by Chris Lange
"Are you both aware of the penalty for such an offense?"
"We are, Sire."
They replied in unison. Instead of softening the monarch, their harmony appeared to irritate him even more. His expression couldn't have been more biting when he spoke.
"Yet, you deliberately took on that responsibility without informing me. You defied my orders and betrayed my trust."
Xandor raised his palms. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but I thought it safer if the matter was concluded in complete secrecy."
Anger wasn't an adequate term to qualify the sovereign's ever increasing fury, but wrath would have been more like it. Spit flew out of his mouth as he shouted at his advisor.
"I am not a peasant, wizard. I am your king!"
The sorcerer looked down at his toes. Trying to shut her mind from the ruler's enraged declarations and to focus on understanding the situation, she observed the whole scene intently.
Kylor was being arrested because he broke the curse. Xandor, the man who saved her life, was being scolded for his wisdom and efficiency. The more she listened, the less she thought of the king of Palance.
He didn’t sound sensible to her. Not in the least. Folding her arms across her chest, she confronted him.
"Release Kylor."
The monarch swiveled his head toward her like a dog after a bone. Then he inhaled loudly to bark in her face.
"Silence! I shan’t tolerate any more disobedience."
His haughty manners and nonsensical orders were taking a heavy toll on her patience. She’d never seen that man in her life and he didn’t mean anything to her. Only Kylor did. Right now, he was being arrested.
"I don’t have to obey you. I'm not from Palance. I'm not one of your subjects and my sole allegiance is to my mother."
She heard the wizard’s sharp intake of breath as she spoke her defiant words. Speechless for an instant, King Harfayn stared at her, cheeks flushed. Too late she understood that she might have gone too far.
"Heed my words, child, for I shan’t speak them twice. You owe me everything. Willingly or not, you will obey me."
"Why would I do that?"
His unflinching gaze riveted to hers, arms rigid along his sides, he took a step toward her.
"Because I am your father."
It was her turn to remain speechless. Was he delirious? Was he lying to her? What would be his purpose in doing so? His statement didn't make any sense, but neither did Xandor's and Kylor's lengthening silence.
She hesitated. Could it be true? As she looked at the king’s infuriated but direct stare, she realized he was telling her the truth. She was his daughter, his flesh-and-blood daughter.
"My father?"
Compared to his icy and authoritative tone, her voice sounded all of a sudden frail and uncertain.
"Why haven’t I been told? Am I a disgrace to you?"
She also must have looked distressed and a little scared because his anger seemed to abate.
"Nay, my child. However, now is not the time for discussion."
He pivoted to stand face to face with Kylor and order his guards with a grand movement of his arm.
"Take him to the keep!"
As much as she wanted answers from her father and king, her heart skipped a beat when the four men escorted Kylor out of the room. She could not let him go. She would not be separated from him.
Hastily bowing to King Harfayn, she brushed past him and started following the guards outside. But her father's incredulous tone stalled her.
"Where do you think you are going?"
If she wanted to save her guardian, infuriating her new sovereign wouldn't help much so she turned round dutifully.
"Wherever Kylor goes, I go."
He must have perceived her determination because he didn’t add a single word, nor attempt to stop her. He simply stared.
Without knowing him, she gathered he would comply with her wishes, for the time being. Maybe give her the night to compose herself and to reflect on her newfangled position. But she also feared he wouldn’t waive.
She followed the silent men surrounding Kylor along wide, cold corridors to the base of what looked like a big watchtower. They came across so few servants while they walked that she figured the prisoner was taken to his doom through the back way.
Her breathing had gone harsher when they finally reached the top of the winding stairs that seemed endless. Once the guards had locked them up in the keep, she turned toward her protector.
"I’ve never been inside a prison but I imagined it differently."
Situated at the top of the castle tower, the single, round room was rather bare. Three high and narrow windows gave it a deceptive air of freedom. The place looked a bit more habitable after Kylor lit a few candles. With an encompassing gesture, he smiled at her.
"The keep is a place to confine noble men who have gone astray or shown signs of disloyalty to the crown, but it's not a prison. The murderers, thieves, and traitors are taken underground, beneath the fortress."
"What’s beneath the castle?"
"The dungeon."
The name alone sounded dreadful and ominous. Although she'd have followed Kylor down to the dungeon, she had the distinct impression that the keep remained a much better place considering their present situation. Probably more comfortable. She wanted to inquire about her father but for the moment, her main concern was her guardian.
"Why did the king have you arrested? You’ve done nothing wrong. What's going to happen to you?"
He unfastened the belt holding his sword, dropped it on the floor and gently took her hands in his.
"I won't lie to you, Anya. I'll be hanged in a few days."
She panicked, a knot of fear settling in the pit of her stomach, sweat breaking on her forehead.
"Kylor, what are you saying?"
"I'm sorry I have to be so blunt, but such is my fate."
"Why?"
She gripped his hands like a drowning man in marshes hanging on to roots and long weeds.
"You can’t die because you broke the curse. It was a good deed."
"And had you been any other woman, I wouldn't be in trouble."
"I don’t understand. What's wrong with me?"
