15. Fifteen
Prince Tirriel has been here ten minutes, and already I”m reminded what a little shit he is.
Twenty-two, maybe twenty-three years old now. Doesn”t really matter.
What does matter is that in the ten minutes he”s been here, his blue eyes have landed on Elva”s ass no less than four times. He”s so distracted by it that he doesn”t even seem to notice me burning holes into the side of his fucking head with my gaze, imagining those fucking curls bursting into flames.
”Your Majesty, are you even listening to me?” Colm asks.
”Yes. I”m. Listening.” I bite at him, his tone a little too casualfor my liking. He”s never dared be this brazen with me before. Something has changed since last year, leaving him feeling far more confident that I won”t kill him than he should be.
”Then what did I just say?”
”You said you had no idea that Rhyma used your land as a route to attack one of my villages, that the idea is abhorrent,”I answer, barely keeping myself from grabbing around his throat and squeezing the life out of him.
”Oh.”He clears his throat, taking a swig from his drink. I watch in disgust as a drop of the dark red liquid seeps out the corner of his mouth and onto his vest. It”s barely past breakfast, and already, he”s had the servants bring him several carafes of wine. ”Well, yes. Abhorrent. I have no reason to align with such animals.”
If there is one advantage to this monstrous thing on my head,it”sthat I can roll my eyes, and no one is the wiser except Maren. From her conversation with Tirriel, she looks at me and raises both brows in humor, laughing at my expense.
My Elva stands in the corner, lost in conversation with the witches. Her eyes dart between them, back and forthand back againand again, doing everything in her power to keep up with their conversation. Her ability to make friends with the strangest of people leaves me puzzled. The witches never attend the socializing part of these stupid meetings.
Of course, it”s been the same people every time since we began this years ago. The Rhymans never bothered to send anyone to speak with us, only sending missives as if this whole thing was beneath them.
I can”t help but wonder what changed this year to make them send someone. Part of me wonders if Elva created the positionherselfjust so she could have an excuse to learn more about everything in this world. A smile pulls at my lips because she absolutely would do that.
That smarmy shit Tirriel apparently gets tired of waiting for Elva to finish her conversations with the Eyes, reaching a hand out to tap on her shoulder. The second he touches her, her whole body tenses almost imperceptibly, but even from here, I can see the discomfort in her posture before she smooths it, turning with a beaming smile.
I can”t quite hear what she”s saying to him, but I can only imagine that he”s telling her, ”You must be the Elva I”ve heard so much about” while his gaze obviously traverses her frame.”No one told me that Rhyma was sending their most beautiful.”
Andshe”sgoing to be all ”That”s highly inappropriate, Your Highness. I”m here on merit alone, Your Highness” and ”You must respect me, Your Highness.”
Instead, she lowers her head, looking up at him through her lashes with a small smile, reaching her hand out for him to kiss it. Which he does for far longer than is necessary. When he”s done drooling all over it, he takes that hand and tucks it into the crook of his elbow to guide her away from the witches.
Her gaze darts up to mine, only for the briefest second, a challenge in her eyes a-fucking-gain. While Maren might flirt with her just to get a rise out of me, and Colm is just a boring old man who loves attention, Tirriel means it. He would bed Elva in two seconds if given half a chanceto do so.
He seats her on a couch that certainly shouldn”t be considered enough space for two people, only one who wanted to lounge comfortably. With all the inhuman grace of a predator cat, he sinks into the seat beside her, resting one arm behind her on the headrest. With the other, he runs a hand through his deep red curls, ruffling them before signaling to a staff member, Sai, to bring the two of them something to drink.
When they do, Elva gestures Sai closer rather than take the drink, whispering something to them. Very few people left in this castle are still living, breathing mortals, and I”m tempted to cut that number even lower just to know what she asked them.
After handing Tirriel his beverage, the server hands their tray off to one of the staff, who is perfectly undead and under my control, vanishing into the hallway. I debate following them, wondering what kind of order she could have made that would encourage them to leave their station.
While, yes, they were all told by Rayato fetch anything Elva required, what could she possibly need right now?
Just asI ready myself to follow them, the most beautiful sound I”ve ever heard rings out.For a moment,I thinkthe Syrens are here to destroy my castle.
But no, it”s just Elva laughing at something Prince fucking Tirriel said. All around me, even directed at me, conversations continue, but allI can do is stare at her and wait for more of that lovely, infuriating sound. What did he say that was so fucking funny?
Only moments later, the servant returns with a very familiar-looking cup in their hand.
Elva brightens, nearly jumping out of her seat to grab the hot drink from the servant. As she does, I watch her perfect mouth form a thank you, and a grin finally makes its way onto my face.
Coffee.
She asked them for coffee.
