His mouth was made for pleasure, with sex dripping from his words the moment they escaped his talented tongue. The V-line of his abdomen could drive a female mad with the need to explore it with her tongue.
The look burning in his heated stare caused me to chew my bottom lip as I fisted my hands at my sides, preventing them from reaching out to explore him carnally.
Releasing the air from my lungs, I lifted my gaze to the sky. The evening turned to night, and galaxies of stars shot across it, filling it with beauty. The rocks within the pool glowed, exposing our naked bodies to one another.
The red veins within the fire quartz created a red tinge of light that screamed romance. Knox wrapped his arms around me, yanking me against his hard body as we silently watched the pool change around us. The moment I tried to move away, he tightened his hold, kissing my shoulder softly.
“Magic has beauty within it, doesn’t it, Little One?” he whispered against my shoulder, kissing it softly, sending shocks of need shooting directly to my core.
“It’s our ideal fantasy made true. Stolen from our darkest desires and brought to life with magic from the pool. The magic sensed our fantasy and created the perfect place for our coupling to occur.”
“Then this must be your fantasy because you alone are mine, Aria,” he murmured, causing my throat to tighten with emotion.
“You need to stop saying shit like that,” I snapped, spinning around in his arms.
I pushed him, watching as he didn’t budge even a whisper of an inch. He swallowed hard, slowly licking his lips before catching his bottom one between his teeth.
“You’re beautiful when you’re angry. You are beautiful all the time, but more so when the anger ignites within you. Your eyes glow from within, and I need to feel you burning against me when they shine so brightly. When you find something that excites you, you light up with pleasure. History intrigues you, and you love to learn, which helps you adapt to your surroundings surprisingly fast.”
“Shut up,” I swallowed past the lump growing in my throat at the pain his words caused.
“Your excitement creates the same feeling within others, even me. When you want fucked, you don’t light up. Your spine arches, your pretty eyes narrow on your prey, and your sex exudes this scent making everything within me that is male, need to own every inch of you that is woman. The moment your spine arches, and your hips part for mounting, my heart races. When that happens, I fight against every male urge to prevent me from taking you, because that is a line I won’t cross. I won’t force you to fuck me. Not even when I know we both want and need it more than the air that fills our lungs.”
I swallowed, and tears swam in my vision as I glared at him. “Pretty much all of that goes into the aforementioned shit that you need to stop saying. I am your enemy. One you intend to use as a weapon against my people. You don’t get to tell me I am anything but that anymore. You kiss me like I’m worth kissing, and then you turn around and make me feel as if I should be ashamed for the blood that runs in my veins. You confuse me on purpose to disorientate me, and it works because I could fall in love with you, and that would be a fucking disaster because you couldn’t ever return that love. I would be your whore. One you fucked when you wanted and then wielded as a weapon in the next moment before the sweat has even cooled from our flesh.” I swallowed past the thickness the words created as my throat constricted. He didn’t argue it, and I had known he wouldn’t. Our relationship wasn’t complicated; it was doomed.
“Let’s just keep it easy, King Karnavious. You’re the king of the army that plans to murder everyone I love, and I’m the one bitch who intends to stand in your way of accomplishing that feat at any cost. That’s much simpler than adding messy emotions into, isn’t it? It should be simple for you to remember who and what I am, since you never fail to remind me as a punishment for when you’re kind to me.”
“You think because I’m your enemy that I don’t think you’re one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever met? Enemies can be lovers, and they can want one another, Aria. Chemistry doesn’t care which side of a war you are on. You and me, we have chemistry in spades. I want you, and I’m not afraid to admit it, not to you or me, and I know you want me. It doesn’t need to be complicated.”
“No, but when you let your guard down, and you’re gentle with me, I get treated like shit because you punish yourself for letting it happen. That isn’t my fault, and I don’t deserve to be your target when it happens. If we stay enemies, it’s so much easier than getting whiplash! Besides, eventually, I will meet someone else. I will fall in love, and this thing between us, it will just fall away and be meaningless.”
“It’s cute that you think you’re ever going to be with anyone else, Aria,” Knox growled with a low rattle, causing me to step back while he prowled forward in the water. His jaw clenched, twitching with unstated anger while he hunted me in the pool.
“I’m going to escape you, eventually. You can never love me, and I deserve to know what it feels like to be loved. I deserve to have someone look at me as if I am the moon and sun in their sky. I deserve to have someone willing to look past my flaws and see my strengths and weaknesses, accepting me for who I am.” My ass touched against the pool’s side, and he leaned over, boxing me in as his hands gripped the edge.
“You won’t ever escape, Aria. Ever. I will cherish you and protect you, even from your own foolishness, when needed. Do you think any other male will willingly touch you now that I have claimed you? They’d have to first issue a challenge to me, and no one anywhere in this world would dare challenge me openly to battle. I am the fucking alpha they fear. I am absolute power, and I kill without hesitation. Those who have tried to oppose me are dead and have fed my crows with their rotting corpses.”
Power sizzled over me, causing my flesh to tingle. It was a warning, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, Knox wasn’t allowing me to. His cerulean-colored eyes studied my reaction to the power he released, smirking as my spine arched, and my eyes grew hooded.
