by Sin
Rowan narrowed his eyes. "I do not need your consent to make a child with you. You gave yourself over willingly to me after knowing we were a match, under our laws I can take you whenever I like."
"Then it shall be rape in my eyes, because if you do not agree to my terms then I will never submit willingly to you."
Rowan let go of one of my wrists and moved his hand down. It slid between us and I felt him pulling his robe free, right before his hand ripped at my pajama bottoms. I kicked about wildly, but might as well have been a fly as far as he was concerned, for all the good it did. His hand pushed through the torn material, finding my sex moist and accepting of him.
My mind raced with all the evil things Cedric had told me about Rowan. I thought of Cedric’s scar that ran from his right ear to the center of his neck, and how it had been Rowan who’d slit his throat. I thought about how Rowan had let me believe that my life and his was in jeopardy from the Prince when he was the Prince all along. I thought of all these things and more, and hate surged through me. I let my green eyes go cold and I narrowed my gaze on him.
"You are an animal!"
Rowan growled. "You’ve not seen anything yet." His voice came out as a growl. He ripped my clothing more and pressed his body to me. His rigid cock sat at the entrance to my core. My mind wanted me to kick him off me and run, my body wanted me to open my legs to him and allow him what he’d rightfully staked claim to four months earlier.
"You want me. You’re wet with need."
"Get off me!"
"Tell me, Mackenzie. Did you ever think of me when his dick was buried in you? Did you ever call my name out?"
"No," I said, a little too fast. I’d thought of Rowan many a times when Cedric was in me, and each time it happened I’d beat myself up about it for days. Cedric was a good man, who loved me. He deserved better.
"I think you’re lying," Rowan said, pushing the head of his cock into me slowly. "Do you have any idea what we, at the Unblessed Court, do to liars?"
I screamed and then went very still. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or sheer exhaustion that made me stop fighting him. From the look on his face, he wasn’t sure either. I watched as his face softened. He looked down at me and what he was trying to do to me. "Mackenzie," he said my name softly and a single tear rolled down his cheek. He pulled out of me, quickly.
"Promise me that you’ll not harm Cedric," I said, not caring if this set him off in another rage.
"I promise."
I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew that guilt for what he’d almost done had been the only reason he’d agreed to my demands, but I didn’t care. I had Rowan’s word Cedric would be safe and that was all that mattered. Rowan brought his lips towards mine and hesitated for just a moment. I leaned up and looked into his eyes. "Thank you," I said as my lips met his.
Chapter Seven
"Are you comfortable?" Rowan asked from the doorway.
I looked around the lavish room and wondered how I could be anything but comfortable. Our room, as he called it, was huge. I reached out and ran my fingers over the deep gold-colored fabric. I’d forgotten what it was like to live as royalty and, to my surprise, I found that I didn’t like it much anymore. It now seemed wasteful and void of any meaning. Sort of like my feelings for Rowan. Cedric had surrounded me with love and we’d made a life together, now Rowan wanted to hand me material things and expected the same love from me. It wouldn’t happen.
I closed my silk robe tighter as he entered the room. He’d insisted I get cleaned up after we had arrived, so I did. It had less to do with the fact that he’d tackled me to the ground and left me bleeding and more with the fact he wanted to somehow wash memories of Cedric from me. That would never happen, regardless how many soaks in his Olympic-sized bathtub I took, I would also be Cedric’s.
Rowan eyed me suspiciously, as I crossed my legs and held the robe closed. "You are acting like I am a stranger."
"You are," I said coldly back to him.
He walked to me quickly and dropped to his knees before me. He jerked my hands away from the robe and pulled it open. I gasped as his hands touched my bare stomach. He pushed his magik at me and I felt it clash first with Cedric’s, before finding my own. Rowan pushed his magik through me harder, causing me slight discomfort as he did it.
His chocolate eyes found me and widened. "He has managed to dilute my power in you. How?"
