Princess of Lust (For the Love of Evil) (7 page)

Besides, he knew she was here. She could feel him through their bond, his agitation and excitement mixing with anger and a tiny hint of fear. That fear had her opening the doors without any hesitation. Because of their connection, she was driven to soothe Gregor, to fix whatever had made him sad and afraid. Unfortunately, she was the cause of the majority of his problems.

She followed the psychic threads of their link, going through the large formal sitting area, down a hallway, and finally reaching her library. At the entrance to the room, she paused and took a moment to admire Gregor. He sat looking off into the distance in his favorite padded leather chair, facing the paneled windows. While she feared heights, he seemed to enjoy being able to see the intricate quilt of her father’s kingdom spread before them.

The deep auburn tones of his hair caught the light streaming through the window, and she longed to run her fingers through the rough silk. During his time in Hell, he’d been outdoors frequently and the slight tan to his skin seemed darker, especially in contrast to the unearthly pale tones of demons. Around his neck lay a gold collar made of links interspaced with dragon skin. A small swirling pattern of diamonds and sapphires made up the centerpiece of the choker. This, her personal mark, identified Gregor as belonging to her. Compared to some of the other collars she’d seen, it was simple but it suited her.

Gregor tilted his head slightly to the side, his rough features catching the light and throwing his profile into deep shadows. “I missed you last night. Though I’m not surprised you went to him instead of me.”

She flushed as the accusation hung in the air, his jealousy surging through their link and hurting her heart. Leaning against the doorway, she crossed her arms over her chest and watched him carefully. “I wasn’t with Raum last night.”

A small amount of tension went out of his shoulders. “Then you were with Eline.”

“No.”

He surged from the chair, knocking it over in his haste. Anger and disgust curled his handsome features as he gripped his hands into fists at his sides. “Another! How many men do you plan—?”

“Enough!” The word exploded from her, carrying a hint of the demonic power that still slept in her soul. It echoed through the room as if she’d screamed inside of a rock cavern. Taking a deep breath, she said in a much softer tone, “I wasn’t with another man.”

Gregor took a step forward, then another as his nostrils flared. Finally, he stood right next to her and placed his face against the curve of her neck, inhaling her scent. His voice came out in a grating rumble next to her skin as he said, “I don’t smell either of them on you. The scent is almost…sweet.”

She stepped past him into the library and started to straighten the chair he’d turned over. Before she could do more than touch it, he was at her side and lifting it for her. Without another word, he took a seat in the chair and pulled her into his lap, pressing his face against her chest. “I missed you. Who was she?”

“The Queen of the Succubi.”

He laughed softly then harder, until she was glad he’d sat down or he would have fallen over with her in his arms. “Really? Next time can I watch?”

Stiffening, she started to push away from him but he hauled her back onto his lap, his lips and teeth finding her nipples through the silk of her gown with uncanny ease. She tried to focus through his nips, to ignore the growing hardness of his erection pressing against her bottom. “I—we need to discuss something. I need you to be serious. Please.”

The amusement left his dark gaze like water pouring out of a glass. Weariness replaced it and her heart ached that she was the cause of it. He ran his thumb over her cheek and even now she shivered at the pleasure his touch brought. “I’m listening, my mistress.”

There was no doubt about the bitterness of his tone but she forced herself to continue to hold his gaze. Now that she had him in front of her, she struggled for the right words to say. “I have done you a grave injustice, and I would like to apologize.”

Gregor’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. “Go on.”

She frowned at him, but continued in an even tone. “It has been brought to my attention that you have nothing to do with your days other than awaiting my pleasure.”

“Concubines live to serve,” he said with a sardonic smile sharp enough to cut glass. “Who am I to complain to my mistress about such trivial things, especially when there are thousands of men and women dying to be in my place.” He gripped the gold around his neck tight. “To wear your collar.”

He wanted to fight. She could feel it. All that tension, all that anger built up in him and she was his only outlet. As she examined him, she realized she’d gone about the situation the wrong way. She was his mistress and needed to act like it. Moving off his lap, she stood and pointed to the ground in front of the chair. “On your knees.”

