“Just remember,” the old maid breathed in her ear.
“Remember what?” She didn’t understand why they were whispering. They were alone in the princess’s chambers, as dictated by the rite of the ceremony.
“Remember this: Let no man touch you—not until your wedding night.”
“Of course I wouldn’t.” But fear raced through her as an image of her cousin’s dead eyes danced in her mind. The magician…he had touched her. She deserved to die. Shahrazad took a deep breath. “Do the bones foresee my death?”
“Worse,” the old woman breathed. “If you let a man touch you, our land will collapse. The shitani will invade.”
He stepped toward Casmiri’s Impregnation chamber, knowing it was a man’s lot to blindly obey. If he had his way, he’d be building an alliance with House Nouf.
House Casmiri couldn’t help them against the shitani. Not only were their lands placed non-strategically, but they had no Warqueen Abbesses. They were nearly useless. Their lands sat between Kulwanti and the shitani, and they had a strong army. True, Casmiri’s ancient lineage brought power and respect among the Houses, but the shitani cared little for human formalities.
Still, his mother said to service House Casmiri, and service he would.
And perhaps this chore wouldn’t be particularly odious—lush as melted butter, the warm scent of passion curled through the air. “Prince Tahir,” a voice called.
“Yes?”
“Please, come here.” The desire in her voice was clear, and he had no doubt she was ovulating. “Come now.”
“But where is your eunuch?” Three or four Casmiri women, all ovulating, should be standing before him, waiting for the Impregnator to make his choice, waiting for the Kulwanti Way of Pleasure.
“I am alone. Please, approach.”
Tahir began to obey, but something stopped him—a nagging question. Why was she alone? Perhaps she outranked all other fertile women? Perhaps the Casmiri delegation had only one ovulating woman today?
Or perhaps this was some sort of trap.
“Prince Tahir?” she purred. If her body matched her voice, the speaker made delicious bait.
But when he saw her, all rational thought fled. The woman lying in the silk nest oozed lust. She wasn’t young, but the flush on her cheeks and the ripe curves of her naked breasts screamed fertility. The scent of her desire filled the small room, nearly overwhelming the cloying scent of gardenias.
“I hope you’re ready for me, Queen Casmiri.”
“I hope you’re ready for me,” she said, her voice husky, almost dreamy.
The laughing challenge in her eyes made his heart beat faster. This woman would be perfectly fuckable between the sheets. “I’m not known for leaving women wanting,” he said, surprised at the thickness of his voice.
“Which of your characteristics bring you the most notoriety, then?”
“You could discover that for yourself.”
“Are you up to the task?”
“For you, yes.” But he was more than ready; his cock throbbed. Looking at her, he knew in forty weeks, House Casmiri would have another child of Kulwanti descent, another brick in their alliance.
Assessing him, she toyed with the silk sheet covering her midriff and thighs. The friction of the sheet hardened her nipples. He’d sink his teeth into her breasts, wrap his tongue around that dark bud.
“You are far more handsome than I was led to believe,” she said, running her hand over her breast. She caught a nipple between two fingers and squeezed, making herself as hard as he was. “And I had high expectations.”
“Is that so?” His voice was almost a groan. He couldn’t remember a woman as forward as this. “I hope your informative source found herself satisfied with my services.”
“Looking for flattery?” she asked. With her eyes locked on his, she licked her finger, slowly. Then she slid it around her nipple.
“I think I found what I was looking for.”
“Your hair,” she said. “I love men with long hair. It gives me something to grab when their head is buried between my thighs.” She sat and pulled the leather tie from his club with a flirtatious tug. He stood still, letting her come to him.
“And your profile,” she said, lying back to assess him. “You look like a hawk.”
“Would you like to soar? I’ll give you wings.”
“I’m no bird. Your muscles interest me more.” She eyed his arms, bared by his camelskin vest. “Why don’t you bring them here? I long for something…harder…under my palms.”
