Page 82 of Kneel Before Me

Daphne was rather regretting saying that now. “I know what I said. But I want…”

Kronos held eye contact, his irises completely black. Any trace of gold was gone. “What do you want, Daphne?” he breathed.

“I want to do…something.”

He nodded. “We can do anything you wish.”

Daphne wished to do everything. But she also wished to test him. Now that she understood that Kronos could gain power from fucking her, if she let him do it, she was allowing herself to be used. In a way, it would be no better than letting Benjamin take her under the bridge. This was an exercise in trust between her and Kronos. If he could resist her, it meant that she could trust him.

He brushed a curl gently away from her face. “Daphne. Tell me what you want.” His lips were an inch from hers. “Anything you wish, name it and I will do it.”

The words made her core clench. She wished for him to do it all—to kiss her and fuck her and thrust his cock inside her until she came. But they couldn’t do any of that tonight. So she said, “Can you touch me?”

For a moment, Kronos did not move. Then he shifted her slightly in his lap so his hands were on her thighs. He asked a question in return, his voice barely a whisper. “May I see you first?”

Despite the heat, a chill went down her spine. There was only one answer. “Yes.”

To her surprise, Kronos did not begin undoing the line of tiny buttons down the back of the dress. Instead his hands slid farther up her thighs to where the slits began, twisting the seam of fabric to reveal two strings she hadn’t noticed before. He pulled them. Immediately, the dress began to unravel. Strap after strap fell loosely to her thighs. The more he pulled, the more skin she bared. Daphne marveled at the nature of the dress, how deceptive it was. Maximus never would have discovered it was so easy to remove. It was designed in such a way that only Kronos knew how to take it off easily. The thought was intoxicating. He was claiming her, ensuring only he could access her body. When it was finally done, the dress was a pile of fabric in her lap. Kronos pushed it aside, and just like that, she was naked before him.

“Exquisite,” Kronos whispered.

Daphne sat perfectly still as his eyes took her in, traveling from her neck to her breasts to her waist, tracing a slow path down her body. Kronos was in no hurry, and neither was she. There was nowhere Daphne would rather be than right here, just like this, with him. Kronos’s hands returned to her thighs, their heat nearly burning her.

She held her breath as he slid his palms slowly up to her hips. He squeezed. It felt so good that she gasped, struggling to stay still as his hands went higher, dipping into her waist before brushing just under her breasts.

Smoke was rising from his shoulders. Daphne knew it held some connection to the way he felt—that the basilisks experienced arousal in ways that differed from humans. If it were a different moment, she would ask about it. Instead, she leaned in to kiss him. When their lips met, they moved slowly, savoring the way each other tasted. One of his hands went to her head, his fingers lacing into her hair, pulling her closer. The other cupped her breast, his thumb brushing gently over her nipple. Daphne didn’t let her hands wander again, not trusting herself to behave now that she was naked. Instead she held his jaw, cradling his face in her palms as she kissed him.

This was nothing like what she’d done with the village boys. Those nights under the bridge were rushed, sloppy fumbles in the dark. This was intimate and slow and meaningful. This felt like the moment when the sun emerged after a rainstorm. Daphne was completely at ease, completely free. The kiss deepened. A strange sound filled the air—a hiss—and Daphne realized it was coming from Kronos. Eventually, he slid his fingers between her legs.

“Tell me if you like this,” he murmured against her lips.

But she could not speak. He touched her with such patience—such intention—sliding first one finger inside her, then another, going so slowly she was weak with anticipation. She knew now that she had been wrong—that there was a great deal she did not know—that he could teach her. Touching someone else was not merely an act of physical connection but an emotional one. She’d never felt like the person touching her genuinely cared. Now she could not imagine being touched any other way.

Kronos laid her down slowly so he was on top of her, still touching her at the same unhurried pace. “Daphne,” he whispered. “Talk to me.”

“It’s hard to talk,” she said.

He smiled. “Does that mean you like this?”

She managed to nod. “Yes.”

“Good.”

He said nothing else. Instead he rubbed her clitoris with his thumb at the same time his other fingers moved inside her. The combination was lethal; Daphne couldn’t help but moan. At the sound, Kronos dropped his face to the crook of her neck and kissed along her throat. She wrapped her legs around him, holding his body to hers. She never wanted this to end. She wanted to live in this exact moment, here beneath him, forever. Suddenly nothing seemed so bad. The past was irrelevant; there was only this. Only them.

Her hands slid to his trousers. She began to untie them.

Kronos caught her hand gently, holding her in place. “No, Daphne.”

“Why not?”

“You know why not.”

Of course she did. It was the exact same reason he’d given her earlier, and it was her reason in the first place. “But I want to.”

Kronos let out a soft laugh. “I know you do.”

“Don’t you?”