Chapter Fifty-Five
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Elara’s heart pounded with anticipation as she walked arm-in-arm with Isra and Merissa. With her chin high, she stilled at the top of the grand staircase, assessing the scene below. Women in flimsy fabric milled around, the sensuous thump of music feeding the dark spell that seemed cast below Elara. She saw a couple against a wall, kissing passionately; elsewhere, a woman had her legs wrapped around the waist of a tall, muscled soldier, her dress hitched around her hips. The shadows within Elara twirled, longing to feel the pleasure set before her.
She turned to Merissa, whose eyes were already uncharacteristically dark, then to Isra, whose cool gaze was surveying the scene below with a mixture of delight and desire. The three slowly began to sashay down the grand staircase, noticing with satisfaction the heads whipping their way.
Soldiers and courtiers alike snagged their gazes on Elara’s bare leg, Isra’s curves and Merissa’s new suggestion of a dress—a far cry from the more demure gown she’d worn in Aphrodea. A handsome soldier, shirtless with his muscles rippling, came up to Isra and offered his hand.
‘ Move ,’ she scoffed, dancing away from his grasp. Elara stifled a laugh.
She could hear the music reverberating louder, so deep she could feel it pulsing through her. Its beat was different to the music in Aphrodea, a slow tempo with violins and drums that only added to the anticipation moving through her body.
As she reached the throne room doors, knowing Enzo must be waiting behind them, her pulse roared in her ears. From this point forward, the true debauchery would begin.
The guard by the door, his mouth gaping ajar, coughed. ‘After you, ladies.’
The door swung open.
Enzo was sprawled on his throne, his jacket discarded and his shirt unbuttoned low. Commanding energy radiated from his fire-lit eyes, hazy with ambrosia, his crown tipped on his head of midnight-black hair. He was talking to Leo over his shoulder, who was exhaling pink-coloured smoke from his mouth, sucking a pipe indolently. A woman with olive skin, blue-black hair and deep brown eyes was talking and laughing with them.
‘Now, there’s my date,’ Isra murmured, her eyes transfixed on the lovely woman.
‘You didn’t tell me you were courting someone,’ Elara whispered.
‘It’s casual,’ she replied, her eyes roving up and down the woman’s body.
Elara’s eyes narrowed as someone else slunk over to Enzo’s side—Raina, the chestnut-haired girl from her first night at the palace. She started to vie for Enzo’s attention but, to Elara’s relief, she rapidly tired of being ignored and walked off.
Steeling her nerves, Elara began to walk, Merissa and Isra falling into step. They took their time down the long aisle of the throne room. Elara barely registered the sweet scent of the smoke that filled the air and the bodies writhing in the shadows of the room, dancing and grinding, or moving and moaning in nooks behind gauze sheets that lined the cavernous room’s walls. Her eyes never left Enzo as she took her time, willing him to look at her.
She saw his body go rigid as though he sensed her before he saw her. His gaze flew to her. They locked eyes, the cup of ambrosia in his hand falling to the floor as a predatory look came over his face. His lips parted. Leo turned to see what had caused Enzo’s commotion and laid eyes on Merissa. He choked on the smoke he was inhaling, spluttering a cough. Elara bit back a smile.
She didn’t notice exactly when Isra and Merissa peeled off, only that she was suddenly alone, steps away from Enzo’s throne, close enough to smell the intoxicating amber scent that followed him everywhere. He straightened in his chair, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
‘Elara.’ The words were low, said in a voice she didn’t recognize, and her name uttered by that wicked mouth of his sent a coil of heat from her stomach to her core.
‘Prince.’ Her reply was barely a breath.
His jaw clenched, and she saw his hand curl against the arm of the chair as he leaned forwards. ‘I thought that maybe you wouldn’t attend tonight.’
She tilted her head. ‘Did you miss me?’
His gaze trailed from the pools of her chiffon skirt, right up the slit of her gown. He moved in his throne and met her gaze, his usual charm and composure sliding on like a mask.
‘Always.’ He smiled that same lion’s smile as he stood.
He extended a hand to her, his sleeves rolled to show his broad muscled arms, taut with tension. ‘Come with me,’ he commanded.
She leaned into him. ‘I think I’ve changed my mind about taking orders from you.’
A low sound escaped him before he replied. ‘You have seconds, princess,’ he said quietly, ‘before the very little restraint I have disappears and I decide I don’t mind an audience.’
She took his hand, nerves thrilling through her, as Enzo led her to the shadows. Parting sheer gauze, anticipation threatened to engulf her at what lay in front of her. Furs lined the small compartment, one of many that had lined the walls of the throne room, just for the night. A low divan sat at the centre, food spread on platters on a table beside it. A large glass pipe was positioned near the seats. At one with the solstice, her dark side taking over, she turned to Enzo who followed in behind her, pulling the gauze closed. She pushed him down on the divan, and he laughed softly.
