by Jeannie Lin
She had just started up the steps when he appeared from above, pausing at the corner of the stairwell. Her feet locked in place, rooted to the floor. If she moved at all, she would collapse. Ryam stood before her looking rough and tawny and perfect. He braced a hand against the wall as he stared at her.
The knot at his throat rose and fell. ‘Ailey?’
That was all she needed to send her bounding up to him. The soreness in her limbs fled all at once and she threw herself into his arms. He held her, confusion obscuring his expression.
‘They wanted me to marry Li Tao anyway.’ A tear escaped down her cheek. ‘I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let him touch me.’
She was rambling and she hadn’t even greeted him. He was so wonderfully solid and there that she had to lay her head against his chest and breathe in the comforting scent of leather and masculine skin. An edge of doubt crept into her mind when he said nothing. She raised her eyes and saw how his jaw had clenched. His breathing came in unsteady bursts.
‘I thought we’d never see each other again,’ she said faintly.
A shudder travelled down his body before his arms tightened around her. He kissed her then, his mouth hard and his hands pressing into her back. She let out a startled sound that transformed into a moan as his lips teased against the soft edges of her mouth. Rice wine and the tang of cloves seeped over her tongue and her vision blurred, every sense overwhelmed as she let him past her guard.
This was recklessness and she knew it. It was exactly what she wanted. It was better than the anger that had fed her through the night. Ryam held her and she wasn’t alone any more.
His fingers laced through hers as they moved down the stairs. A few steps and she was back in his arms, melting into him as he kissed her until she was dizzy with pleasure. Her hands roamed over the ridges of his back, over his shoulders, into his hair, needing to touch every part of him all at once. He lifted his head and his eyes met hers in a shock still moment that penetrated deep, seizing her heart.
She didn’t know how they made it down the steps. She could barely feel the floor beneath her feet as Ryam directed her through the corridor with its flickering lanterns. With an arm secured around her waist, he pushed open a door. As soon as she was inside, he pulled it shut.
‘You’re here,’ he said, his voice thick and heavy in his throat.
He kissed her again as she hooked her arms around his neck. The press of his body anchored her against the door and she felt like she would never fall.
‘You’re here,’ she echoed.
She traced the planes of his face, his throat. Each touch made him more real before her. His lips parted to kiss her fingertips as she explored him.
He slipped his hands into her hair. ‘I don’t want to say anything to you that I’ve ever said to another woman.’
His gaze held on to her as if she would disappear the moment he looked away. One by one, he tugged at her combs and pins, dropping them to the floor until the entire knot came loose.
‘You don’t need to say anything,’ she whispered against his neck where the skin was hot and smooth and his musky scent surrounded her.
With the next kiss, he parted her lips and eased his tongue inside to savour her. He angled his hips to hers and the hard friction against the juncture of her thighs made her ache for more. He held her tight as her knees buckled and then lifted her to carry her to the bed.
Ryam reached for his sword belt. At the same time, she pulled at the ties of his vest. The only sound in the room was the ragged draw of his breath and a wild pounding in her head. He worked the belt loose and dropped it to the floor. Then he was easing her back onto the mattress, one hand beneath her skirt.
‘You still have these.’ His laugh was low and thick as honey.
He freed her butterfly swords from the strap around her leg and let them slip to the floor. His hand wrapped around her bare thigh and she could feel the calloused ridges of his palm and the imprint of his fingers against her sensitive skin. Her breath caught as he inched higher, stroking a trail of heat. Her body went liquid and damp in welcome.
With exquisite care, he parted her legs and brushed his hand over her delicate sex, teasing her before easing his touch into her. She gasped, her entire body arching tight as his fingers stroked in a long, slow glide. Her hands twisted into his tunic and she dragged him to her, kissing him blindly. He returned the kiss, but his focus remained on the secret place where he touched her and touched her.
‘Is this what you want?’ His voice came out hoarse, roughened with desire. He found the tiny pearl of sensation, sending pleasure arching through her until she struggled for breath.
