Happily Ever Crowned Read online

  She grew hotter with each word, until sweat poured off my skin from the proximity. But she maintained it, maybe because she knew it was me speaking. I paused after every tirade to check in, and each time, she told me to continue.

  And I did.

  Until a ball of blue angelfire curled around her wrist, crawling up her arm.

  I took several steps back, the energy hypnotic in its lethality. One touch and she’d incinerate me.

  “Valora,” I whispered.

  She didn’t reply, the power swimming in vines across her skin and singeing the fabric covering her torso, then her legs.

  I swallowed. You’re glowing violet, I warned.

  “I’m okay,” she replied, gritting her teeth.

  I remained absolutely still. Tell me what you need.

  You, she whispered. Talk.

  “You look beautiful.” I spoke softly, understanding that she wanted my words now. Not those of Necros. “This is your destiny, Valora. To be a true queen, one of the most powerful and revered in the Underworld. And you wear it well.” I went to my knees, placing myself in an inferior position. “Open your eyes. See where you are, remember who you are, and observe the glory you’ve created.”

  Because she was truly magnificent, radiating an energy so pure I nearly wept looking at her.

  And what’s more, she controlled it.

  Even in a library filled with books—a location I now regretted choosing for this sort of training—she managed to contain the inferno to her skin alone.

  Of course, the clothes she wore were gone. Something I would have liked a hell of a lot more without all the flames. Still, this was the goal. And she’d finally started to achieve it.

  Her irises glowed with liquid blue fire as she finally looked at me, a note of concentration in their depths. “Adrik…”

  “I’m here, sweet star.” Little bird no longer seemed like an adequate name. Valora’s clipped wings kept her from flying, but the light inside her rivaled the galaxies above. “How do you feel?”

  “Powerful,” she marveled, looking at her arms and rolling the rope of bluish-purple flames across her skin. She smiled. “I can’t wield it yet, but it’s responding to my desire to stay close. To not harm you.”

  A good sign that she was starting to truly trust me, which meant I was one step closer in my plan for her heart. I swallowed as my own ached at the thought. But I shoved the emotion away and focused on her. She needed help to come down from the high; I could see it in the power radiating from her eyes.

  “Can you harness it?” I phrased it as a curious question, not a demand. “Or does it feel too good to be free?”

  “Necros won’t touch me in this form,” she said, almost to herself. “No one would.”

  “You’d incinerate anyone who came too close,” I agreed. “It’s why I’m over here.”

  She frowned, glancing up at me. “I would never hurt you.”

  “Not on purpose, no.” Yet I had every intention of harming her. How was that fair? And why did that suddenly feel like the worst idea in the world?

  Fuck, Grigory was going to slaughter me.

  Not only had I missed one of our meetings—something that resulted in a disgruntled call—but I almost regretted what I had to do.

  “Adrik?” She took a step forward. “Are you all right?”

  I flinched a little at the singeing heat radiating from her form. “Just getting a little warm,” I joked, my damp skin a testament to the truth. “I’m going to need an ice bath after this.”

  Her lips curled. “A bath? Can I join you?”

  “I thought you didn’t want to fuck tonight?” I teased, happy to see her flames going down a little as we spoke. If she noticed, she didn’t comment.

  “Maybe I’ve changed my mind.”

  “Maybe I want to be on top,” I returned, meaning it despite the playful note in my voice. The woman was killing me.

  “Hmm.” She eyed the angelfire, watching as it shifted back to a safer orange-red flicker. “Maybe I’d like that.” The fire continued to cool until only embers danced over her naked form. “I did it,” she breathed, her expression a mixture of awe and pride. The heat left her gaze, returning her irises to a pale blue as she looked at me. “Adrik, I did it.”

  I stood just in time to catch her in a hug. Her skin lacked the warmth I expected, her limbs almost icy as she clung to my neck and buried her head against my chest. “You were magnificent,” I whispered, pressing my lips to her temple and lifting her into the air.

