Yet more signs of her arousal. As if he wasn’t aware of how aroused she’d grown! He could detect the mouthwatering scent of her need. He doubted she wore panties.

He imagined tossing her on the table, shoving up her skirts, and feeding his length inside her. She’d be so wet and tight for him. . . .

“I’m still getting used to my new immortality and its effects. At this point, I’m as discerning as an alley cat.”

Which was the only reason she’d responded to him during their encounters. For just a short amount of time—a couple of godsdamned hours—he’d forgotten his looks.

She added, “But I’ve gotten a handle on my need. You won’t have to worry about ‘tending’ to me ever again.”

“So that’s it? I got to share pleasure with my wife twice?” He shook his head. “The signals I get from you baffle me—yet you called me moody? As ever, you burn hot and cold. My tolerance for it hasn’t improved over the last millennia.”

“Kari burned hot and cold.”

“You were hot when keen to get my secrets, then cold as ice afterward. You shut down your emotions utterly. I’d never seen anything so unsettling.” When he’d offered up his most dear sacrifice to her, she’d coldly given him her back.

As blood ran down his face, he’d willed her to turn around and see him. To comprehend that he would do anything for her. Turn around, Kari. Look at me. . . .

He gritted his teeth, shoving aside that memory.

Calliope said, “Fey have that talent.”

“Talent? You mean curse.” He swigged demon brew. “I’m used to hot and cold from you—but never at the same time. That dress does not fit with your sudden bout of pique.”

“You continue to bring up the past, but you’d have me believe you’ve let go of your revenge?”

“My vengeance against you is done. And I am trying to keep my mind from the past. There is a memory, a haunting one that tries to surface. . . . I turn from it every time.”

“Why?”

Because it will make me hate you anew. “As you said, I want to look to the future instead.”

“You want to, but you don’t.”

“For ten thousand years, I was one way. For a couple of days, I’ve been another. I’m a very old demon unused to change.”

“Oh, I believe that more and more,” she said. “Speaking of which, did you visit your concubines earlier?”

Concubines? What other surprising subjects did she ponder when he was barred from her thoughts? He steepled his fingers. “Would that bother you?” Say yes. . . .

“All monarchs have them. And you did warn me.”

“What are you talking about?” Actually, he had visited them.

“Since you knew I was your mate from the very start, I’ve been thinking about our previous dinner conversation in that context. You smugly told me you would have your wife and your harem. I realized you were referring to me all along.”

Again, not his best moment. “Then ask me to get rid of them,” he said, though he’d paid them off and released them earlier. “I can be accommodating with my new bride.”

“So you had no plans to send them away on your own?” Her pink nails drummed on her cup. “You make it sound like I could ask you for that favor. And you might be magnanimous enough to grant it.”

Could Calliope possibly want him only for herself? If she could feel for him even a fraction of his bone-deep possessiveness toward her . . . “You hold sway over me. Bid me to send them away, and I will do it.”

She flashed him a look of disgust. “If I have to tell you, then the gesture is meaningless.”

“No? I thought you would never share a male.”

“I’d been talking about my fiancé.”

His gut clenched. No one could wound him like this female. “So you wouldn’t have shared him, the male you chose for yourself. The one you wanted.”

“In all ways, the life I had planned with him is different from the life you’ve offered me.”

Sian lowered his hands, digging his claws into his palms. I know this! Some things couldn’t be changed. His looks, his home, his alliance. The type of babes he would give her. And just like all those years ago, it was killing him that he couldn’t be what she wanted. “Yet I have it on good authority—my touch—that you’re still a virgin. You weren’t tempted to give him your innocence?”

“Just the fact that you called my virginity ‘innocence’ shows how incompatible we are.”

He ground his fangs. “I might enjoy bedding you so much that you wouldn’t even have to ask me to be true. And once I claim you, Calliope, I promise you’ll want my attentions focused solely on you.”

“I already expressed doubt that you could satisfy twelve females, much less a baker’s dozen. This marriage is a joke. I’d ask you for an annulment; unfortunately, I’m the protection price for my kingdom.”

“You mention annulment because you still hope to be with your fiancé!” His wife, his mate, longed for another. That crimson haze covered Sian’s vision. “I haven’t waited ten millennia for you just to hand you over to another male. I should find him and take his head with my bare hands.” As Sian had her first husband.

She bit out, “Spoken like a true Møriør.”

“Maybe your former betrothed did try to seduce you, but you resisted his charms. You haven’t resisted me though. When you were in the bath, I had you begging for more though I’d barely lifted a finger.” He smirked—

Wine splashed his face. She’d tossed the contents of her cup at him? Through the drops he spied her haughty smile.

FORTY-ONE

You little witch!” the demon sputtered, swiping wine off his face.

“You needed to cool off.” Lila’s grin deepened.

He narrowed his gaze at her smile. “You’ve had your fun.” He traced beside her, sweeping dishes off the table. “Now I’ll have mine.” Before she could blink, he’d lifted her to the table, wedging his body between her legs.

“Enough, demon,” she said, sounding breathy and excited—not resolved and indignant. Over their meal, she’d reluctantly gotten turned on each time he’d gazed at her breasts with his penetrating green eyes.