ANGEL'S INDECENT PROPOSAL

by Meg Xuemei X

  If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own lust, I’d have thrown my head back and roared with laughter.

  She endeavored to make me burn, and the same wildfire had engulfed her. The lust couldn’t be sated, nor the fire subdued, unless our bodies joined each other.

  Then, despite my own simmering frustration, I chuckled.

  Her face reddened in anger, yet lust was equally strong in her scent.

  She rose to her feet.

  Good. She would come to me.

  She had finally come to her senses.

  I waited. My hips thrust forward and my cock swayed between my legs, throbbing with need and growing excited at the promise of soon getting laid.

  She gave me a look of contempt, then wrapped her red silk robe around her and treaded back toward her chamber.

  “Hey,” I called. She couldn’t just let me hang like this!

  She swayed her hips as she exited without so much as a glance back at me.

  “Classic!” I grated after her. “Very classy, Princess!”

  She was already gone.

  Chapter 19

  PRINCE SETH

  The next night when I arrived at the Spring Hall, Rose was already touching herself. She had started without me, which didn’t please me. It created a sense of urgency.

  I didn’t want her to finish before I began.

  I quickly undressed myself in midair and dropped my trousers first in order to stroke my dick. It ached so much. I wondered if she would let me go further this time. One of these days she was going to give in.

  Better today.

  Something protruded from her hand. At first, I thought it was a sex toy. I gave her a grin of approval. She must have regretted what she’d done to me last time, so she was going to make up to me. I’d graciously accept her gesture of apology.

  And I couldn’t wait to see what she was going to do with that toy.

  She pressed a button on it. I frowned. It was a device.

  Alarm rose in me.

  She’d tried a device disguised as a bracelet to shock me but had failed. Was she going to try something else to hurt me so soon?

  Did she still hold a grudge because I’d laughed when she couldn’t come from touching herself?

  Females tended to hold petty grudges forever. Not that I had cared before. But with this fey female, I wanted something only she could give me, and I wanted it badly. So I decided to tolerate whatever she was about to throw at me and play along.

  I was confident after she tried and failed again that she would eventually give up the idea of bringing me down. She would realize that she couldn’t best a powerful angel like me. She would roll over and admit defeat.

  Then she would learn to be deferential and agreeable.

  As I pictured her being submissive and wrapping her lips around my cock, my hand formed a fist and stroked my arching shaft. My gaze was glued to her glistening sex under her flimsy robe.

  My mouth watered at the scent of her arousal.

  Wait.

  Shadows and multiple noises.

  I snapped my head toward the source of the disturbance.

  A net had opened just as I withdrew a sword from the back of my leather jacket.

  A horde of bats flapped their little wings and dashed toward me with angry shrieks. With a yelp, I yanked my trousers back up from my ankles. The bats attacked me collectively and there were too many. I turned to flee through the ceiling.

  A couple of the bats had landed on my wings and nipped my feathers, but I’d been fortunate and fast enough to avoid bites on my cock from those nasty things. Was that what the princess had intended for me—a damaged dick?

  If Rose could bleed me, those bats’ teeth might as well. I wasn’t going to test it and find out when my cock was on the line.

  I hadn’t seen this coming. I’d been too distracted by her scent, her gorgeous body, and the act of her pleasuring herself. I’d been too sure that I could deflect any shit she threw my way, but I hadn’t expected hundreds of bats.

  The little creatures’ screeches couldn’t drown out the princess’s delighted laughter. It was a long giggle. She stopped for a brief second and giggled again. That was the first time I’d ever heard her laugh like this—joyful, free-spirited, and erotic—since she’d come to Atlantis.

  And just like that, my ire vanished like a puff of wind.

  The bats followed me out of the ceiling before it closed, then scattered in the sky.

  I had to admit I was impressed by her organization. How had she even collected that many bats? Transporting them from their cave to the Spring Hall must have been a hell of a task.

  Had she used magic? I had heard that some Mysthians could talk to nature and animals.

  Rose had also timed it well. She had waited until I dropped my pants.

  Naughty girl should be—fucked?

  I hadn’t been able to get near her this time, let alone touch, spank, or fuck.

  I closed my eyes and replayed her laughter.

  It evoked an unfamiliar feeling in me. I ordered myself to not dwell on it, and I didn’t search for a deeper meaning. The day she brought out my new weakness would be the end of my legacy.

  I saw the princess at the king’s brunch reception the morning after the ill-fated incident. She faked concern. “Prince Seth,” she asked with half-surprise, “what happened to your feathers?”

  My brother frowned. Before he asked her what it was about my wings that she found intriguing, Rose continued, “Some of them seemed to be chipped. Were you under attack? Silly me to even consider that. How can anything nip at the mighty high prince?”

  “I was trying to be nice,” I grated. “Then some nasty girl sent vicious things after me.”

  “Nasty and vicious?” My brother raised both eyebrows. “Sounds like your type.”

  I snorted. “Lucky me, I found my match.”

  “Don’t worry, Prince Seth,” Rose said. “Your wings still look marvelous. When you spread them wide, they look like a big bat’s.” She turned to my brother. “Your Majesty, maybe we should name your brother Big Bat?”

