Chapter 40
Aliya
Elessan shut the door to Aliya’s suite behind them as she tugged him into her room. The bed came into view as he pulled her to a stop. Burrowing his lips into the junction between her neck and shoulders, he kissed the sensitive skin there.
Aliya shivered, goosebumps rising up her arms.
“Hold on, My Queen,” he rumbled in that deep tone he had to know was her undoing. “I still need to do something about all these…” His fingers roamed up and down her waist. “Layers.”
Biting her lip, Aliya smiled as she leaned into him. “Hopefully you know your way around a corset?”
Spinning her until her back was to him, he chuckled as his hands went to the nape of her neck and started working their way down her spine, releasing the small buttons holding the outer shell of her dress together. “I suppose we’ll find out, won’t we?”
The silk and velvet fell away, pooling at her feet. There was a whisper of metal against leather and the sudden release of pressure as Elessan used a dagger to slice through the bindings along the back of her corset.
“Hey!” Aliya went to turn around as the stiff, binding material released and she took what felt like her first full breath since that morning. Catching the boning with a foot as it dropped to the floor, she kicked it across the room. Good riddance.
Elessan chuckled. “I can sense your never-ending love for restrictive human fashions.”
“Ugh.” She groaned, but the noise turned into a squeal as he bent and scooped her legs out from under her. With a heave, he tossed her onto the center of the bed.
Air whooshed from her lungs as she landed on her back. “Hey, what was that for?”
His eyes sparkled as a mischievous smile ghosted his lips. “Do you trust me?”
She blinked, the heat in her core guttering before flaring back to full force. “Yes…”
The breathiness in her voice made it sound like more of a question than an answer but the way his eyes were scouring her body, she didn’t care.
He held up two lengths of rope she hadn’t noticed. “Put your hands above your head.”
Wait, what? She furrowed her eyebrows, but he just stood there, waiting.
“You have this convenient four-poster bed, and I think it’s time you got to relax a little.”
She eyed the cords and the pillars at the top corners of her mattress. “Tying me up will help me relax?”
He leaned over her and kissed the side of her temple. “If you don’t like it, I’ll untie you.”
Aliya chewed on the inside of her cheek as she studied his face.
That didn’t sound very calming, but she didn’t have a ton of experience in the sexual arena, and she had just proclaimed her trust in him.
“Okay.” She fought to keep the nervous tremble from the word as she stretched her arms above her head.
Tying them secure enough she couldn’t get out but not too tight to hurt, he fastened each wrist to a bed post.
“See this loop here?” he asked, gesturing to the shorter end of the rope.
“Yes?”
“It’s a slip knot. If you don’t like what I’m doing, pull it, you’ll be free and I’ll stop.” He captured her eyes with his. “Alright?”
Something in her chest relaxed. This was okay. She had a way out, if she changed her mind. And he wouldn’t do anything to injure her.
“Are they too tight?”
Tugging on the ropes, she shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
Something dark sparkled in his eyes as his voice dropped in pitch. “Good.”
Crawling over her, he kissed beneath her ear—the spot guaranteed to make her melt.
Moaning, she arched her back until her breasts and stomach rubbed against him. Pausing, she frowned. “Hey, wait. You forgot to take your clothes off.”
Making a sound deep in his throat, he worked his way down her neck and across her collarbone. “Later,” he mumbled before taking her breast into his mouth and sucking.
Pleasure shot straight to her core.
Aliya gasped, bucking as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer, seeking more friction as the rough texture of his trousers ground into her inner thighs.
Tilting his head until he met her eyes, Elessan released her and clicked his tongue. “Oh, no… none of that.”
She frowned as he slid down her body, planting kisses down her stomach to her navel as he worked himself free.
“El!” She reached for him, but the ropes secured her arms firmly in place.
His fingernails brushed down, past her knees to her ankles as he stood. “Spread for me, My Queen,” he ordered, pinning her with his gaze as he held up two more lengths of rope.
Her eyes flicked to the two posts on the bottom of the bed. Really? “I don’t think—”
He shook his head, interrupting her. “Until you pull the slip knot, I’m in charge. And I said relax and let me take care of you.”
Aliya’s throat went dry as every muscle in her body went instantly liquid at the promise in his gravely voice. “Okay.” Licking her lips and hoping the dim light hid the heat creeping into her face, she spread her legs.
