Chapter 17 #7
And tonight, I was going to end him.
As he neared, his eyes locked onto mine with a slow, burning intensity.
I shuddered down to the bone.
“I should punish you,” he murmured, reaching for me. “Standing there, defying me.”
He grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward until I crashed against him. One finger hooked beneath my chin, lifting my face up while his other hand rested on my waist.
I wanted to melt into him.
“I missed you, little flame.”
His words were a silken noose tightening around my neck.
My heart pounded, but I forced myself to smile. “I missed you too.”
Wicked satisfaction flashed across his features before he bent down to claim my mouth with savage hunger. His kiss poured fire into my veins, searing pathways that would never heal.
I grabbed onto him, even as my mind screamed at me to let go.
When he tore his mouth away, flames sparked between his fingers, his power curling around us.
Each movement toward his throne commanded the room’s attention.
Soon, I would take all of this from him.
We took our seats, rich aromas heavy in the air, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat. I hardly noticed the low hum of conversation, the clatter of plates, the guttering torches that cast restless shadows against the walls. None of it mattered.
I could only watch him.
I memorised every detail. The way firelight kissed his skin. The way his fingers toyed idly with the rim of his brass cup.
Theo and Tavrik sat close, their silent glances filled with unease. They saw the war waging inside me.
Dalkhan’s voice slid into my mind like velvet and fire.
“Has someone upset you?”
A tendril of his power touched my cheek—an unseen caress that made my skin tingle.
I shook my head, but his stare was relentless, piercing through every fragile wall I had left.
“I’ll burn the world for you, Elira. Every realm, every throne, every soul that dares to cause you pain.”
The words struck like a blade, lodging deep into my heart. I bit my cheek hard enough to taste blood.
“Come to me.”
I rose on unsteady legs, forcing myself to move toward him. Each lift of my foot felt like a betrayal in itself, a slow crawl toward a fate I had already sealed. His eyes darkened as I neared, hunger shimmering in their depths.
He drew in a deep breath, relishing my scent. A low, satisfied growl rumbled from his chest.
“Do you know what you do to me?” His knuckles grazed my cheek. “There is nothing in this world I want more than you.”
His admission sparked every nerve alight.
I just wanted to forget. Forget what I had to do. Forget the stone’s call.
I just wanted this.
One last time.
I reached out, tracing my fingers up the hard lines of his arm, feeling the shift of muscle beneath his skin. I leaned in, ghosting a breath over his ear.
“I can’t wait any longer. I’m craving you.”
His grip on the armrest tightened.
In a flash, his hand shot out, tangling in my hair and tilting my face toward his. His other arm wound around my waist, pulling me flush against him.
My eyes fluttered shut as his mouth found my neck, pressing kisses along my throat before moving lower.
“Don’t tease me, little flame.” He murmured against my skin “I should ruin you right here, right now. Make every single one of them watch as I claim you.”
A broken moan escaped me.
He groaned against me, his fingers tracing along my collarbone. “So wet for me.”
Fire blazed in his eyes. “Say it.”
I dissolved in his hands. “I need you.”
His smile was pure sin. “That’s my good girl.”
I pushed against his chest playfully, but he didn’t let go.
“Fuck it.”
Shadows swallowed us whole.
Sharp gasps rippled through the hall behind us. He didn’t bother with protocol, didn’t allow them their usual bows and formalities before vanishing from the hall.
Dalkhan’s hunger was too consuming.
We materialised in the darkness of his chambers, his mouth claiming mine. He swept his tongue inside, leaving nothing untouched.
I moaned. He swallowed the sound, one hand fisting my hair to control the angle while the other roamed down my spine, then gripped my hip possessively.
A pulse of heat went straight between my thighs.
“Dalkhan…”
His teeth caught my lip, the sharp pain bleeding into pleasure as his grip tightened. A punishment for speaking when he wanted only my surrender. The taste of copper bloomed between us, and his chest rumbled with approval.
He took a single step back, releasing me so suddenly I swayed. Before I could protest the loss of contact, he dropped to his knees.
The sight of him—this powerful, terrifying man kneeling before me—stole every thought from my head. His hands slid down my thighs, fingers digging into the flesh as he gazed up at me.
“Let me worship you properly,” he rasped. “Let me show you what you mean to me.”
His lips pressed against my hip through the fabric, a kiss so reverent my knees nearly buckled.
