way? Almost never. Not even when I was a kid.

“I’m warning you,” I say. “You’ll be punished if you?—”

She keeps walking until she’s standing at the edge of the tub. Without a word, she tips the glass over my head.

The wine is cold as it splashes down my face, dripping down my chest and pooling into the steaming water around me.

Her eyes go huge, like she can’t even believe her own gall.

I surge to my feet, water sloshing wildly around me. She gasps and bolts, but she’s too slow. I catch her by the waist.

With a yelp, she crashes into me—and we both go down, Ava landing squarely on top of me, soaking wet, breathless, and pinned against my bare chest.

23

Ava

Holy shit.

I’m lying on top of an impossibly hard body. Damian is massive, in more ways than one. I feel his…thing against me, and heat pools in my belly.

His gaze on me is wild, as if he’s ready to eat me, and though I try to wriggle away, he holds me close.

“Oh, Ava.” He kisses my face. “You’re in trouble. You’re in so much trouble.”

Every word sends vibrant shudders through me. He presses his hips against my belly, and I bite my lip.

That thing is huge.