Page 47

CONSUMMATE THE MARRIAGE (FOR POWER, OBVIOUSLY)

ARABELLA

The moment the words left my lips, a dangerous light flared in Kazimir’s eyes.

His pupils blew wide, until only a thin rim of gray showed, and the flickering shadows around us seemed to coil tighter, as though they sensed the final snap of his restraint.

Strange how, in that heartbeat, I felt both a spike of fear and a wicked thrill.

His mouth crashed onto mine with a fury that stole my breath.

The cold stone wall pressed into my back, and a startled gasp escaped me as he slid his hand beneath my robe to claim bare skin.

His fingers traced along the curve of my breast, his calluses catching deliciously against my nipple before he rolled it between thumb and forefinger.

I arched into his touch, a moan tumbling from my lips.

His response was a guttural noise that reverberated through his chest and shot straight to the pulse between my legs.

When he finally released my pinned wrists, I half-expected him to step back again.

Instead, he leaned back just enough to look at my exposed skin with a gaze so intense it nearly scorched me.

“You’re staring,” I managed, desire warring with a sudden burst of vulnerability.

“I’m admiring,” Kazimir corrected, voice rough with a desire that sent a fresh ripple of heat through me. His hands skated down my rib cage. “Big difference.”

Before I could fire back a retort, he lifted me effortlessly.

Instinct made me lock my legs around his waist, which only brought our bodies flush, forcing a groan from deep in his throat.

He turned, scattering maps and markers from the obsidian table with one swipe of his arm.

I landed on its edge, my thighs stinging slightly at the cold stone.

The rest of my body was pure fire wherever he touched me.

I noticed the flash of calculation on his face. The tactician in him, so rarely off duty. I gripped the front of his shirt. “What are you thinking?”

He flicked his eyes to mine, silver irises molten in the dim light. “I was wondering if I should take you somewhere more comfortable.”

My heart slammed against my ribs, that flicker of common sense urging me to pause. But the thought of letting him regroup, or of me second-guessing myself, made me desperate. “No,” I insisted, voice shaking only faintly. “Here. Now.”

A satisfied darkness settled in his stare. “As my lady commands.”

He kissed me again, and I realized that even at my most vigilant, I’d underestimated how intense he could be when he finally let himself go.

His lips and tongue moved with a consuming, deliberate hunger that kept me pinned to the spot.

Exploring. Tasting. Claiming. He cupped my ass, pulling me so close I could feel every ridge of his body beneath that infuriatingly elegant attire.

I fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, nearly tearing it in my frustration. When it finally fell open, I planted both hands on his chest, taking in the patterns of scars and runes carved into his skin. When I slid my fingers over one elaborate sigil, he sucked in a sharp breath.

“They respond to you,” he said, voice ragged.

He kissed me while he trailed his fingers up my inner thigh, and I almost forgot how to breathe.

My muscles clenched involuntarily the moment his thumb brushed over my clit.

The gentle swirl made me whimper, and I had the disorienting sense that most of my wrath had melted into unfiltered craving.

When his fingers dipped lower into the slick heat between my legs to tease my entrance, I gasped.

“Kazimir,” I whispered, my voice husky.

“Yes?” he murmured at my throat just before his lips pressed firmly to the spot where my pulse thundered.

“Don’t stop,” I pleaded.

His next breath brushed heat over my collarbone. “I have no intention of stopping.” He pressed two fingers inside me, a slow, deliberate slide, while his thumb kept circling in that maddening rhythm. “Not until you’re screaming my name. And then I’ll keep going, just to hear you beg.”

He dropped to his knees in front of me. I couldn’t help the flare of surprise. Before I formed a coherent protest, he draped one of my legs over his shoulder and pressed open-mouthed kisses across my inner thigh. The kisses moved higher as he spread my legs wider.

