by Tate James
What. The. Fuck?
With trembling hands, I poured myself a large glass of water and took a long drink in a vain effort to cool my flaming lady-parts. One thing was for damn sure—Prince Alexander scared the crap out of me. But his harsh threat had decided things.
There was only one logical choice for where I would spend the night. Only one prince offered me the destruction I needed, the utter, irreversible severing of any relationships I'd formed with my tutors.
Reaching into my dress, I withdrew a key and rubbed my thumb over the engraved “A” on the shaft.
Aana have mercy on me. I was stepping into the dark side and couldn't even pretend I wasn't excited by it.
26
Ice-cold air teased my sensitive skin as I laid my gorgeous gown over the back of the chair, then picked up the blindfold from the bed. It wasn't hard to work out what I was supposed to do, so I sucked a deep breath and tied it over my eyes.
Alexander had given no further instructions, so I'd left my sapphire silk shoes on but released my hair from the countless pins that had been giving me a headache. Now, my long, blond curls offered the only protection from the breeze as I stood in the center of the room and shivered.
Maybe I should have closed the window. But the cool air was helping to keep my head clear. I was about to trash my chances at love, so I wanted to be sharply aware the whole time. This was my choice, and I would need to live with myself in the morning.
For an eternity, I stood there. Waiting. Naked and blindfolded.
“This is stupid,” I sighed. “Yet another power game.”
Swallowing past the burning sting of disappointment, I decided enough was enough. If Alexander wanted to play games, I'd show him who he was messing with.
Kicking off my shoes, I felt my way over to the bed and yanked back the plush covers. It had been a really long day, and I was still recovering from dying multiple times the night before. If his royal prickishness wasn't going to make the most of his bed, then I would.
Not bothering to remove my blindfold—because it did a fantastic job of blocking the moonlight streaming through the windows—I made myself comfortable in the middle of the big bed and tucked the blankets back around me.
Maybe if I was lucky, Alexander would stay gone all night and give me a good sleep. As laughable as it was, the idea of a good sleep was almost as desirable as being “ruined” by whatever Prince Alexander had in mind.
Almost.
Stifling a yawn on the back of my hand, I shifted a little more until I was comfortable, then let myself drift into deep, dreamless sleep.
That fucking cool breeze was what woke me again, and I reached for the blankets that I must have kicked off at some stage. Or I tried to.
My eyes snapped open, and I was met with the startling sight of nothing. Total blackness. Fucking blindfold.
“Oh, I see you're awake,” a deep, husky voice commented with an edge of sarcasm, and the mattress dipped beside me. “Sorry about the restraints, but what else was I supposed to do? I came back to my room and found you splayed out across my bed like an offering at Frog’s Feast. It would have been rude not to take advantage of the situation.”
Gritting my teeth in anger, I yanked at one of my wrist restraints, and it only tightened further. That fucker.
“Untie me,” I growled, no longer in the mood for games. Not only had he kept me waiting forever and a day, but now he'd interrupted my sleep. We were not off to a good start.
“No,” he replied, shifting on the bed until his weight straddled my naked thighs. Leaning down until I could feel his warmth just inches from my body, he whispered in my ear, “You came here of your own free will, Callaluna—against my more sensible advice, I might point out. What did I tell you would happen if you used my key?”
Licking my lips, I sucked in a sharp breath—mentally building my sassy courage back up. “You said you'd ruin me,” I breathed out, feeling my hard nipples brush his bare chest and I just barely swallowed a moan.
“That I did,” he agreed, but still made no move to touch me other than where he sat across my legs.
I waited a beat, but he said nothing more. “So?” I prompted him. “What are you waiting for? Ruin me. Or was that all just bluster and bravado to try and scare me off?”
There was a pause, and then the bed started shaking. For a second, I thought maybe we were experiencing an earthquake. But no, it was just Prince Alexander dissolving into a fit of laughter.
At least he thought I was funny?
“Oh wow,” he chuckled as his laughter died off. “You just really don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you Callaluna? Perhaps I can remedy that.” That was all the warning I got before his mouth slammed into mine, claiming my lips in a dominating, possessive kiss that set all my nerves alight and sucked the breath from my lungs.
He didn't kiss me in the sweet, calm way that Lee had, or even, really, the frenzied, hungry way that Ty kissed me. Prince Alexander kissed me like he owned me.
In that moment... he did.
Gasping against his assault, my lips parted and allowed his tongue to meet mine as his hands laid claim to my breasts. His fingers found my taut nipples and rolled them in a delicious way that left me squirming and moaning beneath him.
I needed more. So much more.
In the back of my mind, I was conscious of the soul-burning pain of betrayal as I let Alexander brand my body with his touch in a way that I could never come back from. There would be no forgiveness for this, and my heart wept for the destruction I willingly entered into.
But I was resolute, so when the prince lifted his lips from mine, I drove another nail into my coffin. “Is that it?” I taunted. “I don't feel ruined yet.”
Alexander chuckled a dark sound, and his weight shifted off me for a moment. “Silly Callaluna,” he scolded, clicking his tongue at me, “I've barely begun.”