He blinked at her and settled back into the chair with a lazy smile. Before he could even draw a breath, she fisted her hand in his hair and hauled him out of the chair to the ground. While she was nowhere near as strong as a true demon, she certainly had more strength than the average human. Gregor hissed but remained on his knees as she released her hold. Calmly, she took a seat in the recently vacated chair, the leather still warm from his body.

“Take you clothes off. I want you naked.”

He fought her command, every muscle in his body stiff with anger. She continued to watch him, aware of his hard cock now pressing fully against his trousers. While she wanted to get this discussion over with, she couldn’t help but wish he would continue to defy her so she could punish him. The demonic part of her soul purred with pleasure at the thought of bringing Gregor to the heights of bliss and making him beg for release.

He quickly stood and stripped off his clothes, tossing them into the corner before facing her again, his hands behind his back as she’d taught him. She let the silence grow between them, giving his body a leisurely inspection from the top of his head to the tops of his feet. Built like a brawler, he had heavy muscles made for fighting instead of the defined grace of a demon’s physique. She liked them, enjoyed his rough beauty. The thought of another woman, even one of Galina’s witches touching him, sent an uncomfortable pulse of jealousy and anger through her. With sudden clarity, she realized this must be how Gregor felt whenever she was with Raum—or Eline.

His cock twitched. She found her gaze drawn to his hard length and wanted to run her mouth over the softness of the skin between his legs, to rub her cheek against the roughness of his pubic hair as she slowly licked his sack. Something in her body language must have given her desires away because his erection swelled further. “Gregor, I want you to train to become a wizard.”

“What?”

She cleared her throat and tore her gaze away from his swollen member. “Galina has agreed to train you with her coven as a wizard. To teach you magic so that you can defend yourself against further attacks.”

The lines around his mouth deepened. “Who told you about the attacks? You have enough to worry about without that shit added to it.”

“You are mine, Gregor, mine to protect and love. I cannot do that if I don’t know you’re being threatened.”

He ignored her and stared at the bookcase behind her head. “It was Kirin, wasn’t it? That man is worse than a damn—”

“It wasn’t Kirin. It was Galina.” She drummed her fingernails on the arms of the chair. “Kirin has saved your life, hasn’t he? That’s why you didn’t kill Raum yesterday.”

He flinched and looked out the window. “Yes.”

“Do you spend a lot of time with Kirin?”

He shrugged, the motion doing wonderful things to the muscles of his shoulders. “We pass the time together. He had an interesting life before he became that ass—General Raum’s concubine.” His jaw tightened and the heavy strength of his thighs flexed. “May I kneel before you?” She’d scarcely nodded before he pressed his body between her legs, his hands still behind his back but the delicious warmth of his midsection tight against her core. “My father had wizards, so I know a bit about what’s involved. How did you get the high prince to agree to this? With as little as he trusts me, I’m surprised he would do anything to make me more of a threat.”

She gave into her desires and stroked her hands over his body, relaxing as his pleasure at her caress reflected in their bond. “Galina asked him.”

“Really?” He tensed as her fingertips slowly twisted his nipple into a hard nub. “I didn’t think she paid much attention to me.”

Unable to help herself, she leaned forward and sucked on the now-hard tip, biting gently at it until he groaned deep in his throat. Rubbing her face against the soft hair on his chest she said, “There isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t pay attention to you, but she notices more than you think. Far more than I’ve been aware of, and I’m sorry for that. I’m your mistress. I’m supposed to protect you and make you happy, and I’ve not done a good job of it.”

His arms wrapped around her, holding her close as his heartbeat sounded against her ear. “Well, I’ve been a pretty shitty concubine, so I think we’re even. I’m trying to see Raum as something other than a threat to my relationship with you but I just can’t. I was raised to destroy anything that comes between me and what I want. It’s all know.” He nuzzled his face against her hair. “When I hear stories about him from Kirin I almost like Raum, but then I see him with you, see how you react to his touch and I lose my mind. I know you can’t understand that, being half demon and all—”

“Oh, I understand it better than you think.” She leaned back in his arms and laced her hands behind his neck. “Did I mention Galina is going to teach you sex magic? That it requires you to build energy through sexual contact with a member of her coven?” He wisely kept his mouth shut but his eyes lit with interest. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled hard. “The thought of seeing you with another woman, of her touching you and bringing you pleasure, makes me insane with jealousy.”

