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The kiss encapsulates months of words unsaid, desires buried and abandoned, fears not quite conquered but now at last ignored.

It is sweeter than the first taste of wine after Halazar and gives me just as much of a rush.

I indulge a needy, shameless side of me that I’ve worked so hard to ignore because there was always work to be done.

A part of me that he ignited at the soiree without even trying to.

But now he’s here. I’m not even sure if I want it to be him.

This is still Kaelis, the second-born prince of the kingdom, the man I’ve always seen as my enemy and orchestrator of my pains.

The man I don’t know if I can trust and, secretly, am still preparing my own moves against…

But he’s also become more than that. More than I want to admit.

And if nothing else, he’s tall and strong and capable of fulfilling all the needs that have been building relentlessly within me for years without release.

My lips part, and he takes full advantage, his tongue slipping into my mouth. I don’t just let him—I match his fervor. My hands slide up and over his chest to grip the lapels of his tailored jacket closer to his neck.

His one hand trails along my jaw to grab my neck with purpose, tilting my head and further deepening the kiss.

The other travels around my side, groping my ass, pulling our bodies so flush that I can feel his length, hard against me, eliciting a groan.

My imagination runs wild with all the things he could do to me.

My back hits the doorframe, and he tilts my head to the side. Kaelis trails kisses down to my collar. I press my hips harder against his as a suggestion. A rumble of amusement rises from deep within his chest, the sound shivering across my skin and drawing goosebumps.

“Need something?” he almost purrs.

“ Fuck me, ” I growl in reply, unable to think of anything else.

Kaelis pulls away just enough to look me in the eyes. Were it possible to take someone with a look, I’d be screaming with pleasure.

“Yes,” he rasps against my lips, voice heavy and low with desperate need. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to have you. Claim you. Make you mine beyond recognition.”

His eyes search mine, as if looking for permission. Hand shifting, he drags his thumb against my wet lips. I can’t stop myself from licking its tip. Eyes locked.

Kaelis groans, forehead pressing into mine. “I hate you for what you’ve done to me.”

“That’s fine. I never needed you to like me.

” My hands slide around his neck, fingers lacing with his hair.

Twenty, it’s softer than silk. When my nails dig into his scalp as I ball my hands into fists, Kaelis lets out a hiss.

I rake my teeth against his neck. His hand is back on my ass, kneading, sending electric jolts up my spine.

My whole body strains against every bit of fabric covering me, yearning for release. “I don’t want to like you.”

But I do. Damn it, I do. I’m just not ready to tell him so. I’ll deny it with every angry part of me that he seems to adore about me despite himself.

He curses under his breath, as if in agreement. Then several times more with each undone button of his coat, and then his shirt, exposing the top of his chest and where his neck meets his shoulder. He’s always so buttoned up. More guarded than the Stellis protecting him.

I wonder who was the last person to touch him. To expose him as that thing he so clearly fears being: A man of flesh and blood. A man who can have wants and needs…a man who can be broken.

Kaelis grabs my chin to look me in the eyes. The dark voids of his eyes are aflame. “If you give yourself to me, I will take it all. Now. Time and again. I will not be gentle.”

“Good.” Amusement, bitter and wry, tugs at my lips. “Do your worst, Prince.”

That serpentine smile that I’ve come to adore crosses his mouth—something that is still as wicked as it once was but is also now familiar. Wanted, even. That smirk meets my own in a kiss deeper than all the others but now unhurried. Almost lazy in how he savors my taste and bites my lips.

Kaelis is going to take his time with me.

His hands move from my waist to the back of my neck, digging into my skin. I twist my fingers in his clothes. I can feel every ridge of muscle through his clothing, and I want to see it all, feel it all, run my tongue along every groove.

I shiver, and he yanks me closer. There’s a breath where we both hang on every unspoken promise. Every indulgence. Without another word, he leads me to the bedroom.

Before I know it, we’re at the edge of his bed. His fingers are running through my hair, and there’s a glint in his eyes of an appetite that mirrors my own.

“What?” I ask, unable to handle his inspection a second longer.

