Raven hair swept along her chin in a perfect bob. Large breasts swelled up and out of her red gown, putting my barely-there boobs to shame. She was outrageously gorgeous. Sensually built. At least twenty years older than me. Closer to Magnus’s age.

He preferred older women.

Or rather, he used to prefer older women.

Now, he only wanted me.

With that reminder, I swallowed my insecurities and straightened my invisible crown. “You know who I am.”

“The precious Constantine princess. Everyone knows, darling.”

“I’m his wife.”

Her chin dipped as she took me in from head to toe, her face pinching with disdain. “You don’t deserve him.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know you’re a spoiled child. Too young and inexperienced to keep a man like him happy in bed. He’ll grow bored, if he hasn’t already.”

A man like him.

A sexual deviant. A dirty-talking pervert. A filthy, virile beast, who fucked his student on the altar of a church. He was all those things, but how would she know? Gossip? Or firsthand experience?

I knew all about his unsavory past and the reason he became a priest. I’d accepted it and moved forward. With him. That didn’t mean I was ready to face one of his conquests and pretend she wasn’t gutting me.

Before I could stop myself, I glanced over at him, needing his reassurance. Except he wasn’t there. I quickly scanned the ballroom, searching for his dark hair. Where the fuck had he gone?

I felt her watching me, pitying me with her witchy eyes as if I’d already lost him.

Oh, this fucking bitch. The urge to toss my wine in her face was so tempting. But I’d already done that tonight and regretted it. Just because I was young didn’t mean I had to act like it. I wasn’t a child.

Magnus had taught me everything I knew about seduction and sex. His lessons in sin were achingly thorough, potent, and hands-on.

I didn’t need him to rescue me from this woman. I only needed to embody what I’d learned.

Holding the wineglass to the side, I drifted into her space. She was curvier than me but also shorter by an inch. I used that inch to my advantage, pressing closer and making her chest hitch.

Anyone else might’ve jerked away. Not this one. I didn’t intimate her. Not yet.

“You think you know me.” I trailed my free hand up her arm, just a ghost of a touch but palpable enough to produce goosebumps along her skin. “You think I’m a spoiled brat.”

With my mouth hovering near her ear, I let my breath flow in a caress, stroking, teasing, the same way Magnus tormented me whenever he was near.