Temperance

  “So I did.”

  “Do you think I’d be able to borrow something while I wash this?”

  She gestured to her grubby dress, and when she glanced down she noticed a dark line making it’s way down the left side of her chest. She reached up and automatically tried to wipe it away. When the marking stayed, she pulled the neckline aside and watched as it seemed to spread and extend down her vein.

  Lifting her head, she seeked out Kai, and found that he was also focused on the mark she’d revealed.

  “What is this?” she demanded, and pushed away from the table, standing.

  He stood also and went to walk to her but her barrier was back up, firmly in place, and she held her hand up warding him off.

  “Did you poison me?” she accused, stumbling slightly.

  “No, of course not. I ate what you did,” he explained rationally, but she was beyond rationality and needed to know what was happening.

  “I was going to tell you. After you ate,” he stated in a voice she knew he was hoping would calm her—it didn’t work.

  “Tell me what?” she practically screamed, and felt her entire body shake from rage or fear?

  “Back in the forest, you said you remembered seeing the Empress…”

  Naeve looked back down to her chest to see the line still spreading.

  Am I going to die?

  “She put something inside of you.”

  As Kai’s words penetrated her brain, she had a sudden flash of recognition. It was like a lightning bolt as she felt an instant pain in her chest. Raising her hand she flattened her palm over her heart and felt her skin heat.

  “Yes,” he continued gently, as if trying to soothe a caged animal. “She said she placed it in your heart.”

  Reluctantly, she raised her eyes, and when they locked with his she asked, “What? I don’t understand. What did she put in there? How?”

  She saw Kai’s hand flex on the back of the chair she’d abandoned, but otherwise he didn’t move. Instead, he told her matter-of-factly, “A key. She placed a key inside of you, and said it will darken your heart and soul as surely as her own.”

  Trying to wrap her head around what he was saying, she looked down to the ink colored vein and traced it with a finger.

  “How do we get it out?” she whispered.

  This time, Kai stepped to her and reached for the hand she had against her chest.

  He took it in his own and vowed, “I don’t know. But we’ll find a way to remove it. That’s one of the reasons I brought you here. To help you.”

  Naeve let her hand remain captive, finding that his touch was comforting, and then she asked, “What was the other reason?”

  As he licked his lip, she saw his eyes cloud over as he replied quietly, “I couldn’t seem to leave you behind.”

  Right there in that moment full of chaos and confusion, she followed her mother’s advice and listened to her blackening heart as she rose up on her toes, and pressed her lips to his.

  As soon as their mouths met Kai knew there was no way he’d be letting her go. He cupped her cheeks between his hands and increased the pressure of his lips over hers, wanting to slide deep inside of her any way possible.

  She stumbled slightly against him, and he took advantage by moving them back until his legs hit the seat of his chair. The salty taste of her meal still lingered on her tongue, but every now and then he got a hint of sweetness that remained from the gum.

  Her small fingers dug into his shirt and twisted for a solid grip as she moved up onto her tiptoes and strained to get closer.

  He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that what she was doing, how she was acting may not be entirely ‘her,’ but in that instant he didn’t much care. He released her face and moved his hands down to clutch at her waist, and thought again; she is so brave. So very brave.

  She pulled her mouth from his and ran her tongue along her lip as he waited, staring down at her wondering what she would do next.

  “You’re right,” she whispered, and Kai could feel her breasts pressing against him every time she exhaled. “I feel drawn to you. Like I can’t help myself. Even when I know there are so many other things I should be doing, all I can think about is…”

  Her words faded as she loosened her grip and slid her hand to his shoulder.

  “Is what?” he urged.

  For some reason, he had the overwhelming need to hear her say it. He knew that she wanted to touch him. But after years of no contact with the female kind, Kai wanted to hear that she desired him.

  “I can’t stop thinking about getting closer to you.”

  Kai sat down in his seat, and tugged her forward a step as he widened his legs. She moved between them hesitantly, but not unwillingly.

  “Nothing here makes any sense. My life, it’s spinning out of control,” she said as she ran her palms up under his hair. “And when I touch you, I feel like I’m anchored. Like I’m safe.”

  “You are safe,” he replied, his voice gruff as she tangled her fingers in his hair. “While you are here with me, no harm will come to you.”

  Her blue eyes stared down at him, as Kai sat back in his chair tugging her forward. He wasn’t sure if she would resist or put up a token effort to stay in place, but when she bent her leg and placed a knee on the outside of his thigh, Kai knew she was his.

  From the moment they’d first met there’d been an instant connection between the two of them. When she’d lain under him upon the ground, he’d known that he would have her. And as she settled astride his thighs now, he was only mildly surprised that his little rabbit had turned the tables and it was he who was now under her.

  “You said no woman has touched you in years…”

  Kai placed his palms on the thin material covering her thighs. “That is correct.”

  “Do you think that’s why you want me?”

  Kai slid his hands up her legs, pushing the fabric out of his way.

  “Do I think that’s why I want to touch you?”

