Lord of Embers(The Demon Queen Trials #2)(32)

For a hundred and fifty years, I didn’t have a blanket. I’d learned to sleep on the ice.

For a moment, I considered giving her my coat, but that would be insane. If she

Mortana, I would have to kill her. And how was I w as

supposed to do that if I could hardly manage watching her teeth chatter?

In the distance, I glimpsed a little stone cottage between the trees, and I felt an overwhelming urge to take her there and warm her up by a fire.

I had one purpose in this world, and it was not to make my worst enemy comfortable. What she’d done to my mother and Ashur and all the rest—that should have been enough to extinguish the smoldering fire of my lust.

Her hips swayed as she walked, inviting me closer. Even in her ridiculous woolen dress, she was making me hard. It was her succubus scent, like deliciously ripe fruit, and the fact that I knew exactly how glorious she looked naked. Alabaster skin, pink nipples— Bloody hell. This would be a lot easier without memory burned

th at

into my mind—Rowan’s hips in the air and her body aching for mine.

I tightened my fingers into fists. I could tell myself she was my enemy, my rival, but my body had other designs. My body had decided she was mine, and that we belonged together.

Since I lacked self-restraint, I would have to rely on the groundwork I’d laid earlier: brutally insulting her. If I couldn’t keep myself from her, I hoped that would keep

from

.

h er

me

I can fin ally rid myself of you r irritatin g presen ce.

It was the one sensible thing I’d done since she’d come back.

My gaze slowly raked down her back to her narrow waist. My hunger for her was unbearable, my incubus side starved for her touch, for the warmth she inspired in me.

She looked back at me, a question in her eyes. From all appearances, she didn’t understand this world anymore, which made it harder to remind myself who she was.

As the sea wind toyed with her red hair, she seemed entranced with me. The magic of the forest was affecting both of us.

My gaze lingered over her heartbreakingly beautiful face, her full lips.

“These woods are enchanted,” she murmured. “I’m starting to feel… a bit more like a demon.”

A bit more like a succubus.

I wanted to maintain my mask of boredom and say something insulting, but instead, I moved closer. She pressed her hand against my chest. To keep me at a distance, perhaps, but her touch made my heart pound.

I could hear her heart beating in time with mine, hear the shallowing of her breath.

“There’s a cottage.” I nodded up ahead. “You could get warm there before we move on.”

Mortan a. Sh e w as Mortan a.

She held my gaze steadily, breath clouding around her face.

Something mischievous glinted in her eyes. “Do you actually find me tedious? When we first met, you told me that you didn’t lie about what you were, and that’s what made humans different from demons, but I’m not convinced you were telling the truth.” Her eyebrows drew together, and a pink flush rose over her cheeks. “Why did you really let me live?”

Of course, she was absolutely fucking right, and she fascinated me more than anyone. I wasn’t about to admit it, though, since it was the only thing saving me from complete self-destruction.

“If you think I like you, it’s my incubus charm.” I slid my hands into the pockets of my coat. “Everything I said stands. You’re nothing but a beautiful irritant.” I forced the words out, though it felt like I was hearing them from a distance, ridiculous words that had no meaning.

She cocked her head. “You did say beautiful, though.”

Had I?

“But that’s not really good enough. If you genuinely think I’m nothing more than an irritant and have no respect for me at all, then you have terrible taste. That makes you not good enough, I’m afraid.

You’ve been weighed on the scales and found wanting. You know, Orion? Maybe a mortal man could truly appreciate me.”

She turned away, and I felt it like a physical pain, claws plunging into my chest. Insane, irrational jealousy surged through my veins, even though I wasn’t even sure who I was jealous of. A mortal?

My demon side took hold, darkness spilling out around me. My body was taking over my mind.

I prowled after her. I

to have her because she was mine.

h ad

Blood pumping hot in my veins, I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me. Her eyes darkened, and her lip curled back, exposing her fangs.

was the beautiful demonic side of her, the ferocious T h ere

succubus. She let out a hiss.

What was I doing?

“I don’t find you boring at all,” I admitted. “I hate you for what you did. But because I’m certain that I am cursed, I can’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to have your legs wrapped around me and your mouth pressed to mine. And I can never, stop thinking about you.”

ever

With a wicked smile, she stroked her hand down my chest. “It’s too bad you hate me, then, isn’t it?” A little shrug of her shoulders. “I can easily find someone who doesn’t. Didn’t Goody Putnam imply the Dying God was beautiful?”

Aggression unfurled inside me, and I pressed her against an oak tree, boxing her in with my palms on the rough bark. I wanted to fuck her until she forgot he existed.