Under the Prince of Lust’s Wiles — Chapter 35 - Desire Untold

~ Andrea ~

Now, for the record, the place where Lorde bit me was in the exact spot where Eriol gave me a hickey yesterday. Because of this, I realized that jealousy already bubbled inside him.

“Lorde!” I cried, pushing his chest away at the same time. It was partly an instinct for a woman to do so, and partly because I was surprised of course.

He captured my hands and roughly immobilized it against the shelf. Figurines after figurines of animals made of crystal toppled over and broke into pieces on our feet.

I felt his tongue swirled against the skin of my neck, coordinating with his teeth to make a sucking motion. It was just a localized area, but the damn sensation flooded all over my body like food coloring in plain water.

I wouldn’t call it delicious because it felt like pins penetrating my flesh, but it was enough to tickle me and my insides. I felt my flaming desire resurface back again, but I quickly quenched it.

Being that to resist was close to stupidity with Lorde’s strength dominating me, I just closed my eyes and surrendered. And waited, waited for him to finish.

It was a painful, painful length of time holding my breath and easing my jumping heart. It probably covered a minute, but it was enough to make me remember the time when Lorde caressed my neck too. It was the time when we almost made love.

I frantically shook my head to bury the memory away. Thinking about it now wasn’t proper. Not proper at all when I knew Auntie would open the door of the study room anytime soon.

“Lorde, s-stop it...” Although it was with determination, I slurred.

Yes. He freed my hands then and I was thankful for it. I hoped that he would withdraw after the deed was done, but when I felt his hand slid under my blouse, grazing my waist and then fondling my breasts, that’s when I realized he didn’t plan on just one hickey alone.

“Ah!” I shouted sensually when I felt his tongue slide along the column of my neck; the manner of which reminded me heavily on Eriol.

“Andrea, come back to me. Leave that man,” he coarsely whispered on my ear.

“Lorde, stop this! Please!” I grabbed his wrists and stopped him from groping my breasts even further.

His mouth traveled the length of my neck to my jaw and into my lips, stopping my panting consequently. He gave me another thorough tongue massage, something that I had no further power to break.

But wait. I did have one, yes, and that was to bite his lip.

Without so much as a thought, I did so and the moment Lorde withdrew in reaction to the painful stimuli, that’s the time Aunt Marcella opened the door.

She looked askance on both of us, lifting her brows quite clearly.

I immediately went to sit on a nearby leather chair while Lorde awarded me a disappointed look and touched his sore lip.

“Another fight again?” she nonchalantly asked. “Seriously, aren’t you both tired of bickering always? Look at your father’s figurines Lorde, they are worthless now.”

“I’ll replace it, Tia, don’t worry,” he answered as he strolled across the room and into his father’s huge mahogany study table, leaning on it coolly as a businessman would.

Aunt Marcella closed the door giving me a clue that Eriol wasn’t behind her. She sat on a chair beside mine and looked surprisingly concerned.

“Now, what do you want to discuss?” she said, glancing back at her step-son.

“I want you to fire the butler,” he stated, tone edgy and grave. No hint of humor or even hesitation, just straight-to-the-point order.

I shot him a questioning glare instantaneously. He responded me with a business-like look.

“What?! You want me to fire Eriol?” Auntie voiced out loudly.

I bet she was as much surprised as I was with Lorde’s sudden decision, but I had a feeling that it was all because of me.

“Yes, this instant,” he replied.

“Why? What has he done to you? Do you not like his services? Eriol is the best butler I could find Lorde. It would be a waste to dismiss him!”

I can’t judge if Auntie was panicking or not, but she sure has a point. Well, on an employer’s side at least.

Lorde straightened and closed his eyes before answering, “Apparently, his services aren’t focused on housework alone.”

His eyes, when it opened, rested on me. I gave him a slight frown knowing what he meant.

“What do you mean?” Auntie stated, “Is there something that I need to know?”

“Yes, exactly Andrea. Tell us the truth,” Lorde coaxed, stepping closer to me. “Tia here needs to know something and I am definitely itching to hear it from your own mouth too.”

Truth? The truth? Since Lorde knows already that I am having an affair with a butler, what else does he want to know? Surely the word ‘demon’ didn’t cross his mind, right?

I pressed my lips into a hard line and turned to face my Auntie. “I’m sorry but I am not going to comment on anything. Auntie, Lorde here is just too rash on his decisions.”

“Am I?” he abruptly inserted. He whirled me around by the shoulder, pushed me onto the backrest, jailed me with his arms, and leaned closer so that our lips almost touched.

This time, my panic resurfaced.

“Lorde, please move...move back. Auntie is in our front,” I stated nervously.

“Oh Andrea, do you think that Tia doesn’t know about us?” he asked to my surprise.

“Wh-at...?” I said slowly, pushing Lorde away and turning my attention on my Aunt.

“Andi dear,” she softly spoke, regarding me with sincerity.

