Underworld Bride Trials 1 Playboy King - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,67

control. But my restraint is slipping.”

“Seduce me more, to whatever end.”

“The time for seduction is over.” He growled like a beast before he toned it down a little, more civilized. “Undress for me. I want to see you bare.”

My blood raced hot, but then a sudden horror washed over me. What if he saw all the scars on me? But I was my avatar-self … surely I could conceal them, couldn’t I?

No, I wanted him to see the scars. I wanted to see how he reacted to them. One wrong look and one wrong move from him, and I was out of here. I might be in heat and combusting with raw need for him, but nothing and no one could take away my dignity.

I slid my gown from my shoulders but kept it above my waist, showing him my breasts and the top part of my torso. Three long scars sprawled from my left shoulder toward my right breast that almost looked like they had been made by long claws.

Loki stared at my scars, speechless. Then rage burned in his eyes, turning them the color of midnight.

I knew it. He was freaking out. He’d thought I had flawless skin. But now that he knew, he was going to either reject me or ridicule me. My stomach turned cold, and my face turned colder.

I grabbed the neckline of my gown, ready to drag it up and walk away from this fairytale.

Loki reached me, faster than committing a sin. He grasped my hand and guided it down to my side as he inspected my scars.

“You—aren’t repulsed?” I asked hoarsely as confusion, surprise, and angst pulsed in me.

“Repulsed?” he asked darkly. “Why would I be?”

“I have scars, a lot of them, on my real body. I’m far less than perfect in anyone’s book, but I’m not ashamed of the scars I earned. If you’re disgusted by them, it’s time for us to part ways.”

He considered me. “But you still want to fight to be my queen.”

“I signed up already. It’s business. It’s survival.”

“You’re a complicated woman, Tessa,” he said.

“Sorry to disappoint.”

He laughed. I blinked. He thought this was amusing? Everything was just a game to him. Anger flashed in me, and I hated it even more than my lust for him, which still burned. I tried to yank my hand from his and shove him back, but he wouldn’t let me go. It was like trying to push an unmoving rock.

Then he bent to kiss my scars, tracing his hot lips along the one closest to my heart. Searing lust engulfed me, and I knew it would never release me.

I stood still, lost to sensation, wonder in my eyes. When he pulled back and gazed at me, his eyes were the burning stars. He was the son of the fallen archangel and an Asgard goddess of the royal line. Part of him did not belong to Earth but to the stars in the far galaxy.

“I’m not looking for a perfect woman, Tessa. I’m looking for you. I was enraged, not at you, but at whoever hurt you. When the trials are over, you’re going to tell me who did this to you, and I’m going to find them and cut out their hearts.”

“Too bad for you,” I said, warmth swelling in my chest. “They’re already dead.”

“Then I’ll just have to dig up their rotted bodies and cut them again,” he said and kissed my scars again, showing me how he truly cherished me.

Shivers shot down my legs and I curled my toes. His fire caressed my ice, and that was the best seduction a man could ever offer me.

I let my gown slide from my fingers, and it fell all the way down past my hips and pooled at my ankles.

Loki gasped and stepped back, staring at my nudity with new, twinkling stars in his eyes. And now he’d seen all the scars crisscrossing my skin. Still, he wasn’t turned off but gazed at them with fascination, murderous rage, and desire.

I had never felt as hot in my life as I did as I stepped out of the fabric.

“You’re as beautiful as I imagined, Bunny,” he said huskily, and his deep, musical voice made my body hum with desire and need. “Will you do something for me?”

I wanted to make him work for it.

“Only after you catch me,” I said, and broke into a run, naked.

My rushing feet padded on the soft violet sand, and the wind caught in my wild, loose