Page 20

Chapter eighteen

A strid examined the mirror. Her reflection appeared unharmed, but an ache lingered between her legs. It was another mark he’d won against her. Small, fleeting victories she strategically offered to lure him closer.

She brushed the brand behind her ear and two bangles twinkled together as they slid down her wrist. Her gaze shifted to her newest adornments.

Apparently, being “fitted with gold” meant wearing two bracelets on her wrists and one on each ankle.

The simple hoops were nothing she would choose to wear on her own and Astrid was positive they indicated Dimitri owned her.

Keres had encrusted the piercing her captor ordered with diamonds. A choice Dimitri granted her. A minor victory in a battle lost.

It had been fascinating to watch. Astrid had never seen a fire weaver work before.

A crimson aura flared over her fingertips, and she manipulated the gold as easily as Astrid maneuvered souls.

The only piece of jewelry Astrid appreciated was a delicate chain that looped her waist three times.

It was thin, but Keres assured her it was infused with fire magic and wouldn’t break.

The door opened once more, and Astrid tracked Dimitri’s movements through the mirror. He paused, raking his gaze down her body. She knew he would fixate on her wearing his things—think he owned her. Astrid smiled, waging her silent war. She would have him at her feet by the end.

Crawling or dead. It made no difference.

“Your gold is plain,” Astrid gibed, sliding the cuffed sleeve higher so the twin ringlets rested against her hand.

The corners of his mouth lifted, and those liquid amber eyes gleamed in the fading morning light. There was a beat of silence. Two. He was more attractive when he wasn’t speaking. Or hurting her.

And when I can ignore his wings, Astrid thought dryly.

“You look at home in my clothes,” he finally said.

“Shouldn’t I match you?” Astrid asked, sauntering toward him. She reached for the piled cotton Keres left and tossed the muted whites and browns on the floor. “These clothes make me look like your servant.”

His brows raised a fraction, and he crooked his finger, beckoning her closer. Astrid took a step and immediately halted. Her new jewelry shifted against her clit. The initial pain had left her oblivious to the way the metal moved with her, but now that she’d healed herself…

She was too aware of the curved bar’s relentless teasing.

Bemusement lit his golden eyes, and he purred, “Come here, neva.”

Astrid swallowed the curses she wanted to hurl at him. She strolled toward him, fighting for composure while a flush rushed past her cheeks.

His gaze darkened as he tracked her movements. She came to a stop before him, and he leaned into her. “Lay down and show me your metal.”

Astrid sat back on the bare bed, craning her neck to stare at him. “Why aren’t you pierced?” she asked.

“You’ll have to offer me a much sweeter bargain if you want me to wear your metal,” Dimitri said, stepping into her.

He parted her legs with his knee and Astrid leaned back. Rough palms traveled up her thighs and she didn’t fight him when he spread them apart. Her dress rose up, but not enough to expose what he wanted.

“Allowing you to destroy my bed and rummage through my closet awards me your obedience?” he asked, smoothing his repurposed dress shirt and jacket up her body.

Astrid half shrugged one shoulder. “‘It awards you your life, for the time being.”

His features lost their predatorial edge. “I’ll outlive your temper,” he said, lowering to his knees.

His strong hands gripped her waist, and her breath caught as he yanked her to the edge of the bed. Her legs stretched past his broad shoulders. She couldn’t breathe.

She’d fantasized about having a male’s mouth on her.

Wondered what it would feel like to have her clit teased and licked.

Her foot met the hard bones framing his wings and Astrid’s illusions shattered.

She anchored her heels on the joints between his should blades and fought a smile.

She’d settle for Dimitri’s tongue in her needy cunt and block out his hideous wings.

He lowered his head and glanced up at her through his lashes. “Not fighting me?” he whispered, so close his breath fanned over her.

The sensation sent her heart racing. “Were you planning on hurting me?” she asked.

“Not if you behave,” he promised before licking her clit in a slow, deliberate movement, all while holding her gaze. “Are you going to behave?”

Astrid’s heart pounded at the dark promise in his words. She should be discerning his weaknesses and plotting his death, but her mind blanked each time his tongue circled her clit. A gasp rushed through her lips when he flicked her jewelry. The momentary tug and friction sent her reeling.

His lips closed over her clit, and he sucked lightly at first. Astrid fell back on the bed, oblivious to Dimitri’s wing shifting beneath her sole. He fished the black pouch out of his bedside table drawer with his talon, followed by the tin of lube.

Astrid fought to collect her thoughts. She loosened the hold on her power and examined the vortex of shadows in place of his soul.

His magic washed over her. The serrated teeth, capable of ripping her soul from this plane, caressed her instead.

It over-sensitized her skin, leaving her breathless.

The brilliant haze of glimmering stars, spiraled toward him, circling his churning shadows.

Twin spires lit, creating an axis in his shadows.

They matched her soul’s brilliance as her essence extinguished within the consuming darkness of his.

Dimitri’s mouth felt hotter and his skin warmed until he felt feverish. Her eyes met his molten gold, the same color as the burning spires lit at the top and bottom of his shadows.

He licked, then drew on her soul, alternating her torture until Astrid teetered at the edge of her pleasure. His finger dipped into her cunt, followed by another. Astrid dragged her bottom lip through her teeth and rolled her hips. She was so close, devoured by the pleasure he offered.

He withdrew from her, and she scarcely heard the scrape of the metal lid. His fingers returned lower, and Astrid moaned as he circled her ass.

