Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(41)

“Is someone coming to help the prince from his weak little mate?”

Evren leaned forward and pressed his arms to his knees. “I don’t think you’re weak, princess. I think you’re scared.”

He was right. I was scared. I was fearful of letting myself fall into him completely. Holding on to that fear and every ounce of anger I had left was the only way I could protect myself.

“I think you are capable of far more than even you are willing to believe.”

I didn’t want to listen to him. Not a single word. So I turned on my heel to walk away from him, but his voice stopped me.

“Hit me again.”

I looked at him over my shoulder like he was crazy. “No.”

“Do it, princess.” He ran his hand over his mouth. “Hit me again and this time use every bit of power you can muster.”

“I’m not doing it.” I shook my head as my hands trembled at my sides.

“Hit me with your power,” he growled at me, and my magic bowed and writhed at the sound of his command.

“I don’t answer to you, Evren.”

He laughed, low and harsh. “You’re going to answer to someone, princess, if you don’t learn to use your power. Whether it be me or my brother. Is that what you want? To be the Starblessed girl who answered to someone else?”

I balled my hand into a fist as my magic begged me to let it do exactly what he was asking. “And what of you?” I nodded in his direction. “Do you answer to no one or are you simply a pawn in a game of queens?”

His jaw clenched. “Is that what you really think of me, princess?”

“I hardly think of you at all.”

His mouth curved up in a wicked smile as he looked up at me. “Gods, you’re fucking beautiful, but I think I’ve told you before that you aren’t a very good liar. If you weren’t thinking of me, you wouldn't be sleeping in my bed while I was gone.” He pushed from the ground and stood back to his full height. I watched as he stared at me. “You wouldn't be pleasuring yourself with your fingers buried between your thighs while I watched, would you?”

When I didn’t answer, he continued.

“There are far worse things you could do than think of me, princess.”

My hands trembled at my sides.

“And yet, I can't think of anything.” I pressed my hands against my hips as I watched him take me in. “What could be worse than a girl thinking about the man who betrayed her?”

His eyes narrowed even though he tried to hide it. “There are many things.”

He stepped closer to me, and I held my ground. I didn't want him to see how much he affected me.

“I could never get to touch you again.” Another step closer and my mark sparked against my skin. “I could never taste your blood on my lips or feel the power of my mate coursing through me like a fucking drug.”

My breath shuddered out of me, but he didn't stop. Another step closer. Then another until he was but a few steps away. “You could refuse my hand even though it's exactly what you want, and you could let my brother take you away from me.”

He stepped closer still until the toe of his boots pressed against mine. “There are a million things I can think of that would be worse than my mate thinking of me.”

I wanted to retort with something to mess with his head as much as he was mine, but I could barely remember to breathe as he looked down at me and pushed his hand through my hair at the base of my neck. He gripped me there, forcing my head to tilt up to look at him, and my chest heaved with the struggle to remember why I didn't want him.

“But I would much rather think of a million things that I could do to you.” His gaze ran over me. “Every moment that I was away, I dreamt of the things I would do to your body. The things that I could teach you.” His thumb slowly dragged along my jaw in a lazy pass as he stared down at my mouth. “I dreamt of our wedding night. Of what it will feel like to be inside of you when you are completely mine and mine alone.”

I gasped at his words and an ache began between my thighs as my traitorous body reacted to everything he said. Gods, I could imagine it too.

He ran his thumb over the artery in my neck, tracing my racing pulse as he licked his bottom lip. “You can keep telling me that isn’t what you want as well, princess, but your body tells differently.”

He widened the curve of my neck even further and pressed his nose against the same spot he had just been touching. He inhaled deeply before the soft groan passed his lips. He pressed his mouth against my skin, soft, subtle, a ghost of what I wanted him to do to me, before he spoke again. “When we do wed, there won't be a single part of you that you can hide from me. Everything that you are will belong to me. Just as you possess everything that I am.”

His words were so sure, a promise of what was to come, and I shook my head even as I felt the truth of them. “That will never happen.”

“How does that lie taste?” I felt him smile against my neck before he gently grazed his teeth against my skin. “I haven't tasted a single part of you that I didn't like.” His tongue followed his teeth, and I shuddered beneath him. “If you need to lie to yourself to be okay with what's happening, then do it.” He slowly dropped his hand from my skin and took a step back. “I'll take whatever fucking part of you I can get.”