When I’ve finally gotten all the ash off my skin, my maid helps me get dressed and then leaves me alone to crawl into my bed. It’s big and comfortable. And empty.
If you want me, you need only ask.
I’ve been on my own for a month now in Isiriel and for the majority of my life before I came here. I don’t need Cage. I’ll be just fine on my own.
Five
Iwake sometime in the night, unsure what woke me up. I stare forward into the dark, waiting for my eyes to adjust, to remind me where I am, when I hear something shift behind me. I flip over onto my back, and it takes me a second to figure out what I’m seeing in the pitch black darkness of my new cave.
A dark form stands beside my bed, two flames burning bright in his face. I sit up, dread settling in my stomach. “Cage? Is everything okay?”
In the light of his eyes, I see him nod. “Yes.” He steps forward, planting one knee on my mattress and then both of his hands. He seems to slide across the sheets to me, until his face is inches from mine. “I woke wanting you. I must have you again. May I?”
I’m nodding before the question is all the way out of his mouth, a kind of relief settling into my bones that’s completely unexpected. I wanted him here, yes, I definitely did, but I wasn’t going to be the one to make the first move. And now he is, pushing the covers off my body and crawling on top of me. His eyes are nothing but small flames, almost not even there, when he bends down to kiss me.
There’s a moment when doubt becomes vapor in the air with nothing left to make it concrete, and when Cage’s tongue finds mine, my doubt vanishes like a bad dream in the sunlight.
He came to me. I didn’t have to go to him. He came to me, he wanted me, even if it’s just sex. He has my clothes off in seconds, the ones that were left at the end of my bed, probably some kind of ceremonial sleep garment or something, And then he starts to devour me. He kisses his way down my neck, but it’s like he’s tasting me, opening his mouth against my skin and licking with every kiss. Down my chest and across both of my breasts and then to my stomach. The kisses aren’t urgent. They’re slow and sweet, and it’s like he’s still waking up himself, moving slow and sleepy.
And when he finds his way back to my mouth, covering me with his huge, hulking frame, he gently pins my hands above my head and kisses me deep.
Before, in the throne room, that was him claiming me in front of everyone, but now, this feels like he’s claiming me in secret. He’s showing me that I’m his.
Pushing my legs apart, he settles between them. He slides into me deep, and I whimper against his mouth. My knees brush against his sides, and when he frees my hands, I can’t help but clutch him tighter to me. When I wrap my legs around his waist, he grunts.
It’s surprising to me how gentle it is, gentle enough that I almost feel bad for how rough I was with him earlier. He was a virgin, after all, if what everyone says about the Isiriel is true. Maybe this was what he wanted on that throne, slow and steady, instead of the way I took him. But he wasn’t exactly complaining when we were up there. I want to make this good for him, though. I want him to know all the different ways that sex can be good.
He buries his face in my neck, lips trailing down my skin. I clench my inner muscles, focusing more on his pleasure than my own, but when he groans, clearly liking it as much as I hoped he would, pain blooms on my neck.
“Ow!” I shout, and Cage jerks away from me. Going up on his elbows, he presses the palm of his hand against my neck, but the heat of his body just makes the pain worse. “Fuck,” I hiss, pushing his hand away, and then he’s gone completely, sitting on his knees at the foot of the bed.
I press my own hand to the burn on my neck and look at him. It must have been his eyes. I got him too excited, and they must have flared too high.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice thick. “I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s okay.” I push myself up and look at him sitting there, his eyes locked on me and his mouth turned down in a frown. Every muscle in his body is tight, and between his legs, his cock is still standing at attention. If it wasn’t for the look on his face, I would laugh. “Cage, it’s fine.”
He bares his teeth. “Fine? I hurt you. I’m meant to bring you pleasure, and instead, I burn you.” He stands and paces away from the bed in all of his nude glory. “This was a mistake. We are clearly not physically compatible. I will keep my distance from now on. I will sleep in my room. I will not touch you again.”
I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “What? No. Look, I know you’re new to this whole sex thing, but I’m not, and if you tell me that I have to spend the rest of my life married to you without having sex with you, I might die. Especially because–” I cut myself off. Nope. Not going there.
He takes a step back toward the bed, toward me. “Whyespecially?” He looks so pitiful, his shoulders slumped and his mouth turned down at the corners. Isn’t this the scary fire monster that threatened to put me to death when I camethrough the portal? He’s known as a fierce warrior and a stern leader, but right now, he looks like a little boy who’s in trouble.
So, I throw him a bone. Literally. “Especially because now I know how good it feels to have you inside me.”
His eyes burn higher, the tips of the flames poking out enough to touch the top curve of his eye holes. “Does my cock please you?”
I snort. Does his cock please me? His massive, ridged cock? That’s certainly putting it mildly. I stand and watch with pride as he takes in my naked body. I’m shocked by how much I want to please him, but I do. I want him to want me. I want him to be miserable without me. I want the idea of not having sex with me to make him feel like he’ll die.
I want him to feel about me the way I feel about him.
God, when did that even happen?
“Yes, your cock pleases me, my king, and I don’t want to go without it. Without you.”
When I’m close enough, he puts his hands out and settles them on my shoulders, like he can’t keep himself from touching me.
“Perhaps all we need is to learn each other a little better. Maybe we just need to conduct an experiment.”
