Page 17

TRINITY

T wo months in, and my body has transformed into unfamiliar territory.

The constant nausea has finally begun to retreat like an unwelcome houseguest who's overstayed their welcome, though occasional waves still hit without warning.

My breasts have grown tender, full—changes that remind me with every movement that I'm no longer just myself.

Yet despite these physical transformations, something else has shifted in Vael's home—something I didn't anticipate.

Vael hasn't touched me in weeks.

The realization has been bothering me more and more.

Like right now, as I stand at the bedroom window, watching the strange metallic flowers in the garden catch Aerasak's crimson light.

The garden has become my morning ritual, a quiet moment before Jackie arrives with breakfast and cheerful chatter.

I trace a finger across the glass, following the silhouette of a particularly striking bloom.

When we'd made our bargain, I'd assumed the physical aspect would continue throughout the pregnancy.

After all, isn't that what men want? Especially demon men with their legendary appetites?

Yet since that day at Mireva's, since learning about the twins, Vael has maintained a careful, frustrating distance.

He's attentive in every other way—ensuring I eat properly, checking that I'm comfortable, bringing books he thinks might interest me. But the heated glances, the casual touches that sent electricity through my skin—those have vanished.

"This isn't supposed to bother me," I mutter to my reflection in the window glass. My words fog the pane momentarily, obscuring my image.

I turn away, pacing the length of my bedroom. The plush carpet absorbs my footsteps, another luxury I never expected to enjoy. Every comfort provided, every need anticipated—except the one I hadn't realized I'd developed.

My body craves him.

The admission, even just to myself, makes me halt mid-step.

This was never part of our arrangement. I was supposed to be practical, detached.

Sex was transactional—necessary for conception, pleasurable enough to make the process bearable.

I never expected to miss his touch, to lie awake remembering the weight of his body against mine.

"It's just hormones," I tell the empty room, resuming my pacing. "Pregnancy does things to a woman's body. That's all this is."

But the explanation feels hollow, insufficient to explain the way my heart races when he enters a room, or how I find excuses to brush against him when we pass in the hallway.

A knock at my door interrupts my thoughts.

"Come in," I call, quickly composing my expression.

Vael steps in, tall frame filling the doorway. His red-gold eyes scan the room before settling on my face, and my traitorous pulse quickens.

"Jackie sent me to tell you breakfast is ready," he says, maintaining his position by the door, as if afraid to enter my space. "She made those pastries you liked yesterday."

I nod, forcing a smile. "Thank you. I'll be down in a moment."

He lingers, one hand still on the doorframe. "Are you feeling well this morning? No sickness?"

"Better today," I admit. "I think we're past the worst of it." My hand unconsciously drifts to my stomach, still flat beneath my nightdress. "They're being kinder to me lately."

Something flickers in his expression at the word "they." Pride, perhaps, or something deeper I can't name.

"Good." He shifts his weight, a rare display of uncertainty from the usually confident demon. "If you need anything..."

"I'll let you know," I finish for him.

When he leaves, I sink onto the edge of the bed, exasperated with myself.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Sex with Vael was meant to be a means to an end—a way to secure my freedom while giving him what he wanted.

I wasn't supposed to want him, to catalog the details of his expressions, to miss the feel of his hands on my skin.

I slip out of my nightdress, selecting a simple green gown from the wardrobe. As I dress, I catch sight of my reflection in the full-length mirror. My body hasn't changed much externally, but I know what's happening inside—two new lives taking shape, shifting my future in ways I never imagined.

"Get it together," I whisper to my reflection, twisting my hair into a simple knot at the nape of my neck. "This is physical. Just physical."

But as I make my way downstairs, drawn by the scent of fresh pastries and the prospect of seeing Vael across the breakfast table, I know I'm lying to myself. And that realization terrifies me more than any demon ever could.

I manage to make it through breakfast, even with Vael's eyes all over me. Even as I'm dying for him. I bite my tongue when he leaves and goes down the hall to his study.