I didn’t answer him even though it was simple. Cedric loved me and I loved him. We didn’t need anyone or anything to tell us that. It was uncomplicated and pure. Powerful. I turned my face away from Rowan and felt his hand moved up and under my breasts. I thought of Cedric and how he would feel when he returned home to find my note telling him that I no longer wanted him in my life and that I was going back to Rowan. The note had been Rowan’s idea. It was one more way for him to stick a knife in Cedric without actually shedding any blood. It was no less painful and every bit as cruel as if he’d actually delivered the blow.
I shuddered at the thought of Cedric reading that note. Rowan had insisted I use words like unfulfilled and farce. As much as I hated the idea of doing it, in the long run it would save Cedric’s life. If he hated me for the horrible things I said to him--about him, then he just might not bother coming to look for me. Rowan had given me his word that Cedric would not be harmed, but I wasn’t sure I could trust him. Hell, I knew I couldn’t. He’d already lied about being the Prince.
Rowan’s hands moved over my bare breasts and as much as I tried to dislike his touch, I couldn’t. The only thing that kept me grounded was Cedric. Rowan’s lips found mine, shaking and afraid. His warm mouth pressed against mine lightly and his tongue moved in. I resisted at first, but soon found myself returning his caresses. He pulled back from me slowly.
"I know you still feel our bond. Why do you weep?" he asked, touching my cheek lightly and coming away with a tear.
"Can we please just get this over with?" My voice sounded harsh even to me. I’d sold my soul to the devil and was on the verge of selling my body, too. There could be no joy in me.
"Yes, but I am not pleased to know my touch repulses you."
I looked up at him. "Your touch doesn’t repulse me, your lies and your behavior do."
"Mackenzie, I will try my best to be the man you wish for me to be. I only ask you open your heart to me again. Love me like you did before, like you were meant to, and through that alone I will be a better man--that is the only thing I am sure of." His voice was so deep and so sincere that I wanted to believe him. I had to. The alternative was too grim to think about. A life without Cedric and with a man that I couldn’t stand, or love, was a scary thought.
I lifted my face to him and pressed my lips to his. I could feel the tightness in his mouth, no doubt due to the surprise of my forwardness. I worked hard to push Cedric from my mind and concentrate on the man that I would have no choice but to spend the rest of my life with. Rowan’s body moved over mine and he took charge of our kiss. He bit at me, while still managing to taste me, making my body react to him in ways I wished it wouldn’t.
His hands moved over my ribs and he pulled his mouth away from me. "By gods, you are so thin now. What has he done to you?" Rowan sputtered profanities under his breath about Cedric and I was afraid that he’d go back on his promise not to harm him if I let this continue.
"I’m thin because the bond you and I share is not broken and because I carry your magik within me... I started to die when it was taken away," I said this so casually, even though it was true and extremely serious. I’d never actually acknowledged this fact before and it should have bothered me more than it did, but it didn’t.
Rowan looked as though I’d stabbed him in the gut. The thought of that made me smile and that wasn’t a good sign. He moved my chin up and examined my face. "You have dark circles under your eyes now." The realization I was dying slowly sunk in and I watched his expression change. "Can this be stopped?"
I shrugged my shoulders, not caring on
e way or the other. His body pressed down against mine and his arms wrapped around me. "Tell me how to fix this and I will. I cannot lose you, Mackenzie."
The idea of Rowan, Prince of the Unblessed Court, having feelings seemed absurd. Yet here he was acting like a man who would do anything for the woman he loved. I did know how to fix the problem I was just reluctant to admit it to him. I took a deep breath and spoke softly. "The magik within me should stop eating away at me once we are sexually active again, but...."
Rowan propped himself up on his arms and looked down at me. "But what?"
"It’s no use. Cedric’s magik has just as strong of a hold on me as yours did. Now, I will be without his sex... his magik, it will be worse than it already is. So, I imagine my body will give out within the next few months--maybe even before. I don’t know for sure." The words coming from my mouth should have caused me to cry, to weep for my own end, that was so near, but I felt nothing but emptiness.