“I can’t decide what I want to do to you first.”

“Make up your mind,” I half demand, half beg. “Anything. Everything. ”

As if to spite me, he unfastens my coat with dutiful slowness. After he slides it off, Kaelis licks down my throat. He bites my shoulder, sucking hard enough to leave a bruise. I return the favor, my fingers digging into his shoulder blades, nails leaving marks.

Next is my shirt, then my pants. He’s so unhurried, as if this need isn’t eating him alive. My hands are shaking.

Once more, he removes every scrap of fabric from my body, and Kaelis takes a moment to admire his work. I don’t shrink in on myself or shy away. Instead, I put one hand on my hip, tilting my head.

“See something you like, Prince?”

He reaches out, and with the barest of touches, his hand outlines my shoulder and runs down my chest. He takes his time with the curve of my breast. Fingertips trace around my nipple, brushing it to attention with a caress that makes me shiver.

Kaelis pushes me onto the bed. I fall among the pillows and bolsters, cradled in velvet and fur. He crawls atop me with purpose.

The prince’s hands are all over me now, exploring every inch of my body as though I am a land to be conquered.

A card to be drawn. The touch grows demanding.

He cups my breast and brings his mouth to it.

Knees bending, toes curling, I exhale and arch my back into him, arcing my chest toward him.

Kaelis grabs the opposite breast, fingertips leaving indents in my flesh—right to the point of pain but never leaving the realm of pleasure.

His knee shifts, driving between my legs to apply a constant and needed pressure.

I know he can feel how ready I am; I practically soak through his clothing.

Just when I think I can’t take any more sensation, kisses, or nips, he releases my breast and growls in my ear, “I’ve wanted to fuck you for ages.

Ever since I first laid eyes on you. Ever since I saw you dancing in that damned vision with another man.

The audacity that fate would imagine that anyone else would ever touch the woman I’d claimed for my own. ”

I could split in two with the depth of his voice alone. The gravel that grinds under his jealous words is toe-curling. “If you’ve wanted to fuck me, then get on with it. ”

Slow explorations abandoned, he finds my lips again in an all-consuming kiss. I rip off his clothes, unable to take another second. The sound of stitches splitting fills the air. Buttons clatter across the floor.

“How dare you,” he gasps. “I liked this shirt.”

“I like it better ripped on the floor.”

His pants are next, removed with equal haste. As naked as I am, Kaelis positions himself before me. The tip of him is at my entrance, rubbing. I’m already slick and ready.

“Tell me what you want,” he demands, hand once more at my chin, nearly wrapping around my throat as if to remind me he’s the one in control.

“I want you to fuck me,” I say in no uncertain terms.

Kaelis leans forward, biting my earlobe and whispering, “More. I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name.

Until the only shape your cunt knows is my cock.

After me, no other man will ever satisfy—never come close.

” I shiver. The hand that isn’t supporting him is back at my breast. “If you want to be spared from me, say so now, Clara. Or I will make you mine.”

“You’d better be as good as you say after all this talk.” I lock eyes with him as he pulls away. “And remember, you promised not to be gentle.”

The prince lets out a low laugh that devolves into a growl. “Fine.”

He closes the distance between us with a single thrust. Eyes pressing closed, I tilt my head back, and he once more takes advantage of my exposed neck. The room spins as I acclimate to his size. It’s an explosion of sweet pain and the deepest pleasure.

Kaelis wastes no time setting a steady and forceful rhythm. His mouth is on my throat, on my breasts. Hands everywhere at the same time. They knot in my hair, pulling to guide me right where he wantsme.

He leans back and brings one hand between us, thumb finding my clit. “Scream for me.”

I can’t not. Every muscle is taut to the point of trembling. My ragged breathing is about to betray my climax, and right when I am there, he stops without warning. I shoot him a glare, panting, and Kaelis wears a gloating smile.

“Yes,” he murmurs. “Look at me with those deep crimson eyes. Look at me with all the hate you can manage and then some to hide the fact that you love me, and me alone.”

“I could never love you,” I pant.