Such a simple thing, and yet, knowing I introduced this thing into her world that she loves so much fills me with... joy? Pride?PerhapsI”m unfamiliar with both in this context, buteither way,it feels good to be the source of her smiles.
Until shecontinues smiling even while looking at Tirriel rather than the drink in her hand.
Stuck in place, I watch them. For no less than 25 minutes, I remain motionless, wordless, lifeless myself, just watching them. I see every timehelifts a hand to painthera picture of whatever fucking story he”s telling. I see her lift her free hand to place on her chest as she throws her head back to laugh at it. I see him staring at her thighs as if he could see right through her dress.
I blink my eyes rapidly to stop the twitching, but it doesn”t work even the slightest bit.
What the fuck.
Who is this person? Where is my Elva? This beautiful little doll, this little charade, is not the woman who has possessed my thoughts for the last few days. This is...
Now, it all makes sense. This is howshegotherposition. Easy smiles, batting lashes, demure touches. She”s all but conning them into trusting her. She had to have done this back home, convincing them all that she”s capable of charming anyone. First Maren, then the witches, now Tirriel.
She is packed to the brim with charm, and yet, all I”ve received is her sharp bite and wicked tongue.Two very different emotions war within me. First, I”m fucking pissed. I want all of those smiles. The laughs. The easy conversation. All of it.
And second... well,I supposeI enjoy that perhaps she can”t be this fake persona with me.Whether it”s fear or something else, I break her facade and make her be herself more than any of them ever could. They get her stunning smiles, but her true beauty is mine to keepallto myself.
Just as I”m thinking the words, she does something that completely ruins any positive thoughts I might have about the situation.
Her free hand reaches up, and I”m trapped ina world moving excruciatingly slow.That hand lands right wherehisshoulder meetshisarm as she laughs a-fucking-gain. After all this talk of not liking physical contact, she”s let him and Maren kiss her knuckles, and now she”s touching him back.
Every instinct in my body begs me to kill him. Put him so far out ofherreach that no one will ever be able to touch him again. Once again, her eyes flick to me, their fiery wickedness for me and only me. There she sits, staring down the monster she”s been taught for years to fear. Even before I became king, there were tales of my crimes against the crown, how I used the dead as shields and weapons on my path to the throne, leaving behind not a single living witness.
And yet, she feels no fear at taunting me, teasing me, making me crave her flesh, only to touch another man in front of me and dare me to do something about it.
She has no fucking clue what game she”s playing.
But she will.
Fury and desire are a volatile mix.
One I”ve never had any experience with.
Fury is simple.I cangenerally justeliminate anything and anyone who angers me.Desire is even more so. I”ve never had any difficulty bedding someone I wanted.
But together, they”ve turned me into a monster, unlike anything I thought possible.
Here I am, watching her sleep again.
She”s in one of the barely-there sleeping slips I had Raya procure, sound asleep with her hair half across her face and half draped over the pillow.
Her pink lips are slightly parted, and sheis sighingsoftly in her dreams.
I want to be her worst nightmare—the one she”ll never wake up from and the kind she fears because she craves it so deeply and hates herself for it.
After watching her flirt with the crown prince today, I considered killing him right then and there and taking her atop his cooling corpse just to show her who she belongs to.
No, that can”t be right.This is just a physical need, one made worse by being told I”m not allowed to haveher.
I can”t fuck her. She won”t let me touch her skin for reasons she”s yet to reveal. I”ll let her keep her secret for now, even find creative ways to work around it if I must. Including these fucking gloves that keep me from feeling her soft skin. She tasted so delicious I couldn”t help myself. Her cunt and her blood sang to me, making me lightheaded with need.
I have to taste her again. As depraved as it is, I”ll do anything to taste the sweetness between her legs.
Still blissfully unaware of my presence, she sleeps, the dim light making her ethereal in her beauty. I shouldn”t do this. I can just stand here, watching her rest, then take care of my needs alone in my room. I can fuck my hand and wish it was her instead.
And yet... I stand closer, my knees pressed against her bedside as I lean over her, ghosting my fingers across her collarbone, down between her perfect breasts. My touch ignites something in her, and goosebumps break out across her flesh, the peaks of her nipples becoming mouth-wateringly hard.
My hand moves of its own accord, brushing across one of the peaks, and she sighs, the pleasure reaching her even in sleep. With more pressure, I draw a circle around it, imagining doing the same with my tongue.
A quiet whimper leaves her mouth, urging me on even as something in the back of my head screams at me to stop this madness. But I can”t. She is the madness, and I am just the afflicted.
As slow as my body will let me move, I lean over, gently licking the hard bud through her nightgown, unsure how much more it will take to wake her.I blow a stream of air across the wet spot, and she shivers.
Finally, her eyes slowly blink open, finding mine in the darkness. Before she can scream, I cover her mouth with my palm. ”Do not scream,”I warn her. ”I”m not here to hurt you.”
