Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
Razian children do not learn how to play anything other than war games.
It’s time we learn to live rather than just survive. - King Richard
I dart out of my bedroom, my senses attuned to my running away bride.
Her footsteps pound loud in the hall, echoing off the series of arches crisscrossing on the high ceiling.
The crows and ravens carved into the walls watch me with eyes that seem to breathe life for the first time.
She leaves so much of it in her wake, the world can’t help but draw it in.
It seeps into the walls as she laughs. Into the air as she breathes. Into me from her mere existence.
My chest tightening as I gain on her, my strides long and sure compared to her clumsy, lost ones, I know that I will do anything to keep her.
But first I have to catch her.
My legs pumping, I pick up speed as I watch her going around a corner.
She’s running as fast as she can, but she’s stopping to look in doorways and in all directions at the crossings, no doubt trying to figure out where she is.
She dashes to the right. Tossing a look over her shoulder, she gasps when she sees me.
She looks so much like she did that night climbing our tree – her cheeks flushed with excitement, her eyes dancing with life.
But I don’t hesitate like I did then. I deliberately slow, letting her get away.
My cock starts screaming at me to grab her.
It’s yelling profanities at me as she disappears around another corner.
But when was the last time I got to play?
I don’t want it to end so soon. Even if it would mean I’d get to bury my cock into that sweet pussy I’ve been teasing myself with for the past three days.
I chase her through the halls. Round multiple corners. Down the wrong direction as she accidentally runs away from the study. My eyes alternate between being glued on her ass and then lifting to her face whenever she turns her head.
Fuck, I’m so hard, all this running is making me dizzy. I don’t have enough blood flow anywhere else to keep this up for much longer. Pulling a knife out of its sheath, I quicken my pace again. This time with the purpose of closing the distance.
She yelps as she finds me within arm’s length of her. I slash out at her dress, cutting a bit of it free. Run and slash, run and slash until the back of it is hanging off her, leaving her open to my gaze.
Except I forgot she’s wearing a damn jumpsuit full of fashion belts beneath the dress. But all that means is I get to cut that from her too. And then I’ll have all those belts to use.
Unable to resist any longer, I grab one of her flailing arms. I yank her back, spinning her towards me. She gasps as she falls against my chest. I step back and cut through the front of her gown, and it falls to the floor, leaving her in just her black jumpsuit.
She pants hard as she watches me through hooded eyes.
Recognising the fabric she’s wearing as being fucking slash resistant, I toss my knife into the wall beside her.
She jumps, her eyes flying to it, and I take advantage of her moment of distraction to spin her around and push her back into the wall. Her head ends up not far from my blade.
Leaning in, I trail my lips up from the base of her neck to her ear. “I’m going to take off these damn belts, my queen. And with every one I remove, you’re going to tell me what you want me to do to you.”
She gulps. I capture her ear lobe in between my teeth as my hands start removing one of the three belts around her waist.
“One,” I murmur as I pull my lips off her skin. My cock is weeping, but I keep it under tight control.
When she doesn’t say anything, I look into her eyes. “If you don’t tell me something by the time I remove the next belt, I will give you a punishment.”
Her eyes widen. She licks her lips. And fuck me, I want to close the thin gap between us, control be damned. I want to fill my mouth with her. Brand her lips as mine. Until they are swollen and parted and breathing just for me.
“Hold my hands,” she squeaks.
I still. My cock wails as she throws up yet another barrier between us in her attempt to resist being naked in front of me.
Sighing, she nods strongly. “Yes. I want you to hold both my hands.”
A slow smile curls my lips. “As you wish, my queen.”
Dropping to my knees in front of her, I grab both her hands. Holding them down at her sides, I lean forward and start undoing the next belt with my teeth.
She cries out as her legs shake and she sags against the wall. I squeeze her hands as I slip my tongue under the strip of leather and wriggle it out of its buckle. “Two,” I murmur against her clothed pussy.
Her legs press together, and this close, I can smell her arousal as it stains the inside of the fabric.
I want to bury my head between her thighs, eating her out right here in the hall.
Then, afterwards, I’m going to carve our initials into the wood of the wall, right where her ass is pressing into it.
“Ahhhh…. Um…” I can hear her thoughts swirling as she tries to figure out another way to deny me. To edge me. To get me back for playing with her last night. “Kiss me,” she breathes. That way I can’t use my mouth on the belts either.
Looking up at her, I rise to my feet. Staring down into her pale-pink eyes, I dip my head to hers. “As you wish, my queen.”
As her eyes flutter closed and her lips part for mine, I drop back to my knees.
She screams my name as I kiss her pussy through her clothes. Her hands tighten on mine as I press my tongue into the fabric and push it against her swollen lips.
She arches against me, but I pause in confusion.
There’s something hard beneath her jumpsuit.
My brows furrowed in concentration, I trace the edge of it, wondering what it could be.
It’s not very wide, but it’s spanning the width of her pussy.
It’s softer than I originally thought – still pliable with a bit of pressure from my tongue.
