by Brianna West
Quite interesting.
Bernie chuckled and bumped his shoulder into Pavel before his amber eyes strayed back over to me, swiping down my body once more before he came over and took hold of my hand. “You look absolutely delicious, darling. I might have to keep you close, or you’ll be stolen away from me like a prized pig.”
Not quite sure how that was a compliment, seeing how I wasn’t too sure what this beast called a pig was. But even so, I was feeling heat rise to my cheeks and barely managed to reply.
“I doubt that very seriously, Bernard,” I retorted coolly, reverting back to old habits by using his given name with my sarcastic reply, “And one does what one must to achieve the goal.”
I was still internally squealing at Bernie’s unexpected praise, though I wished it hadn’t been said in relation to such an outlandish outfit. Anything Bernie chose to say felt like the sweetest compliment I could ever receive from another person, and it was all I could do not to wrap my arms around him and never let go.
“Bernie,” he corrected, leaning in close and giving me abrupt, leg-quaking tremors as his lips swiped the sensitive cartilage of my ear, “You’re so cute when you’re being shy, darling.”
Ah! He was figuring me out.
Blushing, I stomped on his toe with the spiked heel of my boot and walked ahead to align myself with Pavel, who was scanning the crowd and using his ability, which was one where he could identify essence to locate any potential targets. I combed through my hair, letting the silky strands fall over my shoulders and hide what they could of my exposed bust.
“Can you sense him at all?” I asked the Guardian, feeling Bernie’s arm come around my waist and drag me into his side, which had him promptly receiving a quick elbow to the stomach when I managed to recover from the shock of his touch.
Bernie pouted and whined, demanding I pay attention to him as Pavel smirked and eyed me with a sideways glance. “Nothing just yet. I gather your brother doesn’t carry a detectable essence much like you do, printsessa?”
“I suppose not,” I replied, stomach fluttering when Bernie leaned in closer.
“Then I’ll be back,” Pavel said shortly before disappearing from my side.
Unable to see where he had disappeared to, I turned to find Bernie smiling broadly at me. His arm wrapped around my waist again, dragging me bodily with him towards the doorway and leading us through with the permission of the man that stood stoutly beside it, evidently guarding it.
Oh my god, Bernie felt so good. So warm.
“What do you think you are doing, Bernard?” I demanded.
“Bernie,” he corrected once more with the lift of his mouth before nodding off ahead of us to the swarming mass of dancing humans, “And you and I are going to dance. Might as well enjoy ourselves while we’re here, right, princess?”
“No,” I rejected instantly, attempting to escape his hold, but his other arm encircled my waist from the other side and brought me into his chest, where there wasn’t anywhere for me to evade. Not with a crowd of humans watching and hovering around us closely, making movement impossible without injuring a good deal of them.
“Bernie,” I hissed, seething outwardly and unable to do anything about it.
Inside, my inner self was shrieking with delight and encouraging me to give in just this once. Just enjoy his company and feel what it was like to be inside his arms without trying to escape them.
Bernie chuckled excitedly. “Can’t blame a man for taking his shot at the most gorgeous lady in the room, can you?”
“That is exactly what I intend to do,” I refuted dryly, but I was lost to his charm, finding no strength to push him away, “This is highly inappropriate, Bernard. Someone of your station—”
The Guardian’s smile was accompanied by a flash of amber eyes. “You should learn to enjoy yourself a little, princess. No one is going to know. Let loose for once and let me treat you like a lady tonight.”
He tightened his arms around me, sending my heart into a state of distress as he leaned down, swaying us from side to side. “It’ll be our little secret, darling.”
His large hand cupped my face, my body igniting with unbelievable heat; agitated by the audacity of his actions, but unable to deny the temptation of doing whatever he proposed I do. However, as much as it pained me to admit it, he was right. No one would know I had given in. And if it was ever discovered, I could explain it away simply by saying it was to blend in with the surrounding humans.