  “Yes,” she breathed out on a sigh, her lips parting slightly making him want to capture them once more.

  As his hands snuck under her dress, he reached her bare hips and cupped her naked behind. He sat up with a groan, yanking her in against his lap where his shaft was throbbing.

  “No,” he grit out. “I would want to touch you no matter what.”

  He felt her hands move up through his hair to cradle his head, and then she brought his face in close to her chest. Kai pressed his lips against the material covering her heart, and he swore the skin under it almost singed his lips causing Naeve’s body to buck forward against his own.

  He raised his head and looked up to see her eyes alive with a feverish light. Squeezing her ass, he rocked her forward again and lowered his face to repeat the move. This time her thighs tightened around his and she arched her breasts closer to him. It seemed the place where Seraphine had inserted the key was, sensitive.

  Removing a hand from her ass, he brought it up to the strap of her dress and slowly pulled it from her shoulder.

  As it fell to the middle of her arm she whispered, “There’s a zipper.”

  Kai frowned and she gave a small smile removing her hands from his hair. She then sat back slightly and reached behind herself causing those beautiful breasts of hers to push out toward him.

  “A zipper,” she repeated the strange word, and then he heard a foreign sound before the material covering her loosened, and the strap on her arm fell further away.

  Sitting where she was, she reached across and gently lowered the dress baring her right breast to him.

  He groaned and reached for her with a shaking hand. “By all the Gods, you’re breathtaking.”

  Her skin was absolute perfection, save for the black marking marring her.

  Creamy and pale she was like porcelain. When the tips of his fingers found her, he traced the vein that was infected and felt her tremble. Immediately, he stopped.

  “Does it hurt?”

/>   Her hand whipped out and took his, bringing his fingers back to her skin.

  “No,” she moaned as he touched her again. “It feels…incredible.”

  * * *

  Naeve couldn’t remember ever being as turned on as she was while straddling Kai’s lap.

  She was trying to work out why she reacted so strongly to him, but every time he touched her it was as though the fire that was licking though her veins intensified.

  He traced the dark line that was stretching down her chest and when a jolt of extreme pleasure hit causing her thighs to tense, she knew that whatever was inside her was somehow playing a part in her reaction.

  “Wait,” she said and placed her hand over his.

  He looked up at her, his eyes turbulent as she licked her upper lip.

  “What is it?”

  At his voice, her pussy started to throb, and the fact that it had nothing to do with him touching her gave her the answer she wanted. It wasn’t a curse or a spell making her desire him, it was just him.

  “Nothing. I just want…”

  “What? What do you want?” he asked, his face drawn tight, more sincere than she’d ever seen him before.

  “I want to forget for a while. Make me forget.”

  She felt his hand come up to the left strap of her dress and slowly draw it down her arm until the material pooled at her waist revealing both breasts.

  Sitting there in the massive dinning room astride a man who was essentially a stranger to her, should have been terrifying. But as his eyes trailed over her exposed flesh, she felt her nipples harden in the cool night air and felt powerful.

  From the beginning Kai had overwhelmed her, frightened her, and controlled her destiny. But right here and now, the look in his eyes told her that she was the one in control. He was under her spell.

  “Touch me,” she invited, and kept her eyes on him as he raised his large hands and cupped her breasts.

  Arching her back ad pushing into his palms, Naeve couldn’t help the soft noise she let free as he studied his hands manipulating her flesh.

  “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, as if he didn’t even realize he was saying it. “So unimaginably beautiful.”

  Naeve rocked her hips on top of him and felt his hard length press between her thighs. As the friction increased, she pressed harder and heard a groan rip from him as he wound one arm around her back holding her in place. She thrust her needy flesh against him and wondered if she would ever find release for the undeniable ache that was pulsating between her thighs.

  His mouth found her neck, and his lips were soft and warm as they pressed against her skin causing a molten sizzle to heat her blood. She gripped his shoulders as her hips picked up pace, grinding harder as he held her prisoner on his lap with his hard cock now a tool for her own pleasure.

  “Yes,” she groaned, and let her head fall back as his teeth nipped her jaw and chin before leaving her.

  She was about to complain until she felt two hands on her back as he bowed her slightly away from him and then lowered his head to take a nipple into his mouth. She clutched the back of his head and pulled him in close as his lips tightened around the stiff peak and sucked.

  “Oh…oh God, Kai.”

  She felt his tongue flick over the tip of her sensitive flesh, and bit down on her lip hard, trying to hold back the scream she could feel rising to the surface to break free. But when he shifted and the material of his pants rubbed against her soaked thong she couldn’t contain it.

  The scream seemed to bounce off of the stone walls as he moved a hand down between her legs and up between her thighs. As he raised his head and their eyes met his fingertips touched the wet heat waiting for him.

  “Ahh, Naeve,” he groaned out her name, and had her reaching for his arms.

  His fingers stroked up the small piece of material covering her and when he drew them back down he pushed against it, testing the resilience of what she was wearing.

  As his fingertips strained against the thong, easing it a little ways into her greedy body, she squirmed against him trying her hardest to get closer—to get him inside of her.

