Sharp spikes of dread stabbed into her belly. Doubling over, she fell to her knees. Her entire life flashed before her eyes and all of it was a lie. Her mother’s face, so beautiful, was a mask for a woman with shameful secrets. All of her permissiveness with her consort was to present the image of a long-suffering, devoted bondmate who was subtly misdirecting attention from her own foibles. How long had her mother lived in fear? When Clathia found out she was dying, had she smiled? When she let go of the galbol tree branch, had she breathed a sigh of relief rather than a scream of terror?
Casting her gaze to the glass ceiling, Kasmiri saw only cloud-shrouded darkness. Tonight, the first snow would turn the land crystal white. Beautiful, spiritual, sterile, but the snow was also oh so cold and utterly heartless. Everything caught in its grip died. Fleetingly, Kasmiri wondered how long she’d last outside. If she went out now, dressed as she was, she would never see the sun rise.
Galvanized by the thought, she removed her jewelry, her clothing, and then strode to a room just on the other side of her servant’s quarters. Ages had passed since she’d been here, but no dust marred the intricately patterned wood floor. She’d trained her servants well. At the wall, she selected a slow tempo dance, wrapped a flowing sarye around her body, and then took the center of the floor.
With her eyes closed, she simply let the music envelop her until the tempo moved her body. Leaping high into the air, she landed delicately on the ball of her foot and then crumpled down, as if falling, but it was a controlled collapse. Once her body completely touched the floor, she popped up. Repeatedly she performed the motions of “the death fall” until she felt perfection in her form. When she did, she moved on to a different set of steps.
Kasmiri had no idea how long she danced. Sweat poured off her skin, her limbs trembled, but still she spun across the floor, desperate to find peace. Faultlessness would grant her tranquility. Mistakes caused pandemonium. Faster and faster she spun until the world around her blurred. This time when she collapsed, it wasn’t controlled. The back of her head hit the floor with a sickening smack and everything faded away.
Kasmiri woke to the sound of her name. Fluttering her eyelids, she expected to see Sterlave, but she gazed up into fathomless black eyes. She blinked rapidly to correct the obvious delusion, but he was still there, smiling at her with blood red lips. When he parted them to speak, his light pink tongue danced between glowing white teeth, pointed white teeth. Before she could scream, he cupped his hand over her mouth.
“Listen to me very carefully, little empress.”
His strangely burnished skin exuded a sour smell of rotting leaves. His flesh felt hot and dry against her mouth. She wanted to bite him but gagged at the thought of having his taste upon her tongue. Trapped and terrified, she nodded below his massive hand.
“You belong to me.”
Unable to keep her face composed, her eyes bulged with shock and then repulsion. Before she’d submit herself to him, she would throw herself out into the deepest drift of snow. Desperately, she darted her gaze about for Sterlave. Again, never in her life when she needed help was someone there for her. She should be used to abandonment by now.
The monster laughed. “Oh, calm yourself, Kasmiri. I am not interested in you in that way.” He rolled his eyes in mimic of her; then he trailed his hand from her face to the space between her breasts.
When she’d fallen, her gown parted, exposing part of her breast. Gauging her reaction, he teased one long nail across her nipple. When she hissed in shock and pain, he laughed and removed his hand.
“When I wish it, my touch is quite painful.” Leaning over her, so close she could smell his putrid breath, he leered and said, “Can you imagine how excruciating the thrust of my cock would be?”
She swallowed a sharp retort; angering him would not be a wise strategy. Neither would asking pointless questions he wouldn’t answer, like how he’d thwarted an entire contingent of guards to get into her rooms. “What do you want?”
He settled back on his overdeveloped haunches. “My kind of woman. One who wants to get right to the point.” When he smiled, she gritted her teeth to fight the urge to vomit. “You belong to me because from now on, you’re going to do what I tell you to do. No questions, no second guesses, you will simply obey.”
Maintaining a level of dignity, even while on her back on the floor, she asked, “Why would I do that?”
Her small show of defiance seemed to please him. “Because I know something that you don’t want others to know.” He tilted his head unnaturally to the right. In a singsong voice he said, “I know your secret.”
Calling his bluff, she coolly considered him with one lifted brow. “You don’t know anything.”
Coyly, he pressed his finger to his lips, then lifted it up. “One: I know what your mother did with the royal account. Two: I know why your mother killed herself. Three: I know who killed your mother’s consort. Four: I know who—”
“Stop!” Kasmiri turned away from his gleeful expression.
She heard his nails click on the floor when he lay down beside her.
He whispered directly to her ear, “You didn’t let me tell you the best one of all.”
She held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t continue.
Ever so softly, he cooed, “I know who your father is.”
Her heart lurched as she closed her eyes.
“There’s no running away from the truth, Kasmiri.” He stroked his fingers through her hair, heating the strands until they smoldered. The stench was unbearable, but she couldn’t move away, no matter how much she tried. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, especially not your pretty little mate.”
How anyone could call Sterlave pretty or little she didn’t know, but she wasn’t about to correct his assessment. Not when all he had to do to destroy her was to whisper one of those damning secrets into the right ear. If he did, her entire life would end. Moreover, it would create a power vacuum in the Onic Empire that would make an already unstable structure more unbalanced.
