by Parker Grey
Leo leans back in his chair, his rigid posture and manners shifting, the perfect courtly prince disappearing and something real taking his place.
“The truth is that Nadia’s death was my fault,” he says quietly.
I can’t breathe, like a giant fist is closed around my lungs.
“Even though she was two years older than me, I was always the instigator,” he goes on. “Nadia was quiet, well-behaved, always had her nose in a book, but I was a wild little hellion.”
He taps the tongs on the fork on the table.
“We were inseparable anyway, and we’d taken to exploring the castle when no one was watching us — and since I was ten and she was twelve, she was judged capable of keeping me out of trouble. And instead, one afternoon, I talked her into exploring the ruined tower.”
He pauses briefly, staring at the fork.
“We weren’t supposed to be there. It was structurally unsound from a fire a hundred years before, but I talked her into it. And when she walked to look at the view from the edge, it crumbled underneath her.”
His eyes are bright at the memory, and a pang stabs through my heart. He’s never looked more human.
“And I caught her,” he says quietly. “But I couldn’t hold on, and I had to watch as she fell to her death.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, knowing that it’s not enough.
“I got the scar then, too,” he says. “I didn’t realize until hours later that I’d nearly lost my eye to an old nail sticking out of a wall where I threw myself down.”
He shifts again in his seat, puts the fork down, and looks me square in the eye.
“My parents told the press that I hadn’t been there, that Nadia had been on her own, because they didn’t want it to look suspicious. But of course someone had seen the two of us together, and it eventually got out that I was there, and it only looked more suspicious, like at ten years old I’d killed my own sister so I could inherit the kingdom.”
He shrugs lightly.
“They were too deep in their grief to care much about public relations, and I just wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out, so the rumor mill got to run full force with no one to stop it,” he finishes.
I know the rest, of course.
“I didn’t believe it,” I say, swallowing hard. “But I didn’t not believe it.”
Leo smiles and stands, then comes around the table and pulls me to my feet.
“Do you believe me now?” he asks.
A shiver slides down my spine.
“I do,” I whisper.
“Good,” he murmurs. “I couldn’t stand it if you thought I was a monster.”
The intimacy of this moment combined with his sheer proximity is making heat wind through my body yet again, finally unfettered by the thought that Leo might be dangerous.
The attendant comes back and sets tray of dainty desserts on the table, and I clear my throat.
“After luncheon, I think Prince Leo and I would prefer to take a stroll through the preserve alone,” I tell the attendant.
He frowns.
“Princess, your father did say—“
“Prince Leo and I have some very important matters to discuss,” I say firmly. “My father will understand.”
He nods.
Prince Leo’s eyes sparkle dangerously.
A few minutes later, we’re walking away from the greenhouse and along a path into the well-kept woods of the game preserve. It’s a vast expanse of land behind the castle, up in the hills where it’s impossible to farm anything anyway.
We make small talk at first, my stomach in knots. I’ve thrown caution to the wind, because even though I still don’t know whether the rumors about the prince are true, and I still think he might be the sort of wild, feral, untamed beast that everyone thinks he is, I’m here alone with him.
The moment we’re out of sight of the greenhouse, he grabs me in his arms and lifts me. I yelp, but the noise is swallowed by the trees and the ground, so I wrap my arms around his neck and hold my breath.
“You afraid of something, Princess?” he asks, his voice a low growl.
I swallow.
Yes, I think. I’m a little afraid of you and a lot afraid of what I’ll do when you’re around.
“No,” I squeak.
He puts me down on a fallen tree so I’m straddling it in my short sundress, and he towers over me. Out of habit, I try to pull my dress down, but Leo just laughs and pushes my hands away.
“That’s not what you’re here for,” he says, kissing me hard. “You didn’t send your men away so you could stay modest, did you, Princess?”
I can’t even answer because his mouth is on mine again, practically crushing me, the force of his desire almost overwhelming. His tongue invades my mouth without permission, plundering me and exploring every part.
It’s aggressive. It’s dominating. I like it, and I like having him inside me.
And I want more.
Leo is pushing me backward, my arms holding me up against the fallen tree, and his mouth leaves mine and moves lower. Down my neck, past my collarbone.
Roughly he shoves the neckline of my dress down and I gasp, my bra suddenly exposed, but Leo just chuckles and pushes that down, too, his lips finding the puckered pink of one nipple.
He bites it gingerly, and I gasp, the sensation zipping through my body like I’ve been electrocuted. I can’t believe how good this feels, and his other hand comes up, shoves my bra away, and pinches the other nipple at the same time.
“Leo,” I whisper.
He bites a little harder, and my toes curl.
Then he reaches down and under my skirt, his rough hand moving up my thigh, his fingers sliding underneath my panties.
“You’re soaking goddamn wet, Princess,” he says, his voice low and rough. “Is that for me?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
His fingers slide across my lips, slippery with my juices.
“Is this because I said I was going to tongue-fuck you while you moaned?” he asks. “Or is this because you’ve been staring at my thick royal cock all day?”
I clear my throat, breathing hard.
“The first one?”
