Chapter 5
V Greenhouse
Raduna
“Why are we going outside?”
I grin, patting her delicious rump after making sure no one sees us. The panicked, outraged note in Caliane’s voice is music to my ears. She likes being bad in the right ways, I know, so I prepared something perfect just for her.
The sky is overcast, storm clouds gathering in the east. Everyone who doesn’t have to be out here is already indoors, which makes this the perfect time to carry out my plan. And if the storm starts soon like I think it will, no one’s going to hear my queen’s pleasure-drenched screams.
The others can say what they will about my ability to predict rain. I am always right in the end, even if I’m off by a few hours. Today, I’ve watched the clouds since morning, my excitement growing when they turned tumultuous, brewing with nature’s fury.
“Raduna, what are you doing?” she asks, squirming. I squeeze her buttock, letting my thumb inch between her legs. She shivers with a gasp and I allow myself one careful, slow swipe over her tenderness.
“Almost there, my queen.”
The greenhouse door is ajar, and I go in, locking up behind us.
We’re surrounded by the green, stifling humidity, cool, muted light streaming in through the glassed roof and walls.
I carry my queen into the heart of my domain, where a blanket and pillows lie on thick grass in a circle of burning candles.
This spot is surrounded by trees with thick canopies and blooming, heavily scented shrubs.
No one will spy us here, I made sure of that.
“Oh, Raduna! It’s beautiful.”
I let Caliane to her feet, and she turns, taking it all in. Everything is green and verdant, the air heavy with the scent of fertile soil and rare plants. Exotic red and purple flowers hang off vines right above her, and she can just skim them with her fingers when she stretches up on her tiptoes.
The flower she touches releases a sticky drop of nectar, which splashes her upturned face. She laughs, pushing out her tongue to lick it off, but it’s too far up her cheek.
“Allow me.”
I drop down to my knees and lick the sweetness off but don’t swallow. It rests on my tongue as I offer Caliane my mouth, and we share a deep kiss.
Slowly, I remind myself.
She tastes like herself and the flower, a bit like strawberries, a bit like pears, and early summer honey.
Her tongue is eager in my mouth, seeking out the last traces of the nectar.
I fill her mouth, reminding myself not to choke her, not to go too far.
It would be easy to push my tongue deep enough to tap the back of her throat, and sometimes, I toy with the idea but never do it.
My queen needs me in control, always.
She buries her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer, and I groan into her mouth.
She’s so dainty in my arms, her face so small right next to mine.
I’ve learned how to kiss her over the years, but it still takes me by surprise sometimes.
There is something illicit about how breakable she is.
I shouldn’t be allowed to touch someone so fragile.
Every time I do, it’s like I break a sacred law.
I slow my movements, taking care not to hurt her by mistake.
It would be so easy, too. An inattentive wave of my hand could send my queen sprawling on the ground.
A thrust too fast would make her hurt. I perversely love the restraint forced on me, though.
Control and care make the pleasure build in maddeningly slow increments until I burst with it.
“That’s so sweet,” she breathes when I pull away from her mouth, lavishing kisses down her jaw as I cradle the back of her precious head in one palm.
“If you allow me, I’ll paint you in nectar and lick off every drop, my queen.”
I pull back to look at her. Her lips are parted, her face dark with a flush. She nods, and I ponder for a moment, then decide to give in to my urge.
I grip both sides of her neckline and pull, splitting her dress in half. She gasps, the breathy sound mixing with violent tearing. She wears underwear, and I rip it off, my muscles tight with the control it requires.
Just enough strength to do violence to her clothes, nothing else.
“You’re impatient today,” Caliane says, stuttering over rapid, excited breaths. “What happened?”
I give her a soft, tender kiss. “Nothing. Only that I wish to ravage you, my queen. Some days more than others. Don’t worry, though. I will control myself.”
I undo the buttons of my vest as Caliane steps closer, toeing off her shoes. She cradles my cheek in her palm, and I release an unsteady breath, my cock twitching hungrily. I never cease to love this—how small she is next to me, how nothing about us fits, and yet it does where it counts the most.
