A Court of Spark and Shadow; acotar

xviii. omens.

"Well?" Eris smirks, stretches his arms above his head, and gestures to me, half bare in the firelight, "Take her. She's willing and waiting,"

Azriel clenches his jaw. His hazel eyes flicker with anger as he refuses to look at me, at my pale, bare body, exposed and vulnerable. He tries the door handle again before he narrows his eyes at the High Lord. With a snarl, he hisses, "Let me leave, Eris. This is no joke,"

"I'm not laughing," The High Lord retorts.

Azriel looks at the High Lord with a fiery gaze that promises death. The look sends goosebumps up my bare skin. The Spymaster's voice is lethal and quiet as he says, "We talked about this. You know I cannot,"

I frown. They've talked about me? About being with me? The thought leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Why are they having so many conversations behind my back?

Eris's snarl rips through my thoughts and the room. "You can, and you know you want to, Spymaster. She may soon be my wife but she is still your mate," his barred teeth twist into a demented smile, "Don't you want to know what your mate's pussy feels like? How soft she will be around your cock?"

His filthy words have me shaking in the knees. The movement is utterly exposed to the High Lord and the Spymaster. My desperation to be touched is written in my every quake.

The High Lord leans back again as he runs his deep brown eyes down my frame. He smirks wider still. "I'm being generous here, Azriel. The least you can do is oblige my kindness," Eris shrugs, "And perhaps if you make her come, more of her powers will emerge,"

Azriel turns from the High Lord. He finally looks at me. His gaze is animalistic. I can see the fight in his hazel eyes. He wants me to take me, but he is trying to control himself. Even his wings are struggling to stay tucked up into his sides. They keep fluttering out, wanting to be loose and uncontrolled. Despite the low lighting, I can see his pants are straining. All of him wants to be loose and uncontrolled. And even though I know it is wrong that we must stop, I can't help it as I push my dress past my hips and step out of the waves of brown fabric.

Now naked and bare, I brush back my curls and face the Spymaster. My mate.

His eyes glaze over. His jaw clenches as he looks over my body, slowly. Agonizingly slowly. It takes all my will to stay still.

The Spymaster lifts his gaze to the roof. As his shadows swirl around his biceps, he mutters a quick prayer to the Cauldron, before he settles his burning eyes on me again.

His muscles flex as our eyes meet. My nipples harden at the sight. I lift my chin.

"Fuck it." The Spymaster snarls.

He charges for me. All beast. All lust. His desire has taken over his every instinct as he reaches me and wraps his hand around my throat.

He drags me backward, strong and furious, and I gasp when he reaches behind me to throw a dining chair out of the way. My back hits the edge of the table. I look behind me at the now cold and forgotten food just as Azriel's shadows whip past me. In a whirlwind of darkness, the shadows shoved all the food, cutlery, and glasses onto the ground.

"Oh, this is very entertaining," Eris murmurs, voice rough, from where he sits to the left of the table.

But I barely have time to look at him before Azriel spins me around. He shoves me. Roughly. I tumble onto the table, my arms press flat and my peaked nipples brush on the cold wood. He steps behind me and pushes apart my legs with his knee.

As he presses me against the wooden table, his shadows snake onto my wrists. They're cool but not icy as they forcefully pin my arms to the table.

"So you don't touch me," Azriel explains from behind me.