Her answer came out as a plea. ‘Yes.’
She clutched at his arms, pulling him closer still. Heaven and earth, he was beautiful. Everything else she knew had become so twisted, she couldn’t recognise them any more: her father, her mother, the gilded palace she’d never call her home.
This was what she wanted. This man and this moment. She’d never been more certain of anything in her life.
Ryam slipped his fingers into her silken, heated flesh, loving the look of anguish on Ailey’s face as she shuddered against him. He could touch her like this for ever just to watch her response.
He lowered his mouth to her ear and couldn’t resist scraping his teeth over the lobe. ‘You know what is going to happen between us?’
Her lashes lifted, and he saw in her passion-clouded eyes the full realisation of where this would lead.
‘Yes.’
He already had his answer in the way her hips strained towards him and the soft moan that escaped her lips, but he wanted the words to make it all the sweeter.
Parting her with his fingers, he stroked deep in slow circles. Ailey’s nails bit into his arm as she cried out his name, her voice smoky with desire. There was nothing complicated about it. He finally had Ailey in his arms, vulnerable and open and willing. Soon she was going to be his and his alone. Very soon.
The thought of the hot, exquisite slide of his body into her made him unbearably hard. He ground himself against her to soothe the dull throb between his legs. Too many layers of clothing separated them.
With his face at the curve of her throat, he drank in the perfume of her skin. But then a different scent assailed him. Another woman had lain in this bed. Nothing had happened, but the trace of her lingered to spoil this moment. It was a dash of cold water, clearing his lust-riddled mind.
He lifted himself from her. ‘I can’t.’
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked in alarm.
She tried to sit up, but found herself pinned by his weight. He removed his hand from her and lowered her skirt over her legs.
‘We can’t do this. Not here.’
‘But…but I want you to.’
He knew he wasn’t making sense to her. He was hardly making sense to himself. He let his forehead sink against hers and forced himself to remain as still as possible. She was liquid silver in his arms. Only an imbecile or a monk would not continue.
‘I’ve been drinking,’ he ground out, squeezing his eyes shut. If he looked at her, he’d come apart.
Desperately aroused, he took a deep breath and tried to regain some measure of control. She was a virgin and he was about to take her while he was drunk and in a bed tainted with another woman’s perfume. Even he wasn’t that much of an animal.
‘I won’t. Not now. Not in this place.’
Confused and hurt, she started to wriggle out from under him. His arms shot out to recapture her. She gasped and tumbled against him.
‘Where are you going?’ he asked slyly. He rolled her onto her back, pinning her snugly beneath his hips.
‘I thought you said…’
Her voice trailed off as he pushed her skirt up to rest his hand once again against her thigh. Watching her reaction, he ran his fingers down to hook around the back of her knee.
‘Stay there,’ he said huskily.
He kissed her mouth briefly befo
re lowering himself. Gently, he pulled the layers of silk away until there was nothing before him but warm feminine flesh. A tremor ran through her legs as he parted them. They were beautifully formed, strong and supple. He made a mental note to spend more time appreciating them when the situation was less urgent.
When he glanced up, Ailey’s head was thrown back onto the pillow, eyes closed. Her lips fell open as she tensed with both fear and eagerness. Beautiful, vulnerable, completely his.
He bent and slid his tongue in a slow path over her slick folds.
‘Heaven,’ she gasped.
Her legs jerked in his grasp and he held them still, tightening his grip before caressing her again. He used his mouth to make her moan, to make her cry. Arousal rendered her shameless. Ailey arched her hips against his mouth while her fingers twisted in his hair, silently demanding.
The force of her need stunned him. She had never known this pleasure before and he wanted more than anything to be the one to give it to her.
Carefully, he ran the tip of one finger over her to part her. She made a startled little sound that sent anticipation rushing hot through him. Holding her open, he licked over the hard pearl of her sex, circling and torturing and loving.
