Chapter 4 #7
Riftan remained silent.
“And there’s still the matter of Princess Agnes,” the knight continued. “It’s clear that the king desires a marriage between the two of you. I understand why you’re hesitant, but you must avoid antagonizing him. He distrusts his vassals as it is.”
“Elliot’s right,” said Hebaron. “If we miss the celebration, the king will feel that you humiliated him in front of the entire court. He tends to hold grudges, so there’s no telling what the repercussions could be.”
“Hebaron Nirtha!” Ricaydo snapped. “You dare blaspheme the king?”
Hearing the growing agitation between the knights, Maxi turned away from the dining hall.
“P-Please bring my m-meal to m-my room,” she instructed Ludis before making her way back up the stairs.
Her mood darkened as she dined alone, wondering how she would fare while Riftan was away. So far, everyone in Calypse Castle had been kind to her, but that might only be because Riftan was with her. The prospect of being alone in Anatol made Maxi uneasy.
“Is the food not to your liking, my lady?” Ludis asked, noticing her glum expression.
Maxi quickly shook her head. “N-No, it’s d-delicious. I j-just…I don’t h-have an a-appetite.”
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m j-just a little t-tired. I’d like to r-rest.”
“Should I take away your plate?”
Maxi nodded, and Ludis left with the half-finished food. Still seated at the table, Maxi gazed at the figurines that Aderon had left behind, but the little statuettes had lost their charm.
It should not have bothered her so much to be alone—she had always been alone, after all. For twenty-two long years, she had lived with a cruel father, a callous half-sister, and disrespectful servants. There was no reason for Riftan’s monthlong absence to make her feel so forlorn.
An arm suddenly reached over and entered her vision.
“What’s that you’re looking at?” A hand reached over her shoulder and picked up one of the statuettes.
Maxi whipped her head around in surprise. She hadn’t noticed Riftan entering the room, and now watched as he bemusedly examined the marble miniature in his hand.
“They’re m-models of the d-decorations for the b-banquet hall.”
“The banquet hall?” Riftan frowned.
Maxi’s heart sank. “Y-You wanted me to r-redecorate the c-castle….”
“Yes, I just forgot that there was a banquet hall in this castle. I suppose we’ll need to hold banquets and balls eventually.”
Maxi swallowed against her constricting throat. The thought of hosting a ball or banquet was enough to make her head spin, but Riftan’s eyes were bright with anticipation.
“D-D-D-Do you w-want to host a b-ball?”
“I don’t dislike the idea, though I can’t say I’m accustomed to such noisy affairs.”
Riftan bent forward and set the miniature down, then he reached into her hair and pulled out the pin that held it in place. Her thick braid thumped heavily onto her back. He undid the braid, smiling as his fingers slipped through the soft tresses.
“I’d like to see you dressed up and dancing.”
Maxi had never thought of herself as beautiful, and she had never danced at a ball. The disparity between Riftan’s expectations and her true self unnerved her.
“C-Come to th-think of it, I h-haven’t even thanked you p-properly. Th-Thank you for sending the t-tailor.”
“You needn’t be so formal over something trivial,” Riftan answered impassively, withdrawing his hands from her hair. “I know that life here can’t compare to your life at Croyso Castle, but bear it for now. With time, I’ll give you everything you want.”
He wound an arm around her shoulders and kissed her earlobe, but she shrank from his embrace.
She wanted to say that she came from nothing, that his kindness was more than she could ever have hoped for, but the words never left her mouth.
She was happy that he cherished her, even if what he cherished was an illusion.
“I need to leave for the capital in a few days,” Riftan said. “I’ll bring back a cartload of gifts for you.”
“Al-All right…”
“I’ll come home as soon as I can. I only need to attend the ceremony, and then I’ll return….” He trailed off as he parted her lips with his tongue.
Maxi’s eyelids quivered closed. She tasted traces of wine in his kiss, and his stubbled chin rubbed pleasantly against hers.
