by Kiki Leach
Before I could come, he rolled us over, placing me above him. I sat up and straddled, riding his cock as if I were on professional horseback. He watched my breasts bouncing up and down against me and devoured each one, his tongue bathing my nipples in moisture. I threw my head back, clasping and digging my nails into his thighs, calling out his name, begging him to come inside me. I wanted us to release at the same time.
“Cinder girl,” he said. I grinned hearing his words but didn’t respond. He reached for the back of my neck, my hair fell over his hand as my head dropped forward. “Look at me.” Beads of sweat fell from my face and onto my mouth. Norvack pressed his thumb against the corner of my lips and glided it back and forth. And then he licked his thumb, tasting me once more. “Are you happy?”
“Yes. Oh yes, oh yes.” I licked the outside of his lips and lightly sucked the bottom one. “You have made me very happy. But I hope that you are not finished pleasing me.”
“Never.” He leaned in with a smile, pressing his face against my throat and whispered. “Spin around.”
And I did.
He slid his hands up my and down my back and licked the sweat from my skin. He reached around for my breasts, squeezing and flicking my nipples with his thumbs, then lowered a hand down to my clit, massaging it as I rocked against him. I lay back and looked aside. He wiped my face and slid his other hand back into my hair, twisting it around and gripping tight, giving me a deep, soulful kiss. I held onto his tongue as he continued pushing into me and allowed a tear to roll down my face as I burst into complete orgasm.
Hours later, we climaxed in unison and I fell on top of him in exhaustion. I felt his heart beating in my ears and laughed at how hard and rapidly it thumped against my face. His chest was sweaty, my hair clung to his skin like a leaf to sap, but neither of us cared. I moved the strands from my eyes to get a better view of the room. It seemed to be spinning, which made me laugh louder, as if I were coming down from an opium high. I only realized it was real when I felt Norvack’s hand sliding up my back. He was still inside me. I didn’t want this feeling to be over, neither of us did. I lay my hands on either side of him and trailed my fingers up and down his glistening skin.
“I am so insanely happy,” I said. “I could die in the square tomorrow by the hand of the Sheriff himself, and would die with a smile on my face.”
Norvack chuckled. He played with the curls in my hair and wiped the perspiration from his face with the back of his hand. “Does that mean you have been satisfied, my favorite girl? Have I pleased you?”
“Yes.” I placed my hands on his chest and rested my chin on my wrists. “You have more than pleased me, my future king.” He wiped a line of hair from my face and became lost in thought. “What is it?”
“I love you, Cinder. I always have and will.”
“I know…”
He paused. “If I ever become my father--”
“You won’t,” I snapped. “You are better than he is, you always have been. I meant what I said before.” I stopped to gather my thoughts and he lifted the corner of his lips into a sweet grin. “Norvack. You made love to me tonight, and…” He caressed my face and I melted into his hand. “You made love to me. I wish for this every night for the rest of my life.”
He lifted a brow in amusement. “Every night, my favorite girl?” he asked. I snickered. “I wish to please you, to satisfy you this way for the rest of my life. You’re mine.”
“I’m yours.” I kissed the scar near his heart and sighed. “I love you.” A look of surprise and enlightenment crossed his face. To finally hear me say these words…. I could feel his heart beating faster and faster. “I am completely, madly, wildly in love with you, Norvack. So much so that I would possibly do anything for you, the same as you would for me. I somehow fell for you in a way I never believed possible to fall for another human being and those feelings scared me, until now.”
“I never want you to fear me or what we have.”
“I don’t. I didn’t.” I exhaled. “I feared opening up to someone for the first time in my life. I feared opening up to you, truly letting you in and allowing myself to be completely free and vulnerable with you. To allow you to hurt me.”
He scowled. “I would never.”
“I know.” I paused. “No one else has ever been inside me the way you have.” I looked aside and we both laughed at my choice of words. I stroked his skin. “I want you to know that I continued to take care of you because I wished to, not because I was forced or because it was demanded of me. You are my husband.” He smiled wide. “I wish to stand by your side, to bear your children, and to grow old with you in this monarchy.” I lowered my eyes, unsure now, but determined. “Despite the Sheriff’s ominous words, despite your father’s continued wishes and protests against me, I shall grow old with you, Norvack.”
He slid his fingers up and down my skin and cocked his head aside, his eyes shining, piquing as he absorbed my words. “You mean all of what you say?” he asked. “Every word of it, right down to the children?” I nodded. “How many?”
“Four!” I said excitedly. Then I sunk down and frowned. “Three.”
“Perhaps we should get a head start.” Norvack rolled me over on my back and I giggled at the unexpectedness of it. He stared at me for a long time and rattled his head, squinting as he overlooked every feature on my face. “I have only dreamed of this, everyday since we were children. And now, I don’t have to anymore. We shall grow old together. Of that, you need never worry.” He took his time, traveling his fingers down the front of my body and placing his hand between my legs, squeezing my sweetest spot and fondling my clitoris. My giggles turned to desirable moans within an instant. “I wish to please you once more,” he said, his breath inside my mouth.
