Gambit

by Kim Knox

  He crushed her to him, his mouth at her ear, his breathing hot and ragged. Desire burned through her. His mind wrapped around hers. Need, want, affection and something extra, something that threaded through her thoughts and drove fresh fire through her flesh. Her heart pounded, little gasps escaping her as Daned stroked into her, faster, harder, flaring the fire in her belly. A delicious tightness gripped her flesh, the burn of her release so close she ached.

  “Make me come, Daned.” She pressed her hot, damp skin against his, her fingers digging into his buttocks. Her thoughts surged over his. “Make me yours.”

  He groaned, his mouth hot against her shoulder, his arms fierce as he held her. “Yes.” The force of his release charged her own, made her heart pound, her breath quicken. There. Almost there. “Yours.”

  The flare of incredible heat swept over her, over him, wrapping them together as searing as gold and just as binding. It caught her, spun her thoughts, light and fire whipping through her mind, her flesh binding them, locking their bodies, their souls, together in a permanent bond.

  A low moan escaped her and she arched under him, her limbs shaking, unable to fight the incredible, incredible roll of pleasure that was Daned and her combined. Slowly, the rush of their release eased back and Chae let her head fall into the soft, warm silk. Daned’s body was a comfortable weight, his hot skin pressed to hers. She sighed and let her fingers play over the muscles in his back, feeling his skin twitch under her light touch. “I don’t feel any different.”

  Daned rolled, taking her with him. Light from the long windows edged his features as he propped himself up on his elbow. He brushed the wild tangle of her hair from her face. “We’re together,” he murmured. “Together feels…normal.”

  A smile tugged at her mouth and she pulled in a long, slow breath. His familiar scent mixed with the wicked hint of recent sex. “I never thought to be normal.”

  Daned echoed her smile and teased an almost tender kiss from her lips. “We only have a few minutes left, Chae.”

  He paused, his dark eyes holding a sharp pain and his mind…There was no shutter protecting him. His thoughts touched hers, as gentle as the press of his mouth. Warmth and affection flowed over her and eased the start of her anxiety. Then another emotion wrapped around her and sank deep. Her heart thudded.

  “I didn’t expect this.” His soft voice wove around her. “I’ve seen permanence before.” He winced. “It was…reluctant.”

  Chae eased herself against him, the brush of his hair-roughened skin sending little tingles of pleasure through her flesh. She walked her fingers over his hip, not yet ready to admit that she had to leave him for another man—men—all too soon. She looked up at him. “Are you?”

  “I know what you have to do.” For a moment, his mouth thinned and the bright spark of fury lashed over his mind. He controlled it and a thin film coated his thoughts, holding his anger back from her. “And the need I have to make your rule an absolute monarchy is tempting.” His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Who needs nine princes?”

  He stroked her hair, tucking a stray strand behind her ear and the affectionate gesture tightened her heart. “I wanted to hijack a ship—and you—and run from here.”

  His smile deepened. “I know. And believe me, I was tempted to let you.”

  “But we have our duty.” Her fingers trembled against his hip and she curled them into a protecting fist. Her gut knotted and Chae wanted to will herself away from the contact of his bare skin against hers…but she couldn’t. To break away would mean she had to acknowledge fucking nine men, the thought of whom made her skin crawl. “I’m already screwing with enough traditions by corrupting my imperial advisor.”

  “It was mutual.” Daned traced his fingers along her shoulder to the curve of her upper arm, his hungry gaze following the path he took. “It was almost impossible to resist you.”

  Chae couldn’t help grinning. “Trying to curry favor?”

  His fingers traced over her ribs, her waist, and she felt his cock harden against her belly. “We left those needs at the door.” His hot palm rested on her backside and urged her hard against him. “Other needs, not so much.”

  Chae wiggled, enjoying the fresh little tendrils of need coursing her veins. “Flatterer.”

  “Truth.”

  “I may keep you, after all.”