  Her legs wrapped around my waist, placing the hottest part of her against my growing cock.

  Naked.

  Powerful.

  Beautiful.

  Woman.

  I groaned against her neck. “Valora, I—” My wrist buzzed with an alarm that had my head shooting up. “Fuck.” I’d rigged the area outside my quarters to warn me if anyone disturbed the proximity of my door. It gave me a two-minute warning, tops. Which was usually more than enough. But not tonight. “We need to get back. Now.”

  The hours had escaped me.

  It was well past evening on our seventh night together.

  Necros probably wanted his wife back.

  Adrik pulled me through the tunnels at a rapid speed, telling me the plan as we went.

  I didn’t like one word of it. Especially now that I knew how to awaken my power. And I told him as much.

  “Valora,” he said, grasping my shoulders just outside of his quarters. “You just burned through hours of energy. Yes, you’re powerful. But we need to be smart about this. Play submissive. Buy me time to be located elsewhere. Or this will all implode tonight, and we’re not ready.”

  He pushed me into his rooms, where the door rattled beneath Necros’s fists, his fury palpable.

  Adrik ruffled my hair, pulling it over my shoulders, giving me a horrid appearance.

  “Act groggy. Then beg him to take you back, apologize profusely, tell him you missed him. Do whatever he asks.” Adrik cupped my cheek as a resounding bang hit the wood, shaking the walls. “Go to him,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

  And with that, he left me alone with the raging lion in the hallway.

  “Adrik!” my husband roared. Another slam rattled the fixtures throughout the room.

  Oh, he was livid. And yet, what did he suspect by giving his wife away to another man? I blew out a long breath and wandered over to the door. “Necros?” I called in as weak a voice as I could muster.

  The pounding stopped.

  “Open the door,” he ordered.

  “Yes,” I replied, forcing a note of fear into my tone.

  Adrik had showed me how to unbolt the door earlier this week, not wanting me to feel trapped in his quarters. I slid them across slowly, pretending to struggle, and collapsed against the wall beside the entrance when done, doing my best to feign exhaustion.

  Necros threw the door open, the wood crashing into the stone interior, and stormed inside with two guards behind him. Good thing I’d chosen the opposite wall or that heavy oak would have slammed right into my face.

  “Where’s the prince?” he snarled, searching the dark room, noting the crisply folded sheets and the thin blankets on the floor near the bottom of the bed. Adrik had thrown those there several days ago, stating it would show Necros a level of detachment if he thought that was where I slept.

  It seemed to work, because my husband’s shoulders slightly loosened as he found me sliding down the wall. I put my head in my hands as if trying to rouse myself. “Forgive me, My Lord. I’m… I’ve not been well.”

  “He’s not here, My King,” one of the guards announced after having checked the bathroom and side room.

  “He left my wife alone?” He sounded quite angry with that fact, which I found humorous considering all the days and nights he left me alone in my own rooms. “Find him. Now.”

  “Of course, My Lord,” they said in unison, bowing.

  The door remained opened as they left, giving me a false s
ense of security that soon dissipated beneath the boots of Necros’s approach. “You’re pathetic,” he spat. “It’s been a week, and you’re still recovering?”

  “I-I’m sorry,” I spluttered, making a show of forcing myself onto my knees.

  He grunted. “I thought Adrik was training you. But all you’ve been doing is sleeping. What a fucking waste.”

  Shit. I couldn’t let him blame Adrik for my behavior—something that was Necros’s fault more than anyone else’s. But he would never see it that way. He’d accuse Adrik of not upholding his side of the bargain, may even force him to leave. That can’t happen.

  “Please, Necros. Please. I’m trying. I… I…” I grabbed his belt to keep him from stepping away, not knowing another way to make him hear me. “I’m l-learning. I-I promise.” I slid the leather through the buckle, hating myself for what I had to do.

  No, I hated Necros.

  He put me in this position.

  He made me do these things.

