Turning to acknowledge her raspy tone, he wondered if her timbre was born from pain or something more aligned to his own blossoming desire.
“I want to help you, little one.”He hoped the gentle caresses he offered revealed he could be tender as well as strict.“… to revive you.”
She twitched over his lap.“What does that mean, Master?”
He could hear the tell-tale sounds of weariness in her voice, the way her body wilted after the tension; a visual reminder that not only was Kronos new to her, but so were his rules and expectations.Kronos insisted on discipline and accountability, both of which were often new concepts for mortals.Kristina would be overwhelmed by her recent experiences.He needed to remain conscious of her plight.
“You don’t know me yet.”
He wanted her to know him, though.Just as he wanted to know her, longed to not only be able to better read her physical cues, and anticipate her every mood.Only time would bring that comforting clarity, but taking in the length of her gorgeous body, he yearned to turn the hands of that clock forward.
Some called him Father Time, and he possessed the skills to draw the rhythm that humanity lived by forward or backward, but experience restrained him.If he sped headlong into their relationship, he ran the risk of missing the tiny moments of connection and intimacy that would blossom, and he didn’t want to do that.
Kronos was struck by just how powerful she was in that moment.Diminutive and far physically inferior to him, but it was already impossible to conceive of a future without Kristina.
She had answered his call on purpose.He was sure of it.
Their paths had been destined to cross.
“You do not understand my motivations,” he went on, conscious that she deserved an explanation.“But know that one day, you will learn to love the sound of my commands.”
He leaned closer again, grazing his lips over the small of her back and noticing the way the rest of her body had significantly cooled.His palm had heated her backside, while his other hand stroked her back and shoulders, but the exposed skin had grown cold in the interim.Her cell should have kept a constant pleasant temperature, but unlike the calming enchantment that had worked so well on Kristina, her natural responses were overriding the climate control.
It troubled him not to have met her basic needs.Before anything else was accomplished, that was his primary goal.Perhaps it was best that he ended the spanking there.No doubt her sensitive skin would already bear the marks of his minimal effort.
“Please let me up.”Her balled hands tightened beneath the mane of her hair.“I didn’t mean to upset you, but I can’t do this…”
“Shhh…” His hand brushed over the length of her gorgeous body.“Your punishment is over.”
Tugging her from over his lap, he overcame her struggling limbs and compelled her upright.Her long legs stretched either side of his muscular frame, anger flashing in her watering eyes when he steadied her.For a split second, they merely stared at one another, her expression dazed, while his, he presumed, conveyed the extent to which he was willing to dive straight into the oceans of her eyes.
What was happening to him?
Centuries of chaos and destruction had led him to that breathtaking moment.Once upon a time, he’d ruled over a harmonious peace, but he was no king of accord.Kronos had created carnage, manifesting more hurt than he cared to admit.That was why he’d spent so many decades searching and training mortal females.There was an unspoken solace about the task, a sense of finally honoring his power by working with each woman.Even if it took ten years to bring them to the point of surrender, it mattered not.He had held them and honored them with his dedication.
The moment the mortal returned to her existence, she discovered no time had been lost in her life.Kronos took her right back to where she had been, except she was then armed with all that he’d taught her.The surrender he demanded for The Advancement offered each woman a huge sense of empowering solace; the knowledge that she could be held, supported, and have implicit trust in someone other than herself.That was what Kronos provided, but it required care, maturity, and authority, skills that, in his experience, few mortal men possessed.
When she left his side, that woman would never again accept the disrespect, dismissive behavior, and childishness previously proffered by the mortal men she’d encountered.
She finally understood what she was worth.
That was his service to the world; the purpose which gave his survival meaning, yet in all that time, he’d never been so drawn to anyone the way he was with Kristina.
“Please!”Her jaw clenched, and her fists rose between them as if she intended to beat them against his chest.
He considered whether it might be better to simply allow her to release her frustrations.Such a tiny human could hardly do him much damage, and perhaps, if he permitted her the release, it would be better for her long-term health.
“I don’t know why I’m here, or why I’m naked, or who you are…” Fire flashed in her eyes as her gaze locked with his.“I just want this to stop.”
“You are angry and confused.”
He wanted to soothe her, though she was the epitome of temptation, perched over him with only a thin layer of fabric to separate them.
“Yes.”She practically spat the word at him.
Kronos might have been more perturbed at the response had he not been so intrigued by her reactions.Intuitive enough to know that, despite his spells, she’d been taken against her will, she was still not immune to the chemistry stirring between them.She felt that tug.He was sure that the glint in her eyes spoke of lust as well as loathing.
“Yes, what?”His hand moved fast, his fingers sliding into her honeyed hair and drawing her head backward.
