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“What are you doing?” My breath stuttered out of my lungs, and I bit back a cry as he ground himself against me. “Azriel, stop!”

“I rather think you’re not in a position to ask me of anything, don’t you agree?” His hand on my waist traveled down over my hip, to the bare thigh that was hitched up by his weight.

“Don’t touch me!” I writhed against him, then quickly stopped, my chest tightening as my lungs emptied of air. I could feel his arousal. A hard length pressed against my inner thigh. The more I moved, the more I’d feel it. “Get off me.”

“Why?”

“Because I command it!” I went stock still with shock, staring into his devilish eyes as his hand strayed between my thighs. “Stop!”

“No.” He grinned, stroking a finger straight down my centre. “Fucking glorious. I told you, you like this more than you care to admit, Evie.” He lifted his finger to his mouth, and sucked. “Delightful.”

“You monster.” I cried out, my back arching off the bed as he plunged his finger deep inside me.

“Fuck, you’re a sight, beloved. Beautiful.” He withdrew his finger, then began to slowly stroke my bud. That sensitive bundle of nerves I’d never touched before. That I’d been told was a sin to touch.

A shuddering moan left my lips, and I fought everything within me. I found no pleasure in this, none at all, and I would not let him see anything but my hatred, and my rage.

“Now, you don’t really think everyone would believe your little story, do you?” He chuckled as my eyes met his again. “The daughter of the penniless duke? The one who married old man Caine for his money?”

“And what reason would they have to believe you?” I bit my lip, pricking his skin with the tip of the blade as my nipples hardened. “Everyone knows you hated your father. They’d know - Oh god.” I tried to breathe, to regain control of my body even as he tried to tear that away from me. A strange pressure began to grow low in my belly, a crack threatening to split me open.

“You think this pretty face would save you?” He ground himself against my thigh, his wet fingers circling me harder now. “You think one look into these eyes, and everyone would fall at your feet?”

My head was swimming. I could not think. My whole body was hot, and shaking.

“Please stop,” I whimpered.

“If you’re going to kill me, at least indulge my one last fantasy.” He groaned softly, his hips jerking. “Fucking hell, you’ve no idea how long I dreamed of this.”

“Stop!” I gripped his shoulder with my other hand, my back bowing and pressing me against him. “My god, what are you doing to me?”

“You never experienced this with my father, of that I am sure.” He laughed softly. “Don’t fight it, Evie. Fighting it just makes it so much stronger.”

“I want… I want to kill you,” I stammered, before moaning loudly. “No one… Oh… No one would believe you!”

“They don’t have to believe me.”

My fingers clawed into the back of his neck, and I tried not to scream as something exploded within me. Azriel pressed his length against me as I shuddered and writhed, rubbing me to my completion. I was a sweating, heated mess beneath him. And I was horrified. He was so close to violating me, to penetrating me, and I’d just done…that, all over him.

“Usually I’ve kissed a woman before I’ve had her cunt weeping all over my cock, but in your case I rather welcome the exception.” He was panting lightly, still hard and aroused. “How easily I could take you right now.”

I raised myself as far as I could, pressing the knife into the flesh of his neck, so hard I was sure I could draw blood. “Try it, and you shall die.”

“My little viper,” he said with a snigger. “And now my little whore.”

“I am not your whore. I will never be yours. Ever. This is the last time you ever lay a hand on me.” I steeled myself, ready to tear his throat open.

“And what about the letter?”

My brain scrambled to make sense of what he had just said. I’d misunderstood him. Surely. He hadn’t just saidthe letter. It was hidden in my desk, not yet burned, but hidden. When had he been in my room?

The tip of the knife bounced against his unrelenting fleshas my hand trembled violently. My grip was loose enough that Azriel simply plucked it from my hand, casting it across the room and along the hardwood floor with a clatter and a thud.

“Dearest Azriel,” he said, tracing a finger down my cheek. “I am so sorry to bear you such ill tidings, but your father is dead. He went to take his place in Heaven, with your dear mother, in the late hours of the night just past.”

I flailed against him, trying to push him off me. “You bastard!” My fists pounded into his chest. “You utter ratbag bastard!”

“Now, now, Evie, the servants will hear you.” He laughed, lifting himself off me.