All the King's Men (8 page)

Unable to hold back any longer, Kirel brushed his knuckles
across her chin and tilted her face up toward his. Her lips parted in surprise.
For a brief moment, she ceased struggling.

A moment was all he needed. Using the strength of his body,
he shoved her hard against the wall and trapped her there. Slamming his mouth
on top of hers, he kissed her fiercely, his tongue thrusting between her lips
and forcing her to open to him.

She fought him with renewed fervor but he didn’t care where
her blows landed. Nothing mattered but the way she felt against him—sensual and
soft and
alive.

Groaning into her mouth, he slid his hands up her arms then
higher, framing her face. He held her there, a prisoner of his desperate need
as he devoured her mouth.

She tasted like cinnamon and cherries.
Always cherries
.
He’d never cared for cherries until he’d met her, but one taste of her lips and
he hadn’t been able to get enough of the fleshy fruit.

The more he kissed her, the more he hungered. The deep,
incessant need that tormented him amplified to impossible proportions,
threatening to overtake him.

Nelina had stopped fighting him. The realization swept
through his lust-fogged mind. She’d clenched her fingers in his shirt and was
kissing him back just as passionately as he kissed her.

Elation swirled through his veins. She may claim to hate him
but she couldn’t deny what they’d both always known. The chemistry between them
was explosive. It always had been.

And there was no way he’d allow another man to lay claim to
her.

Kirel pulled back sharply, struggling to find the words to
tell her everything he felt. At that moment, he was ready to sweep her into his
arms and march down the hall until he set her loose upon the world himself, the
Tradition be damned.

When he finally opened his mouth to speak, she silenced him
rapidly with another slap of her open palm across his cheek. The fact that he
should have been expecting her strike did nothing to lessen its impact.

“I spent eight years looking for you.
Eight
years!
And here you were all along, frolicking with your friends in your little
castle, laughing at the girl you’d left behind.”

She shoved at his chest with a strength he hadn’t expected.
He stumbled back a step, allowing her to slip away from the wall. She rubbed at
her wrist. Her hair, completely free of its binding now, fell like a silky
curtain around her face.

Brilliant blue eyes pierced him from beneath the veil of
shadows. “Got nothing to say for yourself, do you? Well, fine. I wasn’t
expecting an explanation anyway because there isn’t one. But before you leave,
let me make this perfectly clear. You can go back to your king and tell him
there’s no way I will
ever
consent to mating with him.”

Gods, she was beautiful. The fury etched on her features
acted like an aphrodisiac. It traveled through Kirel in a fierce arc, igniting
a lust he hadn’t known himself capable of.

He wasn’t willing to lose her.

Not tonight. Not ever again.

If that meant following the Tradition’s demands, then so be
it. If he only had another week with her, then he was going to make the most of
it. And while he fucked her senseless, he was going to come up with a plan.
Because there was no way he was just going to hand her over to Shivar or to anyone
else for that matter.

“Did you hear me? I want you to march out that door and tell
your king—”

Kirel moved with a speed borne of anger, lust and relief.
She gasped when he swept her into his arms. His fingers clawed the firm globes
of her ass and he ground his rigid cock into the apex of her thighs.

“Tell him yourself,” he growled. “In a sennight when you’re
brought before the Council. Until then, I’m here to make sure you understand
exactly what’s expected of you.”

Kirel lowered his head and snatched a firm nipple between
his teeth through the fabric of her blouse. The barrier between his mouth and
her skin was too thick for his liking but it would have to do.

Nelina cried out and gripped his head. He expected her to
try to push him away, but she only clung to him while desperate panting breaths
racked her body.

He bit down on the stiff peak then soothed the ache by
sucking the tender flesh between his lips.

“For the next week, the king’s men own you,” Kirel said when
he finally forced himself to release her nipple. “That means your tight little
body belongs to
me
. Whether you like it or not.”

There was no reason why Kirel’s crude, arrogant statement
should have aroused her. But that’s exactly what it had done, dampening her
pussy in an instant.

