25. Chapter Twenty Five Rhowyn
Chapter Twenty Five: Rhowyn
I slept alone last night, not quite ready to forgive any of them. While I could give them a second chance, I wasn't ready to get my hopes up that I'd be allowed to go with them without a fight. Granted, while making plans last night with Loki, Arryn begrudgingly included me, Callum staying silent but obviously still in disagreement. Until we were back in the castle, I wouldn't be able to relax.
Splashing cold water on my face to wake myself up, I regretted my lack of sleep. After tossing and turning all night, my thoughts refusing to let me rest, I finally gave up instead, trying to focus my mind in preparation for what I needed to do today.
Maybe a drink would help settle my nerves? Something to take the edge off sounded like just the thing. At this point, I'd try just about anything. As a fighter, I knew what nerves could do the night before a big fight. I knew and yet, this was on such a completely different level. In a fight, I didn't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt. I was in control.
But here? Now? I found that I had very little control, and it was terrifying. As much as we tried to plan for all the eventualities, I knew better than most that the best laid plans always went awry. Something would come up, and I prayed to Avalonia that my men would make it out of this safely. I'd do anything to ensure it.
I found the stash of liquor, greatly diminished over the last couple of days, the tension that we were under keeping us returning to the liquid that could soothe our raw anxieties. Finding a whiskey, I poured myself a glass, needing the sweet burn that it would give me. Taking a drink, I closed my eyes as it slid down my throat. My muscles relaxed as I inhaled, the scent of bergamot and night reaching my senses. Before opening my eyes, I prepared myself for this interaction. Today had already been tumultuous enough, I couldn't take any more rejection.
“Brannoc,” I said before opening my eyes to find him standing before me, just out of reach.
“Rhowyn.”
“What are you doing out here? Why aren't you resting?” I asked him, observing the mostly empty glass in his hand. He'd been out here first. I had probably intruded upon him.
“I could ask you the same,” he said.
Tipping my head in the direction of his glass, I said, “Sorry, I'll go. I'll let you drink in peace.” Holding up my own glass, I continued, “I just needed my own little night cap. I'll go now.”
Awkwardly, I started to leave, just now realizing that I had to maneuver around him to get away. When he didn't make any move to get out of my way, I paused to look up at him. “You don't have to go,” he told me.
“No. It's no problem. I really should try to get some more sleep,” I rambled, the desire to kiss him strong. The fear of rejection was the only thing keeping me from it.
“Please stay,” he pleaded. The vulnerability in his voice had me looking up at him, my confusion and desire peeking through to match his.
“Why?”
“Because I was a fool earlier. I shouldn't have pushed you away.”
“But you did.” It was both a question and a statement. I needed to know what had changed between then and now.
He sighed heavily. “Did you know that of the thousands of queens in Avalon history, not one of them has ever had a lower fae consort. Not just that, but they've never had an underfae lover either.”
“Okay...?”
“It's never been done. And I'm a fool because I thought that would matter to you. Hell, it still may, but I have to at least tell you how I feel.”
“And what is it that you feel?” I asked, drawn forward to him.
“Like I'll die if I don't taste your lips again. I feel like you're the air I need to breathe, the light to my dark, everything I didn't know I needed and wanted,” he confessed.
My breath hitched as he stepped nearer, leaning over and setting his glass down on the table behind me. Running a hand down my bare arm, he took my own glass from me, twining our fingers as he discarded our drinks.
“I know it's a lot to ask, but could you ever find it within yourself to let me be one of your lovers? If not, I understand. I'll just go back to serving you in any way that you'll let me, but I need to know if there's a chance for more?” His eyes stayed glued to our hands, his long fingers, which contrasted with my darker skin, ran circles across my knuckles and had me holding my breath.
“Yes,” I whispered. His eyes jerked to mine as if he hadn't expected that answer. As if he had expected me to deny him. Reaching up, I cupped his face with my free hand, squeezing his fingers at the same time. “Yes.”
My breath rushed from me with the word as I waited for him to close the distance. I had kissed him before, taking something he wasn't ready to give, only to be rejected. Now, I needed him to make the first move, to claim me.
