Page 57 of Wicked Curses
If she believed she could get to him, she would launch off the bed and beat him into a bloody pulp. Even fueled by rage, she’d never land a blow against Orin.
He was far too powerful and fast. They both knew it, which was why he was staring at her with a bored expression.
“My point,” she grated through her teeth, “is that I don’t trust a thing you say.”
“What’s between us is a game, Sahira.”
“I’m not a game!”
“But you are.”
The casual tone of his voice only increased the red clouding her vision. Shereallyhated him sometimes.
“You made yourself the challenge by declaring you’d never sleep with me, and I’m a man who likes to rise to every occasion. Like in chess, someone has to be checkmated. It won’t be me.”
“So, you’re admitting you’d do anything to destroy me.”
“I have no intention of destroying you, just winning the game.”
“Don’t you think I would bedisgustedwith myself for sleeping with you? Don’t you think that would destroy a piece of me?”
He tilted his head to the side as he studied her. “I think you’ll enjoy it too much to care. Besides, you can always continue to say no. That’syourdecision.”
That was true, but still… “I hate you.”
Unfazed by her words, he clasped his hands before him. “That will make the sex better.”
He had no idea how maddening he was, or, more likely, he did and didn’t care. She wanted to look away from his stare but couldn’t break eye contact with him. If she did, he might see it as a weakness; to this man, any weakness was something to exploit.
“I at least hope you’ve cleaned the sheets since your last parade of women through here,” she muttered.
He chuckled. “I have, and you inconsiderately interrupted my last parade.”
“What?”
He unclasped his hands as he rose, turned the chair around, and settled into it with unmatched grace. “I’m waiting for you, Sahira.”
She started to laugh but stopped at the seriousness of his expression. “What?” It was the only word she could form.
Grinning, Orin stretched his long legs before him. “I told you, I’m in this game to win it, and I have no doubt I will. There hasn’t been another woman since you’ve entered this realm, and there won’t be until I claim you; that’s how much confidence I have in myself.”
Unsure if that was infuriating or ridiculous, Sahira could only blink at him as his complete confidence that he would have sex with her sank in. “You must be hungry.”
“So must you.”
They stared at each other as the revelry downstairs ratcheted up. Orin was the first to break the silence.
“I know you don’t think much of me, and I’m okay with that. There are very few, inallthe realms, whose opinion matters to me, and they all share my blood, but I’m a lover of women. I worship their bodies and revel in their movements. I bring them great joy and only like hearing them scream in ecstasy… not pain or fear.”
Sahira had to keep herself from shifting as his words conjured the memory of him in her room, with his hand between her legs. No matter how often she tried to ease herself, the memory still turned her on.
“I do not beat or choke them… unless they ask me to, and then it’s only for their pleasure.”
“I’ve seen you kill women before. I was involved in the war that put Lexi back on the throne too.”
“Of course I’ve killed them before. Survival of the fittest, and we must do what’s necessary to survive in war, but I would never dothis”—he waved a hand at her face—“to someone. I know you don’t think much is beneath me, but I would never exhibit this level of cowardice.
“I go after my enemies head-on; I don’t hide behind shadows, spells, spirits, or whatever this thing is. And while you might continue to believe the absolute worst in me, deep down, you know it’s true.”
