My lips crashed against hers before I could stop myself, and then she was as tangled with me as I was with her, nails digging into my bare scalp as she pulled herself closer. I wrapped one strong arm around her back and bent her backward, climbing on top of her and pinning her beneath my body. A wanton moan slipped into my mouth as my hardness dug in between her thighs.

All thought, all reason, vanished as I turned completely feral, grinding against her, gripping her back and lifting, sinking my tongue between her lips. She sucked my lower lip in between her teeth and nipped, flooding our mouths with metallic blood.

“Rokath, I need more,” she panted, breaking our kiss, breasts brushing against my chest. That only urged me on, and I used my free hand to bunch up her dress, exposing her legs. She wrapped them around my waist, and I rolled my hips against hers again, eliciting another delicious sound from her.

With as much force as I pressed into her, she pressed back, mouth desperate against mine. I couldn’t breathe, all my air fleeing my lungs into her body, and hers retreating into mine. One hand slipped between us, trailing up her exposed thigh and toward her cunt. Her skin was softer than the silk draped over her body, and when my fingers brushed the sensitive parts of her inner thighs, she trembled against me.

So I stroked higher, higher, higher until I found a thin slip of fabric covering her. Teasing a finger under it, I twisted and twisted until the fabric tightened enough for me to rip. She gasped as her undergarment fell away, and I took the opportunity to move my mouth to her neck, licking and sucking along its length.

Our bond flared, thickened, pulsed with want. I was a slave to its desires, her desires. And she wanted my mouth lower. So I dropped to my knees and yanked her to the edge of the table where I could feast on her exposed pussy.

Assyria squirmed and dug the tips of her fingers into the hard wood as if she were considering breaking away from me. That stopped the moment I flattened my tongue against her.

A river of arousal greeted me, and I lapped it like a male dying of thirst. Stroking, flicking, sucking, I drove her wilder and wilder until her mewls echoed around the room. Nails scratching my scalp, she tugged me closer, and I buried my face into her, using my tongue to fuck her center.

“Oh, Fates, Rokath, don’t stop,” she pleaded, head tilting back as she bathed in the pleasure I delivered her. I spread her legs wider, giving myself better access, and then slipped one finger inside her. Like a cracking whip, her body rolled from hips to head, and a primal cry tore from her throat as she came. Around that solitary finger, her cunt pulsed, and wetness gushed down my hand and into my mouth.

A groan rumbled in my chest as I sucked her clit into my mouth, drawing out her orgasm. She pushed my head away, chest heaving, a flush painted across her chest and face.

Through a haze of lust, I blinked up at her, mind trying to process what just happened. That moment alone brought me enough clarity that I jumped to my feet and backed away.

A strangled cry passed her lips as the bond seared into both of us, punishing us yet again for breaking apart. Swiping her arousal from my mouth, I growled, “That was just the bond.”

A mosaic of conflicting emotion decorated her face, flashing from desire, to confusion, to hate and finally settling there. “Just the bond,” she replied, an iciness coating her posture.

“Glad we both agree. Now get up and start walking,” I ordered her, gravel rolling through my tone.

She sliced me with a glare but did as I asked, straightening her dress and snatching the discarded veil before stalking to the exit. Dragging in a serrated breath, I counted to ten, nearly begging my dick to soften so I didn’t have to traverse the halls of the palace with a massive erection.

“Take the next left,” I told her as I followed her into the light, keeping my distance so that I didn’t lose control again.

I hate her. This lust is from the bond. I command it and not the other way around.

Without deigning to look in my direction, she turned abruptly, heading toward the main hall of the palace. We’d have to move quickly across it and up the next flight of stairs that led to the wing housing mine and Xannirin’s private apartments. Her protection rested in her anonymity, and I’d already fucked up enough with my earlier behavior around those at the ball and the servants.

I loathed that she had spoken true.

Listening for approaching footsteps but hearing none, I directed her onward. Hopefully, the revelry was enough distraction that no one would be out wandering.

To my relief, no one crossed our path before we approached the final hall. The Kral’s Guard permanently stationed at the end of it blanched at our approach, gazes flicking between Assyria and me. “Your Glory, we didn’t know she was out of your room,” the leader stammered.

“For once, this isn’t your fault,” I growled back. “But if she leaves again tonight, I will have your heads in the morning.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, true fear shining in their eyes.

“You could be nicer, you know.”

“You could shut the fuck up, you know.”

They parted, letting us pass before closing ranks again. Assyria flung the door to my suite open, not caring that the wood smacked against the wall behind it, then stormed into the sleeping chamber without looking at me.

An image of her naked in my bed flashed through my mind, and I had to count to ten again in an attempt to keep it firmly in fantasy and not in reality. The door to it slammed shut a moment later, lock clicking loudly into place. “You know that won’t keep me out, right?”

Her scoff was as audible as if she were standing in front of me. “Like you’d want to be in here anyway. How are you going to stand having me around the war camp when you refuse to be in the same giant room as me?”

She had a point. In the war camp, we’d be forced together at all times, especially since I didn’t trust anyone to watch her other than Rapp or me. “Maybe I’ve spent all week building you a nice cage, so I can keep you right where I want you, and a leash to put around your pretty neck when I need to take you for a walk.”

She yanked the door open, facing me again. Her face was bare and still flushed from exertion, though the increasing redness likely stemmed from my words. “Like your fucking dogs?”

I stepped toward her, flattening my palms on either side of the doorframe. Her attention flicked to the outline of my dick, still straining against my pants, and she gritted her teeth even harder as our gazes collided again.

“Actually, they behave better than you do. They need no leash when they obey their master’s every command,” I growled, itching to reach for her pretty neck and press her deeper into my room and command her in the way only I could.

“You are not my master,” she hissed. Anger speared down the yoke between us, so palpable that it begged the dominant, aggressive side of me to carry out my darkest desires. Yet she arched into my space, almost imperceptibly. Her fingers twitched at her sides, making the veil sway.

“We’ll see about that, little imposter. Now, be a good girl and stay here. If you do, I might bring you a treat.” I shoved off the door and stalked to the exit before the bond could force me to shatter the wood and fuck her senseless.

“I can’t wait,” she said, her tone laced with so much sarcasm it halted me in my tracks. How I wanted to fuck the attitude right out of her. The taste of her arousal on my tongue didn’t help matters.

Keep it together, Rokath. You already lost control twice tonight.

With a growl, I let her have the last word. Too wound up to return to the ball, I slammed the door to Xannirin’s room open. The sound of my boots slapping against the polished floor as I strode to the balcony did nothing to drown out the roaring of the bond. It seared my shoulders, punishing me for walking away from Assyria.