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11
Alina
The judgment in King Corbin's eyes haunted me as I very nearly tripped over the perfectly manicured lawns that surrounded Oshal's Royal Palace. I tugged at Reece’s grip as he pulled me along, a half-hearted attempt to escape him before it was too late. Wherever he brought me, I knew we were standing on a precipice of something important.
With every step that we took, I lost more of the Alina I needed to be in order to do as my mother expected of me. The farther the distance from the safety the public in the picnic gave, my heart gave way. It became less and less mine, and more and more his. I wanted to be the woman he saw when he looked at me. The one who would never tolerate Mother’s interference in my love life, the woman who took what she wanted and needed to be happy.
While Reece dragging me along felt like such a violation, I knew that the closer we came to our destination, he would give me a choice once we were there. Reece would always give me the right to choose and the power of knowing I could command him with my own desires.
The Palace was empty as we entered. In the middle of the day, it struck me as peculiar that there would be no one milling about. Even Reece's guards were conspicuously absent. Maybe it was fate playing a hand in our future and the shift we both knew was coming. He stopped and turned to me, those blue eyes blazing desire and anger, a potent combination that had heat pooling in my belly and my breath catching in my throat. "Reece."
He took a step towards me, holding out his hand. “Come with me, Baby Bird.” I hesitated for a moment, drawing comfort from the fact that he’d given me the choice I knew he would. A moment was all it took for him to grab me around the waist and pull me to him. Squeezing his shoulders, confliction rose within my soul. Unsure if I should push him away and protect what remained of my virtue or draw him in and say propriety be damned.
"Reece, please. I don’t know if I can—"
He released a breath and the tremor in it, the unsteady quality to the way he spoke, told me this moment was as big for him as it was for me. "Do you trust me?"
But was I brave enough to hold my hand out and take his? He said he was going to submit a proposal for our union. Dangerous words when mixed with my own desire, they hinted that everything I wanted hovered just beyond my reach. But there was also fear that it would all be ripped away. That I would never be his Queen or free from my mother’s manipulations.
How was it that in just a day, he’d already staked ownership of a part of me that I knew would be his and only his? That he knew me well enough to offer everything I’d ever dreamed of wanting?
"That's not the first time you've asked me that question today." I gave him a small smile, amazed that my heart did not beat out of my chest with the way it thundered against my ribs.
"No, it's not.” He kept his hand out, waiting patiently for me to make my own decision. Placing my shaky hand into his steady warmth, I allowed the comfort of his touch to wash over me and consume me.
My soul recognized him, and I knew that I would trust him until the day I died. If they separated me from him, I would still feel him with every breath. If I lost him, it would be no worse than losing a piece of my soul. "I trust you."
Was it desire I'd seen in his eyes, only moments before? It paled in comparison to the blazing of his blue eyes the moment I spoke, and he crashed his lips to mine. Every bone in my body quivered, every fiber of my being shuddered at the realization that I trusted him like I trusted no one else.
There was a moment of fear, where I worried he would toss me to the side and move on with his life while I wallowed in my own misery. Because I loved him in a way that I knew no one else could ever compete. One day, and he’d stolen the heart right out of my chest.
I squealed and lost my breath as he swept me off my feet and carted me off in his arms down a narrow hallway and up a discreet staircase. I giggled at how ridiculous it was even as I felt myself glow from his attention. "Where are you taking me?"
"Some place private where I mean to have you, Alina." The need he’d brought out in me in the rose garden sparked to life once more, and I flushed when I remembered that my underwear was in his pocket. “Every moment that passes, I want to have you more.”
"I can walk myself, Reece,” I teased, knowing in that moment that I would follow him anywhere.
He dropped me to my feet and pinned me against the wall of the hallway. His hands ran down my sides, skimming and caressing as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down so his lips would meet mine. The flavor of him exploded in my senses, only serving to make me want more of him.
He reached behind me and turned the doorknob before walking me inside, his lips still on mine, his hands still on my body. I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings as I pulled back for breath. Rich colors and wide windows. Beautiful wood and luxurious velvet.
Before I could see more, he shoved my shoulder until my back thumped against his bed. Not a moment later, his body was on top of mine, his weight crushing me in a sensation that was arousing rather than suffocating. He took my hands so I couldn’t touch him but instead of feeling captured, it felt like being worshiped.
He rained kisses down my throat, where my voice caught in mewling sounds. I lifted my right leg to wrap it around him and the flowy material of my skirt fell to expose my skin. As cold air brushed against it, I yearned to feel the sensation of his skin on mine. He reached back and grabbed my thigh and the heat of his touch was like a brand against my flesh.
As if he hadn’t already branded himself on my soul. "Reece,” I begged, uncertainty creeping in. I didn’t have the knowledge or experience to satisfy him. Not with the experience he must have.
My hesitations fell silent when his eyes met mine. "I'll make your first time beautiful, Alina. You said you trusted me. Trust me to give you that.” He pulled one of my hands to his lips, giving it a kiss that was both tender and sweet. "I can't promise you that there won't be pain, but I’ll do my best to distract you from it.”
I nodded, losing all words because he could so completely understand me and know what thoughts churned in my head before I could ever put them to words. I pulled his shirt out of his pants and allowed my hands to roam corded muscle under the silky fabric of his clothes. “I want to see you,” I whispered.
He pushed himself to his knees, making quick work of the buttons of his shirt. Pulling it off, he tossed it behind him. I admired his body, watching the way the sunlight from the windows speared through and highlighted every contour of his lean muscles.
His face turned smug, no doubt seeing the look of admiration that lit my face. He bent down and nipped at my ear before whispering, "Your turn, my Princess."
He pulled at the ties that wrapped my dress around my body, skimming his fingers over the top of my breasts that nearly spilled free from the fabric. His lips touched the mound of one, his tongue working the flesh as I fought not to squirm beneath him. Sucking my skin into his mouth, he pulled the rest of my dress from my body as he bruised my breast with his passion.
He stared down at me for a moment, taking in the vision of me naked beneath him. I was not self-conscious even as he touched the dried stains where his release from earlier still coated my skin. He gripped my thighs and pulled me to him. His tongue delved in the crease at the apex of my thighs, as he sucked at the very core of me until pleasure bloomed so bright it threatened to mold into pain. My back arched off the bed and my thighs tightened against the sides of his head before I collapsed back down in a heap.
