Page 105 of How Does It Feel?

I shifted my bare legs under the amber-and-cedar-scented sheets and attempted to do a better job of not showing my barely masked disappointment. I did need all the help I could get before the trial.

Before I left him and returned home.

The air hung heavy as our eyes communicated silently what neither one of us could say.

I swallowed hard as we continued to stare. Somehow emotions got tangled in what our eyes were telling each other.

I was scared of dying, and a part of me—a part I was ashamed of—didn’t want to leave him. He was the only person that ever made me feel this way. Like I could show him all my monsters and he would only love me more with them.

It was an insane thought, but the ache in my chest at what I had to do tomorrow left me feeling a little unhinged.

I would never see him again after tomorrow; he would be gone forever.

Something reckless crawled up my spine. The way he watched me didn’t help. His powers pulsed and radiated from him with every move.

Monsters of the scariest creation ran from him when he was near.

I’d seen him kill for no reason other than that he was bored. He commanded the entire realm of the most conniving and despicable Fae, but yet somehow . . . somehow I knew whatever I would tell him to do, he would do it just to please me. Even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined anyone would ever look at me the way he did—villain or not.

I bit my lip, trying to force away the wild thoughts that flowed through my mind.

Then I sat up a little taller.

“Come here,” I commanded seductively, wanting to test what I thought I already knew.

His eyes darkened instantly, and the corner of his mouth dimpled.

“This will be my last night with you before I go home or die and I—”

His face wiped free of any humor and back into the fierce Unseelie prince as he stiffened.

Before I knew it, he had grabbed my legs and pulled my body down flat against the bed, the tunic now scrunched up around my chest. My heart pounded in my ears. Had I pushed him too far? I knew he was deranged, but what had I done?

He hovered over me and pressed his knees between my legs. His arms had somehow grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head before I could even register what had happened.

“No, you come here.” His eyes darkened as his body hovered just above mine. He pulled back to blatantly run his eyes up and down my now fully exposed body. I watched as his breath hitched in his chest and his teeth pulled in a corner of his lower lip. “I am yours to command, my love.” He pressed his soft lips against my cheek. “But I don’t think you understand the capacity of the blade you wish to wield.” Another kiss to my jawline. “It’s true, you may possess me now, but I will haunt you until your mortal blood rises from its depths to feel my touch.” He moved himself down and was suddenly ghosting velvety kisses across the inside of my thighs.

My legs were parted—my whole body displayed openly for him. I sent up a silent prayer that he couldn’t feel my legs shaking with anticipation.

He looked up from between my thighs with a sultry smirk and deep need written across his face.

Mendax’s hot breath tickled across my innermost thigh and center. He was so close to touching my skin.

But he didn’t.

“Your body reacts to my touch like a forest fire.” His whispered voice danced over my center before he pressed his mouth to the crease between my thigh and center.

I was shamelessly squirmy, now needing to brush against his mouth. He looked up with a dark look, his pupils completely blown out.

“You should be resting now. Such a naughty human.” His hot breath accompanied a tiny touch from the tip of his tongue against my throbbing clit.

A sigh left my mouth as I reached out and grabbed a handful of his hair, not thinking. A hungry growl tore from his chest as he stared at me with barely shackled restraint.

Never had I responded to someone’s touch like his. It was as if every trail of his fingers burned a memory that I would replay over and over again for the rest of my days.

“Tomorrow, you will go to the gridiron of fates for your third and final trial.” His hands slid across my thighs. “It is the oldest and most controversial form of Fae punishment.” His thumb trailed up my center, and I pushed up just before it was gone. “It is where fate rules all and decides what your punishment truly should be.” His mouth kissed my clit as a hand trailed up my stomach to grab my breast.

My back arched immediately in response, pressing into him.