“Should we give them a show?” I asked him.
He tried to look disinterested but failed spectacularly. “Are you sure you want us and not Sadie? You’ve been rubbing all over her all night,” he asked petulantly.
“Aw, are you jealous, sweetheart?” I asked back.
“It depends.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against his hips. “Does it turn you on?”
He winked, and I laughed. “Maybe.”
Luka played with a curl and asked, “Are you feeling okay?”
“Like today or in general?” I squinted.
He arched a dark brow. “How are you doing right now?”
“Horrible.” I smiled up at his concerned expression as the room spun around me.
He frowned and massaged the back of my head. “I don’t think we should—”
“Fuck me in front of the kings until I feel better,” I demanded, loud enough for the devils to hear.
The crowd broke into murmurs.
“What the fuck are all of you standing around looking at?” Malum asked the crowd, and the dancing resumed.
John pulled me closer and tsked as he shook his head. “Are you trying to use us to get to the kings? Am I nothing but a hunk of meat to you?”
“Nah.” I winked. “You’ve also got some gravy.”
He threw his head back with laughter. “Are you hitting on me, Aran? Is this your attempt at flirting?”
“It depends.” I rolled the pipes between my lips. “Is it working?”
“Yes,” John said at the same time Luka whispered, “Fuck me. You can’t say things like that.”
“Why?” I asked, genuinely confused.
Luka leaned forward and whispered against the shell of my ear, “Because I’ll take you up on it. Aran, I’ll make you scream our names so loudly that everyone will know who you belong to.”
Chapter 15
Luka
PARTY
Belamour （noun）： one who is loved.
DAY 9, HOUR 21
Aran was pressed flush against me, and I inhaled her wintry scent, dry ice exploding across my senses.
Music boomed from enchanted speakers and the room glowed with bright scarlet light.
The crush of bodies rocked around us.
We trapped her between us; John pressed flush against her back as I claimed her front.
My skin buzzed, but this time, the compulsion wasn’t telling me to keep her close and protect her. It was telling me to own her.
Mark her as mine.
Consume her.
Do depraved things to her.
Corrupt her.
Show her just what it meant to be the fiancée of an antisocial man with an attachment disorder.
I wanted Aran’s skin to tingle with pleasure like mine crawled with need. I wanted her to know my torment and understand what it meant that we owned each other.
When she’d accepted our betrothal jewelry, she’d agreed to tie her souls to ours.
Irrevocably.
Aran gazed up at me in the dark, her hooded eyes rimmed with dark bruises. My girl was tired and struggling with handling the weight of the war.
I wanted to shield her from all suffering.
I wanted to help her forget.
Cupping her face tenderly, I traced my thumb across her scar. The half crescent adorned the top of her cheek and enhanced her fragile beauty.
Warm breath tingled across my wrist as she leaned into my hand.
Melted against me.
She was an island of softness and trust in a harsh, jagged room of killers.
Loud music and gyrating hips. The scent of sweat and sex. Drugs consumed with desperation. Soldiers tried to forget.
She was different from all the men and women in this cursed castle.
I’d recognized her uniqueness the first day I’d met her, when she’d broken through my barriers. She wore it in her eyes, clear as day.
Aran was empathetic.
Terribly so.
In realms full of immortal beings where ruthlessness and cunning were admired above all else, she defied the norms.
Aran broke the equation of an individual’s power directly correlating with their callousness.
Case in point, I didn’t care about anyone but my twin, and the kings only cared about one another. The demons were consumed with themselves, and the angels thought they were the superior race. The shifters kept a close familial circle and distrusted outsiders.
We were all perfect soldiers because we killed others easily.
Slaughter or survive because immortality was a long time to live under another’s thumb.
Yet despite it all, Aran Alis Egan was compassionate and struggled to hurt others even though she was born with a crown and power in her veins.