NINEKade doesn't leave me alone for days following the incident at Vince's birthday, and I can't decide if I find his hovering comforting or suffocating. He lingers at his desk, insisting he has a lot of work to do, but every so often, he'll leave his seat and engage in tidying or endless snacking. The only time I can enjoy solitude is when he orders me to the balcony on the third floor to prepare for a supposed meeting he's having over dinner at sundown. I place my palms against the stone banister and peer down at the garden. Overlooking me, the mandarin sunset paints the skyline in brilliant streaks of amaranth and blood orange. Above the display of colour, stars twinkle like diamonds nestled on a velvet cushion. Ambrosial and fresh wafts of lily and rose hit my nose on the tail end of cool evening zephyrs, and, in the distance, the silhouette of an old city carves its way across the skyline. I sigh. For a moment, I imagine I'm on the balcony of my own castle, in a dress not as s
KADEHe had never said those would out loud before. He thought them on a daily bases. He dreamed them. He let them consume him. But he never spoke them. Weight lifted from his chest. Someone else finally knew the biggest secret he kept, and he knew she wouldn't tell a soul. If she did, it implicated her too. Nine's violet eyes watered, the first display of emotion he'd seen regarding the way Michael treated him throughout his childhood and well into adulthood. It validated him. It validated his emotions, his trauma. "How?" Nine asked, her voice barely a whisper. "How did he…" "Kill her?"He thought back to that night when the storm raged harder than ever. Horizontal rain hit the windows, thunder shook the walls, and the howling wind whipped underneath the eaves, threatening to rip the roof off. Michael wanted to take her to the city. They had never left for the city at night time before, so that struck him as odd.After his mother said goodnight and left the room, Kade stared at th
NINEWe linger on the balcony long after the discussion ceased, neither one of us wanting to leave. It's nice to be alone in a place other than his room. If I try hard enough, I can pretend we're not at the manor altogether. I fill the silence with small talk he's more than happy to indulge. The whiskey I drank works its magic on me in no time. I'm not drunk, but I'm relaxed. Under the influence, but not inebriated. "And," I say, pointing to my chest a second too soon. "I was the best reader out of any Unfortunate in my age group." As he sits in front of me, he smiles and drags his finger across his lip. He rests his ankle on his knee and holds his whiskey over his shin by the glass's rim. "What kind of books do they read in those camps anyway?"I shrug. "A bit of everything. Although, the stories were hard to follow as most of them were missing pages. Some of them, whole chapters had been ripped out." "For what reason?""I imagine they contained ideals they didn't want us thinking
Up ahead, a light goes out. I shriek and run away from it. I rush down another row, then turn left. Adrenaline spikes my blood. Excitement sparks in my gut. What is he doing? Another light shuts off, then another. I dig my heels in and stop. I pant into the silence, immovable, as light after light goes out until I'm in the centre of the only halo of light still on. "You cheated," I call out, twisting to face each edge of darkness."Cheated? I wasn't made aware of the rules of your game." He curses. "You look so sexy." I swallow hard as the skin behind my ears pulls tight. I press my thighs together and take a minute step back, moving toward the bookcase. I'm hyper-aware of my nakedness, of the warm, bright light showcasing every inch of me. My nipples ache, and my breasts grow heavy."Are you going to tell me what you read in your illegal sex book?"I turn my head to the left, confident I heard his voice come from the shadows over there. "It was an oral pleasure scene, I think." "Yo
Kade snakes his hand up my spine, between my shoulder blades and into my hair. He tightens his fingers in the strands at the base of my skull and forces the kiss to break by pulling my head back. I open my eyes. Our shallow breaths clash, our stares meet, and I'm overwhelmed by a crushing wave of desire. It crashes on top of me, whipping my cells into a frenzy. "Kiss me more," I tell him, breathless. "Kiss me all over."He dives for my throat, and I grip him tightly. A moan leaves my lips as he kisses every inch of my neck with a wicked medley of his lips, his tongue, and his hot breath. With one hand in my hair, he roams the other over my hips, backside, and breast. He kneads my pliant flesh with vigour and soundful appreciation, and I close my eyes as he moves his mouth along my collarbone, then my breasts. He releases my hair to cup them with both hands. I tip my head to watch as he engulfs one nipple, then the other, with a husky groan that ripples through my body. I curse and gri
Kade dips his head, and we meet in a gentle kiss. It's not demanding or urgent. It's replenishing. Appreciative. In his kiss, it's easy to believe he's all mine like he said he is, but someone once told me a lady must take a gentleman's promise with a healthy dose of suspicion. It helps stave off the bitter disappointment men often bring. I fall deeper into the kiss, immersing myself in the fantasy. It grows, its pace changing from languid to quick, from gentle to hungry—and I let it. I let it consume me. Kade grips me behind my thighs and lifts me with a rough yank. I gasp into his mouth, wrapping my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck. He carries me into the darkness, away from the bookshelves, and I worry he'll fall, that he'll drop me against the tiles, but he moves with confidence, walking us through the library without fault—as well as he'd do with his eyes wide open and focused. In a few long strides, Kade lowers me down. My eyes shoot open, and the kiss breaks as m
He trails heavy kisses down to my chest, and I close my eyes, focusing on his loving attention, on the pressure that eases at the core of my body. Kade brushes his lips over the swells of my breasts and then engulfs my sensitive nipple. I feel him pulsate inside me, and my breath catches. I bury my hands in his hair as he teases my hard bud, flicking it with his tongue. With my eyes closed, an intrusive thought, a vision of Kade and Charlotte, blossoms at the forefront of my mind. "Did you say that to Charlotte too?" Hot air blows against my breast as he laughs. He lifts his head, and his eyes glisten with amusement. "How long have you held on to that one?" I shrug as jealousy singes my nerve endings. "I was never intimate with Charlotte. We had dinner. Then I sent her home." He licks my nipple, and my eyelids flutter. "I've never said those words to anyone. Never uttered. Not even whispered." Oh. He makes out with my breast, open-mouthed, as if it's my mouth he's kissing, and I
KADEIt continued for days, weeks even. He met his Unfortunate in the library. They kissed. They were intimate.Sometimes, they were loud. Other times, they were quiet. Sometimes they fell asleep the same way they finished; their skin slick with sweat, their limbs tangled. Other times, they dressed in silence and fled without so much as a thank you. More often than not, Kade was full of compliments and niceties, whispering things he shouldn't, and watched his Unfortunate's heart swell. On occasion, he was cruel and obscene out of frustration. He tried to put Nine in her place. She was his Unfortunate, not his lover. It never lasted long. He couldn't help but praise her, tell her how beautiful she was, how much he enjoyed her and her company, how bad he craved her when she wasn't with him, and how it was worse whenever she was. He called her a good girl, and she liked that the most. There was a line he needed to draw, he knew that, but it was the first time in his life he had someth