  His hand tugged at her thigh and eased it over his hip, exposing her to the hardness of his cock. The need to find him again, to wrap her body around him and find another dose of ecstasy burned through her flesh.

  He covered her mouth in light, insane little kisses that stole her breath. “You have no choice.”

  “Chae Beyon, the nine princes await you in the Ara throne room.”

  The curt voice of the sunder-seld broke through the growing heat haze, and a knot twisted hard in her stomach. Her head sank to Daned’s muscled shoulder. She drew in his scent, willing it to ease the sudden flare of sickening panic.

  “I will come to you after.” His lips touched her hair and she shivered. “I promise.”

  “You heard it?”

  He didn’t reply as his palm pushed up over her spine, the contact soothing and protective. That she needed him should’ve scared her more than the nine foul princes waiting for her, but it didn’t. He was right. Being with him was her new normal. And that was…nice.

  “You need to wash.” Daned pulled back and offered his hand. “I want you to remember my hands on your skin.”

  Her heart tightened, but she followed him, their feet silent on the deep rugs. Daned led her to a blank wall of crystal. He pressed his palm to a plate on the wall and the device glowed around his long fingers. The wall parted with the scrape of crystal against the floor to reveal a white-walled washroom. Lights flickered and then gleamed spots over the great slabs of cool marble.

  Daned pulled her across the warming floor to a curve of marble that created a wide shower cubicle. She yelped as jets of perfectly heated water erupted from the walls. His hands teased across her shoulders and she shivered, the gentle scent of almonds weaving through the growing steam.

  His fingertips worked her muscles, the delicious ache he built in her flesh drawing a moan from her. “Can I make you my official back scrubber?”

  Daned gave a soft laugh. “You’re drunk with power.” His soaped hands shaped her waist, his fingers slipping, sliding over her skin and increasing the liquid fire between her thighs. “Though I would have to execute anyone else who did this.”

  Chae let her head drop forward, the tangles of her hair clinging to her spine and falling in wet strands across her cheeks. “In ways that would become legend?”

  He pressed his chest to her back, his fingers tracing tantalizing circles against her belly. The hardness of his erection slipped over her backside and the urge to push back against him, for him to fuck her right there, was fire and need in her thoughts.

  “If I had time, Chae…” His hot breath sent a shiver over the shell of her ear. “I would make you come so many times.”

  “After.”

  His arms tightened around her and he held her close, his mouth pressed to her neck. Water cascaded over her breasts, her belly, her legs, ran in warm rivulets down her face, but she ignored it. For a long moment, she willed herself to memorize his touch, the feel of him wrapped around her, his scent mixing with the expensive soap and the sharp smell of the steam.

  “After.” The word rumbled through her back and burned against her skin. “It’ll just be us for hours.”

  A smirk pulled at her mouth. “Until we’re raw and can’t walk?”

  His soft chuckle warmed her. “I have stamina, lady.”

  The memory of how gold had bound them swept through her body. Now she was about to sully that memory with other men. She winced. There was no other way. The horror of touching any one of the princes had been acute before Daned and she had crossed the line. Now? Without gold, she’d try to throttle them at the first touch. Her mouth quirked upward. It was
probably best for her not to be armed when she entered the throne room.

  Daned pulled back with a reluctant sigh and ran his fingers through her hair. A gentle massage worked shampoo through to the roots and his patient rhythm worked away the sharpness of her anxiety. “It will soon be over,” he murmured. “And then normalcy will resume.”

  Chae laughed. “I’m still not getting over this ‘we’re normal’ thing.”

  He channeled warm water over her head and lather slipped down her face. “I like it.”

  She wanted to blame the burn in her eyes on the soap and lather…but she knew she couldn’t. Chae pressed her fingers to her eyelids and willed fresh barriers to form over her mind. She didn’t want Daned to be with her, to experience her time with the princes.

  “We share everything.”

  Chae frowned. “And the Founders thought tying us together like this was a good idea?”

  “I don’t think they had much choice. Their use of black crystal dictated certain necessities.”

