“I didn’t kiss any of the princes,” she said. “I haven’t kissed anyone but you. Ever.”
I felt a rush of primal satisfaction hearing that every kiss she’d had belonged to me. A growl of approval rumbled in my chest as I took her mouth again, pouring everything I felt for her into that kiss. My hand fisted the material of her short skirt, and I resisted the urge to claim more than just her mouth.
Slipping my arm around her waist, I backed her into the bedroom, not stopping until the backs of her legs met the mattress. I knew I was playing with fire, testing my control past what was wise, but at the moment I didn’t care.
I pushed Laila down to sit on the edge of the bed and dropped to my knees in front of her. I took one of her feet into my lap, slowly undoing the ties of her shoe, which wound around her ankle, then moved on to the other shoe. When I was finished, I pressed a kiss to the top of her foot, then her shin, her knee, the inside of her thigh.
“I hated watching you dance with him.” I murmured into her warm flesh. “Hated the way he put his hands on you like he had the right to touch you.” Sort of like I was doing now.
Dammit.
I pulled back to look at her. “It goes against every fiber of my being to sit back and watch you charm the grand princes of Hell.”
Her nimble fingers slid into my hair, massaging my scalp. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” I whispered as my eyes closed of their own accord. I had to fight back a moan as her fingers worked their magic.
“Then trust me to handle the princes. I hated watching you dance with those girls tonight too. It hurt when you kissed that siren. But we don’t have time for jealousy. There’s too much at stake. If we offer them a weakness to exploit, they’ll use it to destroy us.”
She was right.
I studied her, taking in every detail. She wasn’t the lost little attendant she’d been the first time we’d met. She’d changed, grown stronger, sharper, but I could still see the kindness in her heart. She’d forgiven Astaroth after he’d cost her everything, and no matter how little I deserved it, she’d never given up on me either. She was the best Heaven had to offer, I was sure of it.
“It’s only going to get worse,” she said, her voice soft. “We need to be stronger than this.”
“I know.”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Anything,” I said before I could think better of it.
“Kiss me.”
My body reacted to the request before my brain could catch up. I was off the ground, pushing her back on the bed, and hovering over her in the time it took to blink. I kissed her deeply, taking everything she’d give me. I moved to kiss over her jaw and down her neck. My lips trailed over the jewels on the collar of her dress for a second before I reached the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder.
An image of the tattoo on her wrist flashed in my mind, the claiming mark Astaroth had left on her. I wanted to leave my own marks on her skin. I sucked on her soft flesh and was rewarded with her gasp. I didn’t stop, nibbling and sucking at her flesh, claiming her.
Laila’s hand slid into my hair again, holding me in place while the nails of her other hand dug into my shoulder, hopefully leaving lasting marks.
My skin was a patchwork of scars, but these were the first ones I welcomed gladly. I wanted her to know when she looked at me that I was hers even if she could never really be mine.
TWENTY
Laila
When Jorieland I came downstairs sometime in the early afternoon, Astaroth was sitting in the kitchen, a cup of what smelled like coffee on the counter in front of him.
“You two must have made an impression last night,” he said, tossing a folded card toward us.
I grabbed it before Joriel could and flipped it open. Neat script invited both of us to the house of Asmodeus on the first Friday of April.
I glanced up from the invitation. “When’s the first Friday of April?”
“Six days from now,” Roth answered, lifting his cup to his lips.
“Why do you say we must have made an impression? Is this invitation different from the party we went to last night?” I wasn’t even willing to think about the fact that it was already the end of March. Time had seemed so meaningless in Hell; it had been easy to imagine it wasn’t really passing.
“Yes and no,” Roth said. “There’s always a party going on at someone’s house, and many of us frequent each other’s parties, but it’s rare to send an explicit invitation to anyone. The fact that he invited both of you specifically also means you’re not attending as my guests. You’ve been invited of your own accord. You’ll be on your own in regard to whatever Asmodeus has planned.”