“Dalkhan—”
“Shh.” He found the ties of my dress, working them open instead of tearing them apart. Each loosened knot was a caress. “Let me take care of you, little flame.”
He took a sharp intake of breath as the silk pooled at my feet.
His eyes devoured me, mapping every curve and hollow of my body.
“Fuck, look at you,” he praised. “You don’t even know… how perfect you are.”
His hands skimmed up my calves, over my knees, and settled on my thighs. “I could spend eternity between your legs, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
I tangled my fingers in his dark hair as he pressed open-mouthed kisses to my inner thigh.
“Please,” I whispered, not even sure what I was begging for.
“Anything,” he breathed against my skin. “Everything. You want my fingers?” He pressed his thumb against my swollen clit.
I jerked forward.
“My tongue?” He swiped his tongue in one long stroke. “Tell me what you want.”
The power in his voice, the desperate need threading through his words—it was intoxicating.
“I want your tongue,” I whispered.
His grin was feral. “Then you will have it.”
He descended on me like he was starving, his tongue working with devastating precision that had me crying out. I tightened my grip in his hair as pleasure shot through me like lightning. He licked and sucked at my clit, his tongue circling and flicking before thrusting deep inside me.
“That’s it.” I shuddered as the words vibrated against my wet flesh. “Let me hear how good I make you feel.”
My legs trembled, threatening to collapse, but his strong hands held me steady.
“You taste so good.” Each word was punctuated by a stroke of his tongue. Flames came to life all over his skin.
“Dalkhan, I—”
He snarled, his hands sliding up the backs of my thighs, fingers digging into the soft flesh as he hooked my legs over his broad shoulders. My calves pressed against the heated skin of his back, my heels digging into the muscles between his shoulder blades.
With a powerful grunt, he rose to his full height, my entire weight supported by nothing but his hold on my ass pressing me against his face. The world tilted. I fisted the dark strands of his hair as the floor fell away beneath me.
He spun us around, slamming my spine against the cold stone wall.
He clutched me hard, spreading me wide as he buried his face deeper between my legs.
My weight pressed me harder into his hungry mouth, my thighs trembling against his ears as I ground into his face, his tongue driving deep inside me again and again.
Every stroke sent shockwaves through my elevated body.
“Fuck, Dalkhan. I’m going to—”
“Give it to me. Come on my tongue. Now.”
Pleasure coursed through my veins, winding tight in my core before exploding outward in a surge of ecstasy. My whole body seized, back arching off the wall as I cried out his name over and over again, lost to the consuming sensation.
He lowered me to his waist, my legs locking around him, and crushed his mouth to mine. I could taste myself on his lips, on his tongue, as he walked us to the bed.
He threw me down onto the silk sheets, hands flying to his trousers and tearing at the ties until he freed his pulsing cock. He wrapped fist around himself, stroking once from root to tip, hissing with pleasure.
I nearly whimpered.
“Spread your legs,” he commanded. “I need to see you open for me.”
I dropped my knees apart, revealing myself fully to him.
He groaned, stroking himself again as his eyes devoured me.
“Good girl.” He positioned himself between my spread legs, his free hand bracing against the bed beside my head. “Now keep your eyes on me.”
His jaw clenched as he guided himself to my entrance, pressing the thick head of his cock against me.
I bit my lip to stifle a whimper.
“No.” He pulled my lip free from my teeth with his thumb. “I want to hear everything. Every gasp. Every moan. Every fucking sound you make for me.”
He pushed forward, and my back bowed off the bed. The stretch was exquisite torture, my body opening for him inch by devastating inch.
“Fuck, you’re so tight.” Every word was dragged from his chest. “I’m going to lose control.”
“Then lose it,” I breathed, gripping the silk sheets. “Please, Dalkhan. I need—”
He slammed into me in one powerful thrust, burying himself down to the base.
The air rushed from my lungs. I cried out, raking my nails down his forearms.
“Mine,” he growled against my lips, hips grinding into me.
“Yours,” I panted, clenching around him. “Always yours.”
His eyes flashed with that familiar possessive fire.
He pulled back slowly, almost completely withdrawing before burying himself again.
The force of it shook the bed. I cried out his name as he set a brutal pace, each thrust driving me higher up the mattress until he tangled a hand in my hair to hold me in place.
My eyes started to flutter closed.
“Look at me,” he commanded. “Watch me fuck you. Watch what you do to me.”