I realize for the first time how my careful behavior must look to her. She feels like an object in my care, not a woman I desire, and maybe she’s right in a way. I am always so afraid of breaking her, this princess who’s slept among swan down pillows all her life. But she’s so much more than that, isn’t she?
I remember her first trial as the queen of Roharra. She was scared and anxious, yet she brought the matter to the end and commanded me without flinching to behead the traitor. She’s tough underneath her soft, sweet exterior.
When I take her wrist, slowly bringing her hand up to my lips, she watches me back, defiant and angry. I nuzzle the delicate skin of her inner forearm, priming it with gentle, licking kisses. Her breath comes faster, her breasts rising and falling in a dizzying rhythm. I feel beastly and savage. Am I really going to do this? Agnidari men used to mark their women centuries ago, but not any more. And yet, that ancient custom stirs my imagination like nothing else.
I lick up a long strip from her wrist up to her elbow, then press my upper teeth to her skin right in the middle of that path, looking into her eyes as I do. We stay like this, frozen, as I wait for her to stop me.
She doesn’t. I bite down slowly, drawing it out, and the metallic taste of blood blooms on my tongue. Keeping the bite shallow doesn’t require any control at all. I don’t wish to hurt her.
When I pull back, blood wells in the wound. I lick it off, revealing an even half-circle of punctures in the shape of my teeth. More blood trickles out, and I lean over to grab anempty glass I prepared for drinks. I hold it under her forearm, gathering the blood, while Caliane breathes shallowly without a protest.
“I have this rare flower that needs to be watered with blood to bloom,” I murmur as the flow slows, crimson congealing in her wounds. “I have never given it any. It has beautiful foliage, and that was enough for me. But now that we’ve done this, it seems fitting. We’ll water it once you stop bleeding, then I’ll give it my blood in a few days. It should be enough. I’ll bring you back here when it blooms. It’s supposed to be outrageously beautiful. Like you.”
I look up, smiling when I see the flush in her cheeks, the redness of her parted lips. My queen isn’t scared. She was right—Icando as I please with her.
“Oh, but—” she begins but I dive in to lick her skin clean. She breaks off with a gasp, and I lick it all off, my queen’s blood becoming my nourishment. It feels savage and beastly.
And she doesn’t tell me to stop.
When her arm is clean, no more blood flowing, I hand her the glass. There are only a few spoonfuls inside. Caliane takes it, and I pick her up in my arms, carrying her to the plant.
“It’s called Vampire Blossom,” I explain when we reach the right pot. I let Caliane stand and ruffle the plant’s leaves. They are uncanny, dark green dappled with purple and black spots, which on any other plant would be a mark of disease. This one is healthy, though. All it needs is nourishment. “Will you do the honors?”
Caliane tips the glass over the soil in the pot. The blood is thick, flowing reluctantly. I bring closer a watering can of clear water and pour some in so the blood can be rinsed out into the pot. Once it’s done, I pick up my queen and carry her back to the nest I laid out to fuck her in.
Magnar always tells her to undo his belt, and I never understood how he had the patience. I throw my queen down onto the pillows with enough strength to make her gasp and tug off my pants. She waits for me with her legs spread, her fingers tangled in the blankets, and I stand above her, shivering from indecision.
She told me to do what I want.
When she smiles, inviting me in, I straddle her chest, pinning her arms to her sides with my legs. The tip of my cock bobs an inch away from her lips. She sighs, and her warm breath tickles me like a caress.
“Open.”
She does, obedient and eager. I feed her a few inches, forcing myself inside. Her mouth is dainty, far less flexible than her sweet cunt and ass, and she struggles as I push deeper. But she let me bite her, and I am determined to push my luck and take everything I never dared demand from her before.
Tears of exertion glisten in her eyes as soon as she chokes. Her throat contracts around the head of my cock that’s far deeper than I’ve ever let it before. My queen’s lovely face reddens as her eyes moisten, and I pull out, allowing her to breathe. Half of my shaft is wet with her saliva, and I slide it up her chin and cheek, messing her up like the savage I am. She takes deep, gasping breaths, and I wait for her to tell me to stop, but she’s silent.
“Don’t tell me you enjoy that,” I say, a pulse of anger sharpening my arousal. “Being debased by me.”
“But I do.” She smiles, squirming in the cage of my thighs until her palms land on my buttocks, squeezing lightly. “You’re always in control, Raduna. I’d like to see you let go sometimes. Show me how much you want me—so much that you can’t hold back.”
VI Savage
Caliane
I barely finish the sentence when the thick head of his cock pushes past my lips, demanding entrance. When I look up, his face hovers high above mine, lined with tension. His eyes are dark, teeth half-bared in a pleasured snarl. I let him in, my jaw aching from holding my mouth so wide open.
“You’re a queen and you deserve to be worshipped,” he says, guttural and low. “Yet here I am, treating you like a country wench. Choke on me, Your Grace. Do you see how unnatural this is yet?”
He slams deep in my throat, and I close my eyes, fighting with my body’s natural impulses. It wants to heave and cough, expelling the intrusion, but my soul and heart welcome it. I need Raduna to take what he needs. His restraint is what’s unnatural.
He pulls back, and I gasp in ragged breaths, forcing my eyes open to look at him. He watches me with such intensity and greed, I instantly decide it’s all worth it. My insides clench withneed. Hewantsme selfishly, not to serve, not to pleaseme, but to take for himself.
“Nothing unnatural about a man taking a woman.” My voice is so hoarse, I barely hear it, but Raduna hears me just fine. His nostrils flare, and he pulls back, his enormous body moving with sinuous grace.
His palms close around my hips, and he flips me onto my stomach, instantly covering my body with his. My face lands in cool grass, and I breathe in the scent of rich soil, squirming to free my arms. It’s useless. Both my wrists are gripped firmly and pressed down high above my head. Raduna holds them with just one hand, the other yanking my knee far to the side. I struggle breathing, yet I have enough air to scream long and loud when he drives into me from behind.
“Nothing unnatural, Your Highness?” he hisses, pounding into me. “Then why does your body struggle? Why does it take so much work to fill this cunt? It would stretch open in welcome if this werenatural, but it resists and fights me. Why do you think I’m always so careful? I don’t want you to hurt!”