“I aim to please.” He kept his voice steady, but as he examined her face unease crept through him. Her dark eyes were sultry and long lashed, and her lips were swollen, just begging to be kissed. But he didn’t recognize her—and he’d memorized the names and faces of all highborn women.
There was no chance in the nine hells he’d have forgotten this woman.
“Looking at you isn’t difficult either,” he said. Slowly he unbuttoned his vest. Normally he liked to tease his women before he serviced them. But for this woman, he sought time. “Looking at you is like looking at the Sun Goddess herself—beautiful.” He paused, then added, “And hot.”
She smiled at the compliment—at least her lips did. And while part of him wanted to suck that fake smile off her face until her eyes rolled back in pleasure and she screamed his name for the entire palace to hear, the rational part of his brain wanted to know her identity.
“What would you like me to call you on this sizzling afternoon, Queen Casmiri?” he asked.
She rolled onto her stomach so that the silk sheet molded to the curve of her ass. “That’s an interesting question,” she said. “And I like the implication.”
“That being?” He worked yet another button—slowly.
“That I might have a different name tomorrow,” she said. “And the day after.”
“Would you?”
She laughed, a rich song that wrapped around his cock and pulled. “I haven’t told you my name for today. How can I speak about an ephemeral tomorrow?”
Perhaps this woman came from a rival house, one that would leverage his blood against the queens’. “Would you like me to suggest a name for you?” he asked, letting a smile dance on his lips although he wasn’t amused. Like Queen of House Nouf? he thought to himself. Or perhaps House Tefertiri?
“Perhaps you’d need more information before you gave me something so personal as a name,” she said. She cocked her hip so that the paper-thin silk molded against her cunt. Her wetness dampened the sheet, and his cock pressed against his trousers.
He eyed her. “You’re giving me quite a bit of information.”
“And yet you stand there—alone. If I didn’t know better, I might worry you were balking, avoiding my bed and the touch of my skin.”
“Never that.”
“Then I hope you’re not one of those men who prefer the helplessness of younger women.”
Tahir grinned. He couldn’t help himself. The challenge she presented made him want to bite her ass until she screamed in delight. “Not particularly,” he said. “Though I do my best to please the more tenderhearted when I find them in my bed.”
Languidly, she rolled to her back and retrieved a golden rope from the side table. She held it up, and yellow tassels dangled from the ends, teasing her plum-colored nipples. Her warm gardenia scent filled the room. “You could tie me, if you like helplessness. Try to restrain my…enthusiasm.”
“Curbing your enthusiasm would be neither in your interest nor mine.” Which was true.
She laughed, her lips curving and her white teeth flashing. “I could tie you up, if you’re man enough to take it.”
Knowing he couldn’t prolong the inevitable, he shrugged out of his vest. Likely she was from House Nouf…and perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing. If he impregnated her, that would force his queen into an alliance with them.
Of course, that was high treason. But if it buffered his House against the shitani, s
houldn’t he at least consider it? Perhaps giving House Nouf their alliance with House Kulwanti was exactly the right thing to do.
“What do you say?” she said, dangling the golden rope with a smile dancing around her lips. “Want to play?”
“I’ll tie you.”
“I can grant your heart’s desire,” she whispered.
Her words disturbed him, though he couldn’t have said why. They made sense in the context, but something about them tempted him beyond the rational…
His heart truly ached with desire, and it wasn’t for this woman, as beautiful as she was. He wanted his sister’s power.
Slowly he took the rope from her hand, and he covered her naked body with his half-clothed one. Just as deliberately, she arched her bared breasts into his chest and sucked his neck. Her teeth scraped against his skin in a way that brought equal parts pleasure and pain to his brain, and his cock.
He growled in desire. This woman wanted to be dominated, and he wanted to dominate her. She’d seen to that.
And he wanted to rule.
But he wanted that leadership honestly. He couldn’t fuck this imminently fuckable woman. Not yet.
