Chapter 92: The lake of Seduction
Azriel
Seraphel wouldn’t stop laughing, even after we left the grand hall and stepped into my personal inner sanctum within my domain.
"I must look completely ridiculous to you, right?" I asked, keeping my arms wrapped firmly around him, holding his weight close against my chest so he wouldn’t strain himself.
Seraphel’s face flushed a deep, charming crimson as he buried his face straight into the silk of my robes, muffling his giggles without giving me a direct answer.
The soft rhythm of his breath brushed against my chest, sending a sudden, electric chill straight down my spine that instantly stirred the dormant heat in my blood.
My desire for him flared sharply, but I forced myself to reign it in.
Now was not the time to give in to lust.
I had nearly lost him to Mirevale’s treacherous domain, and the memory of how close he had come to fading away still terrified me.
If we hadn’t breached that realm in time, he would have been lost forever.
All I truly wanted right now was to keep him locked in my arms for the rest of the week, simply sleeping by his side where I knew he was safe.
I was losing my mind. An ancient Sin, reduced to clinging to a single mortal, terrified of letting him out of my sight for even a second.
Yet I refused to give up control, especially when it came to him.
He was my mate, and I would tear down the high realms themselves before allowing anything to harm him again.
"Are you alright?" Seraphel asked quietly, noticing my sudden silence.
I didn’t answer right away.
Instead, I carried him over to the edge of the steaming warm spring that flowed through the heart of my Domain of Seduction.
The crystal-clear waters glowed with a faint, iridescent light.
Holding him securely in my arms, I slowly stepped down into the pool, letting the soothing heat submerge us up to our waists.
Seraphel gasped softly as the warm water met his skin, his fingers tightening instinctively around my shoulders.
"Were you... worried about me, Azriel?" he asked, his voice hesitant and quiet.
"I..." He paused, his breath hitching slightly before he found the courage to continue. "Thank you for standing up for me back there in front of your brothers," he whispered, looking up at me. "And thank you for coming to rescue me from that dreadful place."
Hearing those words spill from his lips made a fresh wave of rage pulse through me
. I wished I could drag Mirevale back from the void just to kill her ten thousand times over for the trauma she had inflicted upon him.
"If you hadn’t arrived when you did, I might have been de—"
I refused to let him finish that sentence. I shifted him in my arms, pulling his chest flush against mine, then tilted his chin up and captured his lips with my own.
It began as a slow, deep kiss, the warm water swirling around our entwined bodies.
I slid one hand up to cup the back of his head, deepening the alignment of our mouths, pulling him into the rhythm without giving him space to pull back.
Seraphel didn’t hesitate; he melted into the touch, kissing me back with a quiet, breathless surrender, offering no resistance whatsoever.
"You smell intoxicating," I murmured against his mouth, pulling back just enough to look into his eyes. "And you shouldn’t attribute your survival entirely to me, Seraphel. You broke through that illusion using your own strength. If you hadn’t held on and fought back with everything you had, my arrival wouldn’t have mattered. You defeated Mirevale—a high goddess of Elysium—by your own hand."
I gently reached up and brushed a stray strand of damp hair away from his forehead, my heart swelling with an undeniable sense of pride.
Seraphel let out a soft sigh, leaning his forehead heavily against my shoulder.
I stroked the back of his neck, letting the serene silence wrap around us for a long moment.
Eventually, he pulled back slightly, his wide blue eyes scanning the shimmering surroundings. "Where are we?"
"This," I gestured toward the glowing waters and the marble pillars surrounding the quiet pool, "is the Seductive Lake."
"The Seductive Lake..." he repeated softly.
Hearing his voice drop as he spoke the title made my heart give a sudden, violent thud, making every nerve on my skin prickle with heightened sensitivity. This intense, magnetic pull between us was far beyond mere infatuation, and I knew it. I had known it for a long time.
"Are we here to..." Seraphel trailed off, his eyes darting down toward the water.
I gently shook my head before he could complete the thought. "No. As much as I burn to take you right here and now, Seraphel, that is not why I brought you into this spring. I brought you here to bathe you and wash away the lingering cold of that cursed realm."
"Bathe me?"
I nodded slowly.
Reaching out, I carefully loosened the fastenings of his inner robe, peeling the damp fabric off his shoulders and sliding it down his arms until it floated away in the thermal water. Next, I reached up and pulled the delicate hairpin securing his dark hair, allowing the long strands to cascade over his pale shoulders like black silk. Finally, I slid my hands down to ease off his remaining undergarments, stripping him completely of any barrier between us.
The immediate sight of his bare skin, slick with warm water and glowing under the ethereal light, sent a heavy, throbbing surge straight to my lower half.
My length hardened rapidly, pressing tight against my clothes as the sheer proximity of his raw beauty tested every ounce of my self-control.
When he stood stark naked before me, a low, appreciative smile touched my lips. Embarrassed, Seraphel instinctively crossed his arms over his chest to hide himself from my gaze.
"No, Seraphel," I murmured, leaning down to catch his wrist and gently pulling his arms away. "You are absolute perfection. You never need to cover yourself in front of me."
I pressed a tender kiss to the column of his throat, trailing my lips downward over his collarbone until I reached the soft peak of his chest.
I captured one pale nipple between my teeth, giving it a light, teasing bite.
"Ah... Azriel!" Seraphel gasped, his head falling back as his fingers instinctively tangled into my hair. In his dazed state, his fingers lightly brushed against the soft, floppy white bunny ears still sprouting from my head.