The man had lied to her! For years she’d believed him
trapped in a dungeon somewhere, being tortured or worse. She’d spent her days
desperately looking for him while her nights had been filled with dreams that
straddled the line between fantasy and nightmare. He’d played her for a fool,
and she’d fallen for the act like the idiot she’d been.

Like the idiot she still was.

Nelina’s cunt throbbed at the feel of his solid cock nudging
her core. Even through the fabric of his uniform and her bunched-up skirt, she
could feel the thickness of his erection, the massive plump heaviness of it.

Her heart thudded desperately in her chest and her eyelids
drifted closed. She could picture his bare shaft, knowing instinctively it
would be flushed a deep red color, the tiny slit at the tip already oozing a
pearly drop of pre-cum.

Her tongue darted out between her lips. A shudder stole down
her spine. Gods, what was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she find the strength to
push him away?

He’d haunted her dreams, her thoughts, her life. And now
that she knew better, here she was, responding to him as though she wanted
nothing more than to part her legs and allow him to slip his hard cock into her
soaked pussy.

She had to figure out how to get the heck out of here before
things really got out of control.

It took all her willpower to halt her movements, but she
managed to still her body’s impulse to grind against him. Her pussy lips still
fluttered wildly with tiny pulses of arousal but they were thankfully hidden by
the folds of her skirt.

“Put me down.” She imbued her tone with as much authority as
she could muster, pleased when her voice didn’t quiver.

Kirel hesitated for only a moment before replying. “I don’t
think so. Not when I’ve got you right where I want you.”

Nelina tightened her hold on his head to keep her hands from
trembling. Kirel’s fingers trailed beneath her skirt, along her naked thighs,
sending shivers of arousal streaming through her nerve endings.

“Would you like to know what’s expected of you?” he asked.

Nelina cleared her throat. “No.”

He tilted his head to look at her. She squirmed beneath his
scrutiny.

“Why not?”

Nelina shrugged. “I won’t be around long enough for it to
matter.”

If he was surprised by her confidence and determination, he
didn’t show it. Aside from the moonbeams that were occasionally blurred by
clouds passing overhead, the room was as dark as a tomb. Even though Kirel’s
face was bared to her, his black
skella
blended in perfectly with the
shadows, giving her no indication of his emotions.

“Just for argument’s sake, let’s assume you’re not getting
out of this as easily as you think.”

The muscles in Nelina’s legs pulsed with a dull ache. She
raised herself up a little higher, wrapping her limbs around his waist in a
more comfortable position. Her breasts hovered just in front of his mouth. She
glanced down and noticed her nipples, still stiff and elongated, poking through
the fabric of her blouse. He had only to extend the tip of his tongue and he
could ravage those tight peaks to his heart’s content.

Nelina’s cunt tightened with arousal at the thought. Shame
washed through her, a distant afterthought to the pleasure swirling through her
veins.

“All right,” she murmured, knowing there was nothing else to
do but play along for now. “Let’s assume you’re right. You’ve already locked me
up in here. There are probably guards outside my door. So fine, let’s say I’m
not going anywhere for a while. What’s going to happen to me?”

“You’ll be thoroughly trained in preparation for the
Tradition’s mating tests. Those will take place in front of anyone who cares to
watch. All of Aris will be invited to witness the king’s mating ceremony.”

“The king himself will be there no doubt.”

Kirel hesitated just a beat too long before replying. “He’ll
be a guest of honor, just like you. His role in the ceremony once you’ve proven
your worth to the Fates will be integral.”

Was he jealous? The thought sent an absurd spiral of
satisfaction to burrow deep in her groin.

“And if I refuse to go through with this?”

“The Tradition chose you for a reason. It must have known
you wouldn’t disobey.”

She felt herself begin to slip down the firm column of his
body. For a moment she had a vivid mental picture of herself gliding down just
until Kirel’s cock was flush with her pussy. If he were naked, it would slip
inside her easily. Her skirts would cover the proof from view and he could
thrust into her repeatedly without anyone being the wiser.

