As soon as he’s gone, I sag, leaning heavily against a side table to keep from collapsing.
Fuck.
Nero comes up to me then, rubbing against my leg.
“You’re in trouble from now until the end of time,” I say, lowering myself to the ground because my legs don’t want to hold me up. Nero rubs his face against mine, and I wrap an arm around him. There’s a prickly, light-headed feeling in my brain, where my magic is taking its tithe.
I glance up at Memnon’s wards, which still shimmer in the air. With a weary flick of my wrist, I send my magic out and tear through them, the action causing me to feel another throb inside my skull. In a matter of seconds, the wards dissolve.
I let out a sigh of relief when I hear the distant voices of coven sisters elsewhere in the house.
I lean my head against Nero’s. “Hopefully, that’s the last I see of Memnon for a while.”
CHAPTER 17
“Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” I breathe.
“Tell me I am the only one.”
“There has only ever been you,” I murmur, my fingers sinking into coarse hair.
Hands slip over the flesh of my torso, and I feel my shirt being tugged up. Warm breath fans against my breasts.
That mouth presses against my nipple, and I gasp, arching into the kiss.
All too soon his mouth leaves, and his kisses trail over my breast and down, down my torso.
“Say you are mine,” Memnon demands.
Memnon?
“I am yours,” I reply dazedly.
My surroundings and my awareness sharpen. I take in the flickering lamplight, the soft sheets, the naked sorcerer moving down my body, his back tattoos rippling as he goes.
“I lay claim to you before all the gods,” he says.
Wait.
What?
“Memn—aaah—” I cry out as his mouth descends to my core, and I arch against him, the sensation of his lips against my flesh nearly too much.
I’m aware of a distant niggle, and I know something isn’t quite right. But I cannot place just what that something—
I’m ripped from my thoughts when Memnon tongues my clit, and he moves his fingers to my core, slipping one of them in.
“Goddess!” I’m overwhelmed by sensation. I try to move away, just to get some relief from all those intimate touches.
With his free hand, Memnon holds me fast.
“Memnon—too much,” I gasp out.
He laughs against my clit. “And yet you’ll endure it all.”
I’m forced to feel the persistent stroke of his tongue and the glide of his lips, all while his fingers slip in and out, in and out.
The moment I give in to the sensation is the moment my climax builds. I’m beginning to make helpless, embarrassing noises because, ugh, it feels so damn good. Too good.
Memnon moves his mouth away from my clit, but it’s almost immediately replaced by the brush of his magic. He uses his power like another set of lips against my clit, continuing where he left off.
While his magic works me, Memnon gazes up the span of my body. When our eyes meet, the world tilts.
“All the lands and all the kingdoms shall be mine once more,” Memnon says softly, still moving his fingers in and out of me, “and all shall know my name as they once did. Memnon the Indomitable.” His eyes glitter with intensity. “Most of all, you will be mine again.”
My orgasm is so close, so, so—
Memnon settles back down between my legs, and he brushes a kiss against my inner thigh. “But first, my queen, you—will—pay.”
The alarm on my phone goes off, jolting me awake. I’m awash in sweat, and my core is throbbing with unfulfilled need.
Blowing out a breath, I grab my phone. I’m not entirely sure whether I’m going to take care of my missed orgasm and get up or simply snooze the alarm and go back to sleep. Before I decide, I catch sight of the message on my phone.
Alarm for morning run with Sybil @ 6:30 a.m.
Ugh, that’s right.
It’s 6:15 a.m. right now, which means I barely have time to change and meet her as it is. So no orgasm and no sleep.
Feeling flustered and grumpy, I grab my clothes and shove myself into them, then tie my hair back and lace up my running shoes.
By the time I knock on Sybil’s door, I have two minutes to spare. And I’m still in a foul mood.
When she opens her door, she takes me in. “You look how I feel,” she says, slipping out of the room. “Why do we do this to ourselves?”
I rub my eyes and shake my head. “Because we’re the queens of bad ideas.”