Page 22 of The Time Of Kings (An Afterlife Story #1)

21

CAGED IN MY MORAL COMPASS

I t wasn’t long after Sophia said this, that I felt myself squirming all over again.

The masterful view of my husband walking back into the room, commanding the space around him was certainly a sight to behold. However, despite those that obviously wished to speak with him, he only had eyes for me. I could practically hear his sigh of relief when finding me exactly where he had left me.

He excused himself from any conversation as he made his way swiftly through the crowd to get back to me. Sophia rose from his seat and turned slightly to look down at me over her shoulder, before offering me a whispered,

“Good luck.” Something she added to with a wink and a very Sophia-like smirk. One I would have growled at if I didn’t already know I would only be adding fuel to her amusement. As for Draven, he bowed his head to his sister after she curtsied, and she told him,

“I think I will retire for the night, for I am tired from travel.”

He accepted this without question, and I wasn’t surprised. I mean, wouldn’t it have taken weeks, maybe even months to get here from Italy? Honestly, I had no idea but then again, there wasn’t much I did know about the year 1799. For starters, I didn’t even know my husband had this castle, making me wonder what happened to it? Had he sold it years before meeting me and if not, why had he not mentioned it or ever brought me here?

“You look deep in your thoughts.” Draven’s comment pulled me from my real estate musings as he took his seat beside me once more.

“How long have you had this castle?” I blurted out, realising my mistake when he looked taken aback.

“Er… My lord,” I added quickly, making him smirk before taking my hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

“Well, as Lord of these lands, I inherited it and its title like most do,” he replied, making me scoff as I knew it was such bullshit.

But obviously he didn’t know that I knew that. Which was why he must have found my response strange, as he asked,

“Is this fact amusing to you?”

I quickly composed myself as I tried to take back my hand, something he wouldn’t allow.

“No, sorry, it’s just… umm…”

“Just what exactly?” he asked when I stalled for time. Which was why I decided to be honest… well, as much as I could be anyway.

“I don’t know why, but I just can’t picture you as a young boy running throughout these halls.”

He seemed bemused before making a ‘Hmm’ sound. Which was when I decided to test it further.

“What was your father like?”

His grin grew and he rubbed his jawline as if thinking about what he would tell me.

“My father was… should we say, a complex man who had many… vigorous pursuits.”

I couldn’t help my reaction, choking on my swallow that ended up with me coughing. He reached around me and started patting my back before rubbing it in gentle motions. He had also dropped my hand to motion forward a servant.

“Water,” he ordered and I nodded my head, telling him through coughing,

“Must have swallowed… gone down… the wrong way.”

He frowned at this and asked, “What do you mean by this?”

My eyes went wide before I told him,

“Oh nothing, just something my mother used to say.”

Of course, he didn’t look at all convinced by my reply but, thankfully, I was saved when being handed a drink, allowing me to gulp it down. Something that ended with me looking very unladylike as I wiped my mouth on the back of my glove.

Draven’s intense stare was starting to make me feel like I was under the microscope. It was also just another thing that made me feel as if I had not only stepped back hundreds of years, but skipped back through my own time. As let’s just say that this wasn’t the first time Draven had looked at me this intensely, and like he would soon unravel all my secrets.

Something that made me instantly defensive as I found myself reminding him,

“Well, you did say I wasn’t a lady.”

He then watched as I shrugged my shoulders, making his eyes narrow down at me.

“I see my words wounded your pride indeed.”

“And you? Would you be wounded if I assumed you to be anything but a gentleman?” I threw back at him, but then he surprised me as he hooked a hand behind my neck and pulled me closer. At the same time, he lowered his face closer to my own.

“Let’s put it to the test, should we?” he said before kissing me and swallowing my gasp of shock as the whole room silenced.

Of course, I was very used to my husband openly displaying his affection in front of others, I had spent many an evening in his lap. So, to say I was used to it by now was an understatement. However, that was the Draven of my time, when doing so wasn’t considered all that scandalous. But given how the crowd had all stopped to stare at us as a wave of silence swept through the room… well, that was not something I was used to.

“Hmm, I believe that answers that question,” he said smugly once he had finished. The cocky grin was now firmly in place, and it only grew when I took a few seconds to become coherent again.

“Er… does it?” I asked in a breathy tone. But then he stood up and offered me his hand, telling me,

“Yes, for clearly around you, my standing as a gentleman is forever in question…” He paused to lean down and whisper in my ear,

“…Especially after all the ungentlemanly things I will soon do to you.”

Nerves.

