Chapter 17
EMBERLINE
Nico’s tongue stroked mine, deep and seeking, lips pressing my mouth wider, demanding more and taking everything. My body melted into a lump of softened clay for him to squeeze and pinch, aching for him to fill every empty hole.
Then he broke the kiss, spun me around, trapping me with one hand on my belly so his erection pressed into the seam of my ass.
We were no longer inside the misty nothingness, but a square room of stone, no windows, no doors, only a square padded platform in the center, and at each corner… a metal ring.
“I warned you what would happen if I found you down here again. How I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.”
A dark, needy shiver went through me at his commanding tone, my body reacting to… what, exactly, I didn’t know. I certainly didn’t understand this unraveling feeling inside of me, the way everything seemed tight and loose and hot and cold at the same time.
Was I turned on by the unknown?
Or to all the wicked places my mind went, wondering how those rings could be used?
“I’ve been thinking, princess.” Nico cupped the underside of my right breast, fingers pinching my nipple as he kept me pinned tight against him.
“Of what you would look like, all spread out and bound, ready for me to use however I wanted. To lick and bite and fuck. And I very, very much want to do all of those things.” His fingers paused their work, shadows wrapping around my ankles, cold drifting higher as they wound around my calves like immovable vines.
“The question is… do you?” He ran his tongue up the side of my throat. “You’ve been so very curious about my shadows. Would you like to see what I can do with them? All the depraved places they can go? I can make them fit practically anywhere.”
If Nico wasn’t propping me up, I was pretty sure I’d be on the ground, my body trembling so badly, I could barely keep myself upright.
“Tell me the truth, Emberline, because I’ll know if you’re lying,”—another criminally slow drag of his tongue up my neck—“and if you lie, I will punish you.”
“I want it all,” I admitted, thankful he was behind me, and I didn’t have to say the words to his face. “I want you to tie me down, and I want you to… use your shadows on me.”
He hummed against my skin. “That’s the right answer. Do you have a safe word?”
“A… what?” My brain stuttered over his request because even though I’d read enough books to know what a safe word was, I’d never expected to have to use one.
“Pick something simple to remember but nothing that you might say during sex. So… God, Nico, you’re the best lover I’ve ever had, is obviously off the table.”
“You are seriously an idiot,” I muttered. Before he could respond, I added, “And no, that is not my safe word because I expect to say it multiple times in the near future. How about… red? Isn’t that the usual one?”
He went still behind me. “How do you even know what a usual safe word is?” There was danger in his tone. Danger and a hint of jealousy.
I shivered in pleasure, knowing he didn’t completely have the upper hand here.
“Because I read books in my spare time. Very informative books.”
“Then yes, red will work,” he murmured. “And since that’s your word of choice… hmmm… yes, I think I know exactly what clothing to choose for this scenario.”
“Don’t you mean scene?” I teased, then caught my breath when his shadows curled up my body, my skin prickling at the cold sensation. They faded away, leaving me completely…
“Oh, are you kidding me?” I glared down at the red, see-through negligee skimming the tops of my thighs, and the lingerie underneath was…
actually really nice. A dark, rich red with lots of straps, and the way the bra pushed my breasts up and the skimpy thong…
Nico’s cock throbbed against my almost-bare ass.
“You look positively edible.” My heart pounded as Nico’s fingers traced the top of my panties, his hot breath skating across the nape of my neck. “Get up on the bench, princess,” his voice was a rough demand. “On all fours, facing away from me. Now, or you’ll be punished.”
“You seem to be talking about punishment an awful lot,” I tipped my head to the side, well aware I was playing with fire and not caring one bit.
This was a dream, and in dreams… anything goes.
Crack. Nico smacked me on the ass, his expression all of a sudden dark and forbidding. I rubbed the spot, heat blooming, along with a big, red handprint.
“That hurt, Nico.”
“And you’ll get another if you keep being a brat. On the table, Emberline. Open and ready for me. Right fucking now.”
Suddenly nervous, I eyed the raised platform, those metal rings, sturdy and slightly menacing as I thought of all the ways they could be used.
But I was burning up from the inside, my panties already soaked, breasts so throbbing and heavy that I obeyed, crawling up to where he indicated, the padded surface giving slightly beneath my knees and palms.
