“You’re adorable when frustrated,” I continued, knowing my words both excited and enraged her. “Mmm, it’s too bad you can’t best me, sweetheart.” I dropped my voice to a teasing hum. “Shall I take my prize? You weren’t interested in fucking, so maybe I’ll just use your mouth.”
She began to fight in earnest, my cruel words igniting something inside her.
Valora couldn’t see me. And my voice had lowered so much it became ambiguous, bringing back memories of pain—ones she wanted to remain buried.
But I couldn’t allow her to continue to hide.
She needed her wings to fly, and those wings were born of pain and anguish.
I drew my teeth across her pulse, threatening her tender skin. “I want to make you bleed,” I admitted, knowing she would take the proclamation negatively, but needing that inferno to rise. “You’re okay with a little pain, right?”
I couldn’t bring myself to call her degrading names even though I knew it would push her over the edge faster. And the way her heart thudded in her chest told me we were almos
t there without it.
She’d gone still. Her skin ice cold.
Either I’d knocked her back into that hiding place with my callousness or she—
Flames erupted over her skin, forcing me to release her and jump backward. My shadow energy rolled over my clothes, putting out the flickers that remained before they caused damage.
Valora turned, her lips curled back into a snarl, until her eyes found mine.
I maintained a loose position, ready to move if she decided to make a lethal example of my taunts.
But the flames cooled to a simmer when she realized it was just me behind her, and a shudder shook her small frame.
“Don’t lose it,” I said softly. “Channel it into your palm. See what you can create.”
Some of the heat intensified as she focused, her eyes falling closed. “Keep talking to me.”
“Harshly? Or coaching?” While I suspected what she needed, I wanted her to say it.
“Pretend you’re Necros.”
Right. That was what I’d anticipated.
I rolled my neck, taking in the surroundings, and channeled my rage for the male who took all this away from me and my family. A monster. A predator. A dictator who deserved to die.
She wanted me to be him.
I’d practiced that.
Because to kill thine enemy, one needed to understand him.
“What the hell are you wearing?” I demanded, taking in Valora’s attire. She wore my boxers and an undershirt from my wardrobe. She looked sexy as fuck. But Necros would hate it. “Why aren’t you kneeling? Have I not made it clear that your place is at my feet?” I dared to take a step forward, even as the flames grew. “Do you need another lesson? Shall I orchestrate a new battle? Bring in fourteen men to train you? Give you to them all at once? Watch them shred you apart? Fuck you until you can’t breathe?”
Her chest heaved, as did mine.
I loathed this game. But I understood it. She needed to learn control. Needed to be able to hear these words and not react. Not until she was ready.
“More?” I asked her softly.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Clearing my mind, I started again, saying everything I could think of that Necros would use to belittle her. Everything except calling her a whore. Some part of me couldn’t do that, couldn’t allow that word to cross my lips. Yet all manner of vile statements littered the air, including ones about what Necros had done to her physically. Threatening to defile her again in a similar manner, to fuck her so absolutely that she begged for death.
She grew hotter with each word, until sweat poured off my skin from the proximity. But she maintained it, maybe because she knew it was me speaking. I paused after every tirade to check in, and each time, she told me to continue.