Once he’d entered the water, she faced him. “What now?”

He reached for her, pulling her into his arms. “I’ll start by washing you.” He sat on one of the tub’s benches and settled her sideways on his lap. She tensed when his hard dick pressed against her hip.

After selecting a bottle from the dais, he conjured a cloth, pouring oil on it. Lifting one of her arms, he drew the cloth from her wrist to her shoulder. His gaze roamed along with that cloth, rapt as he washed more of her body.

He discovered her ticklishness under her arms. He showed her the surprising sensitivity of her neck and collarbone.

With each moment, her resistance faded. She was growing more convinced that he would be gentle during sex, sparing her pain. But could it be . . . good?

What would an experienced demon king like sexually? As he began to massage one of her hands, she gazed at his chest. Those hypnotic glyphs moved across his flesh like the golden tips of flames.

She’d bet that raised skin was responsive. Would his heart pound if she flicked one with her tongue?

She recalled snippets she’d read on the walls in the tower. How would Abyssian react if she grabbed his horns and steered him to lick between her legs . . . ?

He kneaded her other hand, relaxing her even more. With a sigh, she leaned back against his arm.

Like this, she found his body less intimidating. Maybe she could get used to it in time.

They had nothing but time. I’m immortal.

“So this is the key to taming my firebrand queen?” he said, but his tone wasn’t snide. “She likes to be petted.” He threaded their fingers together. “Your little pink nails fascinate me as much as your ears. I’ll have you digging these nails into me when you come. Scoring my back . . . my chest . . .”

Her cheeks heated yet again.

He noticed. “When you blush, the tips of your ears pinken.” He nuzzled one, his hot breaths hardening her nipples and slicking her pussy.

She was about to come before he’d even gotten to her breasts! She gasped when his big, roughened hand covered one.

He made a strangled sound. “So soft. Lush.” He didn’t hurt her with his claws. There was no pain. Just pleasure. Her nipple strained to his palm as he cupped her.

“I’ve waited ten millennia to see your breasts, picturing what they might look like.” In a gravelly voice, he said, “I can scarcely believe how flawless they are.”

When he removed his hand, she shocked herself by arching for more of his touch.

“Infinite times, I fantasized what color your nipples would be.” He swirled his forefinger around one, making her jolt. “But I never imagined such a lovely shade of rose.”

She started to pant.

“When I fantasized how sensitive they’d be”—he lightly pinched the other one—“I never imagined they would get so . . . very . . . stiff.”

She couldn’t bite back a moan.

Another pinch, another swirled finger. “Do you like when I play with your nipples, Lila?”

Her nickname, said in his accent, sent her heart racing. She nodded, biting her lip to keep from begging for more.

He sucked her earlobe, then rasped, “Am I making your pussy ache?”

She couldn’t believe he was talking to her like this, but it only turned her on even more. “Yes.”

He skimmed his hand down her belly, circling her navel. “Your skin is like silk.” His fingers descended to her mons, lightly grazing it.

Just when he was about to make contact with her clit, he pulled back.

“What? Nooo.”

“I thought you liked it when I played with your nipples.” He pinched the puckered tips again.

“More.” She yearned for this demon’s hands on her, for the orgasm that danced just out of reach.

“That’s it, beautiful girl. You need these sensations, do you not?”

She could only moan in answer.

“I can give them all to you, Lila.” He sounded like a monarch, one seething with power. “Anything you crave can be yours.” He rolled her nipples between the pads of his fingers.

Could he make her come like this? “Wh-what are you doing to me?”

He trailed a hand down once more. “Is the flesh between your thighs the same shade of rose as your nipples?” His own breaths grew heavier. Was his hand shaking as he teased her navel?

She murmured, “Lower.”

“Tell your husband what you need.”

“I need you to touch me more.”

“Where? How? Say, ‘I need my husband to . . .’ ”

Hearing him talk dirty was different from doing it herself, but she was too far gone to be embarrassed. She spread her legs and said, “I-I need my husband to stroke my pussy.”

He groaned. “You make my cock so fucking hard.” It jerked against her hip.

Would he want her to suck it? Right now she would. She’d do anything if he’d just let her come—

His forefinger covered her clit.

“Ah!” She rocked up to the contact.

“No, beauty. Still. You’re not to come yet.”

“Why?” she cried.

“I want you wanton.”

“I am!” Her head thrashed against his arm. “Do you want me to ask for it?”

He nuzzled her ear again. “No, little wife, I want you to ache for it.”

Focus. No battle had ever meant more to Sian. Go slow with her.

His forefinger dipped to her slippery entrance. Slow, Sian! To restrain himself, he called on every ounce of the strength he’d earned just by virtue of surviving for millennia. “You’ve never had anything inside you, have you?”

“N-no.” Her eyes were ablaze—that sultry teal.

He watched her expression as he gently probed her. When her core clamped his finger, his engorged cock pulsed in response. “Lila.”

Her lids fluttered. “Ohhh, demon.”

He delved his finger deeper, his instincts screaming for him to put his seed inside her. To impregnate his mate.

Why would a demon like him be fated to a fey if the result was so bad? “You like being penetrated?” His breaths were now heaving.

When he stirred the tip of his finger, she gave a throaty moan. “I love that.”

Though her channel was slick with welcome, she was too tight. He would hurt her if he didn’t work with her. “I feel your virginity. You’re going to give that to me, Lila. One day, you will.” In Demonish, he told her, “I’ll claim this hot, wet sheath with my seed.”