Chapter 18
“You are the solution, Valentina.”
ROMAN
Iknow how to treat my woman.
And this is not just what she wants. It’s what she needs following my dark dungeon.
I fall a little harder watching the incandescent glow on her face as she leans back into the water, arms drifting lazily as she floats. Nothing but her bare, beautiful body gilded in the soft shimmer of the pool lights—like some ethereal goddess made just for me.
Love how her gorgeous tits with the rosy tips rise just above the surface of the water, still as swollen and red. As rosy as the Devil’s Fire crown on her chest. I’ll need to reapply the salve soon, but I won’t take this moment from her.
“God, this is…!” she gushes, rising to face me, her hair streaming down her cheeks and chest in resplendent waves.
When her eyes meet mine, the soft glow flares into burning fire. The moment shatters. She’s clinging to her pride, stoking it into hatred.
And I don’t blame her. I won’t fault her. I tormented her. Fucked her like a devil. Fucked her within an inch of her life.
She was a virgin. I stole something priceless. Something that can never be returned.
It’s not guilt that twists in my chest. Guilt is foreign to me. But a flicker of remorse lodges there, sharp and sudden.
If she’d had a choice…Would she have given it to me freely? Offered that honor?
The question burns for a breath, then fades. My edges sharpen. My blood settles cold.
I am Roman fucking Makarova. The infamous assassin. I don’t ask for permission. I don’t bend. I don’t bow. I take what I want.
Through fire and blood.
But I see it in her eyes, in the way her breath catches, in the tremble she tries to hide. She knows no other man could make her come like I did.
So, I lift one finger and crook it, summoning her to me.
Fuck if I don’t love how she bites her lower lip, hesitating as if she’s debating on whether to defy me.
The sweetest sight is her breath releasing before she moves through the pool until she’s close enough for me to pluck her from the water into my arms. Her breasts press against me, hard nipples chafing against my chest hair.
Ahh, her eyes light up. That is the name for her. Valya may be my nickname for her. But everything else pales to ‘My Jewel.” Gemstone in the correct term, but dragotsennost, jewel, is far too long.
The only treasure I’d bleed the world for.. The dawn of my life. The sunrise of my soul.
“How do you feel?” I ask, tenderly cupping her chin.
She blushes. “I can’t imagine I’ve ever been skinny dipping. I would have remembered. Because this is…divine.”
“My pool is yours to enjoy whenever you desire.” I lean closer and breathe the words along her face, “And anytime you wish to wade in naught but your equally divine skin, Valentina…I will be with you.”
She winces. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?” I feel a smirk coming.
She stiffens. “You don’t have to romance me or pretend you’re some gentleman.”
I chuckle, low and dark, and lower my lips to her brow, savoring the way she shivers beneath me.
“I am a gentleman, Valentina Makarova. My kind of gentleman. I’ll romance you when I damn well please. I’ll rouse you, wine you, dine you, and gift you anything and everything your heart could crave—and more.”
Tears rim her lashes, wide eyes searching mine.
“You are blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh,” I tell her, skimming my fingers along her jawline and the bruises I left on her throat. Her pulse flutters. “Heart of my heart. Soul of my soul. My empire is yours. My blood and flesh are yours. You have a throne next to mine. But…”
“But?” Her voice trembles.
“But you also get the beast,” I whisper. “The monster no one else has ever tamed. The one who hungers only for you.” I run my knuckles down her teary cheek.
“Tonight, he went to war with you,” I say.
“And you didn’t flinch. You met him on the battlefield—teeth bared, claws out, heart ablaze.
You broke through his armor. You stripped him down to his most primal form—something no one has ever done.
You looked the beast in the eye…And you claimed your rapture as he gave it. You also marked me. Claimed me.”
I gesture to the imprint of her teeth on my neck, where she drew blood like a vampire and siren. I will take great strides to ensure the mark stays.
“You’re confusing me.” Her voice cracks as she lowers her head.
