by Wild, Callie
“But, Sire!”
“You have a week to vacate your chambers.”
“Surely you’re joking, Prince Aaron,” Henri said, anger creeping into his tone.
“I am not joking and I am no longer a prince.” Aaron’s hand came to rest on his sword. “I am king, a fact you would have done well to remember when you were making decisions as if the crown rested on your own head.”
“You won’t last a year without my counsel,” Henri sputtered, his jowls trembling. “You are not the king your father was.”
“No, I am not,” Aaron said in a soft, dangerous voice. “Be thankful for that, Henri, or I would indulge the urge to slit your throat.”
“Well, I-I never!” Henri turned with a huff and hurried away down the dark hall. The guard attempted to follow, but Aaron stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Open the door to the cell.”
“Of course, Sire.” The man fumbled with the keys, the trembling of his hands betraying his fear.
Good, let the man fear him and let him share that fear with the rest of the castle guard. Indulgence had won him few allies among the militia. It was time to see what friends terror might win for him.
As Aaron entered the cell, cool air puffed gently against his face, a sweet breeze that carried none of the stink of the waste bucket. It distracted him as he knelt beside the woman, making him unprepared for the face he revealed as he brushed her hair from her face
Dear God, she was stunning. Perfect. Heartbreaking. Looking at her, he could scarcely remember how to breathe. It wasn’t simply that she was beautiful—though she was, her delicate features achingly lovely even smeared with dirt—but that she was so…familiar.
He felt as if he knew her, had always known her, as if the woman of his dreams had suddenly been made flesh and blood.
But that was ridiculous, of course. He didn’t have a “dream woman.” Johann was the one who fantasized about a beautiful young woman locked away in a tower, asleep until he braved great hardship to rescue her. Aaron preferred more down to earth women, ones that he could dismiss from his bed in the morning with a kiss and a fistful of coins.
Still, just a few days ago, he had asked one of the contestants of the reality show to come home with him and consider life as his queen. He hadn’t thought she would accept the proposal, but he’d wanted to get to know the fiery redhead more intimately. He’d been intrigued by her in a way he wasn’t by most women.
But intrigued didn’t begin to describe how he was affected by the woman he gently lifted in his arms. He felt possessed, driven to protect her, care for her, liberate her from something that had tormented her for much longer than a few weeks. He was smitten, and as swept away in a hero fantasy as his younger brother had ever been.
It was time to consider that he might be losing his perspective where women were concerned, but contemplation would have to wait until he’d righted a few wrongs.
“Fetch the waste bucket,” Aaron snapped at the guard as he emerged from the cell, his attention fixed on the woman’s face and the small flutter of her eyelids. She was definitely breathing and wasn’t too desperately thin. Hopefully there was nothing wrong with her that a bath, food, and care couldn’t mend.
Aaron waited until he heard the guard grunt as he bent over to pick up the bucket and then kicked the cell door shut.
“I trust a few days in there will teach you to take better care of those in your charge.” Aaron shot the guard a cold look before turning to leave, not surprised to hear whimpering coming from behind him.
The biggest bullies were always the first to break. But the sound made him wonder how long the beauty in his arms had wept before she succumbed to such a hard sleep that her eyes remained closed as he carried her out of the dungeon, up into the light.
It was a question that had no satisfactory answer.
CHAPTER THREE
Calliope
Calliope drifted in and out of a beautiful dream, her mind so far gone that every imagined wonder seemed heartbreakingly real.
She could feel the soft hands of the women who bathed her, taste the soup they spooned between her lips, and caught glimpses of kind female faces in the moments when a soft breeze touched her face, making her lift heavy eyelids, only to close them once more as she was lured back to sleep by the blissful softness beneath her.
She’d never felt a bed so soft in all her life. It was hard to believe even her vivid imagination could create something so lovely.
Once or twice, in the hours or days in which she drifted, she awoke screaming, battling the voices in her mind, but there was always some imaginary friend there to soothe her. And eventually there was a woman with crushed herbs to place beneath her tongue. Calliope opened her mouth to accept the paste, which smelled similar to the mixture she used at home.
But as she settled back onto the riot of imaginary pillows, she caught the dark eyes of the man who stood behind the healer and shivered.
It was the king, looking at her as if he cared for nothing more than her well-being and safety.
Calliope squeezed her eyes shut again, willing herself to sink into a sleep too deep for dreams. Her fantasies had been easier to believe before royalty made an appearance. Now there was no doubt that every comfort she felt was a lie created by her mind to ease her terror.
Even as I go to sleep on these soft sheets, in the real world rats could be nibbling my toes.
With that warm and fuzzy thought, Calliope fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Aaron
Aaron didn’t know what possessed him to do it.
Maybe it was simply frustration with waiting for her to wake up and stay awake. In three days, her eyes hadn’t remained open for more than a few minutes at a time.
Meanwhile, no word came from his brother and Aaron had been forced to admit that Johann would not be emerging from the enchanted castle under his own power, which meant it was up to Aaron to find a way to free the young prince. The fairy in his arms would be invaluable to that effort.
