Chapter 4 #2
“Now,” he growls, and I meet his eye again, questioning him silently, but he ignores the look.
His hands latch onto my hips, and he lifts me, positioning me right over his cock and lowering me slowly.
He sinks into me without effort, and all I can do is close my eyes at the pleasure of it.
All those ridges feel incredible sliding along my insides until I’m settled entirely on top of him.
My mouth hangs open, and I can feel the way Cage is watching me closely.
He seems so interested in my reactions, which is another thing I wasn’t expecting.
Why should he care if this feels good for me?
“Ride me, my queen,” he says, the words rumbling through his chest and mine. I didn’t really process the fact that we’re pressed together completely. It feels…so good.
Following his lead, I lift up until just the tip of him is inside me and then lower myself back down. I hold his gaze as his flames burn higher. Does that mean it feels good for him, too? Like he’s reading my mind, he lets out a sensual groan that pushes my pleasure higher.
I find myself moving faster, bouncing up and down on him.
When his mouth closes around my breast again, I bite my lip and reach out to grab onto the back of his throne to anchor myself.
Using it to pull myself up, my movements become rough.
It’s like I can’t stop myself. Maybe I should be embarrassed to be so enthusiastic, but Cage’s cock feels so fucking good.
And then Cage tips his head back, and his mouth finds mine.
I gasp against his tongue, and he kisses me deeper, taking my face in his hands even as I clutch the back of his throne tighter and fuck myself on him harder.
Oh, God. I’m going to come.
I break my mouth away from his and cry out.
The sound echoes off the stone walls of the throne room.
My whole body goes hot and tight, and I don’t realize my hands have fallen from where I was clutching the throne until they find Cage’s shoulders.
I dig my nails into his skin as I ride through the waves of my orgasm.
And then my whole body goes soft and pliant, and I slump against him. I set my cheek against his shoulder, letting him thrust beneath me as I hold on. My eyes meet Kale’s, still standing beside the throne, and this time, he’s looking back.
Cage thrusts up into me quick and hard, and then he wraps his arms around me to lift me off of him. His cock slips out of me, and he shouts loud in my ear as he comes. I have just enough energy to look over my shoulder at where his lava cum is splattered across the floor.
And that’s when I see all the eyes that are still on me. The entire time Cage was inside me, I could forget that all of them were there, but I can’t forget now. Especially not when, one-by-one, they begin to cheer and clap.
I turn and bury my face in Cage’s shoulder. I feel the rumble of a laugh go through him. I don’t suppose I blame him. Seems silly to be bashful now, after everyone in this room just watched me come on his cock.
I hear the commotion of the crowd talking and then moving around, as if Cage and I aren't still naked in front of everyone, and then I feel the touch of something on my back. I sit up and find Cage’s eyes as he settles my silk robe around my shoulders.
Kale must have retrieved it for us. Cage wraps it around me and then his fingers brush across my chin.
“Come, my queen,” he says. His hands maneuver me on his lap so that my legs are to one side, and then he stands, lifting me in his arms, still draped in the silk robe.
He’s completely naked, but I don’t mention it.
He carries me slowly out of the room, and once we’re in the hall, I set my head against his warm chest and listen to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.
“That was really amazing,” I say, feeling warm and bubbly toward him. I slide my hand up the side of his neck, watching the way it turns my fingers gray. It’s amazing that there’s any part of me that’s still my own peachy skin color.
“It was,” Cage says, and his mouth pulls into a smirk that sends a shot of desire down into my stomach, as if my body isn’t still limp from just being completely railed.
Cage carries me down a hall I’ve never been down before, and I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from him.
He’s cradling me so gently, and I feel more at ease than I have in months.
I settle my head against his shoulder as he walks me through a tall archway and into what appears to be a labyrinth of rooms. A long corridor leads into a room with a bed that we pass by.
Another room seems to be a dining room of some sort, and we pass yet another that looks to be a library, filled floor to ceiling with books.
Cage carries me past all of it to a room that’s almost completely bare, with the exception of a large tub that’s filled with steaming bathwater, from the looks of it.
Cage sets me on my feet and removes my robe, letting it fall to the floor. And then he lifts me again, settling me in the hot water.
