Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Knox
I studied Briar as she kept her eyes closed, and some of the pinched look left her delicate features. Her breath still came faster than normal, but it had slowed as she gained more control of herself.
Her last words echoed in my head. I didn’t know what to make of them. If I set her free, what would she do? Was this some ploy to gain her freedom?
Did she know that if she offered herself to me and grasped my dick, I wouldn’t say no to her? Is that what she was trying to accomplish?
I’d intended to use this time to torture her into giving me information, but she’d spent hours in those chains and still wasn’t budging on her answers. And as much as I knew it was an incredibly bad idea, I was curious to see what she’d do if I released her.
Perhaps her words would prove to be nothing more than a lie, and I’d know for sure she was exactly who I believed her to be. But I couldn’t set her free until I was certain I could control myself.
Grinding the bones in my hands together, I struggled to restrain the beast. It still craved her, but I restrained it until my hands finally returned to normal. When I was certain I was in control again, I untied my ruined boots, pulled them off, and tossed them aside before rising.
Briar remained unmoving as she leaned into the chains; her breathing had steadied, and her face looked almost serene.
I’d never seen anything like this from the casters before.
It might prove to be a decision worse than the one to trust her in the first place, but I had to see what she’d do once freed.
I removed the key for the chains from my pocket as I strode toward her. The only indication she showed of my approach was her eyes moving a little faster behind her closed lids.
When I grasped one of the manacles around her wrist, my fingers brushed hers. She winced as her breathing picked up and her mouth compressed.
I’d never witnessed a caster seeking to avoid touch while in the harem. It only confused me further, but I’d already started this, and I would finish it.
When the lock clicked open, her hand fell to her side. She whimpered when it brushed her skin, but she didn’t move.
Determined to get this over with, I moved faster to undo the rest of the chains before stepping back.
Her eyes fluttered open. When they met mine, the fevered gleam still shone within them, but whereas other casters would have thrown themselves at me, she remained unmoving, her hands fisted at her sides and her face pinched with suffering.
“Now what?” I inquired.
Briar didn’t answer as she sank to her knees and lowered her head to the floor. Stretching her arms overhead, she resumed the position she’d been in when I first found her on the bathroom floor.
When her fingers bit into the cold concrete, she tore open the old wounds and spilled fresh blood, but she didn’t move. The scent of her arousal filled the air, but she did nothing to ease it.
Retreating to my chair, I sat to watch her, but as the hours passed, she didn’t look at me, and her breathing steadied. Whimpers sometimes escaped her, and at other times, she’d cry out before regaining control and settling down again.
My body stiffened in the chair, but I didn’t rise. I couldn’t take my eyes off her; her restraint fascinated me, as did her determination to withstand the call of her Needing.
Not only did she not try to fuck me or run out of here to find someone else, but she also didn’t masturbate.
While the casters went through as many eternals as they could in the harem, they were also constantly touching themselves.
I had no idea how their dicks and cunts weren’t raw and bleeding by the time their Needing ended.
But Briar didn’t touch herself, and while she had to be sore from retaining the same position for hours on end, she didn’t move. Whenever her breathing intensified and the aroma of her arousal increased, she slowly reined it back in.
Though she remained under control, her body was so tense her muscles and veins stood out. She looked like she might break if anyone touched her, and I suspected she would.
I didn’t know how much time passed before she started relaxing. I noticed it in her fingers first as they eased their death grip on the floor. Blood still trickled from their tips as she flattened them on the concrete and inhaled a shuddering breath.
Then her back eased, and her head turned to the side. A swollen, red mark marred her forehead from where she’d pressed it firmly against the ground. It would soon bruise.
Dumbfounded by what I’d witnessed, I took some time to steady myself as I walked over to the door and opened it. I half stepped into the hall.
“Someone bring me a blanket!” I called.
I wasn’t sure how close anyone was, but someone should have heard me. I closed the door and leaned against it. Briar remained unmoving, her eyes closed, and her breath coming raggedly in and out.
“It’s over,” she breathed.
A second later, a knock sounded on the door. I opened it to reveal Dromon on the other side. His eyes held a thousand questions, but he didn’t voice them as he handed a blanket out to me.
“We’ll talk soon,” I told him.
He nodded before I shut the door in his face. Turning back around, I discovered Briar sprawled out on the floor, her mouth slightly parted and her limbs spread. She was falling into the state of exhaustion that always accompanied the Needing.
I wouldn’t let her sleep on the concrete.
I had no idea what to make of what I’d witnessed, or what might follow, but as of now, she’d done the impossible…
or at least I’d believed it was impossible.
She’d also gone through it faster than any of the other casters; maybe denying herself pleasure had sped up the process.
Maybe the others could help me make sense of what happened. But first, I had to get her out of this room.
When I approached Briar, her eyes fluttered open before closing again. “I’m going to put this blanket over you,” I told her.
She didn’t respond, and I draped the cover over her before bending to scoop her into my arms. When she nestled against my chest, the part of me that I’d believed long dead rose a little as tenderness emerged; I pushed it down again.
She’d expended enough energy to have lost weight during her Needing. The lingering scent of her arousal filled my nose, but it wasn’t as extreme as before, and it had mingled with the aroma of body odor and sweat clinging to her too.
Her head fell against my shoulder, and for a second, I was thrown into the past with her in my arms and nestled against my side as our fingers entwined. Her whispered words of love, tender kisses, and joyful laugh filled my mind before she jerked her head up and stared at me from bloodshot eyes.
Sweat matted her hair to her forehead, and her skin remained abnormally pale as she stared at me. “I can walk,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
“Can you?”
I didn’t think she could hold her own weight, let alone take a step.
“Yes,” she said defiantly.
She was weak and exhausted, but I was willing to let her have her way on this. Having her in my arms again was triggering memories I preferred to keep buried.
Memories of fucking her were one thing. Memories of loving her were a different hell altogether.
Shifting my hold, I set her down and stood beside her as she wobbled more than a newborn foal. I waited until she steadied enough not to fall flat on her face. I strode over to open the door and stepped back as I held it for her.
She squeezed her eyes closed before opening them again. I wondered if her vision was blurry, but instead of admitting to needing help, she took one step, then another, and another.
When she lifted her right foot from the ground again, her left leg buckled, and she crumpled toward the floor. I didn’t recall releasing the door, but my arms encircled her, and I lifted her before she hit the ground.
Briar groaned as her head fell against my shoulder again. Irritation radiated from her when she lifted it, but her jaw locked, and she didn’t speak again.
I carried her from the room, down the hall, and out to the grand entry. No one else was around, and I suspected they’d all scattered after I’d called for the blanket.
Not even the sprites, with their mischievous personalities, would turn invisible to try to watch. Their ability was amazing, and often fooled many, but I’d learned to scent them out and knew when they were near.
I ignored the feeling of rightness that stole through me from having Briar in my arms again while I ascended the stairs, but it could never be.
It didn’t matter if the beast believed she belonged to us; it didn’t matter that she hadn’t confessed her sins and withstood her Needing in a way no other had.
Things were far too broken between us; not only that, but I wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with, and I never could be again.
Seth died in the harem. What rose to replace him was a monster willing to destroy everything in its way of freeing this kingdom.