She was, after all, Calliope La Fae, the fairy made famous for the curse she bestowed upon Rosamund Beauvielle at the princess’s sixteenth birthday party. Some said the curse was a deliberate and spiteful act. Others insisted it was a tragic mistake and what comes of letting a child too young to work magic cast an un-returnable fairy’s gift.
Whatever the truth behind the tale, no one would know how to outwit the spell better than the one who had cast it. That was reason enough for him to try to rouse Calliope at any costs.
But was it reason enough to justify bringing her to his private baths, even if he did plan to take her into the water in her thick robe?
“Calliope,” he whispered as he came to a stop by the couch near the bathing pool. “Calliope, wake up. It’s time to return to the land of the living.”
She murmured something unintelligible in her sleep and shifted in his arms, snuggling closer to him with a smile, but her eyes remained closed. Aaron’s chest grew tight, as it had every time he was within fifty feet of this woman, but this time his body responded in other ways as well.
He lay Calliope gently down on the couch, cursing himself.
The nurse had said that sometimes floating in a warm bath helped rouse patients like Calliope, that the simulation of the weightless world of the womb allowed their minds and bodies to reset and reconnect. He’d offered to take the girl himself—knowing it would be easier for him to carry her to the baths than either of the female nurses—but now that they were here…
He wanted to do more than hold her as she floated in the water. He hadn’t been this hard in years and all she’d done was rub her cheek against his chest.
“God help me.” Aaron managed a tight laugh at his own expense, but decided it would be best not to touch Calliope again until he had his body under control.
He stood and walked toward the bath, leaving Calliope sleeping on the couch. He pulled off his shirt and slipped out of his loose-fitting pants quickl
y, but hesitated with his fingers at the waistband of his boxer-briefs.
She hadn’t been lucid in days, what were the chances she would miraculously recover her senses just as he was undressing? And even if she woke while he was in the bath, he could always summon attendants to come show her back to her room while staying concealed beneath the water.
Aaron shoved that last piece of clothing to the floor, freeing the turgid length of his erection to the warm, humid air of the bathing chamber. He walked into the warm pool, submerging himself in the hot water up to his neck and bringing his fingers to wrap around the aching length between his legs, willing his cock to calm the hell down.
He would not think of Calliope’s beautiful face or how good it had felt to hold her. He would not think of the sweet smell of her hair or the way her eyes glittered with intelligence in those moments when her lashes fluttered open before closing once more.
It was the thought of her eyes that made him turn around to find her watching him. Truly watching him, with her lips parted and a flush staining her cheeks.
CHAPTER FOUR
Calliope
As soon as Aaron dropped his boxers to the floor, Calliope knew this wasn’t a dream.
She had done a lot of dreaming in her day—and even more fantasizing—but she’d never dared to imagine a king in his birthday suit. She rarely imagined anyone in his birthday suit, even Jamie, the shepherd who had taken her ancient virginity the summer before.
Well, especially not Jamie. He was so thin, despite his lovely dark eyes.
Unlike Aaron.
It somehow felt right to call him Aaron, even though he was a king.
Aaron was six feet of pure muscle and possessed of wide shoulders that tapered down to a finely toned back and a firm, round bottom. She wanted to run her hands over his hard flesh, to taste the flavor of his golden skin, and to tease her fingers along the rigid length she had glimpsed as he had walked into the bath.
Strangely, the urge and the image it conjured in her mind didn’t cause her shame or embarrassment. She’d only been with one man and had never been besieged by carnal desires, but she was besieged now and not inclined to blush at her lurid thoughts. She didn’t know how she came to be in the castle or why the king had brought her to the baths, but she knew exactly how she would like to spend her time now that she was there.
Her nipples tightened against the soft fabric of her robe as she pushed herself up to a seated position. Her arms trembled slightly, but whether it was from disuse or the lust surging through her, she couldn’t say.
Then, as if summoned by her longing, Aaron turned around.
Her breath caught. Goddess, he was even more handsome in person than in his pictures.
Warm brown eyes sparkled in a face that was masculine perfection, graced with high cheekbones and a pair of full lips that begged to be nibbled. Calliope’s lips parted and a soft, needy sound escaped her throat.
Never had she been so consumed with the need to touch a man, to press her bare body to his and beg him to fill every aching place inside of her, to merge with her until she forgot there was such a thing as separate skins. She wanted to lick the beads of water from his chest, run her fingers through his damp hair, and pull his mouth down for a kiss neither of them would ever forget.
He returned her heated stare, unblinking.
They both seemed to be holding their breath, afraid to break the spell that allowed them to gaze at each other with such undisguised longing.
“Calliope.” That was all he said—simply her name—but that was enough.
She brought her fingers to the tie at her waist and tore at the fastening, hands shaking as she opened her robe and let it fall to the cushions behind her. The hungry sound that escaped Aaron’s lips as she bared herself to him so exactly mirrored the way she was feeling that she didn’t hesitate to stand and make her way to the bath.