I watched him, a flush of heat spreading across my cheeks that wasn’t entirely from pleasure. No one had ever?—

The first swipe of his tongue against my clit made me gasp. The second had me tangling my fingers in his hair. I felt his smug grin against me. But soon his confidence gave way to something more intense, as his mouth and fingers worked in tandem, driving me closer and closer to the precipice.

The intimacy of it was overwhelming at first—his dark head between my thighs, his complete focus on my pleasure.

His gaze flicked up to mine, eyes burning an unearthly storm-gray.

I realized the notorious Dark Lord was on his knees before me, worshipping me with his mouth, and it triggered a fresh jolt of power in my veins.

My entire body tensed in anticipation, each swirl of his tongue stoking the magic swirling inside me.

“Kaz,” I moaned, the shortened name slipping out unbidden. He groaned against me in response, the vibration adding another layer to the building pleasure.

Through a haze of pleasure, I saw the runes on his skin glowing faintly. My own skin had taken on a golden shimmer. Where he touched me, the colors swirled together, creating eddies of power that spiraled outward.

He curled his fingers at just the right angle and sucked on my clit. My climax snapped through me, bending my spine and ripping a cry of pleasure from my throat. He didn’t stop until my legs trembled under his relentless mouth and I moaned for mercy, tugging at his hair.

Kazimir pushed to his feet, and I tried to slow my breathing. His lips were slick with my pleasure, his eyes black with desire, the runes glowing. He looked like a god of destruction. Beautiful, terrible, and entirely focused on me.

“That was…” I tried to speak, voice little more than a rasp.

“Just the beginning,” he promised, discarding his shirt. He reached for his trousers next, not taking his eyes off me. That hungry expression quickened my pulse all over again.

I watched as he freed his cock, allowing myself to openly appreciate its length and thickness, the head already glistening.

Only after I’d finished my shameless look did I lift my gaze to his.

He stood between my legs, pressing his hard length against my sensitive flesh that still thrummed with aftershocks.

I braced a hand on his warm chest, that overabundance of magic humming along my skin.

“Wait,” I said, surprising myself with how steady my voice sounded.

He froze, concern cutting through the haze of lust in his eyes. “Having second thoughts?”

I shook my head. “No. Just... go slowly. It’s been a while.”

The shadows in the corners deepened, flickering in the edges of my vision. There was no mistaking the possessiveness in Kazimir’s eyes, no ignoring the raw intensity as he wrestled with his jealousy and buried fury at anyone who touched me before him.

“How long?” he asked, his voice deceptively soft.

“Years,” I admitted.

Relief and satisfaction crossed his face before he caught himself. His expression softened as he stroked my cheek with surprising tenderness.

“I’ll be careful,” he said, though his voice shook with the effort of controlling himself.

He pressed into me, gradually at first, letting me adjust to the exquisite shock of being filled. I released a shaky breath, one hand maintaining contact with his chest, the other bracing myself on the table. His jaw clenched, and he bit back a groan as he sank deeper.

When he halted, fully seated inside me, shockwaves of pleasure made my eyes flutter shut.

“Alright?” he asked, voice low against my ear.

I slid my hands up his chest to his shoulders, feeling the power thrumming beneath his skin. “Yes,” I murmured, the sound catching in my throat.

He pulled out almost all the way, grabbed my hips, and then pushed into me again.

My eyes fluttered closed at the stretch, and he did it again.

I ran my hands down his arms, feeling the scars warm at my touch, wanting to pull him closer.

He kissed me and began to move, setting a gentle rhythm that had me sighing with pleasure.

But gentle wasn’t what either of us truly wanted. Not after weeks of tension, of wanting, of fighting this pull between us.

Without warning, I planted my hands on his chest and pushed him back.

He looked startled but allowed it, eyebrows quirking.

I hopped off the table and steered him so it was his thighs against the obsidian slab.

Seeing Kazimir half-dazed, shirtless, and breathing rough, I felt a heady sense of control.

I let my robe slide off my arms. “My turn,” I said, sliding his trousers the rest of the way down.

He stepped free of them, letting me guide him onto the table.

