Page 23 of Pawns of Fate

“Yes. Well, since we’ve given you Rose and fulfilled our end of the bargain, it is time for your part. When will your soldiers be joining my men in the swamps?” Hector asked.

“They leave the Ojoh border and march the day after tomorrow,” Matthew replied coolly. He waved Ghislaine and Hector away. “I need a moment with my son and daughter. Enjoy the rest of the reception.” Thankfully, Hector and Ghislaine retreated peacefully.

“Nicholas, the reception is starting to wind down. I have a few guests I’d like you to talk to.” Matthew turned to his newest daughter-in-law. “Rose, I think your maidservants need your attention.”

Betty and Lyla waved at her from the edges of the banquet hall. Rose reluctantly left her husband’s side and joined them.

“My lady! What a perfect wedding!” Betty’s boundless enthusiasm was one of Rose’s favorite things.

“Thank you,” Rose replied, wondering why the marquess had asked her to join her maids.

“We’re here to get you ready for the wedding night,” Lyla, as if reading her mind, flatly replied.

“Oh,” was all Rose managed to say before they spirited her away to Nicholas’s bed chambers.

Betty took down her hair while Lyla helped Rose out of her dress, which Rose realized might have been difficult for Nicholas as Lyla undid what felt like a thousand buttons and bows.

She tried not to focus on the fact that everyone in the castle knew what she and Nicholas were about to do. Rose didn’t consider herself prudish about sex, but she was… private.

Lyla held up a satin white corset and a small scrap of lace for her.

This wasn’t private at all.

“What’s that?” Rose asked them as she pointed to the lingerie that Lyla was holding up to her. “Surely you don’t mean for me to wear that.”

“It’s a maid’s duty to ensure the bride is ready for her husband,” Betty replied solemnly. “And white is traditional.”

“Odd tradition,” Rose said, trying to step away.

“Lord Nicholas is sure to fulfill his marital duties if you wear this, my lady,” Lyla interjected with a snicker as she and Betty began to dress her in the lingerie.

Rose looked at herself in the mirror when they finished.

Once again, the maids had outdone themselves.

She felt… alluring. It was a new feeling for her; she’d never dressed up for th is sort of occasion before.

Rose didn’t think she’d have trouble getting Nicholas to fulfill his marital duties wearing this. Maybe it wasn’t the worst tradition.

The maids offered her a small silk robe while she waited for Nicholas, then left the room with a few winks and chuckles.

Rose sat on the bed with her hands folded in her lap. She was too nervous to do much else. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take her new husband much longer at the reception. Matthew had said that Nicholas only needed to talk to a few more guests.

She took a closer look at Nicholas’s room.

Heavy, velvet curtains covered what Rose imagined to be large windows.

They were the same deep, forest green as pine needles, so were the rugs and blankets that covered the bed.

Two plump armchairs sat by a coffee table littered with documents and papers that probably weren’t supposed to migrate from Nicholas’s office to his room.

It didn’t surprise Rose that they had. Nicholas had a penchant for working too much.

Just as she was about to sin in one of the armchairs and pour herself some of the wine one of the servants had left before Lyla and Betty had undressed her, a gentle knock came. Rose spun toward the door, and Nicholas stepped inside.

They stared at each other for a moment.

“You were the perfect lady of House Sharp tonight,” Nicholas said as he approached Rose. His throat bobbed, and she noticed a little flush of pink on his cheeks as he forced his gaze up to her face. “I’m glad that we’re finally married.”

It was a funny statement—they had known each other for less than a month. Still, the day had been a flurry of activities. She understood his sentiment.

“It is nice to finally have a moment to ourselves,” she replied

Nicholas shrugged off his formal jacket and boots, depositing them beside the bed.

He pulled off his tunic, leaving himself undressed except for his breeches.

Rose felt heat begin to pool at the base of her spine.

She’d seen Nicholas training with the other knights, but that had been from a distance.

Seeing the planes of his broad chest and the ridges of his abdominal muscles up close like this affected her more strongly than she wanted to admit.

He sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard. “Rose?” His voice was a whisper, almost a prayer. “Come closer.”

She obliged him, wondering if he could hear her heart beating, wondering if his was beating just as fiercely.

She reached out a hand, which Nicholas happily caught.

He began to kiss her fingertips, slowly, while looking at her through eyes hazy with lust. Every time his lips touched her skin, the most pleasant jolts of electricity coursed through Rose’s body.

A soft sound, something between a moan and a whimper, escaped her lips.

It was all the encouragement Nicholas needed; he pulled her into his lap and kissed her lips.

Rose’s mind went fuzzy as the entanglement of their limbs and his crisp, evergreen scent overwhelmed her senses.

And yet it wasn’t enough. She wanted more of him.

The kiss deepened, going from something gentle to something passionate. Their tongues explored and tested each other. Rose felt her whole body relax into him, any earlier nervousness melting away under Nicholas’s skilled touch .

She drew away to catch her breath and placed her forehead against Nicholas’s. One of her hands wandered to his firm chest. His heart was pounding just as fiercely as hers.

“Do you want to take off this robe?” He let out a ragged breath. “I want to feel your skin on mine.”

A thousand butterflies fluttered through her chest. She was already so overwhelmed with all the sensations that Nicholas’s touch awakened. How was she ever going to get used to this?

She managed a quick nod. Nicholas pulled the silky robe off her shoulders, ivory fabric falling away and pooling on the floor beside the bed.

