Page 93 of Tricky Princess

My dearest Ellea,

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Please come back to Hel to help Ros make things right. I would very much love to meet you and be able to meet all the wonderful beasts I spent my living life writing about. I would also love to share some stories I’ve written in my afterlife with you.

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C. Clair

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“What…” Her eyes glistened as she looked up at him, searching his face. “Wait.”

“I was a jerk, and I said the wrong things. I will always want to protect you, want you safe; but where you are, where you want to be, that isn’t my decision to make.” He walked to her; he needed to hold her and have her understand all he was trying to convey.

“Ros, what are you saying?”

“When all of this is done with your parents, I want to know if you will help me in Hel, help my father, my family. They—no, we—need you.”

He wanted to say so much more. He’d almost asked the author to write “rule beside me,” but he needed to take small steps. He needed to know how she felt.

Her mouth opened once, twice, and finally, she found her words. “You don’t want to end things with me?”

“Gods no, I never wanted that. I didn’t know what I was saying,” he said, but that wasn’t right and she knew it. “Hel’s history is cursed, and after talking with my father, I realized I have the wrong information. Regardless, it should have always been your choice where you go. I won’t stop you from being in Hel. I want you wherever I am.”

“Will you stop hiding your demon from me?” Her small hand fell to his chest, and that one touch almost had him crumbling. He was sure she could feel his heart racing.

“Can we take small steps, please?” he asked quietly. “I want to move forward, not back or sideways.”

“Okay, big man.” She bit her lip. “Small steps.”

She grasped him behind the neck with her free hand and pulled him down to her lips. The kiss was searing, and he wrapped his arms around her to press her body against his.

He finally took a steadying breath as she relaxed in his hold. There had been a chance she would have thrown the book at him and cursed his dick for how stupid he was. He breathed her in and relished her sweet scent, one that was becoming laced with arousal.

“Wait,” she said, pulling away. She placed the book gently on his desk.

He reached for her, ready to pick the kiss back up, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“No.” She tsked. He was lost, lost in her and how far they’d come, and then she pushed him so hard he fell onto his bed—naked.

Ellea hadn’t even blinked, hadn’t even flinched, and she could make his clothes disappear. He pressed onto his elbows and sucked in a breath at the sight of her. Her leggings and sweater had been replaced with black lace things he had never seen on her. Her top was cut high, a silk bow wrapped around her neck, but the base had a scoop, revealing the bottom of her small breasts. It barely hid her peaked nipples. A garter belt hugged her stomach, and its straps criss-crossed her thick hips. The tight straps stopped mid-thigh, where three small obsidian daggers were tucked away on each leg.

“Fucking Gods.” He swallowed hard, groaning. “Where were you hiding that?”

“I created it,” she said slyly, caressing the frilly lace bottoms.

“So you’re still mad?” He hoped so. The thought had him hardening. And those daggers...

Fucking Hel.

“Oh yes, I am still furious.” She slowly kneeled to the ground in front of him.

Ros didn’t have words for how fucking sexy—how dangerous—she looked. Dangerous for her powers and the sharp objects decorating her perfect thighs. Also dangerous for how much of his soul she held in those hands that grasped the back of his calves, yanking him closer to the edge of the bed. He shuffled back to his elbows, not wanting to miss anything. She stared up at him under her lashes, a wicked smirk spread across her face as her newly grown claws slowly walked up his thighs. Gripping him hard, she sent waves of electricity through him, and he let out a strangled yelp as the pain shot straight to his dick.

“Mmmm,” she hummed, licking her lips as she eyed the pre-cum escaping his already too-hard erection.

“Fuck,” he cursed, long and low.