It was utterly ridiculous to feel nervous about sleeping with my own husband. The man I had spent practically every night with and very rarely without sex being involved. Christ, but sometimes we were still at it like fucking supernatural bunnies, or horny teenagers hyped up on hormones! If I were honest, it was how we even ended most of our arguments. As make up sex made for some of our hottest moments. Especially when it came with him chasing me and fucking me up against a wall or cocooned in his wings so I couldn’t escape him.

Hide and go fuck, Pip had once called it and well, she wasn’t wrong. And I had become very apt at hiding, and the longer I made him wait in trying to find me was something that only added to the experience.

Frustrating my husband had become something of a pastime for me.

Particularly when it meant that most of the time it ended with him simply fucking me wherever he found me. Like I said, him bending me over whatever furniture was closest or simply tearing off my clothes and fucking me against anything he could find. Holy shit, it was hot! Sometimes I found myself making up shit to be pissy about just for the excuse. Of course, Draven wasn’t stupid, as he knew exactly what I was playing at and, well, most of the time… he was more than happy to play too.

But this was not that Draven.

So, when he grasped my hand and pulled me to standing, I knew where this was heading. He made no apologies for leaving early, simply led me out of the hall, ignoring all the whispers and surprised faces that followed us. As clearly, he had one thing on his mind, while mine was in turmoil.

Although when I stumbled on the steps, he decided to take my clumsy feet as a sign that I was struggling here. And his answer to this was to sweep me up into his arms, the many layers of my skirt flowing around him and in no way hindering his efforts in getting me up the stairs quicker. Nor was my slight cry of protest, as he ignored everything but his mission to get me alone.

In fact, it was only the sound of him kicking the door shut behind us that prompted him to speak. This after I flinched in his arms at the aggressive sound echoing around us.

“Be easy now,” he cooed down at me the second he lowered me to the bed. But that was easy for him to say, as the intensity was flowing from him in waves, making me near dizzy. Especially when he pulled back and stood before me so as he could rid himself of his jacket, making me gulp.

I took my opening and quickly scrambled from the bed, making him reach out and grab my hand.

“Where do you think you are going?” he asked, and this time it was said with mirth, as the sight of my discomfort was only adding to his amusement.

“Maybe we should slow down, you barely know me, after all,” I said, thinking to point this fact out, one he obviously didn’t care for, as he tugged me back into his arms.

“Then let’s change that, should we?” he said, dipping his lips to mine once more and I was, as always, powerless to resist.

His lips moulded to mine so perfectly, even without being his Electus, I would have known we were made for one another. The kiss started off like it usually did, but quickly turned hungry as his desire built and quickly fed my own.

The way his grip tightened my dress as he fisted his hands in the material was desperate and needy, as if he was moments from tearing it off me. The way his arms became bands of steel around my frame made me feel safe and secure. And the way his tongue dominated my mouth, as if he were trying to burn the taste of me to every fibre of his being, was like a living, breathing memory.

And as for me… I melted into him like I always did.

I soaked up every second of it like the addict I was. Because like this we could have been anywhere. In any city, in any realm… in any point in time. None of it mattered, not when I was in his arms. My moral compass span wildly out of control.

“Gods, woman, you conquer my wits and render me incapable of acting like a gentleman!” he said, putting his forehead to mine and near panting in his lust. Which was when I said to hell with him getting to know me, doing so by framing his face and telling him,

“Ah screw it, being a gentleman is overrated!” then I kissed him, inwardly grinning to myself when I could feel his shock, allowing me to take control for all of about five seconds. My hands found themselves embedded in his hair before they travelled down to his neck. The guttural moan he let out as my nails raked across his skin told me I was close to making him lose control.

Which was why I was not surprised when he then wrapped his arms around me and walked me backwards until my spine was arched against the bedpost. His hands then found my wrists so he could shackle them before raising them above my head to pin me in place.

The moment, like many others since travelling through the Janus Gate, transported me back through my own time. Back to when I had just discovered what Draven truly was, to the way my insecurities had conjured up a false reason for my being there. I questioned the reason a man like Draven would pick me , someone who didn’t feel worthy of his attention at the time. I had accused him of feeding from my sad little tale of woe and tried to run from him. Tried to push him into letting me go. My temper flared to life and ignited until it ended in me slapping him. But that wasn’t all it had ignited, for just like now, my hands had found themselves shackled above my head as I was held prisoner against his bedframe.

“I fear I will lose my head altogether if you keep touching me like that,” he told me, and I couldn’t help but grin up at him. Something he seemed surprised at. But then again, if he had been expecting a virginal shrinking violet in the bedroom, then he was about to be in for a shock. He must have then seen something in my features as a challenge, as he was soon transferring both my wrists into one hand.