“Do you think Sterlave would stand by you if he knew?”
In her mind, Kasmiri let the question dance across her emotions, softly at first, but then the steps became stomps. Would he? Sterlave swore he wanted her, not her position, or her power, but if all of that was suddenly gone, would he still find her irresistible? Speculation was one thing, but reality would be an entirely different matter.
“Let me tell you another secret, my pretty pet, one that you might find difficult to believe.” He stretched his neck until his face loomed over hers. “You see, I don’t want to tell anyone, not unless you make me.” Lowering his face until he was a bare breath from kissing her, he added, “I’m going to be very quiet about your secret shame. Not because I care, because of course I don’t, but because silence suits my agenda.”
Terror held her enthralled. If she moved, if she spoke, she would touch his face. Heat rolled off him, singeing her eyebrows. Even breathing caused her to pull his hot, rancid scent into her lungs. Each breath burned. Just when she thought she would die from a lack of air, he pulled away. When she gasped, he laughed a mighty, booming laugh that chilled her despite the heat.
“You interest me, Kasmiri. How could one so delicate be so strong?” What little light there was in the room shied away from his form, as if even the smallest particle of brightness couldn’t bear to touch him. “Remember, though, you will never be stronger than me.”
Against her will, she nodded. As he gave her his orders, she committed them to memory because she knew he would ask her to repeat them. When he did, she reeled them off exactly as he bid. Pleased, he patted her head without burning her, as if she were a pet who performed well.
He uncoiled from the floor. His once-human form melted and oozed below something evil, as if the two battled for supremacy. With a shock, she realized he was the opposite of Chur. Where Chur glowed with benevolence, evil burnished this creature. For a fleeting moment, she thought the gods had chosen these tw
o mortals to fight their battle for them. If such were true, what part would she play in their game?
She couldn’t do what he ordered and keep her relationship with Sterlave. If she didn’t do as he demanded, he’d tell everyone who her father was. Once they realized she was not the product of an empress and a consort, they would strip her of her title and exile her to Rhemna. Kasmiri couldn’t let anyone find out that Helton Ook was her real father.
The fire in her mother’s room had nothing to do with a failed assassination attempt. Setting the fire was misdirection from their real intent of terrifying her so they could use her for their own ends. Clathia had kept her secrets well, but this one could topple the empire. Holding this over Kasmiri’s head made her their pawn because she couldn’t accuse them without damning herself.
The monster was only keeping her in charge because he didn’t want chaos to rip the empire apart. Divulging her secret too soon would spiral everything into pandemonium. She would be his puppet until he was ready to take over. As she watched him walk away, she wondered how long that would be.
Moreover, what would he do with her when he no longer needed her?
By the time Sterlave entered, she’d bathed away her visitor’s stench, perfumed and powdered her body, placed her most provocative shoes upon her feet, then arranged herself across the bed. When he glanced in her direction, she twirled one of the manacles, then presented it to him.
Worry creased his brow so deeply he was almost glowering.
At first, she was afraid he wasn’t going to accept her offer, and she was going to look like a fool climbing out of bed with her pointed heels on. He must have remembered his promise this morning that he would tie her up, because suddenly, his brows lifted, his eyes glowed, and he strode toward her with a sexy half smile. Her relief was so profound she actually slumped back on the bed.
Apparently he decided that whatever was on his mind could wait until afterward. If she played this right, he’d be too tired to talk tonight. All she needed was some time. A night or two would give her a chance to decide how she would tell him. She knew she would tell him eventually. Her greatest fear was that he would want to fight that hideous creature. Sterlave was strong, but he’d be no match for a monster who sucked the light out of a room and could heat his skin at will. Just the thought of Sterlave in his evil clutches broke her heart. She’d battle the monster herself before she’d let that happen.
As Sterlave climbed onto their bed, she realized she loved him. The truth didn’t hit her in subtle waves but in one immense blast. The understanding stunned her. When he’d dropped to one knee and sworn himself to her during her coronation, she had felt it then but refused to acknowledge the truth, but now she had no choice. She didn’t want him to fight with that horrendous fiend because he could be hurt, or worse, killed. Even if her life were in utter disarray, she couldn’t picture living without him. Oh gods, if she told Sterlave the truth, would he walk away?
“Don’t look so terrified,” he murmured, slipping the first cuff to her wrist. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He paused and grinned down at her. “Not unless you want me to.”
She laughed to cover the real reason why she panicked. “No pain, please, but a lot of satisfying teasing would be wonderful.”
“As you please.” He said it with his willing servant tone, but the sparkle in his eyes told her the truth: pleasing her pleased him. He wasn’t playing master and servant but mate to mate. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking, but it seemed to say that he loved her back. How unfair that when she’d finally found love, she might lose it through no act of her own. She considered. If she didn’t tell him the truth, it would be her fault.
“Sterlave, there’s something—”
“Shhh. There will be time to talk later, Kasmiri, I promise.” Beseeching eyes met hers, and that’s when she realized he needed tonight as much as she did.