“You’re beautiful, Rose.” The grin on his face caused her to bite her lip.

Nicholas took in the sight of her, and Rose’s gaze meandered to the growing bulge in Nicholas’s pants.

During their time together, Ava had made a few crass jokes about York being well-endowed.

Did the two brothers share that trait? Nicholas’s shaft already looked larger than anything she’d dealt with before, and she didn’t think it was even fully hard yet.

She tried not to stare, but her desire to join with Nicholas grew nearly unbearable as she noticed him growing more aroused.

After his eyes had thoroughly inspected every inch of her, Nicholas began to kiss her and explore her body with his hands. His touch was featherlight while his kisses were firm and deep. The combination made Rose’s core melt, and he hadn’t even touched her lower, where her body begged to be teased.

Nicholas broke their kiss to tug at her lingerie with his mouth, causing her breasts to bounce free.

Rose didn’t consider herself particularly well-endowed, but when Nicholas stared at her breasts and murmured ‘beautiful,’ she felt like a goddess.

He nibbled at one while taking the other in his hand and pinching her peak; electricity shot straight to her core.

She leaned into him more, enjoying his touch.

Rose arched her back and rubbed herself against his hardening member, craving more friction between them.

Even with his pants still on and the lacy lingerie covering her lower region, she could feel the heat coming off that part of his body.

She ached with the need to have him inside of her.

Nicholas continued to give attention to her bosom, and he unconsciously ground against the motion of Rose’s hips. One of his hands wandered down to the apex of Rose’s thighs, and he gently explored with his finger while still worrying the peak of her bosom with his mouth.

“You’re already wet, Rose,” he said with a low, gravelly voice.

“It’s because of you, Nicholas,” she whispered sweetly, then playfully nipped his ear.

He groaned like an animal caught in a trap.

Nicholas removed his hand from her most sensitive flesh and slowly licked the juice off his fingers, making eye contact with her the whole time.

All she could do was stare at him as her thoughts dissipated into a lust-filled mist. She’d never been so entranced by a man before. The idea that he enjoyed her taste to the point of licking it off his fingers made her melt like butter.

Suddenly, Nicholas pushed her so that she was lying on her back. He lowered himself so that he was kissing her thighs.

“What are you doing down there?” she asked shyly, then made to push his head away. He merely grabbed her wrists with one hand and continued his slow, lazy kisses, traveling up her thighs.

“I need to taste more of you, my dear Rose.”

He found the pretty bud at the apex of her legs and gently sucked on it while pushing two fingers into her core. Rose’s mind went blank. All she could see was a haze of pink, and all she could feel was Nicholas’s touch. Tension pooled in her core, building as Nicholas continued his ministrations.

“Your aura is lovely,” he murmured against her thigh. Rose hadn’t even realized that her senses had tethered to the aural plane, but she was so close to sweet release that she didn’t care.

Nicholas switched so that his tongue delved inside her while his fingers played with her bud. The tension that had been building found release. Rose saw stars as her consciousness shattered into a thousand pieces.

“Nicholas!” she rasped, barely recognizing her own voice because it was so filled with desire.

When she finally opened her eyes, Nicholas was standing over her.

“You’re perfect, Rose.”

The bulge in his pants strained painfully against his pants. When Rose looked at it, she found the same tension pooling again. She needed to join with him.

“If you keep staring, I’ll want to show you that part of me,” Nicholas said, voice dangerously low. His hands drifted down to tug at the hem of his pants.

“I want to see it,” Rose murmured, feeling bold after receiving all his affections.

Nicholas grinned and pulled his breeches down, and his member sprang forth, jutting out marvelously from Nicholas’s trimmed, silvery hair. Rose wanted to taste it like Nicholas had tasted her.

“Do you like it?” Nicholas asked, a hint of shyness and vulnerability in his voice.

“How could I not?”

With that, Nicholas leaned down, bracing himself over her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He rubbed the head of his cock against her most sensitive flesh a few times, coating his shaft in her slickness.

As he kissed her, he lined the head up with her core, then pushed in slowly but steadily.

Rose cried out from the stretch. Nicholas sweetly peppered her face with kisses.

“Can you take more, Rose? I’m only halfway in.”

She’d never felt so full in her life. And this was only halfway? She moaned, then nodded her consent.

He pushed in a bit harder, the tip of his cock kissing her womb when he was fully sheathed inside of her. Rose whimpered with delight.

“We fit together well,” he whispered. He began to move his hips with a slow, steady rhythm.

Because of how wet Nicholas made her, she quickly adjusted to his size. Rose wanted Nicholas as deeply as possible. She wanted to take everything he had to give .

A cry of pleasure escaped her lips. She wrapped her arms around Nicholas’s neck and pulled herself up to whisper in his ear.

“Please, Nicholas. I need you.” That now familiar tension was building. She craved the release that only he could give.

He responded with a seductive groan and nipped her neck. Then, he picked up his pace, plowing into her faster and faster. It didn’t take long for her to come again.

Her clenching walls almost brought him to the edge, but he held out, his pace and intensity becoming wild. Her nerves became so sensitive; Rose thought she would melt into him.

“Rose, I’m close. Come with me,” he whispered raggedly into her ear.

“Yes,” she cried out with pleasure as he drove into her with a passion she’d never known before.

She screamed again, not recognizing her own voice. The spasming of her core pushed Nicholas over the edge, and they chased their high together.