Chapter 8 - Ariana
ARIANA
With a sigh, I rolled over, glaring at the moonlight seeping in through the window. It reached across the floor, not quite touching the far wall. All I could do was stare at it. My thoughts were trapped by the walls in my mind.
The night claimed the sky a long while ago, yet every minute that passed, I only got more and more lost in the darkness of my thoughts.
There was no way out, no escape. Worries loomed, spanning the concerns of the future to events of the past. Round and round the fears went, slowly closing in until the pressure of them constricted my chest.
I could not avoid Landin’s death. Could not change the outcome, for it already occurred. So then, why did my mind always lead me down a path of what if’s that may have led to more favorable outcomes? The thoughts were pointless. Yet they consumed me as if they were the most significant thing.
It was torture, all of it.
I released another countless sigh, turning onto my back. Torture came in many forms, and my brain was doing a splendid job of it.
A slight knock tugged at my attention. The sound came not from the main door but from the secret one.
I sat up, head-turning to where the passage hid behind a large tapestry. Erik.
The wooden floor pressed cold against my feet as I stood. Grabbing a robe, I put it on over my silky mid-thigh nightgown before padding over to the door. It creaked, slightly opening.
I could hardly make out the dark figure in the shadows before me, but I didn’t need to see well to know who stood there. The air buzzed with his strength. I felt his presence.
Taking a step back, my head angled towards my room in silent invitation.
With a predatory grace, Erik entered, finding his way to the moonlight, which highlighted the strong features of his face. There was a faint glow around the fabric of his shirt, drawing the eye to the physical strength hidden beneath. He was breathtakingly masculine and clearly favored by the moon.
My gaze locked with his. “Couldn’t sleep?” I asked.
His lips pulled to the side. “It appears neither of us could.”
I nodded, glancing at my bed and the mess of sheets. Evidence of the wreckage also within my mind. With a deep breath, I forced my attention back to him. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have used my conjuring on you in that way.”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “It isn’t like I left you much choice to do otherwise. I cornered you.”
“You were trying to help me see reason. Everything you said was correct. I just didn’t want to hear it.”
Erik stepped out of the moonlight, closing the space between us.
Raising his hand, the backs of his fingers grazed my cheek.
Warmth spread through me. My eyes involuntarily slid shut, face leaning towards the comforting touch.
“You have been through so much. Still going through so much. Anyone in such a position would find it difficult.”
I moved out of his touch. Though his sentiment was kind, it did not help. “I am the Leader Superior. I do not have the luxury of letting struggles affect my judgment.”
He shook his head. “You’re-”
I held up my hand as if to stop his words while interrupting. “No. I do not wish to discuss me. Not tonight.”
A silence spilled between us, and I wondered whether he would ignore my request.
He didn’t.
“Do you wish to talk about anything else?” The Lysian King asked, his voice gentle.
“Actually, yes.” I hesitated, wondering what he would make of what I was about to share with him.
“When I saw the Spirit at my ascension, it told me that I would meet a conjuror of illumination who would be helpful to me. At the time, I thought the Spirit meant you. Illumination meaning a conjuror of fire, something to see by. But now, I think it may mean a conjuror who can explain and understand. Someone who can illuminate.”
His head tilted in thought. “You think it could be Iver?”
“I have never seen or heard of anyone having his gifts before.”
His gaze cooled. “I’d have to say that I agree. He is certainly unique.”
My attention turned to the window, and I made my way across the room towards it. “I suppose in the end, it doesn’t truly matter. We would benefit from his help either way. Whether he is the one the Spirit meant or not.”
Dark eyes followed my movement. “That is certainly true.”
I stared out at the tree line beyond the city wall.
Even in the night, I never feared what was out there.
All of it was home. However, now, I didn’t even trust all the people within the city’s walls.
My false sense of safety crumbled, showing the illusion I lived in.
A mirage that evaporated the moment Clause entered my life.
“You are remarkable, you know that?” Erik said with such certainty that it stilled my thoughts. His using such a word to describe me sent warmth through me.
My lips parted, and a trembling breath slipped past them before I replied, “I am ordinary. I just find myself in complicated situations.” I kept my attention on the forest beyond.
He walked soundlessly through the room until standing behind me. I caught a glimpse of those intense blue eyes in the faint reflection of him in the window’s glass. Even with the space between us, my skin heated with his proximity.
“You are anything but ordinary.” His voice sent another shiver down my spine. Eyes remained fixed on me through the glass. He took another step, entering my space without actually touching me. “Do you wish for me to leave?” His voice was deceptively soft.
I stared at him in the reflection, captured by all of him, unable to look away. My heart hammered against my ribs. “I’d rather you stay.”
When those words left my lips, thick tension connected us, and the Lysian king standing behind me moved even closer.
My body burned when his hand reached for my hip just before he stepped into me. His breath tickled my neck when he craned his to look over at me.
I turned my head, finding that heavy stare. I could lose myself in those eyes for eternity and would never tire of exploring. The corners of his mouth curved as if he knew the effect he was having on me. My gaze dropped to his lips, which he took as an invitation.
He closed more of the space until his mouth met mine. Slowly, I lost myself in him, with the way his arms tightened around me, the way his tongue collided with mine. He tasted divine.
