Page 88 of Jewel of the Assassin

“Surely she can spare one more?”

My hand closes over his wrist before he can reach for hers. “No.”

A single word. A final one.

He stumbles back, and the crowd shifts, sensing something old and terrible stirring beneath my calm.

I look to Valentina, still silent at my side, her fingers finding mine like instinct. She doesn’t need to say a word. I already know. She belongs to me. If anyone dares touch her or so much as disrespects her, the night will end in blood.

“Roman,”my wife moans as I hold her hair before bringing her head down until her lips envelope my cock.

“Steady, Moya Samotsvet.You are ready for this.” I thrust into her mouth, holding back a deep groan when she swallows me into her throat.

I sit on the regal wing-back chair, black and leather, framed with gold filigree. A flush spreads to her chest, infusing the upper slopes of her exquisite tits when my guests begin to arrive. Power players. Politicians. Black Market mafia members, mostly leaders and their entourage. All of whom I have aided in executing their enemies and keeping them in power. They owe me life debts…and more.

“Gentlemen,” I say, gesturing toward the lavish seating before me. My masked ball is far more than a spectacle. It is a calculated convergence—where alliances are reaffirmed, trade deals brokered, and silent debts collected. A theater of power.

Jaws drop at the sight of the enthralling woman sucking my hardness into her throat, but none let the sight stop them from taking their seats.

When Valentina pauses, her mouth stretched around my shaft, I narrow my eyes, tighten my grip on her hair, and bark, “Did I tell you to stop?”

Her eyes shimmer with tears, but my beautiful zhena continues. While a part of me urges benevolence, compassion upon her fragile state, the better part of me—or worse—doubles down. I have not spent all these weeks training her for nothing. She is strong enough for this world. And hiding in plain sight sometimes requires a certain amount of degradation. Enough for me to prove my prowess in exhibiting her for voyeuristic temptation, but also achieving the perfect balance of demeaning her to a glorified whore.

But I still dub her my queen. If they wish to viewher as both, that is acceptable. But if any dares to call her a whore in my presence, they will not leave with their tongue.

Gavno! Her suction is strong, and she swirls her tongue along the underside while her dainty fingers stroke my heavy balls.

“Welcome, my friends,” I begin, my voice calm and commanding, carrying across the hall. I cage a deep groan when she takes me deeper while gripping the base. “You have all come tonight beneath the safety of shadow and silk. Behind masks, we are free to be what we truly are—unrepentant, ungoverned, and untouchable.”

I pause to cup her chin and tilt her face to me, nodding my approval. She blinks, showing the faintest smile.

I survey the room. “Every man here owes his throne, his territory, or his life to a choice and contract I fulfilled. And in this room, we celebrate our alliance, however thin our treaties be.”

I snicker with chagrin in my voice. “Tonight is not just tradition. It is necessity. A reminder that we thrive not by virtue, but by loyalty. Calculation. Brutality when required.”

I pause, then add with a crooked grin, “Politics bore me, as you well know. Murder, however…is my business. Assassination. But I digress.”

Fuckfuckfuck. Valentina scrapes the barest edge of her teeth along my dick. It’s taking all I have not to come and paint her face and chest with my seed. More blood thickens my cock. But this night is more than amusement or a snarky display. Maintaining this state for this long is an equal display of power and control. I reach for the shot glass of vodka resting on the end table beside me, lifting it between my fingers as the firelight glints off the crystal.

Valentina curls her tongue around the edge of my crown, suckles strong, and pulls back with a pop. She doesn’t give me a goddamn breath before diving, plunging my erection deep into her throat. My hand clenches into a fist on the other armrest,the veins throbbing.

Many eyes stray to her before they lock upon me as I lift my glass.

“Let this night serve as a vow between us all. We dine, we dance, we deal… and we remember who makes all three possible.”

I let my gaze drift over them—sharp, assessing. “Enjoy the pleasures of the night. Dance. Drink. But never forget: this ball is more than elegance—it is a reckoning. A chessboard where only kings remain.”

I raise the glass.

“To alliances forged in shadow. And to the blood we spill to keep them intact.”

I drink, slow and steady. Let them watch. Let them remember. After they drink, I thumb the rim of my glass and sharpen my eyes like a raptor. “And to those considering treachery—know this: I always see behind the mask.”

With that, I grip Valentina’s neck to pull her to a stand. I spin her around, savoring her gasp before I lift up her skirts, grip her hips, and pull her back—until I impale her on my cock. She shrieks. They watch, mouths parted, eyes gleaming with hunger as I fuck her in my chair before them all.

Valentina owns the night.

I opted for remaining on the balcony so I could watch her dance the night away. All eyes are drawn to her. Not only has she risen to the occasion, she has wandered the ballroom, connecting with all she can.