He just chuckles and takes my hand, guiding it to the impossibly big, hard rod in his pants. I gasp.
“That’s a pity,” he says. “Because they’re both good reasons for your panties to be soaked straight through.”
He grabs my panties in one hand and yanks, tearing them off and tossing them to the forest floor before I can even speak. Then Prince Leo kisses me even harder, pushing me backward until I’m lying on the fallen tree, legs around him as he presses his rock-hard need against me.
His lips travel down again, past my neck, my breasts, my belly, and then he’s shoving my dress over my hips, his hands tight on my thighs.
Something runs the length of my lips, something deft and flexible.
It has to be his tongue.
He does it again, teasing me, only this time he pushes his tongue between them and laps at my entrance, coming so close to entering me but he doesn’t. Instead he flattens it and slides it to my clit, where he licks me in slow, deft circles.
My toes curl, and I gasp. Holy fuck this feels good, and even if I can’t believe I’m letting him do this right here, right now, I couldn’t stop for the world.
It’s total, pure ecstasy, and I reach both my hands over my head and grab onto a branch stump behind myself as he licks at me, his tongue gliding over my most intimate places while I gasp and squirm, his strong hands holding my thighs open wide.
We’re right out, in the open, where anyone could come along and see. And yet I’m completely powerless to stop, totally under his control in his moment, my body writhing like a river of fire is flowing through me.
Leo’s tongue is fast and merciless, and I’ve never had anyone do this to me before. In no time at all, I’m teetering on the brink of orgasm, moments away from falling over that sweet edge and coming hard,
but then his tongue slows.
I hold my breath, but he doesn’t start again, just draws slow circles around my clit until the sensation fades and I’m not at that dangerous edge any more.
Then he starts again, pushing me right up to the edge, and backing off.
He’s teasing me. No, worse: he’s torturing me, making sure I know he has the power to make me come whenever he wants, but he’s not giving me the satisfaction. I feel like sparks in a windstorm, hot and swirling, my body a rush of confusion and pleasure and pure, desperate want.
The next time he does it, I’m so close that I think I might come anyway, just from the sheer force of my desire. I stay at the brink even after his tongue leaves me, this time sliding down, between my lips as I whimper desperately, my whole body trembling.
Then, at last, he slides his tongue inside me and curls it hard against my sensitive front wall, and I explode. My back arches and my toes curl as pleasure arcs through me like lightning, fast and hard, but it keeps moving and going long past the point where I’ve been struck.
The sensation sizzles through my veins over and over again, until at last my legs are shaking, my breath coming in quick gasps, and I’m almost delirious.
Leo moves his face away from me, kissing and biting my inner thigh, then my belly, then my lips as I’m still laid back on the fallen tree. I kiss back like a drowning woman, even though he tastes like me, because I don’t care.
After a long time I sit up, dazed, Leo’s lips still on mine. From pure instinct I try to slide my hand down his body, because I want him, want to see his thick, monstrous cock and make him feel as good as he’s made me, but he catches my wrist.
Then he moves his face away from mine and grins, just as I hear footsteps on dry leaves coming through the forest.
“Not now, Princess,” he murmurs.
Frantically, I pull up the top of my dress and pull down the bottom, sitting upright on the fallen tree as Leo sits next to me, just as casual as can be.
I can only pray that we’re hiding my torn panties from whoever’s on the path, and hold my breath. Leo takes one of my hands in his own, like he’s a dutiful, polite suitor, not the beast who just ate me out right here in the woods.
An older man comes into view. I think I recognize him from the stables — he isn’t someone I see every day, but he’s familiar.
He nods at us. We nod at him, and he continues his walk.
Then Leo pulls me up and leads me back to the greenhouse where we had lunch. Despite everything, I’m disappointed — I want to feel what it’s like when he comes so hard he can’t control himself, when he writhes and jerks with pleasure.
But I understand that now’s not the time.
Chapter Ten
Leo
Lying awake in my bed, I swear I can still taste her on my lips.
I’ve eaten a meal since then, drunk water, drunk wine, had dessert, and brushed my teeth. There’s no way I can still taste her sweet honey in my mouth, but I’d swear I can.
And it’s driving me absolutely crazy. I haven’t thought of anything else at all since this afternoon. Not her parents, talking to me; not the other nobles currently at the palace; not where I was walking or what I was eating or drinking.
Just my tongue, licking at her while she gasped and writhed. The way it felt to push my tongue inside her, to feel her muscles clamp down on me when she came like that.
Fucking glorious. I’ve never felt anything like it before, not even close — the way my sweet princess was totally, completely, and utterly mine in that moment.
I roll over, still not asleep, and sigh.
I wonder if she’s still awake, I think.
In her bed. Naked. Maybe thinking about me.
It’s past midnight, in a palace that mostly goes to sleep early except for the guards, who are everywhere. I’m likely to wake her up, freak her out, and she’ll probably call them.
And fuck it, I don’t care.
I need her now, and I need her worse than ever. I can’t sleep, think, or hardly even breathe until I’m with her again, so I get out of my bed, put on a fresh set of clothes, and step quietly into the hall, closing my door behind me.