I wished him to never let go. To stay trapped in that moment, consumed by him.
Our lips parted only for him to leave tender kisses running down my jaw and over my neck. Fire addictively burned through my skin wherever he touched. Devouring me. The knot in my stomach began melting away until I felt lighter. As if his touch pulled the toxins from my mind.
A small moan escaped from me while he kissed my throat, igniting the skin there.
He began speaking in between kisses, and it did something to me. “Would you...prefer...I be... gentle... or rough?”
Never had anyone asked me what I wanted before. The question stunned me speechless.
The only thing I recognized was my need for him as it burned through me, desperation clawing within me.
Teeth scraped against the column of my throat, followed by a tongue, and then his mouth. I tilted my head, giving him unrestricted access. “Ariana. Tell me.” He pressed the words into my skin. “What you prefer.”
One of Erik’s hands moved up my side, lazily making its way over the swell of my breast before taking hold of my throat.
His touch was firm yet gentle as his fingers forced me to turn my face towards him.
His mouth found mine once more, and with every breath, he seemed to deepen the kiss as if there was no limit to the depth.
Gentle or rough? I enjoyed both. However, I needed one over the other. I needed my mind thoroughly silenced.
Even with his firm hold, he allowed me to pull away slightly, breaking the kiss.
Hungry eyes found mine, and his entire stance tightened as though it was a struggle to refrain from closing that tiny bit of space where our breaths mingled.
“I can’t think as clearly when you are rough,” I said, letting him know what I needed. For my mind to be wiped clean.
Erik’s lip curved at the side, and his eyes took on a dark gleam. His hold on me tightened, growing a commanding edge. The hand at my throat immobilized me as he craned his neck, kissing me once more, pressing a smile into my mouth as I softly moaned into his.
He released my throat, hand traveling to my shoulder. The space around us eclipsed as if the moon’s light could no longer cut through the tension connecting the two of us. Nothing existed but me and him. And that was enough.
I was forced to break the kiss when he pushed me forward. Not expecting it, my cheek nearly met with the cold glass in front of me, my hands gripping the windowsill for support.
Erik grunted in approval as his fingers dug into my hips, possessive and unyielding.
His grip was bruising, a claim against my skin.
He moved behind me, freeing the length of him before his hand slipped beneath my robe and between my legs.
A sharp gasp left my lips as he thrust a finger into me without warning—one, then two, stretching me with ruthless intent.
My body clenched around the intrusion, heat surging through my veins at the sheer dominance in his touch.
His other hand found my breast, kneading roughly as he pulled me back against his chest. My head lolled against him, breath hitching, lost in the firestorm of sensation. But he did not take his time. He did not grant me the luxury of easing into his hunger.
Without warning, he bent me forward, hiking my robe and nightgown up in one swift motion.
A strangled cry tore from my throat as he drove into me, burying himself in a single, unforgiving thrust. The stretch was overwhelming, almost too much, yet I craved it, needed it. Erik set a brutal rhythm, his hips slamming into mine, filling me again and again.
His hand slid up my back, wrapping around my throat as he wrenched me upright, forcing my spine to arch against him.
The pressure of his grip, the relentless way he took me, sent my mind spiraling.
Pain and pleasure tangled like twin flames, consuming me from within, reducing me to nothing but raw sensation.
Every nerve burned, every flicker of pain only sharpening the pleasure.
Nothing existed except for me and the Lysian King, whose mercy I was at.
Pressing my hands into the cool glass in front of me for support, I tried to gulp down breaths between the wild sounds torn from me.
“You are mine,” Erik growled in my ear.
I moaned in response.
His hand tightened on my hip, his other at my throat. “Say it.” He demanded and released his hold enough so I could respond. Except I couldn’t. The pressure inside of me, the feel of him entering me over and over, I could not formulate words.
He growled and entirely pulled out of me.
No. The fire inside of me burned for release.
Flame licking my nerve endings, raging for the loss of the feel of him between my legs.
The hand at my throat pulled me till my back fell flush against his chest. His other hand moved lazily over me in desperately teasing, torturous strokes.
“Say it.” He commanded, breath hot against the shell of my ear.
“Erik,” I whined, trembling in his hold.
“Mmmh, I can’t say I don’t enjoy the sound of that.
” I was rewarded with a finger entering me, moving in and out, while his thumb traced precise patterns over me.
My legs nearly gave out. “But. It is not what I asked.” His voice was deliciously coarse.
He removed his hand and pushed himself into me again. Slowly. So slowly.
The groan that escaped him nearly had me coming apart.
How? How did he have such control?
“Say it.” He growled, as if angry that it was taking so long.
“I-” A moan cut me off as it ripped through me with the way he slowly pulled out and slammed into me.
A dark chuckle. “You what?”
“I- I am-” Another yell burst out as he did it again.
Bastard.
“You are what, Ariana?” His voice gained a dangerous edge, and it had me dying with need.
“Yours.” I nearly growled myself, desperate for him to stop this torture. He brought me to the edge and toyed with me there. “I am yours,” I finally managed.
“You are mine,” he replied in agreement before finally giving me exactly what I had asked for.