Chapter 36
Darrow
It was still dark when I woke. I turned to find my wife fast asleep, lying on her back peacefully.
The number of times we’d shared a bed since we married could be counted on my fingers.
I had to take advantage whenever it happened and hope that someday we wouldn’t need to be apart so much.
Aella was mine, but more often than not, it felt as though she was always just out of reach.
Drawing back the covers, I watched her face as I bared her body.
She only slept in a loose tunic I’d borrowed from her sister to put on her, but it had ridden up to her waist in her sleep, giving me a tantalizing view.
I hadn’t dared wake her last night while she was weak and exhausted.
Now, relief filled me that the color had returned to her light golden skin.
My chest tightened the longer I stared at the woman before me.
Mine. Aella was mine. She was a work of art with the swell of her breasts, the flare of her hips, and the shape of her thighs.
I wanted to touch every part of her, memorize it all, and sculpt her body from memory, even though I had no such skill.
Perhaps I’d learn so that I could pay homage to her.
My father and brother continued to warn me that my driving obsession would not abate until I won her over completely—mind, heart, and body. Then, I would lose most of my interest and feel empty. The curse would ruin what we’d managed to build so far.
I enjoyed my unquenchable need for her and couldn’t imagine losing it.
Every time she rebuffed my touch or reminded me of her rules, it hurt somewhere deep in my soul.
I was still capable of feeling something, and Aella triggered every emotion to its limit.
A part of me was glad she resisted as much as she did.
It made me respect her more for her indomitable strength, but I also understood she did it to protect herself from more pain.
Her own family had betrayed her many times, and I didn’t want to be the next one on that cruel list.
Yet I wanted—needed—to be the one she could lean on and always feel safe.
Of course, she didn’t want to hear those things.
Every time I tried, she changed the subject or refused to acknowledge what I said.
She would not falter when it came to protecting her heart.
I feared that by the time I could break my curse and love again, it would be too late, and I’d have already driven her away.
Once she knew all my secrets, would she still want me?
If I couldn’t tell her everything I thought and felt, I would show it now until she insisted I stop. In these last two hours before dawn, I would give in to my desperate desire to touch her the way I truly wanted.
Slowly, I leaned down and began kissing the inside of her ankles, touching and feeling her smooth skin as she let out a soft moan.
Her thighs parted, and I worked my way up her legs.
In her sleep, she responded to me naturally without the barriers she put between us.
I could lick and kiss each curve and crevice, taking my time.
That foolish dark elf—Gretel—thought I only wanted rough and painful sex, but she didn’t understand. With other women, they meant nothing, nor did I want them to feel anything for me.
With my wife, my mate, I wanted it all. I wanted to shower Aella’s body with tender caresses and kisses, prove to her how much I valued her in every way, and win her heart.
Other times, I sought to build such painful pleasure that it would consume her body and soul with unquenchable desire, make her beg for more, and fuck her so hard that she lost all sense of time and place, except me.
Nothing I did with her ever felt like enough because I needed everything.
I reached past her knees, working my way up with the light touch of my hands and the smooth graze of my lips. She’d begun to whimper now. I smiled when I reached the apex of her thighs, relished the dewy scent of her need. She smelled like the freshest, sweetest flowers.
Her thighs were wide open now. Desperate for her, I buried my mouth between her legs and consumed her like a starved man.
By all the nameless ones, she tasted like pure nectar.
When she bucked, I gripped her hips to hold her still.
Aella’s hands clutched the bedsheets as her eyes shot open and focused on me.
“Dare…I…I…” she couldn’t finish before I sucked so hard she screamed as she released. To my satisfaction, she’d been more than ready for me.
I didn’t stop, wrenching every bit of pleasure from her I could get. She grabbed my loose hair and pulled at it, digging her sharp nails into my scalp, but I didn’t stop, even as she undoubtedly grew sensitive. I wanted to build her up again.
Aella whimpered. “Please. It’s too much.”
I lifted my head for just a moment. “It’s never enough with you, dear wife. I would stay down here making you moan my name for days if I could.”
“Fuck me, Dare,” she said, voice strengthening. “That’s what I want—your cock filling me up inside until I can’t take it anymore. I want the dark elf side of you.”
In other words, she wanted me to stop worshiping her and use her instead. I’d gotten a taste of what it was like to have her gently when the gods used our bodies, and now I wanted to try it without them.
Unfortunately, she didn’t feel the same. My wife wanted me to treat her as if she were any other woman, rather than the only one for me. I took a deep breath to calm the ache that formed in my chest from her rejecting my worship of her again. If that’s what she wanted, then that’s what she’d get.
I let my frustration and bitterness take over, allowing the darker side of me to rise.
All the tenderness I’d felt before slipped away.