That smug grin warred with genuine need as he sprawled on the polished stone.

Straddling him, I sank down on his cock again, biting back a moan at how deep he went.

His hands found my hips, but I grabbed his wrists and pinned them beside his head.

The way his pupils nearly swallowed his irises told me he liked my dominance more than he’d ever admit. The dreaded Dark Lord was at my mercy.

“Is this how you pictured me?” I rasped, rocking my hips in a slow grind that made us both gasp.

“I pictured you in every way imaginable,” he finally managed, “but what I want is you. Any way I can have you.”

I loosened my grip, letting him bury his hands in my hair, then on my waist, guiding my movements.

Each thrust created a spike of magic, setting off a dizzying light show across his body.

Books and marker figurines lifted from the floor, swirling in the air as the chamber’s temperature soared and plummeted erratically.

The runes carved into his skin blazed brighter with each thrust, burning with crimson and violet fire. The light cast strange shadows across the room, making the war table’s map look alive. My power rose to meet his, golden light emanating from my skin in pulses that matched our rhythm.

Our combined magic amplified until warmth spread through my veins like liquid gold. The glow was almost blinding. I could feel his control slipping, magic leaking from the carefully constructed channels he’d built over years of discipline.

He held my hips in an iron grip. “Arabella,” he gasped, trying to slow our pace. “I can’t—the magic?—”

“Don’t you dare stop,” I growled, grinding down harder, taking him deeper.

The magic built between us, crackling in the air. “I can’t control it,” he warned.

Understanding dawned, followed by something wild and reckless. Not fear, but fierce joy. “Then don’t.”

I leaned down to capture his mouth in a kiss that consumed us both.

He surrendered to it, to me, to the magic surging between us.

The resonance built, and our magics merged, creating a swirling vortex of power that spiraled outward.

Books flew from shelves. Weapons rattled in their racks.

The massive stone table beneath us groaned ominously.

I was beyond caring. There was only the sensation of Kazimir moving inside me, his magic entwined with my own, pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. I rode him harder, faster, chasing the release that hovered just beyond reach.

He reached between us to circle a thumb against my clit. The spike of sensation brought me so close to the edge again I couldn’t hold back an impassioned cry.

“There,” he growled, his voice barely human. “Come for me.”

The combination of his words, his touch, and the magic surging between us pushed me over the edge. Everything in me tightened, and I let go.

This release crashed far harder than the first, making my inner walls quake around his cock as I shouted his name. The radiant surge of my magic collided with his, and for an instant, I swore I saw raw arcs of power crackle around our joined bodies.

Kazimir’s breath caught on a ragged groan. “Fuck… Arabella—” I felt the pulse inside me as he came.

Our coiled magic exploded in a shockwave of raw power.

The stone table snapped straight down the middle, sending us tumbling to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Around us, chaos reigned. Books torn from their bindings, weapons embedded in walls, windows shattered outward in a spray of glass. The stone walls themselves groaned.

A distant rumble suggested something important had collapsed, and Kazimir threw himself over me protectively as mortar and dust rained from the ceiling.

As awareness slowly returned, I became conscious of several things at once: the pleasant throbbing between my thighs, the weight of Kazimir’s body covering mine, the dust in the air, and the distant shouts of guards responding to the disturbance.

And above it all, a high, clear note ringing out. A sound I recognized instinctively, though I’d never heard it before. The Heirloom of Dominion, responding to our union from its chamber several floors above.

Kazimir raised himself on his elbows to look down at me, his expression a mixture of satisfaction, wonder, and alarm as he took in the devastation. His hair was a disheveled mess, his skin still faintly glowing, his eyes bright with lingering pleasure.

I’d never seen anything more beautiful.

I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh, a full, throaty sound that bubbled up from somewhere deep inside me.

“Did we...” I began, my voice deliciously hoarse.

“Yes,” he confirmed, a note of smug satisfaction in his tone. “I believe we just destroyed half the east wing.”