  “These undergarments that you wear,” he stated, his breath brushing against the cool flesh of her breast. “It doesn’t cover anything but your sweet little cunt.”

  The crude word delivered in such a reverent way made Naeve even more aroused if possible.

  “Why do you wear such things?”

  As he was asking his question, he’d drawn his fingers to the edge of her thong and slowly pulled it aside to dip his fingers into her wet core.

  “Umm…”

  He pressed his lips to her collarbone and she swore she felt him smile against her skin as he swiped his thumb up to her clit and pressed against it.

  “Ahh…oh,” she panted, and then felt him move and heard the loud clang of the plates and utensils being pushed to the floor.

  Would that make someone come in?

  As he perched her ass on the edge of the table and stood looming over her, he shoved her skirt high to her waist where the rest of the material was crumpled. He then placed a palm between her breasts and lowered her to her back.

  Would I even care?

  The answer came soon enough when he pulled the hulking chair to the table, sat down, and placed one of her feet on either side of him as if she were a meal.

  In that moment she wouldn’t have cared if someone had run in and told her that they knew a way back to her world. But she would have cared if this was a dream after all and she woke up before he leaned down and put his lips to her…ahh, yes…thigh. He smoothed his hands up her shins and when he reached her knees pressed them wide apart.

  Naeve stared at the ceiling and the massive wrought iron chandelier, trying to stop the room from spinning out of control as her arousal seemed to be taking over like a drug. But as cool air hit the hottest part of her body, she felt a shiver race up her spine.

  “Where you are from, do men lay with women for business or pleasure?”

  Naeve blinked several times and then angled herself up slightly to see the heated eyes he had focused on her face.

  “Sometimes both…” she managed, but then added, “Though usually it’s for pleasure. Because they want each other. What about here?”

  Kai lowered his gaze to her open body and pulled aside the useless material of her thong, baring her glistening sex to him.

  “I would say pleasure, but I was a mere boy when I could partake. I never knew the activities as a man.”

  The way he sucked his lip into his mouth made her more than aware that she wanted his lips on her in the most intimate of ways.

  “And now as a man, what will it be for you? Business or pleasure?”

  He bent down until he could press his lips in a second kiss to her thigh and promised, “I am most certain it will be my pleasure.”

  Naeve heard a whimper escape her lips as his warm breath moved over her exposed flesh, and then his tongue flicked out and she felt the tip of it flick over her clit. She reached down and grabbed his long hair, twisting her fingers into the strands as he looked up at her.

  “Again?”

  She nodded and tugged him down. He went with no hesitation, this time dragging his tongue up through her slick wet folds. She heard him groan against her body as he placed his other hand on her inner thigh to hold her apart.

  She wanted more of him as she lay there spread out on his table, and had an insane thought that if he tried to, she would without a doubt let him crawl between her thighs and shove his cock deep inside her.

  But that didn’t seem to be his intention, not right this second. Instead, he seemed content with touching and tasting her, and this time when he raised his head he took one of her hands from his hair and brought it down between her thighs.

  She hesitated, unsure of what he wanted, but she didn’t have to wait long because he soon told her.

  * * *

  “Hold this out of my way,” Kai instructed, and was s
urprised he even got that out.

  When her dainty fingers came down and pulled the strip of material aside, he sucked in a deep breath. She was bare. Her mound and lips that were shiny and wet, were naked of any hair.

  His shaft was pounding beneath his breeches, but before he opened them and sunk inside of her he wanted to taste her again, and by the way she was gripping his head he knew she wanted that too.

  Lowering down, he nuzzled his nose in against her pelvic bone and took in the scent of her. She smelt of the starlight herb and her own sweet essence, and as a soft moan hit his ears, Kai pressed an open mouth kiss to the top of her slit.

  She arched her hips up and pulled his hair tighter as he sucked her hard little nub between his lips, flicking it with his tongue. Her legs were trembling by his ears, and when one of her feet slipped and lost purchase, he wrapped his arms under her knees and held them in the crooks of his elbows.

  The cry that left her was both satisfying and arousing as he pulled her down the table until he was sitting with his face in her lap devouring every swollen inch of her soaked cunt, and the more he tongued her, the wetter she became.

  She was writhing around under him and he didn’t know half of the words falling from her mouth. But when her thighs tensed hard and she thrust up to his mouth and screamed, he knew sure as the Gods that this woman Naeve, now belonged to him, and he would lay down his very life to protect the body that had just explode across his tongue.

  As he raised his head from between her thighs, he licked the taste of her from his tongue and crawled up over her where she lay out on his table. Placing his palms on either side of her head he looked down into her dazed eyes and felt a grin hit his lips. His long hair fell out from behind his ears and when it tickled her neck she giggled.

  “I like that sound,” he confessed, and she reached up to stroke his cheek.

  “My laugh?”

  He nodded, and when she shifted under him and pressed up against his aching shaft it turned to a groan.

  “Yes. Your joy.”

  She tunneled her hands into his hair and pushed it back from his face.