Page 81 of The Death King

“Afraid you’ll lose. Afraid you won’t avenge those you love. Afraid that your entire purpose in staying alive will be for nothing. Afraid that you’ll not only fail them once—but twice.”

A knock sounded on the door.

I was in the armchair in the sitting room, staring at the bookshelf as I considered my next move. “Enter.” I expected it to be my servant with dinner, dinner that wouldn’t get eaten because I had no appetite.

But it was Calista.

She walked inside, wearing one of her nightdresses, her hair slightly damp like she’d recently taken a shower. Her arms were discolored by bruises from our training the other day. She was in much better shape than the last time we trained, but she couldn’t escape my hits. She studied me as she moved to the other armchair. “Still mad at me?”

My temple was propped against my closed knuckles. “I’m always mad.”

“Well, is that anger directed at me, specifically?”

I dropped my hand and straightened. “No.”

“Then why haven’t I seen you?”

“Busy.” Busy thinking about my shortcomings and inadequacies.

Her eyes tried to cut my veil and catch the lie.

I’d thought about her several times, but my mood was always too sour to pursue it. I chose to spend my time brooding in front of warm fireplaces.

“You…you want to talk about it?”

I didn’t even bother responding to that.

“You want me to leave?”

“Did I ask you to leave?”

“No.”

“If I didn’t want you here, you would know.”

She held my gaze for a second longer before she looked at the fire.

I assumed she’d come here because she wanted me, but she was either too shy to say it or lacked the confidence to show it. It was an interesting contradiction with the rest of her personality, which ran hotter than Khazmuda’s fire. I left the armchair and approached hers, watching her eyes move to me, the pulse quickening in her throat. My hand slid into her hair, fisted it at the back, and forced her head back so I could kiss her hard on the mouth.

She reciprocated it immediately, her fingers wrapping around my wrist, her breath filling my lungs.

I lowered myself to my knees and scooped my hands under her ass, tugging her to the edge of the armchair so she was up against me. My mouth devoured hers, feeling that scorching heat between our bodies the second they came into contact. She was the match that lit my logs ablaze. I didn’t kiss my whores. I didn’t warm them up the way I did with her. I gave my commands and watched them be obeyed.

But I didn’t mind this.

My hands scooped under her ass and lifted her into the air.

Her ankles immediately crossed at my back.

She kissed me as I carried her to the bed, her fingers deep in the back of my hair, her touches too sincere to be manipulative. When she said she hated me, she meant it. But when she kissed me, she meant it even more.

I laid her on the bed as I rolled on top of her, her hands immediately moving down to the waist of my trousers. Her fingers slid underneath the band and yanked them down, taking my boxers too, and then my cock was free. Once her lack of confidence disappeared and her true nature shone through, she slipped her fingers into her own panties and pulled them over her ass. She was in such a rush that it seemed as if she’d been thinking about me long before she’d walked through the door.

I pushed her dress up to her tits and guided myself inside her, fitting in without resistance for the first time. The pool of wetness that greeted me was so substantial, it pulled a moan out of my clenched jaw. “Damn.” I sank inside her in a smooth glide until I hit her limit. “You’ve been thinking about me for a while.”

Her eyes lost their confidence, a wave of shame moving over her face.

That turned me on even more. My hand slid underneath her lower back, and I tilted her farther, deepening the angle and bringing our bodies close together. I started to thrust inside her, my face directly above hers, claiming her land as my own. It took her a moment to get lost with me, too ashamed that I’d discovered her secret to thrive. My hand gripped her neck, and my thumb rested in the corner of her mouth, forcing her stare to latch on to mine. “You’re all I ever think about, baby.”