Excerpt
The cold edge of the blade was almost shocking against Thea's heated skin, sending a shiver through her. In the weeks since she pressed that very dagger to Alaric’s throat he had been finding more and more creative ways to torture her with it.
"I would hold very still if I were you," Alaric warned, dragging the blade down the curve of her spine. He didn't apply enough pressure to break skin, but Thea was painfully aware of how sharp the edge was, how easily it could slice right through her should he change his mind.
Then again, she had also been aware of that fact when she wandered into his study earlier that afternoon, twirling the dagger he had had made for her between her fingers. He had proven it was sharp the night he gifted it to her and it intrigued her. A fact that Alaric seemed to have picked up on.
Since her misguided, foolish attempt to turn it against him just to end up with the tip of the blade pointed at her own chest, Alaric had found every excuse he could to turn it on her again.
He would drag the tip of it across all of her most sensitive places, tease and taunted her with how easy it would be to hurt her should he desire it.
She had found it hard to think about anything else.
Thea caught herself thinking about it in all of her quiet moments, whenever her mind would wander, when she should have been paying attention to other things.
She was so fixated on those thoughts, that she almost missed it as he removed the dagger from her back all together.
"Pay attention," he growled right before the flat side of the blade made stinging contact with her bare ass.
Thea yelped, jumping, but Alaric's hand landed on her lower back, pushing her roughly back down into the mattress.
"I said pay attention, not move," he said, letting his hand slide down across her skin to caress the welt left behind by the strike. The gentleness of his touch provided such a vast contrast from the stinging pain she wasn't aware that the soft moan had come from her until Alaric chuckled.
"Now, that's not so bad, is it?" he coaxed, his hand moving lower, the tips of his fingers brushing ever so close to even more sensitive places on his way to the back of her thigh, stealing away her very breath. Alaric made a soft, amused noise, using the same hand to nudge her legs further apart.
Thea obliged, not that she had much of a choice.
Her body seemed to respond to Alaric's every whim before her mind could catch up.
Twisting slightly, she turned her head, desperate to see him, to see what he was going to do next.
Instead, he simply shook his head, motioning for her to return to the position he had put her in.
Bent over the side of his large bed, his soft comforter under her, caressing her bare skin from the waist up as she waited, blind to his movements until she could feel him touch her.
She had long since learned that the painful thrill of anticipation was one of Alaric's favorite tools; one she had come to both despise and hope he never stopped.
It was all she could do not to jump at his next touch, not his skin this time but the tip of the dagger once again.
It started along the inside of her left thigh, just above knee.
Her entire body was on high alert, the very tip of the blade pressing hard enough against the soft, sensitive flesh that it was painful, made her every instinct to squirm away, but not so hard she was worried he would draw blood.
That seemed to be one thing he had been very careful about.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Alaric dragged the tip of the blade up, higher and higher.
It wasn't until he was just shy of the apex of her thighs when he paused.
Thea had completely forgotten how to breathe.
She was terrified he would keep moving, that this would be the day that dagger found her pussy lips and she would have to come to terms with the fact that her fight not to squirm had long since stopped being about discomfort or fear, and had become about desire.
And then he was moving again. The blade moved over her, sliding ever so slowly, lightly, over her lips, along her slit. She could feel her own wetness lubricating the blade as it moved. Just as quickly as it was there, the dagger was gone.
Thea couldn't help herself, letting out a soft moan and squirming, suddenly desperate for any kind of contact from Alaric. Whether it was his hand or his blade, she didn't care.
"Such a needy girl," Alaric teased, clearly amused.
He didn't leave her waiting long. This time it was his fingers that trailed lightly up the back of her right thigh, mimicking the trail the knife had made on the other side.
Only this time, when he reached the top of her thigh he stopped, the contact disappearing.
"No," Thea gasped, so lost in the sensations he had trailed across her skin, in the way he had teased and tormented her for longer than she thought she could take.
She didn't care what she had said before, she didn't care that she had sworn she would never ask for it; never beg for it.
If he stopped, if he didn't give her the relief she craved, she felt like she was going to explode.
The next moment his hands were on her hips, yanking her roughly off the bed and back towards him.
One hand released her hip, sliding around her body until it was stretched across her stomach, sliding up her body until it bracketed her throat, pulling her flush against his chest. There was something about their current position, the contrast of her helpless and unable to move, naked and at his mercy while he manhandled her, fully clothed and composed that added to the desire building in her.
Alaric didn't speak. He simply held her to him, letting the hand not around her throat glide across her skin, sprawling across her abdomen.
He turned his head slightly, brushing his lips ever so lightly along the shell of her ear, flexing his hand at her throat, applying just the briefest amount of added pressure before suddenly letting go.
Thea stumbled slightly to regain her balance and support herself on her own, to keep from falling forward toward the bed.
The loss of his touch, the feel of him so sturdy against her, was an almost physical ache.
Spinning, she found herself nose to chest with him, he had released her, but he hadn't stepped away.
"We're going to be late for dinner," Alaric said simply as she looked up at him, wide-eyed and breathless.
For just a moment she thought he was completely unaffected by everything that had just happened between them, but then she saw it. There was pure, unfiltered hunger in his eyes. He was looking at her like he was ready to devour her, their planned dinner be damned.
Thea bit her lip, almost ashamed of the frustrated moan that slipped out at the thought of his mouth all over her body before she could remember herself and struggle for composure.
Alaric winked at her, seeming to be able to follow her train of thought. “There’s a new dress hanging in the wardrobe for you,” he said, leaning forward, his lips brushing her jaw as he spoke before he pressed a kiss against her cheek.
Unable to put together words, Thea nodded.
“I need to check on something in my study,” he continued as he stepped backwards, putting just enough space between them again that she could feel her brain beginning to work once more.
“Get ready, I’ll be back for you soon.” He smiled at her, lingering just a moment longer before turning for the door, leaving her alone and aching for him, with no option other than to get ready for dinner.
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