As he said this, he grasped my legs and spread them apart, settling his weight back on the bed between them. I'd never been so exposed and vulnerable, not ever. For a girl from the Pond, that was saying a lot. But my skills in thievery had kept me safe from whoring, and I was woefully inexperienced when it came to bedroom games. In that sense, it was probably a blessing that Alexander held me bound and blindfolded.
When he touched me again, I gasped a sharp breath of surprise. Instead of the rough, clumsy insertion of his cock inside me—as was my only experience with sex—I was shocked to feel the warmth of his lips and breath against my aching cunt.
“What—?” I panted in a strangled voice as I pulled on my bonds. “What are you doing?”
“Exactly what you asked me to do, sunshine,” he chuckled, and the vibration of his laugh made me squeak. “Ruining you.” His strong hands pinned my legs open, and his mouth began to work my sensitive core with the same intensity that he'd kissed my mouth.
“Oh shit,” I exclaimed, then yelped as his tongue pressed inside me with the most exquisite intrusion. Helpless in his grip, I thrashed and whimpered as he played me like a damn fiddle until I was positive my whole body was about to shatter into a million pieces.
Was this what I'd been missing out on? When Jules and her friends had spoken about enjoying sex, I'd sort of assumed they were just in denial—accepting their lot in life, so to speak. But this... this was a game changer.
“Wait,” I gasped as Prince Alexander pulled back and shifted away. “Why are you stopping? Don't stop!”
He laughed a wicked sound, and the mattress shifted as he moved. Never had I been more frustrated not to be able to see anything because the anticipation was driving me to the edge of insanity. “I think I might have created a monster,” he commented from somewhere... beside me? No, in front. Maybe at the foot of the bed? Fucking blindfold!
“Tell me, lovely Callaluna, are you feeling ruined yet?”
“Not even close,” I retorted, lying my ass off. Prince Alexander had ruined me, that was for sure. But in more ways than one. He didn't know that
as his strong fingers stroked down the damp heat of my core, he was sealing my fate. Lee and Ty... even Zan, for all his denial, they wouldn't forgive this. Not this. Nor could I forgive myself for loving every damn second of it.
“Give me more,” I begged. “Please, make me scream until I forget.”
Alexander’s fingers stroked me again, then he slipped one deep inside, making me gasp and press down harder onto his hand.
“Forget what, lovely Callaluna?” he murmured, withdrawing that finger, then plunging it back in with a second one. “Tell me what you want to forget, and I'll gladly make it happen.”
I moaned as he pumped those two fingers in and out of me, but it was when his thumb found my clit that I cried out. “Nothing,” I lied. “Everything. Just... make me forget. Please.”
To my horror, wetness gathered in my eyes, and I thanked Aana and her sister gods that the blindfold would hide the tears from Prince Alexander as they trickled down the sides of my face.
He grunted a noise, but didn't push me to answer him again as his fingers plunged into me with an increasing intensity that made me crave his cock. Something told me sex with Prince Alexander would be a hell of a lot more satisfying than anything I'd previously experienced.
It was mere moments later, as his lips closed over one of my nipples, that I shattered. Screams echoed through the room as I rode the prince’s hand like a woman possessed, wringing every last drop of pleasure from those fingers while my cunt clenched and pulsed with my climax.
Alexander was in no rush to move off me, almost like he was reluctant to stop. Truthfully, so was I. What else might he have in store for the rest of our night?
“Satisfied, Callaluna?” he asked in a gruff tone, and his finger lightly traced the path of my tears down the side of my face.
Suddenly unable to speak, I bit my lip and nodded. I was satisfied. But I also felt like the most despicable human in our lands. How could I do this? How could I have let one of the royal pricks of Teich use me like one of his playthings? How could I do this, knowing full fucking well how much it would hurt my new friends...?
A long-suffering sigh gusted from the prince, and he shifted to lie beside me but made no move to untie my wrists from the headboard. “Why don't you tell me what has you so upset? I'm generally unaccustomed to this reaction from women after an orgasm.”
I snorted a bitter laugh and would have rolled my eyes if they hadn't been covered in cloth. “I'm sure you're not. Just forget it; I'm only suffering the consequences of my own decisions.”
He grunted a noise, and I got the impression he had run his hand through his hair in a vexed gesture. How I got that mental image, I had no idea. But it was so clear I could almost picture it.
“You mourned someone during the second room of the test today,” he commented, and the rapid change of subject startled me out of my self-pity.
“You were watching?” I retorted, and he clicked his tongue.
“Of course I was. That stage of the test is designed as a mindfuck. You fight a person you fear, then kill someone you care for. So, who did you kill today, Callaluna?” His fingertip traced a gentle line down my side, and my skin tingled in response.
I pursed my lips and considered not replying. But that would have been pointless. Prince Alexander struck me as the type who got the answers he wanted, no matter what.
“Just a friend,” I hedged. “A new friend. I thought I'd stabbed him and...” I paused to swallow the lump of sorrow in my throat. “I hadn't really considered how much they meant to me until that moment.”
“They?” Alexander repeated, and I noticed my slip.
