The act was physical and brutal and yet somehow not painful anymore. His need overwhelmed her. Happiness bubbled through her like the water in the brook as he continued to pump and pump and his body lost it’s hardness slowly.
The pain was gone. Her head swirled with the progression of physical sensations from the initial burst of pain to this whirling sense of looseness. It was lovely. So maybe, just maybe, she understood now.
He brushed a gentle kiss across her lips and her body buzzed as he pulled his softening cock from her body. She couldn’t hold back a little moan of disappointment as he slid along her hypersensitive folds.
She didn’t know what to say. Thank you seemed...inadequate. And while she had been eager to rid herself of her virginity, she had no desire to repeat this experience anytime soon. Even though the sensation of his skin against hers, the skim of his hands along her body felt wonderful, another two hundred years would be soon enough for her to engage in the sex act again.
Barbas could feel her lack of arousal like a dagger in his heart. He cradled her close and wished that he’d known ahead of time that she’d been a virgin. He would have done things differently. “You should have had a soft goosedown bed and silken sheets, but this is all I could give you,” he said tenderly.
He had a flash of vision, her laid out on his bed, her bronzed body lush against his black silk sheets. He would take his time and learn each inch of her body with his teeth and tongue. With his large palms full of her round gorgeous ass, he squeezed. “I want this again.” He ached for the chance to take her once more and make it good.
But suddenly, they could hear the guards as they tromped back towards the clearing.”Sorry, sweetness.” He snatched up her rough dress and tossed it to her. Her Fae guards had almost returned. She was Fae. Even though that had not been uppermost in his mind mere minutes ago, now he realized that perhaps he’d just found his entree into the murky and devious world of the Fae.
But he couldn’t ask outright for an invitation. He couldn’t seem too eager. For everyone knew the Fae were the most suspicious and devious creatures to haunt the daylight.
“You want more? Meet me here again tomorrow.”He rubbed his fingers along her swollen and damp flesh and her hips rocked in response. Yes! His gaze flicked to the sun then to the shadows in the grove. “Same time, tomorrow. And ditch the guards.”
CHAPTER 5
Aine paced her ornate bedchamber as jittery as a sacrificial virgin on a festival night. Scratch that. It no longer applied. The place between her thighs was tender and slightly swollen. Each step reminded her of yesterday’s encounter. And his parting command. She wasn’t going. But she couldn’t seem to forget about the sensations that he’d aroused, the glorious pleasure of being touched by another, before the pain.
She’d relived the short interlude in the glade with a mixture of longing and disgust. Why would she even think of going back there again? He’d hurt her. But oh, before the pain had been a pleasure she’d only imagined. And after the pain, the tantalizing sensation of a greater bliss shimmered just out of reach.
What if there were more?
The door to her chamber banged open and her father marched in.
The Ladies all tittered and cooed at him as he strode to her. Aine curtsied low and dipped her head as a measure of respect. The gesture had the added bonus of hiding her eyes from his piercing gaze.
Goddess, he couldn’t know what had happened. Could he? She was a virgin no longer.
There was nothing her father could do about her condition, or lack thereof, however he could punish her impromptu lover. Which was another reason not to go back to the clearing. Her heart thudded and her palms slicked with sweat as she waited for him to speak.
“Rise.” He flicked his hand impatiently as she rose gracefully out of the deep bow.
“Father.” She modulated her voice and envisioned a calm, placid lake.
“Leave us,” he barked at her Ladies.
Useless ninnies all of them. She wished for the millionth time that she did not have to endure the trappings of being the princess. But wishing away her status was illogical. And she was nothing if not practical.
The room was aflutter as the women rushed toward the doorway.
“Aine,” he began. “I have need of your insight.” A frown marred his beautiful features.
“Of course.” She swallowed and fear skittered along her spine. “What can I do?”
“You know of the rumor that a human is in the village, trying to gather information about the Fae Realm. About me. I am convinced he is working with the Demons.” He spat the word, Demon. “I believe they have already made contact to infiltrate our realm.”
Her father had hated the Demons for a millennium. He’d been the one to suggest the trickery that had imprisoned them. And it had worked. But he’d severely miscalculated what would happen to the Fae once the Demons were banished. The Fae had slowly lost their power. And as the world industrialized Humans began to forget about magick and the Fae. Fewer and fewer Humans had believed in the Fae and most of the Fae power had come from the sun.
The bad news was once the Demons erupted from their prison they had fried all of the electronic and industrial advancements of the last few centuries. The good news was the Fae had regained some of their power. Humans believed the Fae existed again.
With the resurgence of Human knowledge of Fae, they had been able to draw more power from Human emotions again. Fear of the Fae’s influence and desire for Fae sensuality had increased once more and made it that much easier for the Fae to extract power from the Human emotions.
“I would sense a Demon in our midst.” She dismissed the possibility of infiltration outright. In addition to her talent to divine the truth, she definitely had the ability to identify Demons. Her gift had served her people well.
She waited, unsure what she could do for her father, but thrilled that he would ask for her help. Would she finally be given a meaningful task?