"If I am able to get you to love me as you once did, will that break his hold on you?" Rowan asked, sounding disgusted with Cedric.
"I have loved Cedric since I was only five and he was just seven. You see what is happening to my body from the bond you and I share, and how he couldn’t stop it. Faerie women were only meant to do this with one man--to mate with only one, and now I know why." I reached up and touched his face lightly. "Promise me that when I die you will keep your word to me about Cedric."
He let out a small laugh. "Even in death you would worry more for him than me. Tell me, if you had never found him, after his escape, would you still love me?"
"I would have loved you, but if I would have found out that you’d been behind Cedric’s death then I would have killed you. Nothing would have stopped me."
Rowan nodded his head slightly. "If I had let him go, right after his capture, would you... could you have possibly loved me too, as you do him?"
I thought of Cedric’s throat and the tiny scars that he had all over his body, none as severe as the one on his neck. Knowing Rowan had caused those made my chest tight. It was suddenly very hard to breathe. I went to sit up, but Rowan’s lips came crashing down on mine.
His hands were everywhere and nowhere all at once. I knew that he was using his magik to help caress my body and seduce me. At first, I resisted him, but after a moment realized how foolish it was. My body not only craved his sex, his magik, it required it to survive. I didn’t fight him when he opened my robe all the way, or when he shed his robe and laid his naked body down on me. I hated myself for still wanting to be touched by him after I knew what a monster he was, but I didn’t stop him, I couldn’t. I needed him too bad. He had become as vital as air to me.
I sucked on Rowan’s bottom lip as his knee spread my legs open wide. He looked down at me. His eyes were full of want, of desire. "Tell me yes, please. I cannot just take you if you do not want me."
I slid my hands up and into his braid, working my fingers into it slowly. I freed his dark hair and let it fall around us. I put my tongue into his mouth and thrust my hips up and at him. If that wasn’t invitation enough, I didn’t know what was.
He entered me with a fierceness I’d never seen before, and a scream tore from my throat.
"Mackenzie, did I hurt you?" he asked, his voice strained.
"Yes, but don’t stop, Rowan, don’t stop... please, don’t stop."
I yanked on his shoulders to encourage him to continue. My body craved his and I knew that I would literally die without his touch. He pumped the length of his cock into me slower this time, and gradually worked his way up to full speed again. Each movement, each scrape of his penis against my cervix left me panting and pleading for more.
I locked my legs around his waist and let him kiss me. Hot liquid gathered between my thighs, easing his girth as it continued to spread me. Seeming to grow larger with each pass. The head of his penis brushed deep within me, sending leg-tightening tingles down me. My chest clutched tight and I fought hard to hold back the tears of joy that were threatening to burst free from me.
I knew then that my love for him had never died, but it had been masked by hurt, and pain. His hand moved to my breast and he toyed with my nipple as he continued to slam into me. I felt my orgasm building and raked my fingers down his back, more out of revenge for what he’d done to Cedric than from a need on my part. Rowan moaned as his body shot forth it’s magikal cum, filling me, soaking me with its power.
My legs tightened around him as my orgasm seized my body. I could feel his power running throughout my veins, rejuvenating me slowly. His cock shifted in me slightly and spit forth more hot juice.
"Ah, you still have the key to my heart, Mackenzie--Gráim thú."
I laid there stroking his back, unable to tell him that I loved him too, even though it was the truth. He grew hard within me again, as he kissed at my neck. "Tell me to go, and I shall find other sleeping arrangements for the night. I will make them permanent tomorrow. We can meet only as often as your body requires my magik and no more." He lingered for a moment, waiting for me to tell him to stay, before he started to pull out of me.
I surprised myself by refusing to let go of him. I hit him hard in the face, and then again in the arm and back while his cock was still deep within me. "I hate you for what you did to Cedric! I hate you for lying to me! I hate you for the monster you can be!" I hit him again, and he never once tried to protect himself from me or pull out of me. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks and I slapped him again. "And I hate you for making me fall in love with you, too! It wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t ever supposed to love anyone... I..."