As the fear dissipates, rage fills her face, brows pinching together and eyes widening. I release her mouth, dragging my hand down to wrap around her throat. The grip has the same effectit didyesterday, turning my fiery Elva into a vision of need and surrender.
”What are you doing?”she finally asks, laying her head back on the pillow and closing her eyes as if she could make this bad dream disappear.
I don”t have an honest answer for her. ”Shh,”I whisper, releasing her throat and setting my sights back on her exquisite chest. I blow the hard peak again before issuing a command, ”Put your arms above your head. If you move them, I stop.”
After only a moment”s hesitation, she obeys, and that one simple movement makes my cock throb. It might notexactlybe permission, but it”s close enough for me right now.
Slowly, I climb on top of her, using my knees to force her legs apart. Again, she whimpers, refusing to look at me. ”Did you think there wouldn”t be consequences, my Elva?”
She scoffs, the sound not convincing at all, as she lies beneath me, squirming and panting. ”Consequences for what, Your Majesty?”
”For being a tease yesterday evening,”I tell her, leaning in to wrap my hand back where it belongs around her slender neck. ”For flirting with the crown prince today. For being the bane of my existence every moment in between.”
She swallows, her throat muscles moving against my palm in a motion so erotic I can watch nothing else. ”Kairon,”she pleads my name, seemingcompletelyunsure what she”s asking for. Surely she”s not—
”Elva,”I respond, ”Tell me you”ve been touched by another before.”If she”s a virgin, I”m not sure how I”ll feel about it. The part of me that wants to possess her every inch will revel in being the first one to touch her. But she should be exploring this for the first time with someone who will be gentle with her, love her. Not with the vile, depraved monster that wants her filthy with blood and my spend.
”I”ve done this before,”she rolls her eyes. ”I am not some naive girl who”s never been fucked.”
Even with my hand nearly cutting off her airway, she bites at me like it”s her favorite pastime. I squeeze harder, and her eyelids flutter, clenching her legs together to alleviate the ache she feels between them. I slide one of my knees right at the junction between her thighs, and she chokes out a breath at the sudden contact.
Through the sheets tangled in her legs, her nightgown, and her underwear, I can still feel the heat coming from her delicious center. Her hands grip the headboard above her so tightly that her knuckles are pure white. Every glorious inch of her body is pulled taut like she”s afraid of her own eventual surrender to the pleasure she knows only I can bring her.
The smallest motion of her hips rubs her against my leg, driving me mad with the need to pin her and completely lose myself inside her.But she hasn”t asked for that yet and won”t accept that it”s what she wants, too.So, for now, she can have the same torment as me. The almost. The raging need of something being within reach and then ripped away.
But gods above, I want to make her come.
Still hovering above her, I move my thigh against her center, grinding with her as she rocks against me again. Her mouth falls open, panting as her body takes control, chasing the release she needs, even while her eyebrows are pinched in frustration. Watching the internal struggle of her mind trying to escape me while her body aches to give in is sweeter than any vicious battle I”ve fought before.
Her surrender will besomuch more fulfilling than any other victory I”ll ever have.
”Kairon,”she moans my name, barely able to get the sound out with the hand encasing her throat. ”Please. I can”t, I can”t-”Her words cut off with a whimper as she fights against the desire coursing through her.
”You can”t what, my Elva?”I taunt. ”Can”t think? Can”t breathe?”I squeeze again before releasing her completely.
”Yes,” she gasps, greedily inhaling air.
I hmm noncommittally, removing my leg from between hers, to which she whines in protest. With a chuckle, I lean in, licking her hard nipple and blowing on it again. A desperate cry leaves her mouth, and I bite back a groan. ”Now you know how I feel every time you enter the room.”
Before either one of us can fully realize how terrifying that truth is, I ease down, taking the hard bud into my mouth and sucking it, laving my tongue over it again and again through her nightgown until she”s writhing beneath me, softly moaning with her eyes glued shut and mouth wide open.
When I”m satisfied, I move to the other side, giving it the same attention, using my free hand to work the sheets away from us so I can reach my damnation and salvation easier.
”Kai,”Elva whimpers my name, the single syllable so filthy I feel it down my spine, shooting sparks of pleasure into every inch of my body.
”Yes, my Elva?”I answer, moving my mouth to the center of her breasts, trailing open-mouth kisses down her clothed stomach. ”What do you need, my delicious little liar?”
She whimpers and shakes her head as if she could shake away the depraved thoughts and the way she craves my touch and fears it equally. Further down her body I work, gently nibbling on her hip bone as she wiggles, tormented and trapped by me and her own body”s betrayal.
”I don”t know,”she admits. ”I just need more.”
I know, my sweet. I”ll give you everything you desire but are too afraid to askfor.
But not tonight.
