KINGSLAYER

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Lashes dropping, Alexander shifted from underneath her until he could shove her down onto his bed. With anyone else, Jaylah's need for absolute control would not let her accept that position, but she would allow him to do whatever he wanted. He stood between her legs, still gripping her by the arms. His necklace dangled in the air in front of her eyes, then hit her own chest as he cupped the nape of her neck and bent to join their lips again. He only broke it to push her all the way back. The warmth of his exhalation on her bare skin stoked the fire beginning to rage through her. Barely anything had happened, and she was already breathless.

Alexander straightened, eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare cover your mouth."

Holding eye contact, Jaylah rested her arms against the bed. That seemed to satisfy him, because she heard the dull noise of his knees hitting the ground. Ah, so this was her victory in the end. He had given in first and did not even seem to care. But she did not think much about it once he put his hands to her waist to hold her down.

The first touch of his mouth made her bite down a gasp. The second had her fingers gripping his sheets. And on the third, Jaylah peered up to the heavens, silently calling on the Gods for mercy. She could not stop inhaling even when her lungs were at full capacity.

Gods. Knowing his lips had touched other girls nearly made her murderous. He was made for her, and she hoped she was made for him.

When it was done, she was shaking as though she just had the biggest fright of her life. She righted her clothing as she sat up, but paused as her eyes caught the light bruising on her own body. "Alexander Khan," she hissed to him as he stood over her. "You did this on purpose, I just know it. What am I meant to tell my handmaidens?"

"Oops." He did not sound apologetic in the slightest. "Good luck hiding those from your husband." To add to his insincerity, he patted her consolingly on the head.

Jaylah got to her feet and shoved him onto his bed fast enough that she would have believed she caught him by surprise if he didn't have such catlike reflexes. He let her. He always let her do as she wished. She could still feel the telltale reminders of his mouth between her thighs. In that way, he had jeopardized her. "I hate you," she reminded him, staring at the stark contours of his abdominals through his shirt.

"Yeah?" Eyes a glittering black now, he knew she was looking. "What're you still doing here, then?"

Jaylah took a step and her knees brushed the bedspread at the foot of the bed. Alexander drank in every detail of her movement, his lips shiny and slightly parted. "Whose are you?"

"Don't make me utter the Czar's name in a time like this."

Her mouth twisting in dislike, Jaylah laid him back until she could lean over him with both hands wrinkling the bedspread, jabbing her knees into his waist. "You must not be too loyal to him if you so easily defile the Czarevich's engagement."

"We all have our various temptations." His thumb brushed her lips. "But that doesn't stop us from conspiring to rid our motherland of her enemies in the end, does it?"

How dare he? Jaylah grasped a handful of his shirt collar and leaned down closer. "Whose are you?" It was not obvious, but she did catch the flick of his eyes downward from her face, then back again.

"Don't ask me questions you don't—" Alexander's breath cut off when she shifted her position on top of him. Under her hand, his heart was racing.

Though Jaylah thought for sure she had completely undone him, he smiled. With a hand to the nape of her neck, he pulled her face to his so that he could murmur against her ear, "Then let me lie to you."