I can sense her sleeping two floors above me.

It’s too close and yet too far all at the same time.

She is everything I hate about having a beating, bleeding heart.

“You have a troubling look on your face.” Arthur hands me a class of bourbon. “Are you healing okay?”

I take the offered glass and lean back in one of the leather chairs in one of the endless sitting rooms in the castle I took from my least favorite demon prince.

He wasn’t happy about it. Better he forfeit the castle rather than his head from his neck.

“I’m fine,” I tell Arthur and take a long swig of the alcohol. It burns down my throat, warms in my gut, but does nothing for the unease crackling in my veins.

She is a weakness.

A vulnerability.

And yet I want to go to her and take her in my arms and fuck her until she screams my name.

I’ve never wanted anyone beneath me as much as I want her.

When she’s trembling with my cock buried inside of her, I don’t feel like a king—I feel like a man.

With a beating, bleeding heart.

“Did she really stab you?” Arthur asks.

I snort into the glass and take another long pull, then lay my head back against the chair. I’ve never felt exhaustion quite like this. An ache deep in my bones.

I don’t tire like mortals. I don’t need to recharge like lesser demons.

And yet I bled tonight. I bled because Rain fucking stabbed me.

Could she have killed me?

I am unkillable. Mostly indestructible.

Or so I thought.

“She was afraid,” I tell Arthur, but I don’t know if that’s entirely true. My little dieva can be ruthless when she wants to be.

If I wasn’t so pissed off at the betrayal, I’d admire the brutality and her merciless heart.

“So now what?” Arthur sits in the chair across from me and winces as he settles. For a human, he’s not that old, but his body is weak. Even now, I can smell it decaying, can hear the bones creaking like the boughs of an ancient pine.

I can ease his suffering with my magic, but I can’t staunch death. There are some things even a demon cannot undo.

Will I miss him when he’s gone?

I am as ancient as the pines and yet there’s something about Arthur that tempers the loneliness of being ancient.

Arthur is a creature of little wanting and he’s capable of unconditional loyalty.

I am glad I crossed paths with him when I came to this world.

Bringing the glass up, I drain the rest of the liquor and let the warmth of it sit on my tongue before swallowing it back.

Two floors up, my dieva shifts in her bed, moans in the darkness.

My cock twitches.

The urge to go to her is a storm in my gut, a current in my veins.

I can’t trust her.

I can’t bend her to my will.

So what the fuck am I to do with her?

She’s a wild cat with sharp claws and a surly disposition.

Perhaps I’ll toss her in a lake. She needs to be taught a lesson and what a delight it would be to watch her scream in the night, soaking wet and sputtering a string of her spectacular curse words.

“I need to speak with Ciri,” I tell Arthur. “She’s hiding something from me, but she might be the only one who can tell me what Rain’s relationship is to the animus.”

Arthur nods. “I’ll call her first thing in the morning and set something up.”

“Thank you, Arthur.”

Rain shifts again. I can hear the fabric rasping against her thighs and like a fucking school boy, I grow hard thinking about her naked, her breasts bouncing as I pound into her.

I need to get the fuck out of here.

“Go to bed, Arthur,” I tell him. “Rest. I should be well enough tomorrow to heal you.”

Arthur lets out a sigh. “I’m okay. I can go a few more days so you can recharge.”

He’s lying. Arthur always lies about his pain. Diminishes his suffering to ease the giving of others because he doesn’t think he deserves it.

It’s guilt mostly. After all, the reason he’s in pain is because he smashed his car while drunk and killed his wife and daughter in the accident.

His physical pain is a sharp reminder of what he lost and punishment for what he thinks is inherit wickedness.

Nothing I say will change his mind of that. But I’ve been around long enough to know how to manipulate a subordinate.

“You’re of no use to me if you’re incapacitated. And don’t presume to tell me what I can and cannot give.”

He bows his head. “Of course, my king. Please accept my apologies.”

“Get some rest, Arthur. I won’t tell you again.” I pull my dark magic from the shadows and leave the room.

I had intended to go to the stables—the horses could use some attention—but I find myself going to her instead.

As soon as I reappear in the shadows of her room, she stirs again beneath the sheets as if she senses me near.

I swear the connection between us thrums, electric.

She is the earth and I am the lightning, so desperate to ground myself to her.

I leave the shadows and come around the bed. A pale ray of moonlight skims her cheek, pools down the delicate curve of her throat and like a goddamn fool, I find myself envious of it.

I want to touch her. I want to bruise her skin and leave my mark.

My cock is so painfully hard now, I have to readjust and find myself groaning from the pressure of my own fucking hand.

I am a king. I take what I want. And yet I can’t seem to wake her and strip her of her clothing and claim her as mine.

I want her to want to be mine.

I can protect her.

I can give her the world—hers and mine.

“What am I going to do with you, dieva?” I whisper.

She rolls, her back arching, tits pressing against her shirt. Her nipples are pebbled against the material, begging to be bit.

I’ll fill up her cunt with my cum, make her beg me for more.

I take another step toward her and a lock of her hair falls over her face. Her eyes flutter.

“Wrath?” Her voice is sleepy and distant.

My gut clenches. I grit my teeth.

“Come to bed,” she says, her voice fading away as she slips back to sleep.

I am a king who wants for nothing.

And yet, despite wanting to fuck her senseless, I slip into bed beside her and take her in my arms and hold her until the moon pales against the morning.

I leave before she wakes.

I leave so I can pretend I wasn’t there at all.

I leave so I can pretend that I am not weak.

I am a king.

I want for nothing…except for her.

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Keep reading in the Wrath & Rain series with book two, Sinful Demon King!