I moan against the spot where her thigh meets her hip, licking it through her nightgown, then biting it hard enough to almost draw blood. Definitely hard enough that she”ll see and feel it tomorrow. Moving down her thigh, I do it again, more gentle but just as cruel, moving my mouth everywhere but where she needs it, leaving my mark behind on every inch of her I can reach.
When I”ve thoroughly tortured her inner thighs and hips, I look up to find her eyes on me, wild and almost watering in desperation.
”Is this what you need, Elva?”I force her legs further apart, licking a long, slow stripe against her cunt, only two layers of barely-there cloth separating her from my tongue.
She cries out, hips bucking up to search for more. Careful with my grip, I pin her legs down and lick her again, drawing another needy cry from her. Even through her sleeping clothes and underthings, she tastes so fucking good. Her cunt smells so unbelievably delicious I want to bury my tongue in it for hours, making her scream and beg and plead for mercy.
I moan against her flesh, unable to control myself, as I lavish more attention, more sloppy licks, and gentle bites of her needy, swollen clit. I suck it into my mouth, and she screams, so I suck harder, the taste of thin cotton and the clothing soap doing nothing to perturb me from enjoying every drop of her I can gather from the underwear and nightgown.
”Oh, my Elva,”I groan, pulling away long enough to watch her face as I use my gloved thumb to rub circles on her clit. I watch her face from between her legs, the vision one I”ll remember for all of my days more than any other memory. She looks wild, feral, and so delirious with need that she finally reflects how I feel. ”You”re soaked, my sweet. Do you need to fall apart, little liar? Need me to give you the release you”re aching for?”I apply more pressure, making measured circles as she pants and whines, trying to push her perfect cunt up against my mouth again.
I happily oblige, using my mouth on her, groaning into her sweet flesh as her legs start to shake and her every breath becomes a high-pitched, frantic moan. She”s so close now. Gods, I shouldn”t do this to her. ”Tell me,”I taunt, speaking against her sweetness between licks and gentle sucks on her clit. ”Tell me that you need to come. Ask me nicely.”
For a brief, blissful second,I thinkshe might obey.But that wouldn”t be my Elva. Instead, she grits her teeth, slamming her eyes closed and resting her head on the pillow, refusing.
With a chuckle, I redouble my efforts, making sure she feels every single moan her perfect, utterly divine pussy pulls from me. My face buried between her thighs is how I want to end every single night, seeing how far I can push her before she surrenders and begs me for it.
She”s flexing every muscle in her body, trying to keep herself from doing so now, knowing there”s no coming back from it when she inevitably does. She knew exactly where this would end when she gripped the headboard instead of telling me to fuck off.
A vicious suck, pulling her clit into my mouth and flicking my tongue against it, nearly sends her into oblivion, and she shouts, ”Fuck!” Come on, gorgeous. Let me have it. I need it. ”Please, Kai. Please, just let me…”she whines again, forcing the words out with such humiliation I know she”s never said them before, ”Please make me come.”
As soon as she says the magic words, I release her, stopping my work on her cunt. She tries to protest, but I grip her jaw, forcing her back down into the bed as I hover over her once again, every bit the monster she fears I am. ”Open,”I order.
She opens her mouth without hesitation, submitting so wholly my body aches to reward her. Confusion and carnal lust cloud her eyes as she watches and waits for what”s next. Slowly, I let a small amount of spit gather on my tongue, flavored with her and her clothes, and stick my tongue out.
The trail of saliva drips from my mouth, and she watches it, craving it like it”s the first drink of water she”s seen in days. When it finally reaches her mouth, it puddles on her tongue, and I groan at the filthy, depraved thoughts I have of watching my cum gather on it the same way. ”Swallow.”
She closes her mouth, and I stare as her muscles work to swallow it, so immensely pleased that any part of me could be inside her body when I can”t be. She gazes up at me, and I down at her, desire so intense it”s coursing through my blood, heating me from the inside and making me painfully hard.
I shouldn”t do this to her. Leave her like this. She”s going to be furious. It”ll ruin any progress I”ve made toward being cordial, much less earning her trust.
Images of her batting her lashes at the crown prince fill my mind, and suddenly, I don”t feel bad about it anymore.
All at once,I force myself away from her, standing from the bed with a grace that I certainly don”t feel.”Get some sleep, my Elva. You have a big day tomorrow.”Withoutso much asanother glance, I exit her room, locking myself in my bathroom.
My cock aches to return to my Elva and finish what I started for both of us, aches to slide into the warmth waiting for me. Frantically, before I can think better of it, I release myself from my pants and find release in my fist, hoping to ease the need clouding my thoughts. It doesn”t work, of course, only easing the pressure for a second before I”m painfully, agonizingly hard again.
Before I can do something stupid, I throw myself into bed, wishing for a sleep that I know won”t come.