Could I give in this once? Could I let myself live inside the moment and Bernie’s warmth for a singular night? Could I shed away pretenses and everything that held me back from living freely as who I was inside?
Bernie bent his head low, slipping fingers into my hair and caressing me intimately. Closing my eyes, I let my hips move along with his, syncing to the beat of overwhelming music. It was an unexplainable freedom that took hold of me as I gave into Bernie and allowed him to lead me astray from everything I worked a hundred and fifty years to keep in place.
Chapter Ten
~***~
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been trapped inside the movement of Bernie’s body. But as I lost myself to the rhythm and intoxicating air permeating throughout the place we currently danced, I was surprised with how easily I let him lead us through each beat; every throb and jolt; endlessly moving to the eternal composition that drowned out all other sound inside the room, accompanied by an explosion of lights and dense, sweltering heat as a result of so many bodies being packed into a small space.
It was mesmerizing. Addicting. All-consuming. Everything I never knew it could be, dancing with another person. Giving oneself over to the music and sensation rather than concerning themselves with outward appearances.
It wasn’t inappropriate for royalty to dance, but this sort of dance was something that I would’ve never willingly taken part in. Something about the way the Guardian’s hands touched my sides and slid over my waist and lower back, leaving tremors in the wake of his touch, was closer to the intimate dancing of those vixens I despised so greatly. Yet, I was unable to recoil from the intimacy we were naturally flowing into.
I had been ensnared by Bernie’s luminous eyes as they bore into mine and the swishing, methodical rhythm of his sway as he drew me ever-closer to his touch. It had left me with nothing but an eagerness to match it with my own rhythmic movement.
Everything about our perspiring bodies pressed against each other should be met with alarm, especially with what it was doing to my body without my knowledge. But instead of being fearful, I was charged with an excitement I’d never truly felt any other time in my life. Even my first battle didn’t compare to the electrified sensation each look and touch Bernie offered me. What it did to my inexperienced body as we were left trapped inside the dense crowd of humans.
I was a slave to it.
And the Guardian looked bloody intoxicating when I’d find the courage to peer into his expressive eyes. The intense, raw stare shocked my body nearly every time I did. His eyes alone could ensnare any woman in his path, and I found that I was no different from the rest.
I had been ensnared by amber weeks ago.
My face grew hot just as Bernie’s arms tightened around me, his chest heaving short pants of air as we danced beside the uncaring, oblivious mass surrounding us. And for a moment, I nearly forgot myself entirely. I very nearly lost myself inside the heavily charged sexual air of the establishment, because I found my own hands sliding upwards, over the crisp fabric of Bernie’s shirt, and encircling the large shoulders I was having trouble reaching because of the difference in our heights.
Amber eyes widened discernibly, the lights flickering through the air catching the emotion inside liquid irises for brief seconds before darkness fell over Bernie’s face. The Guardian’s head came down, his arm lifting me around my waist to aid in bringing me upwards.
Before I could make sense of the sudden, unexpected movement, my lips were touching his for the second time since
becoming acquainted with the Guardian. Gasping, hot sensation moved rapidly through my body, sparking from where our lips met and flooding down through every space inside of me, sensitizing my already electrified body.
Was he actually kissing me again? Here?!
Startled stiff, Bernie’s mouth pressed harder into mine as I tried to make sense of what was occurring and the pleasure ripping through my form with the friction of soft, yet demanding lips moving against my own. I felt the vibration of his growl before I heard it as Bernie’s hand grasped the back of my head, entangling gentle fingers through my hair and deepening our kiss.
Too far gone with the pleasure of his lips as they swiped expertly over mine, my body surrendered to him, eyes fluttering closed and arms constricting around taut shoulders. My hands then sought to further anchor us together, slipping into the silky, slightly wet strands of Bernie’s hair and making the hat tumble off of his head to the floor.
