CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ROZLYN
Rozlyn cracked open her eyes, the soft blue glow of the grotto enveloping her. Wispy smoke curled above as her head rested against Haven’s firm chest, and her heart sang. She’d told herself over and over again throughout the years to never fall in love with a patron. There had never been one who she’d been close to feeling that way about. Thinking a patron was handsome? Many times. But not falling for one like she was doing now. No matter that the Marquis of Shadows was seeking out his perfect match. The way the butterflies swarmed in her stomach was a secret she would keep stitched away behind a barrage of fabrics and threads. No other would ever know of the words she’d spoken inside her mind.
However, she couldn’t not think of the night before and the way Haven had pleasured her so remarkably. As he’d buried himself inside her, he’d been gentle, slow, precise, seeming to make certain he would hit every petal of her flower just right, alighting each and every nerve until she fully bloomed. It was as if he hadn’t wanted the pleasure to end as much as she’d wanted it to go on forever. If this was to be their last time resting beside one another before they reached Souldark’s castle, and he declared his undying love for Vivienne, Rozlyn wanted one last experience. To please him in the way he had her when his tongue had swirled and kissed up her center. Haven’s cock had been inside her mouth on the night they’d consummated, but he hadn’t come on her tongue, and she yearned to taste him at least once. If she didn’t, she would spend her days working at her dress shop, wondering what it would’ve been like all while he was settling into Souldark’s castle. Even if Vivienne didn’t choose Haven, the Marquis of Shadows would still end the lord’s life and claim the throne as his own. That would never change.
As she peered up at Haven’s sharp features, for once, the line between his dark brows was smooth. The past three sleeps when she’d taken a peek at him, the line had always remained there as if he couldn’t relax, even in sleep.
Rozlyn lifted off his warm chest and crawled forward, kissing the slope of Haven’s neck, flicking her tongue against his salty skin, and he groaned. “Would you like me to venture lower?” she whispered in his ear.
“Yes,” he rasped, his arm anchoring around her waist, his other hand drifting down her spine and cupping her backside. Heat spread low in her stomach at his touch, but this moment was meant for him.
Rozlyn ignited flames of kisses down Haven’s taut chest, his muscular abdomen, until she reached his glorious cock, already wide awake for her.
She grasped his manhood and leisurely licked up his shaft, then sank her mouth over his velvety flesh. Haven fisted her hair, and she catered to him as a courtesan would, as someone who cared about him should. It was an act she’d never minded, that she always considered a simple task, but it didn’t feel that way now—she delighted in her own pleasure in hearing his uneven breath, his deep lustful sounds. His body tightened, then jerked, his cock twitching as he spilled his flavor onto her tongue. She swallowed the Marquis of Shadows’ delicious saltiness down, and her gaze met his from her lowered position.
“Mmm,” he said, then grasped her arms and pulled her up to him so her face hovered above his. “That’s something I wouldn’t mind waking to every morning.” A smile curled his lips. Not a smirk but a smile . A dazzling one that lit up his whole face. Whether he was brooding or smiling, there was beauty in them both, but she rather liked this expression he was showing her. Akin to a secret between them.
A lock of his white hair was stuck to his cheek, and she tucked it away from his face, his blue eyes watching her every move. “I’ve never seen irises as pale as yours. They’re beautiful.”
He moistened his lower lip before speaking, his smile becoming a smirk again. “My hair was black and my eyes brown until I fucked up a spell.”
Rozlyn traced a finger over his lips and drawled, “I thought you’ve only fumbled a spell once .”
Haven rolled his eyes. “I didn’t fumble exactly . I was trying to create a spell so I could shift like some of the other sorcerers in Grimm. It drained a little more energy from me than it should’ve. I was four and still learning, so I don’t count it.”
“You were that powerful at four ?” Rozlyn’s lips parted. She had started sewing at an early age, but this was different.
“Of course. I built my tower with sorcery at three.” He shrugged, his amused gaze locked on hers. “I traveled to all the courts after that. Except I didn’t visit Souldark until I was eleven when I’d received word from the lord requesting a spell. Souldark frightened my mother, so I’d stayed away before that.”
“Do you miss your parents?” If something happened to Madam, there would be more times that she would think about her than not.
“She was a good mother, but I wouldn’t say I miss her. My time with her was a series of fleeting moments in my past, like all things.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s true,” Rozlyn said. “You still think of Vivienne. When did you know you were in love with her?”
Haven’s frown returned. “Vivienne is my match. She was a close friend, a confidant, a sorceress whose spells made mine stronger.”
Rozlyn cocked her head. “I don’t believe that answered my question.”
“Love isn’t always necessary.”
She blinked at his unexpected words. Haven was doing all of this, setting his sights on revenge, attempting to win Vivienne back after killing Adham and claiming this court as his own, because of his sorcery ? Not because he loved her?