“That’s it. You are so fucking perfect,” Nico murmured, slowly running his hand down the curve of my stinging ass to the back of my thigh. “I want tonight to be something you remember. An experience you treasure. Like your… very informative books.”
I turned to look at him, and he slapped my other ass cheek, hard enough the crack rang off the stone walls. Hard enough I yelped.
“No, princess. You’re not in charge here. Eyes forward.”
Normally, I would have argued, but I was a slave to that flush of heat and pleasure settling between my legs, the gush of arousal that grew even wetter when I rubbed my thighs together, chasing down that delicious friction.
“Stop being a brat, Emberline, or I’ll turn that beautiful ass red,” Nico warned, and all I could do was shiver in return.
Shadows flowed up onto the bench, licking at my breasts, my stomach, the insides of my thighs, leaving a trace of cold behind.
They wrapped around my wrists, black bands that tightened and squeezed.
Then they captured my ankles and pulled, slowly spreading me apart until my pussy was barely hidden by the scrap of red silk, and my cheek was pressed flat to the leather, my arms pulled tight.
More shadows pushed my hips up, lifting my knees off the platform, suspending me in front of Nico, spread open and dripping wet and perilously vulnerable.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything but lie there as he ran his fingers along the back of the thong, down through the seam of my ass, gently dragging his fingers along my pussy, staying on the outside of the silk.
“You’re fucking soaked already. So fucking slippery for my cock. And you smell…” He inhaled loudly. “Absolutely delicious. My only question is… where to start? This gorgeous pussy… or somewhere else?”
He rubbed back and forth on the outside of the panties, so frustratingly lightly I growled deep in my throat.
“Are you doing okay, princess?” He kept stroking, up and down, not touching me, not really, just… teasing. I pulled against the shadowy bonds, but there was no give; in fact, they dragged me even wider.
“Stop playing and really touch me, Nico,” I demanded, breathless and empty and aching for him to get behind me and just fuck me already.
“Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?” He chuckled. “Touching you.” He pressed a kiss to my ass, to the place he’d smacked me before, then lips were replaced by teeth, sinking into flesh until they burned like I was being branded.
“Gods, that’s a pretty sight.” He drew back, humming, and sparks flew through my body, my pussy clenching, aching for something to fill this terrible emptiness inside me.
Cold shadows teased my stomach, my sensitive nipples, then the panties vanished, and Nico slowly slid his fingers through my pussy, spreading me apart, slipping against bare, hot flesh.
I closed my eyes when he found my clit, rubbing his thumb in slow, even circles while driving two fingers up into my cunt.
I made an incoherent sound, and his teeth sank into my other ass cheek, dominant and claiming. The sounds his fingers made—wet and juicy—sent blood rushing to my face.
“How are we doing, princess? Are you still okay?” His voice was rougher than before, unsteady as he worked me.
I moaned out his name, trying to move my hips, to push those fingers deeper. I was close. So close, I could feel the orgasm starting. Those shadows lifted me even higher, putting me completely at his mercy.
“No moving, remember?” He yanked his fingers out, and my cunt clenched and clenched at the sudden absence.
Then he spread my ass cheeks, smearing my juices around my tight entrance before pushing the tip of his finger inside. “Tonight, this virgin hole is mine. I’m going to fuck you here, and you’re going to take every inch of me.”
My entire body tensed up.
I’d never had anyone back there… not even Dante.
“Relax, Emberline. This is a dream, remember? Let yourself enjoy every sensation.”
“But I’ve never…” My words turned into a porn-star-worthy groan when he pushed that finger in to the knuckle, working it in and out with a wet, juicy sound and a pinch of pain as he stretched me wider. I closed my eyes, letting him slowly tease me open before adding another finger.
“I know you haven’t, but you want to, don’t you?
I’m a Truthteller, remember? You can’t lie to me, beautiful girl.
You love being tied down. You love being spanked.
Just like you love a little bit of pain with your pleasure.
And right now, you’re wondering what my cock will feel like inside you, claiming this dark, tight hole. ”
He paused, sinking his teeth into my skin until my ass was covered in bite marks, until my skin burned and burned and I was so wet, the insides of my thighs were soaked in my own juices.
“Take a breath, it’s about to get intense,” Nico warned, then added a third finger, forming a wedge, pushing them into me deep, forcing me to take what he was giving me.
“Fuck,” the curse burst out of me, but I wasn’t even sure if I was telling Nico to stop—or asking for more.