  The water stopped and Chae shivered. Daned wrapped the warmth of a large towel around her body and the gentle rub of his hands drove the sudden chill from her flesh. “Fixing genetic compatibility being one of them.”

  He ran the towel down her spine, the soft material curving over her backside before he bent and dried her legs. The liquid ache that had simmered in her flesh bloomed as he teased the towel between her thighs.

  His hot breath brushed her cheeks. “Black crystal is aware. Not conscious but its drive lives in us. We can’t fight it.”

  His lips brushed her skin and she sucked in a quick breath. “So it’s the crystal that wants you right now? Hard and fast against this wall?”

  Daned’s soft groan curled a smile. “Don’t tempt me, Chae.”

  “Nice to know that I can.”

  He turned her and rubbed the towel over her belly, pushing up toward her breasts. He stood, dropping a shadow over her. She could feel his sudden tension, the tautness of his muscles, and it caught her breath. He’d shifted into the dark predator, the man who oozed power and stealth and the man who made her heart pound.

  “I’ll hunt you.” His voice was low and he let the towel drop to the floor. Chae backed away until her spine hit the cool marble of the curved wall. Daned closed the short distance, his mind dark with images of chasing her down, of pushing her up against a wall and taking her there. “Fuck you where I find you.”

  Her fast breaths pushed her chest hard against his. Damn it, he couldn’t do this to her, promise something so delicious just before she had to screw another man—men. “Daned…”

  His large hand cupped her jaw, his thumb tracing her bottom lip, and the contact forced a gasp. “I’ll bring you here, wash the stink of them off you, you’ll dress and then you have a five minute head start.”

  Her body thrummed with his insane proposal. But she needed insanity…and he knew it. Her heart twisted and her cool fingertips brushed over the back of his hand. “You don’t have to do this.”

  His head tilted. “You’ve yet to learn all my kinks.”

  Chae wet her lips, tasting the tip of his thumb. The taste of his skin fired against her tongue. “Kinks?”

  “I was bred to fight and to hunt.” His mouth twitched. “It would be my pleasure to hunt you.”

  “Innuendo?”

  “Maybe.”

  He’d broken the tension of the moment, but he had to. They had to go. He stepped back and Chae still found it strange that her thoughts, her emotions were completely open to him. She willed herself to leave the shower, to walk away from Daned and find her clothes. He followed her, rubbing a towel over his stomach. Chae looked away to stamp into her boots.

  “How long will this take?” She arrowed a thought to the sunder-seld, wanting to keep the question from Daned. Glancing up, she found him turned from her as he fastened his shirt, his hand sliding over the dark material to smooth out the creases. She pressed her lips together. He gave no sign he’d heard her thought. “This insane ceremony?”

  Her question met heavy silence. The tips of Chae’s fingers itched as she counted out the seconds in the fast drum of her heart. The sunder-seld shouldn’t be silent.

  “Each prince will hold a sliver of crystal, the thrum echoing with the crystal in their blood.”

  Chae’s hands formed fists, the first panic of breaking her connection to the chair gone in the reminder of what was to come. “And you judge who I fuck first and whose sperm gets to play?” She ignored the sour burn in her gut. “Do you even know that I’m fertile?”

  “Your body is ripe.”

  “Lovely. Now I’m fruit.” Chae winced and ran her fingers through her damp hair. Where was her team of compliant minions to make her hair smooth and sleek, make it shine like dark water? The selfish thought pulled her mind away from making her feel like a prize cow being served up to a bull. Several bulls. “Why is this necessary?” She watched Daned shrug on his jacket and straighten his shirt, admiring his lean perfection. Her fingers still itched. Yes, she needed to touch him. “Just to make the Houses play nice? To make them accept an empress they’ve all had a shot at?” She tugged at her tunic, anger making her hands jerk. “And if you say it’s tradition, I swear I will take a hammer to you.”

  “Remain calm, Majesty.” The sunder-seld’s even, almost too-slow tone did little to cut the fear-driven anger surging under her skin. “Trust that the right decision will be made.”

