“The Tasting Room, sorceress,” Mykhayl purred, his deep voice suggestive of triumphs yet to come.

“What the hell do you taste here?” Corinne spun around to quiz him.

“I savor women here, Corinne. The heat of them pouring up from their core like the taste of life itself.”

Savor women? She frowned at the response that burned from her ears to her gut as his voice rumbled through her. And the sight of those fierce golden eyes that heated her even more. But didn’t monarchs let the concubines do all the work? “That’s crazy. What happened to sprawling on the bed and letting the girl slither up to you?”

He chuckled and picked her up. “Ridiculous. Why should I permit you to set the pace? Or choose what to do first?”

“I didn’t mean that,” Corinne lied, stiff as a brass statue in his arms. There was something about being handled as if she weighed nothing that scared her, no matter what she knew of him personally. But being surrounded by a massive chest and arms set her pulse pounding, while the slip might as well not be there for all the protection it gave from his iron-hard sinews under hot satiny skin. “But don’t you want me to prove just how much I’m willing to do for you?” And maybe distract you until you’re doing what I want?

“The first step of my revenge is to eat you until you beg me to cease, unable to endure any more.”

Her brows snapped together. “You’re joking, right?”

“Hardly.” He settled her into a sling that had appeared in the exact middle of the room. It was made of fine white silk webbing, more comfortable than any hammock she’d ever enjoyed in a backyard. Instinctively her hands reached up to trace the two bands that secured it above her head while her feet settled into the perfect little hollows at the other end. She was safe, supported…and hanging in midair before a set of mirrors that showed every inch of her.

“Uh, shouldn’t I be kneeling at your feet, saying how unworthy I am and promising to do better next time?” She tried to sit up so she could scramble free. Instantly his hands clamped around her wrists, forcing her into the sling. She trembled, praying he wouldn’t realize how wet she was between her legs.

“You are attempting to divert me,” he whispered into her ear.

“No! Just suggesting some options…” Her words trailed away as he nuzzled her cheek. He licked her ear delicately and she jumped at the echo in her womb, finding her voice again. “You’ve got to let me do something, not just lie here!”

“But you plead so well when you’re lying still.” He smiled down at her, gliding his fingertip along her collarbone. “Perhaps I should keep you exactly like this, just to hear you beg.”

She went bright red in an instant. “Isn’t there something else you want?”

“Your woman’s jewel will glow like the dawn sky as my tongue polishes you.” He smiled at her, his hand playing with the lace over her breast.

She choked as her nipples hardened under his casual attentions. “Conquerors are supposed to be fat-assed men lolling around on pillows,” she snarled.

“Thinking only with their man-parts?” he chuckled. She stiffened under the truth in his words. “Is that what you desire, little sorceress, a man you can lead by his rod? You’ll not have me that way.” He stroked her cheek with the victor’s certainty and she closed her eyes, bitterly determined not to give him any more insight.

But his touch burned into her faster without distractions from her eyes as he fondled her cheeks and forehead, then smoothed her eyes before delicately stroking her mouth. His rough hands, hardened by decades of swordplay, triggered waves through her nerves and veins until she tossed her head, her arms and legs arching her body up towards him.

“Beautiful,” he murmured. She would have blushed if she’d thought past the caress in his voice.

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