She joined him, straddling him, and with a moan, his lips crashed against hers. He was hot—feverish. She revelled in his heat as his fire-touched fingers ran down her bare back. His tongue claimed hers, sweeping her mouth. She revelled in him, aware that in a few moments, Enzo would be able to completely unravel her.
He wrapped his hand around the length of her ponytail. ‘I like this,’ he murmured against her neck, pulling it sharply for emphasis so her nape remained bare. Desire rushed through Elara instantly, longing for more. She ground against him, feeling him hard underneath her, and he rumbled in response. She remained there, her hair tight in his fist as he licked and kissed her neck, her moans filling the space. Then, slowly, as though he had all the time in the world, he let go, sitting up further on the divan as she remained straddling him.
‘You look sinful.’ He reached for the pipe.
She snickered. ‘I never was that devout.’
Enzo wet his lips, looking at hers. ‘Do you want some?’ he asked, offering her the pipe, his voice low. Her mind was already hazy from the smoke and liquor, and she found herself nodding, biting her lip.
‘Aphrosmoke,’ he said, his eyes black. ‘Some claim it’s an aphrodisiac. Not that I think I will ever need that around you.’ He sucked on the pipe deeply, his eyes never leaving her face, and she watched his lips.
‘Open your mouth, princess,’ he said through a held breath, his rough thumb brushing her lips open. Then he brought his own a hair’s breadth from her and blew the sweet smoke into her mouth. She inhaled it hungrily, tasting a hint of candyfloss on the smoke, the act of intimacy setting flames to her as the sweet vapour dissipated quickly into her bloodstream. The taste reminded her of the clouds in Aphrodea.
The world fell away, the only feeling her pulse pounding from her core to her heart and back, driving pleasure through her veins. She moaned, arching her back as she let her head fall. Alive with carnality and uninhibited courage from the aphrosmoke, her eyes fell on the nearest platter of food. Enzo followed her gaze, seeing the chocolate-covered gildberries there.
‘I remembered how much you loved them,’ he murmured as he reached to pluck one from the platter. ‘How I watched you eat one, those beautiful lips of yours sucking and swirling around it as you looked at me.’ He drew closer, voice low. ‘I remember thinking to myself that I had never been so envious of a piece of fruit before.’ He raised the small fruit between them.
Holding his stare, she licked the gildberry he’d extended and moaned in pleasure, desire coursing through her at the flavour and his words. He rumbled his approval, his hands roaming over her body, exploring every inch with greed. Then, steel in her silver eyes and hazed with the drug, she took the gildberry from him and sank her mouth around two of his fingers, sucking the melted chocolate off them.
He cursed under his breath. ‘Elara,’ he pleaded, need heavy in his voice, as his thumb stroked her hipbone. Then he stilled.
‘Elara Bellereve. Please, Stars, tell me you’re wearing underwear.’
She gave a knowing smile as she raised a brow. ‘Why? What can you feel?’
His neck strained as he let out a long breath, looking to the ceiling. ‘Your plan all those months ago is working. You’re trying to fucking kill me.’
She laughed, reaching to kiss him, but he stilled her.
Gently, far more gently than she expected, he kissed her forehead. Then, to her disbelief, he lifted her off him, setting her back on the divan as he knelt before her.
With a deep breath, he reached for the golden crown atop his head.
‘Elara, before anything more happens between us, I want to give you this. My crown.’ He said it so quietly that she had to strain her ears. He placed the crown reverently on her head as a rush of laughter escaped her, her head swimming from the smoke. She stopped when she saw the sincerity in his gaze.
Elara’s breath quickened as his fingers trailed from her ankle up to her calf, maintaining eye contact with her the whole time. She felt a lick of fire as magick rippled from him, following the same path his fingers had. She shuddered, leaning back. Her dress fell in such a way that a leg was exposed by the hip-high slit to the cool air of the compartment.
‘Do you know how good you look wearing my crown, Elara?’
Her chest heaved as she watched his hand skim to her inner thigh, those lapping flames running a little higher.
‘It suits me better than you, I know,’ she teased, smirking even as her stomach flipped, every sense heightened.
He brushed his knuckles down a nerve on the soft part of her inner thigh. She sucked in a breath, tensing. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.
‘It does. Keep it on. I’ve always wanted to know what a queen tastes like.’
He pressed a soft kiss to her knee, and she let her head fall back, her eyes fluttering closed.
‘Now, are you going to finally follow orders?’
Elara’s eyes flew back open. ‘That depends. Are you going to make it worth my while?’
His tongue ran along his teeth. ‘I’m counting on it.’
