The Most Powerful Of Kings - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,33

her get to you. Look what she made you do!

His gut lurched, a cold sensation gripping him.

He’d known taking her was wrong and yet he’d done it anyway. All because she’d touched him...all because she’d looked at him with silver burning in her eyes. And he could tell himself all kinds of lies about why he’d changed his mind, but the fact remained that he’d taken her because his control had slipped.

After all these years does your brother’s pain still mean nothing?

Her hand came up and touched his mouth, a leisurely, sensual touch, and she smiled one of her luminous smiles. And he could feel something inside him respond, embers in the dead hearth of his heart glowing.

He moved instinctively, pulling away from her, pushing himself off her and up, beginning to reach for his clothes. The cold sensation was spreading through his blood now, icing the warmth she’d given him.

Because it wasn’t true. He hadn’t forgotten his brother’s pain—the pain their father had put Xerxes through in order to teach Adonis what it truly meant to be a king. How emotion could be a weapon that in the wrong hands could take down a nation.

It had taken Adonis years to learn to get rid of those weaknesses in himself, to tame his own rebellious heart, and his failure to do so earlier had caused his little brother even more hurt. But those lessons had sunk in eventually and he couldn’t forget them now. Couldn’t throw all those lessons aside just because he wasn’t able to resist one sexy little nun.

‘Adonis?’ Her voice, husky and soft, came from behind him. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’ He began to pull his clothes on, ruthlessly crushing the cold sensation in the pit of his stomach.

You put yourself first. That’s what you always do.

‘I think there’s something,’ she said. ‘Did I do something wrong? Is that the—’

‘No,’ he interrupted flatly, making his voice hard. ‘It isn’t you.’ He pulled his shirt on and turned around.

She was sitting on the couch, still naked, still pink. Her hair flowed over her shoulders in a pale gold tangle and she looked like any red-blooded man’s wet dream, all lush female curves and touchable silky skin. A frown creased her brow and there was a concerned expression in her eyes, though whether that was for herself or for him, he wasn’t sure.

‘Then what is it?’ she asked.

‘Other things.’ He knew he sounded dismissive, yet made no effort to temper his tone. The best thing for both of them right now was for her to leave. He’d made a mistake, but not one he’d compound by spending any more time with her than he had to.

His detachment might not be as perfect as he’d first thought, but he could fix that. Feeling possessive over one little nun wouldn’t break him. He’d patch up his weaknesses, shore up his defences. No one would be able to use his emotions against him, because he simply wouldn’t have any.

‘Once that crown is on your head you as a person cease to exist,’ Xenophon had told him once. ‘You’re not a brother. Not a son. Not a friend. You are Axios. Remember that. You are the king and there is no room for you to have or to be anything else.’

He wasn’t anything else. Once, he had been. But he wasn’t now and he couldn’t forget that.

‘Do you need help finding your way back to your room?’ he asked expressionlessly.

Disappointment flickered over her face. ‘Adonis,’ she began.

But the sound of his name made that tight sensation grip him again and he knew he couldn’t allow her to use it. ‘You may address me as sire.’

A spark of silver gleamed in her eyes.

You’re hurting her.

It shouldn’t matter. She had to be merely a woman with whom he’d spent a pleasant half-hour, nothing more. He couldn’t afford for her to be anything else. His detachment was everything and right now she compromised it.

Still, she was his godmother’s charge and he owed her more than a cold dismissal.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself over to where she sat and crouched down in front of her. Not a good move when that brought him close to her naked body and he could feel the pull of desire rising inside him again, making him hard. Making him want to push her back down onto the cushions and teach her a few more new things.

But he only reached out and took her hands in his, holding them. ‘We only had this