Her entire body seized and the taste of her honey filled his mouth.
She cried out when she climaxed. He smiled at the intimate knowledge and held on to her, absorbing every shudder of surrender. When she finally sank into the mattress, he teased her sated flesh in one final, lazy stroke of his tongue before crawling back up to her. She blinked at him drowsily. Without a word, she circled her arms around him and fell asleep with her head tucked against his shoulder, holding him tight.
Ailey awoke to the gentle nudging of lips against her throat. Her weight pressed into the mattress, her body heavy and drugged with sleep. With a moan, she turned her face away and felt a sprinkling of kisses against her neck while a low chuckle vibrated against her ear.
That sound brought it all back in an instant. Ryam’s mouth on her and the sweet, searing pleasure-pain that had taken hold of her body and lifted it high for an endless second before plunging her down. Desire heated her skin once again, but it was tainted with guilt. She’d been in the palace with her family the day before. This morning, she was waking up in a strange bed.
When she opened her eyes, Ryam was smiling down at her. Flecks of auburn and gold hid in the stubble that covered his chin. His hair was tousled and she remembered raking her fingers through it. She pushed her doubts aside.
His fingers combed absently through the dark spill around her shoulders, his touch soothing. ‘I love your hair.’
What was she supposed to say? Were they lovers now? ‘I—I didn’t expect to find you here.’
His eyes sparked playfully. ‘I must have been waiting for you.’
He kissed a trail down her cheek, then along the line of her jaw with exquisite tenderness. His stubble grazed against her skin, the rasp of it exciting her. She was floating in a warm bath, her skin tingling with a drowsy hum that filled the hollows of her spirit.
She blinked up at the ceiling as his lips found her ear. ‘Ryam?’
He murmured something incoherent as his teeth scraped against her earlobe, sending a ripple down her spine.
It took a long moment to recover. ‘Earlier, why did you not…why did we not…?’
Gradually, his smile faded. ‘God’s breath,’ he muttered. He pushed himself up to sitting position, turning his back to her as he moved to the edge of the bed. ‘What’s wrong?’
He stared at the floor, the bed, then the walls, before mumbling an oath that might have been in her language. He ran his hand over his face. ‘Ailey, what are you doing here?’
She was confused. Hadn’t she told him already?
‘My father insisted that I marry Li Tao, so I ran—’
He cut her off, his tone ragged. ‘I need to get you out of this place. I was drunk…I was careless.’
The way he had touched her felt anything but careless. He was acting as if she hadn’t just woken up in his arms.
‘Are you still drunk now?’
He turned his head to look at her. His gaze dropped to the line of her silk bodice and his eyes sparked with desire. Her breasts swelled with the memory of his touch. An echoing ache of desire awakened within her.
His breathing quickened and she knew exactly what he was thinking. She remembered the wicked skill of his tongue and her insides went liquid and restless. The walls of the room shrank and her world narrowed down to the space between them and the wild beating of her heart. She’d moved into a forbidden, unknown place and she couldn’t bring herself to feel any regret.
Ryam looked away from her and stood. For a moment she was lost, but he reached out to take her hand, reassuring her with the solid clasp of his fingers over hers. ‘Come. You shouldn’t be in a place like this.’
A slant of sunlight pierced through the tiny window and sent a new wave of panic through her.
‘How long was I asleep?’
‘A few hours.’
‘We have to go. It’s nearly midday and I wasn’t supposed to stay here long.’
A dimple appeared on his chin as he frowned. How odd she had never noticed it before or how boyish it made him look. She forced herself to move, wriggling over to the side of the bed to reach for her swords. When she stood, Ryam was right beside her. He seemed to be trying to resist, but his hand brushed a lazy path down her back and came to rest on the curve of her hip. Possessive was the only word for it.
‘Where are you going?’ He still looked surprised that she was there.