‘Then, yes.’
His lips moved further up her thigh. She held her breath, wanting no feeling more than his lips and tongue on her.
‘Open your legs wider for me.’
Elara obliged, settling further into her seat.
‘Now take your hand, and touch yourself for me. Just like I’m sure you did many a time after our training sessions.’
He sat back on his haunches, arrogance playing on his lips. That alone had her biting her own as she followed his order, thinking of the times she had touched herself beneath the cover of darkness, always his hands replacing hers in her fantasies.
Breath racking with every movement, she trailed her hand down, delving beneath the opening in her dress. With no underwear on, the contact of her finger against her sex had her stifling a moan, and Enzo’s eyes darkened as he watched the shadow of movement behind the sheer material.
‘That’s it, princess,’ he encouraged. ‘Show me what I’m missing.’
The slide of her hand satiated only part of the need that raked through her, and she tried to chase it, tried to follow the pleasure. But it was no good. She wanted Enzo. She made a sound of frustration.
‘Do you need a little help?’ he asked, as he leaned forwards, enveloping her senses in amber as he braced each side of her chair and licked a trail from her collarbone to her ear.
‘Yes,’ she managed to pant.
Enzo covered her hand with his, before pressing firmly. She moaned as he dragged their hands in sync along her sensitive flesh.
‘Gods, I’ve dreamed about tasting this pretty little cunt,’ he whispered, before pulling away.
Elara gaped as he smirked, pressing a kiss to her neck before lowering himself back down her body again. He removed Elara’s hand, looking up at her, his mouth now hovering over her sex. ‘Now say please,’ he whispered against her.
She jolted as his breath caressed her, then arched as his tongue traced the material covering her flesh. She moaned as she felt the wet heat of it through the fabric, drawing a tantalizing circle around her. He sucked, eyes locked on her, and she swore, convinced she could climax from that alone. She had never in her life felt such desire and desperation, every nerve in her body pulsing.
‘I’m waiting,’ he murmured, as he drew his mouth off her.
Desire burned through any pride she had. One more swirl of his tongue was all it would take. ‘Pl—’
A rip through the gauze cut her sentence short.
In an instant, Elara vanished as King Idris strode into the small space. Enzo looked around in confusion, then anger as the king sneered at the compartment and at Enzo, who had swiftly stood.
‘Sorry to interrupt whatever this ,’ he gestured around to the scene before him, ‘is.’ He frowned. ‘Lorenzo, you and I need to talk.’
‘Not now, Father,’ he snapped, standing and scanning the room.
‘You will listen, and you will listen well,’ the king replied in a low snarl. With another desperate look at the compartment walls, Enzo turned fully to his father.
‘Out with it then,’ Enzo said coldly, smoothing his hair and putting his hands in his pockets.
‘Ariete intends to march for Helios.’
‘What?’ Enzo breathed.
Idris nodded. ‘He cannot use his starlight to simply descend, because of Leyon’s wards around our borders. But he can physically enter. Word from our spies reached me now—he is calling a Star’s Summit. And knowing the King of Stars, whether they agree with the breach in their patron kingdom agreement or not, he will come. I’d say we have no more than two days before he sets out.’
Elara measured her breath as she remained caught in her seam of reality.
‘Although, there is something you should know.’
Enzo waited.
‘In his rage, when he discovered he had been duped by Elara, Ariete destroyed the Asterian palace. There is nothing left of it. And no ruler. Apparently King Lukas disappeared weeks ago. The kingdom is now without a monarch. In utter turmoil. There is no one to succeed the throne, since most with ties to the crown were killed when Elara escaped.’ The King gave a small smile as Elara’s vision blurred with tears. ‘So Asteria is in chaos. And ripe for the taking. Our troops have already culled scores of their measly army stationed at the border, without a ruler.’
Tears began falling from Elara’s eyes as she shook silently. She knew her army. Had seen many of the soldiers each day within the palace’s grounds.
‘Why?’
‘Why?’ Idris laughed. ‘Because Asterians are vermin, Lorenzo. You know, once you shared the same sentiment. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the princess’s darkcraft?’
‘Of course not,’ Enzo snapped.
‘Because I noticed how you looked at her in Aphrodea.’
She saw Enzo’s face morph into disgust, even as her heart pounded. ‘You told us to put on an act. We did. I still can’t stand the Asterian.’
‘I hope so, Lorenzo,’ Idris replied. ‘Because she is your enemy. I hope you never forget it.’
He left, Enzo’s stance tense as he turned slowly.
‘Elara?’ he called.
But she remained silent, cloaked in her magick.
She heard a sigh and soft footsteps as he left the compartment. The moment he did, she collapsed, her illusion and hopes shattered around her.