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I shift on my feet and cough. My cock is too responsive. All the anger sifts out of me, replaced by something even more feral. My shoulders loosen, fingers unraveling out of my palms. I drop my head, flexing my thighs and abdomen in an attempt, but there’s no stopping it this time.

Oh, that’s embarrassing. I should’ve prepared myself better for this damn rite. I hardly had time. The only thing I can do now is own it. I am at least far from the only one. Even from across the field, I can see her eyes grow wider and rounder. She finally pulls her gaze up, to see what it is I’m looking at.

Her lips pop open, and I quirk a brow.

Yes, pet, I’m looking at you.

Watching you, watching me. I expect her to shrink or maybe even turn away. She merely juts her chin, a blush roasting her cheeks. I can’t stifle my grin. She fights it back, still angry with me, but then her chin tips down, and she grins too.

I let out a quiet laugh. Not quite forgiven, but I will be. The urge to look is strong. I wait for her to meet my gaze again before cocking my head.

This means I have permission, doesn’t it?

She already lost, yet I want her blessing. I jerk my chin down in a question.

Can I look at you?

She extends a slight jerk of her own that seems to say if you must. I must, but it’s not quite good enough for me. “ Yes?” I mouth.

Her lips scrunch to the side as she fights another grin. She doesn’t want to, but she likes that, the asking. Finally doing something right. She concedes with the barest of nods.

I smile, and slowly let my gaze lower over her hair, the thick strip of moonlight shielding her breasts. Lower, across her abdomen, the slight curved incontestably feminine carve of her hips. Liquid like pitcher-poured milk, the dimple of her navel a single splash. And then across that contrastingly shadowy place between her thighs.

Her fingers twitch at her sides as I drink her with greedy gulps. The many differing creations of my imagination haven’t done her justice. It’s the degree of rigidity, quickly becoming uncomfortable, that finally has me pulling back to her face to find her staring at me so much more bravely than I anticipated.

All of my insecurities fade away. This is right between us. Maybe not right considering . I know it's wrong. All wrong. But inevitable. She flicks her head in a motion that’s not the least bit shy, adjusts the hair across her chest, and licks at her lips before taking her bottom lip behind her teeth with a seemingly…innocent expression.

Oh, shit.

She knows now. Finally fucking gets it. Understands all that power she possesses, magic-less as she is. The magic doesn’t matter, Pandora. It never fucking mattered. The desire to wipe that faux coy look from her face is strong.

Plenty of ways I could manage it. I get a little carried away, indulging myself as I envision the possibilities before squeezing my eyes shut with an internal groan. Still so innocent despite the cocky act.

I allow one last sip, one last up and down, before I force myself to break away. This is not a moment we’re sharing alone.

It’s the right call. I find Valik positioned some twenty paces behind me, watching me like a fucking hawk. The whole interaction was maybe a minute tops, but how much has he already seen? Stupid fucking weasel.

I make a point of scanning the line of women more thoroughly this time, finding far too many hungry eyes pointed in my direction. I exhale slowly as I make the connection as to why there are so many more of them than last time. They’re here for me, of course. It’s not like I can blame them. Trying to improve their quality of life, one where they’re not forced to toil away for the Crux.

They don’t know a life with me is far from an advantage. I continue scanning the line for Valik’s benefit and to search for targets. I suppose it doesn’t matter. Any of them will do.

When I find Pandora again, she’s not looking at me, her face once again twisted into a scowl. Fuck. She thinks I’m looking at other women. And I am . But not because I particularly want to be. I stare at her, trying to get her attention, but she won’t meet my gaze. I told her I needed it to look like I was participating. Maybe I hadn’t explained that well enough. Or maybe I was intentionally trying to avoid explaining it because I’m not sure she’ll understand. I know she won’t understand. She thinks I’m humiliated to be seen with her. If things were different I’d gladly flaunt her to the world.

The scene has already begun to transform as more Magi complete their offerings and pair off, some seeking the privacy of the nearby wood, others taking a much more voyeuristic approach right here in the clearing. As if seeing Pandora wasn’t titillating enough the field of writhing bodies would do it.

I can’t imagine what the prudish little nought is making of all this. Although maybe not so prudish after all. My eyes roam the area for a moment. I’m powerless to keep them from straying over in her direction once more. Before I catch a glimpse the line moves and it's my turn.

I step up to the maroon-cloaked priestess. She grins as she hands the henbane off to me. I cup it in my hands as her spell petals against my skin like a gossamer spider web. I hurriedly toss my offering to the fire.

The smell of burning herbs is strong in the air. I suck in a deep breath, turn on my heel and stagger when the magic hits me so forcefully it seems to come from the Gods themselves.

My head falls slack against my chest, and I puff a breath as the magic ignites every cell in my body. It grinds me down and encompasses me, wholly and completely, reducing me to my most base animal instincts. Similar to the hunger I experienced under the effects of the Bonewalker but this is an entirely different type of hunger.

An entirely different beast.

The need to fuck—to reproduce—to deposit my seed in someone as instinctual as the splitting of a single celled organism. Something as primal and archaic as time itself.

My cock swells, rigid as stone, the tip pulsing pangs that are downright painful. My nostrils flare, pupils dilating. I shake my head, barely able to think past it. The magic of the henbane pulls at me, calling me to find this person and drive into them with a wild abandon.

That’s exactly what I intend to do. I take a single step forward and roll my shoulders as my body tenses in preparation—to hunt. I’m forgetting something.

Pandora.

This is exactly what she’d been concerned about, that the magic would call me to someone, and I assured her that it wouldn’t. Why now? It wasn’t like this last time. I was so certain this entire rite was a load of bullshit. There has to be someone here that wasn’t here last time. Someone who more closely matches my magic? But who?