Ailey didn’t care. It was so good to be with Ryam again. She couldn’t believe how good. Nothing could harm her while he was near. He had always been true to her. He would never betray her trust.
‘I’m going home,’ she said. ‘To Longyou, in the mountains.’
‘Then we’ll go together.’
Once again, she needed him and, once again, Ryam was there. She wanted to throw herself into his arms again and squeeze tight to make sure she wasn’t dreaming and he wouldn’t slip away. But she didn’t have time. Father would be sending his troops after her. Whatever had begun between them would have to wait.
Ailey was here. Somehow she was here with him and he wasn’t going to ask any more questions. It felt right to be talking about the two of them together. He could conquer the world. He could slay dragons with his bare hands. First he had to get them out of this seedy place.
‘Father will have found out that I am gone by now.’ Ailey tried to pin her hair, gathering it up and shoving the combs into it. ‘He wants to force me to marry. I won’t do it even if he sends the entire imperial army against me.’
She fastened her hair into an uneven coil. Errant strands fell to tease against her neck and shoulders, making her look flustered and tempting.
Ryam paused in the midst of brushing back a wisp of black hair from her face. ‘Your father can send the imperial army after you?’
There was something strange about how she’d spoken. Ailey didn’t tend towards exaggeration.
She blinked at him, then pressed her lips together nervously. ‘Our family name is not Chang,’ she confessed. ‘Our name is Shen. My father is Shen An Lu.’
‘Shen An Lu is the Emperor of China,’ he said, his tone flat.
‘Yes, he is now.’
‘A warrior family with five sons,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘I didn’t know the Emperor had a daughter.’
‘He does.’
He scrubbed his knuckles over his chin, back and forth, waiting for good sense to kick in. Maybe it was the rice liquor swimming in his blood, but he would have fought an entire army to keep her at that moment. So Ailey was the imperial princess of China. Her father would stop at nothing to get her back. If Ryam wasn’t marked for death before, he certainly was now. Beheading would be considered too kind a punishment.
But the threat of death wasn’t enough to get rid of him. Not when
he’d found her again. He’d risked his life for much less.
‘We need to go,’ he agreed. ‘Now.’
Chapter Fourteen
West of the central cities the land opened up to arching blue sky and untamed grassland as far as the eye could see. The road disintegrated into a trail of wheel ruts and tracks overtaken by weeds. The last time Ryam had been this way, he’d been riding alongside the cache of weapons, heading unknowingly into disaster.
Ailey stopped and dismounted to watch a herd of wild horses thundering across the plain. She had traded her court dress for riding clothes, but kept the turquoise robe as if unwilling to hide herself any longer. It draped down her back, the edge of it catching the breeze. She had pinned her hair up and the sunlight played over her face.
For days he’d ridden beside her. Their stolen morning remained fresh in his mind, never more than a meaningful glance away. Her body had been awakened, eager and hungry, and it called out to him. He could conjure the feel of her hips arching into him and a sweat would break out on the back of his neck. Desire was nothing new to him, but this feeling was.
He could see the question in her eyes when the day faded into night. She would crawl into his arms and they would fall asleep like that, day after day, curled together in exhaustion. That was enough for now.
‘Our home lies in the valley before that ridge.’ Her finger followed the sloping grey line at the horizon. ‘Two, maybe three days from here.’
He lowered himself from the saddle onto the packed dirt of the road. Ailey gripped her reins loosely with one hand, dwarfed beside the chestnut steed. Her gaze set fiercely on to the point in the distance. She led the horse along with her hand on the bridle,
‘Fifth Brother heads the defence command at Longyou. We were always close. He will understand why I had to leave.’
‘Your father will eventually find you there.’
‘Then I’ll keep on going.’
He was the one who always went along, never asking the how or why of things. It was how his party had been attacked and caught unaware by imperial patrols. He didn’t know if he liked that attitude on Ailey. Everything with her held weight and purpose. It wasn’t like her to be so careless, especially with something as precious as her honour.