I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled his face down to mine, easing my tongue between his lips as I kissed him slowly, deeply. “Take me, forever,” I said.
Book Two in the Royal Chronicles of Denmark Series
******
The war against England had been won.
But it was only a calm before the first of many storms.
Tensions rise high between the royals when King Belarus demands that his son add another key member to his now faltering court: former General to the English army, the devilishly charming and handsome, John Devereux. Making matter worse, Norvack not only learns that John shares an intimate past with Cinder, but that his new right hand man may be the key to his apparent downfall.
Meanwhile, as Cinder struggles with the arrival of her former lover and is forced to face a part of her past she had long wished to forget, she realizes that her husband has found a new loyal confidant in her personal handmaiden, Brigita. On the night of a disastrous blizzard she searches for the two outside of the palace but instead comes face to face with a man she was certain to never see again, forcing the entire family to come to a deciding conclusion regarding the night Willem was killed.
******
The Resurrection
The Unholy Alliance
The Façade
The Mystery
The Distraction
The Reservation
The Liability
The Ally
The Makeshift Plan
The Unforeseen Circumstance
The Monster
The Promise
The Confession
The Conjecture
The Apparition
Winter, 1819
The Resurrection
Last night I dreamt that a man was going to kill me. The same man I have been dreaming of for the last six weeks now.
The Sheriff.
I dreamt of his round face, and long, mangled beard; of his callous hands as they reached out for my own, tying them behind my back before tossing me up on a large platform. I stood before the entire village of Hadenville -- before the entire country of Denmark, scared and shaking, stripped of dignity and pride, and dressed in nothing but a sheet. I could hear the Sheriff chuckli
ng to himself as he reached for my throat, and yanked me over to the block of wood near the edge of the platform, forcing me down. There was a choice between hanging me with a thick splintery rope, or chopping my head off with the very sword that killed Prince Nathaniel ‘Willem’ Belarus II.
I chose the sword.
I remember looking out into the crowd one last time, lifting my lids as much as I could until my eyes focused directly on Norvack’s red, angry, and defeated face. Three large men the size of giants, guards for the palace, held him back on the king’s orders. My husband was forced to watch me die. His deep voice echoed in my ears, screaming my name louder and louder as the Sheriff himself, who was given the honor after confessing my deeds to the king in ‘good faith’, raised the sword high into the sky. He wanted the metal to glint in the sun before it came smashing down into my neck and was covered in bone and blood. He asked me a question before he struck. I couldn’t understand, too distraught, and through tears, asked him to say it again.
“Are you sorry for what you’ve done, girl?”
I thought for a moment, then closed my eyes tight and rattled my head.
“No,” I answered defiantly. “No, I’m not.”
He leaned down next to my face, his warm breath making me feel even more ill than I had already. He exhaled and stared at me, and then he whispered. “I shall find you.”
I turned a little to look into his eyes. They were red, exhilarated. The veins had expanded around his irises and he smiled wide, nodding.
“I shall return for you,” he said. “And you shall most certainly die at my hands.”
A chill traveled up my spine in that moment, one so sharp it forced me awake. I reached for my blanket and my skin was drenched, as was my hair, but I remained in bed, remaining as motionless as a rock in water. I was unable to move or breathe, or even feel the cool air from the new year, January winds as it crept across the tiny hairs on my skin. I lay looking up at the tiered ceiling of my bedroom, as Norvack remained asleep beside me, completely unaware of my fears. It wasn’t until I felt like vomiting that I managed to find my strength to move.
I went over to the basin and poured myself a goblet of water, swishing it around in my mouth and spitting. Then I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned at my reflection.
What am I going to do -- my God, I thought.
Before I knew it, there was a knock on the door. Norvack had finally awaken.
“We’re to meet with my parents for breakfast soon,” he said through the door.
I took a deep breath. “Alright.”
I could feel him hesitating once I answered.
“Are you well, Cinder?”
“No,” I said. “I feel quite ill, in fact.”
I went over to the door and pulled back. Norvack stood across the room tugging at his tunic as he tried placing it over his head. I leaned on the frame watching him and began rubbing my arms down. I felt anxious, frightened.
“What is it, Cinder?”
“I had that dream again.”
He tilted his head and arched a brow. “The one with the Sheriff?”
“Yes. And it ends the same way every time, me sick and in the bathroom.” I shook my head and looked away. “I no longer believe I can do this.”
“Do what?”
“Continue with this charade. It’s been nearly two months now and I am more certain now than ever that the Sheriff plans to return, and soon, to expose me to this country. And more importantly, to your father.”
“Why now more than ever?”
“Because the dreams are becoming more real, as if he is speaking to me somehow. Truly speaking to me! Similar to some sort of premonition or something. Perhaps my subconscious is preparing me.” I sighed. “Your father continues to proclaim I am a witch, perhaps I am one.”
“Stop.”
“Why? Norvack, these dreams--”
He immediately came over and took my face in his hands. They were smooth, so smooth and calming. I softened against him and shut my eyes tight. He moved closer, until I could feel his cool lips upon mine. The tip of his tongue fluttered between them and I whimpered at the taste.
