Chapter Twelve
Kronos
Kronos took her straight to his parlor, the fire lighting on his command. Holding her against him long after the effervescent energy had settled, his voice was gentle when he spoke.
“And now, little one?”
There was no need to goad or intimidate her. Those days were well and truly over. Something had changed within her, something he sensed in every fiber of his being, and it proved the gamble of taking her to Erebos’ darkness had paid off.
He couldn’t immediately put his finger on what that difference was, and gazing down at her, he tried to decide. Was there more reverence in her blue eyes when she looked for him, or had her vitality shifted in some fundamental way as she accepted his supremacy?
“Master?” Her reply was also soft. “And now what?”
He smiled at her need to clarify. There was such an innocence about her, about the way she queried practically everything and consistently longed to learn.
It was a naivete that conveyed her young years compared to his ancient knowing.
Her thirst for knowledge was yet to be quenched, whereas, until recently, Kronos would have said he’d already discovered all that there was to know.
“After your visit to Erebos’ lair, do you still doubt who I am?”
His hand rose to her hair, his fingers running through her honeyed strands. It didn’t seem to matter how much he held and played with her tresses; he never seemed to be able to get enough of the feel of those silky locks.
“I can’t.” Her voice was etched with resolve, although he still saw a tinge of disbelief in her eyes. “I don’t know how you’re able to do the things you’ve done, Master, but I no longer doubt who you are.”
He chuckled at her explanation. “You are always so concerned with the ‘how’, little one.”
“Yes.” Her smile was wistful, sadness echoing in her tone despite her curled lips. “I suppose that’s the way I’ve been trained to think, Master.”
Staring into her blue orbs, his fingers fisted her hair as he felt into her swelling melancholy. She was content to be with him. There was no resistance from her anymore, yet still, she was despondent.
“What is it?” he murmured, keen to rectify whatever her remaining concerns were.
He had her, she was safe, and she finally understood the breadth of his power. He had hoped explaining who he was would iron out whatever creases remained in their developing dynamic, but her expression suggested that hadn’t transpired.
It was still early days between them, and he knew his impatience wouldn’t help, but with Shelley dispatched and their obvious attraction to each other growing, he yearned for more than only the consistent push and pull they’d wrestled with thus far.
He wanted to know her, to understand her intelligence as well as her body.
Acknowledging the turmoil still burning in her eyes, he accepted that the temptation of the life she’d left behind was ostensibly proving difficult for Kristina to ignore. Even if he could offer her more than she’d realized was possible, something there still called to her.
Snaking his thumb through her hair, he considered the quandary.
There was still the matter of her punishment to be resolved, but he wouldn’t penalize her until she seemed more content with the status quo.
He could keep her there against her will.
That much was obvious. But he’d rather hold her with assent.
“Kristina,” he whispered. “Talk to me.”
“It’s nothing, Mast—”
Whatever lie she was about to declare was splintered by his stiffening digits.
“Rule number four, little one.” His voice lowered to an unimpressed growl. “Do not even consider lying to your master.”
She winced at the hurt, but he noticed how her hands didn’t rise to try and dissuade him. There was a new acceptance in his captive then, a recognition of his supremacy.
Her eyes flitted to his as she heaved in a trembling breath. “I used to think that this was all too much.” She blinked away the water collecting at her lashes. “That I could never escape from someone like you, but then, when I tried to leave and I nearly died—”
“You did die,” he corrected her, scowling at his need for accuracy.
Seeing her lying there prone and helpless had been one of the lowest moments of his long existence, and he had no wish to revisit the traumatic memories, but he needed her to acknowledge just how close she’d come to tragedy.
He couldn’t have her trying anything so reckless again.
“Yes.” She sighed. “And when you brought me back, Master… when I realized I was still alive, I think I found consolation in the thought.”
“Consolation?” He didn’t understand where her thought process was going.
“In you.” There was that sad smile again, her gaze falling to his chest as her fingers skimmed over the hair covering the area. “In us.”
He’d discarded the clothing they’d donned for Eerebos, and standing in the safety of his parlor, they were both once again bared.
“In us.” He enjoyed the sound of that, although the edge to her voice suggested there might have been something he liked less on the way.
“Yes, Master.” The embers of passion were back burning in her gaze as she replied. “I like this thing we have, but…”
Her sentence abruptly ended, replaced only by her frown and a strained silence.
“But you miss your science,” he concluded with resignation, as he guided her toward the dancing flames.
The solution to her problem presented itself to him with a sudden, disturbing clarity. She enjoyed their growing intimacy and, he suspected, had discovered important things about her own desire in his arms, but none of that had replaced her first love.
“Yes.” She swallowed back whatever fresh emotion was swelling within her, and he finally started to understand the way the diminutive blonde had looked at her situation prior to visiting Erebos.
She had, he presumed, acknowledged Kronos’ physical superiority over her, and at times, had learned to love his authority, but she’d secretly held onto the thought that, with the right opportunity, she would be able to flee.
Hitting the oxygenless wall outside the door to the cloud garden, though, had changed her perception.
When she’d come around, she’d had no choice but to accept there was no physical escape from him.
She couldn’t go anywhere without his approval.
She couldn’t even leave the room. He guessed the news from the Erebos encounter had only exacerbated her spiraling plight.
After meeting the darkness, she’d realized Kronos wasn’t only stronger, but he and his kind were also infinitely more powerful.
She couldn’t outrun him, and she couldn’t overcome him.
That realization must have cemented her situation.
There was no getting away from Kronos.
She couldn’t have left him, even if she wanted to.
“And realizing who I really am,” he continued, wanting to let her know that he comprehended, “has meant you think there’s now no chance of returning to your studies.”
