FAZER LOGINSeraphina's POVLucian’s mouth claimed mine. He kissed me fiercely. There was no slow build, no hesitation, just the press of his body against mine and the heat of his hands already tugging at my dress. Fabric tore in his grip, sliding off my shoulders and pooling at my feet until I stood in nothing but thin underwear that barely covered anything. His lips never left mine, moving with a hunger that made my knees weak.He broke the kiss only to trail his mouth down my throat, teeth grazing the pulse hammering there. My head tipped back on instinct, giving him more access. He took it, lips dragging lower, over the valley between my breasts, tongue flicking out to taste skin already flushed and damp. Every inch he covered sent sparks racing through me. When he reached my stomach, his hands gripped my hips hard enough to hold me still, and I felt the scrape of his stubble against my belly.Lucian looked up at me then, eyes dark and unreadable, and with one smooth motion he hooked his fing
Seraphina’s POVI followed him towards his table, aware of the attention returning now that I was no longer safely hidden against his chest. Lucian drew out the chair beside his own and waited until I sat before taking his place. Marcel joined us with an ease I envied. He seemed entirely comfortable beside the King, neither stiff with ceremony nor careless about where he was.I arranged my skirt beneath the table and reached for the composure I had briefly possessed in front of the mirror. Fragments of conversation began finding me.“Who is she?”The question came from somewhere behind my shoulder. I kept my eyes on the table.“I’ve seen her in the palace.”A pause followed, then a quieter voice.“A werewolf?”I lifted my glass and took a small sip. My mouth had gone dry.“She’s beautiful, certainly, but beside the King…”The rest disappeared beneath another conversation. I was not sorry to lose it. I set the glass down carefully. Questions about where I came from reached me next, fol
Seraphina’s POVThe silence made walking difficult. I had been managing perfectly well beside Marcel in the corridor. Now, with the ballroom spread before me and faces turning in our direction, I became aware of every movement I made. The brush of my skirt against my ankles. My fingers resting on Marcel’s arm. The distance between one step and the next. No one had asked a question, but I felt as though I had already failed to answer it.‘Keep your head up,’ Isolde urged. ‘We look good.’‘They’re staring.’‘Then let them get a proper look.’Her confidence did very little for mine. I kept my chin lifted because lowering it would have felt worse, and tried to remember that I had been invited. The blue gown was mine to wear for the evening. The arm supporting my hand belonged to the man sent to escort me. I had done nothing wrong by entering through the door.Then I saw Lucian approaching. Everything inside me became less manageable. He walked through the space opening between the guests
Lucian’s POVThe hierarchy of the room required little announcement. It existed in the pauses, the depth of a bow, the care with which a man waited for me to finish speaking before answering. Those who had spent years near the throne knew better than to assume proximity granted them equality.My uncle joined the small gathering around me. My mother’s younger brother bowed with more care than he had shown when entering my rooms the previous evening. I received the gesture without comment. He had been told where he stood. I expected him to remember it. The conversation remained harmless for a short while. Then one of the men nearest him lowered his voice.“There has been troubling talk concerning the werewolf packs, Your Majesty.”I looked at him.“What talk?”“The possibility of unrest,” he replied. “An uprising.”A woman beside him glanced towards the people beyond our group before returning her attention to me. The word had sharpened the conversation immediately. I could see it in th
Lucian’s POVMarcel was taking too long. I stood beneath the ballroom lights with a glass in my hand and listened to a man finish paying his respects. I acknowledged him, answered the brief question that followed and allowed him to withdraw before receiving the next guest. Nothing in my manner gave them reason to think my attention was elsewhere. Yet I noticed every movement near the entrance.A servant passed through carrying an empty tray. A couple paused beneath the doorway before joining the gathering. Neither was whom I wanted, and my fingers shifted once against the stem of my glass. I had sent Marcel because leaving the ballroom myself would have interrupted the obligations already waiting for me. He was my Beta, my friend and someone I trusted to bring Seraphina here without making her feel as though she were being summoned for questioning. It should have been a simple arrangement. I would still have preferred to collect her myself.I wanted to see her when she opened the door
Seraphina’s POVFor several moments, I did nothing. Then I pressed my hands over my face. That had happened. I lowered them and looked at the door, half hoping it would open again. When it remained closed, embarrassment began working its way through the pleasure. I had told him to stay. I had pulled him closer. There was no point trying to pretend I had merely endured his attention.I stood carefully and straightened my clothes. My hair needed attention too. I smoothed it with both hands, then looked down at the unfinished bed. The linen. I had almost forgotten why I was there.Changing the sheets should have been simple. I had done enough ordinary work that day to manage one bed without difficulty. Yet I kept stopping with fabric in my hands because I remembered his mouth against my neck, or the way he had lifted away the instant he noticed the change in me.I pulled the sheet straight, then had to correct it because I had drawn too much to one side. My concentration was disgraceful.







