“When I look at the color of your skin, the flush on your cheeks, the heat in your eyes after I kissed you. The perfect, tempting shape of your body when you dropped your blanket in my room. The dirt smudged on your skin when you were a feral fae, caught up in passion.”
At his words, my blood heated, and I pressed in closer to him, until my skin skimmed against his. Finally, I was getting some of the real Adonis, the truth behind his facade. I reached for his face, stroking it.
“Show me you—without the glamour,” he rasped. “Show me all of you. When I kissed you on Eimmal...I haven’t felt so alive in centuries.”
“You hate the fae, but you’re drawn to us.”
He shook his head slowly. “I’m not drawn to the fae. Just to you.”
I sucked in a deep breath, letting the glamour fade completely. My pale hair tumbled over my shoulders, and I took a deep breath, waiting to see his reaction. I felt completely exposed before him.
It was at that point I realized how close our bodies were—my dress riding up under the sheets, my bare thigh brushing against his leg. My pulse raced, heat flaming through my body. Adonis seemed to notice, too, because his breath grew heavier, eyes burning like starlight. He reached for the neckline of my dress, tracing his fingertips under the hem. At his touch, pleasure rippled over my skin.
My mind flashed with an image of Adonis pinning me down again—except this time, in my fevered mind, he was kissing me hard, my legs wrapped around his waist.
“Intense emotions still fascinate me.” The unexpected gentleness of his touch made me want to moan. Glacially slow, he began to tug down the neckline of my dress, studying the vivid flush on my chest.
I hooked my leg around his. I wanted to feel his hands gripping me, to feel his mouth pressed hard against mine. Instead, he was teasing me, silver glinting in his eyes.
I threaded my fingers into his dark hair.
With a slow, graceful gesture, he eased down the top of my dress to expose my shoulder, where his mark stood out starkly on my pale skin. He lowered his mouth to the mark, then ran his tongue over it, sparking a wave of wild heat arcing through my blood. Slowly, his mouth moved farther up my neck. Now, his fingers were gripping my hip possessively. Wild, liquid fire surged through my core, and I felt my back arching, my legs falling open.
Moving like honey over ice, he slid the collar of my dress down just a little farther, exposing only the tops of my breasts. My nipples hardened, my breasts swelling and straining against the fabric. I’d told myself I’d never let him seduce me, but right now, I didn’t really care. I just wanted him to keep touching me.
His mouth moved lower, heating my skin, his tongue now swirling around my nipple. I wanted his mouth on mine.
“Adonis,” I moaned.
He was drawing this out, stirring me to a peak of desire until I forgot how words worked.
Another slow tug at the top of my dress, this time a little more forceful as he kissed me deeply. He pulled down the front of my dress until my breasts slipped out. Adonis let out a low growl, his eyes raking over my body. He was still keeping a leash on himself, still restrained, and the kisses he brushed over my breasts were agonizingly light, even as his hands grew more possessive on my body.
I moaned, rubbing my hips into him. Of course Adonis would turn pleasure into a strange sort of torture, until my mind and body screamed for him.
It was at this point I realized that his wings had appeared again behind him. I ran my fingertips over the feathers at the apex, and his muscles tightened. Now, he pulled down the front of my dress roughly, practically ripping it. A hint of teeth on my breasts, an exquisite torture. Another growl from deep within his throat.
I whispered his name.
He reached my mouth, pressing his lips against mine in a searing kiss. I moaned into his mouth, my tongue brushing his.
“Yes, Ruby?” His voice was a low, deep sigh.
I tried to find the words to tell him what I wanted, about the desperate ache that had spread through my body.
He reached down, his fingertips circling around to my inner thigh. As he traced upward, raw desire throbbed in my core. I stroked his wings again, and his body tensed against me, fingers gripping my thigh more possessively before releasing it again.
I couldn’t take the teasing anymore—I wanted him to move faster. I pulled off my dress entirely, and the cool castle air kissed my skin. I wanted him to look at me—all of me—and I let my knee fall open in an invitation. For a moment, he leaned back, staring at me, torchlight dancing over the powerful planes of his torso. His potent magic licked at my body, caressing parts of me that burned to be touched.
Just as I was sure he was about to unleash the restraints he’d been keeping on himself, a sharp, piercing cry ripped through the air in the distance.
A reptilian cry.
The warlike scream of a full-sized dragon.
And all the heat warming my body chilled to ice.
Chapter 31
Within moments, alarms were sounding within the Louvre, and I had my dress back on. The voices of the cherubs penetrated the door, chanting in unison about a dragon.
Of all the things we’d anticipated—archangels from the Heavenly Host, the descent of the other horsemen—I hadn’t expected dragons to attack.
Adonis was out of the bed in a flash, already pulling on his clothes. “I need to find out what’s happening.”
“I’m coming with you.” My heart was still pounding hard now, but for a different reason.
Gods below. Talk about a bad moment to interrupt.
I grabbed my boots from the floor.
Maybe the interruption was for the best, anyway. Adonis wouldn’t be on earth for much longer. What was the point in falling into his seductive trap now, when he had to go? I zipped up my boots, trying to think clearly. Adonis and I agreed firmly on one point—angels didn’t belong here. Nothing could happen between us.
Adonis pulled open the door, his sword slung around his back, and I hurried after him. Cherubs bustled through the hallway, and among their eerie whispers, I heard a few words repeated: Dragon... Jardin des Tuileries... Succubus.
I swallowed hard. Dragon. Succubus. Hazel?
Adonis strode quickly through the hall, and I hurried to keep up. When we reached the entrance, Aereus was standing in the center of an atrium, his wings and body glowing with golden light. Like Adonis, he’d dressed for battle.
“Any idea what’s going on?” I asked.
Aereus’s eyes burned with gold and red fire as he spoke to me. “Any idea why your sister has come to join us?
When the large, oak doors groaned open, I was greeted by a sight I didn’t think I’d ever forget—my younger sister, mounted on a golden-scaled dragon whose wings shimmered in the silver light of the moon.
Hazel gripped the dragon’s neck, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. A flush brightened her cheeks, and her eyes sparkled.
I stared at the dragon, my mind swarming with unwelcome memories. A dragon—clamping Marcus in its jaws, its teeth piercing his flesh, ripping him to shreds. Blood streamed over the pavement… My chest clenched, until I took a slow, steady breath.