Hours later, the party is over and I’m lying with my wife in a comfortable bed. This should be the best place in the world but I can’t fall asleep.

Why? Because I can still feel that saints damned thrall in my head! There’s almost a physical force trying to pull me from the sheets and toward her. My muscles have been tense for so long resisting that it’s starting to hurt.

“Poor, Lou.” Kierra’s arm goes around my waist as she leans over my shoulder to whisper in my ear. “Is the little mind stealer bullying you?”

“I can’t get her out of my head,” I hiss through grit teeth. “That damn bandit. He knows. They say if you give in just once, the Grimoires will have you for life. They’re addictive.” Who cares if the Guiness want to deal with me if they can control my every action? Even worse, they might be thinking they can get access to Kierra through me.

“What’s she’s saying?”

Is it really alright to be talking about this? Well, she’s my wife. Who else would I talk to? “She wants me to come to her. And she’s promising…pleasure.” My biggest weak point. I’m a hedonist, something she knows well.

“Is that all?” She pulls me down and crawls on top of me. “Hoh. A woman not even in the same room thinks she can steal your attentions from me. She’s quite confident.”

Is that the normal response to this situation? I don’t know. Either way, she’s amazing. With her intense gaze seemingly piercing my soul, the whispers fade out a little. For a minute. Then, sensing her hold weaken, a barrage of mental power hits me with enough force to make me wince. The whispers become a voice.

Come to me.

You’re not even trying to be subtle anymore, dammit!

“No.” A tight grip on my chin forces me to meet Kierra’s eyes again. “Nuh uh, little demon. You’ll have to do better than that if you want to intrude in my territory.”

She’s not talking to me but the threat in her words makes things in my stomach flutter. The voice once again returns to a whisper. Wait. I’m remembering. Once, when Father was complaining about the Grimoires, he warned me about the mental affinity.

Mental spells are infamously difficult to cast, as the mind is so intricate. Our natural defenses can defend against even strong casters without any training as, technically, willpower counts as mental power.

I’ll be the first one to admit my willpower isn’t that good, but once again, it seems I can get motivated when my wife is involved. When she leans down to kiss me, I can barely hear the whispers. My eyes slip shut as her tongue dominates my mouth. With the grip on my chin and her body pressing against me, there’s nothing I can do besides struggle for air. Ah, what a glorious feeling.

When she finally gives me a break, my eyes flutter open. Then I hiss, leaning back into the bed as I see Fen above me. It only lasts for a moment before Kierra’s questioning face appears, but my heart stops from the shock before resuming a pounding rhythm.

“They’re watching us,” I groan. You bastard, this is just taking it too far. There’re lines decent people don’t cross. I guess he’s already crossed a few of those but this is a whole new low, even for a Grimoire. “That fucker has her watching us. He probably knows everything that happens, peeping piece of shit.” The voice is coming back and starting to gain strength.

“So?”

“Hu—mmph!” I’m cut off by her lips. “But…wait…Kii...”

She pulls back with a wicked grin. “Let the little man get the details from his pet. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve worked with an audience in the room.”

My eyes widen as she chuckles. This woman. Does she have any decency at all?

Apparently not, as she flips me onto stomach. Tearing sounds echo through the room as she literally rips my nightgown off of me. A hand on my waist urges my hips into the air and her other pushes my head into the mattress. Now my heart is hammering for a different reason. I get a strange thrill when her gown brushes against my skin, knowing I’m totally exposed to her. But saints dammit, knowing that bastard is watching me is ruining it!

“I’m going to kill him,” I growl, my voice muffled. Thinking about him lying in bed, likely having his thrall jerk him off while he laughs about what she tells him about my sex life fills me with a hot anger that drowns out Fen’s whispers. “I don’t care about heirs and succession. I’m going to murder him and put his head on a pike. I’m going to contract a dozen flesh worms and make his father watch as they devour his body. I’m…haaah, gonna—oh!”

My voice is broken by moans as her fingers push into me. Kierra runs her tongue along my spine, before nipping at the back of my neck. I jump and her opposite hand pulls me back against her. “I wonder if the little demon can last the whole night. Because I can. When the sun comes up, you’ll have forgotten allllll about her.”

Her laughter makes my hands twist in the sheets with a mixture of dread and excitement.