All the King's Men (24 page)

The noise that had risen from those assembled dimmed as
Kirel’s words sank in. Vida tilted her head in a gesture of consent and
compliance. To Nelina’s astonished dismay, when Vida moved aside, she took Thor
and Domenic with her.

In the span of a heartbeat, Nelina found herself standing
alone, facing a man intent on ravishing her until she gave him everything he
demanded.

“Holy Moon Gods,” she murmured. “I’m fucked.”

Chapter Ten

“Not yet. But you will be.”

Nelina took a step backward then another while Kirel
advanced, shedding his robe as he walked, his bare feet thudding on the dais.
On the third quivering retreat, her heel caught in a tassel embroidered on the
edge of a silk pillow. She stumbled and fell, crashing to the ground and
landing perfectly in a mouthwatering display of open thighs and trembling pussy
lips.

Kirel was upon her in a heartbeat. He dove straight for the
heated gap of her slit, his breath caressing the dewy pink folds. The scent of
her arousal teased his nostrils, lodging straight in his heart. It took all his
self-control to hold himself back when all he wanted to do was attack her
beautiful juicy pussy with his mouth.

Languidly, he trailed the pad of his thumb over her mound,
parting the damp curls to lightly circle her clit. Nelina sucked in a breath,
her muscles shuddering beneath his touch.

“There’s no use fighting it. You will come for me, Nel.” He
spoke softly, with a certainty that dispelled any misgivings he might have had.
He’d watched her with Domenic and Thor. Oh she’d been enjoying the experience
well enough, but they would never bring her to the height of ecstasy.

She needed something else. She needed
him
.

“Never,” she spat. Arching her back, she lifted her torso
from the pillow and propped her weight on her elbows.

Gods, she was beautiful. He devoured her with his gaze,
pausing to admire the dip of her navel, the way her flat belly rippled with
tension, her breasts heaving with every strained breath. Sweat slicked her
temples and tendrils of hair stuck to her face. A flush had crept up her
cheeks, setting off those brilliant blue eyes like sparkling jewels against a
backdrop of pure heat.

She was a goddess. A queen.

And he was going to start treating her that way.

Kirel trailed two of his fingertips through the pursed
groove of her sex. She squirmed, wriggling beneath his touch. Despite her
efforts to deny him, he felt her labia swell. The mouth of her cunt gaped open,
the muscles there contracting in vain, seeking the thrill of penetration he
knew she craved.

“Of course you will, m’lady. And do you know why?”

She clenched her teeth. Anger and unabashed lust shadowed
her eyes. At last she shook her head vehemently from side to side.

“Because your body, your mind and your heart trust me unconditionally.”

She began to scoff and he knew another denial was right on
the tip of her tongue. He didn’t give her a chance to give voice to whatever
angry quips raced through her mind. Instead, he positioned his mouth even with
the bud of her clit and planted a gentle, preliminary kiss on the little bundle
of nerve endings.

The desire he’d been steadily cultivating within her
exploded. She raised her hips and Kirel swirled the tip of his tongue around
her engorged clit. She came, thrashing wildly beneath him with a howl that
bounced off the stalactites and made the crystallized icicles chant in unison.
A trembling chorus of chiming peals of crystalline sound drifted through the
Temple.

There was a moment of awed silence while Nelina’s cry
subsided before a tumult of applause burst through the cavern.

Nelina collapsed onto the pillow. Kirel never took his eyes
off her. He didn’t need to consult with Vida to know the Fates were pleased.
Nelina had passed the Test of Submission better than anyone could have expected.

For everyone else, this was a moment of joyous celebration.
Their new queen was two Trials away from taking her place at Shivar’s side.

Not so for Kirel. His chest constricted with an
all-encompassing, pressing ache that clawed at what was left of his heart. He
knew part of his soul had been torn away the moment Nelina’s explosive keening
signaled her release.

“Good,” Thor said as he approached, nodding his approval.
“Very good.”

Kirel tried to ignore him but he caught the glitter of the
translucent bowl and knew the next Trial would try his resolve even further.
For a moment, he had the wild notion that the Fates weren’t testing Nelina as
much as they were testing
him
.

