Chapter 28
Lola
“Dimitri,” I half chastised half moaned as his lips roamed the length of my throat.
“I know,” he rasped but didn’t stop, his hands gripping my hips and legs tighter, pulling me closer.
Too close.
“Dimitri,” I repeated. “Slow down, please.”
My voice was barely over a whisper but still echoed in the secret cave. He pulled back instantly, eyes wide, lips parted. The fluorescent hue of the water made his blue eyes so bright it made my heart race.
He was the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen.
And I couldn’t have him.
I whimpered, burying my face in the crook of his neck.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, breathless. “Fuck…I’m sorry if I—”
“You didn’t.” My voice came out muffled. Annoyed. Frustrated.
Everything that I was after spending nearly three whole months with him. Training, talking, hugging. Kissing.
“What’s wrong, dusha moya? Tell me.” His finger came to my chin and tilted my head back, plunging his ocean blue eyes into my fiery multicolored ones.
But my eyes couldn’t lie, and the truth he read there melted his worries away in a second.
A mischievous smile crept up his lips. “Bless those insanely expressive eyes of yours,” he murmured before crashing his lips against mine, lifting my hips to rock my core against his front.
“Dimitri, you—we need to stop,” I panted as a wave of pleasure made my leg shake. “We can’t—”
“I’m aware of what we can’t do, dusha moya,” he said as he shifted his hips further, his hard length sliding right against the perfect spot. “It also leaves us plenty to do.”
“What? What do you mean, we’re—”
“Do you trust me?”
My heart rate spiked as he slowed down, sliding a hand in my hair to pull my head back, forcing my eyes not to stray away.
“Yes.”
His tongue slid over his bottom lip as his eyes dropped to my breast, visible under the water. “Good girl.”
He pulled me with him as he swam farther into the cave, hiding us behind rocks protruding from the walls. I followed, my muscles still sore from our earlier training session in the woods.
“What are you—”
I gasped as he pushed me softly against the side of the natural pool, his hand finding its way between my legs to brush against my core. My eyes rolled in the back of my head, hands gripping his shoulders for support.
“Oh my stars—fuck, Dimitri stop…”
“Do you really want me to stop?” he asked, halting the motion of his fingers but not pulling his hand back.
“We can’t have sex…I don’t want Amyntas to wage war on—”
“First of all,” he said, circling his other hand around my throat, “I don’t like to hear the name of another man when my hand is trying to get acquainted with that sweet spot between your legs.
Second of all, we’re not having sex. I’m respecting your wishes on that matter, and however painful it is for me, I don’t plan on cockblocking your Dragon fiancé and bringing shame to you or your family. ”
He paused, inching his face closer. My hand instinctively snapped around his wrist, trying to get free. But he wasn’t cutting my air. Wasn’t applying any real pressure. My throat bobbed.
“But I’ll be damned if I let you go to him before you even know pleasure. I’ll be damned if I let him give you your first orgasm. Because you might not want him, but if he’s even half of a decent man, he’ll at least try and get you off too. But not. Before. Me.”
My cheeks flushed as his hand did another torturously slow circle and a strangled moan came out of my throat.
“So I’m gonna ask again, Anastasia. Do you really want me to stop?”
It took less than a second before I shook my head. He exhaled a slow breath over my lips.
“Good. I won’t stop if you tell me to stop again. If you really want me to, use another word.”
His fingers moved faster, and I let out another breathless gasp.
“What—what should I say if I want you to stop?”
“Find a word, dusha moya. Any word. A safe word. But not stop.”
“Oh my—fuck.”
“Mh-mh, not an appropriate word. Think harder.”
Harder. Yeah, that’s what I needed. I needed him to touch me harder…Faster.
I rotated my hips on his fingers, seeking more friction, but he only pulled his hand back and tsked.
“That’s not thinking, Anastasia.”
“I can’t think right now, I’m—”
“A word. Give me a word, now.”
“Fire.”
I felt on fire. My skin was burning, like trying to turn me into the Phoenix I knew was sleeping in me. The Phoenix I was only allowed to shift into in secret. The Phoenix who ached to fly freely. To burn. The firebird that was only valuable to become a Maiden since Aghen was the heir.
Dimitri chuckled, the air caressing my face. “Good girl. Fire it is.”
“What—”
He immersed himself underwater and crouched, lifting and spreading my legs to place them on his shoulders, burying his face in my—
“Oh stars…”
His tongue licked me from my entrance to the spot that made my vision blank.