“Auntie, have you?” I choked. “Have you known all along?”

“Honestly, yes,” she answered. “But I was the one who noticed it dear. Lorde never told me about your secret relationship.”

“What?”

The revelation came as a surprise for me, yes, but it did lessen my anxiety at least; an anxiety that she would regard our secret relationship as ridiculous.

“But don’t worry.” She smiled and smiled sweetly. “I believe you two are great together.”

Oh, figures. There’s the usual eccentric aunt I have been missing since she entered the room.

“Together?” I echoed and eyed Lorde who was towering me. “We’re not...together anymore.”

“We are,” he abruptly cut in once again, “still,” and returned my gaze with a very promising warmth.

I blinked twice and disregarded the warmth immediately. The hell I would be nervous now.

“You left me for two years, Lorde!” I spat. “With no closure whatsoever! No call or a text message. Not one word. Do you seriously think that I would wait for you as an obedient fiancée would?”

“Tell me that you don’t love me anymore and I will accept that,” he unexpectedly stated, eyes blazing with fire when he leaned back closer to me. I had to lean backward in order to put some space between our faces.

I know deep inside me, a desire for him still lingered. I know that I still have feelings for him. And I know that it will be painful to deny it. I seriously needed some closure for the benefit of my poor battered heart, but how can I get it when Lorde was trying his best to resurface the desire and feelings again?

“Lorde, please, don’t ask me that,” I said as an excuse as I was torn on making a good answer.

He grinned and I don’t fucking know why.

Straightening his back, he turned to his step-mother and said, “I want that butler out of this mansion before sundown Tia. No more. No less. You don’t need an account of his services. I will pay ten times the amount of his monthly salary. Let him leave now.”

Auntie, although taken aback, nodded in response. She had no say on the matter anymore as Lorde wouldn’t bend on any fair reasoning.

Lorde’s attention went back to me after his commands and pulled me up to stand.

“Come, Andrea,” he said.

“Where are we going?” I asked in a shaky voice.

“I think it’s time to meet Tia’s friends.”

And with that, he held me by the wrist and guided me out of the study room. Aunt Marcella and I exchanged glances briefly and I saw a light sparkle in her eyes.

I could see that she was indeed happy for both of us, but why do I feel that she wanted me to fight over something?

“What are you planning Lorde? Tell me,” I ask when we were descending the grand stairs.

He smiled and uttered softly, “Just be patient. You’ll find out soon Love.”

***

~ Eriol ~

I left my doppelganger to do the domestic work of taking care of Madame Winner’s friends. Playing butler now was pointless when I have a much greater problem to attend to.

Putting myself in invisibility mode, I stalked my employer to the study room. In there, I saw Andrea standing awkwardly against the wooden shelf, her blouse was slightly out of place, and pieces of broken crystals were on her feet.

Lorde, on the other hand, was an arms-length away from her, his face disappointed over something, and because I have supernatural eyes, I could see a tiny smear of blood in his lower lip.

Only a fool wouldn’t see that something just happened between the two of them, and apparently, my employer is that one fool. She didn’t comment on their apparent startled expressions and just went to focus on something less awkward: the broken figurines.

I don’t need to see that this man had just taken advantage of Andrea again. I am the Demon of Lust. I can pretty much easily smell a lingering desire kilometers away. The room reeks of this man’s desire and it was mixed with something new to me...

Oh shit.

It was a new-found desire, coming straight from Andrea’s body. She may be trying to suppress it, but I can see that it wants to surface outside her.

This desire was different. It wasn’t directed to me, but to Lorde. This made me realize that she still harbor something for the man. I may not know what she feels for him, but the ripple of desire was enough for me to realize that it wasn’t a good sign.

No. I am slowly losing her again. But to hell I would let that happen easily.

I quickly summoned my power to put Lorde into his knees. A sudden cardiac arrest would do well for him, or maybe I could sever a large blood vessel in his brain to put him in a coma. I have wanted to do something to this man since our showdown in Andrea’s room, but because Andrea pleaded, I gave him a chance to live another day. But now, seeing that he has already crossed the line, I no longer hesitate on killing the man.

A black mist gathered on the floor where Lorde’s shiny boots touched and from the wooden desk where he was leaning. I was very pleased as it swirled around him like a tornado, but before it began to suck the air out of his lungs, I hissed as a holy barrier immediately blocked the black mist, quickly expelling it.

Double shit. The Archangel shows itself again.

Raphael appeared at Lorde’s back, standing next to Michael Winner’s study chair. He gave me an immediate glower and bared his pure white teeth.

“You dare Asmodeus!”

I raised my chin in an act of authority. “He dared, Raphael! You should take care of your charge properly before he puts his fingers on places he isn’t supposed to touch!”

“Damn you demon!” he uttered acidly.