With a soft nod, she laid back, surrendering herself completely to him. Once he had both manacles on her wrists, she relaxed utterly. For now, she did not have to agonize over her position, the empire, or anything to do with the future. Her entire focus was purely in this moment, with Sterlave in charge.
She trusted him implicitly.
Once he had her arms bound, he moved to the foot of the bed and inspected her feet. “Did you wear these for me?”
She nodded. She’d correctly guessed that seeing her naked clad only in a pair of sexy shoes would thoroughly distract him. Manipulative, she knew, but she needed time to think, to decide what to do.
Kneeling, he examined her crimson shoes closely, teasing his fingertips between the cleavages made by her toes. She found the sensation unbelievably arousing. It was as if he touched between her breasts by stroking between her toes. Slowly, he traced around the cup of the heel that sloped down to her instep. Once there, he kneaded his fingers between the shoe and her foot.
When she glanced down, she noticed he was fully erect. His cock pressed tightly against his loose-fitting trousers. It was then that she realized he wasn’t dressed as her consort but to help Chur in the training rooms. Baggy black mondi fabric allowed him to fully extend his body while training. At the moment, the thin weave gave her tantalizing glimpses of his hard muscles, peaked nipples, and painfully aroused sex.
Lifting her leg up, he forced her knee to bend so her foot rested against his hip, nestled next to his cock.
He groaned.
Watching his reaction caused her sex to wet and her nipples to harden. Knowing that she was the cause of his excitement empowered her greatly.
“I thought this was about me,” she asked coyly.
“You shouldn’t have worn these shoes.” He shrugged, as if truly disappointed. “By doing so, you’ve made it impossible for me to focus on anything else.”
“So it’s all my fault?” Her pout slid slowly into a sultry frown. “Sounds like I need to be punished.”
His wicked grin caused a shiver from her toes to her nipples. Punishment by his hands would be sublime.
In a flash, he lifted both her legs by the ankles. Ever so slowly, he parted them as wide as the reach of his arms.
Forcefully, he kept her gaze.
Her breath caught as she waited for him to examine her vulnerable, exposed sex.
He didn’t.
Sterlave kept his eyes riveted to hers. “I don’t have to look. I know you’re wet.” He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose. “Gods, you smell good. Never have I ever smelled anything as sweet, as wonderful, as compelling as you.” When he opened his striking brown eyes, they focused again on hers. “I don’t have to look to know how beautiful your luscious pink secrets look hidden between ebony folds. How wisps of curly black hairs only add to the delicious mystery.” Again, he took a deep breath without looking. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me not to fall between your thighs and lose myself in your ambrosia?”
Unable to speak, she shook her head. He wasn’t pretending. He wasn’t being dramatic as part of their play. Sterlave confessed the truth because he trusted her not to use the information to manipulate him, just as he’d trusted her with his erotic compulsion toward her feet. Suddenly, she felt very guilty about using her sexy shoes to misdirect his attention this night. She’d met his honesty with nothing but exploitation.
“Every moment I’m around you I struggle not to touch you, to feel you, to have some type of contact with you. I’ve never been a man consumed by drink or chemicals. But somehow, in a very short time, I’ve become completely addicted to you.”
“I didn’t want—”
“You didn’t make this happen,” he said, cutting her off, holding her legs apart while maintaining eye contact. “Somehow, everything came together and I found exactly what I’d been missing my whole life.” With a dramatic pause, he lowered himself while keeping her gaze and pushing her legs farther apart. “I found not only my bondmate, but my soulmate.”
Stunned by his confession, she couldn’t even breat
he.
He held her gaze as he lowered his face to her sex while keeping her long legs parted wide.
“I can’t imagine myself with anyone but you,” he whispered. At the last moment, he broke eye contact and plunged his tongue into her sex.
Involuntarily her body arched up toward him, greedy and grasping for pleasure. His wriggling tongue teased every nerve along her sensitive flesh, but moreover his hunger captivated her heart. He spoke the truth. Sterlave’s appetite craved her, and only her. No other woman would satisfy his longing. For the first and only time, Kasmiri felt desired, not for riches, position, or possessions, but for who and what she was.
Sterlave craved her.
Another woman might soothe his needs but only she eased his erotic desires.
“Sterlave.” His name was a whispered prayer upon her lips.
His answer was a hungry nibbling of her sex. Teasing swirls of his tongue assaulted her clit, catapulting her into the air. Only the manacles around her wrists and his grip upon her ankles kept her from floating away. Over and over he plunged then twirled his magical tongue. Breathless, she could no longer speak his name; all she could do was coo subtle sounds of encouragement and submission. As her climax built, he pulled back, keeping her just on the edge, so close to tumbling over she thought she would die. When the urge faded too much, he used the rough hair along his chin and above his lip to push her back toward the edge.
“When, when will you—” She couldn’t even finish gasping the question.
“When will I stop tormenting you?” He punctuated each word with a flick of his tongue to her clit, causing her to bounce in response. “When you want me as much as I want you.”
“I do! I do!” She struggled against the bonds in earnest, thinking if she could just touch him, she could show him how much she wanted him.
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