The Beginning of Everything (The Rising Book 1)

by Kristen Ashley

  “It’s perfectly fine,” I told him.

  He scowled down at me.

  And really.

  Did he have to bloody scowl so magnificently?

  “I’ll leave you two to have some time together. There is not much of it these days,” Liam offered, his eyes on me. “But I’ll have some vials sent up to your rooms with instructions on how to use them and things to look for, should some adverse effects start happening. It’s not usual, but it’s good to know just in case.”

  “That’s not necessary,” I said sharply.

  “What’s not necessary?” Cassius asked, still growly. “And what vials?”

  This was, I assumed, precisely why my mother didn’t want people talking about, and certainly not knowing about, her predicament.

  Because once talk started, it had a tendency to spread.

  “I’ll send them regardless,” Liam told me. “Should you change your mind.”

  “What vials?” Cassius repeated.

  But G’Liam was bowing to me, to the prince, then he turned and walked from the room.

  When the door closed behind him, it was me who was turned, and as I was learning that Cassius was wont to do, this was not of my volition.

  But I didn’t have it in me to protest when the front of me was pressed to the front of him.

  I tipped my head back.

  “What vials, Elena?” he demanded.

  “It’s nothing. It doesn’t matter. If he even sends them, I’ll be disposing of them.”

  “If it doesn’t matter, then you shouldn’t have any issue with telling me what they are.”

  “It doesn’t matter so it isn’t worth wasting time talking about it.”

  “If your husband wishes to know something, you should tell him.”

  I was losing patience.

  “First, Cassius, you are not my husband…yet. But when you are, if you wish to know something I wish to keep to myself, as my husband, you should allow me to do that.”

  “This does not make a healthy marriage.”

  He would know. From reports, he’d had a very healthy one.

  And it ended in anguish.

  Therefore, I gentled my voice when I replied, “I intend to cause no harm when I say that you should be aware and come into it from the very beginning understanding that our marriage will not be like your last.”

  He replied instantly.

  “You are fair, she was red. You are tall and trim, she was petite and plump. You ride like the wind, she was afraid of horses. She found delight in the flight of a sparrow, you’d probably shoot it out of the sky at two hundred feet.”

  I was deeply offended.

  “I would not kill a sparrow,” I snapped.

  He shook his head once at the same time his arm tightened, and he shook me.

  “I think you understand my meaning.”

  I did.

  I was still offended.

  “I don’t even eat meat,” I informed him.

  His head jerked in surprise. “You don’t eat meat?”

  “You sat beside me at dinner the other night, Cassius. Did I eat the roast?”

  “I thought your appetite was off due to your sister’s mischiefs.”

  “No. Most Nadirii don’t eat meat. Though, I will note my sister is one of the ones who does.”

  “This is preposterous,” he declared.

  “Why?”

  “Because the body needs meat.”

  “It does not for I’ve never in my life eaten meat and as you can see I’m just fine.”

  He seemed to be considering that knowledge at the same time finding it fascinating.

  I did not have time for him to be fascinated.

  I also did not have time to enjoy watching him be fascinated.

  I had things to do.

  These being dallying in a bath with my lieutenants and my fellow Sisters of the Beast, this while my ill mother was negotiating whatever she was negotiating with four countries we didn’t get along with terribly well, one we warred with constantly, and one we barely knew at all.

  I did not know Airen to have Firenz-style baths.

  And Cassius had asked me to teach his soldiers my stretches.

  But I feared a lifetime yawned in front of me where the things I did to fill my days that had meaning and purpose were gone and such as dawdling in baths (or the like) was my future.

  Thus, I told him, “You may release me. I’m to meet the others at the baths.”

  “I know you are not her.”

  The way he stated that, firm, but pensive, made me focus on his face.

  “You need to understand that, Elena. She was lost years ago. I will not pretend I didn’t pine for her. I will not pretend that she isn’t in my thoughts the many times she comes to me and will in the future. But she is gone. I am not. You are my destiny. My daughter needs a mother. Your ward needs a father. It is how it was meant to be, and we must find a way to move forward in that.”

