“You get off on the control.”
The corners of his mouth twitch. A hint of a smile? A scowl? He’s so hard to read. “That’s probably true, but next time you’ll think twice before touching what’s mine.”
His words slide over me like a physical caress, and I clench my thighs in response. The hue of his gaze deepens to raw umber.
I swear he knows the effect he has on me.
“I believe you when you say you didn’t come.” His thumb traces the outline of my lips. “Your skin is flushed with the need to orgasm.” He sends a cursory glance at my chest. “And your nipples are begging for my mouth.”
A whimper escapes onto the soft pad of his thumb. I can’t resist darting my tongue out to taste him.
“Jesus, must you test my control?” He pushes his thumb into my mouth, and I suck on it, reminiscent of the way I serviced his manhood. “So innocent, but so responsive. You’re an anomaly, a vibrant orchid in the dead of winter.” He dips his thumb into my mouth three times, playing on my tongue before withdrawing. “Do you touch yourself often?”
“No.”
His nostrils flare. “Have you ever had an orgasm?”
“What do you think, Chancellor?”
“I think you’re going to end up over my lap for refusing to use my name.”
That mental image doesn’t inspire fear in me as it should. “I don’t mean to disobey you.”
“Then answer the question.”
“I’ve never had an orgasm.”
“You’re very responsive for a woman who never learned to pleasure herself.”
“I tried once.”
“Did you not enjoy yourself? Because you seemed to enjoy yourself just fine in my bathtub.”
“It felt awkward then.” I lower my gaze. “Today, it didn’t.”
Today, I had the memory of blowing him as inspiration.
“You’re not to pleasure yourself without my permission again,” he says, gripping me by the chin. “Is that clear?”
His command shivers through my bones. “Yes.”
“Your first orgasm belongs to me. Your pussy is off-limits to your fingers until I decide to give that gift to you.”
For the first time since I learned of my fate six years ago, I experience a thrilling sense of anticipation.
Chapter Four
After dressing for dinner, we arrive on the first floor. The silk skirt of my black dress swishes against my legs as Liam takes me by the elbow and leads me down a wide hallway. I’m entranced by the huge portraits on either side, gawking wide-eyed at the larger-than-life forms of what I assume are the Brotherhood’s ancestors.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“How did the Zodiac Brotherhood begin?”
He stalls in the middle of the hall, attention on the portrait that has captured me so.
“That’s Evangeline Castle. She was my grandmother by several degrees of greatness. And I mean that in every sense of the word.” Letting go of my arm, he tangles his fingers with mine, and I hide a wince because my palms are still tender from his punishment. “She was only eighteen when she set sail with a group of explorers. They would have never discovered the island without her unusual skills.”
“Unusual?”
He nods toward the portrait of his ancestor. “She knew the nighttime sky better than most men. The constellations and planets, and their position depending on the season. At first, the explorers believed she was a superstitious soul, but after she predicted two potential catastrophes, they started listening to her.” He sends a cursory glance down the hall. “She led them here, and by doing so, they escaped certain death in a storm. Got rich in the process too, because the island was uninhabited and abundant with gold.”
He wanders down the hall a few paces, pulling me along until we’re staring at a portrayal of a group of men from what appears to be the 17th century. “Are these men the explorers?”
“Yes. Evangeline was a progressive thinker. An Amelia Earhart of her time. But they couldn’t deny there was something special about her.” He tilts his head, and our gazes lock. “There were twelve explorers, one for every zodiac sign.”
“That’s quite a coincidence.”
“We don’t believe in coincidences, Novalee. The explorers didn’t either. Evangeline became their prized queen, shared among the twelve but locked away in a tower.”
“Why did they lock her up?”
“She wanted to leave the island. They didn’t.”
“So she was their prisoner?” Sickness rises in my gut at the thought.
“Their prisoner, their queen, and the mother of their children.”
I gape at him, my mind spinning through the implications of what he just said. “She’s not just your ancestor, is she?”
“No. All twelve of us are descendants of Evangeline Castle.”
“But you bear her surname.”
“She took the last name of the explorer born under Aries. Legend has it she favored him the most.”
“So you’re telling me this entire island was founded and bred from one woman? What about incest?”
“Evangeline’s direct descendants have always brought in outsiders to marry. It’s tradition, just as it’s tradition to compete for a queen’s hand in marriage at the start of a new Brotherhood.”