“This miserable state is borne by the wretched souls of those who lived without disgrace and without praise.”
Dante Alighieri
I didn’t go back to the office after my visit in the monastery. Emma was doing late shift today, taking care of all the phone calls. Ricky was out and I didn’t want to bother him. When I tried to get in touch with Zach, a woman answered the phone. She sounded like she could have been his mother, and that was a clear indication that maybe I should give him some space. I felt guilty that I left him alone when the other officers showed up and seriously considered telling him the truth about me.
It was in both our interest to track down Nameless Thief, but I didn’t think that Zach was in a position to focus on our investigation right away. He went through a lot and maybe he had to take time out, to restore his strength. I took the tube in Hackney and then decided that I could do with a weak drink of tequila. There was a possibility that one of reporters could eventually get their hands on the story about dead Princess Catherine and the fact that she had a steamy affair just before she died. Nameless Thief knew that he had a gold mine in his hand, and I hated that I didn’t know what he was planning.
The Broken Shoe was quiet tonight, and it was completely dark when I entered the pub. Paul was sorting his stock downstairs and some new barmaid was filing her nails, looking bored. This wasn’t what I expected. Devlin normally played on Tuesdays, but there was no one at the back. I headed down to the cellar to have a chat with Paul.
“Hi,” I greeted him as he sorted the empty bottles of beer. “Where is everyone? The whole place is deserted.”
“It’s quiet, Maxine, it’s before payday, just one of those days,” Paul replied with a shrug. My craving for tequila had to be satisfied, but I didn’t like drinking alone. I was sort of lucky Arthur hadn’t officially named me as a woman that had stolen his heart.
“All right, in that case I’m going home. Have you got any magical liquid for me?” I asked, fluttering my eyelashes. This never worked, but it was worth trying. Paul exhaled sharply, then went to the back. A moment later he came back with two bottles of tequila. My mood automatically brightened, but guilt scorched through my lungs. Yeah, I didn’t stick to my earlier resolution. Gambling away my money was one thing, but getting wasted so I could just forget was foolish.
“Don’t do anything stupid and be careful on the way home. Watchers are patrolling the streets and I don’t need to be investigated by those fuckers,” Paul muttered when I took the bottles and tried to hide them in my bag.
“Why? Is there something going on?” I enquired, still worried that Alexis was planning something serious. She wouldn’t attack me on streets that were filled with Watchers. I didn’t believe she was that stupid, but I couldn’t be sure.
Paul scratched his chin.
“I don’t know, but there are more of them on the streets than normally. I don’t like this, and they seemed to be watching the pub. A mongrel saw them on the streets last night,” Paul said, obviously not happy that he couldn’t get away from his past.
“Right, I’ll let you know if I find out anything specific. Just chill. You’re running a legitimate business and no one apart from me knows about the tequila,” I assured him, knowing that this wasn’t the whole truth. Ricky knew that I had been drinking alcohol infused with magic. Getting high on demonic energy wasn’t illegal, but using it to produce tequila was something that hell definitely didn’t approve.
“Just be careful, it’s a new formula, so don’t drink it all at once,” he reminded me when I was heading out.
“All right, Daddy,” I said, shaking my head. Paul was a good guy, but he didn’t know how much I needed this shit just so I could sleep at night.
On the way back to the flat I tried to call some guys to see if they were up for a game of poker at my place. No one answered their phone, even Devlin, and that was not something that I expected from him.
I stripped out of my clothes, locked the door, and poured myself a highly anticipated shot. It was just after eleven o’clock, and after another near death experience I was allowed to have a little chill out moment.
Ricky had left me a note on the table.
You should clean up, Maxine. You have rotten food in your fridge!
The nagger was pushing me to change my lifestyle, knowing well that I wasn’t ready to move on and act like any normal human being. I ignored the note and indulged myself in my own misery.
I didn’t know how much time had passed. Maybe half an hour or maybe three, but by the time I got up, my legs were wobbly and I was truly wasted. My insides didn’t burn like usual and for some reason I didn’t feel any better about Zach, Arthur or my past. I was still a pathetic mongrel that couldn’t say no and stop drinking. I couldn’t keep telling myself that I had reason, that my darkness was shading every bit of my stupid soul.
I must have fallen asleep in my underwear on the floor while watching trashy TV, but a strange noise woke me up. When I glanced at the clock it was quarter to three in the morning and someone was knocking at my door.
I stumbled over my clothes and some spell books that lay everywhere. I cursed the fact that I was too lazy to clean up, cursed the fact that someone was ready to pay me a visit at that time in the morning. Maybe Ricky was right. I had to get a grip, save some money and move to a nice, proper apartment.
The knocking persisted, and I swore one more time and then opened the door. For a split second I thought I was hallucinating. There was no way that the prince had decided to pay me a visit in the middle of the night. He must have found my address through the press. After I vanished I made sure that my name wasn’t listed under any specific address, and Mrs. Patel had promised to keep my details confidential, but I didn’t think she respected my wish. I was still pretty much drunk, under a strong influence of magic.