I was so screwed.
It was an outright battle of willpower, and mine was slowly slipping away.
Luckily, every time Knox opened his mouth, he inserted his foot.
It would be the one thing saving me from ending up impaled on his really nice, thick cock.
My creature, she was on his side.
His creature wanted what mine wanted.
Knox wanted me.
I was the odd man out in the situation.
Just freaking great.
Chapter Fifty-One
My gaze slid from Knox’s sea-blue depths to the skin on my belly as twin ravens moved around my waist, turning their heads to peer up at me with matching blue eyes. I gasped as they pulled away from my skin, returning to his sides before opening their mouths and spreading their wings wide, posed for flight.
My heart thundered in my chest, staring into Knox’s eyes as the reality of their presence sent me reeling. He’d placed his ravens on me without my knowledge. How? When? His lips curved into a cocky grin while he studied the panic rushing through me.
“You were never alone in my world. You think I wasn’t aware of when you slept, when you hungered or touched that needy cunt trying to get off. I felt your half-assed efforts to relieve that never-ending ache between your thighs. You weren’t alone. I stood over you as you slept one time, pushing the hair away from your pretty face before I kissed your forehead, and you never even realized I was there.” He lifted his hand, cupping my breast before his fingers found my hardened nipple, pinching it until I cried out. His other hand snaked around my neck, cradling my head as his fingers twined through my hair, yanking it back to brush his lips against mine.
“You’re a bastard,” I hissed, unable to move from his hold, and uncertain I wanted to.
“Yeah, I am. I never pretended to be anything other than a cold-hearted bastard from the first moment I met you. Do you know why I was in Haven Falls, Aria? The council sent me, that’s
true, but I planned to force your line to return, and I waited for you to come to me. The first time I set eyes on you, I couldn’t look away. You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my entire life. I had to force myself to hold up the appearance, and I couldn’t manage it because all I wanted to do was get closer to you, and learn you explicitly.” His mouth slid over the erratic pulse in my throat, chuckling huskily. His teeth nipped the skin, and I moaned loudly, unable to stop the noise of need that escaped.
“I walked into Haven Falls, knowing that one of the Hecate women would be powerful enough to become the new high queen.” His mouth brushed over my ear, nipping at the delicate lobe as he growled roughly. “I found her, except she turned out to be this ethereal, beautiful little spitfire who rattled and purred. Her scent drove me insane with need, and every part of her called to every part of me. It was supposed to be easy. Walk into your life, end it, and force the rest of your family to return so I could murder them on my land. I changed gears after meeting you. I have wanted no one or needed anything as much as I do you, Aria Hecate.”
“But I am your enemy.”
“But you’re my fucking enemy. So the king walked in, and he took their queen. Checkmate,” he chuckled, releasing his hold on me to cup my cheeks between his large hands while searching my eyes. “And now she’s mine, and I took their strongest weapon for my own needs. Selfish? Absolutely. Does it change the fact that I want you? No, because war doesn’t care what we want, or ask what we need. This thing happening here, it’s bigger than either one of us. There are too many lives that depend on me to win this war, and I can’t allow a pretty face or a beautiful woman to sway me away from my course.”
“And when your people kill me? Will you mourn me and add me to your list of ghosts? Or will I just be another dead witch you celebrate? Because that is what is going to happen, and I am not willing to be added to either of those things for you,” I snapped harshly, hating that no matter how much I lied to myself, I wanted him too.
I wanted him, and it changed nothing. I felt helpless and lost without him, and yet with him, it still wouldn’t change anything. He’d set a course, and he was one hell of a navigator. Nothing we did would change the war or prevent what was coming.
“I gave the order that you weren’t to be touched before you ever stepped foot into my camp, Aria. You’re mine, and I protect what is mine. The guard who overstepped was punished harshly and relieved of his post. I handled him and made an example of him to ensure you aren’t touched again.”
“You’re delusional and prideful. That order failed, and you weren’t there to protect me. You couldn’t even see past your anger to notice that they hurt me. You have allowed your grief to consume you. It has painted your vision, blinding you against reality. I almost died, and you didn’t even notice me. How long before it happens again? How long before one of your people finally achieves the goal of ending my life?” I demanded.
“It won’t happen again, nor will I leave you unguarded.”
“You assume I won’t escape, but I will. I’m not some weak-minded woman that you can flex your pecs at and melt my brain cells. I will escape you, Knox. When I do, I will find someone who loves me and isn’t afraid of you. Do you even know what the difference between love and lust is?” I asked. When his eyes searched my face, I laughed before leaning over, pulling him closer to me. I kissed him hungrily, devouring him until his rattle sounded, and mine echoed the noise perfectly. Pulling away, I took in the hunger burning in his stare. “That’s me wanting to fuck you,” I clarified.
My eyes lowered to his mouth, watching the tight line form. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him close, brushing my fingertips over his cheeks. I allowed him an unguarded look at me, peering up with my feelings exposed.
“This is the part of me you will never know.” I smiled brightly, letting him see me with my shields down before I leaned closer, pressing against his mouth as I gave him everything.