“I want you to go find out his description, find out what he is asking, find out what he wants, find out everything you can about this person,” he commanded. He squeezed his fists rhythmically in time with his sharp stalk around the room. “We need to know who and how he’s made contact with the Fae.”
“Certainly.” Aine’s heart thudded in anticipation. Finally, finally her father wanted her to begin to take some control in the Fae Realm. And she thrilled at the prospect of espionage. It would take her mind off of her other anxieties. “And then what?”
“Report back to me. And only me.” He paced the stone floor, his boots clicking on the solid surface like ticks from a clock.
Another thought occurred to her. If she was in the village, perhaps she could...swing by the clearing for a look. “Do you want me to take Finn?”
“No.” He frowned. “No bodyguards. Only you.”
“You would trust me with this?”
“You are the only one I trust,” he said fiercely. “What if the traitor is already here?”
Aine tried to calm her father. “I believe I would know if we had a deceiver in our midst.” And yet, he trusted her! Her pulse thudded in tempo to the possibilities speeding through her brain. She was ditching the bodyguards.
“Perhaps. But the Demons are tricky.” Another frown crossed his face. “Don’t linger once you have the information.”
Aine nodded quickly but she wondered. Was something else going on? She had to know. “What have you done?”
“What?” His gaze squinted against an invisible foe.
“Tell me.”
“The Demons have a new weapon. They are rapidly gaining in power. But every time I send a Human to infiltrate their Castle, they discover the spy.”
She gasped. “You cannot send Humans to the Demons. They will see the deception.”
“That is precisely what I am counting on.” He rubbed his hands together.
Her father made no sense. “Thank you for trusting me with this mission,” she said de
murely, masking her trepidation and her worry about the deeper meaning behind her father’s request. There was definitely something he wasn’t telling her. The lure of the truth compelled to act in a way she’d never done before.
Aine went up on tiptoe to give her father a hug and wrapped her arms around his large frame and touched her father without asking permission.
A jolt of pure power zoomed through her. Truths punched at her with a sharp, powerful fist. He was positively gleeful about the Demons chasing Humans. And he had a surprise planned for his hated enemy. But his glee was edged with paranoia.
And she had to wonder...was her father’s increasing paranoia a symptom of a larger problem, or did he have reason to be paranoid? What was he up to?
Aine would have to ponder those questions later, but right now she was dealt an even larger shock. The increase in her power was massive. Aine had felt the flood of truth behind her father’s words, and also the wild swing of his emotions.
She didn’t need to wonder about the source. She had broken the final seal of her innocence and somehow her sexual initiation had released an explosion of her power. Had that been why her father didn’t want her to have sex before now? Had he known that her abilities would magnify and increase dramatically? And then she had to wonder...what would happen if she had sex again?
CHAPTER 6
Barbas stumbled into another tavern. He’d waited in the Fae clearing with an eagerness that surprised even him. But she hadn’t shown.
So he’d gone back to the village, once again on a mission to find out anything about the Fae. The result: he was pleasantly plastered. Instead of fucking his way around the village today, he’d bought rounds of drinks. Even after his Fae’s ‘rejection by no-show’, for some odd reason he’d been unable and unwilling to bare his cock for another woman.
It was crazy. But he just couldn’t fucking do it. The act would have felt like a total betrayal. He’d gone completely, absolutely irrational.
She’d been a virgin.
Untried in the sex arts. Her clumsy attempts to seduce the guards had made so much more sense after he’d slammed through her barrier and cleaned the smear of her blood from his cock.
He definitely hadn’t seen that one coming. He also hadn’t expected her to turn him so completely inside out. Yesterday, after he’d left word for Gaap that he’d made contact with the Fae, he’d spent the rest of the day in the village still looking for another way to infiltrate their realm. But his thoughts had returned again and again to one of the most explosive sexual encounters of his life. And he couldn’t even say why.
It was almost as if she’d bespelled him. Which was crazy. And impossible. He was immune to the machinations of the Fae. He’d tried unobtrusively to heal her with each successive stroke of his cock but he knew the experience was not pleasurable for her.
His thoughts returned to today’s no-show. Perhaps she couldn’t get away. Perhaps the bodyguards were proving impossible to ditch. Except yesterday she’d managed with ease.
He wondered if her back was marked. He hadn’t been gentle. At least, not at first. But she’d been with him every step of the way. She’d repeated his crude words and she’d tempted him with her body deliberately. He’d even asked her to confirm that she wanted his cock. He remembered his strange insistence that she agree to his penetration. Remembered the compulsion to verify that she really did want him.
She hadn’t even hesitated. She was a puzzle. And he really, really wanted to know more about her. Why had she still been a virgin? In today’s world, everyone grew up fast. Even the Fae knew that today was fleeting, and to enjoy now, for tomorrow may not exist.
Since he knew her to be Fae, she could be any age. The Fae were known for their lusty appetites and willingness to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. So why hadn’t she before yesterday?
He needed to forget about her. He had other, more relevant concerns.
When the Demons had first been imprisoned, he learned the truth of his parentage. He’d grown up in an instant. His world forever changed by his father’s words. And his deception from that moment on had been constant.
