Page 119

A king doesn’t beg.

She stiffens when I reach her, but she doesn’t move away. Brave. With a hand beneath her chin I tilt her face up, forcing her eyes to meet mine. The collar shifts as she swallows.

“I made your Barons save two things for me,” I look into her eyes. It’s not fear I see–I’m not convinced this girl knows fear. Wildness is more accurate. Wild, defiant, feral. Who else could escape from her captors? Who else could so easily kill one of my chosen men? “Your mouth and your pussy.”

I crush my lips against hers, swallowing her gasp. No soft coaxing. No gentle invitation. I dominate her mouth, demanding she open for me. When she hesitates, I bite her lower lip, just enough to sting, to draw blood. Her lips part instinctively, and I deepen the kiss, rough and possessive.

When I finally pull back she’s breathless, dazed.

I press two fingers to her swollen mouth, smearing her red blood across them.

"Lick," I command.

Shaking, she obeys, her tongue flicking warm against my skin.

Ah, there’s that good girl hidden under the wild-eyed gaze.

I grab her by the arms and turn her roughly, tugging at the laces of her corset. Each pull is deliberate, stripping away her armor. When the final lace gives, I let the dress fall, until she stands in body-hugging,virginal, white lace. Her breasts pushed together, her waist thin. That fucking collar around her neck.

Trembling. Vulnerable.

I lick my bottom lip and sit on the cushioned bench at the end of the bed.

"Undress for me," I order, wanting to see her–wantingherto show herself tome.

She hesitates, then reaches behind her back to unclasp the bra. It falls and I take a long, deliberate look at her, at her dark flesh, scarred here and there with the story of her life. Her full breasts, perky with youth, bedazzled with hard little bars DK pierced into her. They glint in the firelight.Teasing.

My mouth waters, and my cock swells tight and throbbing against my thigh.

“Come,” I tell her, spreading my legs. Once she’s close enough I reach out, grabbing her by the hips, pulling her between my knees. I hook my fingers into the thin lace strap of her panties, pulling them down. Her pussy is nearly bare, the thatch of hair I’d seen the night before waxed clean. In the crotch of her panties the spot of blood has dried, a signal of our arrangement, as valid–as binding–as a signature on a contract. I could get away without all of this. Spare the girl the violation, but I’m not that strong.

IearnedArianette, my wretched Daughter of Darkness, and I’m going to take her.

But first.

“Kneel.”

Slowly, she lowers herself to her knees. I have no doubt she’s been in this position before, my Barons would have had her there, filling her mouth with their greedy little cocks. Wide-eyed, she licks her lips, readying herself for me, but I reach for the slim column of her throat, thumb grazing over that leather strap.

“Tonight is between us.” I unbuckle the collar and set it on the bench. “Your uncle and the ghosts of your family aren’t invited.”

I touch her, feel her body tremble under my fingertips. Feel her pussy quiver. My fingers come back slick, likely from DK and Hunter’s attention outside. I’d enjoyed watching them, pleased that my little family is finding unity. She’ll need them once this is done.

Standing, I lift her body off the ground and carry her to the bed, throwing her across the mattress. There’s no gentleness when I spread her thighs with my hands, wanting to see the woman I’ve claimed. The first time I touched her was too quick, too exposed with her uncle leering over my shoulder. The second was too sacred, a moment less about me and more about ceremony.

But now… I can take my time. I kneel between her thighs, breathing in her scent. There’s copper mingled with oily florals. There’s something deeper, a musk that belongs only to her. I inhale and run my nose along the smooth skin of her inner thigh. Her legs tremble, and her hips shift.

When I finally taste her, I don't go slow, devouring her, licking, sucking, punishing her with pleasure. She squirms and whimpers under my mouth, grabbing at her sides, desperate and overwhelmed.

“More,” she whispers.

I lower my mouth to her again, dragging my tongue up the seam of her sex, slow and filthy. I don't stop at her clit. I tease every part of her: the soaked folds, the tight, sensitive entrancethat's been forced open by my mouth, the little fluttering pulse just above her slit.

She gasps my name–no, not my name,I correct,my title–a whisper of something else torn from her lips like a prayer. Then…

“Daddy.”

It makes me both furious and aroused, my cock throbs painfully against the tight press of my pants. It stills me, because that is not who I am. I am her husband. HerKing, but it also ignites something in me that electrifies me from limb to limb. I hear myself murmur against her soaked cunt, "That's it.Begfor me."