Upon entry to the room, she’d sat and read every word, something not one single concubine he’d selected in five hundred years had done. She had no way of knowing the changes he’d ordered Avery to make or she wouldn’t until she attended her studies. He’d planned for that and was prepared for the consequences.
Nevertheless, or likely because, after she finished reading it, her face pale, her eyes seething, she tossed it on the table, caught Lucien’s gaze and announced, “Not on your life.”
Thus had started Lucien’s demands, her mother’s pleading, Cosmo’s chuckles and Avery’s grins.
Not to mention Lucien’s irritation.
Also on the table were the quill and the Joining Bowl, a small, oval, crystal plate that sat on four tiny crystal feet by the quill.
Both of which, Lucien decided, they would be using now.
Lucien’s hand lifted to hers and his fingers wrapped around it. He forced her index finger straight and she fought that too. She knew she’d never win but she did it anyway.
He was, he found, finally enjoying this. “Keep fighting, my pet, I like it.”
She stopped struggling immediately.
He grinned at her. She scowled at him.
He lifted the dagger to pierce her finger but stopped and looked at her. Her eyes flew from her finger to his.
He could see the pleading.
Yes, he was enjoying this.
He dropped the dagger on the table.
He felt her relief hit the room. Her heart had started beating wildly, tripping over itself. Now it began to slow.
His eyes moved to hers as he lifted her hand toward his mouth, finger still forced to extended by his thumb.
He felt her body tense, the fear invade, her heart picking up the pace as her hand resisted its ascent.
She was magnificent.
No! She cried in her brain.
He opened his mouth, put her finger to his lips and sucked it inside. She went completely still and her eyes dropped to his mouth.
With effort he fought back the arousal he felt at his first taste of her and the direction of her gaze.
Christ, she tasted f**king good.
He used a single tooth to tear open the pad of her finger.
Oh my God! She breathed in her mind as he sensed her registering the brief pain.
He’d been wrong, her skin tasted lovely but her blood was glorious.
With regret he extracted her finger from his mouth, pushed her hand to one end of the Joining Bowl and pressed several drops of blood from the wound into the bowl.
She resisted this too and Lucien found this vaguely surprising. She knew she couldn’t win. He had her trapped with his mind and even if he didn’t, she could never overpower him physically.
He found he liked her stubbornness when he had her at his command.
It was when he didn’t he found it annoying.
When he was done, he returned her finger to his lips and his tongue darted out, lashing the cut. The bleeding stopped instantly. Through his saliva the wound would be healed within the hour.