She didn’t miss a beat. Elation flooded her veins, tinged with a hint of triumph. She’d nearly brought the Demon King to his knees with her unskilled touch. As it was, he had to press a hand to the wall behind her to maintain his balance.
“Damn it, Jade,” he ground out as he rode his climax.
When the tremors in his legs lessened, she released him and stared up at him, finding the mixture of fulfillment and ecstasy on his face an exhilarating one. Though she didn’t succumb to gloating.
Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t stand a chance against you when you set your mind to something.”
“I have a lot to learn, but I’m willing to take many, many more lessons.”
He pushed away from the wall and clasped her upper arms, helping her to stand. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was some sort of ploy to bewitch me.”
Feeling particularly flirty, she gave him a sassy look. “Who says it’s not?”
“In all truth, that happened years ago.” He held her firmly again. “Now, keep in mind I don’t need much time to rebound.” He backed her against the marble. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
Her heart rate hitched and her inner muscles contracted once more. “I know I want to feel you inside me.”
The kiss he gave her was nothing short of sizzling. Then he shut off the water and said, “Take your bath. You know where to find me.”
He stepped out of the shower, and when she followed, he handed her a fluffy white towel. She wrapped it around her while he turned the faucets back on to fill the tub.
She watched him strut naked out of the bathroom, a smile playing on her lips. Nothing felt quite so sensational as making a king come.
Aside from everything he did to her…
With a surge of energy from her newfound feminine wiles, Jade busied herself rummaging through the velvet drawstring bag someone—Jocelyn or Sheena, presumably—had left for her, along with a robe and slippers. Inside the bag, she was delighted to find human necessities, including a razor, more elegantly fashioned than the ones she picked up at the pharmacy from time to time.
Then she scanned the labels on the small glass dispensers tucked into the corner ledges of the tub, finally settling on salts that smelled like jasmine. She poured them into the water and they instantly bubbled, making her laugh. She overdid it and ended up with a mountain of suds, but as Jade slipped into the bath, she found the silky foam that coated her skin luxurious and sensual.
Resting the back of her head against a plush, folded towel, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. The relaxation that oozed through her was a welcomed relief. The tension she’d carried with her since childhood eased considerably.
Despite being in a castle full of demons—most of whom, she ventured, likely did not share the same compassion toward human life as Davian did—she felt safe under the protection of the king. And while she knew her friends in the village would be worried about her disappearance, the slayers would have reassured them she was alive and recuperating, after speaking with Morgan.
For once, she allowed herself that sense of security she’d never been able to latch onto, given her hazardous existence. In particular, she didn’t wrestle the age-old quandary of what her purpose in Ryleigh was meant to be. She let all of those thoughts fall by the wayside and, instead, wiped her hands over the towel she leaned against to rid the bubbles from her skin and reached for the book Davian had selected for her.
Chapter Nine
Davian had settled on the large sofa before the fireplace in his bedroom to read papers Morgan had brought him, mostly updates from the stewards in other regions. As the flames from the candles danced and the fire crackled, he caught the enticing hint of jasmine. A moment later, Jade’s teasing breath caressed the shell of his ear as she leaned over of the back of the couch.
“Do you have a dictionary in your study?”
“Of course.” He grinned, though she couldn’t see it from behind him. “Desperate to know what obsequious veneration and pedantic nature mean?”
“I’ve given up on those,” she said in her sultry voice. “I don’t know what a fortnight is and, apparently, Lizzy is to attend a ball in that time period.”
“Two weeks.”
“Oh. Well, then. Why didn’t she just say so?”
He chuckled. “You do understand that Lizzy Bennet would be equally stupefied by the vernacular and cultural differences of this day. For instance, what you did to me in the shower would send her running and screaming for her mother.”
“Poor Lizzy.” She softly tsked
. “To miss out on such a delicacy…”
His cock sprang to life. “There you go again, being uncouth.”
Still whispering in his ear, taunting him, she said, “I didn’t hear any complaints about my behavior when we were in the shower.”