I've been fidgety all morning, unable to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. Jackie notices, of course, but mercifully doesn't comment beyond a knowing smirk when I knock over a vase while pacing the sitting room.

"Maybe some fresh air would do you good," she suggests, righting the vase with practiced efficiency.

"Maybe," I agree, though I know fresh air isn't what I need.

By midday, I'm practically crawling out of my skin.

The restless energy has only built, a persistent thrumming beneath my skin that makes it impossible to sit still.

I find myself wandering the house, trailing my fingers along the cold stone walls, seeking something I can't name—or rather, something I refuse to name.

When I pass the kitchen and see Jackie preparing a tray with lunch, an idea forms.

"Is that for Vael?" I ask, trying to sound casual.

Jackie nods, adding a small black pitcher to the tray. "He's been holed up in his study all morning. Said he had correspondence to catch up on."

"I could take it to him," I offer, too quickly. "You've been on your feet all day."

Her ice-blue eyes flick up to me, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Have I? Hadn't noticed." She steps back from the tray with a flourish. "But if you're offering..."

I lift the tray before she can change her mind, ignoring her knowing expression. The walk to Vael's study feels both too long and too short, my heart picking up speed with every step. I pause outside his door, balancing the tray on one hip to knock.

"Enter," comes his deep voice from within.

I push the door open with my shoulder, stepping into the warmth of his study.

The room smells of him—that distinctive blend of smoke and spice that clings to his skin.

Vael sits behind his massive desk, quill in hand, surrounded by stacks of parchment.

He looks up, surprise flickering across his face when he sees me.

"Lunch," I announce unnecessarily, moving toward him.

"I didn't expect you to be the one delivering it," he says, setting down his quill.

I place the tray on his desk, careful not to disturb his papers. "Jackie was busy," I lie, knowing full well he can probably hear the quickening of my pulse.

Instead of stepping back, I linger, running my fingers along the edge of his desk. "You've been working all morning."

"There's always work to be done." His red-gold eyes follow the movement of my fingers, narrowing slightly. "Is there something else you need, Trinity?"

The way he says my name—low, almost cautious—makes heat pool in my belly. Two months of restraint snap inside me like an overstretched cord.

"Yes," I admit, moving around the desk toward him. "There is."

I bend over his desk, ostensibly to arrange the items on his lunch tray, but my movements are deliberate, calculated. I can feel his gaze on me, feel the tension radiating from his body. When I glance up through my lashes, the hunger in his expression makes me bold.

"You've been avoiding me," I say softly, leaning closer. "Why?"

Vael's jaw tightens. "I haven't been avoiding you."

"No?" I shift a plate, deliberately brushing my breast against his arm. "You haven't touched me since we found out about the twins."

A muscle in his cheek twitches. "I didn't think?—"

"That's the problem," I interrupt, straightening to look him fully in the face. "You're thinking too much."

His hands move suddenly, gliding up my sides with a possessiveness that makes me gasp. "And what would you have me do instead?"

I don't answer with words. Instead, I lean into his touch, my body speaking the truth I've been denying.

Vael rises slightly from his chair, his hands pushing my skirt up inch by inch. "Is this what you've been wanting, little human? My hands on you again?"

"Yes," I breathe, already embarrassingly wet from just his touch.

He chuckles, the sound dark and knowing.

His fingers find the damp heat between my thighs, and he groans.

"Fuck, you're soaked." He slides two fingers inside me without preamble, making me cry out.

"Have you been needing me, Trinity? Walking around my house, carrying my children, aching for me to fill you up again? "

I groan, too far gone for shame. "Yes. Gods, yes."

His thumb circles my clit as his fingers pump inside me, precise and merciless. "Tell me what you need."

"You," I gasp, hips rocking against his hand. "Inside me. Now."

Vael withdraws his hand, earning a frustrated whimper from me. He leans back in his chair, unlacing his pants with deliberate slowness. His cock springs free, thick and flushed, already leaking at the tip.

