“I don’t understand,” she said.
He lowered his head to her ear and slid his tongue over it, his voice no more than a dark whisper. She shivered, and her cunt clenched his cock, making him desperate to feed her his seed again.
“Understand this, female—my vow has been made, but heroes are villains in another beast’s eyes. Your death no longer belongs under the hooves of a hundred centaurs, it belongs to me. This belongs to me.” He pulled his member out from between her legs, spilling his seed all over her and her wax as another small cry rose from her throat. “If I must fight for you here, instead of at the giant walls of the labyrinth, so be it.” Astegur rose up on his knees to look down upon her. “I will fight. But in return, I will take you. I will have you. And when this is all over, you will submit your will to me in front of the cursed mist and all its monsters, and you will become my mate forever more.” He stood up and breathed out the last of the heat filling his loins. His prick spurt cum all over her rumpled dress.
And before she could say otherwise, before she could fight him and his possession as he knew she would, he strode to her altar and found her ritual knife and bowl, placing them on the wax beside where she now knelt in beautiful disarray.
“Release me, Calavia, and let us begin.”
Chapter Thirteen
Release him?
She sat up and smoothed out the wrinkles of her dress, her fingers slipping through his thick cum. Her muscles quivered, the clenching of her sex had yet to stop from her orgasm, and his seed continued to slip out from between her thighs.
Astegur moved to her side and handed her the bowl and knife. She took them from him and stared down into it.
He settled his hand over her thigh, sharing the warmth she had come to know was his. She liked his heat, his unflinching strength, but what she liked most of all was that in his lust for her she found her own power. It wasn’t one-sided. They shared it mutually. She had never shared anything so physical, so emotional, with another being.But to release him?
I don’t know if I can.
The shock of spears being thrown at her, of her mother tearing at her skin, and the purity of her blood being discovered… It made her stomach sick. Not even the sharp pain and wild pleasure of sex could make it go away for more than a few blissful moments. And that’s what Astegur gave her—distraction. She had never had something to divert her from her problems in the past.
Her vision wavered on the bowl. Her hands tightened around the edges.What if I release him and he leaves?The thought of suddenly being alone again tore her heart in half. Calavia swallowed thickly, trying not to let the thought disturb her, but it did. When had she begun to care for him as much as she cared about Prayer and her people?I don’t want to care. I don’t want to lose what I have.
Thatidea alone instilled fear in her, but the thought that there was more to the world than she’d ever dreamed convinced her to relinquish some of her power.
I don’t want to be alone again.Even with an army coming to destroy all she held dear, suddenly it all seemed for nothing now that she had a taste of what life was truly like outside the protective barriers of the temple.
Perhaps annihilation is better than loneliness.
Astegur’s hand left her leg and he tugged on a strand of her hair when she didn’t respond. She looked his way, but only after she was certain her face did not betray her thoughts.
“Calavia,” his voice darkened, reminding her that he still waited for an answer from her.
She licked her lips and nodded, pushing her hair out of her face as she gripped the knife in her other hand. In one sure move, she sliced her palm and bled into the bowl.
Astegur rumbled beside her, and saw his member grow fully erect once more. She pressed her legs together, her sex still raw.
She lifted her palm for him to lick her blood while she grabbed some wax from beside her and placed it into the bowl. His tongue lapped at her hand until all the blood was gone, making her belly jump. She rose up, ignoring it, and moved to her altar to light the few candles still positioned atop it. He followed her like a demon trying to possess a source. He was her shadow.
I can’t keep him here against his will. I can’t make him suffer for my mistakes.
Now his life actually meant something more to her than a means to an end. She cared for him, even though she knew she shouldn’t, and that knowledge changed her goals. An attachment had formed, one that she didn’t want to vanish. Didn’t want to die.
If he fought and died for her—against his will—she would never be able to forgive herself. Astegur was hers now, and she was his. At least until the threat they faced passed or ended in their demise.
Calavia pressed her wounded hand to her chest. Her heart beat hard within. She was on the verge of losing everything and all her thoughts kept coming back to her champion. The emotions revolving in her head confused her.
If she had to choose between him and her life...
She steadied herself and with one last press of her palm against her heart, she set the bowl over a flame with her other hand. The wax and her blood swirled together.
I would choose him.
Calavia exhaled and reached under her dress and took some of Astegur’s seed from where it traveled down her thighs, and added it to the mixture.
“Give me your hand,” she ordered, without looking his way.
