Page 60 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

“What I desire?” He was too close suddenly, pale fingers hovering at my cheek but not cupping it yet, the promise of a touch making me sway toward him. He smiled, a predatory gleam in his eyes. “I’m afraid you’ll need to be more specific, little queen.”

“I am going to pleasure you.” I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. “With my mouth.”

He tilted my face up to his, open hunger burning in his eyes as his thumb traced my lower lip in an oddly tender gesture that sent shivers through my entire body. “On your knees,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper but full of dark promises.

“Enjoying the idea, aren’t you?” I managed to force out with difficulty, the presence of his taller body, his raw power, making it nearly impossible to draw breath. Somehow, we had moved, the jagged, foreboding stone of the Other looming behind me as he pressed in.

Dark flames swallowed his pupils in a surge of emotion. “Immensely.”

I gasped as Belekoroz suddenly released me, sauntering past me to lean nonchalantly against the rough stone wall.

He thought this deal would give him power over me, would prove he had the upper hand in our endless dance of dominance, all self-satisfied smirk and relaxed condescension as he waited for me to come to him.

But I would show him otherwise. He had admitted it himself: the Darkness craved the Light.

That infuriating smile remained on his lips as I stepped closer. Did he expect me to plead with him to reconsider his price? I never backed down from a challenge. Especially not from him.

“How do you like it, then?” I murmured, reaching for the bindings of his breeches and tugging them open with a decisive pull. A flicker in the darkness of his gaze at some thought flashing through his mind.

“Deep and slow,” he answered softly.

A beat of silence. Anticipation coiled between us like a living thing. I felt it all—the Other’s icy winds playing with my hair, the firm rhythm of his power drawing me closer, the solid warmth of his body so close to mine.

I dropped to my knees without another word, my gaze never leaving him. Surprise flashed across his features, followed by near-desperate desire before he masked it with languid amusement.

“This is becoming quite a habit when we come here. Do you like kneeling for me so much, my queen?” Belekoroz asked, his voice composed, as if he cared not one bit what I was doing.

His arrogance ignited a violent urge in me to break his control, to obliterate it utterly until only the charred remnants of it remained—and to let myself be consumed by those flames as well?

Curse it, I refused to be the one backing down.

I decided to ignore his insolence for the time being.

There were other ways to exact my retribution.

I fully opened his breeches.

“Baradaz.” As my hand wandered underneath the fabric and slid down the taut line of his stomach, my name escaped him.

Just once. Not in the mocking drawl I was used to, but hesitant, as if he was quite unsure what to say to me.

Long black lashes fluttered as he bit his lip.

“Listen, if you don’t want to do this, I… ”

His skin was unexpectedly soft except for a trail of hair leading down.

I followed the path, a sharp intake of breath making me look up again, only to be captivated by the expression in his eyes, dark with want and hazy with disbelief.

I needed more. Needed him to surrender to me, even if it was madness.

My fingers drifted lower, caressing heated skin.

I didn’t glance down, not wanting to lose the connection between us, relying on my other senses to guide me.

My hand closed around the proud length of his cock in a firm grip.

A strangled groan escaped him, and his eyes closed, his fingers burying into the stone behind him so violently, ragged shards rained down.

I smiled. So much for pretending to be unaffected.

“But I really want to do this,” I confessed.

A hidden, sensual part of me savored the feeling of how uncompromisingly hard he already was for me.

And even more so the obvious power I suddenly had over him, his shadows twisting around us wildly.

Before I could lose my resolve, I bent forward, licking a wet trail over the length of him.

His taste flooded my senses, spicy darkness mingled with a musky warmth that made me instantly crave more.

Another flick of my tongue earned me a broken-off curse, the magic around us expanding with a violent pulse that throbbed through me.

I wondered how to go about this. I knew the basics, but had never done it before. Belekoroz was definitely not on the small side, and I doubted I could fit much of him into my mouth without choking.

But then, I had an advantage, didn’t I? I could discover exactly what he liked—no, what would drive him wild with lust. I reached out with my power, touching his mind—

Only to be met with a raging tempest. Oh, lyr . Such need.

