30. Vesper
“You think this is fucking funny?” I asked as Aurelia led me down the hall.
My body ached. The wounds on my arms, face, and legs were slowly being healed by whatever magic Cedar had pumped into me on the car ride over, but it wasn’t enough to make the pain go away.
It only added to
I was fuming. Her swooping in to rescue me was not part of the plan. The prince was gone. She shouldn’t have interfered with whatever was going on in my life. Hell, she should have been rejoicing that I was gone.
So why the fuck am I back in this godforsaken place?
“I didn’t think you disappearing on my wedding day only to find you had sworn your loyalty to my father very funny,” she hissed, turning on her heels to face me. Her lips formed a pout, and her eyes were as sharp as ever.
Is she fucking kidding me? I was the whole reason she was able to get out of marrying him. To live. Yet she was somehow still blaming me?
I hadn’t had a chance to take her in on the way back to the palace. I was too busy trying to calm myself while simultaneously ignoring her and that damned witch who kept sticking her nose in places she shouldn’t.
She looks good. Safe.
“Sworn loyalty?” I asked with a scoff. The anger was becoming unbearable. Boiling up inside me and heating my skin. “I was helping you! You know your crazy fucking father put me in the dungeon? You think I wanted to be down there?”
She let out an annoyed growl.
“You told a secret that wasn’t yours to tell!” she blurted out, closing the space between us. She was so close, I could feel her front brushing across mine. The scent of her floral hair care wafted in my face.
The sun was shining in through the windows, sending colorful rainbows all over the intricate wallpaper, plush carpeted floors, and her face. It was beautiful. The way they splashed against her skin and lit up her blue eyes. The darkness of the dungeons made me forget just how mesmerizing she could be in the light.
“You should have stayed out of it.”
She let out a huff of laughter.
“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” she asked and cocked her head to the side, a sly smile forming on her face. “A little mouse not staying in her lane. Interfering when she shouldn’t have. Maybe this is karma coming to bite you in the ass.”
She was close enough to touch.
I hadn’t realized just how much I needed to touch her until she invaded my space. It was like a parasite working its way into my brain and controlling my movements. I couldn’t stop myself.
“What else would you have me do?” I asked, stepping closer. She moved to the side, trying to put some space between us, but I followed. A silly dance where we both knew the outcome we wanted but neither of us was ready to admit it. “Have you marry him? Have him use your name to start a war and get you killed?”
“You killed him and started the war anyway,” she growled and tilted her head up to maintain eye contact with me.
“You don’t seem all that upset about it, princess,” I murmured, my voice dropping when I realized the wall was just behind her. She leaned against it, looking up at me with those angry eyes I adored so much. Her neck was outstretched, inviting me to wrap my hand around the delicate column.
I had thought about those eyes so much. Both while her father had me and while I was tied up in my house. As angry as I was, I was relieved more than anything that she was alive. The exact opposite of what my job entailed, but it was so much sweeter.
I leaned close, putting my hand on the wall beside her head. So close. Just one move, and our bodies would be pushed against each other.
“Well, are you?” I probed, needing her to answer. Needing her to admit that I actually did exactly what she wanted me to do. For her to realize that it was me who saved her. For her to confirm that throwing away any further contact with my family and the organization that controlled us wasn’t all for nothing.
“He was mine to kill,” she growled as her eyes searched my face, moving from my eyes down to my lips. “His blood should be on my hands. When people think of what happened at my wedding, they should be seeing me with my knife in his chest.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the image.
“But you choked. Froze right up until the very end,” I murmured. Anger flashed across her face at the insult. “You did look quite breathtaking covered in his blood, though. I’d pay good money to see it again.”
She tilted her head up even more, the anger starting to fade and something else taking its place.
This shouldn’t happen. Not again.
But the electric tension that had been swirling around us was hard to ignore. Her breathing deepened, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
I gave into the urge to gently place my fingers around her neck before trailing them down to her chest. The gleam of the silver chain that was tucked into her clothing caused my heart to skip a beat. She kept the present. The softness of her skin was intoxicating. I let my fingers brush across the hem of her top before running them down the side of her breasts.