“Don’t.” Her eyes glitter as she looks into mine, dark and inviting. “Don’t control yourself today.”
I stare without comprehension until shivers race down my spine, my balls tightening with wild need.
I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak.
She can’t let me do this—I would hurt her.
I am not a king like Magnar, brought up with manners and a sensitivity for nuance, or like Khay, a courtier’s son.
Not even like Arvi, who wields knives with unnatural precision.
A farmer—that’s who I am. A man who can plow hard earth from dawn till dusk, heave sacks of grain, and compete with oxen. My fingers are made for gripping and forcing, not for delicate work.
That’s my nature, and I always control it rigidly to be worthy of serving my queen.
“Your Grace,” I say to remind both her and myself of our stations. “It is not wise to—"
“Shh.” She presses her lips to mine, her tongue darting in for a fast, naughty lick. “I command you as your queen. Take me how you want, without restraint. I trust you, Raduna. Please, do with me as you please. I won’t break, I promise.”
I search her face, my heart pounding with sick, roiling excitement. She watches me with dark, bold eyes, and I realize my queen knows me as well as I know her.
The moment stretches. Caliane’s commanding gaze doesn’t waver. I clench my hands into fists, battling with myself, but it’s a losing fight.
My queen commands me.
I explode up and pick her up, fast and eager.
She barely has time to lose a scream when I topple her onto the blankets, my mouth on her breast. I could fit all of it into my mouth if I wanted, though I’d probably scratch her skin with my teeth.
Caliane squirms with a breathy moan, and I give in.
I open my mouth as wide as I can and close my lips around her breast, biting down gently.
She screams in shock, and above us, thunder rolls.
First heavy raindrops pelt the roof, and I release her wet breast, marked pink where her blood mixes with my saliva.
“You can still take back your command, my queen.”
I watch her with a challenge. To be honest, she made me angry. Does she know how much I’ll suffer if I hurt her by mistake? Commanding me to toe that line is incredibly cruel.
And very generous.
“Fuck me like you want, Raduna. Do not hold back. It’s what your queen requires.”
I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut.
My desire has swollen to a painful degree, and I palm my cock, deciding not to let it out of the confines of my clothes just yet.
The pain will keep me present when I delve into the forbidden realm of taking my queen like—like a rude, wanton wench on a pile of straw.
“What if I want to bite you all over, leaving marks that will scar?” I ask, the image of her flesh bearing my mark stirring my blood into a rush. “I want to. Tell me to stop.”
She bites her lip, apprehension flashing through her eyes as she glues them to my mouth. I bare my teeth at her, vicious and uncontrolled, and she shivers with a single sob, quickly stifled.
“If that’s what you wish.”
I pause, incredulity reining my passion in. “Have you just allowed me to bite you? With my teeth? Caliane, what’s wrong? Has something happened?”
She groans, staring belligerently up at the ceiling, which blurs with rain. A lightning razes through the sky, painting her face ghostly white, and she flinches.
“You hate the storm,” I remember, my head hanging heavy. “Forgive me, I thought that wouldn’t matter if I was with you, but clearly—"
“Raduna, stop,” she hisses, the fury in her voice startling enough to silence me.
Her eyes are hard as she sits up, clenching her fists until they blanch.
“Stop treating me like a porcelain doll that will shatter if you squeeze it too hard. It’s tiring.
You’re a man, and I’m a woman. Treat me like one. ”
I realize for the first time how my careful behavior must look to her.
She feels like an object in my care, not a woman I desire, and maybe she’s right in a way.
I am always so afraid of breaking her, this princess who’s slept among swan down pillows all her life.
But she’s so much more than that, isn’t she?
I remember her first trial as the queen of Roharra. She was scared and anxious, yet she brought the matter to the end and commanded me without flinching to behead the traitor. She’s tough underneath her soft, sweet exterior.
When I take her wrist, slowly bringing her hand up to my lips, she watches me back, defiant and angry.