“Go ahead and keep lying to yourself.”

Without warning, he withdraws, flips me, and pulls up my hips with one hand.

The other balls into my hair as he enters me again with a grunt.

My back arches, and his fingers alternate between my nipples and my clit.

Just when I’m about to reach my peak, he once more slows, pulling me back. Never leaving me.

“No, not yet. I’m not done yet.” Kaelis sinks his teeth into my shoulder, my back arching against his chest. Never have I felt so exposed.

I give myself completely to him. Every errant thought is fucked from my body. I will ache tomorrow and want to thank him for it. He makes good on his promise to ensure that all my body will crave is him.

We keep reaching the edge and shying away.

Keep torturing each other. Working up the frenzy of an all-consuming bliss.

He maneuvers me, and I surrender to his will, turning again onto my back.

The man looms over me. The pace is punishing now.

Deliciously unbearable. I can barely breathe as I give everything to him.

All at once, the climax hits me. Kaelis finally brings me there, and a shout rips from my throat.

He continues thrusting. Long and steady strokes.

I grab his shoulders, nails leaving red lines across his skin.

The second our eyes lock, he reaches his own orgasm and practically collapses upon me, his own moans a chorus in my ear.

Breathless, Kaelis twitches within me. His whole body shudders as I run my fingertips up his back. Eventually, he slides out and falls heavily beside me.

We lie in silence for a few moments. Our bodies cooling. The flush leaving our skin. A sweet satisfaction lingers deep within me, an itch finally scratched.

“I’m using the bathroom,” I declare, getting up.

Kaelis makes a small noise in agreement. “I can get you a Five of Coins, if you need it.”

“I have one in my room.” Every Arcanist of age knows how the Five can be used to prevent unwanted pregnancies before they take root.

“I’d rather see you use it.”

I snort. “Trust me, Kaelis. The last thing I want right now is a baby. And the only thing I want less than that is to carry your child.”

He sneers at me as I leave. I return the expression but lose it to a laugh. Even his own glare softens, and he huffs with amusement. We’re such a fucked-up pair. But…I rather like it that way…

When I’m finished in the bathroom, I return to the bedside. He has yet to move and is quite the sight. The removal of his clothes was so hasty that I didn’t get ample time to appreciate all his glory.

His frame is somewhere between that of a scholar and a warrior. Hard-honed muscle, but wiry, and lithe. Supporting a body that’s naturally suited more for libraries than training grounds. Yet the way he carries himself exudes deadly power.

“You’ll need to give me a bit longer before I can go again.” He opens one eye, catching me staring.

“We’re not going again…not today.” I reach down, beginning to grab my clothes.

“Not today. So this wasn’t a onetime thing?”

“We’ll see.” I still don’t entirely know what this was, and I don’t want to examine it too closely.

It’d ruin the shock waves of pleasure still trembling through my body.

I’d rather not think too deeply about the fact that I just let my worst enemy bring me to one of the best orgasms I’ve ever had in my life.

“You’re already leaving?” he asks as I pull my shirt over my head.

“Did you expect gentle caresses and sweet nothings across the pillow like we’re real lovers?” I pause, trousers around my thighs, to give him an incredulous look. “This isn’t that kind of relationship, is it?”

“No, of course not.”

“Good.” I finish buttoning my pants. “It’s better for us both if we don’t confuse things.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Good,” I repeat.

“Good,” he echoes.

But, for a second, neither of us moves. The silence feels like an objection. A refusal.

“Thank you,” I say with a soft note of sincerity. “That was…fun. I needed it.”

“Me, too.” His tone is earnest. I wonder just how long it’s been for him. Maybe as long as me. Maybe longer.

For the first time, I wonder what kind of a lover Kaelis would be. Not just in bed; I know that now, and the answer is: very, very good. But as a partner. As someone to come home to at the end of a day. As someone to whisper tenderness to across a pillow. To hold me when the world becomes too much…

I try to push the notions from my mind as I make my way to the library, determined to keep my focus on what comes next in my preparations for the Feast of Cups, and what will be my greatest heist.