Chapter 16 #2
Bubbles floated toward the mildew-speckled rafters in the high ceiling. I watched them journey to their doom while eating another strawberry, humming as I chewed. I dropped the remnants into the bowl on the ledge of the pool and sucked my fingers.
And nearly screamed when darkness caught the edge of my vision.
A cat, larger than most and black, sat by the cracked open door.
Familiar green eyes calmed my heart—until the cat took two steps forward before dissolving into a flurry of expanding shadows.
A man walked out of them, clothed and grinning at my chest. “Looks like you need to wash some wine off those lovely tits, lethal.” As his eyes swept to mine, he drawled, “An arduous task I’d be honored to assist you with.”
Still gaping at the receding shadows, I quickly righted my wineglass. “H-how?”
Brey reached behind him to pull his cream shirt over his head. Dropping it, he stepped out of his suede brown boots. “Well…” He unbuttoned his matching trousers. “By climbing into the bathing pool and—”
“No.” Unable to find the right words, I waved my hand at where those shadows had been. “That. How do you do that?”
He smirked.
And I almost forgot about his ability to shift into a cat when his trousers were pushed down his legs.
Kicking free of them, Brey gathered his hair. “It used to happen when I got overwhelmed in any way.” He bound the black strands into a knot atop his head. “Now, I can force those feelings to still and wait until I’m ready to set some of that energy free.”
He then joined me in the bathing pool, and I became thoroughly distracted by his physique. All of that lean muscle, kissed by the sun and sprinkled with dark hair. The sharp definition of his hips. His bobbing, erect cock.
He sat and took my feet. Setting them on his legs, he rubbed one, thumb pressing expertly into my arch.
I purred as if I were the cat.
“You were supposed to save me some strawberries,” he said.
“I saved you one.”
“One.” He dug his thumb into the center of my arch.
I squirmed. “A very large one.”
His eyes narrowed disapprovingly. But his mouth quirked.
I reached for the strawberry and offered it to him. Gently, his teeth snatched half of it. Chewing and rubbing my other foot, he said, “You eat the rest.” He swallowed. “I like watching you lick your fingers.”
As I gave him what he wanted, his gaze lingered on my mouth.
Then I remembered what I’d intended to ask him. “How do your clothes stay on and intact when you change shape?”
He took my glass of wine and sipped. It was placed on the ledge of the bathing pool as he explained, “It’s only my soul changing forms, and however I was in either form is how I’ll be when I return to it.”
“Dare I ask why you changed forms while I was waiting for you?” I slid my foot up his chest. “Are you not done spying on people, Majesty?”
“Watching you is something of an addiction.” He bit my toe, earning a ridiculous giggle from me. “So much so, I’ve decided I no longer need sleep.”
Again, I laughed.
Water rushed around us as he pulled my legs over his and slid his own on either side of me. My face was captured between his hands. He skimmed his nose over my cheek. “You leave me tomorrow,” he murmured.
“I do.”
His swallow was loud. “And?”
“And?” I repeated, fighting a smile.
“You torture me.”
“Hasn’t deterred you yet.”
“It never will.”
“Never?” I clasped his face.
“Never.” Softly, he kissed me. “Fucking.” He kissed me again. “Ever.” Eyes holding mine captive, he said, “There is no remedy for this affliction, lethal, and if there were, I would destroy any trace of it.”
Breath vanished from my lungs.
I kissed him, hard and unmoving.
I twined my arms around his neck and pressed close enough to feel his erection graze my stomach. Easing back, I found myself in awe of him once again. Entranced, I watched his pupils change as he smoothed his thumb over my lower lip.
It was terrifying to put my trust in this king. Exquisitely foolish to believe that this marriage could be even better than the life I was leaving behind, and that it could stay just like this. That we could keep this.
Always.
As if seeing the hope and apprehension in my eyes, Brey brushed his thumb beneath one. “Tell me, Ethelsia Blueburn…” His question was whispered, almost fearful. “Will you gladly marry me now?”
I stared at him.
In blistering waves, the last six evenings danced through my mind.
I wasn’t sure I could say that I was glad I was getting married. But I was sure that if I had to marry someone, I would choose him. I would choose this mischievous, purring, obsessively attentive king.
My heart took flight, as if freed from a cage. “Breyron Saltblood…” I leaned my forehead against his. “I will gladly marry you.”
A sea of purple and black and crimson awaited beyond the stairs I couldn’t seem to leave.
