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I can’t believe this is actually real. As I sit at the table, feeling like a little girl next to her father thanks to the difference in size between us, I look around at the cellar. Who knew that this magical place existed, where his curse and mine coincide in just the right way to give us each other?
He instructs me to eat more shellfish, to pile my plate with spinach, and when I shake my head and try to stick to picking the smallest of bites—the way I’ve always been taught—he grumbles and takes over, spooning more of everything onto my dish. He even starts feeding me when I continue to protest.
“You have to eat properly, Calliope. It’s important. In Dennith, our women don’t stand on ceremony with their food like this.”
I laugh. “But I’m not from Dennith. There’s a way things are done in Aramoth, and as the princess—”
“As the princess, it’s your duty to take care of yourself. But more so, as my mate, it is my duty to take care of you, even when you do not like it.”
“It’s my duty to do as I’m told,” I counter, then jump as his clenched fist slams the table like a cannonball.
“And I’m telling you to eat,” he says, in such a way that brooks no argument. “Do not defy me, Calliope.”
I hesitate for a moment, then with a smirk I pick up my fork, stab it through enough spinach leaves they’d fill Rian’s mouth, and shove them between my lips. I chew for a moment, then pick up an oyster shell, tip my head back and add it to the mouthful on a passionate slurp.
As I chew, his eyes just stay fixed on my mouth.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Even chewing I want to fuck you.”
The conversation turns to more civilized matters after that. He asks me things he never had chance for before. Things about my hopes for my people, my dreams. What I liked to do as a child. But I can tell there’s something bothering him by the shortness of his own answers, by the way he keeps glancing around at the walls as I push away any thoughts of the elves and the king and what, if anything, my letter has changed.
“What is it?” I ask, finally.
He shakes his head. “What is what?”
“What’s wrong, Rian? And don’t try to tell me it’s nothing, because I can tell. You might have heightened senses, but you don’t have a woman’s intuition. I do.”
He pauses, then bows his head. “It’s just…here,” he says, his words taking on a growl I hadn’t noticed before. Was he deliberately altering his voice for my benefit? “Me, you, this place. Being together. I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen.”
“But?”
He shoves a forkful of raw beef into his mouth, enough to feed two of the castle guards for a whole meal. And he doesn’t say a word as he chews. Not until he swallows, then he says, “But it’s not enough. Calliope, this room is a miracle, but I want more. I want a family, I want a life. With you. I don’t want to watch the candles to make sure they don’t burn out. This cellar isn’t enough.”
What is he saying? “Of course, you’re right. But for now…”
“Forget I said anything,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s nothing. It’s just that there are things to figure out.”
“Can’t we just enjoy what we have right here?”
He draws a breath through his nose, then nods. “Yes. Let’s enjoy what we have. I’m going to clear the table—”
“No, you’re not,” I tell him, grabbing his arm. “Look at you. You’re more filthy than the plates.”
“You are going to be filthy with me again. But this time, that little mouth of yours is going to learn its new purpose.”
“My mouth?” I ask. “I’m eating, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but I have a bit more for you to swallow. More than a bit.”
“What else? I’ve eaten nearly everything here…” I look over the table, the food almost gone as Rian pushes to his feet and I have to arch my neck to look up as he stands next to me.
“Not food. Cock.” He grunts as he reaches down and lifts me like a feather into the crook of his arm, carrying me through the cellar to a corner behind casks and crates piled to the ceiling.
“Cock?” I repeat, realizing there is a lot about sex I do not know. I’ve heard whisperings and giggles from the servants, but without a mother and only Zacharias, I am ignorant in many ways.
“Yes, little one. Cock. In your little mouth.”
Behind the wall there are candles lit, a mattress of sorts made from pillows and lush fabrics.
“Where did you get this?”
“I had it brought to me in the forest. My mother and the castle servants. They bring me whatever I ask for to my cabin. Then, I brought it here during the night. I want us to have a home. Even if it is here, below this ground where we can be together. This is just the beginning, Calliope. I promise you.”