No one here. So far, so good.
I’ve not been to her chambers yet but I know where they are, so I head that way. I pass a few guards in the portrait gallery, but I just nod at them, like I can’t sleep and I’m out for a midnight stroll. They just nod back.
Finally, I’m at her door. At least, I’m fairly sure it’s her door, though it’s not as if her name is on it. I can’t believe there aren’t more guards here, but I guess the palace is fairly safe. Besides, most threats come from outside the palace walls.
I raise my hand to knock, then let it fall. If I make noise, I just risk alerting everyone that I’m here, paying Josephine a visit at twelve-thirty at night with a raging hard-on.
It’s risky — she might scream — but I lower my hand to the handle, and I push.
It’s unlocked. That sort of makes sense — she’s got guards, after all, though they certainly didn’t stop me.
I step through her door silently, blood rushing through my veins in sheer anticipation. Every nerve in my body feels alive, tingling with danger but mostly with pure excitement.
I walk through the first room in her chambers, some kind of living room or sitting room or something, totally silent, heading for her bedroom.
The door is slightly ajar, so I say a quick prayer and push it open.
As I do, there’s a rustle and a gasp, then total stillness.
“It’s me,” I say, keeping my voice low. “I needed to see you again. Tonight.”
For a moment, I just pray that I got the right room. I’ll happily withstand any physical attack to be with Josephine, but showing up in her little sister’s bedroom would really take some apologizing and explaining.
But then Josephine sits up in her bed, hair wild around her face. She’s holding her bedsheets up in front of her, but underneath the thin silk I can tell that she’s completely naked.
For a moment, she just takes me in, still sleepy and confused, and she runs her tongue just under her top lip.
“Leo,” she finally whispers, drawing her feet up under her.
I walk forward like I’m magnetized. Through the thin sheets I can watch her nipples harden quickly, an expression of deep lust coming into her beautiful blue eyes as her breathing quickens.
“You can’t be here,” she murmurs, looking up at me.
“Apparently, I can,” I say, stepping up to the edge of her bed. I feel like my body is on fire, nothing but thin fabric separating me from my princess.
“You shouldn’t,” she whispers. “We’re not married yet, and you know my parents...”
I run my fingers along her chin, and she tilts her head up, melting into my touch.
“Yet?” I say, voice low and gravelly with need.
Her eyes hold mine steadily, and I run the pad of my thumb over her full, plush lips as I guide my head to the back of her head.
“There’s no wedding date yet,” she whispers against my thumb. “But I’m yours, Leo.”
I feel like something inside me goes supernova at those three simple words: I’m yours, Leo. I can’t even respond, the feeling is so powerful, but Josephine opens her lips slightly and runs the tip of her tongue along the pad of my finger.
It sends tingles down my spine, my breathing growing heavy. After a moment she opens her mouth wider, sucking my thumb into her mouth up to the first joint, her tongue swirling around it, then the second, then down to where it meets my hand. The whole time she doesn’t break eye contact with me, the soft satin of the bed sheets against her lithe, gorgeous body.
I’m uncontrollably hard, and in that moment, the last thing thread that held the beast inside me in check snaps. I pull my thumb from her beautiful mouth and lock my hand in her hair, just hard enough that she knows who’s in control but she’s not hurt.
Josephine lets the sheets sli
de down her body, exposing her full, perky breasts with their rosy nipples, her waist, her hips. The soft, downy patch between her thighs.
“Get on your knees,” I growl, already unbuckling my belt with my other hand.
Josephine locks eyes with me, and something flickers in her gaze, some light that comes on when I grab her hair and tell her what to do.
Then she smiles, just barely, a coy little smirk that stokes my raging fire even more.
“Yes, my Prince,” she whispers, and slides off her bed.
Then her hands are on the waist of my pants, her lips on the trail of fur that leads from my bellybutton to my cock, and she pulls my trousers open hungrily, like she’s been waiting for this.
Josephine unzips my pants, and my cock springs out, enormous and bulging, the head swollen and purple with desire.
She gasps.
“You’ve never seen one before,” I say.
“Not in person,” she whispers.
I can tell she’s nervous, but she wraps one hand around the base of it, her fingers barely closing around my shaft, and it sends a bolt of white-hot electricity through my entire body as she strokes me slowly and carefully.
“You like it?” I growl.
Josephine just nods, my hand still locked in her hair.
“Good,” I say, and tilt her head back slightly, her creamy throat exposed. “Because it’s yours, Princess. From now on, every single inch of me belongs to you.”
Her hand tightens on my shaft, and she strokes me a little faster.
“Now open your pretty mouth, because I need to see your lips wrapped around my cock,” I say.
Chapter Eleven
Josephine
Oh my God, it’s big. I know I’ve never touched a cock before, but I’ve gotten curious enough to find pictures of them. I’m familiar with the concept of cocks, if not the practice.
But I was not prepared, because Prince Leo is huge. As much as I’ve been fantasizing about this moment, and even though I had to get myself off three times before I could fall asleep, suddenly I’m uncertain.