This could not be more inconvenient. I can’t follow this pull. I have to get her out of here as I promised. I’m practiced at fighting off magic. This is a whole new level of restraint.

I’m not sure I’m restraining myself from it at all. Some morbid curiosity has me wanting to at least know who the magic is calling me to. I’m playing with fire as I follow that pull forward, glancing up just as Pandora emerges from the sea of bodies.

Her eyes are oddly glassy as she takes measured steps. She spots me, and halts in her path. She’s already made her offering. Good. She presses a hand to her face and trails a finger over her bottom lip, blinking slowly. She’s strangely dazed like she’s just woken up. What’s wrong with her?

She clasps a hand tight around her other forearm, her discomfort blatant. That strengthens my resolve. I’m not going to abandon her for some magical call to breed yet I continue following the pull in her direction just to see who it is. This might get awkward if it’s someone near her. I eye the women around her, studying each one. None of them stand out to me.

I’m halfway across the clearing when it dawns on me. The flames reflect in her eyes like those two perfectly matching fires of the omen.

It’s Pandora. The henbane is calling me to Pandora. A series of images flash through my mind. Taking her, pushing her down to the ground, and….She takes a couple of steps forward, and my blood sings.

I stop dead in my tracks.

I can’t.

I’m being watched.

She stops, too, expression uncertain. Her eyes narrow on something to my left seconds before a woman strides in front of me to block my path.

“My prince,” she murmurs, peeking up from under a thick band of lashes. She’s attractive, tanned, long brown curls draping her shoulders above the heavy swell of her breasts. The sway of her hips is exaggerated as she strides closer but I barely see her, still trying to process the magic coaxing me to push past this intruder.

It just doesn’t make any sense. Pandora is a nought, without an ounce of magic to give. Nothing has made sense since the day she got here. A hand grips my cock, startling me from my thoughts. I snatch her by the wrist and quickly wrench her hand away.

“S—sorry,” she says, thoroughly taken aback that I haven’t welcomed her intrusion.

I heave a breath, staring over the top of her head at the host of eyes behind her, readying themselves to pounce before looking back down at the woman in front of me. She probably doesn’t deserve this with her forwardness but she’ll have to do.

“Somewhere more private,” I say, holding a palm out to the nearby Woods.

She nods eagerly, and I lead her toward the tree I marked, not allowing myself to look back in Pandora’s direction. Too afraid I’ll be tempted to go to her again if I do. Every step away from her feels wrong on a fundamental level. She’ll be shortly behind me, I assure myself.

Two erratic pulses thump from the mark on my hand.

Just follow me out, Pandora.

Once we’re a safe distance into the Wood, away from prying eyes, I turn my attention to the woman standing next to me. There’s so much gleeful hope in her eyes I almost feel bad for what I’m about to do. Her breath catches as I tug her to me and clasp a hand under her jaw.

“Sleep,” I command, letting the magic filter out of my palm to that spot just under her chin. There’s a final flash of surprise in her eyes before she collapses in my arms, and I carefully maneuver her to the ground. “Sorry about that,” I mutter to her limp form.

I draw a series of symbols with my hand to ward around her so no one will stumble upon her. She’ll likely wake within the hour and she can rejoin the party at that point if she so chooses. Another sweep of my hand summons our clothes and boots from their hiding spot.

Rustling in the pocket of my trousers, I dig out the bag of coin I readied beforehand and position it beside her. In the bag is a note that says for your silence.

There’s enough coin to buy a small house. Hopefully, it’s enough to keep her quiet. Clutching the clothes and boots to my chest, I begin scouting back, searching for Pandora. Some part of me already knows, she’s not here. I track all the way back to the tree I’d marked, and as I suspected, there’s no sign of her. Fuck! I edge the clearing, peering out across the field where I’d left her. No signs of her there either. Where is she? I told her to follow me out. Did something happen to her? My heart quickens in my chest. I told her I would protect her.

I haven’t felt any more pulses of fear from the mark. If something happened to her I would’ve felt that. My heart rate slows. I have the ability to track her now but unfortunately that spell requires parchment of which I have none. But no, I don’t need it at all, I realize. With the magic pulsing in me like a vital force I can easily find her without it.

But it’s trying to send me right back to the clearing and it's apparent she’s not in the clearing. Plus that’s the last place I want to go to be spotted by Valik already.

I creep deeper into the Woods before tugging my clothes and boots on in a hurry. My cock is still painfully rigid. I tuck it in the waistband of my pants, struck once again by the wonder of it all. It doesn’t make any sense. Pandora’s so innocent. I groan. She’ll be feeling this just as strongly as I am. All my plans are shattered because I can’t be sure…that she would want to do this without the henbane. I know I’m going to have to be the stronger person and resist. I might have to leave .

First, I need to find her. I stay to the Wood, making a perimeter around the clearing, evading the couples I stumble upon along the way. I know I’m headed in the right direction as that force is no longer trying to lure me back into the clearing. I can feel that pull growing stronger and more enthusiastic as I near, my body practically vibrating with anticipation. I clench and unclench my fists. Chill. The. Fuck. Out.

I run into another couple pressed up against a nearby tree. I’m about to quietly creep around them when the gleam of white catches my eye and I double-take. Pandora?

That’s fucking Pandora, my--with her lips pressed to another man. His arms are wrapped tightly around her. There are no signs of struggle. No pulse of fear from the mark. I can’t make sense of the image in front of me. My skin blazes, blood whirring in my ears. My magic coils of its own volition.

And then it erupts.