"Then take what you need," he commands, his voice rough with desire. "Use me, Trinity. Show me how badly you've wanted this."

I slide my skirts up, climbing onto Vael's lap, my thighs spread wide across his powerful frame. His massive hands grip my hips, guiding me as I position myself over him. The head of his cock nudges against my entrance, thick and promising.

"You've been driving me crazy," I admit, voice husky with need as I lower myself slowly onto him. "You used to spend every night in my bed, and I have been aching for you."

His eyes lock with mine, pupils expanding until the red-gold is just a thin ring. "I thought you needed space," he growls. "Thought you wouldn't want me pawing at you while carrying the twins."

I sink down another inch, gasping as he stretches me. "Well, you thought wrong."

With one swift movement, I drop fully onto his length, impaling myself completely. We both cry out—me from the exquisite fullness, him from the tight heat now enveloping him.

"Fuck," Vael hisses, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hips hard enough to bruise. "You feel even better than before."

I rock experimentally, adjusting to his size. My body remembers him, welcomes him, clenches around him like he belongs there. I begin moving in earnest, lifting up until just the tip remains inside before sliding back down. Each descent sends jolts of pleasure radiating through my body.

"That's it," Vael encourages, his breath hot against my neck. "Take what you need from me."

I ride him harder, faster, my hands braced against his broad shoulders for leverage. The friction is delicious, but something's missing—some edge I can't quite reach in this position.

"Vael," I whimper, grinding down desperately. "I need—I need?—"

"What do you need, little human?" His voice is strained, teetering on the edge of control. "Tell me."

"More," I plead, nails digging into his shoulders through his shirt. "I need more. Deeper. Harder."

Something feral flashes in his eyes. In one fluid motion, he stands, lifting me with him as if I weigh nothing. I cling to him, his cock still buried inside me, as he turns and bends me over his desk. Papers scatter, the inkwell tips—neither of us cares.

He withdraws almost completely before slamming back into me with a force that knocks the breath from my lungs. One hand wraps in my hair, the other grips my hip with bruising intensity.

"This what you need?" he snarls, setting a punishing rhythm that has my breasts bouncing with each thrust. "To be fucked like the greedy little thing you are?"

"Yes!" I cry out, beyond shame, beyond pretense. "Don't stop—please don't stop?—"

Vael leans over me, his powerful chest pressed against my back, his mouth at my ear. "Look at you, so desperate for my cock. Did you think I didn't notice how you've been looking at me? How your nipples harden when I walk into a room?"

Each word is punctuated with a brutal thrust that hits something perfect inside me. I'm reduced to wordless sounds, moans and gasps that seem torn from my throat.

"Answer me," he demands, tugging my hair.

"I couldn't help it," I confess, trembling on the precipice of release. "I need you—need this?—"

His free hand snakes around to rub circles on my clit, tight and precise. "I'm going to fill you up again, Trinity. Fuck you so good you won't walk straight for days."

The dual stimulation—his cock hammering into me from behind, his fingers working my clit—pushes me over the edge. My orgasm crashes through me with unexpected force, my inner walls clamping down on him as waves of pleasure radiate outward.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK," Vael growls, his rhythm faltering as my body milks him. With a final, powerful thrust, he buries himself deep and erupts, his cock pulsing inside me as he finds his own release.

Before he's even finished, he pulls out. I whimper at the sudden emptiness, but then feel his fingers gathering his release where it drips from me, pushing it back inside with two thick digits.

"You look so fucking good," he growls, voice rough with satisfaction. "Bent over my desk, carrying my children, leaking my cum."

His possessive words send an unexpected aftershock of pleasure through me. I turn my head, catching a glimpse of his face—flushed with exertion, eyes blazing with something that looks dangerously close to adoration.

"Perfect," he murmurs, gentler now, as he continues to stroke me from behind. "So fucking perfect."

And in this moment…it feels like it is.