Guilt-riddled, because I knew how special it was to him, I drew away and attempted to retrieve his fallen hat. Bernie’s hand kept me from going far, his mouth chasing mine and kissing me roughly when I made a noise of protest. Wet heat filled my mouth as Bernie’s tongue entangled with mine and pleasure washed into my lower half. A tingling sensation exploded through my stomach and thighs, weakening me abruptly and forcing Bernie’s arms around me to constrict and hold me strongly upright.
I couldn’t deny him. My strength had been sapped from me with the confident passion of his mouth as his overpowering kiss continued to derive low moans from my throat.
I wasn’t quite sure if it was the way the pleasure took hold of my body or the sexuality exuding from the very room itself, but I had willingly let his mouth dominate mine for long minutes before I gathered the courage to pull away for air. Instead of letting me escape entirely, Bernie’s mouth latched onto my neck, nibbling the skin and making my breath hitch with surprise.
“Don’t run away, Nyla,” he whispered hotly in my ear, startling me further as I desperately sought out the strength that no longer occupied my body with the hoarse but sweet way he said my name.
As if it my name something precious and dear to him. As though the very utterance of it gave him overwhelming affection, of which blazed inside his eyes without any attempt to conceal it.
What sort of trick was this?
“I can’t let you get away again,” the Guardian groaned, lips sliding over the shell of my ear before he took the lobe between his teeth and squeezed his arms around me tighter.
Trembling against the mouth that had continued to slide down, trailing over my neck and electrifying my skin as it quickly drained my hard-fought control even further, I managed to find my voice, though shamefully soft and barely audible. “Bernard, desist what you are doing…”
Before I lose it entirely.
I’d meant to sound strong in spite of the ongoing pleasure his mouth was creating as it breathed wet heat over the skin of my neck and along my collarbone, but my voice came out more as a gasping plea.
“Bernie,” he corrected as his hand forced me to face him before my mouth was claimed in another knee-weakening kiss. Shakily, I pushed against him, finding absolutely no power in my arms to successfully refuse him.
“You’re shaking, darling,” Bernie said into my ear, using a throaty tone that was very unlike him, “How can you be so gosh-darn adorable all the time? You’re trembling like a leaf in my arms, and now I don’t ever want to let you go.”
I was, trembling that is. My entire body was quaking so much that any movement I made felt numb and uncomfortable as I abandoned the desperate act of fleeing and merely hoped to reason with him. Talk some sense into him about how what he was doing was ill-advised, and how it could never happen again between us. However, inside, I didn’t know to whom I wished to convince—Bernie or myself.
“My brother,” I started, attempting to stifle my uncontrollable quivering, “Bernard…we are here to find my brother.”
Bernie’s eyes flashed in a sudden burst of light, their appearance sharp and forceful. My body froze under their intensity, having never expected to find such a severe, unmovable stare fixed to me by the usually jubilant, fun-loving Guardian. Then, as if using his body rather than his words to respond to me, Bernie drew me fully into his arms and kissed me roughly, reigniting the heat between us as his tongue entwined with mine. My hands grasped his shirt tightly as the familiar sensation of his mouth gave my body another hot rush. And once again, his mouth dominated mine with so much power that I could only match its ferocity to keep from being overcome by it.
It felt so bloody good. He tasted sweet, like the hot chocolate he favored drinking, and smelt of the strong, unmasked notes of his favorite cologne that had grown soothingly familiar in the short time we had known each other. Something of which I sought out unintentionally anytime I wished to locate him.
I felt the strong muscle lining his body stiffen further the longer we kissed, as though he were fighting something. Probably himself, much like I currently was. It was all we could do as our passionate kiss went on, never slowing and never wavering.
And in that moment, it was as if only the two of us existed.
One of Bernie’s hands slid into my hair, twisting and holding me captive to our kiss, while the other locked me against his lower body. There was a sweet ache in my hips; one that encouraged me to press and move against him, but I was able to refrain from doing that much. It felt reprehensible, more so than kissing a man I hardly knew, to rub against him like one of the disdainful women in court, who often did such an action without any sort of shame.