His focus zeroed in on her core, exposed to him. “Have I told you today how beautiful you are? If not, I’m an idiot, because you’re perfect.” Taking a deep breath, he blew a thin stream of cool air onto her center.
Aliya’s nipples hardened as she pulled against the bindings securing all four of her limbs. “Stop teasing.”
“Do you know how long I’ve waited, to have my queen splayed before me like my own, personal buffet?”
She furrowed her brow as she studied first his face, then the ropes holding her feet.
“How I’ve fantasized about being able to take my time with you, to show you how incredible you are?”
She wiggled her hips side to side, as if the movement would provide any relief from the heat boiling in her core threatening to combust every nerve ending in her body. “I think you must have some very,” she swallowed, “interesting fantasies.”
“Mmm.” He agreed, kissing the arch of her foot as he traced his hands up her ankle until he was massaging behind her knee.
Her muscles clenched, sending a new wave of fire through her. Who knew that area could be so erotic?
“I can’t wait to show you each one of them, My Queen.” His lips followed, raising bumps up her leg.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she said, swallowing another moan as he circled so slowly up her inner thighs to where she ached for him.
“Oh?” His mouth ghosted along behind.
“I like it more when you call me ‘my queen’ rather than ‘sweetheart.’”
“Good to know,” he rumbled before dragging a fang across the crease between her hips and thigh. His fingers finally entered her folds, coming away wet as he groaned. “All this, for me?”
“Well, what do you expect?” she asked. “You’ve been teasing me for hours.” An exaggeration, but he’d get the point.
He chuckled, the vibrations sending jolts of pleasure through her. “Oh, you have no idea how many hours I could tease you, or how much I’d enjoy it.”
She bared her teeth. “If you don’t give me an orgasm soon—” Her words cut off as he slid two fingers into her. Her back arched off the bed. Aliya grabbed the ropes binding her wrists, careful not to touch the release loops, and pulled.
Elessan’s gaze whipped to hers, probably to check to make sure she wasn’t freeing herself.
One corner of his lips turned up as dark mischief sparkled in his eyes.
“Or you’ll what,” he paused, curling his fingers to hit a spot deep inside that sent pleasure ricocheting through every fiber of her being, “My Queen?”
By the mages, she was going to come from the way he said her title alone…
She gasped and bucked as he plunged in and out, the friction ratcheting up the tension that had each muscle in her body trembling, begging for release.
Bending his head, he sucked her clit into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it.
His name tore from her throat as ecstasy ripped through her. White lights sparkled at the edge of her vision.
As the waves began to subside, Elessan twitched his fingers inside her and scraped one fang across her clit, spinning her into another orgasm.
Then he did it again.
And again.
By the fifth, or perhaps the eighth time, Aliya’s vision was blacking out and her muscles trembled.
“El, please…” She didn’t know if she was asking him to stop or to keep going.
“Do you think I can get you to ten rolling orgasms in a row?” he asked.
Mages…
Her head was going to explode.
She fumbled for the ropes holding her wrists with numb fingers.
He froze, watching her fumble with the release loop but failing to get a grip on it. “What do you want, My Queen?”
Aliya glanced at him, still clothed, between her legs as she tried to wrangle her thoughts into something that would form words. He was still wearing too many clothes. She wanted to feel his skin against hers as they found their pleasure together.
“You,” she gasped. “Inside me.”
She stifled a cry of protest as he pulled away. The soft rustling of clothing falling to the floor met her ears a heartbeat later. Then, his deft fingers were untying the ropes at her ankles.
“Roll over,” he said. “Carefully.”
With her wrists still bound and her muscles feeling like jelly, it was rather awkward, but after scooching up further on the bed, Aliya successfully managed to maneuver onto her stomach. Her face was burrowed between her elbows.
A warm hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her hips into the air. “Spread wide, My Queen.”
As her lust-drunk mind picked up on the new position, one she’d never imagined before, heat flushed her cheeks. She’d never pictured him taking her this way.
His weight settled behind her and his chest rested flush against her back. “Ready?” His crown pressed into her folds.
Biting her lower lip, Aliya nodded.
With one hand bracing her hip, Elessan thrust into her.
She gasped at the impossibly deep angle, only allowed by this position as her body stretched to accommodate him.
He froze, his hot breath caressing the side of her neck. “Are you okay?”
Thrusting back into him, she whispered, “Don’t stop.”
His fingers snaked down her front and between her legs, where they stroked her clit as he thrust again. “As my queen commands.”