A Passion for Potions (Petalfall #1)

14. Fourteen - Preparations

Fourteen - Preparations

Edric

Blicks waits for me by the door, but he doesn’t take my coat and leave. He stays close, waiting. Eyes narrowed.

I know what he wants, and he will get it, of course. But he won’t get it until Viggo hears as well.

He knows that.

They all know, which is why they’re in the sitting room making busy work as Viggo watches them, amused.

“Will you please sit down?” I spare Viggo a look. I’ll scold him later.

When they’re finally seated, I take a breath. “She has agreed to come to dinner tonight.”

The sooner they are satisfied, the sooner I can answer questions and have some peace.

“Does she have any allergies?” Murdoch asks, fluttering her wings. The harpy has been our cook for a year, but it often feels as though she has always been with us.

I did remember to ask a few questions before I left her to her work.

“No, but she does not like the taste of Burdock root.”

The woman scoffs. “I could make her like it.”

“But not this time.” Blicks casts a sharp glare at her.

Fluttering in reluctant agreement, she slips through the hidden door to the servant’s halls and Blicks casts a glance between Viggo and me. “I will ensure that everything goes perfectly.”

“I have no doubt.”

“You will eat in the dining room tonight,” he says.

“If that’s what you want.”

“She is our guest.” He looks at me like he did when I was a little boy and he needed to teach me a particular lesson. “We will attend her as we would the Queen herself.”

Viggo makes a small noise, drawing Blicks’ attention.

“I plan to invite her back to our bed,” Viggo winces. “I wouldn’t dare suggest that to Aprica.”

Blicks flinches at the casual use of the Queen’s given name and I clear my throat to regain his attention.

“We will dine as you see fit.”

Blicks nods and then shoos the rest of them from the room, closing the doors and leaving us in relative silence.

Viggo watches the door with a smirk on his face. “I have never seen them so enthusiastic about a visitor. I think she’s excited them even more than an actual royal visit would.”

“And you know exactly why.”

“I do. Though, I wish we had not told them about her yet. One more night of her all to ourselves... The things we could do.”

He stands, coming to me, gaze on my lips. “Do you remember the little sounds she made? Do you remember the way she arched against us?”

“I remember everything.” I catch him by the throat and back him against the wall.

“Are you going to behave?” I ask, squeezing his throat as roughly and as gently as I can.

“For you? Probably not.” His hand goes to the front of my trousers, stroking me through the fabric.

“Tonight?” I caress his throat with my thumb. “Are you going to behave tonight when she arrives?”

“I’ll do my best.”

It’s not an agreement, but it is the most I can hope for from him in this.

He shivers, licking his lips. “There’s one way to make me more likely to be good.”

His teeth press into his lower lip and I raise my other hand to his mouth. He nips at my finger, licking... sucking.

“How do you think she’d react if she saw you this way?” I ask as he works my buttons open.

He undoes the front of my trousers and his wicked fingers free me from the fabric, stroking me as he sucks my finger greedily. But he doesn’t answer. How could he with my finger—fingers, now—filling his mouth?

He moans instead.

“Do you think she would reward you for your impatience the way I do?”

He nods, and it’s enough of a distraction that I’m able to pull my fingers free without slicing them apart.

“She’d reward both of us.” He licks his lips again and his fingers reach down, toying with my balls. “There’s more than enough of all of us to go around.”

Releasing his throat, I step closer to him and push his head back and up. My lips go to his throat, my teeth raking across his skin.

He tastes like rosewater and spice and when my teeth sink in—not breaking the skin—his whole body tenses and he curses me a moment before he shoves me away.

I chuckle as I look at him... the picture of perfection, not a hair or button out of place. But I was so close to getting him there with a simple bite.

I strip off my cravat and waistcoat. But Viggo is the one who gets my shirt out of my pants and my pants down to my ankles.

He doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t ask for permission, he takes what he knows is his.

But the delight of getting what he wants dims and his brows pinch.

“Why do you look disappointed?”

He pulls back, but only long enough to say, “I had hoped you might taste like her.”

“Did you?”

He nods and sucks a little harder. “I imagined you setting her on her counter—her shop has a counter, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“I imagined you setting her on her counter, lifting up her skirts and making her cry out with pleasure again.”

“Is that what you would have done?”

“I would have asked very nicely if she would let me fuck her there. And if she was shy, I would have taken her on the floor behind that counter.”

“If she let you.”

He nods, mouth stuffed full of my cock.

It’s difficult to keep my eyes open as his mouth pulls on me, as the pleasure flows through me. “How is this going to make you behave?”

He chuckles, and I know this isn’t his only plan for the intervening hours before she gets here.

Especially when his teeth sink into me.

I grab hold of his head to keep myself steady and jerk as the orgasm rips through me, but his teeth release and he sucks as he pulls back on me until he can look up.

He holds his mouth open wide, eyes locked on mine, and sparkling, as he strokes the rest of my cum onto his tongue.