He caressed the inside of Nelina’s thighs with his palms,
banishing the absurd thought. The Tradition had no interest in him. He was a
Guardian, not royalty. There was no reason for the Fates to take notice of him
beyond ensuring he fulfilled his duty to the king…and to his new queen.

The musky scent of her cream teased his nostrils, causing
him to draw a deep breath and fill his lungs with the flavorful aroma. He knew
the taste of her pussy, the smell of her arousal. He knew everything about her.
Why then, were the Fates so cruel as to tear her away from him? They belonged
together. He felt it, deep in his soul. But how could he convince a world of
people who believed in the power of the Tradition above all else of that?

“Lift her up,” Thor instructed. “Then lie down. Since she
likes you so much, we’ll have her straddle you.”

Nelina peered at Kirel through heavy-lidded eyelids. “What
if I refuse?”

He squeezed her hips gently then ran his hands down the
sides of her body and scooped her off the pillow. She clung to his neck, her
heartbeat hammering against his chest.

“It’s a little late for that,” he whispered, running his
palm over her hair to soothe her. “Aris needs you too much. We all do.”

“You…you could have come with me last night. They wouldn’t
have caught us. We’d have been off this planet by now.”

He pulled back and stared into her eyes. The depth of
emotion he saw there took his breath away. For the first time there was no fury
or stubbornness in her gaze. There was simply naked truth and a love so strong
it made his knees buckle.

“I did come with you…in my own way. But the Fates had other
plans.” She started to turn away but he grabbed her chin between his fingers
and kept her gaze glued to his. “I love you, Nel. But I owe Aris my life. I
can’t leave. And whether you want to accept it or not, you’re as much a part of
this planet as I am. More so even. You’re meant to lead these people at
Shivar’s side.” His gut twisted as he gave voice to the inevitable conclusion
of the Trials. “And I’m meant to watch you from a distance. If you’ll let me,
perhaps every now and again I can tell you how proud I am of you.”

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Something wet
splashed against his chest. It wasn’t until he released her that he realized it
was a solitary tear that had trickled down her cheek to drip onto him.

Gods give me strength.

He rose, chose the longest pillow, stacked it on top of
another four plump mounds and then stretched out on his back upon it about two
feet from the ground. His shaft throbbed against his abdomen. Cupping it in his
fist, he stroked his palm up and down the length of his erection. If this was
the last time he was going to fuck her, then he’d enjoy every moment of it. And
when he lay in bed late at night, bringing himself to climax with nothing more
than the memories that lived inside his mind, he could take solace in knowing
that perhaps he’d given her something to remember too.

Domenic placed a bowl of lubricant on the pillow closest to
him. With a nod of thanks, Kirel scooped some up on his fingertips and spread
the mixture over the length of his shaft, coating it thoroughly. From the
corner of his eyes, he saw Thor doing the same. His gaze however, remained
fixed on Nelina.

She stood off to the side, hands tightly fisted against her
legs. Her back was stiff and her breasts quivered slightly. Long, distended nipples
stood proudly erect. He allowed himself to look at her and imprint her lush
sensuality on his mind. This was the way he wanted to remember her forever. As
the warrior queen she was, who’d handle everything fate threw at her and come
out stronger for it.

He lifted a hand and beckoned with his fingers for her to
come to him. After a moment’s hesitation, she crossed the distance between
them.

Kirel looked up into the furrowed dark pleasures hidden
between her legs. “Come to me, my queen. It has to be now. Give yourself to me.
To us.”

The tip of her tongue swept out over her lower lip. He could
almost see the inner turmoil warring within her but there was no denying the
musky scent of her arousal or the way her lips parted on a sigh.

She wanted this. As much as she didn’t care to contemplate
what came after the pleasure was over, she craved the Trial of Sharing with
every desperate quiver of her body.

He held her hand as she swung one foot over his waist and
lowered herself across it. In the other fist, Kirel held his cock, watching her
pink folds descend upon the bulbous tip.

“That’s it,” he soothed gently. “Come to me.”