Though I’d been curious about his whereabouts, I was now relieved by the king’s absence. After the effort he’d gone to, I didn’t want him to see such hesitation.
It wasn’t the colors.
Nor was it the numerous silk and velvet pillows drowning the four-poster bed and the deep purple armchairs beyond it.
In fact, I rather liked all of it. I especially liked the tufted carpet beneath the chairs and at the foot of the bed.
I even liked the matching cherrywood nightstands and dressing table.
It wasn’t the furnishings that troubled me. It was simply the rooms.
My own rooms.
To be expected. I was sure many bonded vampires didn’t share a bed unless they wanted to create an heir. That my belongings had been delivered here, to this tower that had been prepared just for me, was normal. Professional and courteous, really.
And incredibly disheartening.
In a slight daze, I walked back down the tower stairs, but lingered on the threshold with a hand pressed against the open steel door. Perhaps I could take my belongings to Brey’s tower. Or perhaps he wanted them in my own.
Wanted me in my own rooms.
“Ethel?” he called.
The door closed as I spun to face the hall. My breath fluttered, and my heartbeat seemed to bounce.
He’d been running—his hair windswept. A tremulous smile lit his eyes as he slowed his pace. “You’re early.”
“I am.”
“A week early.”
“Is that a problem?”
Brey halted and cocked his head. His eyes roamed my face, then my body, sticking to where my hands clasped tight atop my stomach.
I pulled them apart and donned a smile.
But before I could open my mouth, he opened his. “Did something happen?”
Perceptive, this king. Too perceptive.
I’d had trouble shaking loose some lovers in the past. Maxus, however, had proven to be a different sort of difficult. When I’d returned from my week with the king, he’d been waiting. Watching as the carriage had alighted on the estate’s drive.
I hadn’t spoken to the made vampire. I didn’t wish to be caught alone with him and his anger. Maybe I was a coward. I didn’t care. I also had no desire to explain what I already had, regardless of how poorly I’d done so, and really, I didn’t need to.
Maxus knew that our time together had ended.
But it hadn’t stopped him from prowling the manor in search of me—from knocking on my locked door until it rattled and the staff noticed.
The only thing that would make him leave me be was telling my father.
Except there was a good chance Maxus would escape punishment, and that my father would blame his guard’s behavior on me. I’d wanted to avoid Maxus and a long stay in the woodland cellar. I’d also wanted to flee the home I’d vehemently lamented leaving.
I’d wanted to return to my feline king.
So here I was. The guard was a problem, certainly, but one that should disappear after our wedding.
Rather than say any of that, I feigned offense. “If you’re not delighted to see me, I can leave.”
Brey’s brows furrowed. Only momentarily.
A knowing gleam entered his eyes. Closing the space between us, he cupped my cheeks and placed his lips on my forehead. They lingered there, and his rough exhale warmed my skin before he murmured, “I wrote you.”
“I know.”
He tilted my chin to search my eyes.
To keep him from hunting for answers I wouldn’t give him, I rose onto my toes to whisper against his mouth, “I touched myself after I read it.” My lips grazed his. “And while I read it again.”
He knew what I was doing.
But he lifted and pressed me against the wall. He gathered my skirts until I could twine my legs around his waist, then pushed his mouth into mine with bruising force. Groaning, he dug his cock into my undergarments. “Lethal?”
I exhaled, “Yes?”
A husked chuckle pebbled my skin as he kissed the corner of my mouth. “Does it feel like I’m not delighted to see you?”
Smiling, I rocked over his erection.
He cursed, then kissed me until all I could think about was getting more and more of him. As I tried to do just that by pulling at his shirt, he tore his mouth away.
A little breathless, he laid his forehead on the wall. “Wait.”
“Why?”
He sniffed my hair and groaned. “I cannot seem to remember.”
Laughing, I turned my head toward his. “Then give your mouth back to me or take me to your rooms.”
His head rose, eyes alight. “I remember.” A genuine smile tilted his mouth crookedly, endearingly. “We’ll need to play after.” He carefully set me on my feet and snatched my hand. Pulling me down the hall, he said, “I was in the middle of something when Groth told me you’d arrived.”
“Something?”
He didn’t answer. Just tossed me a mischievous smile before tugging me down the stairs. His pace didn’t slow until we’d reached the kitchen.
Releasing me, he twirled, the sleeves of his loose cream shirt swaying. “Allow me to proudly present to you…” Rounding the island bench, he then bowed with spread hands. “Our cake selections.”
Three cakes lined the bench before him.