There I had finally acknowledged the horrible truth that I loved both him and Cedric. I went to hit Rowan again and he caught my wrist, brought it to his face, and kissed my hand gently.
"I love you too, Mackenzie," he said, as his hips started moving again. I clutched onto him for dear life and tipped my head back as my body welcomed his. I wanted to stay angry with him. I wanted to push him off me and tell him to go to hell. Instead, I held him tight and let him love me and tried to forget the events surrounding what had led us here. The feel of his body in mine and his soft whispers of love in my ear broke down the barrier around my heart.
Chapter Eight
I opened my eyes slowly when I heard shouting in the hall. At first I thought it was Rowan, but I glanced down and found his bronzed, muscular arm draped over my belly. The shouting stopped and I turned to face Rowan.
He looked so innocent when he slept. It made it hard for me to believe that he was capable of being such a monster. I looked harder at his features and thought about how different the two men I loved were. One was fair and the other was dark. Their personalities seemed to match them and that made me smile through the tears that were threatening to return.
My gaze moved over the length of Rowan’s body. The gold sheet covered his lower half and I suddenly felt the need to be close to him again. To have the length of his shaft deep within me and to feel his come soak my womb.
I moved my body over his and his eyes flickered open. He snatched my arms and for a minute, I thought that he was going to throw me off him. He blinked and stopped himself from hurting me.
"Rowan?"
He pulled my body down towards him and kissed my lips softly. "Sorry, but when you grow up here, at the Unblessed Court, you are not awakened by beautiful women, you are awakened by someone or something that wants you dead." One eyebrow rose as he spoke. "Do you still want me dead?"
I moved my body up, freeing his hard cock that had been pressed between us. I slid over it, conforming to it as I went. Fully sheathed within me, Rowan moaned as I kissed his neck.
I sat up on him and swayed my hips gently, taking the full length of him in further and further until I could take him no more. I rode his perfect body and stared into his eyes, knowing that as much as I thought I’d wanted him dead, I didn’t.
"I don’t want anything to happen to you, Rowan."
"I love you to
o, Mackenzie." He murmured into my ear as his hands found my breast, rolling my erect nipples gently, sending my body into an orgasmic spasm. I rode him hard and fast, not wanting the moment to end. He felt so good in me, so right, so meant to be there. I knew from the moment that we’d first made love that I’d been created for him.
His hands slid down my sides to my butt. He squeezed my cheeks gently, before smacking one softly, causing my pussy to begin milking him as my orgasm ripped through me. My eyes widened as he slid a finger to my anus and rimmed it slowly. He stiffened as he drove his body upward, releasing his seed in me. I clutched on to his body as I continued to impale myself on his cock.
There were more shouts and then a large bang. The bedroom door flew open and I turned to see Cedric staring at me. Time seemed to stand still. His blue eyes wide, and his mouth open, he looked like he wanted to say something, but was at a loss for words. Guards ran in behind him, but he threw his hand up and his magik stopped them in their tracks. I froze, knowing that the image of me making love to Rowan would forever be etched in Cedric’s mind.
"It’s true then?" Cedric said, making it sound more like a question than a statement.
I began to say no, but stopped, fighting back the tears that wanted to flow freely since I’d been forced to leave him. I looked down at Rowan and wanted to smack the smile off his face. The smirk said just how happy he was that we’d been walked in on, and I had no doubt that he’d known Cedric was out there the entire time. Instead of hitting him, I leaned forward, kissed his lips, and began to ride his body again, taking my time, fighting to maintain control of my emotions.
I pulled my mouth away from Rowan and looked at Cedric. I had never seen hurt like that on someone’s face and never wanted to again. It tore at my gut. Every ounce of me wanted to run to him, comfort him, and tell him that he would always hold my heart, but if I did that it would cost him his life. This was better. He would hate me, but live.