I nearly split my skull open as my head fell back, hitting the rough stone.
But nothing stopped the pleasure from taking over my whole body, my limbs shaking with each stroke of his tongue.
My uncontrolled whispered moans loud in the empty cave.
Butterflies took flight in my lower stomach, my nipples hardening into stone over the water.
“Dimitri,” I pleaded, my hands sliding in his hair, trying to push him away or pull him up over the water. “Dimitri, stop, you’ll drown…”
He groaned, his mouth closing on that damn spot. My voice was suddenly lost as my whole body tensed, legs shutting close around his head.
Oh my—fucking fuck!
One of his fingers entered me slowly and pressed on my inner walls, sending stars to my already blurry vision.
I felt like I was falling, head swirling as wave after wave of agonizing pleasure crashed into me.
He dropped a few more kisses, sliding his lips along the inside of my thigh before letting me go and coming back to the surface, only to crash his lips against mine with a deep groan.
“You could have drowned!” I said, swatting at his chest.
“And what a magnificent way to go…”
He grinned against my mouth, ignoring my hits and grabbing my legs to circle them around his waist.
“I’m gonna need to taste you like this on a daily basis now, dusha moya.”
A shiver slithered up my spine, bringing my body closer to his, plastering my naked breasts to his chest.
“We won’t have any more time for training if you spend all your time with your face between my legs,” I countered, a smile growing on my lips.
“Let’s cancel training then. I’ll kill anything or anyone that comes after you, you don’t even need to know how to fight. You can’t keep my face from your pussy anymore.”
I paused to scan his dazed expression, ready to argue when I noticed the amused glint in his eyes. He knew how important these training sessions were for me. How exhausting it was to feel powerless all the time.
“I’m taunting you, dusha moya,” he reassured anyway. “Of course we’ll keep training. At least a little…”
I swat at his chest again but he only chuckled and kissed me more fervently.
Both our heads snapped to the side as footsteps echoed in the dimly lit cave. Dimitri pressed himself closer against me, plastering our bodies against the rough stone, taking us deeper into the warm water up to our chins.
“I don’t know why you keep pestering me on this matter.” My father’s tone was harsh. Annoyed and tired at the same time.
My eyes widened as my mother answered, “You and I both know why, Alekrander. You have a soft spot for that girl, and I know they’re close to making you reconsider the whole deal.”
He growled in response, stopping on the shore and kicking at some stone that splashed into the water.
“Didn’t I carve her name into Amyntas’ skin and said the sacred words?” he asked. “That alone should be enough to get you off my fucking back. She’s to be the Dragon’s Maiden. Aghen is to be heir. All is going according to your plan.”
“The Maiden’s mark can be reversed,” my mother announced coldly, piquing both Dimitri and my interest. “Who’s to say you won’t have a change of heart and break peace with the other species?”
“Other species shouldn’t have a say about who I name as my heir.”
“Oh, but they do!” she snapped. “And I won’t let you do something stupid like this.
Heirs are males for a reason. It protects the fragile balance between us all.
If you were to give the shard to her, both Chimeras and Dragons will think you’re trying to give more power to the Phoenixes’ clan.
They’ll become hostile, and will attack before she can even shit her first heir. ”
He turned his back on her, crouching to the floor to pick up a few more stones and toss them in his hand.
“The Heir can’t be a female, Alekrander,” she insisted. “They won’t allow it. I won’t allow it.”
He stood up abruptly, stepping into her space and getting in her face, his eyes igniting like a sign his power was fighting to get free. To roast her here on the spot for daring to speak against him. But she didn’t move, holding her ground.
“Are you threatening me, Nefertari?” he asked in a deadly voice. “Isn’t my word enough for you anymore? What will it take to get you off my fucking ass?”
“Your word was never enough,” she sneered. “You’ve been too soft with her since she was born. Treating her like some sort of precious miracle while she—”
“Isn’t she?” my father cut her off, leaving her with her mouth parted in disbelief. “After all, there’s only been twins one other time before, and it was two boys. She’s the first female born with Heir blood. Every clan came to witness her existence and said she was a blessing.”
My mother scoffed and I had to pull Dimitri closer, his eyes betraying his thoughts.
“So you’ve actually been considering it, then.”
“Of course I have!” my father yelled, the sound echoing around us and making the walls shake and the water ripple. “Aghen doesn’t want to be the Shard Carrier, and Anastasia doesn’t want to be the Dragon’s Maiden!”