Touching two fingers beneath her chin, I lift her face back to mine, offering her a chaste kiss. Her body softens. “Sometimes, confusion is a gift. If life were black and white, it would be easier to hate me. Da, Moy Samotsvet?”
She sighs heavily. “I don’t understand you. You’re impossible.”
I crook a smile. “Impossible. I like that. It’s true. Everything you endured tonight should have been impossible. Everything we felt—impossible. Ty nevozmozhnaya. You are impossible, Valentina. My impossible, made possible. And I am yours.”
I kiss her again, hold her close, lifting her effortlessly into my arms. A quiet prayer of thanks escapes me when she wraps her legs around my waist. She leans into the kiss, and I tilt my head to taste her, careful not to overwhelm her. She’s worn down, fragile, but that only sharpens my desire.
Slowly, I guide her to the edge of the pool, positioning her just above one of the glowing underwater lights. The golden shimmer bathes her body like starlight filtered through a dream, casting her in ethereal light.
When I break the kiss, her breath comes in sharp, uneven gasps, but she doesn’t pull away. We linger suspended there—her body inches above mine, chin lowered, breaths mingling in the cool night air.
Then, when she rests her brow against mine and sighs, my entire body tightens, as if thunderstruck.
“There are worse fates than living like a queen in a beautiful manor,” she murmurs, voice low and teasing. “And I suppose you’re not too hard on the eyes either.”
I chuckle and kiss her cheek. “Is that so, Koroleva? But I assure you, I am quite hard elsewhere. And since you are at fault, I’d advise you to take such responsibility for my condition.”
“Your body, your proble—”
I take her hips and thrust into her. Slow but deep enough for her to lurch and moan, her head falling over my shoulder.
“You are the solution, Valentina,” I finish.
Still sealed to her, I wade into the deep end, cutting through the tepid water until I’m treading and gently rocking my cock into her.
Panting, she clings to me, burying her tear-stricken face into my neck.
But she clenches, growing warmer. I rock her slowly and deeply in the water until her inner walls lock around my dick as she comes apart for me all over again. I shoot my cum in her.
She’s unraveled and now tangled up in me. Twisted. Wild, mad, and messy. Just how I want her.
I never want her to hide from me. Not her pain. Not her shadows. She can give me everything—her flaws, her insecurities, her fire, and every jagged edge. I will strip her down to the bone, unearth every scar she’s buried deep, and kiss them all like scripture.
She wears mine now instead of her father’s.
I’ve rewritten the script carved into her back and soul. And one day, she’ll know it as clearly as I do.
That it’s an honor. My honor.
Her hand is warm in mine, fingers still trembling from the snow. I carry her slowly over the smooth stones, the steam curling around us like a veil. Not just because she’s blindfolded, barefoot, naked. No. Valentina cannot walk without limping from the pain.
Pride swells in my chest from that knowledge.
Her ivory skin is goose-pricked from the cold and the heat, and I’m so hard I ache with it, but I wait. Because this is for her.
I lead her into the bathhouse on the edge of my estate. Her wet hair brushes my chest. She sucks in a breath when I wrap my arms around her waist, her back flush to my front. My cock presses against the dip of her spine, and she shivers—not simply from the cold but from anticipation.
“I promised you warmth,” I murmur against her temple. “And stars.”
Yes. After our time in the pool, I ensured she was properly hydrated. I knew I would bring her here. The night isn’t over yet. I untie the blindfold slowly, like peeling back silk from a precious gift. She gasps when the cloth falls away.
Above us, the open ceiling frames the Alaskan dark in crystal clarity—sharp stars scattered across a black velvet sky.
Below, the natural spring glows from golden and silver lights diffused through steam, bathing the water in the illusion of moonlight.
Icicles hang from the beams above, catching the light like glass daggers.
The air is cold, but inside this space, it’s paradise.
She says nothing. Just…breathes. Takes it in. Eyes wide, lips parted. Like she’s never seen anything so beautiful.
But I have.