  My brother chortled. “Seth does look like a large bat. A golden one, though.”

  It wasn’t a secret that my brother hated that I had golden wings and he had one black and one red, which marked his impure royal bloodline.

  “Yes, a big yellow bat,” the princess added.

  They laughed together.

  I contained my rage. I didn’t mind the princess taunting me, but I hated it when she laughed with my brother or any male.

  I wasn’t known for being possessive and jealous. But because of this fey princess, I’d gained a few unattractive traits. Ever since she’d awoken my unquenchable lust, she’d brought me nothing but trouble, then more trouble. Maybe I should just be done with her.

  For real this time.

  My cock disagreed. It insisted on me prowling on until it could get between the girl’s thighs.

  “Well,” I said to the princess, “I would rather be called Big Bat than Tiny Pussycat.”

  The princess’s laugh died, looking shocked and indignant.

  “I know,” my brother said with distaste. “Seth can’t help being vulgar. Don’t mind him.”

  The king extended his arm, the princess placed her small hand on its crook, and they walked away, chins high and sharing private jokes.

  I left the audience hall without food. I hadn’t the stomach to watch them being cozy. If I stayed, I’d have stabbed my brother for taking away the princess and touching her hand.

  Hadn’t I warned her not to get too close to the king? Why hadn’t she listened? If she kept encouraging him like this, he was going to violate her before the wedding night.

  I flew into the sky, pierced by dark rage and jealousy.

  Then a vengeful idea came.

  I must teach the princess a hard lesson tonight when she was in the middle of the steamy bath.

  My punishment would cool her ass as well as her head.
r />   Chapter 20

  PRINCESS ROSE

  I’d escaped the Forbidden Glory, yet every day I lived in terror in Atlantis.

  I’d thought once I’d located the angels’ power source, I could uproot the invaders. I’d thought once I’d gathered intel on their advanced weapons, the Dragonian and Mysthians could work together and manufacture upgraded weaponry to fight the angels.

  Now that I had faced the Forbidden Glory and seen what it could do, I realized that I’d been delusional to believe we could disarm the most terrifying, powerful weapon in the universe.

  I doubted that the great destructive earth magic—if it existed—could match the Forbidden Glory either. Was that why the Earth Mother was hiding, according to the oracle?

  While the angels had the Glory, we would never defeat them. We would never drive them back to the other side of their alien world.

  Earth was doomed.

  Fate didn’t favor us.

  And prophecy lied.

  Ironically, the only time I could forget such bleak reality was in Seth’s arms. While the flame of lust burned in him and echoed in me, relentlessly and ruthlessly, I often forgot he was my immortal enemy.

  How could I feel this way for him? How could I ever forget who I was to my people? But my body rebelled against my reason over and over.

  It wanted only the angel.

  As Seth and I became better acquainted, it only got worse. I could no longer see reality at the right angle. Everything, including myself, had turned upside down.

  My blood sang like a canary in his presence. Even after he left, the thrill of lust still glowed in me. Then gradually the rush faded, and in its wake were guilt, burden, and exhaustion. Bleakness started filling my every cell at his absence, and I longed for the angel to return.

  Something was terribly wrong with me.

  He wasn’t my salvation; he was my eternal enemy, as all angels were. I needed to make that concept stick in my head.

  He was the tool I would use and dispose of when not needed anymore.

  And soon, we would meet on the battlefield.

  He would be enraged that I had tricked him. He would try to cut into my heart with his angel blade if I failed to do the same to him first.

  Sworn enemies. We would shed each other’s blood, but he would never get the fuck he looked forward to so badly.

  As cold exhaustion hit me like a physical blow, I dragged myself toward the Spring Hall and ordered my guards to let no one disturb me for a few hours.

  I submerged under the warm spring water and closed my eyes.

  Would he come?

  He hadn’t taken it well that I’d set the bats on him when he’d had his pants down, then I’d called him names and mocked him with the king. When I’d put my hand on the king’s arm and walked away with him, Seth looked as if he wanted to break my neck with his bare hands.

  I shouldn’t think of him now, but he filled my every waking thought.

  I surfaced above the water as a wave of fatigue assaulted me.

  My eyelids drooped so heavily that I had a hard time lifting them. I’d never felt so tired in my life. If I went to sleep like this, I would drown.

  I should go to bed.

  I tried to rise, but my knees felt like liquid.

  Why did the air smell of sulfur and…?

  I couldn’t breathe.

  My limbs were lead.

  I should call Souline to come and get me.

  Flapping of wings. Heavy shadows dwelled around me.

  The Prince of Angels had come.

  But I wasn’t in my best shape.

  No, it wasn’t Seth. It wasn’t his scent.

  Someone else was in the Spring Hall with me. Angels. Many of them.

  How did they get in? My guards were outside.

  Unless—

  My mind was foggy. As I struggled to get through it and found a moment of clarity, fear seized me.

  It was an assassination. The angels must have tampered with the air. That was why I’d felt so languid.

  I fought to open my eyelids as I tried to call my guards telepathically, but I couldn’t reach them.

  There wasn’t strength left in me.