“You are wearing far too much fabric,” he told me, his voice deepening with his mounting arousal. And as for my dress, this was something we could certainly agree on. But then, without being free to use his claws or his supernatural powers, it did make me wonder how long it would take him to get me out of this damn thing.

Sophia had been right, talk about uncomfortable.

In fact, I was just going to speak when suddenly he made his first demand of me.

“Turn around.”

I couldn’t help but swallow hard at the commanding tone he used. One that told me easily how close to the edge he was here. However, when I wasn’t quick enough, he used his free hand to grip my chin, tipping my head back, and asked,

“Are you going to be my good girl?”

Well, if I thought I swallowed hard before, now it felt as if I was being made to choke down an ever-lasting gobstopper! He even seemed to take great pleasure in watching the action, and a smirk played at his lips in sight of my struggle.

Of course, when I didn’t deliver my answer quick enough, he raised a sexy dark brow and prompted,

“Well?”

I nodded like an elected mute, which turned his smirk into a full-on grin. One I didn’t witness for long as despite my willingness to turn, he suddenly spun me. Yet even with this, he took enough care that I didn’t just bang into the post face first, making sure to keep me steady. Then I felt him lean in around me, and he was so much bigger than I was that his lips easily made it to my ear.

“Now I wish for you to hold onto the post, and don’t let go until I ask it of you. Can you do that?”

Again, I nodded. Something he allowed, but the Draven back in my time would have demanded my words.

I felt his hands run down the length of my back, and I would have freely laughed and teased him had this been my Draven. Teased him when asking whether or not he was looking for a weak spot, as I knew what was coming next. Hence why he didn’t want me to watch.

“Now hold very still,” he told me firmly, and I was unable to help my body’s shiver at the sound of his commanding voice. But then I felt a heavy weight of his palm at my shoulder before he squeezed me there. His warning only added to the dark lust that was building due to his dominance over me.

“Be still, girl.”

I nodded again at his growl of words, trying to do as I was told. Something that was definitely harder when all I wanted was for him to restrain me like so many times I had experienced before. Because I had certainly experienced many of Draven’s kinks in the bedroom during our time together, and tying me up was only one of them. I had to confess though, that my favourite was when he took it upon himself to tie me to his own body in some way. As I would often find myself waking in the night to find my body restrained to his, turning me on enough that I would purposely wake him when faking my efforts to get away. Something that always ended in my being sexually dominated as he growled down at me, calling me his prisoner.

As for me, I loved every dirty second of it.

Just like I did now, despite tensing the second I heard the tearing sound. He had used his claws… I knew the signs by now, for he had little patience when it came to getting me naked.

Over the years, I had lost more clothes and underwear this way than I could count. Which also meant that I long ago given up complaining. Because if there was something I particularly liked or Draven liked, I was now in the habit of buying more than one. In fact, Draven usually knew when I was down to my last one, with the way that I would quickly strip out of it before coming anywhere near him. Something he always chuckled about after sex or smirked about during the not so sexy strip show. The one where I practically looked like I was trying to do some bad yoga pose as I tore the thing over my head and tossed it.

But as for this dress, well he could have made confetti out of it for all I cared, as I had never felt anything so uncomfortable in my entire life. And this coming from someone who had worn her fair share of amour.

Of course, I also knew that when my dress started to fall away from me, the weight of the heavy fabric easily pulling it from my shoulders, it would have looked odd not saying anything.

“How did you…” I started to ask when I was suddenly spun back to face him, now only standing there in my corset and my knickers. A pair I’d had the good sense to wash. Because I didn’t care if it was 1799, there was no way I was wearing bloomers!

“I have my ways,” he told me as he scanned down the length of me, showing me just what he thought of the sight when purple flashed in his dark eyes. It was a slow and leisurely look that, I swear, should have had the power to make my corset combust into a poof of smoke.

“Gods, you are so beautiful,” he said, his words husky and heavily coated with desire. The thick lengths of material were all still puffed up around my ankles, as if I was now standing on a silky purple cloud. One he was intent on plucking me from as he picked me up with a single arm banded around my waist.

“You do that as if I weigh nothing at all?” I questioned, again trying to focus on the things that should be a challenge, if not impossible. Like when he closed the door earlier with his mind, I knew it would look odd if I didn’t mention things as a mortal would. A mortal that was supposed to know nothing of his world. Which did beg the question, how and when would he eventually tell me?

Knowing Draven and his royal high-handedness, then I guessed it would be after he had married me. After he had secured me somewhere so I had no chance of escape.

And speaking of no escape… he lowered me to the bed and was quick to…

Cage me in with his arms.