Call Of The Dark

Emma was… mesmerized. Her mind had stuttered to a stop with her in his arms. Her feet were dangling above the ground and her face was barely an inch away from him. She should have felt dizzy or even afraid of him, but she wasn't. She bit her bottom lip to stop them from trembling in anticipation. How could she desire a man so badly? She hated him a lot just till a day back but now she felt like she was bound to him with a strong invisible chain. Or was she just too emotionally deprived of love?

Lazarus was staggeringly handsome and he looked like he had climbed a mountain peak for the way he was heaving his chest against hers. He was dressed in an expensive outfit that covered his body like a second skin. Every muscle beneath the fabric rippled under her fingers.

She placed her hand on his chest over his heart and her lips parted.

He stood tense, looking lustily at her. "You dared to be with different men? I am on the verge of fury and right now I could kill you so easily for defying my orders of thinking of going out of this palace!"

She moved her fingers to his neck and rubbed his skin there. "So do you take my offer?" she asked him. She wondered if he was accepting her offer. She was three weeks short of a month before the soul casting ritual took place. If he allowed her, she was going to make every day count.

"I take up your offer only because I want to get rid of you," he said, reveling in her touch. After days of unrest and mental torture, he felt… calmed. But he reminded himself that this was just temporary. "If you think that you are close to Maeve in your seduction skills, then you are highly mistaken. She is a goddess and every skill of her is a million times better!"

She brought her fingers to his jaws and lightly brushed them as if on instinct. "I think my seduction skills are better than her." Because he was already thinking of her offer while it wasn't the same with Maeve. She didn't complete her sentence because she didn't want to hurt his ego.

"Then I wish you luck! I challenge you to make me like you more than I like Maeve. And know this—"

She pressed her finger on his lips, silencing him. "Put me down," she said in a husky voice.

Reluctantly, he slid her down his body but making sure that her body pressed against his hardness. When she was on her feet, she looked confidently at him even though on the inside she was shaking. He held her hand and began leading her to his bed. She pulled him back. "Wait."

He spun sharply, his red eyes showing his restlessness. "What?"

"Since you have accepted my offer, I would like to ask you one more thing." She had to use this chance to her maximum benefit.

"And that is?" he asked warily.

"When Maeve returns, you have to continue this with me, and by the end of the month if you start liking it, you have to consider leaving me." She paused. "I want to live…"

"I might continue with you when Maeve returns, but leave you? Stop even thinking about it."

She gritted her teeth. At least he agreed to one condition. It was important that Maeve saw her relationship with Lord Lazarus. That would definitely fracture her love for him.

When he started to pull her again, she stopped him. "I need to take a bath." She wanted to buy time to think about what she was going to do. She was so inexperienced. She would ask Ginger what to do. Oh never! Ginger shouldn't know about it. Well, she was going to take it as it comes.

He drew his brows together, wondering if she was trying to get away from her promise. In order to make sure that she came back, he said, "Okay, when you come back, I want you to be naked and kneeling before me. I will open that door between our rooms for you to come directly inside."

Emma nodded once. Naked? She blushed so heavily at the thought that she immediately turned away to leave. But Lazarus was faster than her. He pulled her to the door in between their rooms and opened it. "You will use this from now on."

Feeling a thousand shades embarrassed, she hurried to her room. With her heart thundering wildly and threatening to leap out of its ribcage, she sat down on her bed. She put her head in her hands, thinking as to what she had got herself in. If she was able to seduce him in three weeks, she was going to coax him to let her live. She would find him someone else to cast her soul out, someone willing.

Naked. Her cheeks heated at the sheer thought. How could she sit naked in front of him? What the hell did he think she was?

After a quick bath, Emma draped herself in a towel and then sat in front of the dresser. She contemplated whether to go naked in front of him or not. In the end, she decided she would wear a gown with no undergarments. That would make her look sexy but not desperate. She swallowed thickly as she fluffed her hair a little and brought them in front over her puckered nipples.

Her pink gown accentuated her curves and she hoped that his eyes went there, but the thought made her blush all over again. Gathering courage, she walked to his room and found that he wasn't there. She knelt on the rug beside his bed and waited for him. Her blood thrummed in her ears out of nervousness.

She heard a rustle behind her and her spine straightened. He had come.

"You are not naked," he said as he circled her and came to stand right in front of her. His eyes dipped to her breasts.