She shook her head to banish the erotic image. Annoyance
flickered to life inside her. She hated this man who’d so easily toyed with her
heart.

Didn’t she?

Digging her fingernails into her palm to clear her mind, she
focused on the topic at hand. “And these lessons… I’m guessing they’re not in
reading, writing and arithmetic.”

His low, throaty chuckle caused her to suck in a sharp
intake of breath between clenched teeth.

And then, as quickly as it started, his chuckle died. Though
she still couldn’t make out his eyes through the shadows, she could feel the
shift in atmosphere the moment it occurred. Whatever slight amusement he’d felt
a moment earlier was gone, replaced by a deep somberness that filled the room
with an electric current that was almost palpable.

“Consider yourself lucky,” he murmured as he clutched her
closer to his chest and turned, heading for the bed. “You’re about to get your
first taste of what’s to come. A private taste. Just you and me.”

He bent low over the mattress, placing her down on her back
across the middle of the bed and straddling her with his legs on either side of
her thighs. He hovered just above her, careful not to crush her with his
weight.

That small amount of consideration seemed out of place with
what she now knew of Kirel, and it sent a tiny thrill to shimmy down her skin.

“Stay just like that,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t
move.”

She heard the promise in his voice loud and clear. It made
her pussy throb and tighten, her inner walls twitching in anticipation. The
protest she knew she should utter lodged in her throat.

Just once…

Oh how badly she wanted to feel him close to her one more
time. She’d dreamed of having him in her arms, her legs wrapped around him, his
cock thrusting deep into her core. What would it hurt to give in to him once,
knowing that when she escaped from the castle she’d never see him again?

Kirel rose to his feet and cast a cursory glance around the
room before stepping away from her field of vision. She thought about ignoring
his request and rising from the bed but quickly dismissed the idea. Where would
she go? The door was likely locked and even if it wasn’t, there had to be
guards just outside the room. She wouldn’t get far. Besides, she didn’t want to
go anywhere. Not yet.

Until now he’d been a little rough and demanding, but hadn’t
shown her anything she couldn’t handle. Her body remembered him, responded to
him of its own accord, making its wishes known with every pulse and throb.

“What’s going on?” she asked when the silence continued to
stretch on.

Kirel didn’t answer at once. Apprehension curled in her
belly. Where had he gone, and why was it taking so long?

He approached from the other side of the bed, startling her
when the mattress dipped beneath his weight.

“Sit up.”

She did as she was told without protest, her heart hammering
a steady beat in her chest.

He slipped a length of fabric around her eyes and tightened
it, knotting it behind her head. Nelina barely had a chance to gasp as the
shadows that had surrounded her field of vision darkened to an impenetrable sea
of black.

“The Tradition demands that the future queen meet three
important criteria.” His breath warmed her cheek as he spoke.

Nelina fought to keep her voice impassive. “Not that it
matters, but what are they?”

“First, she must be able to learn from others. That’s why
the Guardians are instructed to teach her certain skills she must then display
to the Fates and the citizens of Aris.” He tugged at the laces holding her
blouse tight at the base of her throat. She felt the fabric loosen around her
breasts then slip away altogether as he unlaced the bindings and slipped the
two sides of the fabric on either side.

“Sexual skills,” she whispered, guessing where this
discussion was headed.

“Precisely.” He rolled one of her nipples between his
fingers.

Goose bumps broke out over her skin and she fought back a
shiver. “All—all of the Guardians?”

“Yes.”

Remembering the strong bodies pressed against her in the
carriage caused her sex to moisten. All three of them…at once? The thought was
almost too much to bear.

“What else?” she asked when she could trust herself to
speak.

“The future queen must also be able to obey without
question, without protest. That’s something else you’ll be taught.”

A nervous chuckle escaped her throat. “Good luck with that
one.” Yet despite the ludicrous statement, desire swirled low in her belly,
adamant for release. Cream slipped out from between her folds, slicking her
thighs. “Is that it?”