Chapter 36 Astraea #2
My body locked at the term free-roaming. As if it implied the overlord, Vermont, might have caged celestials or others, just like Reihan Vernhalla, Cassia’s father, did at Alisus Keep.
“What do we do?” I asked, wracking my own mind for a solution.
“I was hoping to save as much strength as I can, considering the number of minds I have to alter inside.”
“It’s too much.”
“Haven’t I told you not to underestimate me?”
I would have rolled my eyes at his playful arrogance, but I was too concerned for him, and the fact that someone could see the real us and raise the alarm any moment.
When it came to our turn, Nyte’s thumb stroked my hand, which had turned into an iron grip in his as we held out our fingers out to be pricked.
It wasn’t that I doubted our ability to retreat if we had to; I just didn’t want this to turn into an altercation that would likely spill blood. If Vermont knew I was here … would he try to capture me as the prize he missed out on all that time ago?
They checked our blood on a strip of paper, the opposite tip of which turned blue after a few seconds. Everyone else, the humans, had turned the tip yellow. I risked a glance at Nyte but his expression was unusually bright.
“Next,” the man in front of me grunted, already looking past me, and I frowned again at the rudeness of the guards here.
Nyte pulled my hand, stopping me from blurting something that I would likely regret.
“Does wealth breed arrogance and kill manners?” I groused.
“Most of the time, yes. But I think their lack of conversation is likely the opposite; I’m gathering that Vermont is a very greedy individual who doesn’t share his wealth, even with those who keep his empire running.”
“Then why would anyone worship him?”
“Fear or superstition, perhaps. That he could curse them or damn their souls. I don’t know how he’s built such a reputation around himself. I’m most excited to find out, aren’t you?”
“You’re only excited because you know that while Vermont thinks he’s the most powerful man in the room, you could show him otherwise.”
Nyte didn’t try to hide his smile. “So could you. It’s fun to demonstrate the difference between arrogance and real power.”
“Just … don’t do anything irrational.”
“We might have different opinions on what is considered irrational.”
He was impossible.
“No murder.”
“Without cause?”
“Try not to find cause.”
“It usually finds me.”
We entered the golden palace and within was just as gilded.
Beautiful sculptures of naked forms lined several wide halls, where I found other statues wearing full suits of golden armor.
White pillars and marble floors broke up the gold, but even breathing the air touched my lungs with a sense of richness.
The architecture was flawless, every corner, every carving speaking to a level of craft so meticulous it bordered on the divine.
Yet, for all its splendor, the place was daunting.
A creation so perfect it felt like it had never been meant for human hands.
This wasn’t a home—it was a monument, a shrine to something heavenly.
To think that this had almost become my home made nausea upset my stomach.
“Are you all right?” Nyte asked softly.
I would pull myself together, but for a moment I had every right to be afraid to face the man who owned this place and once had every intention of owning me. Once my fear for the woman of the manor I might have been had passed, my anger took over for the woman I was now.
“Yes,” I answered him, relaxing my hand in his.
In a fancy drawing room, the rest of the crew seemed to be warming up in one way or another.
Stretching, chatting, drinking. The latter I could use to calm my performance nerves.
I’d never performed in front of an audience, and Nyte still wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, only that I didn’t need to prepare.
No one bothered us much, thanks to Nyte keeping an intimate hold of me. It lasted for a good amount of time before the two men and the woman from our wagon approached wearing gleaming smiles.
“Soooo,” one man sang. “When did it finally happen?”
Nyte told me their names through our bond. The tall, beautiful man with dark skin was Dale, who’d just spoken, and I recalled the pale, shorter man as Trevor.
“Uh, today, I guess,” I answered awkwardly.
“It’s about time; I’ve been tiring of hearing you pine after him all day,” the woman, Silvia, said, twirling a lock of black hair around her finger.
“The plot thickens,” Nyte said to my thoughts. “I wonder if Jose felt the same.”
My name for this evening was Calista, a red-haired beauty with a pale freckled complexion and green eyes. Nyte’s alias was Jose, who was shorter than his own height, with longer blond hair and brown eyes.
I smiled, which Silvia thought was in response to her comment, but I was picturing Nyte with half-tied-back dirty blond locks instead.
“I think I could pull it off,” Nyte said in my mind again.
I considered that image with a stoic look, until a giggle escaped me.
“Ugh, we’re going to be suffering their flirtations endlessly now, aren’t we?” Trevor said, looking away.
“You’re on after us. Half an hour, lovebirds. Don’t be late, fucking somewhere you shouldn’t be,” Dale said, spinning on his heel to leave us.
Nyte tugged me by the waist to where he leaned against the wall.
“Now that’s an idea,” he said, giving no warning before he dragged his teeth along my neck.
I gasped, pushing his chest. His golden eyes were sparkling, so instead of using words, I pressed myself to him to hide my palm dragging along his cock.
“Behave,” he said in a tone of pure gravel.
“No.”
His irises flared a brighter shade, and my skin tightened at the challenge in them. Nyte shifted his legs until one of his thighs pressed up between mine. I tried to move back, but his hands pinned on my waist, and he smiled innocently at my warning look.
“Whatever game you think you’re playing, I will win it,” he said thickly. Our bodies were close and angled enough that no one could see the hand he slipped between my thighs.
My lips parted to tell him to stop, but his slow teasing felt good, far too good.
“Look how you give in to me so easily. I could make you come right here and no one would know unless you announced it to them. You’re really not good at being quiet.”
“Nyte,” I panted, needing much more, but this wasn’t the place.
“Give it to me.”
Even though his fingers were only rubbing me over the material, he had other tricks I hadn’t considered. My pleasure accelerated, and I knew then he was influencing my thoughts to amplify my lust, but it felt so good that I didn’t care about the cheat.
My fingers dug into his bicep. I need to tell him to stop. I need to—
“Five minutes, you two!” someone called over to us.
I whimpered when Nyte paused his movements just as I was on the cusp of reaching an orgasm.
“Is that enough time for me to make you finish?” Nyte whispered sinfully in my ear. “Sounds like a challenge.”
“People can see what you’re doing,” I rasped, hooking a palm around his nape for purchase, with my knees weakening.
“Do you want me to stop?”
No. Gods no, I needed him to keep going.
“Three minutes left,” he warned, his voice so thick it turned me on more.
“Please.”
His fingers circled my apex a fraction harder. Warmth pricked over my skin, making me climb toward the edge of bliss I couldn’t hold back from now.
Nyte gripped my jaw and kissed me deeply as I came. He pressed me tightly into the wall and I clutched him tightly, trying desperately to keep my body from shaking too much with the pleasure rocking through me.
“I can’t wait to taste you. Your scent is driving me wild,” he growled against my mouth.
I often forgot about his heightened senses. “You’re the one who needs to behave,” I said, catching my breath.
“Calista, Jose, time to line up,” someone hissed under their breath from the open door across the room.
My heart was thundering, and I wiped the thin perspiration Nyte had caused from my brow. He looked over me, eyes dancing with deviance and satisfaction.
“Now will you tell me what we’re about to do out there?” I asked.
He took my hand, heading to the exit. “Just trust you have the best partner for it.”