  “Seriously, I preferred being shot at to this.”

  Daned turned to look at her and Chae closed her thoughts to the chair.

  She lifted her chin. “I’m ready to go.”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  His words stabbed into her gut but she took his offered hand and his heat, his strength, flowed into her flesh. Time to decide the father of a baby she hadn’t even considered the day before. Ladaians. Insane. Every last fucking one of them. Her included.

  Chae let out a slow breath and silently followed Daned from the imperial suite.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lights flickered in the long corridor and Chae winced at the strobe flare bursting over the veins of black crystal. Daned’s hand tightened around hers and the absence of her gun burned as hard as the lights. Something didn’t feel right. Her instincts screamed up her spine. The air had chilled, taking with it the hint of cloves, the scent of black crystal, that she pulled in with every breath. Was it a part of the ceremony?

  Chae pushed at the holes in her memory but found nothing. “Is this your doing?” She hit the heavy wall of silence, the one that itched in her fingers and now twisted an unexpected knot in her gut. All right, not good. “Something’s wrong with the chair.”

  Daned tensed and Chae felt the push of his mind. Her heart beat hard and hell, heat and excitement caught her. For a hot moment, she could avoid the room and nine depraved princes. It probably wasn’t a good sign that she was welcoming an unknown terror over fucking a gold-dressed prince.

  Daned’s search tugged at her thoughts. He’d found senior guards on Kynon’s former ship, in the throne room and the suites of the attending princes and broke through their mental defenses with ruthless efficiency, battering them with questions.

  Chae half caught the answers. She snorted. She obviously had to work on her telepathy just that little bit more…but she rubbed her hands over her eyes and waited. He had his job to do. But everything going to shit did make her wonder if she’d brought her infamous bad luck to Ladaia-Ara.

  He let out a slow breath and his shoulders dropped.

  “What?”

  “It’s not just the sunder-seld.” He swore, low and hard. He looked back to the closed doors of her imperial apartments. “You can’t stay here alone.”

  “I wasn’t going to.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I’ve survived worse environments than a palace with dodgy lighting.”

  He pulled her toward an arch that spilled a golden arc of light across the stone floor. “The shield is down.” He shook his hea
d. “The shield is never down. Has never been down. All palace security has evaporated.” He wiped his fingers over his mouth. “No one knows what’s going on. Maybe one of the princes is holding a grudge against losing.”

  A laugh broke from her. “Entirely possible. There wasn’t much love for me in the throne room before.” She squinted into the plain blue sky. The sheen that had covered the palace no longer protected them. “The sunder-seld regulated the energy for that.” She straightened. “Is the chair broken?”

  “Impossible…” But there’d been enough hesitation in Daned’s voice to suggest it was possible.

  “Well?”

  His mouth twitched, his professional mask cracking. She caught the wisp of his thoughts and they mirrored her own. He wanted the impossible because it kept them together for a while longer. She held back a smirk. She’d completely corrupted him.

  “We need guns.”

  “And snacks.”

  His dark gaze narrowed on her. “Snacks?”

  Chae shrugged. “I always need snacks. Wasn’t that on my file?”

  Daned touched her cheek and dropped a quick, warm kiss on her mouth. She licked her lips, savoring his taste. His eyes shone. “I was more interested in your physical attributes.”

  “Of course you were.” She closed her eyes, the push of her emotions too strong. They were caught in an insane and precious moment, and the tug to simply run gripped her. This wasn’t her fight. It never had been. It was just more of her twisted luck. She was a reluctant empress, and her “people” were as equally reluctant to have her. She could run. She could take a ship and disappear. Leave the maniacs to sort out their own mess.

  “Is that what you want?”

  Daned’s soft voice wrapped around her and his thoughts offered no resistance. He would turn away from his people. For her. Her heart tightened. And how long before he hated her for that decision? Daned had been bred for his duty. She let out a long slow sigh. How much easier had her life been earlier in the week? And damn it to hell, she didn’t want to be so selfish.