There was something alluring about the way he pursued her. Though his persistence and the fierceness of his desire frightened her sometimes, his tenderness was sublime. Under his touch, she felt like a delicate wildflower plucked from the earth and brought home to treasure.
“Damn it,” Riftan whispered against her mouth. “I really don’t want to go.”
When their lips parted, a string of saliva stretched between them. Maxi gazed up at him and he cupped her breast in one hand, pulling her closer with the other.
“I just want to lock myself in this room with you for as long as possible.” His voice was thick with passion but heavy with a fatigue built up over three long years.
Guilt and sympathy welled up in Maxi’s heart, and she hesitantly reached up to slide her fingers through his hair. Riftan stopped kissing her neck and pulled back in surprise.
“Ch-Cheer up,” Maxi said, her voice trembling.
A storm flickered in Riftan’s dark eyes, and they filled with turbulent emotion before he captured her mouth with his own. As their breath mingled, goosebumps shivered down the back of Maxi’s neck.
“You’re the one who started this, so don’t blame me later,” Riftan growled.
He lifted her into his arms as if she weighed nothing. Maxi was not afraid this time—rather, she felt a sharp thrill. She was beginning to realize the important place he had come to occupy in her life—and, now, that is what frightened her.
—
The sky was bright white the next morning, covered by a blanket of misty clouds. Milky sunlight seeped in through the windows. It was well past dawn.
“E-Enough…” Maxi whimpered hoarsely as she crawled across the blankets to evade Riftan, but her strength had been depleted overnight. She did not have the strength to pick a flower, let alone fend off Riftan.
“R-Riftan, p-please…” She sprawled on her stomach, her hips lifted high into the air.
“Just a little more…” His breath was hot between her legs as she buried her face in the sheets.
The warmth of the flickering fire licked their skin, and their bodies glistened with sweat. Even that faint, dying heat felt like torture.
“It’s amazing that you have a part that can receive me,” Riftan murmured as he kissed the place between her thighs. “And that I have a part that can connect with you.”
Maxi’s hips trembled. Her thighs were stiff and cramped, and her wet, swollen flesh throbbed. She whimpered quietly, her heart constricting as she lay defenseless and bare under his scrutinizing gaze.
“Do you know how beautiful you are right now?” Riftan’s fingers gently parted and stroked her.
Maxi sank her teeth into a pillow, certain that she would go mad. It felt as if her entire body would melt, leaving nothing but the place he touched. Overwhelmed by the intensity of her climax, tears streamed down her cheeks.
“You’re maddeningly beautiful….” Riftan whispered, his voice deep and husky as he stroked her back to soothe her.
His lips grazed her neck and the back of her ears, and Maxi gripped the blankets against the consuming sensations. His hot breath warmed her delicate skin and gently nibbled back down to press his mouth to her swollen nub. Every nerve in her body seemed to split.
“I c-can’t…Ah…!”
Her back arched, rocking her hips into him. Riftan shifted back and clasped his hands tightly around her buttocks before sliding his thickness into her yet again. She lacked the strength to even moan.
Riftan’s weight pressed into her, and the bed creaked with the urgency of his thrusts.
Swollen to an unbearable degree, he parted her wetness and filled her to her depths.
With each thrust, his movements became rougher.
Maxi’s body, flushed and sensitive, melted into the sheets.
Her vision dimmed, and all sound became indistinct.
—
Momentarily disoriented by the sensation of plunging down a cliff, Maxi was brought back to her senses by the sound of raindrops striking the windows.
Riftan lay quietly behind her with his arm wrapped around her waist. He was still sheathed inside her, finally sated from continual release.
His chest rose and fell gently with each slow breath.
Maxi’s eyelids fluttered closed as she lay in his arms. She was unsure of how long they had dozed.
“I want to make love to you until you melt and become one with me,” Riftan murmured, reaching for her breasts. They were sore from his unwavering attention, and she moaned as he began to knead them.
