Chapter 12 Dear Goddess #2
The moment brought her closer, and I felt my body tense with anticipation to touch her.
My attention narrowed to her alone, the rest of the world falling away into silence.
I let my eyes linger, drink her in, my need for her growing by the second until it felt less like desire and more like enchantment.
As though I were truly spellbound. As though she were the sorcerer and I had been reduced to nothing more than her willing victim.
Oh, how the tables had turned, my inner demon mocked.
Although the second I tasted her fear, the demon in me recoiled.
Her fear did not entice. It did not thrill.
It did not stir the predatory satisfaction my demon was so accustomed to taking from others.
Instead, it unsettled me, sat heavy on my senses like an inharmonious note that refused to play to the tune I commanded.
That alone was enough to make me cautious.
So, I did the unthinkable.
I softened.
Not all at once, not so much that it would appear, but enough that the shift could be felt.
My shoulders eased back against the throne, the rigid line of authority I wore like armor loosening by degrees.
But then, when she flinched, I found myself leaning forward slightly, closing the distance not with force but intention.
I was careful to remain seated and tried not to dominate her space like I wanted to.
“Come closer, little Inanna, don’t be frightened.” The name I gifted her came to me with ease, as if summoned from a deeper part of me. For that was exactly what she was…
‘My little Goddess of beauty’.
As for my tone when I spoke to her, I lowered it without effort, the harsh edge tempered, smoothed into something quieter, something meant to be heard rather than obeyed.
It was not kindness, for I was not capable of that illusion.
It was consideration.
Her reactions came in small, telling ways, the minute tightening of her fingers in the fabric of her dress, the way her breath stilled for half a second before she answered me.
The flicker of surprise that crossed her face when I did not bark an order or demand her submission.
She was clearly braced for cruelty, for dominance wielded without restraint, perhaps.
The absence of both seemed to leave her momentarily dazed.
Good.
“I… erm, I think you have me mistaken for someone else,” she replied, adding to the delightful lure of her, for it was no longer just her beauty that captivated me.
Not when her voice sounded like a caress grazing my dark soul.
Yet her words made me smirk, and I suppressed outright amusement by rubbing my hand along my jaw, covering my lips momentarily. ”
“Is that so?” I mocked, unable to help myself. But she didn’t give me what I wanted this time, for she denied me her Siren’s song by not speaking. Instead, nodding and making her loose hair stroke her bare shoulders.
“I am curious why it is you think so,” I asked, prompting more from her, and I watched her closely as she spoke, every word noted, every staggered breath catalogued.
“My name is Eliza, not Inanna… although, don’t get me wrong, that’s a lovely name…
who… erm… whoever she is,” she answered with visible nerves, and my smile widened.
Not only because her reaction pleased me, but because I now had a name to go with the face I would never forget.
Although I was also intrigued, for despite her fear of me, she still did not beg.
There was no pleading with me to let her go by claiming ignorance of what brought her to my domain.
Her spine remained straight, even as that fear curled tight in her chest. Her chin lifted just enough to suggest that whatever mistake she had made in coming here, she would face the consequences head-on.
Impressive.
“Eliza…um,” I hummed, enjoying the way her name flowed freely from my tongue.
Now giving her a glimpse of how it would sound spoken over her naked skin in whispers of adoration or gentle reprimand.
For I was known as a dominant lover, and despite how much I wished to worship her, I would also take her pleasure in hand and rule over it.
But I was naturally getting ahead of myself.
“Well, little Eliza, why don’t you go ahead and tell me why it is you came here and graced my domain with your pretty presence?
” I said, enticing a delightful blush to dust her cheeks at the barest compliment I bestowed.
And, in truth, it was nothing compared to what I wanted to say, for she really was the most beautiful creature I ever beheld.
But considering her response to this was to look away from me, as if fearing the mockery she would find in my eyes, I took that as a sign of self-consciousness. That, or she did not believe my words were sincere, as she now looked uncomfortable.
Well, that would fucking change and soon, because she would quickly learn I would not abide such thoughts. A lesson I would start now, as I ordered sternly,
“Eyes on me, Inanna.” I concealed my pleasure at her obedience the second her eyes snapped back toward mine. The ease with which she submitted, a dangerous indulgence I knew would soon become irresistible.
“Well?” I added, now I had her full attention once more.
“Erm, once again, it’s Eliza and I…” she reminded me, and I couldn’t help but smirk, feeling free to interrupt her assumptions. Quick to let her know that there was no chance I would ever forget who she was. That I could never have mistaken her for someone else.
In fact, the notion was so far from the truth it bordered on absurd, and the irony of it delighted me more than it should have.
She stood there, convinced she was insignificant, convinced she had simply wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time, unaware that Fate itself had already marked her.
Hence why I barely suppressed an ironic chuckle.
“I know your name, little Inanna,” I stated, and the sight of her cute little nose wrinkling as she frowned caused a reaction in me, and one I couldn’t hold back this time.
It was a sound my council was certainly not accustomed to hearing, as I allowed myself to laugh this time.