“I’ll have you here tonight,” Dimitri groaned between licks and kisses.

Astrid’s breaths became ragged. She stared skyward as his touch invaded and overwhelmed her.

The game she played was on a knife’s edge and she was losing her footing.

He worked a second finger into her ass and Astrid’s nails raked over his mattress.

She couldn’t think. She could only feel.

She wanted his fingers in her cunt and rocked her hips as he pressed into her deeper.

She lifted her hips, silently demanding he show her cunt the same treatment.

Dimitri chuckled and licked lower, outlining her entrance with the tip of his tongue.

Astrid reached for him needing more. She fisted his dark strands and ground against his mouth.

He didn’t turn away or drag her hand from his hair.

She’d been flushed and demanding and he rewarded her by tilting his head to one side.

His tongue teased her cunt, pressing in slow.

Astrid gasped, spreading her legs wider. She moved with him as his thumb circled her clit. Her jewelry shifted with each motion, adding another layer of delicious friction. Dimitri thrusted his tongue into her and Astrid came apart.

Dimitri growled as she orgasmed, roughening his strokes into her ass while he tongued her cunt.

Astrid’s fingers slipped from his hair as she came down. Undone and short of breath, she stared up at the exposed dark beams angled across the vaulted ceiling. Her lashes fluttered closed when Dimitri withdrew. He returned a moment later and roughly flipped her onto her stomach.

Astrid’s temper rattled through the pleasure fogging her mind. Before she could right herself, the leading edge of his wing pressed heavily across her back. His callused hand smoothed over the curve of her ass and apprehension threaded the echoing euphoria of her orgasm.

It grew exponentially when Dimitri stuffed a pillow beneath her hips and peaked when something wide, blunt, and cold touched her ass.

“No,” Astid hissed, struggling beneath the weight of his wing.

His lips met the small of her back and a tremor whispered through her as he trailed kisses up her spine.

“You can take it like this, Princess, or across my knee.” His wing shifted and the warmth of his chest met her back. “Choose,” Dimitri murmured. The word grazed her ear, flashing her memory back to the night before, when he’d held her down after she’d stabbed him through the heart.

They’d struck a bargain because he wanted a willing meal.

The pressure on her ass intensified. It was thicker and far less giving than his fingers. Astrid contemplated her situation. He dragged her into depravity, but his insidious touch made her come harder than she had in her life. If she was forced to make concessions, he would as well.

“Here,” Astrid said, then added her own stipulation, “but don’t touch me with your wings.”

A dark chuckle rolled from him and his teeth left a stinging kiss on the nape of her neck. “Done.”

Astrid tensed, expecting the pain of a vicious intrusion.

She blinked. It never came. His shadows curled around her as he drank her essence.

Her skin hummed, amplifying every brush of his lips.

It heightened the way his shirt felt against her breasts until each of her panting breaths teased her nipples.

She was coming when Dimitri worked the tip of the phallic-shaped steel into her ass. He pressed it deeper, and she didn’t care about his gray wings crowding either side of her.

He smiled against her ear and spoke in a low rasp. “Relax, neva. We’re almost there. You’re taking it so well.”

Flush colored Astrid’s cheeks but she couldn’t discern whether the heat stemmed from embarrassment or elation.

Dimitri withdrew the plug an inch then pressed it farther.

The metal stretched her, stealing her breath.

It didn’t hurt, but the sensation was so much more intense than the smaller one he’d fit her with last night.

Dimitri seated the plug inside her and kissed her shoulder. “I have one last piece of gold for you, neva,” he said.

Astrid gasped when something thin pooled between her shoulder blades. He held the tip and trailed it down her spine. It warmed quickly and felt like the delicate chains looping her waist.

He clipped it to the back of her existing chains and got out of bed. His magic released her. “Come, we’re late for breakfast. Stand.”

Her jailor strolled to the basin like he hadn’t made her come half a dozen times.

Astrid didn’t trust her legs to hold her. And now that his magic wasn’t consuming her senses, she could feel the dull pressure of his shiny new toy shoved in her ass. She stared daggers into his back as he washed his hands and muttered, “Serpents devour you.”

She straightened the shirt and topcoat she’d stolen, repositioning the lotus belt lower on her hips. A light brush tickled the back of her thigh and Astrid twisted to see two dainty chains hanging a few inches above her knees.

“Your gold is plain and pointless,” Astrid said as she straightened her outfit.

Dimitri toweled off his hands and she turned so he could see the twin chains peeking beneath her shirt dress as he returned to her.

Her captor lowered to his knees and Astrid took a step back. He caught the bend of her knee and drew her closer. The backs of his fingers glided up her inner thigh and Astrid shifted on her feet. “We’re late for breakfast, my Lord.”

“I know,” he said, collecting the chains between her legs.

Astrid realized it was a single chain that split into two as the delicate links slid between her ass cheeks like a thong.

She felt Dimitri fasten the gold to the plug, then lift the two chains.

They ran along either side of her pussy and he fastened them to the front of the gold looped around her waist.

“You’ll wear this while I fuck your virgin cunt,” Dimitri groaned as he yanked her forward and set one of her legs over his shoulder.

Before Astrid could react, his mouth was on her pussy. He licked her, but it wasn’t like before when he teased her clit. His tongue was wide and flat, swiping from her cunt to clit.

“Let go of me,” Astrid hissed, instinctively curling forward and drilling her elbow into the base of his skull.