CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Daphne
She was done with waiting, done with this charade. There was no point in pretending they were anything less than what they both knew they were. She wanted to give Kronos everything she could, and she wanted to do it now.
Daphne pulled him closer.
Kronos responded in kind, his fingers tangling in her hair, his tongue slipping into her mouth. His hand slid up her thigh so quickly that Daphne gasped. Without thinking, she pushed him away. Kronos retreated immediately, his eyebrows shooting up in concern.
“Daphne, I—” he started to say but she covered his mouth with her hand and he fell silent. They lay there for a moment, staring at each other.
Daphne moved her palm to the center of his chest. “I want to do this,” she whispered, “but I want to go slow.”
She watched comprehension, then cautious optimism pass over Kronos’s face. He placed his hand over hers, holding her palm against his chest.
“We will do anything you wish,” he whispered. “As slowly as you wish to do it.”
A thousand previous interactions flashed through her mind: whispered words underneath the bridge. Orders. Demands. Daphne had never been in a position of power—never had any true say in what happened to her—for her.
“Just…kiss me. For now.”
Rather than the disappointment she expected, relief flashed over his face, followed by a hunger she knew quite well.
And then he kissed her. True to his word, Kronos went slowly, and Daphne luxuriated in the intimacy of it.
He waited until she trailed her fingers down his torso to trail his own down hers.
He was the second man who’d unlaced her corset tonight.
Unlike the way Maximus had done it—with feverish intensity—Kronos did so gently, loosening the lacing one grommet at a time until it fell from her body.
Her dress followed and then her underclothing.
Daphne reached for his cock, and they touched each other at the same time, gently, in no hurry despite their circumstances.
With every moment they spent together, Daphne felt better, as if someone were slowly turning the lights back on.
She could breathe properly again. It was like the clouds were opening up and allowing in the sun.
Kronos kissed tenderly down her neck, over her breasts, then back up her neck again.
He returned always to her lips, paying special attention where he knew she needed it the most.
Slowly, Kronos slid his knee between her thighs, coaxing them open.
Daphne completed the motion, tilting her legs so he could nestle between them.
She was already wet; the foreplay had made her so.
His cock was hard against her center, and even just that amount of contact made her even wetter.
In a way they had been building toward this moment since the very first night they met—when they had stood in the cave and she’d told him she wouldn’t have sex with him.
How things had changed since then.
Now she knew Kronos’s character, and it was far beyond what she ever thought she deserved in a partner—far beyond what most men were even capable of.
Yet Kronos was not a man at all. He was so much more; he was her protector.
Her rock. He was the one who wiped her tears and healed her wounds and carried her when she could not walk.
He defended her from danger, whether it be other basilisks, humans, or even when he was a threat to her himself.
He had waited and waited and waited for her, far beyond the length of time any rational person should have to wait.
The truth was that Daphne had loved him since the moment she met him.
She just hadn’t been able to admit it until now.
She knew without asking that it was the same for Kronos, that what they shared was special and real.
Eventually, their breathing became short and shallow. The air was thick with smoke; sweat shone on their skin. His eyes met hers.
“Are you ready?” Kronos whispered.
Daphne nodded.
“Are you certain?”
Daphne nodded again. She had never been more certain of anything in her life. It was time, finally, to let him in. “Are you?” she whispered back.
Kronos smiled. “Daphne,” he said so quietly she could barely hear it. “There is nowhere I would rather be. It is the privilege of my lifetime to do this with you.”
Daphne smiled.
Kronos cradled the back of her head with one hand while lifting her hips with the other. She surrendered to him completely, relaxing beneath his touch.
“Daphne,” he whispered as the head of his cock slid inside her. “Daphne.”
She’d had his cock down her throat more times than she could count, but it was another thing entirely to have it inside her center.
She was not prepared for the way it stretched her, opening her up as he slid in inch after unrelenting inch.
It did not matter how carefully he went; it was still a process.
But Kronos was a patient man. She had asked him to go slow, and slow he went, sliding out, then in, then out again—going just a little bit farther every time.
Daphne breathed through it, at peace in the arms of the man who loved her.