The truth hovered in his consciousness daily.
There wasa no room for error. For if anyone discovered his secret, his entire world would crumble. And he refused to let that happen. That’s why he had to discover the identity of the traitor. He must protect the Demon Castle and his friends from the sickness of the Fae.
Except, she hadn’t felt sick.
Barbas slumped in a booth in the back corner of the nearly empty tavern and contemplated his mug of ale. The door blew open with a swish of air and a cloaked figure glided into the dark space.
A cloaked figure.
Barbas straightened. Could this be the Fae who had bespelled Amara’s husband? Before the figure was more than two feet into the bar, Barbas realized it was her. He would know that walk anywhere. He’d been fantasizing about the damn sway of her hips all day long.
“Princess,” he whispered into his mug.
She twisted toward him as if she’d heard his soft mutter which was impossible.
A peat fire and the savory smell of roasted fowl and vegetables scented the air. The usually busy tavern was enjoying a quiet afternoon lull. As if she were drawn to him, she sashayed toward his hiding spot in the corner.
Her face was hidden and he had a stunning thought...what if she were the Fae who had persuaded Amara’s husband to challenge Vetis? What if she were actually his enemy, the one he’d been searching for?
All thought flew away as she slid onto the bench next to him. He couldn’t fathom the sense of rightness that blanketed him. He went to address her and realized he didn’t know what to call her. He had taken her virginity and he didn’t even know her name.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed. And it wasn’t with pleasure.
Clearly she was not as pleased to see him as he was to see her. “Couldn’t stay away from me, eh sweetness?”
“Shut up.” She glared at him from beneath the concealing hood, her chestnut eyes narrowed with a fury that was unfeigned and completely misplaced.
“Ah, so you prefer non-verbal communication?” Barbas leaned closer until his head was nearly swallowed by the drape of her hood. He inhaled her particular rose perfume. His cock sprang to attention at the scent that had lingered on his skin yesterday, long after she had disappeared with her bodyguards. He brushed a light kiss across her lips and her soft sigh bathed his mouth with her conflicted emotions. He said ‘hello’ to her with his lips. ‘Welcome back’ with the lick of his tongue against the tightly closed seam of her mouth. And ‘I missed you’ with the firm press of his mouth to hers even though she refused to yield.
Barbas nibbled at the corner of her wide mouth and his mind wandered to the things he would like for her mouth to do to him. His cock swelled impossibly harder. He curled his palm around the delicate curve of her neck and skimmed a rough fingertip down the soft skin of her nape. Her body did not soften one bit.
“Let me make it up to you,” he murmured against her mouth as he thought of yesterday’s sex.
“What?” she asked.
As soon as she opened her mouth he invaded. He plunged his tongue into her honeyed recesses and licked inside her. She was untried. She didn’t even know how badly he’d failed her as a lover.
He speared his tongue in and out of her mouth, one hand cupped her neck and the other he slid along the top of her thigh. He touched nothing of importance but swept his thumb back and forth as he came ever closer to the seam of her leg and her sex.
“Let me show you more pleasures of the flesh,” he whispered against her mouth and then nipped at her full bottom lip.
“It was pleasant enough,” she countered slowly as if her brain were addled with his sensual attention.
Pleasant? No male, Demon, Human or Fae, wanted to hear that the sex had been pleasant. “There is much more than pleasant.” Under the table his thumb brushed casually against her clit
through the material of her cloak, then skimmed away.
Her breath caught, her breasts lifted.
“Let me show you, sweet.”
“I do not have time for your play.” She pressed her palms flat against his chest and shoved. Hard.
Suspicion reared its head. He had forgotten that she was Fae. His enemy. “Why not?”
“None of your business.” Her gaze shifted away from him and toward the other occupants of the tavern.
He would get to the bottom of this. A fresh tankard of ale thudded on the table and tore Barbas’s attention away from his Fae.
“What’ll you have?” Betsy, the sweet barmaid, whom he’d tumbled just last week, looked at the Fae with undisguised annoyance. Possibly it had been a mistake to return here. But he’d been desperate to find out more about the Fae. To search for any way to gain entrance to their world. And this was the place where Vetis and Zepar had encountered their Fae enemy.
Carefully he observed the interaction between the two women and wondered again if his Fae was the one for whom he’d been searching.
“I’ll have one of whatever he is having.” She gestured elegantly toward the simple metal tankard. Her voice was husky, and the sound shimmered over his spine.
Betsy flounced away in a huff.
“Another conquest of yours?” she inquired politely.
“Maybe,” he conceded. He’d hardly call her a conquest. Betsy had not really been any sort of challenge. Unlike his sweet Fae.
“If looks could kill, I’d be struck down dead.” She smirked, not looking at all put out. Which for some odd reason, put him out.
“You want to compare notes?” he asked silkily. “I can guarantee she was more satisfied than you were.”
She gaped at him then pressed her lips firmly together. “Likely.”
“So why won’t you let me make it up to you?” He breathed into her ear, and goosebumps rippled across her neck.
Spice Box; Sixteen Steamy Stories Page 143