were wronged. Knox wanted me to bow to him, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t bow to a king who wore a crown studded in jewels representing the lives he had taken from my people. He constructed his throne from the skulls of my bloodline, and he intended to force me to stand beside him as he sat upon it.
Knox tortured me with pleasure, undoing me with his stolen kisses and disarming me with the rare, blinding smiles. I got closer. He pulled away. He got closer. I pulled away. It was a game of tug-of-war that neither of us was even ready to play. Maybe once he’d buried his dead and could see past the shadows of grief that clung to him, we could finally try for something more.
I couldn’t keep dancing with the devil and wonder why I was still in hell. It didn’t work like that. I was standing in his fire and pondering why the flames burned me, and I’d enjoyed the feel of their fiery kisses upon my body. Knox wouldn’t tell me how he really felt. How he acted and treated me left me confused, giving him a tremendous advantage on the gameboard he was stacking against me.
A knock sounded at the door a moment before it opened. Brander slid his gaze from the window to the folded sheets that sat on the floor, untouched. He glanced around the empty room, exhaling as he entered, leaving the door open.
“You’re being summoned to dinner so your mate can feed you.” He studied how I sat with my head against the window, witnessing the festivities below.
“I’m not hungry anymore,” I swallowed, sensing him moving closer. Brander leaned against the windowsill, staring out at the party with me. His scent created a warning that rushed through me, forcing my body to react to it strangely.
Brander lifted his hand, skimming his fingers over the scar on my shoulder before moving to my neck. His touch sent heat rushing through me, the gentleness of it a change from Knox’s intensity. He didn’t speak, nor did I, silently watching his reflection in the windowpane. Brander leaned over, inhaling the smell of my hair before he smiled, dropping his mouth to kiss my shoulder. I didn’t move, uncertain what was happening as he watched me silently studying him.
“You’re so beautiful, Aria Karnavious. Our name on you sounds right and fits you perfectly.”
I smiled darkly, turning to look up at him as he backed away from me. Slipping from the window, I stalked him, noting the fire burning in his eyes. He inhaled my scent deeply, drinking it in like a salve to his soul that he couldn’t rub in deep enough.
“Sometimes, I want to go back in time and punch myself in the face for not throwing you down on that basement floor and claiming you first.”
“Is that so, Brander?” I asked huskily, gasping in shock as he turned the tables on me. He pushed me against the wall, his arms caging me there, his hands beside my head, preventing escape. My chest rose and fell as Brander lowered his mouth, barely brushing his lips over mine, gauging my response. His heated kiss moved to my collarbone, slowly sliding up to kiss the pulse in my throat.
Brander slipped his foot between mine, parting my thighs as he captured my hands, pinning them against the wall, smirking wickedly when I didn’t fight what was happening. “I’d have spread you apart and rocked your fucking world, Little One.” He drug his nose to my marked shoulder, purring softly. “I’d have kissed you so fucking hard and deep that no other name would have felt right on your tongue after I’d finished showing you belonged to me.”
I swallowed past the need rushing through me. Inhaling Brander’s scent deeply, causing Ember to frown as she woke and noted it wasn’t Knox. Brander’s free hand lowered, pushing against my breast as he watched me carefully.
“Can I steal a kiss from the most beautiful woman I have ever met?” He lowered his mouth, kissing my throat, pinching my nipple in sync with his soft bite. “I can smell your need soaking your pussy, Sweet One. I have never wanted to taste anything more than I do you right now.”
“You know what, Brander? Sometimes I wish my life had background music so I could mentally prepare myself for whatever fucked up game you and Knox are playing with me,” I whispered, studying his smirk and the naked desire burning