He met her on the steps, pulling her into his arms.
Calliope gasped as her cool flesh made contact with his warm, wet body, a sound he swallowed with his mouth upon hers. He claimed her lips with a kiss that tore more starving sounds from her against her will. She didn’t want to seem too desperate, too wanton, but it was as if she had never known the meaning of those words before Aaron had touched her.
“You intoxicate me,” he mumbled, not interrupting their kiss for a moment as he pulled her into the water. Once they were both submerged, he hitched her legs around his waist and pressed her back against the wall of the bath.
“Yes, me too,” she breathed.
“Completely out of—”
“—my mind with it,” she finished as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
Her tongue tangled unabashedly with his as she arched her back, luxuriating in the feel of his crisp chest hairs teasing her nipples. Her hands smoothed down his strong back to his bottom, pulling him closer, pinning the heat of his arousal between his body and hers. He groaned as she tilted her hips, shamelessly rocking against his hardened shaft.
What had come over her? Who was this Calliope who so freely relished the power she held over a man?
Aaron pulled away, staring down into her face as his hand slid between them to tease at her opening. “I’ve never seen eyes so blue.”
She cried out and pressed closer to his hand, aching to feel his fingers sliding inside her. But he seemed determined to tease, playing through her swollen folds, but depriving her of the penetration she craved.
“Please,” she murmured, trembling as she wiggled closer to his hand.
“I can feel your slickness, even in the water.” Aaron plunged what felt like two thick fingers inside her. “You are exquisite.”
Calliope cried out as her head fell back. She was close to finding release from that one simple touch. “More, please, more.” She captured his face in her hands, kissing his full lips, willing him to see how desperately she needed him.
She had never felt like this, never felt she would die if she didn’t feel some part of him—any part of him—moving inside her.
“I will give you more. Anything you need. Absolutely anything, my love.”
“I don’t want anything but you.” Calliope wrapped her fingers around his swollen shaft beneath the water, ignoring the whisper of unease that raised the hairs at the back of her neck.
Men often said things they didn’t mean to say during sex. At least Jamie had, always professing his love as he lifted her skirts and pressed her back into the grass near where his sheep grazed, but never whispering words of affection at any other time. It was only natural that even a man as experienced as the king would do the same, wasn’t it?
She was quickly distracted from her worries by the feel of his cock twitching in her hand and the groan that escaped his throat. That evidence that she made him as wild as he made her was enough to make her desire spiral even higher.
“You shall have me.” Aaron lifted her to sit on the edge of the bath. “But first I will have you.”
Calliope shivered as the cool air hit her wet skin, then shivered again as Aaron pushed her legs apart, baring her sex.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, gaze fixed on what he had revealed.
Calliope’s breath grew faster as his hands reached for her, parting the dark blonde curls and examining her with a heat that made her sex swell and ache even more fiercely.
“Lay back,” he said. “Show me all of you.”
Calliope hesitantly obeyed, shifting onto her elbows and letting Aaron lift her knees and spread her wider. Her nipples drew into tingling points as her lower back met the cold tile, but it was nerves, not the chill, that made her attempt to sit back up.
“Please. Stay.” It was more of a request than a demand, but stay she did, captivated by the sight of the king lowering his mouth to kiss her thigh.
And then he kissed her again, farther up, higher and higher until she could feel his warm breath on her center. Any moment it seemed he would kiss her there.
She’d hear
d of this, but Jamie had never tried to—
“Goddess!” All thoughts of Jamie or any other man fled as Aaron’s tongue darted out to flick, just once, across the button at the top of her.
His dark eyes lifted to meet hers and the man had the nerve to grin before his tongue darted out again. Calliope watched, helpless to look away as he claimed her, his tongue tracing her swollen folds, dipping into her entry, moaning as he tasted her and obviously found her sweet.
Soon her breath was coming in shallow little pants, her muscles were strung tight, and her thighs were trembling. She was seconds from shattering, but for some reason she couldn’t seem to allow herself to let go.
“Aaron, please,” she begged, not knowing what she begged for, but hoping somehow he might.
“Then you know my name.”
“I would know you anywhere.” She spoke the romantic words before she thought better of them, but Aaron didn’t seem to think her foolish.
“And I would know you. Now tell me, what do you want?” He cupped her breasts in his warm hands, his thumbs brushing across her tips as his mouth resumed its work between her legs.
She cried out again and her trembling grew worse, until she feared he would think there was something wrong with her. Surely other women never shook like this, quaking with the force of their need.
Perhaps this was something only fairies did, or maybe—
“Come, Calliope. I want to taste more of this sweetness.”
The hunger in his words and the eagerness with which he set to suckling her banished her worries, wiping her mind clean. Every care vanished in a blinding flash of pleasure as his wicked tongue brought the tension in her belly to climax.
Her shout echoed through the bathing room, coming back to play around her ears as his fingers worked into her pulsing sheath. Calliope could feel her slickness dripping onto the hand he worked between her legs, but shame was the furthest thing from her mind as her body began the climb toward the brink once again.