Page 28 of Knotty Bargain (Monster Holidays #3)

EPILOGUE

CORDELIA

One Year Later

T iny shimmering orbs of light float through the air, casting a mesmerizing glow on the black stone walls adorned with intricate runic carvings. The vaulted ceilings of the Citadel’s ballroom are covered in them, so when I look up, it looks like the most perfect night sky.

The scent of fireplace embers mingles with the jasmines Miranda brought. There’s an orchestra of dead spirits in the corner. Demons and mortals and orcs and hundreds of other creatures from every realm mingle and laugh, their varied forms and features a dizzying kaleidoscope.

It’s perfect. I never thought I’d get married, and Levi wanted me to have the best. Something simple but wistful and pretty. Otherworldly.

I spot Miranda deep in conversation with one of Levi’s advisors, a towering demon with curling horns and fiery eyes. She nods thoughtfully as he gestures animatedly, no doubt regaling her with tales of demon history and lore. Miranda and Sylvia have come with me a few times this past year, and they always end up making new friends. I shake my head in amazement at how easily they accepted all of this—the underworld, the demons, my marriage to their king.

Levi stands between Miranda and me, his powerful frame tense with boredom despite the festivities. He’s in an elegant, shimmering black suit that goes so well with his red skin. I bite back a chuckle at Levi’s attempts to play nice. The fearsome Demon King, making small talk. For me.

I search for Syl. Across the ballroom, demons of all sexes and forms flock around her, drawn to her magnetic energy and sultry smile. I sigh and take a sip of shimmering blue liquor. I tried to convince her not to seduce half of Levi’s subjects tonight, to no avail. Every time she visits, she ends up with someone different. They’re drawn to her like moths to flame.

I tug on Levi’s hand. “Your throne awaits, my king,” I tease with a smile.

He strides to the dais, pulling me onto his lap as he sits. His spicy scent fills my senses, and I relax against his solid chest.

Levi sighs. “You save me more often than you know,” he whispers into my ear.

“Were you bored?”

“The thing about demon history is that I was there. I saw it all. I wrote the books. I know it all by heart and none of it interests me anymore.” He presses his lips to my cheek. “I would listen to Marduk talking history for eternity if you wanted me to, though.”

I laugh and he captures my lips in a searing kiss, his hand snaking into my hair. I melt into him, into the delicious pressure of his mouth, the slide of his tongue against mine. When his lips trail down my neck, I can’t contain the breathy moan that escapes me.

Levi stiffens. He shifts me subtly, and then I feel his hand slipping beneath the slit in my gown, gliding up my thigh. I cross my legs to conceal it. My eyes flutter shut at the sensation, electricity crackling through my veins. The ballroom full of demons fades away until there is only Levi—his touch igniting me, his fingers finding my core.

“No panties?” he whispers into my ear, his voice rasping. “Fuck, you’re so good to me, mate.”

He strokes me with maddening precision, teasing and circling until pleasure coils tightly in my core, until I’m trembling on the edge. The thrill of his brazen touch here, now, where anyone could see, sends equal jolts of arousal and exhilaration through me. I have to bite his shoulder to muffle my cry as his fingers drive me closer to ecstasy.

I shift in his lap, rubbing against the rigid evidence of his own desire. His soft growl reverberates through me.

“Stop teasing,” he says with a warning in his voice.

“Or what?” I meet his gaze as I clench my jaw, holding back from coming too soon.

Levi stops. I almost whine, but there’s no time.

His hands are on my hips, and then he throws me over his shoulder as he shoots to his feet.

Cheers and howls fill the ballroom, but I’m laughing too hard to care as my husband, the mighty Demon King, carries me off to ravish me properly. Here in his dark kingdom of magic and shadows, I have finally found where I belong.