Slowly, he leaned in until his breath brushed against my lips. My tongue darted out, licking his lips as well as my own, both of us inhaling at the contact. As if that small, brief touch was enough to snap the barrier that held him back, he slammed his mouth down onto mine, claiming me and deepening the kiss. His fingers weaved into my hair, pulling me closer as he tilted my head back for a better angle. He kissed me until my knees grew weak with desire, my own hands holding onto his forearms, desperate for his support.
Weightlessness overtook me while he kissed me, and I knew he just moved us from the living room. Breaking the kiss, I looked around at my new surroundings.
“Is this okay?” he asked, suddenly nervous. I glanced at the warm oak furniture, the sumptuous bed that took up most of the room. It was devoid of any personalization outside of the bare minimum furniture and items needed for sleep.
“This your room?” I asked him, moving closer to the bed, glancing back at him when he didn't immediately answer.
He just nodded. I knew he was waiting for my answer, but I didn't have any words for him right now. Instead, I lifted my tank top over my head and dropped it to the ground, leaving me bare above the waist.
His breath whistled as he inhaled sharply, his eyes glued to my body, taking in my breasts and hardened nipples. I watched him just as closely as I pushed my leggings and underwear down, leaving nothing on between us.
“Brannoc?” I asked him. His eyes met mine, pulled away from my body by force of will alone. When he finally met my gaze, I asked him, “Make me yours?”
“Fuck,” he breathed out, stalking me silently, even as he peeled off his own shirt.
Now it was my turn to inhale. His beautiful chest was lean with chiseled muscle. But what had me completely transfixed was the black ink that snaked across his skin. Symbols and writing in a language I couldn't read, but it didn't stop me from wanting to discover every inch.
I watched as his hands undid his pants, releasing the button before pausing. He leaned in, claiming my mouth again with his. “Are you sure?”
Reaching my hand out, I traced a line of ink that ran from his collarbone down his body to where it disappeared into his pants. “I'm positive,” I told him as I leaned in and tasted his skin, peppering his chest with kisses before sucking his nipple into my mouth, biting down on it gently.
“Shit, Rhowyn,” he breathed. “That feels good.” I hummed in satisfaction, moving to his other nipple, distracting him long enough that my hand could reach inside his pants, wrapping it around his hard shaft.
The breath left him as he groaned, but when I pulled back to look at him, needing to see the pleasure I was bringing him, I stopped. His eyes were now solid black as he looked down at me. I could sense the barely contained violence in that look.
As if something had snapped within him, he pushed me back onto the bed, shedding his pants quickly before I could even register the movement. Pushing up onto my elbows to see him, he stood between my legs, leaning down to cover my body with his.
He claimed my mouth, devouring me until I was completely under his control. His hand skimmed up my side, brushing my breast and leaving me whimpering with the denial of full contact. Instead, he pulled back, shoving two fingers into my mouth. Wrapping my tongue around the digits, I sucked them into my mouth. He closed his eyes on a groan before pulling them away and thrusting them as deep into my pussy as he could and scissoring them inside me. I squirmed under the intense pleasure as he watched me with his black eyes.
I hadn't needed any more lubrication, already wet and ready for him, but I loved his forcefulness. His thumb joined his fingers, spreading me wider and finding my clit. His thumb grazed that nub as his fingers made a come-hither motion, finding my G-spot. I moaned loudly at the concerted effort, my back arching up off the bed until I was nearly sitting. Lowering his head, he took one of my nipples into his mouth, biting down hard.
I flew apart at the contrast between pleasure and pain, gasping as my body squeezed his fingers. He continued to work me until I was a panting mess. “Brannoc, I want you. Please, fuck me,” I begged him, but he just continued, thrusting his fingers inside me.
I tried to squirm away from him, the pleasure too intense and still sensitive after my orgasm. “I wonder...” he started, slowing his fingers, which were now drenched in my pleasure, sliding one finger down. “Have you ever had a lover here, Rhowyn?”
I stiffened when his finger circled that puckered rose. Still, I moaned at the contact, surprised that I wanted it. He chuckled darkly. “I take that as a no.”