“I will always protect you,” he whispered. “Always.”
“I’m quite aware of that, but--”
“No,” he said, pulling away and looking down into my violet eyes. He caressed my face and lips with the tips of his fingers. “No one has heard from the man since the night he threatened you, not even the king.”
“It doesn’t mean that he’s gone forever, that he’ll stay away. He’s bound to return to Denmark at some point or another, if only to expose me for the pure pleasure of it.” I sighed. “I no longer wish to discuss it.”
I drifted over to the balcony and he followed. As I looked out onto the lawn, he slipped his arms around my waist and pat my stomach. I flinched a little, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed his brows puckering.
“Then shall we discuss the more obvious?”
“More …?”
“The king still wishes for an heir,” he said. “You recall it’s why he forced me to marry.”
“Though you had a choice.”
I felt his lips curve up. “I had a choice. You, always you, my favorite girl.” He stood straight and cleared his throat. “However, it has indeed been two months and the king informed me that we still have nothing to show for it.”
“Our love for one another?”
“Yes. But, Cinder …”
“It takes time,” I answered, nearly panicked. “The more we try to have a child, the less likely one is to come.”
“We’re not trying hard enough, my favorite. Perhaps if you allowed me to touch you again as I did before. I miss you,” he grunted.
“We continue to share the same bed.”
“But I no longer continue to share you.”
He pressed his lips against my throat and inhaled harshly.
“Norvack.” I raised my hand behind me and slipped it into his hair. I tugged a little and turned my face toward his. Our lips met, and mine burned, ached for his as we kissed deeply, sensually. I wanted him to make love to me then, right there on the balcony.
Only the presence of his mother, Queen Eliza, kept us from completely obliging.
She rapt incessantly at the door, like the cat begging for the tail of a mouse, and called for her son. But Norvack wasn’t nervous or scared, only slightly annoyed. I could not say the same for myself, however.
He snickered to himself and moved his head about before answering.
“Mother!” he proclaimed. He took her hand and bowed, kissing it and welcoming her inside. She nodded and shuffled against the bottom of her elongated crimson gown. “Cinder and I were just on our way down to meet you and the king.”
“Indeed,” I replied, coming in from the balcony.
She eyed me curiously, moving her head up and down, admiring my lack of wardrobe, and smirked. “I should hope you’re more covered as you present yourself downstairs to the king and our guests.”
“Guests?” Norvack chimed in.
I looked to the corner of my eye and lifted my brows. “Is it a requirement that I appear decent before anyone who is not my husband? If so, then perhaps…”
“My, God, she’s yet to be tamed.”
“Neigh.”
“Cinder.”
“Oh, Norvack!” I chortled. “She nearly begged for it to come out of my mouth.”
“Of all the words to pass between those lips of yours, my dear, the sound of a horse has never been one of them.” The queen rolled her eyes a little and refocused on Norvack. “Your father wishes to discuss politics this morning.” She straightened his tunic and leaned her head. “I only wish for you to be prepared for what he plans to tell you.”
“You wish for me to be prepared for the very same conversation we’ve been having since I won the battle against England? Pardon, since my men won the battle against England, as I was too injured to carry on.” He moved across the roo
m and placed his hands on his waist. Eliza and I stood aside one another, staring at him with concern. “I shall never be given credit for a battle in which I led.”
“Your father only wishes to help you improve, my son.”
“My father wishes I had failed.”
I walked over to him and placed my hands on his shoulders. “Norvack--”
“Don’t,” he replied.
I quickly pulled my hands back and clasped them together.
He turned slightly, appearing almost apologetic, and exhaled. “You should finish getting ready for yet another battle we won’t win.”
I dropped my head in sadness for him, and he excused himself from the room, promising to return later. The queen stayed behind as I gathered my gown.
“As always,” I stated with a hint of sarcasm, “it has been the utmost pleasure.”
“I’m not finished, Cinderella.”
She showed me her hand as I held the gown in my own, offering to help me dress. Quite an unusual and uncommon gesture from her. I had prepared to call for Brigita instead, but the longer we stood in silence, making it clear she was not leaving as her eyes bore into mine, the more I felt compelled to grant her wish.
Once she finished tying me up in back, pulling each string tighter than the last, I allowed my hair to cascade down. She gently fluffed it around me.
As the silence continued, I cleared my throat and looked aside.
“Your husband is killing mine,” I stated.
She dropped her hands from me. I felt her shift back a little and could feel her eyes burning holes into my skin.
“I beg your pardon?”
I went over to the mirror to escape what I felt and pat down my chest with powder. Eliza stood behind once more, now staring at me as if I had just spilled red wine all over her pure white rug.
“The way Belarus continues to treat his son is entirely unacceptable,” I told her. “Willem is dead. I appreciate that the king will always treasure his first born and whatever love the man had for his mother” --Eliza became uneasy, shifting in her gown and crinkling her lips-- “but Norvack is here, and he shall remain. And he won that godforsaken battle against the King of England, a battle only put into motion due to a promise Belarus himself knew damn well he could never manage to keep!”