Snaking his hand through her hair, he caught her lips in his, just barely keeping his lust in check. He wouldn’t let himself be used in whatever game she was playing, but she certainly had his attention.
When she sunk her teeth into his lip as she pressed her hot cunt against his cock, his ability to think vanished. Blood—his own—tantalized his mouth, and he drew back as she laughed.
“You like it rough?” he asked. He grabbed her wrists and held them above her head as she struggled, but his strength didn’t appear to daunt her. Her nipples were rock hard, begging to be tasted as she rubbed them against him.
“I like your consideration,” she said, “rough or otherwise.” Sinking her teeth into the flesh of his chest, she rolled her thighs against his cock. “You like mine, too, I see.”
He was balanced precariously between control and abandon, and she was definitely pushing him. She was pushing hard.
Something in him snapped. He’d given up everything to camouflage his missing sister. Every time he covered for Kalila, he risked his life—and this wanton succubus would take it all from him.
He wouldn’t do it.
He wrapped the cord around her wrists and began to pull her hands above her head.
“You can tie me up,” she said. “But I won’t be helpless.” She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled his cock tight against her cunt to make her point.
“I think you want to be helpless,” he said. “You want to forego that power. Maybe it rests too heavily in your heart.”
Her dark eyes met his unflinchingly. Her irises were a shocking violet, the color of the sun leaking across the desert as it set. “The kind of power I have cannot be foresworn,” she said.
With her love of the sensuous, he didn’t doubt it. He caught one of those plum-colored nipples between his teeth and bit, firmly enough to get her attention but not enough to make her bleed.
It didn’t seem hard enough for her though. When he inhaled and sucked, she gasped, pressing her cunt against his cock. Her wet heat saturated his trousers.
“Bite harder,” she said in her husky voice. “Harder.”
For a moment, Tahir nearly lost control. She wanted him. She was begging for him. Fucking her would be the easiest thing in the world. He could sink his cock so deep into her that he’d lose himself, lose his ambitions.
Instead, he sucked harder and wrapped the rope more firmly around her wrists.
“Yes,” she hissed as he tied the ropes to the wrought-iron bed frame. “Now we can play.”
She kicked off the thin sheet that’d been covering her waist, and appreciation raced through him. She’d completely shaved herself, and a gold stud glittered in her clit. He didn’t know anyone who wore such jewelry, not even the bold women of House Nouf.
He pulled his belt from around his waist, his gaze locked on that jewel.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes languid with anticipation. Even when he wrapped the supple leather around her ankle and bound her foot to the bed frame, the stranger writhed in pleasure. The undeniable scent of her desire filled the air—as did the perfume of ovulation.
Finally, when he had her arms and one leg tied, he broke character and stood, relieved to have some distance between them. “Who are you?” he demanded. “Who are you really?”
“Ah,” she said, undulating so that her breasts shimmied. But she crossed her thighs so that her gold stud was hidden, and Tahir was disgusted to find himself disappointed. Maybe the matriarchy was right in their belief that intact men were good only for servicing women, all cock and no brain. “I thought you were too smart to fall for my little ploy,” she said, “but a girl can hope.”
“Girl?” he asked. “You haven’t been a girl since the day your mother birthed you. Now tell me who you are. Who sent you?”
“Do you care?” she asked, running one foot over his cock. Never had he been happier to remain clothed in the presence of such a beautiful, naked woman. “You look like a man seeking something…” She licked her ruby lips and smiled. “Power, perhaps? Something to call your own? I don’t think you can get that here.”
“If you don’t tell me your name now,” he said, angered to find she’d struck so close to truth, “I’ll call the guards. I’m sure Queen Kulwanti would love to see which House is posing as House Casmiri.”
The coy gaze dropped away, and she stopped slithering. “But I can grant your heart’s desire.”
And again, Tahir knew—knew—she wasn’t promising sex and lust. What she was promising he couldn’t fathom. A lesser man might feel afraid. “Who are you?” he asked.
She spread her legs, her jeweled clit glittering. “Why don’t you come find out?”