He leaned over to gently kiss her lips. His hair looked as if someone had been tearing at it, and his face, usually as cold as a metal blade, was flushed and glistening with sweat.
Scratches marred his neck and arms. Realizing that she was the one responsible for them, Maxi cautiously touched the angry welts.
Riftan smiled faintly, his stern eyes clouded with passion. “Not even the basilisk I fought left a scratch on me….”
“I-I’m sorry.” Maxi’s voice came out as a croak.
He kissed her. “You…are a dangerous creature.”
Riftan’s dark eyes seemed to stare straight into her mind, and it frightened her. She wanted to ask him what he meant, but her voice would not work. Riftan kissed her once again, their tongues entwining.
“The first moment I saw you, I knew you would ruin me.”
He spoke so softly now that Maxi could barely hear him. In the quiet after, she sank into a deep sleep.
—
As if to make up for the previous day’s drizzle, an unrelenting rain poured down outside.
It almost seemed as if a hole had opened in the sky, and the knights did not dare resume their arguments for an immediate departure.
So, the journey to the capital was delayed once more.
Riftan, unable to inspect his land in such a deluge, spent the day idling indoors for the first time since his return.
Maxi listened to the sound of the rain as they lay naked in bed together.
When desire struck, they locked themselves in a heated embrace, making love until they could not tell whose body was whose.
Later, when they were sated, they bathed together and ate a meal that the maidservants brought to the room for them.
Riftan placed Maxi on his lap and fed her pieces of sweet fruit, cream-topped bread, and delicate pastries while they sat in bed. She worried that such indulgence was improper, but was too exhausted to protest or feel embarrassed. Leaning against his chest, she accepted the food from his fingers.
Riftan looked down and smiled at her. “You’re just like a little bird.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then offered her a sip of wine.
Maxi felt herself go weak. He was protective and possessive at once, unable to let go of her for even a moment. He washed and fed her, kissed every corner of her body, and showered her with gifts. She had never known such devotion.
A thrill surged through her. Not even her own mother had cared for her like this, and Maxi wanted to throw her arms around him and rub her face against his chest, but she was too exhausted to move.
“I never imagined that I’d be jealous of a grape,” Riftan muttered as he pushed one into her mouth.
She popped the tart fruit between her teeth and swallowed.
He kissed juice from her lips, then cupped her cheek in his hand.
His thumb danced across her glistening lips and the sensation intoxicated her, as if she were submerged in a barrel of golden wine.
The sensual heat in the room mingled with the damp scent of rain in the air.
“Crush and swallow me like that grape,” Riftan said and pressed his mouth to hers.
Their tongues connected, hungry and seeking, more eloquent than any words could be. Maxi’s throat tightened and a passionate shudder rippled through her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Riftan pushed her onto her back.
Pieces of fruit rolled onto the bed as their bodies knocked over the fruit bowl. Riftan’s chest, smooth as marble, pressed down on Maxi’s soft breasts as he licked her juice-stained skin. The sheets, sticky with nectar, were cool beneath her.
“Oh…”
“Mmm…”
Joined in a wet kiss that tasted of fruit and desire, they rolled around the bed. Their flushed bodies rubbed longingly together, and they breathed each other’s breath like oxygen. Heat simmered in Maxi’s heart.
“Say my name,” Riftan pleaded, gazing intently into her eyes.
“R-Riftan…”
“Again…”
“R-Riftan—Ohh…!”
“More. Say my name again…”
She called his name again and again, until her voice grew hoarse.
At that moment, she existed only to fulfill him.
The sermons she had heard about temperance, about the virtues of a modest woman, were all but forgotten.
In their place was the joy of knowing, for the first time in her life, that someone needed her.
Enraptured, she thought she might lose herself.
It feels so good. He’s taken my life and resurrected me.
She looked at Riftan through foggy eyes. In that moment, he was all that existed. His name became the only word she knew.