Kronos whispered to her the entire time, murmuring praise against her lips: “You do not understand how good you feel.”
Out.
“I cannot believe I have you at last.”
In.
“Your cunt is perfect. You are even more so.”
Out.
“I love you like this.”
At last, he was all the way in.
Daphne gasped as he filled her completely. Kronos gasped too, his grip tightening on the back of her head as he let out a groan of utter satisfaction—a noise Daphne wished to hear every day for the rest of her life.
“Daphne.”
Her name was his beacon—his light in the darkness.
“You cannot imagine… You do not understand…”
Yet Daphne understood quite well. She knew how it felt to finally connect with him physically after letting their emotional bond build.
It felt like heaven, like absolution, like everything in her life had been leading to this.
There was no before; there was only after.
Daphne would never be the same after this—never again look at a man and desire him the way she desired Kronos.
Maximus paled in comparison. Everyone paled in comparison.
Kronos thrust slowly. Methodically.
He fucked her the way he did everything—with intention and care—and Daphne breathed through it all, gripping his shoulders tightly as he angled his cock even deeper.
“You’re so big,” she whispered.
His eyes met hers. “Is it too much?”
She shook her head. “No.”
It was not too much; it could never be too much. If anything, it was not enough. Daphne wanted him to fill her, to thrust until they were one being instead of two.
His fingers found her clitoris, rubbing it rhythmically as his cock slid in and out.
Daphne moaned in time to the motion, arching her back and pulling him closer.
When his lips found hers again, she drank him in like wine, tasting his tongue as if it were her own.
His hand was still behind her neck, holding her in place, keeping her right where he wanted her.
“Kronos,” she whispered between kisses. “I want to be on top.”
Without a word, he rolled so she was on top of him, her legs on either side of his hips.
He looked incredible from this angle. Daphne knew she did too.
From here she could see every inch of his torso—rippled with muscle and taut beneath her palms. She ran her hands over his skin, feeling how warm he was, dispersing tiny wisps of smoke as she did so.
Kronos touched her too, caressing and cupping her breasts, brushing his thumbs over her nipples.
Daphne moaned at the contact, unable to contain her pleasure.
It felt sinfully good. No one could touch her like he could; no one could elicit such joy.
“Mén zeseré,” Kronos whispered as she rode him. His hand found her throat. He squeezed.
It felt as if they were born to do this, like they were finally where they were supposed to be.
Anyone Daphne had fucked before Kronos had simply been practice for this moment, right here right now.
She moved her hips slowly, tilting them at the perfect angle, rubbing her clitoris at the same time.
The stimulation was overwhelming. Daphne was an exposed nerve—a raw, open, beating heart.
A hiss filled the air; Kronos’s pupils were completely black.
Daphne wanted to crawl inside them—to fall deep into their depths and drown in them.
“You feel so good,” she gasped. “So—”
He squeezed her ass with both hands, taking her breath away.
“Kronos.”
His hand dipped between her legs, covering hers. They touched her clitoris together, pushing her toward the edge.
Daphne was close now.
Kronos was too—she could hear it in the desperation of his groans, see it in the sweat that coated his skin.
But she wanted to draw it out, to enjoy this infinite moment with him.
So she slowed her motions, rolling her hips languidly, watching the way his body reacted to hers.
She sat up straight, showing him every inch of her body, displaying herself for his eyes alone.
“I have wanted you for so long,” Kronos whispered.
She smiled. “Was I worth the wait?”
“Infinitely.”
His pulse was beating in his neck. Daphne leaned forward to touch it, brushing her fingers over the tendons beneath his skin. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered.
“Not as beautiful as you.”
She smiled wider. It felt unbelievable to be above a man like this—to be on top—to be in charge. Daphne had never been anything but a girl. But tonight, in this moment, she was a queen. All she knew was his cock inside her, his body below her. All she felt was bliss.
“Kronos.” She looked him in the eye. “I want to come.”
The air grew even warmer. Kronos’s hands returned to her hips, gripping her tightly, pulling her forward at a purposeful pace. “I will give you anything you want.”