He wasn’t taking any pleasure for himself?
“There you are, little bird,” he murmured against my jaw, his lips tasting my skin. “Use that fire, that pain, that anger. Memorize it. Cultivate it. Sharpen it. Because it’s the fury that will keep you alive.”
“Who are you?” I whimpered as my body ignited in another powerful orgasm, this one more intense than the last. “Why me?”
“Because you’re everything I need.” Adrik pushed himself hard against me and grunted low and feral like he’d just reached his own climax. But it was fake.
For a split second, the mask Prince Adrik wore slipped and the real male beneath gazed down at me. One underlined in an energy unlike any I’d ever felt.
True power.
Too much power for a prince.
I traced my fingers across his face, memorizing the handsome lines and wondering at his true intent. He allowed it, his dark eyes holding mine, granting me that glimpse into his spirit that screamed of the forbidden.
“Sleep,” he whispered, an unworldly shadow of strength wrapping around that solitary command that seemed to draw darkness over my vision. “Dream, My Queen.”
And I did.
Of a new world, one ruled not by Necros but by Adrik.
With me at his side.
Such a strange turn of events, one I couldn’t quite follow, but it seemed accentuated by light and life. Pure vigor—happiness, even—blossoming flowers, and euphoria all around.
A fantasy, one not of my own making but that of a stranger looming in the corner, searching my mind for weaknesses. I felt him there, prying into my psyche, using me, exploring my inner sanctuary, learning every nuance of my being.
What are you doing? I wondered. What’s happening to me?
“Shh,” a warm voice murmured, fingers brushing over my jaw, his lips at my neck. “You’re safe, little bird.”
Safe? I nearly laughed. I’ve never been safe.
“You could be, with me…” Something sharp pierced my skin, washed away into a sea of bliss I didn’t understand.
My eyes fought to open, my mind rejecting in disbelief, but still my limbs remained quiet, my naked body encased in a wave of hot, sexy male. I moaned, unsure of his intentions, experiencing sensations I didn’t comprehend, ecstasy radiating from my lips.
He was playing my body. Mastering me. Even in my sleep. All for what?
Necros, I thought, recalling what Adrik said about the cameras.
None of it made sense -- this tranquility, the groans, the overall feeling of insanity clouding my judgment and vision.
And yet, I found myself floating in the waves of rapture, my soul swimming in a sea of contentment.
You’re in my mind, I whispered.
“I am,” Adrik replied, his palm against my breast. “But not your body.”
I don’t understand.
“I’m
protecting you.” His lips were against my ear, the weight of his strength harsh on top of my own. “I’m giving him what he wants to see.”
Who?
“You know who,” he replied, his teeth skimming my throat. “Rest, Valora. You’re going to need it to survive.”