His jumbled emotions shone in his eyes as he squeezed her fingers and spoke with fervent tenderness.
"Oh, gentle Anya, you're perfect to me. Unfortunately, you're the king’s daughter."
"So?"
"So any man not of noble blood who deflowers a woman of royal blood is punished by death."
She could only stare at him, unsure of the meaning of his assertion, yet recognizing ineluctability in the tone of his voice. Fighting back tears, she took a long breath, unable to discern if she felt crushed, sorrowed, or just rebellious at such meanness and unfairness.
The man she loved had to die because he’d saved her. Such injustice didn't seem possible and she wouldn't let it go without fighting. But first, she needed to understand all the facts.
"Kylor, what's deflower? Has it got anything to do with picking flowers? Because you never picked flowers for me."
A prisoner about to be hanged he might be, yet a genuine grin stretched his mouth in spite of his dire fate.
"I deflowered you when we mated for the first time. I drove my cock into your body so you aren’t a maiden anymore. You're a woman."
Thus, he was to die for saving her and giving her unbelievable pleasure. Unfair was much too weak a word to express her disbelief. Starting to seriously doubt King Harfayn’s sense of justice, she raised her head to plunge into Kylor's blue eyes.
"Tell me the truth. Did you know about the punishment before you agreed to break the curse?"
"I did."
"Then, why did you do it?"
His gaze drifted and he seemed to be swallowed by a rush of fond memories. Letting go of her hands, he stood tall before her.
"I offered my services because I wanted to fulfill my dream. I've spent my life hearing about you. I thought y
our tale was fascinating and my deepest wish has always been to meet you. To stand face to face with the cursed child and free her from her bonds."
He talked in a single breath, his face a mask of sorrow. Looking at his strained features, she held her breath, throat locked, glued to his every word as if her life was at stake.
"Then, I discovered you in the shed, all alone, down on the ground because you’d just fallen."
She'd judged him the ugliest woman in the Four Kingdoms that day, and what little did she know. When she looked at him now, her body called his and her heart melted with love. Above her, Kylor's expression softened.
"A lovely face filled with innocence. I saw only purity in your eyes. Anya, how can I say this?"
He faltered, dropping to one knee. He placed a light kiss on her fingers before raising his head to her.
"At that very instant, you conquered me. My heart, body, and soul are bound to you. I'll die a happy man."
Not long ago, he'd urged her not to speak of love because he already knew his fate. The idea that this great warrior was willing to die for her sent her pulse fluttering as heat flared between her thighs.
Chapter Fourteen
His declaration of love moved her in a way she wouldn’t have been able to verbalize. She'd only known him for a few days, however she had been part of his life forever, and he loved her.
Watching the man at her feet, the unflinching guardian who pledged himself to her, she suddenly craved his strong hands on her, the softness of his lips on her mouth, the hardness of his cock inside her.
"I love you, Kylor. You won't die, and that's my pledge to you. If I can't fulfill my promise—"
She unfastened her dress in a swift motion. When the garment came off, she discarded it with an impatient jerk.
"Then I'll die with you."
Naked, standing in front of the kneeling man, she took a final step forward and parted her legs inches from his mouth. His nose brushed her navel as he inhaled her scent.
"Will my lady allow me to lick her pussy?"
"Yes, my Lord Protector."
She closed her eyes as his warm tongue touched her folds, slowly running their length. She sighed when he began nibbling them with his teeth, pulling on the sensitive skin, taking it fully into his mouth and sucking both sides, his face pressed against her flesh.
Then his tongue was inside her, hard and wet, his rapid strokes causing her to sway on her feet as jolts of pleasure rushed through her. Keeping her hands on his buried head to steady her balance, she reeled from the ecstasy of his hungry swipes, from the feel of his calloused hands gripping her thighs.
She was sinking, the force of his affection sending exciting images to her mind. As he withdrew, he brushed with a devilish ease the tender spot she favored, making her cry out.
"Kylor, ride me like a bull."
He settled on the bud's roundness, darting his tongue to and fro. She gasped, involuntarily grabbing his fair mane. But he stood up and looked at her while removing his garb, his gaze already a darker shade of blue.
"I'm so hard for you, Anya."
Shivers ran through her limbs the longer she stared at the aroused, feverish look on his face. When the last of his clothing fell down, she glanced at the rigid member he displayed.
"I do feel like a bull in rut. Would you kneel on the bed, and I shall service you from behind?"
He didn't have to ask her twice. She climbed on the bed to offer him the fullness of her bottom.
"Yes, my Lord Protector. Please, service me deep and well."
She was wet all over, her flesh already breached. Taking hold of her waist, he drove himself into her and groaned.
There was absolutely no pain this time, only a wonderful pleasure as he penetrated her, his shaft rubbing her special place, entering her with diligence and purpose. Her insides quivered with desire. When her buttocks banged against his flat stomach, he halted.
"Is my lady happy? Would she like me to hump her hard and fast?"
Excitement hardened her nipples at the sound of his rough voice. Her muscles tensed then loosened. Her hands balled into fists as his first movements extracted moans from her throat.
"I would like that very much."
