AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re mine,” I rasp. “Your life is now in my hands.” No harm will ever come to her again. I need her. This girl with her pale hair and sandy eyes was brought to me by the desert, to do with as I please.
She’s what I’ve searched for. I’ve needed a woman to birth me an heir but with Kenna it won’t just be a duty. It will be a privilege and I can’t help but to stroke my thumb in circles on her thigh as I suck, murmuring comforting words and they get her to ease. Once the venom is out, I give her more water and rub a salve that we carry around in case any of the stallions get pricked, on the puncture.
Pulling her skirt down again, I rearrange her clothes and clutch her to me. Mostly to comfort myself, to feel her heart beat against my chest and I flood with relief when I catch the small hints of warmth returning to her.
“I was right, you are the antidote...,” she murmurs and I have no idea what she’s talking about but it doesn’t matter, as long as she’s feeling better. “Will I live now, stranger?” she asks between cracked lips. “Will I live because of you?”
“Yes,” I rasp, holding her closer and she rests her face in the hollow of my throat. “You will live for me.”
For me and only for me. Finally, the king of thieves has found his ruler.
3.
Kenna
The stranger’s name is Xerxes Khemet and I’m sitting in front of him on his stallion while my head leans back on his shoulder. If I hadn’t been this weak I would have been buzzing. I mean, what even is he?
If I hadn’t already passed out so many times, I would’ve passed out from his striking dark looks alone. I shudder when he pulls his robes around us because the desert night is getting chilly. Sometimes he murmurs words, some of them in his own language and some of them in English and I have a feeling he wants me to get to know him.
He’s bought me but he’s not treating me as an object. He even sucked venom out of me... My eyes nearly roll back when I remember the way he looked between my thighs. So determined to save me and desperate to ease my pain as if he was ready to gut himself right there and then if it would’ve helped.
Shifting, I wonder why he even bought me in the first place. What would the king of thieves need a lanky foreigner like me for? I swallow. He told me I’m his but it didn’t sound as inyou’re my purchase, just more likeyou’re mine, period. If he really thinks I’m his then what exactly does he expect from me?
My mind’s spinning from everything that’s gone down. This all started out as a nightmare and now it has turned into a...dream?
I’m in the arms of a mysterious stranger and it’s the kind of thing my girlfriends would’ve gushed over but this deserves more than just gushing. They wouldn’t understand. Hesavedme. And he’s surprisingly gentle for being as ferocious as he is. He speaks in a low, raspy voice, his hands always soft as if he’s worried they’ll be too rough for me and when he lifted me up on the horse, he asked for permission to touch me.
The only time he denied me any say was when he was saving my life. But that was for my own good. When I first saw him at the auction, he struck me as dangerous. Toxic. Like he should walk around with a warning and I never would’ve guessed there’d be so much compassion in him. He took me by surprise and the way he carried me around and rocked me when I was in pain, flipped a switch in me. And now I’m a little bit addicted to him....
Is that normal? Maybe...? Popular psychology would probably have a good explanation. Probably say that since he saved my life, I feel like I owe him and now my feminine hormones are running rampant, trying to cater to him but it’s more than that. I don’t feel like I owe him. I feel like Iwantto owe him.
“Is it getting better?” he whispers in my ear and his accent is so thick it feels like being coated in sticky syrup. Everything about him is so unfamiliar and familiar at the same time, like he’s a riddle I already know the answer to.
“I can feel my legs now,” I say but I’m still tired. Xerxes has told me it’ll take a couple of hours more until I feel like myself again. And he gave me something to drink, telling me it would take care of the venom that had spread and that he couldn’t draw out. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. A soft smile crosses my face when he makes me lean back, making sure I’m comfortable and I’m caged by his arms as he’s holding the reins.
The sky is vast and dark and besotted with stars and the desert looks more like a dark ocean. Xerxes men are riding in front of us, sometimes turning around and giving us glances as if they’re surprised. Shocked even and don’t know what to make of this.
They don’t like me, I think and I muster up the courage to ask Xerxes. “Do the thieves have anything against women?” I murmur and I’m not sure how to act, not sure which questions are and aren’t allowed in this group but Xerxes replies.
“It’s nothing personal. They see women as a liability that’s all.”
“Do you?” I ask.
“Yes,” he whispers, his tone suddenly heated. “But for you I make an exception.”
My legs go numb again. This time because of him and I flush and that’s coming from someone who hasn’t flushed since middle school.
“Xerxes, why did you buy me?” I ask because it’s not making any sense. Judging by the life he leads, it doesn’t seem like I’ll have a role to fill. Unless it’s to satisfy him physically but a male like him can have anyone he wants. He wouldn’t need to buy a girl at an auction for that.
“I wanted you,” he says, his reply simple and fuss-free in its masculinity.
“But you don’t have any use for me,” I reply and he lets out a dark laughter that makes the fuzz on my nape stand. He let’s go of one rein and puts his hand on my belly. He rubs it in slow, promising circles that make me pant because of how intimate the touch is.
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you,” he rasps. “I already have something in mind.” His way of speaking and the way he’s stroking my belly makes me feel important and almost indecently womanly. My body responds to his touch, blooming as if it’s about to go on a mission.
But on a mission for what exactly?
“Sleep,” Xerxes says and as if obeying his command, my eyes flutter.