  Wings were on me. Black wings. Flapping and flapping.

  A cold, cruel, yet handsome angel’s face under a glassy mask floated above me.

  Another angel’s face in a mask loomed in.

  There were three. They surrounded me.

  Pain exploded in my head.

  A hand clutched my throat. Another hand, also not so gently, grabbed my hair and dragged me under the spring water. I struggled to breathe and fought to resurface.

  They’d come to kill me, and stupidly I’d been waiting for their prince.

  I didn’t have the Angel Shocker with me. I didn’t have any weapon with me. But even if I had, I couldn’t overcome them.

  The king had said only he and the prince could enter the Spring Hall.

  The monster lied.

  The water splashed, but my guards wouldn’t hear it while the sound of the fountain drowned out the noises.

  I tried to raise my hand to tear off the attackers’ masks and gouge out their eyes, but my hands failed to reach above the water.

  My last breath was abandoning me. A pathetic, useless death, I thought in vain.

  Hector. Lexa. I made one last attempt to send thoughts to them, but I knew my weak voice didn’t leave my mind.

  Help me, Seth, I whimpered, then I remembered the irony of it. I was calling my sworn enemy to come and save me.

  It would be a miracle if he could hear me and get to me in time.

  The assassins dragged me back into the water.

  Seth didn’t come.

  I’d thought that he and I might have a metaphysical link other than just lust.

  I’d thought we had a connection.

  I was out of my mind.

  Chapter 21

  PRINCE SETH

  It had taken me a while to gather the ice.

  I grabbed the huge bucket of ice cubes and flew toward the Spring Hall. I seemed to hear her calling me, her small voice urgent and desperate, “Help me, Seth! Come now!”

  It made me uneasy, but I shook my head. My lust now made me hear her voice, and soon I would see things. This madness had to end soon.

  You’ll have to wait, Princess, I promised the imaginary voice. Your fun will come.

  The fey female had set a horde of bats after me, so the least I could do was to return the favor. The Mysthians loved to indulge themselves with a hot bath; they hated all things cold.

  I grinned, picturing the look on her face as ice cubes poured on her ass while she was pleasuring herself. My cock hardened at the image.

  Splash! The sounds of struggling. The fountains couldn’t drown out the noise from my superior hearing.

  She wasn’t alone.

  Seth, Rose whimpered in my head, then her voice was gone.

  Assassins!

  Fear pierced me.

  With a furious cry, I burst through the skylight of the Spring Hall.

  Two rogue angels were on Rose, while another guarded the door and two more watched from the perimeter with their swords half-drawn.

  Five angels, all wearing protective face masks, had come to murder the princess.

  Rose thrashed as the assassins pulled her under the water. They intended to drown her and make it look like an accident.

  I had thought of the threat from my brother.

  I had thought of the threat from my father.

  But I hadn’t seriously considered the possibility that the minor angels would act so boldly as to make an attempt on Rose’s life.

  Wrath burst in me. How dare they try to snatch her from me! I’d marked her as mine.

  Mine. It was the first time I declared the truth to myself.

  I dove, holding my breath. I was one of the most powerful angels, so the poisoned air wouldn’t kick into my lungs for three minutes, not until I breathed in again. I toss
ed the bucket of ice at the angels who held Rose. I couldn’t use my lightning since Rose was with them in the water.

  The princess stopped kicking. Something worse than fear punctured my heart.

  The assassins turned and looked up at me in shock. The attack of the ice made them release their grip on her.

  I was on the two in a nanosecond. In rage, I thrust my hand into an angel’s chest and tore his heart out. The other stared at me, then at the still-pulsing organ. My sword slit his throat.

  The other three didn’t come for me, but fled instead.

  My lightning shot out and burned the closest two. I intended to keep the last one alive for interrogation, but he flew toward the broken ceiling. I longed to give chase and capture him, but I was too worried about Rose.

  I scooped her out of the water, now tainted red by the angels’ blood, and laid her down on the streambed. Her eyes were shut, and she wasn’t breathing.

  If she died, I would dig out whoever was behind the assassination and skin all of them alive. I would also kill all of the guards who had been assigned to the princess but failed to protect her.

  My rage would set me on a killing spree if she perished.

  I breathed into her mouth as my hands pumped her still chest.

  “Breathe!” I shouted at her. “Take a breath, Rose! Don’t die on me! You won’t die on me like this! Rose!”

  I breathed into her again and again.

  Her heartbeat fluttered under the heel of my hand.

  “That’s better, baby,” I said. “Now come back!”

  She gasped, water flowing from her mouth.

  Her big whisky-colored eyes opened, then grew wider in her pale face. Fear flickered in them. It vanished as she spotted me, then rage burned darkly.

  She remained feeble, the polluted air still affecting her.

  I shrugged off my trench coat, covered her, and pulled her into my arms. Kicking open the door, I carried her out of the Spring Hall.

  Her lead guard wasn’t around; her two other guards’ faces paled at the sight of their princess, limp in my arms.

  They quickly assessed the situation and one of them rushed into the bath hall.

  “Some dead bodies,” I said. “The air is still poisonous inside.”