He was indeed banging her hard and fast, his powerful thrusts invading her flesh, blowing to pieces the rationality of her mind.
Submitted to the authoritative motions of his cock, his passion ripping her apart, delight coursing through her from all sides, she relished the moment as if it was their last.
She carved this instant in time into her mind. With all her soul, she opened herself up to the love they were sharing, the sucking sounds of her wet folds, the bashing of flesh, the delicious song of his ragged breathing, the devastating strength of his shoves.
He went in and out of her to give her pure bliss. When she felt like wailing, he moved his hands from her buttocks to her waist, encircling the soft skin, holding it tight, bringing her to him harshly. He panted, his fingers implanted in her waist, his cock implanted in her pussy.
"Am I servicing you to your satisfaction, my lady?"
"More than I can say, my lord."
He possessed the power to heighten her senses beyond her most intimate expectations and she followed his tempo.
"Your touch is magic and I'll soon be struck by the amazing sensation you were so kind to reveal to me."
Gently withdrawing, he stroked her bottom, caressed her folds with one finger and dipped it into the moistness. Her leg muscles quivered from the imminence of her shattering as she heard the urgency in his voice.
"I want to see the pleasure on your face."
He turned her over to rest her back on the bed and settle between her thighs. She perceived the finality of his demand, the desperation in his tone. He believed he was asking her for the last time.
"Let me touch you, my lady. Let me drive you to happiness."
His eyes burned with fervor. Shaken by his passion, she spread her legs as wide as she could, coming to rest on her elbows to get a better view of his long and stiff shaft.
"My body is yours to use as you wish."
She watched him take his glistening, swollen cock in his hand and place it between her thighs. Yet, he didn’t enter her.
Tightly holding his member, he started caressing her throbbing special place. A blinding jolt spurred her at once, an uncontrollable sensation rushing up as he dabbed his tip on the inflamed flesh.
"Oh, Kylor! Oh!"
She panted hard, her gaze riveted on the hand deftly holding the base of his rigid dick.
"I can't resist—"
"Look at me, my beloved."
He began circling motions that pushed her to the brink of entering the ethers. Muscles aching from too much tension, she barely heard his words.
"I wish to see your pleasure as you come."
They stared at each other as he grabbed his shaft with a firmer hand and increased his speed. Her mind disconnecting from her body, she felt sucked into a voracious vortex, engulfed in a screaming emotion. She couldn't tell whether he was still stroking her when her heart keeled over and she lost all sense of reality.
She emerged from it gradually, her hearing recognizing the near silence of the keep, her eyes focusing on the man in front of her. He smiled when she came back to him, plain gratification drawn on his features, his eyes fixed on her face.
"I'm happy, my beloved."
The rapture she just experienced still clung to her like a second skin as he caressed her cheek.
"For I know you won't forget me."
"You made me very happy too, Kylor, but—"
She wasn't prepared for the violent emotion tightening her heart and she had to fight back tears to finish her sentence.
"Please, don't speak of your fate in those words as fear and sorrow dwell in my soul."
She sat on the bed, their faces inches apart. She kissed his mouth while she ran her hands up and down his muscular back.
Glancing down, she sa
w the proud member raised upward as her protector was still in the state of a randy stallion. He followed her gaze and smiled humbly when she gave him a questioning look.
"Pleasing you was my sole wish."
His disarming honesty drove away the distressing sensations she'd just been struck with, and sparked the embers of her desire.
"Pleasing you is my wish."
She repeated his words in much the same manner while she encircled his thick cock with her fingers. He gasped under the slight pressure, his voice taking on a gravelly undertone.
"Would you do me a favor, my beloved?"
Anything for him. Anytime. She nodded as his rapid breathing revealed the depth of his desire.
"I need to see my seed on you."
She didn’t have to be told the reason for his instinctive need. About to be hanged at the gallows, he wanted a last visual memory of the love binding them, an image of the most intimate part of him spewed on her naked body.
Her fingers crowning his tip, her wrist moving up and down, she made him heave and grunt fiercely. His respiration shortened as he was subjected to her spasmodic jerking.
She felt empowered with life upon hearing his coarse cries of pleasure, and she shook with the staggering notion that she also possessed the ability to spiral him up to the mighty ethers.
Chest palpitating, he closed his eyes to relish her gripping stimulation, his features taut from the felicity he experienced. She slowed a little when she sensed his cock about to burst.
"I'm coming, my lady."
She watched him open his eyes. Hit by his passionate gaze, she listened to the raspy words leaking from his sensual lips.
"Point my dick toward you and—"
He released his seed while issuing forth an irresistible grunt. Goose bumps broke out all over her skin. Stunned by the intensity of his body's response, she quivered at the incredible sight of the thick liquid gushing out and splattering her breasts in hot bursts.
His limbs trembled from the powerful discharge. She held her breath while he regained his senses and looked at her, his member slowly retreating in the warmth of her hand.
"Mark me, Kylor, for I am yours."
Her resolute tone increased her sudden need as she took hold of his hands. She rubbed his palms against her nipples, spreading his seed on her breasts and on the curve of her belly.