And it was tempting. He could plunge his cock right into her. She’d arch to meet him, scream his name in pleasure. She’d welcome him.
Which was why he couldn’t do it. “Fucking you won’t answer my questions.”
Her red lips made a beautiful moue that begged to be kissed from her face, and she said, “But you can’t leave me like this. I need satisfaction, and so do you.” She slid her perfectly formed thighs together and said, “You know I’m right.”
He leaned toward her and ran his fingers over her clit. She pressed toward him. Her wet heat welcomed him, and he moved his fingers slowly, making the caress last. Then, almost as an afterthought, he slid a finger inside her.
“Please,” she begged as she bucked against him. The expression of unfulfilled hunger on her face seemed genuine, and his cock throbbed in response.
He slid his finger out, caressing her clit. Then he pushed two fingers into her, deeper this time. “I’m not a cruel man,” he said, watching pleasure pulse across her face. Her eyes, heavy lidded, were rolled back in desire. His cock ached for her. “I don’t have to leave you longing.”
“Then don’t. Fuck me.”
He leaned forward and sucked her clit hard, keeping his fingers sliding inside her. She tasted of fertility, like the verdant sedges on an oasis.
“I can fuck you without impregnating you,” he said, just as he felt her muscles quivering with an impending orgasm. He flicked his tongue over her clit, then said, “Would that be satisfying? All this effort to seduce me, and no child in forty weeks?”
“Fuck me,” she said again, her voice as gravelly as a pipe-smoking vizier. Her hips sought his face.
“I think I’ll do this instead.” He leaned forward and sucked again, not gently. His thumb slid hard over her clit, and his fingers sought that spot deep inside her that promised satisfaction.
And he found it. She climaxed hard against his fingers, yowling like a cat as he sat back to watch her beautiful face.
“Your performance appeared theatrical enough for any dramatist,” he goaded after her internal storm died back. He stood and adjusted his trousers, a part of him amaz
ed he’d stood up to this woman. She exuded such power, and men were not permitted to question their queens. “Now tell me who you are.”
“You’re not going to fuck me, are you?”
“Not for salvation from all the nine hells.”
The sexy mien dropped away like a stone down a well. “You can untie me then,” she said. “We need to talk.”
“I think we can have a civilized discussion just like this,” he said, tugging the belt holding her ankle. “I like you tied up.”
“You don’t like me enough.”
“Are you finished in your attempts to seduce me, or can I cover you—not that I don’t appreciate the view but I am a man, after all. We’re not to be trusted with much.”
She sighed and closed her free leg over her tied one. “Cover me, please.”
He did, admiring the slide of the silk over her creamy skin. “Did you want to discuss House Nouf’s bid to ally with House Kulwanti?” he asked.
She laughed. “Is that what you think this is about? An alliance?”
He looked at her, daring her to change his mind. But she’d raised a frightening question: if she wasn’t from House Nouf, which House directed her?
“It’s logical.” She sighed again, shrugging as best she could with her hands tied above her. “But untrue. I’m not from Nouf.”
“What is true, then?”
“I’m not from any House.”
This caught his attention. Tahir had never met a woman not associated with a House. “Who are you?” he asked. “And I want an answer, or I will call the guards.”
“You’re not asking the right question.”
“Ayoob!” He called the eunuch’s name out the door, almost loudly enough to be heard.
“My name is not important,” she said, fighting the bonds to sit.
With his booted toe, he pushed her back into the silk sheets. “What is?”
“The location of your sister.”
“My sister?” He couldn’t keep the shock from his voice. What did this stranger know about Kalila’s absence?
“Queen Kalila has been gone since the dawn of the Festival of Madeeha. And I can tell you how to find her.”
I can grant your heart’s desire. Her words echoed unbidden in his mind. But what was his desire? Did he want Kalila restored and his normal life back, or did he want recognition for the work he did in her stead? Either way, he wanted the safety of his land.
Running Wild Page 2