Spellbound by Sylvia Day Read Free Book Online

would forget her in time.
    The thought made her heart hurt, the pain so piercing she panted with it.
    Waving her attendants away, Victoria caught the edge of the vanity and gulped down desperate breaths. She’d been out of the loop so long, she had no idea who Gabriel was, but the handmaidens raved about her luck. Yes, she would pine for the man who’d taken over her body and filled it with mind-numbing pleasure, but perhaps, in a decade or two, she could come to tolerate Gabriel’s touch . . .
    â€œYou’ll never know, kitten,” rumbled a deep, familiar voice behind her.
    Her gaze lifted and met stormy gray.
    â€œMax,” she breathed, her palms growing damp at the sight of him. Bare-chested, barefooted, wearing only trousers that hung low around his lean hips. His shoulders so broad, his golden skin stretched over beautifully defined muscles. A predator.
    Her mouth dried, her breasts swelled with desire, as if he hadn’t just fucked her into exhaustion mere hours ago.
    He came toward her with his sultry, long-legged stride. She was held motionless by his stare, forgetting to breathe until her lungs burned, then she gasped and cried out as his hand cupped the back of her head. His strong fingers pinched strands of her hair and tugged roughly, bending her to his will. She stared up at him in a haze of fear and desire, the flush of anger on his face enough to frighten her. And arouse her.
    â€œI’m keeping you,” he rasped, just before he took her parted lips with possessive hunger.
    Having thought him lost to her, she melted in his arms. He anchored her, even as he brought her to heel. His breathing labored, he turned his head, his cheek rubbing against hers, absorbing her tears.
    â€œThe Council will punish you,” she cried, her voice breaking. “I—I can’t bear to lose you.”
    â€œBut you were about to.” He licked deep into her mouth, making her moan and open to him, silently begging for more. He obliged her, groaning, his tongue stroking along hers with so much skill it left her breathless. One arm supported her back, the other hand cupped her breast and kneaded it with the aggressive pressure she’d come to relish and crave.
    â€œLet me be the instrument of your revenge,” he whispered darkly, his lips moving against hers.
    A gift. For her.
    Victoria swallowed hard, stunned by his statement and the ramifications of it. “Max.”
    He held her gaze. “You have your business interests to occupy your daylight hours, but your private hours are mine. You will serve, obey, and please me. You will never question an order or deny me anything. I’ll do things to your body that will test your limits. Sometimes, you’ll want to tell me ‘no,’ but you’ll do what I want regardless. That is your commitment to me.”
    He hugged her tightly to him, burying his face in the tender space between her neck and shoulder. His voice lowered and came gruffly: “My commitment is to care for you, and provide for you in every way. If you need your revenge to be free of the past, I will deliver the means to you. You are my greatest treasure, Victoria. I will always value and treat you as such.”
    Her arms came around him, her lashes wet and vision blurry. “I want the Triumvirate.”
    To give her this, he would have to skirt the very Council he’d aspired to for so long. There was more to that long-ago night than she knew, and the danger was mortal.
    Max nodded his understanding and agreement without hesitation, but the tic in his jaw betrayed him. “Will you love me like you loved him? Can you?”
    She released a deep breath in an audible rush. Her heart reached out to him, revealing the many facets of her affection and adoration, the feelings she had for Max so different from what she’d felt for Darius, but just as powerful, and growing every day. She was beginning to see how much of herself