“I suppose so.” She shrugged, half of her illuminated by the amber glow of the fire. “It’s a big change for me, Master.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
There was no point in downplaying her loss.
In the past, he’d subdued thoughts of the mortal’s sacrifice with the knowledge that they would get to return to that human life.
Maybe he had brought them back six months after he’d taken them.
Sometimes, it had been years, but he had always intended for them to return.
With Kristina, though, things increasingly felt different. He could technically have brought her back to that moment on the street whenever he liked, but running his thumb over the loose strands of her hair, he struggled to envision a day when he would ever choose to.
He’d never known an intensity like the one the two of them shared. Why, in the name of any god, would he want to give that up? There could be no ‘advancement’ for a mortal he was so utterly besotted with. She would have to learn serenity at his side.
“I understand,” he consoled, “and I hope that, once your recent wrongs have been righted, I can inspire a life so pleasurable for you that you have fewer regrets in this regard.”
“Yes, Master.” Her lips twitched at that, the melancholy in her gaze fleetingly replaced by more wicked thoughts. “I know how pleasurable time with you can be.”
“I am certain I can escalate that gratification.” He lowered to brush his lips over hers. “It may not be scientific, but it will be sensual and erotic.”
“Master.” The word morphed into a moan as his lips skimmed to her nape.
“Let me show you, little one.”
He didn’t know why he felt the need to validate himself.
She knew well enough how high he could propel her, and equally, what the sting of his hand could be like when he was displeased.
Somehow, though, he was compelled to illustrate his powers, just as he’d demonstrated them by taking her to meet Erebos.
He needed to show her what she meant to him. He had to make her feel it.
Her feet left the rug as he silently willed the deed, her body elevating so that he didn’t have to stoop to capture her mouth, and by the time he claimed her tempting lips, his hands had moved to steady her.
One splayed at her back while the other grabbed her wonderful backside, her body enveloped by him as she ceded to his caress.
Acknowledging her surrender, his tongue snaked into her wet warmth, imitating the deed his shaft was desperate to enact. The organ hardened at the connection, the guttural noise that fled her throat amplifying its need.
“More of this,” he whispered when he finally withdrew. “Much more.”
“I can’t say no to you, Master.”
The incredulity in her eyes was softer than before. Her desire was clear, though, evident in her labored breaths, dilating pupils, and the way she clung to him.
“Good,” he purred, encouraging her long, slender legs to wrap around his middle. “You are but a mere mortal, little one. You should not be refusing your master.”
“You’re right,” she rasped. “Because nobody says no to Kronos, do they?”
Her tone was impish and invited yet more consequence, but he approved of the devilish glint in her gorgeous gaze. He wanted to see more of that look.
“Nobody,” he confirmed, easing her body up with his hands and positioning her sex over his eager dick. “Especially beautiful mortals who already have a date over my lap.”
He hadn’t explicitly decided what her fate would be, but watching the way she nibbled her lip, he realized the decision was made.
Apparently, she feared the prospect of another spanking almost as much as she yearned for it, and after the long list of errors she’d made, he was more than happy to contend with both of those needs.
“I wouldn’t dare say no, Master.”
Her gaze lowered between them, acknowledging that she was only an inch from being impaled, her beading nipples and throaty tone already telling him what he needed to know.
She craved him the same way he longed for her, and their recent exploits meant it had been too long since he’d last shown her just how much.
Gripping her ass cheeks, he lowered her over his crown, the motion unhurried as he eased her from him again.
Her lips parted at the intrusion, her gaze able to easily lock with his from her elevated vantage.
Suspending her in place, he slammed into her harder, relishing the tightening of her fingers around his neck.
“Master.” Her head fell at the sensation, her hips starting to rock as far as her position allowed.
“Tell me what you want,” he ordered, giving them both what they hankered for as he forced her deeper along his shaft.
“You.” Her head snapped up, and all at once, they were eye to eye once more. “Master. I want you.”
Had she ever been so bold before?
With her honeyed hair billowing behind her and her lithe limbs locked around him, she was a fucking vision. Everything he’d ever longed for, yet simultaneously more than he could ever have imagined. And after all of the lifetimes he’d lived for, he had imagined a lot.
The sounds of their colliding flesh echoed over the crackling of the fire, their panted breaths combining to fill up every potential moment of silence.
She called out when he filled her again, her features etched with strain and desire as they edged closer to oblivion.
The game of their passion was in full flow; a mutual race to the hedonistic finish line.
Seizing her nape with one hand, he covered her mouth with his.
Not so long before, he’d expedited the same task with the expectation of resuscitating her, the prospect of any other outcome simply unimaginable.
There, in the confines of his parlor, though, everything was different.
It was no longer him bringing her back to life, but her reviving him.
Gazing into her eyes, it all seemed so straightforward.
The blonde temptress riding his cock was his, whatever she or anyone else had to say on the matter.
They were past the point of no return. In no eventuality would she be going back to complete her studies.
She would remain there with him and become the companion he’d always longed for—the one who could finally become his equal.
“Master.” Her growl was frantic, her hips snapping forward to seek more of the friction her greedy clit doubtless sought.
“Take it,” he snarled in response, no longer sure if he was suggesting she continue submitting to his desperate cock or the crescendo he suspected was looming over them both.
In the end, she would have no choice but to yield to them both.
Groaning at the thought, his head fell back when his climax neared. It was then that she splintered, her cunt contracting around his shaft and ratcheting the intensity of his own pleasure one hundred-fold.
“Master!” she cried, her nails digging into the back of his neck as she rode the wave of her desire. “Yes, please. More!”
“Have it,” he assured her, emptying his balls into her shrouding warmth.
If his little one missed her learning, then he would teach her. He’d overload her with so much comprehension that she’d struggle to recall what had ever been so enthralling about a world without him.