She shudders against the wall. Her hips rock up against me.
Whatever she has on, it’s not stopping her from feeling pleasure, so I continue to kiss her through her clothes as I guide her hands to the next belt.
With my hands being so much bigger than hers, I’m able to undo it without much difficulty.
“Three,” I murmur, leaving the belts open on their loops.
“Ah…” She whimpers, her thoughts leaving her.
I start to undo one of the random belts on her body.
“Kiss me on my… elbow!”
Fighting a chuckle, I rise dutifully. “As you wish, my queen.”
Dropping her left hand, I hold her right out in front of her. With my eyes on hers, I slowly push her sleeve up her arm. Goosebumps follow the thin fabric as it feathers across her skin.
Leaning down, I lay a gentle kiss in the crook of her arm.
She pants hard, her cheeks so beautifully flushed.
My eyes heating, a smirk curls a corner of my lips. “My turn.”
Grabbing her left hand again, I step forward as I lift both her arms over her head.
I press my full length against her as I bend my head down to her lips.
She arches against the wall. I band both her wrists in my right hand as I trail my left down her body to her breasts.
Pushing a leg between her thighs, I kiss her slowly.
She moans against me. Our tongues dance. My fingers tease her nipples, and that thing she has over her pussy presses into my thigh as she rubs herself against me.
Curious as to what it is, I leave the delight of her breasts to undo the buttons of her jumpsuit. Pushing the two halves aside, I skim my knuckles down her naked flesh. She sucks in a breath as my lips devour her. Lazily. Slowly. Because we have all the time in the world now that she’s mine.
Eventually, my fingers graze the horizontal edge of a thick piece of material. Feeling my way around it, I realise it’s another belt. And coming off it, going down between her thighs, is another one.
Lifting my head, I lean back, look down.
And laugh from the very depths of my soul.
“Is that…” I can’t breathe. I pepper her face with kisses even as my entire body shakes against her.
A noise of embarrassment falls past her lips, but I capture it in my mouth.
Swallow it. Savour it. Fucking love it. “Is that… a homemade chastity belt?” Leaning my forehead against hers, I tremble with mirth.
“Dear gods, you’re going to be the death of me. ”
I’m kissing her again. I can’t help it. Everything might fall apart tomorrow, with the Vylian king arriving ahead of the ball, and the Court planning to overthrow me yet again. But right now, in this moment of pure elation – fuck them all. Fuck everything. All I want is her.
My cock is leaking so much pre-cum against my clothes, I bet they’re as stained as hers are. I’m so damn hard, I can barely breathe through the pain. But yet, I manage to string a few words together. Have to. Need to. I want her to know that I will give her everything.
“Have I failed to show you, my queen,” I say as I kiss my way down her neck, “how much you want to be spreading your legs for me?”
She sucks in a ragged breath as I move my lips down her body. Pushing the flaps of her jumpsuit aside with my free hand, I bare her bra to me.
“How you want to be down on your knees obeying me?”
Sliding my hand down from her wrists, I cup her cheek before pushing my thumb into her mouth. I push her bra up, dragging it over her erect nipples.
I lean forward. “How much you want me to –”
“Edging!” she yelps around my thumb.
“Edging?” I say flatly as I still. “You want more –”
“No, you!” She shakes her head hard as she trembles against the wall. My thumb pops out of her mouth, but her nipples beckon to me like a siren’s song. “You edge.”
“I’ve been edging myself for days.”
“No. I edge you.”
“You edge me?”
She nods, looking anywhere but at me.
And fuck me. My cock is going to hate me, but she looks too damn adorable trying to be in control. How can I refuse my queen?
Releasing her, I step back. “Okay.”
She blinks. “Okay?” Is that disappointment in her eyes? She shakes her head. “Yes. Okay.” She scoots sideways along the wall. “You stay here, and um… I’ll see you… at the ball.”
“Til the ball!” That’s in two fucking days.
She nods feverishly. “Yes. Unless you don’t think you can handle it?”
I slam a hand into the wall in the direction she’s going, stopping her short. My other hand presses on the other side of her, caging her in again. I tilt my head to hers. “Oh, I can handle it, my queen. But come the ball, you’ll be begging me on your knees.”
She flushes even deeper than I thought imaginable. Her eyes dip to my lips, and my open palms turn into fists. I lick my lower lip before rolling it into my mouth. As she leans in, so much damn desire in her eyes, I pull back. Step away. Take another step just to be sure I can stay in control.
“Then run back to your rooms, my queen.”
Her eyes widen, no doubt remembering the chase that led us here.
“And I will see you on the day of the ball.”
Swallowing hard, she hesitates. Then she takes off like a hare. And I watch my queen with so much damn desire of my own, that a single breath of wind will cause my cock to explode harder than it has in years.
I suck in a shaky breath, then exhale. I stand there until I can risk moving without orgasming. Then I grab my knife out of the wall, crouch down, and carve our initials, so tiny, into the inside of the tree.