  But knowing that gave me power, put me back in charge. It gave me a way to manipulate him, to beat him at his own game.

  And I saw it now, felt it in the way he froze, mystified by my show of submission before him. His hands hung loose at his sides, his cock growing beneath the zipper I pulled down.

  “Can I please you, My Lord?” I asked, peeking up at him through my mess of curls. “I-I want to please you.” Wrong. I wanted to bite him and flay him alive with my angelfire, but Adrik was right. I wasn’t ready yet. We needed to lull Necros into a state of comfort. Make him think he’d won and broken my resolve. Then hit him at the height of his arrogance, when he felt the most confident in his superiority.

  It would make his fall all the better.

  I didn’t wait for his permission, taking his member into my mouth and sucking him deep, the way I knew he preferred. That he hadn’t touched me yet denoted his shock at my willingness, the act one I’d initiated rather than him.

  It gave me power over him.

  Put me on top.

  Made this my act to command.

  I held his green gaze and imagined they were ebony, dark, the picture of midnight. Adrik, I thought, forcing his image into my mind, and pretended this was him. My prince.

  The fingers combing through my tangled hair didn’t belong to Necros.

  The groan of appreciation didn’t come from my husband.

  And the tug against my scalp as the fingers turned into a fist, guiding my motions, wasn’t that of a king.

  But my prince.

  My Adrik.

  The taste was wrong. The size, too. Yet, I lost myself to the fantasy, allowed myself to feel hunger, pretending this was the man I preferred. We did this only last night, Adrik coming down my throat while I straddled his face. A new experience, one underlined in rapture. These feelings and sensations were dangerous, the way I was able to picture him so perfectly now, while in the grasp of another, an indication of how deep I’d fallen.

  I expected regret.

  Waited for a hint of annoyance.

  Except all I felt was utter bliss.

  “Yes,” Necros groaned, his voice not deep enough, not sexy enough, to be my Adrik. So I listened for his words instead, recalling them from last night, how he’d cursed and growled my name. How his entire body was lined in tension as he forced himself not to take command.

  It had to be killing him to allow me complete control.

  Which made me wonder what it would be like when he finally dictated a session. Would I feel afraid? Or would it turn me on even more?

  “Your Highness,” a low voice said, his throat clearing. “We, uh, found him in the communications room talking to his brother.”

  I started to slip away, returning to the moment, the disgust inside my mouth, but the hand at the back of my head urged me onward even as Necros addressed his minions. “Why did you leave my wife alone?” he asked, his voice a low growl of sound, all hints of his anger gone.

  “This is the most lively I’ve seen her all week,” Adrik replied, causing my heart to skip a beat. It felt wrong for him to watch this, to see me on my knees before another man. Even if that man was my husband.

  But as I tried to pull back, I was forced down again, taking even more of Necros into my throat. I fought a gag, knowing it would infuriate him, and tried to find my focus again, to remember the one I truly wanted between my lips.

  “She’s been asleep, My Lord,” Adrik continued, sounding bored. “I locked her inside and went to catch up with my brother.”

  “Locked her inside?” one of the guards repeated, snorting. “More like locked us out.”

  “Of course,” Adrik replied. “Because the king entrusted me with her care and I didn’t want to risk his wrath should anything happen to her while she slept. Did I misunderstand my charge?”

  “You’re supposed to be training her,” Necros cut in, his grip tightening against my scalp as he picked up his pace with bruising thrusts.

  “Hard to train a corpse, Your Highness,” Adrik returned. “But I’ve done what I can, and given the way she’s eagerly sucking your cock, I’d say I’ve had at least a small impact on her skill.”

  Eagerly, I repeated with a snort. I tried again not to gag at the harsh penetration into my throat, adding, Hardly.

  Trust me, I’m not enjoying this, either.

  It’s not your mouth he’s fucking, I pointed out, doing my best to again fall into my dream of this being Adrik, not Necros, and failing because of the conversation flowing around me.

