Page 71 of The Heartless One
Even standing in the garden didn’t help. She liked to be outside to think. It helped her mind to still and her heart to relax a little. But now being outside didn’t change anything whatsoever.
She tilted her head back, trying to breathe through the worries that plagued her. Fortuna was part of something so much more than any of them could have guessed. Leon had some magic spell up his sleeve that would trick the entire world into doing… what? All they’d uncovered thus far were more questions and more fears that she just couldn’t understand.
Fortuna knew more than she was letting on. When they were children, Fortuna had always been the ambitious one. Power had been all her cousin wanted, but now it seemed like she hungered for more than that. She wanted to be the queen, whom everyone feared. Leon was the easiest way to get there.
But there wasn’t a way to stop her. Not yet, at least.
Jessamine hated evenings like this. Everything felt too tight—her shirt, her pants, even her skin wrapped her in an inadequate prison.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” she muttered.
“I know a way to clear your mind.” The silken-smooth voice made every part of her shiver.
And therein lay another problem. Every time Elric walked by her, she felt like her entire body was on fire. She wanted him. She hadn’t had nearly enough of him. This deathless god lived inside of her head without her ever giving him permission to be there.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m still mad at you.”
But that voice trickled from over her shoulder, dripping down between her breasts in tantalizing need. “You can still be angry at me and let me do what I want to do with you.”
That hunger in her grew ever more. She hated how weak she was. She hated that he was even here.
Elric circled her, and the moonlight played across the revealed muscles of his chest. He was shirtless and glorious. All that smooth muscle laid out for her to see was far too tempting. He knew it, too. He knew what he was doing to her as he paraded in front of her and then lifted an arm over his head as though he was stretching.
“Elric. I haven’t decided how to feel about what you did.”
“You don’t have to decide. But why punish both of us? At least you could get something out of it.” He reached for her, those hands too hesitant when she knew how he could grab her.
Then he did. He had his hands on her waist, slowly pushed her backward, step by step. “Why punish yourself? You know what you want. I know what you want. Use me, gravesinger. I’m begging you to.”
She let him push her until her back hit a wall. A cool breeze brushed along her suddenly overheated skin as Elric braced himself on his forearm just above her head. Trapped against his body, all she could think about was the way he smelled so warm and how needy she suddenly was.
Pressing her thighs together, she tried her best to stay grounded. “I don’t see you begging.”
“Is that what you need?” He quirked a brow. “I will take whatever you give me, gravesinger. If you think I am above begging because I am a god, you would be sorely mistaken. If you want to use me, then use me. It’s better than your silence.”
She was a weak, stupid woman. Because she put her hand on his shoulder and gently pushed down.
He didn’t hesitate. This unending god filled with power sank to his knees. He placed his palms on his thighs, looking up at her with complete and utter joy on his face.
“Beg me,” she said, her voice ragged with some emotion she could not name. Anger? Yes. Frustration? Certainly. But also something more.
For a moment, his eyes widened. But then she saw something shift in him. Some part of her deathless god who needed to pay a penance for what he had done with her. To her.
His hands glided up her thighs, fingers trailing along her skin even ashe shifted closer. “You are the only goddess I will ever worship,” he murmured. “Please. Let me touch you.”
“You’re already touching me.”
“Let me taste you.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Maybe. Beg me more.”
“I have been unable to sleep without you by my side. The mere thought of you lying in our bed, without me, is torture. I wish nothing more than to pleasure you, nightmare. I do not even require pleasure of my own. Just let me make you feel better.” He leaned forward, pressing an open-mouthed kiss just above her hip. “If you want to use me, then I will grovel at your feet for an ounce of your attention.”
The words were eerily similar to what he said the other gods had done to humans. Eerily similar to the Warrior King’s words himself.
This man. He always managed to get under her skin.
She fisted a handful of his hair, making him look at her. “I have my own needs, Deathless One. You are lucky that you satisfy those needs.”
