The other half of the time, he’d leave me by myself. I ate all my meals, delivered by Morgan, alone on his balcony. Once I’d eaten, I’d pull out Orion’s smutty romance novels. The books that filled his shelves ranged from literary classics and Greek epic poems to full-blown modern fuck-fests with whips and spanking and lots of mind-shattering orgasms. Which, let’s face it, couldn’t be that good in real life. In the interest of learning, I chose the fuck-fest books to read over my dinners of scallops or salmon. And they were educational.
I did wonder, though—who was he eating with when he wasn’t with me? And where was he sleeping?
Not that it was my business.
From the sofa, he arched an eyebrow. “You don’t seem like you’re focusing.”
I straightened the way he’d taught me, then flicked my hair over my shoulder. I curled my lips in a smug smile.
He cocked his head. “Good. You’ve got the facial expression.”
“I’m mimicking that smug ‘I think I’m better than everyone’ facial expression you always have.”
He shrugged. “And now you need to believe it, too. You need to believe that you’re the most beautiful person in the city, that others are privileged to be around you. That’s what Mortana would think, that she blessed others with her presence. That she’s a gift to the world.”
I lifted my chin a little higher, just as Mortana would. A gift to the world.
“Let me see how you walk. This time, try keeping your footsteps in a single line, like a cat. Shoulders back, hips forward.”
I straightened my back and lengthened my neck, and then I started to move the way he’d told me to, one foot directly in front of the other. I found that my hips swayed as I walked, and I strutted around the room in my new little black sundress. I could feel his eyes on me, watching the way I moved—or rather, the way Mortana moved.
“Shoulders back,” he said quietly. “You need to look and act like you’re thinking about sex at all times.”
I pivoted, walking across the room again.
With his instructions, I found myself walking like a total sexpot—tits out, hips swaying from side to side. Maybe I was uncomfortable in my body, but Mortana was not. Mortana had done all the things I read about in those books—fucking men against walls, dragging her nails down their backs, biting the headboard while someone banged her from behind.
I twirled, thinking of how Mortana would feel swimming naked in the sea, or how she would feel with Orion watching her. Mortana would want his eyes all over her naked body. She’d get turned on, and she’d want him to know exactly how turned on she was. She’d want to torture him, tease him.
I spun again and decided that Mortana wanted to sit in Orion’s lap. So I did that, wrapped my legs around his waist, my hem riding up to my hips. Instantly, his eyes turned dark as night. With a low, appreciative growl, his hand moved from my lower back all the way up to my hair. He threaded his fingers into my curls, pulling my head back a little. “Good girl,” he said quietly. “Very good.” His low voice rumbled over my skin.
But this was going too far, wasn’t it?
I cleared my throat and jumped up from his lap, smoothing out my dress, tugging down the hem. “There.” I exhaled slowly. “See? I can be Mortana. I don’t have to do it all the time.”
Orion’s eyes were still pinned on me, filled with primal shadows. “Of course not.”
Tomorrow night, I would meet the king, and that should be the scariest thing in my life right now. But truthfully, what scared me most was Orion.
Chapter 14
Today was D-Day.
I wasn’t actually clear what the D stood for in the World War II version, but for me, it stood for demon, and possibly disaster. It was the day I’d be entering the demon world for real, leaving the safety of Orion’s apartment. Most terrifying of all, it was the day I’d meet the demon king who’d severed his father’s head and stuck it on a gate.
What kind of outfit did one wear for an introduction to a regicidal, patricidal demon king?
I frowned at my new underwear, which looked barely large enough to cover my nipples and ass. But I was, after all, a succubus now. Might as well get used to it. And with a little jolt of satisfaction, I realized I was actually quite comfortable standing stark naked in this glass-walled room.
Among the dresses, there were some more casual clothes, too. Black leather leggings, sleek pantsuits, little skirts and tops. But Orion had suggested that for my grand entrance back into the city today, I was supposed to dazzle people. Apparently, all eyes would be on me.