  “It is different to have her beg to suck me off,” Necros agreed, his eyes finding mine and smiling. “I do like you in this position, Valora. It’s so befitting of a whore.”

  Fire ignited in my soul, but I forced it down and drew my teeth along his length instead, which earned me a growl of approval from deep in his throat.

  Pretend it’s Adrik, I coached myself. Pretend it’s Adrik.

  Green eyes melted to black once more, the smirk belonging to a pair of full lips I longed to kiss and the hand in my hair turning to a caress down my neck.

  Think of my tongue between your thighs, Adrik whispered, causing my legs to clench. Of your sweet, swollen clit between my teeth as I nibble and lick and suck until you shatter.

  Oh God.

  Mmm, that’s it, sweet star. Imagine my cock filling your mouth, my seed pouring down your throat, and swallow for me. Take me deep inside. Keep me where I belong.

  I did. I swallowed every salty, thick drop, knowing all the while it tasted wrong, that it lacked Adrik’s smoky notes, yet pretending it was him all the same. I even licked my lips for more as the thick length left my mouth, my heated gaze staring longingly into a pair of eyes that were the wrong color.

  “Fuck,” Necros breathed, his hand still on my head, stroking me as one would a pet. “Well, that’s an improvement.”

  Adrik stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall, his focus on Necros. He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a work in progress.”

  A flash of hurt seared my heart. It was all part of the charade. I knew that. But a part of me worried he meant it.

  I hadn’t allowed him to be himself in the bedroom yet.

  I hadn’t been able to.

  Was I not satisfying enough for him?

  I lowered my gaze, falling back to my heels, and bowed my head.

  “Hmm, I see,” Necros murmured. “Well. How about a night with my whores? That should help.”

  “I would enjoy that,” Adrik replied, sending another arrow to my chest.

  Why do I feel this way? It wasn’t like he belonged to me. We owed each other nothing. And these worries were frivolous, unfounded, and not relevant.

  “Good.” Necros finished buckling his pants, then turned to clap Adrik on the shoulder. “Then let’s go.” He started to lead the way, then paused to glance over his shoulder to where I still sat on the floor. “Clean yourself up, Valora. You look like shit.”

  The door slammed.

  I shuddered. />
  What just happened? I’d felt so in control a few moments ago. And now… now I didn’t know what to expect.

  Why had Adrik agreed to go visit with Necros’s whores? Would he fuck one of them?

  Adrik? I whispered.

  No reply.

  He’d blocked me from his mind.

  Which could only mean one thing—he intended to fulfill his needs.

  With someone other than me.

  Shutting Valora out physically pained me, but I needed to concentrate. This was a test, not a show of camaraderie. Necros suspected my behavior, as he should. While I’d done my best to cover my tracks, tonight’s time lapse put me in a precarious position. As well as the clear healing of his wife.

  Oh, Valora had done a fantastic job of feigning exhaustion and distracting the monster, but Necros had noticed the clean lines of her skin. The lack of blemishes. The clear countenance of her gaze.

  It would be abundantly clear to him that I’d been going easy on her. Another negative mark against me in his eyes.

  And now he wanted to know why. However, rather than come out and ask me about it, he’d chosen this little game of kiss and tell.

  I sipped my wine while twirling a finger idly around a piece of blonde hair that had fallen over my chest from the little seductress on my lap. She nibbled on my ear, played her nails over my chest and down my abs, all with the intent of enticing a reaction from me.

  Had she been Valora, she might have succeeded.

  “You look bored,” Necros sighed. A female sat between his legs, her head bobbing up and down as she tried to please him, while another sat on the arm of the chair—naked. Valora’s earlier attentions had clearly left him depleted, because the two females were struggling to make him come, despite alternating their mouths on him for the last thirty minutes. Or perhaps it was a testament to his plotting because he’d yet to get to the point of our little impromptu meeting, and I highly doubted the purpose was to watch him indulge his harem.