Her signature pulses inside her chamber.
I don’t knock. Surprise is my ally if she’s lost in that dark pit again.
She turns at the sound of the door. Millicent stands framed in the balcony’s light. “Um? Hello?”
My eyes rake over her—sharp, precise, checking for the predator. “What are you doing in here, little witch?”
“I felt claustrophobic,” she responds a little too quickly.
Liar.
“I thought we were going to start being honest?” I close the distance slowly.
“Since when?” she snaps, folding her arms.
My gaze flicks past her to the owl perched in the shadows of the balcony. Familiar eyes. Nora’s eyes. She’s watching. I noticed the owl when Millicent was in stasis, and I’ll never forget those eyes.
I already figured Nora is keeping tabs on Millicent. “Talking to your mock mommy?” My voice drips with malice.
Her expression turns venomous. “Something like that.”
I step closer, letting my size and presence tower over her, but she doesn’t flinch.
Intriguing.
“Why is there a surge in magic, Millicent?” I watch closely for a break in her mask.
Her grin widens like a challenge. “Maybe it’s me. No collar, remember?” She drags her fingers along her bare neck.
My eyes track the movement. No scars. No sign of the Carnium Edax, no residue of the collar that once chewed its way into her flesh.
How many scars have been bestowed upon her skin, only to be erased?
“Do you think that makes you free?”
I close the last inch between us. Her aura pulses against mine. My hand lifts to her throat, fingers wrapping slowly, deliberately around the delicate column.
“I’m not a prisoner here, remember?” she asks, tone just shy of flirtatious.
“Free of your collar, perhaps. Not of me. I am your executioner, my little witch.” I pull her against my chest, tightening my grip on her throat in warning. “I could snap your neck right now.”
Her eyes glint with something unreadable. “Break me then,” she whispers, her voice dipping into a soft velvet sound that pulls the beast inside me from its cage.
I push her backward, step by step, toward the balcony where Nora’s owl watches silently from its perch.
I lean down to her ear, keeping my eyes locked on the bird. “How do you think Nora will feel, seeing her heir bent over this railing, fucked by the monster she helped forge?”
She turns, meeting my eyes with lethal calm. “How do you think I will feel when you fill me?”
Her lip slips between her teeth, and I grow instantly envious of the attention.
“Like sweet sin,” I mumble, hoarsely.
I press my lips to hers. She resists at first, until I squeeze her throat tighter. Her lips part to suck in air, and I claim her. My tongue invades, stealing her delicious taste, taking her breath and replacing it with mine. I’m inside her mouth, but it isn’t enough. I need more.
She reciprocates with heat. Hands slip in my hair, tugging on strands as her teeth tug at my bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth. When she moans against me, my restraint crumbles.
My pants grow tighter as I grind against her, letting her feel my desire. And the sound she makes in response damn near breaks me.