She ever so slightly arched into me.
“You should have told me what you were planning,” she said breathlessly. I made it down to her waist, then to her mid-thigh, before bringing my hand up again.
Every other time before had been rushed, in the heat of the moment. Never once had I been able to indulge myself. To actually take in her little reactions to even the slightest brush of my fingers against her clothed body.
I wanted to study it. Commit it to memory so that I would never forget what happened between us.
“Is this my punishment?” I asked, letting my hand trail back up her leg. “You buying me as your pet? To have whenever you wish after I tried so hard to escape you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her breathing hard. My hand trailed to her waist before lightly teasing the underside of her breast. She didn’t push me away or force me this time. She was letting me take my time with her. It felt more like a reward than a punishment. “I wanted to show you that there’s no way to escape me. Even if you hadn’t agreed to it, I would have made sure you were right back here kneeling at my feet, where you belong.”
Where I belong. The spoiled princess was making a comeback. Even after everything, Aurelia remained the same person she was before the wedding.
A selfish part of me was glad she hadn’t changed. That she still wanted to play with me. To control me.
It was a part I was all too eager to play.
“Like this?” I asked, then slowly lowered myself to my knees, my face at her stomach. I let my lips brush across her clothed belly.
Her eyes hooded, and her mouth opened slightly, enough to give me a view of her fangs. It was so reminiscent of our first night together. I was kneeling between her legs the same way, and she was looking down at me like a queen perched on her throne.
“Better,” she said with a light smirk.
But unlike then, I wasn’t fighting the control she had over me. I took pleasure in it.
“And what if I try to escape these horrid conditions?” I teased her ankle with my fingers, slipping them under her skirt and slowly placing her leg over my shoulder. I kneaded the tense muscles. A move that had her relaxing against me.
“I’ll find you,” she vowed in a whisper. It wasn’t an empty threat. Her gaze told me she would do exactly that. Over and over again until she grew bored of our cat-and-mouse game. “And then I’ll bring you back here. Lock you up so you’d never have a chance to leave me ever again.”
I pushed her skirt up, baring her underwear to me. Light pink with a lace frill. My mouth watered at the sight. I turned my head to the side, brushing a kiss against her thigh.
Her intake of breath had my own arousal growing. There was something so satisfying about turning the princess into a panting mess. About having her become something she wouldn’t dare show anyone else.
“Be careful,” I warned with a smile. “Or it might just sound like you missed me.”
I leaned forward, placing a kiss over the growing wet spot in the thin fabric. She let out a high-pitched noise, her hips jerking against me, begging me to continue.
“And if I said I did?”
I hooked my fingers in the fabric and pushed it to the side.
“Go on,” I breathed. “Tell me how much you missed me, and I’ll reward you, princess.”
I let my tongue brush across her folds, savoring the way she shuddered against me. So easy. The once ice-cold, cruel princess was falling apart with so little effort.
Having my face in her cunt in the middle of the hallway probably wasn’t the best look after I killed her husband-to-be…but god, did it make me feel powerful.
She thought she was keeping me captive, but she was the one who came to find me. To drag me back just so she could feel my tongue against her. I was an obsession she couldn’t get rid of, and she would do anything in her power to force me to her side.
She was the captive. She just hadn’t realized it yet.
“I missed your mouth,” she said, her hand threading through my hair and forcing my face into her cunt. My lips found her clit, sucking hard on it before making a trail to her entrance.
Fuck, I forgot how sinful she tastes.
“That’s a good girl,” she moaned. “Make my purchase worth it, hm?”
She asked for it. I fastened my lips to her clit again before pushing two fingers inside her.
If she wanted to be fucked, I had no choice but to oblige. Her moans were sweet as they filled the hallway. Her pussy clenched around my fingers as I pumped them in and out of her.
She arched into me, her hand keeping my head still so she could grind against my face. I could just make out her expression as I looked up at her. Her mouth was open, pleasure strewn across her face.
That’s right, princess. Lose yourself in me.