“Your queen’s maid will be along shortly to help you get clean,” he says, crouching beside the tub and swirling his finger through the water that’s slowly turning black from the ash on his skin and mine. It sizzles at his touch and begins to boil.
“I’m not that dirty, am I?”
Cage raises a brow at me in that way that he does. He seems to be just as surprised as I am that I’m getting flirtatious with him. This isn’t exactly how we do it. Cage and I haven’t liked each other since the moment I walked through the portal without permission.
But, well. Maybe I do like Cage, after all. I’ve never seen him like this before, playful and sweet. It’s a good look for him.
He grabs onto the side of the tub and leans in close to me, until I feel breathless at how little space there is between his mouth and mine. When he speaks, his breath is hotter than the water in the tub. “You’re absolutely filthy, my queen.”
A shiver runs through me, despite the heat, and when I think he’ll close the distance between us and kiss me, instead, he stands. “I’ll see you in the morning, at breakfast.”
Disappointment rises in my throat. “You’re not staying?”
Halfway back to the archway, he turns and looks at me. “My quarters are on the other side of the throne room. These are your quarters.”
“We don’t…share quarters?”
He seems to regard me for a long moment. “That is not how it’s done here.”
I don’t know why his words seem to knock the wind out of me, but they do. Wasn’t the biggest reason I agreed to this whole thing was so I wouldn’t be so lonely? And now, what, I’ll be married to this person but we’ll never see each other or spend time together? I guess I’ll have my maid…
I don’t know what he’s seeing on my face, but he’s definitely seeing something because he turns his body back toward me and says, “We will sleep apart, my queen, but you are my wife, and I intend for this to be a marriage in every way. If you want me, you need only ask.”
Does he mean right now? Right this second? If I tell him that I don’t want him to go, that I want him to stay while I take a bath, will he do it?
I can’t even decipher my feelings for this person, someone who I thought I really didn’t like until he kissed me while he fucked me, and now I feel like a teenager, ready to beg for the affection of a king who has better things to do.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I tell him, sinking down into the tub and watching the ash on my skin run off into the water.
I can’t read his face, not with his eyes just small flames in the darkness of his head and his mouth a thin line. And after a minute, without another word, he turns and leaves.
As soon as he’s gone, a woman comes in from a doorway on the other side of my bathing room. She has a jar in one hand and a towel in the other. She smiles as she crosses the room to me and sets the towel on a nearby boulder.
She bows, that same bow that I’ve learned to offer Cage, a slight lowering of the chin, quick and painless.
“Hello, my queen. It’s an honor to meet you.
” She doesn’t look much older than me, maybe in her early thirties, with her hair pulled back in a tight bun.
She’s the first human I’ve seen in this part of the mountain.
I smile, but I'm distracted. I wonder what Cage would do if I just went to his room or if I begged him to stay here with me. I’m the queen. Doesn’t that get me special queen privileges, like having the king sleep in my bed?
Do I want him to sleep in my bed?
Fuck, I don’t know what I want.
“Can I ask you a question?” I ask. My maid’s eyes go wide. I guess she wasn’t expecting me to speak to her while she helps me wash my hair. “How long have you worked for the king?”
Her chin wrinkles, and she pours something into the tub that immediately begins to bubble. “I suppose about six years now. I worked in the kitchen, but when we heard that you would be joining us, I applied to be your maid.”
“So, you know the king well?”
She sends me a quizzical look and then nods. “I guess you could say that. I’ve interacted with him quite a bit.”
“What kind of person would you say he is?”
She stops lathering shampoo into her hands and looks at me. “My queen, I believe the king is the kindest, most honorable person I’ve ever known. He shows empathy to his people and generosity. If it isn’t wrong to say so, I think you’re the luckiest woman in Isiriel.”
I sink down into the bath and consider her words. Should I expect less because I’m already the luckiest person in Isiriel? I should try not to overthink this whole thing. I’ve been married for all of twenty minutes.
When I’ve finally gotten all the ash off my skin, my maid helps me get dressed and then leaves me alone to crawl into my bed. It’s big and comfortable. And empty.
If you want me, you need only ask.
I’ve been on my own for a month now in Isiriel and for the majority of my life before I came here. I don’t need Cage. I’ll be just fine on my own.