I was neither desperate, nor inherently wanton. Or so I told myself as I tempered my desire from doing anything more than just letting him kiss me.
Bernie’s mouth was hot and welcoming, drawing out each moan I sought despairingly to suppress from my throat and echoing them inside our seeking, fevered kisses. Every time he verbalized his excitement, I’d feel a sort of rush through my already warm body, and I grew more lightheaded with each appreciative growl.
I was so bloody desperate for him.
I wasn’t entirely sure how long we had been locked inside our passionate exchange, and to be quite honest, I hadn’t cared until the moment I felt the shift and presence of another Guardian. My body piqued, startling against Bernie’s as I hurried to compose myself.
“Sorry to interrupt,” someone said, causing me to further flee Bernie’s touch with renewed strength and put some much-needed distance between us.
Holy mother, that was dangerous. I nearly fell head-first into temptation.
Bernie’s lower lip protruded slightly. “Couldn’t you have waited like, five or ten minutes—no—an hour before interrupting us?” he demanded in his usual playful whine at Pavel, who stood beside him and ignored the giggling crowd of women collecting around them.
My heart was beating painfully inside my chest and my cheeks were burning without relenting, leaving me unable to do or say anything as I worked to get my body under control. I couldn’t fathom what we might appear like to someone on the outside, and shame was swiftly clouding my thoughts as I watched the two speak without truly hearing them.
Pavel shook his head finally, eyeing me with a lift to one side of his mouth. As if reading my thoughts, he pinned his lips shut with his fingers, signifying he wouldn’t speak a word of what he saw to another. Further cementing my shameful actions, the Guardian winked and wrapped an arm around Bernie’s shoulders with a bright, knowing smile of encouragement.
“Lucky for you two crazy kids, looks like the lead was a dead end. We’ll have to check out another place to see if we can find this brother of hers once I’ve gathered a bit of intel from the locals,” the beautiful Guardian said, chuckling huskily and driving it home that our coming here had all been for naught, and now I’d have to live with the transgression of willingly dancing and kissing a man that was not my betrothed.
Oh dear mother, I’d never be able to recover from this. Ev
erything I was and had been was lost the moment I giggled and let the Guardian kiss me. My crumbling facade was continuing to fall apart around me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Except…
Straightening my spine, I peered at the other Guardian, denying the pain echoing inside of my heart with the very thought of what I was about to do. “I wish to speak with Simon.”
“Simon?” the fair-haired Guardian asked, “Whatever for, printsessa?”
I nodded once, swallowing against the burn overtaking my throat. “It is my wish to secure a different Guardian escort.”
Pavel and Bernie both watched me with similarly stricken expressions as I nodded again and spun on my heel, walking away from their frozen forms as I ignored, somewhat unsuccessfully, the pain striking through my chest repeatedly. I swallowed around the forming lump in my throat, knowing that this was the only way to make sure that whatever was occurring between Bernie and I would be stopped, and quickly.
I could no longer trust myself as I had failed countless times to deny him. The only way to make sure he never managed to get through the barriers I’d erected from the moment I realized I couldn’t be the woman I was on the inside as a result of my social status was to make sure that he wasn’t around at all.
Even though it felt like it would surely kill me to do so.
After escaping to the street outside, I pressed a hand to my chest where the pain continued to burn with every sure beat of my heart. Crippled slightly by it, I didn’t realize the change in the air or the signs of something taking hold of me until it was too late to do anything.
My body lofted backwards, hitting the unforgiving brick wall and shuddering with the impact as I landed bone-shatteringly hard onto my knees onto the cement path. Recovering, I drew my blade and ignored the intense pain searing from where I was hit in the abdomen. I’d suffered worse at the hand of Anric, so I knew I could power through this sort of pain very easily.
“You never really struck me as someone who can be taken by surprise, but I guess we all have our moments,” a voice stated coolly beyond my tunneled vision, drawing my silver eyes up and across the sea of dark pavement separating us, “And for once, you’re without your little kitty to protect you.”