At the brothel, love wasn’t necessary either, but courtesans and patrons both understood that. If one happened to fall in love with the other, they knew beforehand that they weren’t meant to. Occasionally, they would get married, but it was extremely rare.
“I won’t tell you what your decision should be, Haven,” Rozlyn said softly. “But, I will tell you this—a right choice for you might be a wrong choice for me, one that I would never make. If you don’t love Vivienne, and you’re destroying her happiness for revenge, then you might want to think more on the matter. Love was at least something , a reason . You’re already the most powerful sorcerer in Grimm, even without her.”
The edges of Haven’s lips curled up, except this time, the smile was cruel. “Have you been in love before, Rozlyn?”
Her words caught in her throat, and she cast her gaze away from him so he couldn’t uncover how she felt.
“You are now, aren’t you?” he cooed. “You know better than anyone not to fall for someone who could never return your affections.”
Rozlyn fought the tears building in her eyes, but they filled them anyway. As her body started to tremble, she peeled herself away from him. With every patron, through every experience, not once had anyone made her feel like this, so hollow, and from one simple sentence. However true the words he’d spoken were, the way he said them was as cruel as his expression. And he’d said them purposely to hurt her.
Rozlyn was foolish, but her kindness was a trait she couldn’t help. She wouldn’t listen to him berate her for emotions she couldn’t control. As she reached for her dress, Haven’s hand snaked around her wrist, and she yanked out of his grip.
“Rozlyn, look at me,” Haven said as he edged closer.
She ignored him and picked up her garment when he placed his hand gently against her cheek. “I’m a selfish bastard,” he said, his tone not delicate in the least. “You knew this.”
“You don’t even know how to give a simple apology!” she spat as true anger coursed through her for the first time. Here. In this cavern. With him.
“Fuck it all.” He sighed. And then his lips were on hers, the dress falling from her fingers as she gasped. Rozlyn knew the Marquis of Shadows would never grovel, and she didn’t need him to either. This might not be enough of an apology to anyone else, but it was to her. He’d told her no kissing on the mouth, and yet, he was kissing her as if she were his lifeline.
Haven parted her lips with his tongue, then slipped it into her mouth to caress with hers. The kiss deepened, and he lifted one of her legs around his waist, backing her into the grotto wall.
“I only meant to kiss you,” he rasped, his hardened length pressing into her folds. “Not to be a selfish bastard again, but I desperately need to be inside of you.”
“You are who you are, and I’m not trying to change you,” Rozlyn murmured. She shifted forward so that the tip of his cock lingered at her entrance before pulling him closer. He growled as he buried himself into her fully with one deft movement.
Haven squeezed her thigh as he thrust, and she met him with her rhythmic movements, increasing the friction for them both. She dug her fingers into his back so hard that bruises would be left behind. He kissed her thoroughly while his cock continued to massage her core. These sensations were everything , akin to the sun bursting into beautiful golden orbs at any given moment.
When pleasure blossomed inside Rozlyn, her fingers somehow bit into him even more, their bodies both erratic and creating perfection. And as she moaned, her orgasm rolled through her in a way that not only made her quake but nearly made her shatter into smiling and satisfied fragments on the cavern ground. Only a short moment later, Haven shouted, his thrust slower, and he pressed into her again, spilling inside her and whispering, “Rozlyn.”
Before he pulled out of her, his lips came to hers once more. And this wasn’t just any kiss—it was a kiss that stories could be told about, that one could only wish for, that a courtesan wasn’t aware she could truly want.
As Haven’s lips left hers, his gaze didn’t waver. “Once we arrive at the castle, I’ll announce a duel with Adham instead of murdering him outright. That’s as far as I’m willing to budge. I’ll win in the end anyway.”
It was something she hadn’t expected or asked for, but she knew he was doing it for her. Rozlyn placed a hand on his cheek. “That’s fair. Maybe you’re not entirely selfish after all.”
Even though the way he would become the Lord of Souldark had changed, she didn’t ask him what would become of Vivienne because the answer would be the same. And, for Haven’s happiness, at least if he didn’t murder the lord outright and won a duel instead, Vivienne might accept being his match again.
However, Rozlyn’s own heart had swelled. She’d fallen, hopelessly and recklessly in love with an unattainable man, but she would find a way to persevere as she had her entire life. A courtesan must do what was necessary.
Once they dressed, they passed through a few more passageways in the cavern, but it didn’t take much longer for them to come out of an opening at the bottom of an alabaster hill. The warm sun shone against her face, and she breathed in the pine air.
Rozlyn’s lips parted when she absorbed her surroundings—the world wasn’t truly alive here but more so than in any other part of Souldark with translucent grass and gray leaves in trees that nearly looked palpable. Sorcery at its finest. A village of chalky white cottages and black thatched roofs were sprinkled throughout rolling black hills, and in the middle of it all rested a castle made entirely of what appeared to be bones.
She blinked. “That looks cozy . Are they real?”
“The ones inside are.”