I squirmed on my knees, desire pooling between my legs in answer. Fighting to separate the mingling strands of our passion, I tried to remember what he had said. Deep and slow.

A cheeky smile played on my lips as I did exactly as he had asked, letting him slide inside my mouth inch by inch as far as I could.

“ Lyr. ” His hand buried in my hair as he shuddered against me, pure pleasure sizzling through our bond.

I expected him to seize control now and forcefully thrust inside my mouth, but he didn’t.

He let me set the pace, his entire body tense with the strain of holding back.

Completely at my mercy. I took my time with him, savoring his every reaction, sucking and caressing his cock, my tongue twirling around the tip.

Maker, I loved this. As I lightly used my teeth, Belekoroz’s hoarse “Oh, please, Baradaz, please” was the most satisfying thing I had ever heard from him.

A fierce thrill shot through his mind to mine.

I glanced up. His eyes were open, a heated glint in them.

Oh yes, he had liked that. So I did it again, finally picking up my pace. The hand in my hair tightened.

“Fuck yes, don’t stop.” A hiss between clenched teeth, sweat plastering his slightly disheveled hair to his temple. As if I could stop now. This was glorious. After all his insolent taunts, all his arrogance, here he was, begging for my touch. Begging for me.

It all became a wonderful haze. There was only the way his cock filled my mouth, my tongue and lips teasing him between hard sucks.

Desire raged through me, undistinguishable from his.

His hips started to jerk up in an unsteady, desperate rhythm that made me struggle to take all of him in.

The grip on my hair turned harsher, keeping me in place.

Belekoroz’s breaths were reduced to rough gasps.

One deep, last thrust. Our minds collided.

The twin sensation of him plunging into the wet heat of my mouth while I fought to take him in as far as possible mingled in a chaotic spiral of joined pleasure.

“Swallow.”

He exploded inside my mouth, the slightly salty taste filling my senses.

I had not even contemplated disobeying his groaned order, too mesmerized by the sight of him coming undone for me: his head thrown back with a wild groan of my name, those pale cheeks flushed, darkness a ferocious storm around us .

It took a long time for his breath to calm down, his eyes still closed.

I let his softening cock slip out of my mouth, sinking back on my haunches, still watching him.

My breath was unsteady, my lingering arousal and an intoxicating feeling of triumph at wrecking him so thoroughly a potent rush in my veins.

His eyes fluttered open. I half expected Belekoroz to say something mocking. Something to redraw the lines between us and remind me that despite the physical pleasure I had given him, I had no real hold over him.

But he didn’t. To my utter astonishment, his hand wandered to my nape, dragging me up to him.

Our magic lay dormant, waiting. His eyes were hazy, something close to awe in them.

Then he kissed me. Not roughly, not calculated and demanding like before, but gently, like a lover would.

Caressing first my lips and then letting his tongue slide inside my mouth to explore me, not perturbed at all that I had just swallowed his seed.

“Maker,” he murmured, “I can taste myself in your mouth.” His satisfied tone, the smug possessiveness flooding my mind, should have made me pause. Instead, that dark part of me that reacted so fiercely to him purred at the words. The magic between us reawakened, Darkness and Light tangling eagerly.

Strong arms brought me flush against him, my legs parting instinctively as he switched our positions. He pressed me against the unforgiving stone behind me, the lean strength of him between my thighs sending another wave of desire through me.

Trying to distract myself, I asked, “So, was it worth agreeing to help the Council?”

For a moment, Belekoroz just looked at me. Then he threw his head back, an unrestrained laugh escaping him. Genuine mirth transformed his face, his eyes glittering, dark hair falling onto his forehead as he grinned at me, looking boyishly handsome. The warmth inside me became nearly unbearable.

I was getting in too deep. The realization struck me with the sharpness of a blackbird’s warning caw when a fox threatens its nest.

Before I could hold on to that thought, his lips trailed over my neck, one hand back in my hair. Light, this felt so good. My eyes closed. Just a few moments longer would hurt no one, would it?