“Hmm, maybe,” she agreed, blinking at me when I was naked and in front of her. Fuck yes I wanted her to have a fling or anything with me. She drank more of her moonshine and then handed it to me.
“That is good,” I agreed after I had some.
She nodded, almost falling off as she reached over to the table for something. “We went to two distilleries that had loads of booze. It was a good find.” She sat back up and patted the seat next to her. I sat and put down the jar, wondering what she was up to. She leaned in and squirted oil on me, which was the bottle she’d grabbed. Then she moved to straddle my lap and started rubbing the oil in.
“Um, you don’t normally massage the strippers,” I confessed.
She gave me a cute look of amusement. “I know, but you said you can’t dance and I can touch. I want to touch. A lot.” She giggled as she ran her hands over my shoulders. “So many muscles. It’s hot. Not too many.” She licked her lips and met my gaze. “You’re just right.”
Oh fuck, I was going to blow before she even touched my dick.
“Can I kiss you?” she whispered as she moved her hands over my pecs.
“Inez, you can do whatever you want to me.”
“Anything?”
“Anything,” I promised.
She hummed happily as she leaned in and kissed my neck. “You won’t change your mind later?”
“No.”
She sat up straight and gave me a heated look. “Can I hire you as a hooker?”
I hadn’t seen that one coming but I nodded. “Sure.”
“Really? Can I tie you up?”
“Yes, please.”
She moaned as she ran her hands over my abs. “What if I want to make you a mess?”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged as she leaned back so my cock moved from under her and she could grab it. She put more oil on her hands and then did. “So fucking big. All of you ancients have huge dicks.” She slowly pumped it and leaned in. “I mean, I want to make you a mess like everyone makes me. I want to not let you touch and make you beg. I want to make you a mess for me.”
“I already am, Inez,” I whimpered. “Do whatever you want to me.”
“Even if I never take your oath?” she asked, ignoring when I flinched. “People change their minds then. Will you let me just have fun and do whatever I want? Maybe that’s the answer.”
“Inez, that sounds like you don’t want this weekend to happen,” Branko worried.
She leaned back, sitting on my thighs, and glanced at him with scrunched eyebrows. “Of course not.”
“Wait, what?” Cerdic whispered. “You don’t want to have the weddings?”
She gave him a look like he was dense. “No, not at all.” Ouch. She blinked around at them. “I’ve said it from the beginning it’s stupid to do it so fast. How is the youngest here, the baby vampire, the one who gets how dumb it is to rush so fast to give an oath that’s forever when we’re immortal? Who has that really worked out for?”
“Then why are we doing this?” Kristof bit out.
“Because I love you,” she answered, letting me go and wobbling a bit. She thanked me when I grabbed her waist to balance her. “You both want it and I love you. I want you. That wasn’t the question. He asked if I wanted to do the oaths and weddings. I don’t. But I’m princess and I said I would, and it gives everyone what they want. Who cares what I want?” She shrugged like it was no big deal.
“We do, love,” Cerdic whispered.
She gave him a sad smile. “You say that now, but you’ll change your mind after I’m yours. You’ll still be mine and forever, but it won’t be like it was, right? I mean, you promise forever at my side, but that just means in the coven, not loving me, not staying with me no matter what. Well, maybe you’ll be like Jaxon since your family coven needs me, but Kristof will probably be just like Darius and toss me aside.”
“That’s not what I did, Inez,” Darius rasped. “I’m here. I love you and I’m here. I’ll work for you to forgive me.”
She looked at him and said the most painful thing she could without meaning to hurt him at all. “But I don’t want you to. I don’t want you back because then I’ll have to grieve for you all over when you abandon me again. Matilda was right; it’s not worth risking that pain.” She shrugged. “That’s why it’s stupid to rush, but it’s not about love when it’s a princess.
“It’s alliances and getting in the good spots. It’s forever of piling feelings and centuries of not living up to expectations. Even Sebastian, who is completely loyal to Nora, thought she didn’t love him like she did her Night and kept chasing that love. Maybe that’s the reason they really name one. You got the milk and the cow and what do you care if there’s no chase, right?
“Or I won’t give you what you need instead of you being upset I did something you didn’t like, and you could get what you need elsewhere. All you guys told me about oaths and loyalty and nobles can cheat on their princesses. Matters of the heart don’t count in the oaths Aether enforces. So no, I don’t want to give anyone else the cow and milk. And I really won’t give my heart to anyone else.
“Here I thought I was so lucky that my first love worked out, but they were right that first loves hurt the worst and scar you the worst.” She flipped her hair