He pushed a finger slowly inside, sliding down my body and pressing a kiss to each breast, then each hip until he was settled firmly between my thighs. He watched his finger dip in and out, slowly pressing deeper and deeper. “The key here is to relax; any tension can create more friction or pain than intended,” he instructed me.
I moaned as he pressed his finger back inside, my thighs squeezing his shoulders as he pressed deeper. “Easy for you to say,” I panted out.
“Hmm...This just won't do.”
Before I could ask him what he meant, his mouth clamped down on my clit as he sucked hard. “Fuck!” I cried out, my legs falling further open, allowing him to get his finger fully seated inside me.
I panted as he pulled it out, his mouth licking up from my opening to my clit like I was an ice cream cone. “Your desire is absolutely delicious,” he said as he closed his eyes, savoring the taste of me, before leaning back down and thrusting his tongue inside me as his finger plunged back in.
“Holy shit!” I panted. “I'm so close, Brannoc. Don't stop.”
His finger picked up the pace, sliding in and out of my ass easily now, his tongue fucking me relentlessly. He added a second finger, stretching me out further and pushing me closer to my release with the added pressure. The burn just on the right side of pleasure, the small amount of pain making me crave more from him. My men had a thing for my ass, but if it brought this kind of pleasure and fullness, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to take one of them fully inside me there. Not only that but two of them. I could only imagine the bliss that those activities would bring.
Brannoc continued his assault on my body, wringing sensations from me that I had never felt before, but just as I started to climb that pinnacle, he stopped, pulling away from me. I whined, actually whined, at the sudden loss of him. I went to snap at him for stopping, but instead, my mouth dried at the sight of him standing, gripping himself in his hand, and squeezing until a drop leaked from the tip.
Licking my lips, I wanted to taste him, to please him like he'd done to me. “No,” he snapped, jerking me from my movements. I hadn't even realized I'd started to move to take him in my mouth. I laid back on the bed, letting him take the lead again, promising myself that next time I would take him. Next time, I would be in control. But holy shit, I wanted what he was offering me right now.
Lying still, I panted as he rubbed his dick through my moisture, slipping up and down, toying with me. He kept his eyes on me the whole time, watching each of my reactions. Finally, I couldn't take any more. I wrapped my heels around the back of his thighs, pulling him forward until he was lying on top of me, his forearms having caught his descent. “Enough,” I growled out.
He smirked, his eyes holding mine as he pushed forward slowly. I tried to rush him, pulling him again with my heels, but he resisted. He tortured me until he was finally seated fully inside me, stretching me. He held me still when I tried to move, needing him to push me over this cliff that he'd abandoned me on.
Instead, he leaned forward, claiming my mouth tenderly. At this moment, I didn't need a bond with him. I knew what he was feeling, what he was trying to tell me with this kiss. I let go, kissing him back just as deeply, letting him know that I felt it, too. That there was something more here than just passion and desire.
He started to move, as if no longer able to hold himself back, slowly at first, shallow absentminded strokes, his own body demanding pleasure, needing to feel the slide of himself in and out of my pussy as I clenched my muscles, urging him on. He continued to kiss me before quickly picking up speed, thrusting in and out, circling his hips with each thrust, brushing up against my G-spot and clit until I was a panting mess. My cries of ecstasy sounded out each time he made contact. Grabbing my hips for leverage, he ended the kiss, sitting up and pausing. His eyes roved over my body, my flushed chest and slicked skin, the evidence of his magic over me. This wasn’t some outside force, just two people finding heaven in each other’s embrace. Our eyes met as he slammed into me hard.
Over and over, again and again, he fucked me, our eyes never leaving each other’s. The force of each thrust hurtled us toward euphoria. Reaching a hand around, he brushed his thumb against my clit. “Come for me, Rhowyn. Now.” His words sent me soaring as I succumbed. Black spots dotted my vision as I milked him, squeezing him tightly until he joined me. His shadows escaped to dance between us in his release, caressing my skin and adding another layer to our pleasure until it finally wrapped around me, every inch of me covered by the inky, black haze, before they sank into my skin, burrowing deep inside me.
Looking up at Brannoc to see if that was normal, I found wide eyes, no longer consumed by black. His expression said everything. That whatever just transpired had never happened to him before.