I nuzzle the delicate skin of her inner forearm, priming it with gentle, licking kisses.
Her breath comes faster, her breasts rising and falling in a dizzying rhythm.
I feel beastly and savage. Am I really going to do this?
Agnidari men used to mark their women centuries ago, but not any more.
And yet, that ancient custom stirs my imagination like nothing else.
I lick up a long strip from her wrist up to her elbow, then press my upper teeth to her skin right in the middle of that path, looking into her eyes as I do. We stay like this, frozen, as I wait for her to stop me.
She doesn’t. I bite down slowly, drawing it out, and the metallic taste of blood blooms on my tongue. Keeping the bite shallow doesn’t require any control at all. I don’t wish to hurt her.
When I pull back, blood wells in the wound.
I lick it off, revealing an even half-circle of punctures in the shape of my teeth.
More blood trickles out, and I lean over to grab an empty glass I prepared for drinks.
I hold it under her forearm, gathering the blood, while Caliane breathes shallowly without a protest.
“I have this rare flower that needs to be watered with blood to bloom,” I murmur as the flow slows, crimson congealing in her wounds.
“I have never given it any. It has beautiful foliage, and that was enough for me. But now that we’ve done this, it seems fitting.
We’ll water it once you stop bleeding, then I’ll give it my blood in a few days.
It should be enough. I’ll bring you back here when it blooms. It’s supposed to be outrageously beautiful. Like you.”
I look up, smiling when I see the flush in her cheeks, the redness of her parted lips. My queen isn’t scared. She was right—I can do as I please with her.
“Oh, but—” she begins but I dive in to lick her skin clean. She breaks off with a gasp, and I lick it all off, my queen’s blood becoming my nourishment. It feels savage and beastly.
And she doesn’t tell me to stop.
When her arm is clean, no more blood flowing, I hand her the glass. There are only a few spoonfuls inside. Caliane takes it, and I pick her up in my arms, carrying her to the plant.
“It’s called Vampire Blossom,” I explain when we reach the right pot.
I let Caliane stand and ruffle the plant’s leaves.
They are uncanny, dark green dappled with purple and black spots, which on any other plant would be a mark of disease.
This one is healthy, though. All it needs is nourishment. “Will you do the honors?”
Caliane tips the glass over the soil in the pot. The blood is thick, flowing reluctantly. I bring closer a watering can of clear water and pour some in so the blood can be rinsed out into the pot. Once it’s done, I pick up my queen and carry her back to the nest I laid out to fuck her in.
Magnar always tells her to undo his belt, and I never understood how he had the patience.
I throw my queen down onto the pillows with enough strength to make her gasp and tug off my pants.
She waits for me with her legs spread, her fingers tangled in the blankets, and I stand above her, shivering from indecision.
She told me to do what I want.
When she smiles, inviting me in, I straddle her chest, pinning her arms to her sides with my legs. The tip of my cock bobs an inch away from her lips. She sighs, and her warm breath tickles me like a caress.
“Open.”
She does, obedient and eager. I feed her a few inches, forcing myself inside.
Her mouth is dainty, far less flexible than her sweet cunt and ass, and she struggles as I push deeper.
But she let me bite her, and I am determined to push my luck and take everything I never dared demand from her before.
Tears of exertion glisten in her eyes as soon as she chokes.
Her throat contracts around the head of my cock that’s far deeper than I’ve ever let it before.
My queen’s lovely face reddens as her eyes moisten, and I pull out, allowing her to breathe.
Half of my shaft is wet with her saliva, and I slide it up her chin and cheek, messing her up like the savage I am.
She takes deep, gasping breaths, and I wait for her to tell me to stop, but she’s silent.
“Don’t tell me you enjoy that,” I say, a pulse of anger sharpening my arousal. “Being debased by me.”
“But I do.” She smiles, squirming in the cage of my thighs until her palms land on my buttocks, squeezing lightly. “You’re always in control, Raduna. I’d like to see you let go sometimes. Show me how much you want me—so much that you can’t hold back.”