I kissed him so hard and so softly that even I was lost in the kiss's intensity as my hands slid through his hair. Both of us tried to get closer to one another as he purred, and I echoed the sound with a deep, soothing tone that bespoke of soft kisses and heated embraces. Savoring the last of the kiss, I pushed him away with everything I had left within me.
“That is what I will give to the man I love. See the difference? One is me needing to be fucked. The other is my bare soul, open without fear or needing protection from the man I love, someone who will give me their love in return. There’s a huge difference.”
I slipped from the rocks, splashing into the pool, as I paddled away from him. He silently watched me; his emotions so violently confused that I couldn’t stop the smile that curved my lips. I celebrated the small victory before it dropped, and I turned toward the deadly rattle escaping his chest.
“You kiss anyone else like that, and I’ll fuck you on their corpse after I’ve ripped their spine out through their fucking throat, Aria Primrose.” His eyes darkened to black with the warning. I slowly waded backward toward the waterfall.
Knox’s expression turned sinister as something deadly studied me through his eyes, awoken by my threat. His gaze slid over my body, raw, naked desire burning in his smoldering depths.
“Get your naughty little ass over here before I remind you who I am, and why I’m the fucking King.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
I stared at Knox’s outstretched hand as if it were a viper. Frowning, I expelled the air from my lungs as I made my way to him. He watched me, lowering his eyes to the clear water that exposed every single part of me to his heated, ravenous gaze. When I neared him, he turned toward the pool’s side, grabbing a bottle out of the bag before meeting me halfway.
“Turn around, woman,” he ordered.
I narrowed my eyes at the command in his voice, sliding them to the bottle he held. He waited, watching me decide if I was going to argue or not. I wanted to say that it wasn’t smart or something we should do.
The pool’s magic was settling in and driving the need to have him inside of me to a painful ache that had my thighs clenching tightly.
A smarter woman would have argued the stupidity of what we were doing, but Knox wouldn’t hear anything I said. He’d used the tone that brokered no argument. I could state the reasons why I shouldn’t allow him near me until I was blue in the face, but it wouldn’t change his mind.
He started to argue when I refused to turn around, but I rolled my eyes. The man had my heart hammering painfully against my ribcage. The ravens within my belly were fighting for freedom, and the heated look in his stare told me he felt the magic at work.
I opened my mouth to speak, and Knox opened the bottle. A soft smile played on his lips the moment the scent lingered between us. I turned away from him, inhaling the rose-scented shampoo deeply. He lathered his hands before tossing it back toward the bag.
“Did you steal my shampoo, King Karnavious?” I questioned, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth to still the smile that was spreading.
“No. I had some commissioned for when I captured you. I brought it with me, knowing that once I had you, I would want you to smell as you had when we first met. I find the scent soothing and beautiful. I like it on you almost as much as I enjoy your cunt’s scent during your heat. Although, together, they make you irresistibility delicious smelling.”
I snorted, shaking my head at his reply. He collected my waist-length hair, working the blissful-scented shampoo into it before reaching my scalp. His fingers were heaven, massaging the soap into my hair, forcing me to moan at the skillful way he kneaded my scalp.
He’d done it before, obviously, and that knowledge created an ache in my chest that didn’t sit well with me.
“It was a little presumptuous to assume you would catch me, wasn’t it?” I asked, and his deep chuckle made my hackles rise. He abruptly shoved me beneath the water, and I shot back up, sputtering. “Dick move,” I said, coughing while he inspected my hair for any remain
ing soap.
“There was no chance of me not capturing you, Aria. Your scent lured me to you, and the idea of you unprotected in a world that enjoys harming pretty things didn’t sit well with me or my beast. You’re not pretty,” he stated, causing my eyes to narrow on him. “You’re fucking gorgeous. I won’t allow them to alter that beautiful soul or mind of yours, not even a little.”
“You think my mind is beautiful?” I countered, studying the way he watched me. He didn’t open up about his feelings for me easily or often.
It was several moments before Knox spoke again, and yet he held a guarded look in his eyes when he did. He studied me, sucking on his bottom lip before releasing it, nodding slowly.
“You’re highly intelligent where it counts. Naïve on a few things, like being with someone for sex,” he pointed out, carefully choosing his words. “You think the act of having sex should mean something deeper, and while it isn’t wrong, it is naïve. It’s not something people here consider when indulging in the needs of their baser urges or bodies. Your strength is in the way you calculate and plot your battles before you ever engage. That’s something rare, and not many can do it and be five steps ahead of their enemies.
“I plan things, knowing every misstep that can happen along the path I choose. It took me countless losses and over two hundred years to master the precariousness of war, yet you make it look easy. You have a softness for the weak and a need to protect them against what you feel is wrong. They’re your weakness, and you make it easy to use them against you because you wear your bleeding heart on your sleeve.
“You know they’re your weakness, and so you hide them to protect them while placing your own life on the line instead of theirs. That’s because you’re intelligent. Your mind takes a puzzle and looks at it from every angle, seeing it from both sides before you process how you feel about the situation. Most men take lifetimes to accomplish that ability, let alone use the findings to create a solution for both sides. You were born to be a queen.”
Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 2) Page 36