AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Very gently, I slid my hands up her body. It wasn’t in my nature to be this gentle, but it was necessary. She wasn’t going to like what I said next. And I couldn’t risk her bolting from me again.
I placed my hands to hers, palm to palm, entwining my thick fingers between her fine ones.
Then I tightened my grip and said, “I’m taking you back to the castle. Tonight.”
Her eyes flared with anger and she struggled to get away. But her hips were pinned beneath my arms and I had her hands. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“No, absolutely no way,” she said, trying to squirm away from me. Even trying to land a kick or two.
Cute and all. But I was three times her size, a trained fighter, and every muscle in my body was throbbing to fill her cunt with my dick.
“You can fight me all you want. You know I’ll win.”
Even she couldn’t backtalk against the logic of brute force. She stopped squirming and stared at me, with her mouth set hard and nostrils flared.
“I will not be made to marry him. I will not.”
Drawing her toward me, I came up on my knees in front of her. I released one of her hands, and pinched her jaw in my thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look up at me.
“Easy, now,” I growled. “You’re mine. I’m yours. I’d burn this fucking kingdom down rather than give you up. If they try to get between us, I’ll murder every fucking one of them in their sleep.”
Now the fight really drained from her. In place of anger, I saw fear. Good. She damned well better be afraid of me.
Passion like this was a fucking weapon.
CHAPTER 17
Anika
The ride back to the castle took us the rest of the night and most of the following day, taking paths that were safer after the torrential rains, but took us on a wide route through the forest.
Each step Rosie took beneath me reminded me of my tender, newly spanked bottom. But each step also reminded me of the new and wonderful tiredness I felt all throughout my body, from the exertion of my first two orgasms.
My muscles felt like jelly, and an intoxicating warmth radiated throughout my body, starting in my thighs. Whenever the paths allowed for us to ride side-by-side, we did. I kept stealing glances at Maksim and he kept glancing at me. Gone was the irritated look I’d grown so accustomed to.
Now, he watched me with a protective, attentive care that only turned dark when I rode in a way he found a little too risky or careless.
The storm had cleared, and our way back to the castle was lit by brilliant white-blue moonlight, then the filtered sunlight of summer under the trees. The going was hard, though. Many of the main trails were blocked by mudslides, and many of the more secret trails had been rendered impassable by fallen trees and branches.
Slowly, we made our way through, sometimes doubling back, sometimes taking shortcuts through ancient swaths of forest that, I suspected, hadn’t seen horse or human for a thousand years. I liked that idea very much; the two of us, the way we were now, forging new paths across old lands. Dangerous though the paths were, I had never felt safer or happier than I did with him there, by my side, together in this new and thrilling way.
When we arrived back at the castle, I heard the church bells chime to call for evening vespers. It felt much later to me, and no wonder. After the day I’d had, I was surprised I hadn’t nodded off on Rosie’s back as we rode. Maksim rode ahead of me as we neared the stables, where we were met by two grooms who took our horses to be fed and watered.
As we turned to make our way for the castle gates, I had a momentary flutter of panic, thinking how furious my mother would be with me for running away. But then I remembered she wasn’t there. Nobody was. It was just Maksim and me, free to do as we pleased. A shiver ran up my spine at the thought. A shiver of pleasure and nervousness. I knew something was in store for me, something important and life-changing, but it was a mystery to me how it would feel, what he would do. I was completely at his mercy.
He took my hand in his and led me away from the main entrance, down a narrow path that bordered the far wall.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Even though the light was low, I caught the look he shot me in response to my question. A brief narrowing of his eyes. “You’ll know when you get there.”
Even now, with everything out in the open between us, his temper was still very much right there under the surface. He had no patience for silly questions before and he still didn’t now. Some things hadn’t changed. Even though I loved him, I still feared him. That hadn’t changed either.
