Page 44 of Avaritia

I was happy enough. I’d been happy enough in my shitty relationship with Sebastian. I could make myself content anywhere, handle any curveball life threw at me.

Such was the silver lining of carrying around bucketloads of childhood trauma, I guessed.

Setting down the book I’d been dusting aside, I stood up and brushed down my clothes, heading for the corridor.

This grand old manor had been shut away and neglected for far too long, and I needed projects for my own sanity and had nothing but time.

I was pinned to the bed.

That was my first thought when I woke up, the sky still dark outside. I gingerly flexed my legs and shifted my wrists, but they were very much pressed against the mattress, wrapped in something both solid and ephemeral at the same time.

And my cunt was aching. That was definitely my second thought. Maybe that had been the first thought, actually. Because I wasn’t sure I’d ever been this horny in my life.

“You’re awake,” Theon rasped in my ear, the warmth of his body covering my back though he was carefully keeping his weight off me.

Huh. Apparently he’d taken my tension-breaking throwaway suggestion seriously.

“You’ve been playing.”

“As you instructed.”

“You’re a good listener.”

Theon huffed what might have been laughter—surely not—but I was distracted by the feel of a probing tentacle between my thighs. My eyes rolled back in my head as it flattened to fit between my body and the sheets, offering just enough stimulation for my already sensitive clit.

“Don’t get into the habit of thinking I’ll always listen to your instructions, my captive,” Theon purred, manipulating the thin strand of shadow into what felt like a forked tongue, massaging my clit at an intensity that had me biting the pillow. “You belong to me.”

“And you don’t belong to me?” I challenged, except I sounded like I was giving it my all in an amateur porno and not even a little bit like the strong, Independent Women Part 2 baddie I was going for.

Theon hummed.

“How reassuring.” That one came out a little sharper. Theon chuckled, shadow tentacles crawling up the backs of my thighs, kneading and pinching my ass.

“I am yours, my captive. Your mate. And you are mine, and one day, you will be my queen. And I am going to keep you very, very happy, and you are going to keep me very well sated, aren’t you?”

What were we talking about? Both shadows that had been playing with my ass cheeks were twining around each other, pushing their way into my pussy.

He was different under the cover of darkness. So was I. Perhaps my mistake had been trying to recreate this chemistry in the cold hard light of day.

“You’re going to spend most of your days like this, you know,” Theon added conversationally. “A drooling, sopping mess in the middle of my bed. Perhaps someday soon with a big round belly, hm? How many children shall I give you? You did say you wanted them.”

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. Red alert. Sirens were going. I already wanted to come.

“Lots,” I breathed, writhing as much as I could with my wrists and ankles still bound.

Theon hummed. “Yes, I think so too. You will make a very good mate for me indeed.”

He was saying what he thought I wanted to hear after our awkward moment this afternoon. Smoothing it over the best way he knew how. I didn’t read into it, it was a performance and we were both playing our part.

“More,” I whined, squirming at the feel of the tentacle breaching me. It was so good and not quite enough all at once. “Wait, Fester—”

“We’re in my room,” Theon interjected. “It’s my bed you’ve been leaking slick onto for the past half hour.”

I had no idea how he’d moved me without me waking up, but I wasn’t complaining. Both at the sleep play I’d specifically asked for, and the fact that we weren’t actively traumatizing my cat.

“I’ve been spoiling you,” Theon rasped, picking up his pace. “Worshipping this delightful body. I’m a duke. You should really be worshipping me.”

My eyes rolled back in my head, the pleasure too intense for me to formulate a snarky reply about how much he enjoyed worshipping me. I was pretty sure this wasn’t even doing anything for him—he didn’t seem to have that much sensation in his shadow limbs. This was all purely for my benefit.