Page 48 of The Cinders
‘Because someone has tied you up tight.Your aura is abysmal, and if I were not such a significant daemon, I’d not notice you at all.’
Xian opened his eyes and stared into deep green pools.‘Tied me up?My aura?’
‘That’s what I said…have you come down with sudden deafness?Could have been your mother’s doing, I suppose.I hear mothers are quite adamant about protecting their young, but I’ve no comparison on account of not having one.Whatever was done, it hasn’t given you much of a life now, has it?I mean, you’re good at dancing, I suppose.Otherwise, from where I stand, you seem bloody miserable.Perhaps all that unhappiness comes from having your true self stifled.’
Of all the things said by the Englishman, this struck Xian the hardest.
He licked his lips.‘I wish to know my true self.’
If there were any chance, any at all, such a truth might bring him freedom from the life he led, then Xian would make a deal with this daemon.
‘A wish!Oh, brilliant, little prince.You have reminded me of a Frenchman I met, near on two centuries ago now.’He stepped back, pulling off his shirt entirely, and gathering up the folded portion of his gown, slipping his arm through one sleeve.‘Name was Charles, lovely cock on him, and a wonderful apartment on the Champs Elysse.But by the gods, the man was obsessed with his writing.Fixated on this tale he was penning, a story not unlike yours.’He slipped on the other sleeve, the ruffled neckline of black lace far too large for his slender form; threatening to fall from his shoulders as his shirt had done.‘Can you fasten the buttons at the back?This shall drive me mad otherwise.’He turned about, and when Xian hesitated, he clicked his tongue.‘Come on, I can’t play fairy godmother without a decent gown, now, can I?’
Xian stared at the horrendous number of button clasps at the back of the gown.‘A fairy godmother?’
‘Yes, yes.I thought you said you were well-read?’Xian had said no such thing, but he held his tongue.‘It’s all in Charles’s tale.Some silly nonsense about a downtrodden maiden, worked hard by her nefarious family, but eventually finding her prince with the help of a magickal old woman, a fairy godmother.Do you see what I’m trying to do here now?’Xian did not, but again he held his tongue, working his way up the line of ivory buttons.‘Anyway, Charles tried to tell me the tale had existed for centuries, but honestly I didn’t think his story would survive a week.’He shuddered.‘Puerile stuff, but the Purebreds went mad for it.Charles said he wanted to use my beauty as inspiration for his prince, but I insisted on being the fairy godmother, as they got to wear the most wonderful ballgown.How do I look?Do I suit the part?’
Xian blinked, once again thinking he was trapped in the most bamboozling of dreams.‘I…Sir William…this is…you are…’
‘Spit it out!Say what you feel, your highness.Best you find your voice soon, little prince, or I dare say you shall find yourself a whore in Mandarin Feng’s court.’
Xian stepped away, anger warming him like the summer sun.‘Do up your own damned gown, Sir William.I am tired of the sound of your voice and the insult that flows from your tongue.’
‘Hurrah!That’s my boy.’William spun about, his loose gown falling from one shoulder.‘There are a fine set of balls beneath that robe at last.’His eyes returned to glowing, his smile that of a greedy man seeing an unprotected pile of gold.‘Shall we take a peek beneath your layers, and see what we can find?’
Xian held onto his anger like a wolf to dying prey.‘I’ll not disrobe for you.’
‘Don’t I know it.You can keep your clothes on.’William held out his hand.‘I will tell you though, that what I must do shall make you just as uncomfortable as being naked.More so.But if you will take a promise from me, I assure you I’ll allow no harm to come to you.’
‘I fear that promise already broken, I am already not feeling myself, after just a few minutes in your company.’
Laughter came from the Englishman; like that of an angel, not a daemon at all.‘Oh you are quite wonderful when you are terrified and determined.’He fluttered the fingers on his outstretched hand.‘Go on then, be a brave little natural.’
Flaming eyes bore into Xian.
Xian thought he might faint with how shallow he breathed, but he took William’s hand.The heat of the man’s skin was searing.
‘I’m not so fragile as I appear.’
William must have felt how badly Xian trembled, but he nodded.‘I don’t doubt that.Come then, let us see what lies beneath those lovely scars.’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WILLIAM KISSEDthe back of Xian’s hand, setting off the faint, foreign tingle of arousal low down in Xian’s belly.But something of the sensation was disjointed; part of him and yet not at all.
‘What is this, William?’
Xian knew his wants too well to mistake this sudden sense of desire for his own.His trembling intensified; fear and excitement melding, sensing he stood at a great threshold.
‘This is merely a warm up.’The Englishman’s eyes were entirely amber; flickering sure as any flame.‘Best you brace for what is next.’
He moved again at a reckless, headlong pace.And landed his lips upon Xian’s mouth.
The meeting of flesh was shocking, swift and intentional.The gentleman who named himself a daemon was just suddenly there, his hand cupping the back of Xian’s neck, his arm sweeping around Xian’s waist and pulling him into the intimacy.
A compulsion to pull away lived only shortly, as Xian was overwhelmed by the superb, velvet caress against his mouth.He’d kissed rarely, and enjoyed it never, and though it would be a stretch to say heenjoyedthis now, he did not protest.
If this man, who was not a man, wielded any magick, he managed it in such a way as to prevent Xian from slapping him across the face.