I let out a small chuckle, pleased to see that I was successful in getting on his nerves. “Oh, how surprising, an angel that curses,” I said, grinning, looking at him and then to Andrea who appeared very disappointed when she heard Lorde order his step-mother to fire me out of employment.

Huh. The fuck. Like I care about being a butler in the first place. No amount of Earthly money completes me. Only Andrea’s presence and love do that.

“Try killing him again and I am going to bind you without hesitation Asmodeus. Prince or not,” he warned but I just ignored him.

As I stood near the door, I focused on trying to piece together Andrea’s emotions as she was being demanded the truth; the truth between me and her and the truth about her feelings for Lorde.

She wittingly dodged the two questions, but the second one made my bones spasm in anger. She didn’t affirm nor reject him and that placed a forceful blow to my rotten heart.

I could sense her small desire for him, but that wasn’t a problem. I can always tweak that emotion to my advantage. But her heart? Fuck, I can’t.

Does she still love the man? Does she still have feelings for him? I painfully wanted to know.

I saw Lorde grin then. I bet he was pleased that he had seen hope in her eyes. He gave a final judgment to his step-mother about my employment and went to leave, holding Andrea’s wrist.

I followed them, still seething in anger. Raphael followed me, still wary of my actions.

Before they reached the gazebo where Madame Winner’s friends waited, I called my doppelganger back, but no, I didn’t replace him. I instead placed myself invisible again and watched the scenes unfold in the corner of the gazebo.

***

~ Andrea ~

I was all smiling on my Auntie’s friends when we reached the elegant gazebo despite still feeling flustered after the events inside my bedroom and the study room.

I had no choice. I needed to put on a poker face so that they wouldn’t see something was wrong. Luckily, I was able to free myself from Lorde’s hold, but he kept on holding my waist just to make sure I wouldn’t go anywhere, or maybe in his mind, to where Eriol was.

We said our greetings and introductions on the three sitting ladies. It was Madame Ivana who offered a seat for me and Lorde.

There were cakes and pastries placed in a three-tier server in the center of the round table, while on each of the single placemats, a dining set was prepared. Lunch was served there by the mansion maids when Auntie joined us minutes after. The food choices, take note, was enough to fill twenty more people. I did as much as I could to appear heartily eating, but deep inside, I had zero appetite.

Yes. I didn’t miss that Eriol wasn’t serving us. Auntie must have fired him already.

I wasn’t really worried about the employment issue though. Being a demon, that’s just a minute problem for him. But I seriously wanted to talk to him right now. Just simply talk to him, so that my heart would be at ease.

Ease of what? I do not know, but I just wanted to be with him.

Our group chit-chat came about naturally. I answered questions that were related to the bus accident, excluding the supernaturality of it of course. I also answered their questions about my vacation here in the Winner Mansion and I answered them enthusiastically as much as I could. The last question made me silent, however. Why? Because it was about me and Lorde’s relationship.

“I remember you and Andrea here running all around the garden while your Mother attends to us,” Madame Trina stated, changing her topic and directing her attention to Lorde. She was beaming a wide smile, but you can see very well that her face lacked laugh lines. It made me wonder that these high-class women used the same Botox product as Auntie does.

“Of course, Tia Trina, me and Andrea are simply...inseparable,” he commented looking at me with warmth. I started feeling dizzy because of it.

“Then, why prolong the moment? I’m sure you both have feelings for each other,” it was Madame Amarra who asked and concluded it.

My mouth immediately fell open.

I looked at Lorde who looked at me and gave me a serene smile.

“Why indeed,” he uttered before hauling a good amount of air in his lungs and pulling something from the inside pocket of his coat.

My eyes immediately widened when I saw him push the chair backward and knelt on the ground in front of me. I heard giggles and shouts of excitement among Auntie’s friends as they watched the scene unfold.

Gods! He isn’t going to propose right? Right? My mind screamed in alarm.

“Andrea, you are my life, my love since the beginning. You complete every part of me. The reason why I suddenly left the mansion and left you because I was afraid. I was afraid of losing you. I had a dream the night before. A dream about you dying in a bus accident. When I woke up, I had a feeling that it wasn’t just a dream. That it was a future. I was scared. Very scared Andrea. Of losing you. Just like my father. So I did what I quickly could: leave you, sever my ties to you, forget you, and forget whatever bond we had so that in your death I wouldn’t grieve. But even as two years had passed, I couldn’t get my mind off of you. You are mine, Andrea. We are meant to be. I realized that not sharing wonderful memories with you is even worse than death.”

He raised a small black box up to my knees and carefully opened it to show a big rich blue sapphire stone surrounded with finely-cut small diamonds. It was set in a gold band that shined on its own glory.

My hands trembled as he continued his words, “I want you by my side forever. Please give me the honor of having you as my wife. Marry me, Love.”

I fell speechless, but my being mute wasn’t because of Lorde’s revelation and proposal, but because of Eriol, showing himself to me with a very, very angry face.