Page 201 of Flirting with Darkness

I fought to keep my breathing even as I stared left and right.

A masked woman lay on a chaise longue, blond head lolling off the end, eyes closed as she groaned. And she groaned because, because another woman, this one with red hair, was bent over the arm of the chaise longue, face between the blond woman’s thighs. Meanwhile a man thrust intoherfrom behind.

My mouth dropped open. My eyes might’ve popped out of my head.

So much flesh. So many fae bodies, thick and thin, curved and angular, some naked, some part-clothed, others with gowns hiked up around their waists to allow access for hands, cocks, tongues, and I even spotted one man thrusting his toes between a fae woman’s legs.

Splayed and bent, standing and kneeling, everyone here was consumed with frenzied desire and each wore a mask. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed to not recognise the sapphire-eyed woman amongst them. Mask or not, I would’ve known her in the crowd.

The very air heaved, a kind of electricity filling the room like the moments before a thunder storm finally broke on a scorching day.

My heart joined the music’s heady rhythm, the creak of furniture being tested to its limits, the cries building into one glorious tune that hummed in my very bones. I blinked from one fae to the next as we passed from the ballroom into the smoking room.

Which, it turned out, was full of yet more fae fucking each other’s brains out.

I swallowed and tried not to think about the fact that Faolán was a blazing presence at my side, his skin radiating heat like an oven. Or maybe I was simply hyper aware of him, just as I was hyper aware of my feet whispering over the silk rug and the waft of the lightweight gown over my skin.

In tight silence, eyes straight ahead, breaths so deep they made the wolves on his chest expand and contract in a way that held me mesmerised, he led the way through the room. I didn’t know where he was aiming for, and I couldn’t pull my tongue off the roof of my mouth to ask.

We only stopped when a cool grip closed on my arm. A handsome faun-like fae with knobbly horns lounged against the fireplace and gave me a slow smile. He raised his eyebrows in question, then jerked his chin towards his crotch so I couldn’t help but notice the enormous erection that emerged from the fur below his waist.

Couldn’t help it.

And also couldn’t formulate an answer. Because what the hells did you say to that? “No, thank you, not today” didn’t seem to cover it.

With a low rumble, Faolán closed in and stood over the faun, the stubble on his cheek rippling as he clenched his jaw. Slowly, his head tilted.

He didn’t have to say anything, the faun just swallowed, eyes wide, then released my arm. Shrugging, he gestured for us to pass before turning to a nearby woman and bending her over a table. He threw her loose gown over her head before thrusting one horn in her pussy and the other in her arse, fucking both orifices all in one go.

It took me a second of staring to realise Faolán was on the move again and I had to hurry after him.

Suddenly the loose voluminous lengths of my dress made sense. Ease of access.

My heart sped, and I don’t know if I imagined it, but I swore the music’s pace increased, joining me in the dizzying spin. Faster. Faster. Faster. My breaths, too.

Faolán said nothing, just stiffly crossed the room, aiming for a door that led to a courtyard.

When he opened it, a cool breeze came in, pressing my gown against my thighs and teasing my nipples, making my breath seize. Still, I was glad for the slight chill—with any luck, it would quench my burning skin.

But outside, we found no respite. The benches, the flower beds, even the large urns that functioned as flower pots were all being used as props for more fae to fuck on, over, or against.

Jasmine and honeysuckle scented the night air, mingling with smoke from the torches and the musky scent of flesh and sex. It filled me, drawing that familiar tension low in my gut that still thrummed with the music.

But I didn’t want any of these people who were bared to me, even as they beckoned when we passed, even though they were beautiful, even though, technically, none of this was real.

My body yearned for the beast at my side. I fought to keep my gaze from him, but it kept flicking that way, resting on his thighs displayed so beautifully in those tight trousers or his naked chest, before I managed to pull it away.

“What is this?” I finally managed to ask, once we’d completed a circuit of the courtyard and found every room that led off it similarly full of amorous fae.

Even with the moans and whimpers around us, I heard the deep breath he took in and out before answering. “Another kind of party.”

“I don’t think this is one even the Hawthornes have been to.” Grinning, I dared a glance at him. But that was my fatal mistake.

32

YOURS

It was beyond deadly, because my beast was beautiful and looking at me with darkened eyes that could’ve burned a hole right through my dress, right through my soul.

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