Too late to backtrack, I gave a short nod. “They. But that is irrelevant now. They'll never speak to me again when they hear what I did with you tonight.”
“Who says they will ever find out?” Alexander suggested. “This could just be our little secret. What they don't know can't hurt them, after all.”
For a split second, I entertained the idea. But no. “I couldn't do that,” I replied firmly, shaking my head. “They deserve better than lies and deception from me.”
“Hmm,” he responded, continuing to draw patterns on my bare skin with his fingertips for some time. Strangely, the silence between us wasn't... awkward. Considering I was naked, my wrists bound, and my eyes covered in cloth, for it not to be awkward was saying a lot.
“So, there are two men you care for?” he finally asked, and I tensed myself for judgement. There was none present in his voice, though, and without being able to see his face, I could only trust vocal inflection.
I nodded. “Yeah, or... I guess, maybe, three? The third one is, ah, confusing. Complicated or maybe just really stubborn. There's something there though. Or there was.”
“Right,” Prince Alexander murmured. “Because when you tell them about tonight...”
“They'll hate me. How could they not? I would.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue, and my heart clenched painfully.
Alexander hummed a noise as his fingers continued their pattern across my belly. “So why do it? You could have used Louis's key. He's honorable and wouldn't have laid a hand on you unless you'd pleaded.”
My jaw clenched, and I forced myself to own my decision aloud. “Because I'm not here to fall in love. I want what little time I have left to count for something more, to affect positive change in some small way, and if that means giving you free access to my body, then that's a price I'm prepared to pay.”
“Your body, but not your heart?” he pressed. “You're not here to win a husband and become Queen of Teich?”
I snorted a crude laugh. “Trust me, your royal assholeishness, if you only knew the real me, you'd know that was never, ever my intention.”
“You really do need to stop insulting me, lady. It's starting to effect my self-confidence.” He muttered the words with an edge of amusement in his voice. “But it sounds like pretending to be someone you're not is a common theme around here these days.”
I frowned, not that he could see it, but his phrasing was odd. “How so?”
Prince Alexander heaved another sigh, his breath flickering across my still naked breasts. “Holy Zryn, I hope this doesn't kill me,” he muttered under his breath. Before I could question him further, his warm hands reached up to my face and pushed the heavy, cloth blindfold off my eyes.
For a second, I needed to blink a couple of times to adjust my fuzzy vision, but when it cleared, I sucked in a harsh gasp. “Zan?” I exclaimed, feeling like my brain was exploding.
“Surprise, lovely Luna.” He gave me a weak, guilt-ridden smile just seconds before yelling a bloodcurdling sound of pain and collapsing on top of me.
I screamed as he trembled and convulsed, but it was when the blood began seeping from his sultry dark eyes that I really began panicking. At the top of my lungs, I howled for help, over and over until I was hoarse.
My hands still bound, there was nothing I could do for him except watch and scream.
To Be Continued in The Royal Trials: Seeker
Authors Note
Diving into this new project so soon after finishing Kit’s series had me shitting myself. Just… totally crapping my daks. What if I was a one hit wonder? What if I had typecast myself into only ever writing KD and no one would ever want to read anything else from me? What if this crashed and burned and that was the end of my writing career and I had to get a job at the local servo selling pies and pluggers to tourists?!
If you understood any of that, you’re possibly an Aussie too.
Anyway, a few cups of coffee later I verbalized all of these concerns to my author bestie, CM Stunich, who gave me the “really?” emoji face. You know, the one that’s squinting? We use it a lot. In chat and real life. Anyway, my point here is that she told me to quit being a little bitch and write the damn book. Who cares if no one else liked it, so long as I was happy with the story/characters/journey I was producing?
So with those words of wisdom under my belt, I dove back into
the Pond and started creating Rybet’s journey. What started as a standalone retelling of the Frog Prince evolved into something much more exciting, which hopefully you agree with if you made it this far in the book!
Most encouragingly of all, though, was the fact that my mum stayed up til 3am reading it and then yelled at me for that ending. Lol woops, sorry!
What I’m trying to say here, is thank you to Goldie the Goldfish for giving me daily reminders that we write for ourselves first and foremost, and my awesome Mum for being my biggest fan—even when she doesn’t always say it out loud.
Also by Tate James
Kit Davenport Series
#1 The Vixen’s Lead
#2 The Dragon’s Wing
#3 The Tiger’s Ambush
#4 The Viper’s Nest
#5 The Crow’s Murder
#6 The Alpha’s Pack
The Royal Trials
Imposter
Seeker (coming soon)
Heir (2019)
Standalone Contemporary
Slopes of Sin (Winter 2018)
Co-Authored by Tate James and CM Stunich
Hijinks Harem
#1 Elements of Mischief
#2 Elements of Ruin
#3 Elements of Desire
The Wild Hunt Motorcycle Club
#1 Dark Glitter
#2 Cruel Glamour (2018)
#3 Torn Gossamer (2019)
Foxfire Burning
#1 The Nine
#2 The Tail Game (TBD)
Turn page for Chapter One of The Vixen’s Lead…