“Hey, Maxine, you look rather delicious,” Arthur chuckled eyeing me up and down. Behind him was Jonathan along with some other guards. It took me a moment to actually grasp that a) Arthur was very real and b) I was only in my underwear.
On top of that Jonathan was pretending that I didn’t exist, that I wasn’t standing in front of him half naked. Classic Maxine, this is just the way to do it.
I wasn’t modest, and Arthur had already seen everything that there was to see. Yeah, that was my tequila mind talking.
“What the hell do you want? It’s three o’clock in the morning,” I said, forgetting that I was supposed to say “Your Highness” in front of his guards. There were a few more outside, one a demon.
Arthur turned around, ignoring my question.
“I’ll be here for a while, just blend it. I don’t want any paps on my back,” Arthur said, ignoring my question. Then he just walked inside like he owned the place, and shut the door behind him. An instant dose of heat swallowed me down like I was underwater, unable to get back up. Now my plan failed, because he was inside my flat, staring at me totally aroused.
“Arthur, how did you find me?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. “You need to leave now. What if someone sees you?”
I stopped myself from compelling him with my energy, although Arthur had proven on a number of occasions that he was immune to my abilities. I hated tampering with any human’s thoughts anyway.
His eyes were zooming over my body, gleaming with lust and excitement. I told myself that tequila was letting me see what wasn’t really there. Arthur couldn’t expect that I would let him stay with me tonight.
“Well, I was fed up with waiting around, so here I am. I want to take you out,” he said, glancing around with curiosity.
“No, no. This is my flat, my shithole, and you’re not taking me anywhere,” I said, when he passed by me and made himself comfortable on the sofa. There were other things that I needed to consider, like for example the fact that I was standing in front of him wearing a thong and very sexy bra. A set that he gave me when we were sleeping together. Why the hell did I have to be so aroused all of the sudden? Yesterday I was ready to jump into a relationship with Zach. He wanted to take care of me, to smooth my pain with his domineering personality.
Arthur put his hands behind his head and smiled wolfishly. My usual sharp judgment was clouded. I’d drunk way too much earlier on. Tequila weakened me, and suddenly all I could think about was sex, nothing else.
“Oh, Maxine, you can’t even imagine how sexy you look right now,” he pointed out. “All I can think about is fucking you here.”
“This isn’t the place for you, so please don’t embarrass me like that. I know that my flat is a shithole,” I said, scratching my head, trying to distract myself from the way he was staring at me right now. I wished that I’d cleaned up a bit. I’d never had anyone over. Ricky only came in because he had to get me some clothes.
Arthur got up and then he was beside me. I was streaming with liquid heat. He pushed the strap from my bra down, his eyes filled with so much lust that I was scared it might burst.
“I came here because I wanted to take you out, but now you’re looking so delicious that I instantly changed my mind. I need to be inside you like before. There is nothing stopping us from enjoying ourselves. And as to your flat, we both know that I don’t care if you’re poor or rich, if you live in the palace or in the shed. All I want is you right in this moment,” he said.
“Okay, let me put some clothes on and then we will talk.”
My response was pathetic and I knew it. The problem was that I felt the music of love drifting between us, and those unresolved feelings were tangling my head, whispering that it was okay to forget about the rules for one night. I was drunk enough to tell him the truth, to reveal why I didn’t want him to find out where I lived.
He caught me, just before I took a step forward, and his other hand moved up my thigh. When his fingers pushed through the hem of my knickers, the fire deep inside my stomach was hot and burning. All of a sudden I wanted to forget that there was something in the air, that my damn secret separated us.
Deep down I knew that there was no one here, nothing that could stop me from enjoying this moment. He was Arthur, the future king that didn’t care about the rules or the fact that I was no one.
“No, Flower, you don’t need to put any clothes on. You’re the most beautiful woman that I ever laid eyes on,” he whispered, leaning down, caressing my ear gently with his hot mouth. The shivers broke out all over my body, shooting sparks down between my legs.
This was tequila leading me on now, pushing boundaries. My own sober self would never let him stay or touch me, but that other person wasn’t in the room. I was intoxicated enough to forget that I was supposed to behave, follow strict demonic protocol. My head swam when he pulled me to his body abruptly, holding me gently at the same time. Heavy lust settled and washed me down like the rain on a summer day.
“Oh, Arthur … we can’t, this is—”
“Shhhh, Flower, just enjoy the moment,” he said, and then he grabbed me. The gentle, loving Arthur was gone. The man that I had in front of me was rough. He lifted me up and ordered me to move my legs around his waist.
Then he kissed me and once his lips touched mine, I forgot about the world around us.
Everything about this moment was right, and once he intensified the pressure of his mouth on mine I lost control of my body and soul. His hands were squeezing me hard, his erection pressing against my burning sex.
That was all I needed to lose whatever reservations I had. It was all or nothing, and I chose all.