LustingtheEnemy Read Online Free PDF

not necessary.”
    “I insist,” he said huskily. “I want to see your hair
dressed as beautifully as your body.”
    She nodded. “Okay.” She wasn’t about to make an issue out of
it. Besides, she just might learn a tidbit or two from a servant’s slip of the
tongue.
    She swallowed, drifting toward the king without volition,
the palms of her downward facing hands skating over the fine ripple of his abs
and under the knot of his low slung towel. She looked up, into his eyes that
were blazing hot at her touch. She smiled and breathed, “Hurry back.”

Chapter Three
     
    Akeisha looked into the round mirror with something close to
awe. The austere Fontaine might not have given anything away about the king,
but she’d done an amazing job with her hair.
    The elder woman had brushed out her silver tresses until
they’d shone. She’d threaded diamonds into triple strands at either side of her
face and pulled the bejeweled hair back into some sort of intricate braid,
leaving the rest of her hair to free-fall down her back, a silver cascade against
midnight, glittering black.
    The effect was…sublime. She’d too often seen her beauty as a
flaw, something people didn’t look past to the person she was beneath. But
right then she was proud of what she saw…more than proud.
    I hope Judas likes what he sees .
    She closed her eyes. Damn. This obsession with the king had
to stop. She needed to be in control. Be in control of him. Breath shuddered
from her lungs. It was the way things had to be if she wanted to save her
species.
    She wouldn’t—couldn’t—fall in love with the Zaneean king. Besides, was it even possible to feel that way about someone in such a
short time?
    “You look beautiful, angel.”
    Her eyelids flickered open and she spun around. God, he had
the silent tread of one of her own kind. Even in her big cat form she’d have
been lucky to hear his approach. She tried not to stare at him as she touched
one of the jeweled strands with an unsteady hand. “Fontaine is very clever.”
    Judas strode toward her. “Mm. But then she had great
material to work with.”
    She flushed, ridiculously flattered. “Thank you.”
    He kissed her on the brow, his breath warm, his gaze
lingering. She unobtrusively breathed in his spiced scent. Dark. Delicious.
Exotic.
    Just like him.
    In his traditional rakkia robe with his sword and
double fighting rods hanging from the belt at his waist, the gold cuffs on his
forearms somehow enhancing his strength, he looked every inch a king. And more.
    “I thought you might enjoy some sightseeing of the markets
outside the palace.”
    She smiled, delighted. Being seen with the king was the
highest honor afforded to anyone. She wasn’t going to refuse. And despite the
palace being huge, she craved the outdoors—even if it was within the great rock
wall that barricaded the humans inside against potential enemies.
    Minutes later she was stepping into a carriage pulled by
four big grays. The horses’ heads tossed, pink nostrils flared and manes flowed
as they jigged on the spot.
    She wasn’t surprised to find the carriage flanked by
soldiers protecting their king. Something within ached for him. Despite her
royal status, she’d been much luckier, blessed to have lived in relative
freedom.
    She turned to Judas. “Do you ever tire of guards shadowing
you wherever you go?”
    He shrugged. “There are those out there who wish me harmed.”
    She shivered. Yet another reason the larakytes shouldn’t
leave the Scantia forest. With humans so far only breaching the fringes,
their kind could go about their business without fear of what Judas must face
every single day.
    But if the humans were braving the forest border, how long
before they delved deeper? Was that her father’s concern?
    She sucked in a breath that didn’t quite reach her lungs as
the horses’ hooves clattered loudly on the cobbled street leading away from the
palace. She had to talk to Judas about her people at the