The shift did not go unnoticed. I felt it ripple through the space around the throne, the quiet awareness of my inner circle tightening as eyes lifted and bodies stilled.
Torin’s jaw clenched with restrained confusion, while Vor shifted just enough to confirm that he, too, had heard the change in my tone.
They were accustomed to my authority. They were not accustomed to my joy… to my restraint toward an intruder.
Least of all where a mortal was concerned.
I was aware of them, but they no longer mattered.
“Okay, erm, not sure what to say to that,” she muttered under her breath, and it was a comment I countered.
“Perhaps the reason you came here, like I asked.” This reminder certainly had its effect, as she started to look around, as if wishing for someone to help her with her explanation. A fact I pointed out, keeping the bitter sting from my tone, replacing it with a challenging one instead.
“Waiting for someone, perhaps?” I raised a brow, adding to the question.
My focus narrowed on the woman standing before me, to the way color bloomed faintly across her cheeks as my gaze lingered, openly and holy unapologetic.
I did not pretend indifference. There was no point.
She felt the weight of my attention and flushed beneath it.
The sight shamelessly brought me a flicker of dark satisfaction that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with desire.
I admired her courage, truly admired it, not because she was fearless, but because she was not. Fear lived in her, breathed with her, scented the air between us, and yet, still she stood… still, she met my gaze… still, she spoke as though she expected to be heard.
It was enough to make me wonder what she would be like without fear of me at all. The thought unsettled me more than any act of defiance ever could.
And then she asked.
Not demanded. Not pleaded.
Asked…
“Can’t we… erm, talk somewhere private?”
I couldn’t help my body reacting to this, as shock tore through me.
The request to speak with me alone landed like a blade sliding home, cutting through every carefully maintained restraint in a single stroke.
It was what I wanted, of course it was. It had been my main goal since the moment I first saw her.
And now here she was, offering it to me willingly and without understanding the weight of what she was placing in my hands.
I did not hesitate.
But inside, something ancient and dangerous smiled.
“You wish to be alone with me, little Inanna?” I confirmed, my tone adding weight to the implications of what this meant.
I couldn’t help but smirk at the shiver that took hold, one I didn’t think she was even aware of.
As if these words of mine had been spoken over naked flesh and trembling skin.
But as if catching herself, she straightened and started backtracking in a hopeless attempt to save herself from any embarrassment she obviously felt.
Silly little Goddess.
She would soon learn.
“No, I don’t want… I mean, that is, I… well, yes, but nothing like that.
” The words tumbled out of her, and it was such an adorable fumble that I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Once again, my council noticed, but I took no heed as I got to my feet and finally gave into the impulse to cut the distance between us.
My hilarity faded quickly at the sight of her retreating form as her fear of me spiked once more.
I felt my fist clench at my side as I resisted the urge to take her in my hands and keep her close so she couldn’t escape me.
The strength of my possessive thoughts almost faltered my steps.
I had never felt an emotion hit me like this before.
That protective instinct was unfamiliar, yet undeniable. One triggered the instant I became aware of how much smaller she was beside me. It made me want to gather her close, her curvy frame fitting easily within the shelter of my arms.
Which was why she didn’t get far. My stride closed the distance between us far quicker than she could retreat, and whatever irritation I felt at her attempt was swiftly erased when my gaze dropped to her hands.
Fingers nervously toying with the edge of the tissue covering the wound left by the altar.
It was a wound that would have healed in moments had she been of my kind.
The sight of her blood seeping into the bandage awakened opposing urges, the desire to taste it rising alongside my displeasure at her injury.
I wanted to heal her. To lift her hand and run my tongue along her palm, claiming the taste that called to me.
In fact, I was starting to discover the true meaning of restraint as the list of things I wanted to do to her was mounting by the second. None of which I dared indulge, for fear of frightening her further. Instead, I simply held my arm out toward the door that would lead into my private office.
“After you, Eliza,” I said, a deliberate reminder that I knew her name, that Inanna and Eliza were one and the same. Her response caught me off guard once more, and I found unexpected pleasure in her humor. One she clearly used as a shield against the situation she found herself in.
“Please tell me this isn’t some trap and like some Bond villain, there is a pit of death behind this door you're about to push me into.”
I chuckled at this, unable to help myself from leaning in close and teasing her.
“No, Inanna… that door is on the left.”
I forced myself to straighten, though not before indulging in a slow, measured breath, drawing in her scent until it flooded my senses and left me near intoxicated.
Then I passed her, placing myself deliberately ahead of her path, and when the fear that she might run flickered through me, I reached back and closed my hand around her uninjured one.
The instant our skin met, desire struck with violent force.
It surged through me so suddenly and so completely that it nearly staggered me where I stood.
My breath hitched despite my control. Power that flared in response, instinct screaming possession, recognition, and fateful inevitability.
The contact was far more than touch, it was more like an impact.
A jolt that reverberated through my entire being, unsettling in its intensity and one that was impossible to ignore.
I tightened my grip just enough to steady myself, keenly aware that this single point of contact had already altered the balance more than I was prepared for.
It had, in fact…
Altered my entire world.