I flipped Aella onto her hands and knees.
As she squealed in surprise, I raised a hand and slapped her ass, hard.
It left a red imprint across her skin. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” she said, panting. Through our bond, I could sense her pleasure.
I did it again and again, asking the same question each time until both of her butt cheeks must have been on fire.
Then, I grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back into an awkward position before shoving two fingers into her drenched pussy with my other hand.
I worked her roughly, wanting to give her the pain she craved.
Pulling her down, I forced her to sit on my hand. “Fuck my fingers, Aella.”
I didn’t let go of her hair, making it more difficult for her to move, but she did as I commanded. Her beautiful ass jerked up and down as her back arched with the effort. Finally, I released her locks to reach around and pinch her nipple, twisting it until she cried out.
“Do you like that?” I asked gruffly.
“Yes,” she breathed.
I pinched and twisted the other one, eliciting another cry. Aella wanted to be punished, and I wanted to make her hurt. My wife rejected any soft feelings I had for her. It drove me mad, yet I still wanted her all the same. I always would.
“Stop,” I ordered.
Aella froze.
I held my breath, making her wait while I didn’t move a muscle. She began to squirm, and I slapped her hip. She’d been building herself up again and getting close. This time, I wasn’t giving her what she craved. At least, not what her needy pussy wanted.
Pulling my fingers from inside her, I leaned close to her ear. “Get on the floor, on your knees, and open your mouth wide…now!”
I slapped her other hip, and she scrambled. Aella moved to the floor, positioning herself exactly as I described. Eagerness and desire flowed from her to me within our bond. She wanted my cold domination.
A feeling of power swept over me at seeing that luscious mouth waiting for me.
Thank the nameless ones that I slept naked, so all I had to do was shove my hard, aching cock inside.
My little half-druid gagged as I hit her throat, but she didn’t try pulling away.
I began thrusting back and forth, using her the way she’d used my fingers. There was nothing gentle about it.
Aella clutched my thighs, and her eyes grew moist, but our bond let me know she was enjoying every moment of it.
She wanted me to treat her like nothing.
That way, she got all the pleasure without the emotional connection.
She wanted me to play the villain—her enemy.
While I wanted so much more for our marriage, I would accede to her wishes for now.
“I wonder how many people died because you opened portals for a madman,” I said, sensing the other reason she wanted the pain—guilt. She thought she deserved it. Her uncle had taught her to feel bad for her crimes.
Tears pricked her eyes, but I only fucked her mouth harder.
I looked down on her cruelly because I could sense that’s what she wanted as well. “How many lives could have been saved if you’d made more sacrifices? If you’d taken more of his beatings and torture?”
Deep down, even the coldest among us sometimes had those thoughts rise unbidden.
That not everyone who we killed—directly or indirectly—truly deserved it.
The realization hit us when we least expected it because no matter how many deaths we caused, our conscience continued to remind us of what we’d done. That guilt never fully eased.
Only a select few felt nothing at all for their terrible choices.
There was no help for them, but for the rest of us, we knew we’d painted our souls black and wished we could wash ourselves clean.
But how? Punishing our bodies was one way we helped ourselves see just a little light.
When the pain was sharp enough, we could catch a small spot of purity in our field of darkness.
We craved more of it, but most of us had to settle for only a glimpse.
One day, I’d teach her how to help me the same way, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Her own grief and remorse were drowning her, even if she did an admirable job of hiding her feelings from most people.
Now that I had access to all her emotions, I could use them as a guide.
She wouldn’t heal and move on until she faced all her pain and fears.
Tears streamed down her cheeks now, and her fingernails dug into my skin.
She could have pulled away. Instead, she took my cock deeper until she couldn’t breathe.
It felt too good to be swallowed by her.
She was my weakness and my strength. I jerked as my balls tightened.
The look in her eyes said, “Make me drink all of you.”
I unloaded down her throat, unable to stop myself from calling out one gut-wrenching word. “Aella!”
After I finished, I pulled my cock away and rubbed the head against her lips, moistening them with my cum.
She breathed heavily, but she never took her gaze off mine.
I had the most beautiful and powerful woman in the world, with the softest heart, on her knees, feeling guilty for events beyond her control.
At that moment, I knew she’d do almost anything if it would distract her from the aching emptiness inside her.
“Use your mouth to make me hard again,” I commanded.
She began licking and sucking.
“If you do it well,” I said, staring down at her without a hint of emotion. “I’ll bend you over and fuck you until you can’t think anymore.”
Her relief at my words washed over me.
I gripped her chin as she sucked on the head of my dick. “And after I’ve filled your pussy with my cum, you’re going to walk with me down to the portal with it dripping down your thighs and send me to prison.”