Lust. Charlotte Featherstone

      There were times when his sin so took over that Thane was powerless to stop it. When Lust came to the forefront, he was a powerful creature to deny, almost as though he were a separate entity. Most times, he was quiet inside him. Thane was aware of his sin only in thought, and desire. But once his Unseelie blood was heated with need, and Lust was rattling to be set free, absolutely nothing stopped him. Memories tripped through his mind of the debauches in his past. For now, those memories must suffice. Lust would have to learn to feed on them, while Thane wooed the virginal Chastity.

      “There they are,” Avery murmured as he wet his lips, which were obscenely erotic on a man, let alone a fey. “And every bit more grown-up,” he purred as he devoured all of them with his greedy gaze. “Imagine them at court, surrounded by all kinds of decadence. What treasures they will be. I will very much enjoy showing them what pleasure true excess can be.”

      Lust began to seethe, to pull at him. His sin took umbrage at Avery and his hedonism, that he was entertaining ideas about what it would be like to taste Chastity. Avery was a damn glutton, never satisfied, always craving, always needing more. Thane knew that Chastity would prove a most challenging delight for Avery and his sin.

      “Now who bears the green eyes?” Kian asked accusingly.

      Thane gave his twin no heed as he attempted to control his thoughts, but when he saw Avery’s black irises, which were rimmed in violet, dilate with hunger as his gaze fixed on Chastity, Thane said rather impulsively, “Brothers, I leave you to your virtues.”

      With a wave of his hand, the veil of glamour dropped. Nudging his mount forward, he walked the animal a few short paces before pulling in beside the Lennox sisters. “Good morn, ladies,” he said, trying to resist the urge to grasp Chastity and haul her onto his lap. He could not steal her. Not if he wanted to break the curse. She must come to court of her own free will. She must give herself and her soul up to him, he could not take it from her. Her body was to be his gift, and therefore, he must wait until he was gifted with it.

      “Sir, you are not known to us,” one of them said through lips that were plump, but pressed tightly together until they were thin and bloodless. Temperance, he thought as he caught her reproving glance as she and her sisters walked by him.

      Jumping down from his horse, he took the reins in his gloved hands and followed them. “Then allow me to remedy that,” he said as he sketched a graceful bow.

      “Come along. Now,” she muttered as she ushered the other three women along the path as though she were a mother goose gathering her chicks as a fox approached.

      “Prue, for heaven’s sake,” one of them muttered before stopping and curtsying before him. “Don’t be rude.” When she glanced up, Thane was struck by the darkness of her eyes and the onyx ringlets that danced in the breeze from beneath her straw bonnet. “I am Mary Lennox,” she announced. “And this is my sister Prudence, my other sister Mercy and …” She glanced amongst the straw bonnets and the rippling silk shawls that billowed in the May wind. “And hiding behind them is Chastity.”

      Their eyes locked, and he was stunned by how alluring Chastity’s green gaze was. Thane felt the instant heat of unbridled desire flare inside him. Lust wanted her. Badly. He smiled, trying to remember that he was portraying a mortal gentleman. As a fey prince, he took what he wanted. Their court manners were not mortal manners. But if he were to act as a fey now, he would never have a chance to win Chastity, nor experience her surrender.

      “I am honored.” With a deep bow, he removed his hat and placed it over his heart. “I am Thane.”

      He did the pretty and pretended he was a gentleman. All to no avail, for Chastity barely glanced at him, and certainly with nothing that could be considered reciprocal desire.

      At that precise moment, his faery hound decided to come bounding out of the woods. He was large and strong, and making the most mournful sound Thane had ever heard. Something between a whimper and a snarl.

      “Bel, that is enough,” he commanded. Pointing to the spot beside his boot, Thane motioned for the dog to sit. But Bel possessed a mind of his own, and instead, began sniffing the women’s skirts, shoving his nose up their hems. Lucky beast, he thought with amusement, until he heard the frightened little voice at the back.

      “Stay away! “ The voice sounded panicky—trembling. It was Chastity’s voice.

      “Bel,” he admonished as he stepped around the women and reached for his pet. Chastity was there, looking up at him with sheer terror in her eyes.

      “He’s friendly,” he said, trying to be soothing. “He’s only a pup really, and more curious than anything.”

      Thane saw her shoulders tremble as she fearfully watched the dog. “I … I don’t like beasts.”

      Thane wondered if he could be classified as a beast. The Dark Fey were certainly known to be beastly in their appetites.

      “Bel is such an unusual name for a pet,” the one named Mercy said. She held her glove palm out and Bel loped to her side, sniffing and licking the leather.

      “It is an old Gaelic name that means the Shining One. He is named after the Celtic sun god of healing.”

      Mercy bent down and rubbed her hands through Bel’s pure white fur. “I am afraid that Chastity is not the animal lover in the family.”

      That, Thane realized, was going to be a bit of a problem. The fey lived in the woods, surrounded by nature and all its creatures. With Chastity’s fear of animals it was going to be very hard to induce her to come and live at his court.

      Thinking it best to steer the conversation away from animals, and Chastity’s increasing fear of the eagerly sniffing Bel, he asked, “Are you by chance going to the May Day celebration?” He indicated the village green, which was decorated for Beltane. Beyond the green, by the ruins of the ancient abbey was a pile of branches and logs, the beginnings of the traditional Beltane bonfire.

      “No, we are not,” the one named Prudence announced in a clipped voice. “Now, good day to you, sir.”

      Thane watched the four young women commence walking along the path. In the distance the tor rose, and at the foot of it was a grand manor home, fit for a duke. It was the Lennoxes’ estate. And Chastity’s home. He even knew what bedroom window was hers.

      Despite her cold reception, he was not thwarted. Lust knew how to break down any resisting barriers. Thane could almost taste Chastity’s surrender on his tongue. Her sexual awakening aroused him, roused a hunger in him that had not been sated by any of his previous conquests. Lust, it seemed, was most eager to corrupt the innocent Chastity, in the most depraved ways. But it was not only his sin that desired her. Thane and his Dark Fey blood wanted her, too.

      Allowing his gaze to linger, he followed the prim and beckoning Chastity as she sauntered down the path to her home—to safety. But Chastity Lennox was not safe anywhere from him—from the desire that was growing inside him.

      Every one hundred years, seven virtues were born in the mortal realm, he reminded himself. Chastity had been born for him, to sate the sin inside him. She had been created exclusively for his sexual appetites, and the power that she was his, intended solely for him, was a feeling more dominant than orgasm.

      Christ, he wanted her. And he would have her, too.

      With a cheeky little backward glance, the dark-haired Mary smiled at him over her shoulder and he returned it, thinking of how soon it was going to be that he would see Chastity smile at him like that.

      “Do not get any ideas about her,” Rinion said as he emerged from the woods and came to stand beside him. “She is mine.”

      Thane glanced at the fey who harbored Vanity. He was astoundingly handsome. Women fell at his feet. Thane looked back at the dark and exotic Mary, thinking of her and Rinion together. It was good that the lovely little minx was his virtue. She’d give him a hell of a merry chase and Rinion deserved nothing less.

      “I