A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 2)

“Maybe just come back and spend what’s left of the night…”

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he murmured, and shook his head. “I do want to stay, but there are still a few things I have to do.”

He leaned down over me and kissed me, long and slow, rubbing his fingers over my clit and down, dipping them inside me.

“Pleasure yourself when I leave,” he whispered, his lips against mine. “I want to feel it through the bond. Think of me licking your pussy when you do. I want to hear all about your filthy daydreams when I see you next.”

His fingers pumped a little faster, and I arched, my breath hitching.

He swore softly and pulled his fingers away. “I do have to go. I’ll put those leaves in water. Sleep, princess. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Will you ever spend the night with me? Or, you know, what’s left of it?”

He paused next to the bed. He ran his hand up the side of my thigh, over a hip…and then his touch skimmed my stomach, longing ringing through the bond again. Our gazes locked, our connection so deep that I fell in and lost track of the world around me. My heart squeezed at the warmth I saw.

I wrapped my fingers around his muscled forearm just to have that connection. To ground myself in him. I knew then that he felt the same way as me. Wanted the same things. Was equally cockblocked by the difference in our situations and maybe fate itself.

“I wish things were different,” he whispered, his thumb stroking across my belly.

I nodded mutely.

“But for now, I take delight in knowing that this…” He ran his hand down and rubbed his fingertips firmly at the base of my pussy, collecting our combined release and gently pushing it back into my body. He left his hand on me, and his eyes lit with a possessive gleam. “This is mine.”

My heart fluttered. It was hard to breathe. My animal purred in ecstasy, basking in his words and tone, in his possessive dominance. His dragon, very near the surface, flooded the bond with pride and approval.

I didn’t grow up knowing the shifters’ ways, but clearly I was getting a crash course.

“Yes,” I said softly, not able to fight it. Not wanting to anymore. My animal nodded in approval. Maybe now she’d get off my back.

He bent and kissed my lips, his fingers trailing back to my stomach. “I will stay with you soon, yes. I want more time to properly fuck you. Rage-fucking is fun, thank you for that, but I want the next time to be slow. I want to take care of all your needs and destroy you for anyone else. I might not get to keep you in the end, but I’ll make sure my memory is etched into your body, if not your mind.”

“Do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Stop bringing up that you won’t be able to keep me. I know you’ll have to move on, but I don’t want to hear it until I have to face it.”

He shook his head slowly, pain eating through the bond. “You have it wrong. I won’t be the one who moves on. Not ever.”

“More lies, right? Of course you have to move on. You’re a prince. You’ll find a noble girl of good standing and fashion and whatever else you social elite do, and either I’ll get lost or I’ll be your side piece. I’m definitely not going to be the side piece, so…”

He chuckled darkly and ran his fingers through his unruly dark brown hair. “You’re daft sometimes, you know that? My side piece? As if your animal would stand for that. As if my dragon would allow me to lie with someone else instead of you. No, princess, that is not how this works, which I have explained to you repeatedly. Do me a favor and take it in this time. I refuse to be your ruin, and if you stay here with me, that’s exactly what will happen. The second the curse is broken, the demon king will move in and kill me and everyone close to me. He’ll take some of the villagers as indentured servants and likely kill the rest, or give them to his demons as playthings. He’ll either move his people into these lands, or strip them of any value and leave them to rot. To stay with me is death.” His voice took on a hard edge. “I will not do that to you. When the time comes, you will leave me to save yourself and anyone you can take with you, and I will let you. Do I make myself clear? You are not trapped with me. But I am trapped with you. I refuse to claim you because I worry that the demon king will be put off by my scent and it’ll take away your only chance at a better life. I worry that I’ll become too selfish to give you up. I refuse to claim you because I…” He paused, his gaze intense, as though stopping himself from saying something. “Because I respect you too highly to drag you down with me.”