She grasped her lower lip between her teeth and rubbed the
swollen folds of her sex against his slick rod. A groan slid out from between
Kirel’s lips. His cock twitched, eager to be embedded inside her wet heat.

An appreciative murmur went up from the crowd. Kirel ignored
it. Judging by the way Nelina held his gaze, she hadn’t paid it any heed
either.

He watched, thoroughly enthralled, as his cock head
stretched her opening, distending the firm muscles there. She lowered herself a
fraction of an inch while Kirel fought to keep his hips still. He wanted her to
set the pace, at least at first. Rushing her by pumping upward and impaling her
would rob her of the sensation of being in control and until Thor and Domenic
joined their cocoon of pleasure, he didn’t want anything to take away from the
bliss coursing through her.

Kirel gasped as she took him inside her, inch by
excruciating inch. He glanced down where her sex lips were wrapped around his
cock, realizing he’d never seen a more captivating sight. He was wedged inside
her pussy, the base of his rod protruding from her slit. Her thigh muscles
shook with the strain of holding herself up. And then in a heartbeat, she’d
taken him fully inside her.

Rocking gently against him, Nelina gave a low moan. Her
inner muscles clamped down on him, squeezing his shaft, sending a flutter of
sensation low into his balls.

Domenic stepped up beside them. His cock trembled as he held
it in his broad hand. A bead of liquid blossomed at its tip.

“Take me, my queen,” he said softly. “Let me share in your
bliss.”

She swallowed hard, eyeing the greedy throbbing of Domenic’s
phallus. Blue veins ridged the surface of the solid cock. The tip was flushed
and engorged, in desperate need of her lips.

“Do as he asks,” Kirel said as another shiver of sensation
traveled through him.

Nelina nodded. She parted her lips and Domenic’s cock slid
through the softness of her mouth to settle on her tongue.

Thor walked up behind her, still stroking lubricant over his
shaft. He knelt on the pillows Kirel had stacked and parted her ass cheeks,
rubbing his cock over the cleft between them.

She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kirel could
see the brief flash of pain etched upon her features and could only surmise
that Thor’s shaft had begun to stretch her tight sphincter, pushing its way
inside her body.

They had her in their grip now. The king’s men pushed their
way inside her in slow, easy motions and she was powerless to stop them. The
Fates had to be pleased, Kirel thought bitterly. All the Guardians had played
their roles to perfection, doing their part in making Nelina submit and succumb
to their demands.

Except those demands had never been made by the Guardians at
all. They’d come from the Tradition itself, which had played them all like so
many instruments to be strummed.

Nelina’s eyelashes fluttered. She leaned forward over
Kirel’s chest, guiding Domenic into a kneeling position as Thor began to pump
inside her in earnest. Kirel could feel the man’s cock with every slick thrust
sliding alongside his own. Only a small barrier of flesh kept them apart and
each thick stroke sent a jolt of pleasure to slam into Kirel’s sac.

A sheen of sweat broke out over Nelina’s breasts. Kirel
reached up and cupped the firm mounds, feeling their weight settle in his
palms. He pulled on her nipples, twisting them between thumb and forefinger.

She groaned around Domenic’s cock. Dom’s stomach rippled as
the thrumming sensation of her moan traveled through him.

Though she couldn’t give voice to her needs and desires,
Kirel watched her body and responded to its every trembling twitch. He caressed
her breasts, tweaked her nipples, and when she began to grind down against his
pubic bone, he trailed his hand over her flat stomach and slid his fingertip
into the crevice at the top of her slit.

His other hand grabbed her buttock, meeting Thor’s fingers
there. A moment’s worth of anger swept through him.
Nelina wouldn’t be here
if not for him.
The fury disappeared just as easily as it had come though,
when Thor wrapped his fingers around Kirel’s and squeezed.

He swallowed back the bitter agony that had lodged in his
throat. Just like him, Thor had only been doing what the Tradition demanded of
him. Neither one of them was free to do as they pleased. Perhaps if Thor had
had a choice in the matter, he wouldn’t have pursued Nelina with such
single-minded tenacity. Or perhaps he would have. Kirel would never know, but
he contented himself with the assumption that Thor genuinely cared for him.
That had to be enough. For now.