Page 43 of Kronos’ Consort

A comfortable silence fell over them, and even though he should have been concluding her lesson, he didn’t have the heart to pierce the bubble of relaxed comfort.

They were two strangers, sitting on a cloud, seemingly deep in thought.

Two strangers whose paths should never have crossed.

Yet, stroking her cooling shoulder, he’d never been gladder for any moment.

Chapter Twenty-One

Kris

Warmth bloomed in Kris’ belly at his words, the sense of contented peace swelling until he and her love for the man was all she could think about.

Not a man. She smiled at the reminder. He’s so much more than that.

All those years she’d survived without her father, without a man of any kind to love and uplift her. Those long years when her mother had worked two jobs to support them, and in return, Kris had got her head down and excelled academically in order to make her mum proud.

The two of them had done okay. Better than okay, really, and all along, her driver had been defiance; a need to stick two fingers up to the man who’d walked out of her life and never looked back. She’d persuaded herself that she didn’t need him, didn’t need any man, but deep down, she supposed a part of her had known that wasn’t the truth.

She had needed her father, and she’d rued the day he’d abandoned her. A part of her, she realized, was still that little girl sitting on her bed, sobbing for his return. Perhaps that was why she’d chased silly boys like Shaun, looking for affection, affirmation, and attention from the opposite sex, because the one man who should have offered her those gifts had left and never returned.

She bit her lip. In the end, she was like so many women before her. Just another girl with daddy issues.

She suppressed the desire to roll her eyes, although she didn’t think her master would have been able to see the gesture from his vantage. Still, she couldn’t risk him catching sight of the signal and misconstruing her intentions. Having reached their delicate harmony, she had no wish to displease him again. Not when things were so satisfying between them.

Brushing the side of her face against his leg, she sighed at the irony of it all. All those weeks she’d been hanging on Shaun’s every word, waiting to receive a message from him, when Kronos had been out there all along.

Just waiting to find her, to save her, and to love her.

He patted the thigh beside her head, the action drawing her focus back to his face, and lifting her chin, she saw his index finger curling in his direction.

“Get up here, little one.” His smile was mischievous. “Let us see if we can shed light on the puzzle of my waning sleep charms.”

She climbed from the cloud without hesitation, dragging the blue blanket with her. Spending time out there with him was a constant source of captivation, and she still couldn’t fathom how the physics were possible—the breathable atmosphere, where she knew there had previously been none, the cloud they could actually sit on that her rational mind knew was made from nothing more than water droplets—none of it made sense. She credited his magic with making those miracles possible, yet still she hoped to one day learn the science behind the sorcery.

Settling astride his lap, she resolved that she wouldn’t have the answers to those queries immediately, and she was okay with that. A large part of Kronos’ appeal had always been his enigma, and she was thrilled there would always be more to learn from him. She was sure even when she’d worked out how he’d created a home in the clouds, there would always be more fascination for her to follow. For who could ever hope to fully understand a god? Although, nudging his engorged erection, she was more than happy to try.

“I don’t have the answer, Master.” She pushed her hips forward, intentionally grazing her clit against his pulsing need and suppressing the whimper that wanted to rise. “The first time you used the magic on me, it seemed to work.”

“Yet you were awake when I came to you later that day.” His lids fluttered closed as she ground herself over him again. “I stood in the ether and watched you on the bed. You were definitely conscious.”

“I seemed to sleep even less the next time.” Her voice had morphed to a husky moan as she watched his responses carefully. She longed to ride her master again, as she had on that first day, but at any moment, he could decide she was taking too many liberties, and she would find herself face down over him. “That was when I woke up and had my first panic attack.”

Although there was no hint of the distress she’d experienced then as her hips bucked over him.

“Yes,” he concurred, his lips parting as one of his strong arms snaked around her middle. “I recall how the enchantment worked even less effectively then. That was why I strengthened the charm when I left to take Shelley back home.”

His gaze was back on her then, spearing her with its intensity.

“And yet still I woke up before you returned.” She brushed herself lightly over his hard length, aware of how ridiculously aroused she’d become sitting by his feet.

Her new life of submission held her in a constant state of suspended desire, but rarely had she ever been allowed to take such control over the proceedings.

“You did.” One of his tantalizing eyebrows cocked at the reminder, and her sex clenched in response. “And we both know what happened next.”

“Why don’t those charms work on me, Master?” she reiterated, intentionally dodging his inference. “I mean, your magic still works… The atmosphere around me, creating what my lungs think is oxygen, and the meal you manifested for me earlier, which was delicious. So, what is it about the sleeping charms?”

His arm tightened around her. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “But it seems to me, the more I feel for you, the less effective that magic has become.”