In a soft soothing voice he said, “I can tell. Your irises have gone black as night with streaks of red and orange rushing through them like flames.”

“Oh!” Embarrassed, she looked away from him and loosened her hold on his head.

He tilted her chin so she gazed into his eyes again. “I enjoy that you’re jealous. It makes me know you do value me. Sick and twisted, I know, but I assure you the way your female mind works makes as little sense to me as my male mind does to you.”

“So where does that leave us? You need the powers Galina is offering to teach you, and I need to not kill every member of her coven for so much as glancing at you.”

His muscles grew rock hard beneath her hands as he tensed. She watched his face carefully but now he was the one to look away, his mouth opening and closing several times, and he blushed. “I know one person both of us would let touch me.”

She tried to keep the jealousy out of her voice as the sunset painted the world outside in waves of gold and burning pink, bathing his skin in a warm light. “Who would that be?”

He cleared his throat and mumbled out something.

“Gregor, I can’t hear you.”

He looked at her, his eyes flashing both defiance as embarrassment stained his cheeks red. “Kirin.”

She would have fallen down if she hadn’t already been sitting. “Raum’s concubine? But he’s a man.”

“So I’ve noticed.” He sat back on his heels, his cock still standing proud and strong between his legs despite the seriousness of their conversation. “I never thought I would ever see another man as anything other than a friend, but you’d have to be dead not to react to Kirin. He is a warrior through and through, nothing effeminate about him, but the way he looks at me sometimes, it…and the rumors about his skill between the sheets with either sex…hell, it makes me wonder what it would be like to be with him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not even ready to admit it to myself, let alone the woman I love. Look, I know around here fucking anyone is not seen as, well a sin, but I’m human through and through. I don’t have a demonic side that helps to make this all right for me. In my world, in the world you and I used to live in, being with another man was seen as not only an abomination but a weakness. If my—” He swallowed and she pulled him into her arms as a wave of sadness echoed through their bond. “If my father knew I was with another man, he would have beaten me near to death and killed my lover.”

Her stomach knotted at the reminder of how self-centered she’d been. “I wasn’t aware you’d even been around Kirin that much. I’m so sorry I haven’t paid as much attention to you as I should have.”

After clearing his throat he shifted. “We’ve kind of been hiding the fact Kirin’s been here from you.”

“What? Why?”

“That bastard Raum.” He cleared his throat again. “I mean General Raum assigned Kirin to be my bodyguard.”

She closed her eyes and tried to keep her growing irritation under control. “And why did no one see fit to share this with me?”

“Because you have enough to deal with.” The vehemence in his tone made her open her eyes again and look at him. “You’ve lost your family, lost part of your humanity, and had the burden of being a leader in a time of war thrust upon you. Don’t you think I know how hard things are for you? I’m the one that holds you at night when you cry in your sleep for those you couldn’t save. I was raised to be a leader. You were raised to be a wife and mother. You’re ill prepared for your new role in this world, royal blood or not. I will not be a cause of further weakness for you.”

She shook her head slowly back and forth. “Gregor, you will never be anything but an asset to me. I love you. With or without our bond I would still love you. Your love makes me strong. When I’m around you I feel safe, cherished, and privileged to be your mistress.”

“It doesn’t bother you that I’m attracted to a man?”

Some deep instinct made her stand and slowly remove her dress, letting it fall down her body after catching slightly on her hard nipples. “No, Gregor, it doesn’t bother me.” She stepped forward until her bare cleft was inches from his face. “If you look at my body, you will see the wetness the thought of you with Kirin has brought to me. How flushed and swollen my flesh is at the thought of him taking your cock.”