It’s her. Standing in this wild, impossible place I built for her—goddess, ghost, myth come to life. Years of preparation, of constructing this sanctuary where I resolved we would be free of our family’s wretched affairs.
She does something to me I can’t name. I watch her the way poets watched the stars. And I feel it in my chest—the temptation, the addiction to this wondrous light.
The way the glow caresses her hips and the curve of her ass. The florid stripes on her back and thighs from my whip. The branded crown glimmering on her chest. The bruised halo of my handprint on her throat. My art.
She shifts slightly. It all captivates her. The curling vapors, the faint scent of cedarwood and mineral heat. But it’s her body I can’t stop watching.
I reach out, just to touch the small of her back, thumb brushing a raw whip line. She gasps. I don’t even press. Only trace. “You wear me so well,” I murmur, voice low, gritty. “I should mark you more. Until you forget what untouched feels like.”
She turns her head over her shoulder with eyes half-lidded. Heated amusement ripples through me and surges more blood to my cock. There’s that look again. That pure surrender, wrapped in heat and defiance. My undoing.
Her teary eyes meet mine. “It’s beautiful. Like something out of a dream.”
She’s too fixed on me to notice the new reflection slanting through the water. So, I bring my hand to her chin, gentle but claiming, and tilt her face skyward.
She gasps. I feel it like a second heartbeat in my chest.
Above us, the sky blooms in green fire. The first ribbons of the aurora shimmer into life, dancing above the open roof like celestial silk. Pale indigo ripples across the night sky, followed by a glimmering violet as pure and radiant as her eyes.
I lean down, brushing my lips to her temple. “Dream deeper, Moy Samotsvet.” My Jewel. My light. “The sky is burning for you. So am I.”
She melts back into me, unaware or unconcerned with my bulging cock. All I see is wonder pulsing through her eyes, and I swear the firmament above us envies her golden light.
After applying a new layer of salve, I slowly guide her toward the glowing water that waits to kiss every inch of her. The heat will help absorb the salve into her skin. She steps forward, the steam worshiping her skin. I don’t rush her.
I ease her into the spring, cradling her like she’s made of ice and glass.
Her breath hitches the moment the hot water touches the angry, red crown. She whimpers. “It stings.”
“It should,” I murmur, pulling her against my chest, water lapping at our waists. “That’s how you know it’s real.”
I feast on the sight of her as the shimmer dances across her skin. Such a resplendent tapestry of bruises, bites, and whip marks. My road map with the crown like an X marking the core of the treasure.
“You’re perfect like this,” I say, voice thick and hoarse. “Every mark, every inch. Mine.”
I don’t let her escape. I sit her on my lap and trace the outline of the crown. “No fabric on it for three nights. Only fire. Only me.”
“What? What am I supposed to do? Just go topless everywhere?”
I nip her ear, thrilling in her yelp. “Certainly not. Only in our suite.” A smile tugs at my mouth as I press a kiss beneath her jaw, slow and claiming.
“I have some minor business to tend to this weekend. But otherwise, my time is yours.” Another kiss, lower now, and I chuckle deeply.
“And I fully intend to spend it watching you—topless.”
“Ugh! You’re insane.”
“We already established I am impossible. Insane is not much of a stretch. Da, Valentina?”
She turns her chin to glare at me out of the corner of her eye. “And what about the rest of this night?”
“We will stay here until the lights finish their dance. Then, we will return to our suite where we will watch the sunrise together. And I will fuck you until you’re screaming my name so loud, the sea itself will shiver.”
Fuck, I love how she shivers now.
But then she narrows her eyes to thin, daggered slits and bares her teeth in that quiet, fierce snarl. It drives my dick wild, but I need to know why.
“What now, Valentina? I thought we’d turned a corner in the pool.” I smirk, cupping her cheek. “Or did I commit some grievous sin bringing you here?”
She meets my gaze, voice low and sharp. “Oh, it’s a sin, alright. One of the broken Ten Commandments. Lying.”
My jaw tightens. Blood roars. Did she see something? Remember? “What the hell do you mean?”