“I’m so mad at you,” she said through her moans. “I waited for you the entire day, and when you didn’t show, I panicked. How dare you leave me right as I was about to get married off?”
I twisted my fingers inside her, pumping faster. Her wetness was dripping down her legs, making a mess of the carpet below, of my clothes.
I wanted more of it. I wanted everyone to know just how messy their perfect little princess got.
“And then when I saw you—god—I had never seen you like that before. So…unleashed.”
She was going to come thinking about it. Her cunt started to flutter around me, and her movement became more erratic.
I pulled away from her, slowing down.
“Not so fast, princess,” I said as I licked my lips. “You really think you deserve to come so easily after everything?”
She narrowed her eyes at me and tried to jerk her hips against me as the pace of my hand between her legs slowed, but I used my other hand to grip her hip.
“Don’t play with me, Vesper.” She said my name with so much venom, it made my stomach flip.
“Tell me you missed me, sweet princess,” I whispered as I forced a third finger into her. She took it easily. Her whine was music to my ears.
“Touch yourself,” she ordered. “Touch yourself, and I’ll tell you how much I missed you.”
Her expression told me she really didn’t think I would do it.
I moved my hand away from her hip and held her gaze as I unbuttoned my pants.
“You act like this is such a degrading thing,” I said with a shaky breath as I slipped my hand into my pants and circled my clit. It was already so painfully sensitive and engorged. “You act like me finding pleasure in yours isn’t one of the most intoxicating things I ever felt.”
She brought her own hand down to her clit, rubbing hard circles over it as she watched me fuck myself. Pleasure zapped up my spine, and heat exploded inside me.
“Taste me, little mouse,” she said. “Use my cum to fuck yourself and tell me how it feels.”
Fuck. I couldn’t say no. I removed my hand from her cunt and forced it into my pants, mixing her wetness with my own as I pushed my fingers inside myself.
Her hands reached out and pulled my face back to her cunt.
“You’re mine,” she growled. “I did miss this. Missed you.” Her movements became erratic again as she chased the orgasm she had lost. I matched her pace with my hand, fucking myself as if it were her.
She was intent on degrading me. On having me make myself come while she was the one riding my face.
It was that fiery spirit that had me clenching around my fingers. The hand on my clit picked up speed, wetness spilling into my pants.
“You’re so fucking messy,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t wait to see how else you’ll embarrass yourself, little mouse. Now keep fucking yourself. Don’t stop until you come.”
I couldn’t say anything if I wanted to. I was so bent on listening to her commands that all I could think of was obeying.
“Fuck, fuck.” Her chants were the only indication she gave me before she exploded. Wetness coated my face as she rode out her orgasm. Her cries rang out, bouncing off the walls of the hallway.
I pulled away so I could catch the look on her face as she came down from her high, all while fucking myself.
“Are you going to come for me?” she asked in the sweetest tone, her nails dragging down my cheek.
I was. I couldn’t hold back. I cursed under my breath as the first wave hit me. I couldn’t keep my body up, so I fell into her as I shuttered through my orgasm. The heat was like a tidal wave exploding through my body and bringing me under as I tried to stay upright.
Only when it subsided was I able to look back up at her.
A satisfied smile spread across her face as I quickly buttoned my pants. Her eyes were clear, and the burdens that seemed to be permanently latched to her shoulders were gone.
She missed me.
How laughable was it that the only person who ever told me that was a spoiled vampire princess I was supposed to murder? Even more laughable was how it made my chest warm.
But it was short-lived, like most good things in the world. Her head snapped to the side, a growl rising from her chest.
I turned to see what alerted her, ready to jump into action until I saw her.
Goddamnit, could she ever leave me alone?
Cedar stood there at the end of the hallway, an annoyed look on her face.
I quickly fixed Aurelia’s skirt so Cedar wouldn’t see her exposed and sent her a glare. If there was anyone I needed to get rid of, it was her.
“You think I wanted to interrupt this?” she asked with a disgusted tone before pointing to her neck. “Unless you want the king to find out who you really are, you need a touch-up.”
“Tell your friend to cover up her scent,” Aurelia growled and pushed me out of the way before storming down the hallway.