  “Do you mind if, perhaps, we take longer than a day to find the manner in which we’ll do that?” I requested.

  His lips quirked.

  “No. I do not mind,” he allowed, and then said, “You can have today and tomorrow too.”

  And really.

  Did he also have to be amusing?

  I glared at him.

  His lips quirked again.

  They stopped quirking when he asked, “Why was your sister in Firenz garments?”

  It was then I stared at him.

  “I did not see her,” he carried on. “But my man did, and he said she was regaled in the finest of be-spangled, female Firenz attire.”

  I could not picture this.

  I couldn’t even fathom it.

  “Serena?” I asked breathily.

  He nodded. “Undoubtedly. She’s rather notable, especially wearing the sheers and brassiere of a Firenz.”

  Heavens.

  “Do you think, your, uh…person, is…?”

  I didn’t finish that query.

  His other arm came about me, and he burst with laughter.

  And…

  Really.

  Did he have to look so handsome finding something amusing?

  “It seems she received an instruction,” he stated through chuckles.

  “And thus, she walked through Catrame Palace in garments that surely had her skin burning?”

  “I would say, as that was some time ago, about now her skin is definitely burning in one way or another, my warrior.”

  My skin started burning, that being my cheeks.

  I stared at his throat.

  Not a good selection.

  I decided on his ear.

  “Elena,” he murmured.

  I forced myself to look in his eyes.

  “I’ll be joining you for dinner.”

  Why did that make my heart feel light?

  “I’ll alert the heralds,” I quipped.

  His eyes danced.

  This they did right before his mouth took mine (it was definitely his taking mine that time, not the other way around).

  He thrust his tongue inside in a claiming manner that should have outraged me.

  It did not.

  Instead, I lifted my arms to wrap them around his neck and I tilted my head so he might have more of me.

  Cassius took it.

  His arms tightened, drawing me up to my toes and deeper into his body, and I drifted a hand over his short hair that brushed toward his forehead, taking that path with my hand, then down, where I did what I wished to do dearly.

  I caught hold of his beard at his jaw and tugged.

  He nipped my bottom lip with his teeth in response.

  I whimpered at the pleasant sting of the bite, my eyes fluttering just enough to take in the heat of his and my mouth was captured again as he ground the hardness of his hips into my belly.

  Making him thus, feeling it evident and proud against me, feeling a corresponding flood between my legs, I broke our kiss and whispered, “Cassi
us.”

  His beard scraped my skin as he put his lips to my ear.

  “After dinner, you attend me in my room,” he rumbled.

  Oh, by the goddess.

  “I can’t. I have to look after—”

  He fit me more snugly into his hips.

  “You found relief this morning, my warrior. I did not,” he reminded me.

  Oh heavens.

  He didn’t.

  I pulled my head back, he lifted his, and I caught his eyes.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t think. That was selfish of me.”

  He stared at me, desire retreating, contemplation seeping in.

  Finally, he spoke. “It is far from the end of the world, Elena. And when you join me tonight, we will first talk, and after, you must know that we will not do anything you don’t wish.”

  “You seem to be able to make me do a variety of things I don’t wish,” I mumbled.

  “This is because you wish them, my princess,” he replied. “You might not wish to wish them, but you do.”

  I couldn’t argue that.

  I wished I could.

  But I could not.

  “We will be wed in less than three months,” he reminded me. “We must find our times to learn of each other.”

  “What I find is that you’re annoying,” I blurted.

  He raised his brows. “This is because I’m right most the time.”

  “‘Most’ is not the correct word. We’ve known each other but days. It’s impossible at this juncture to know if that word has relevancy.”

  He grinned at me.

  And then he did what he was known to do very well on a battlefield. Something that caused my sister no end of complaint.

  In our banter, with my lips swollen from his kisses and my body pressed close to his, he perpetrated a sneak attack.

  “What vials was that Go’Doan talking about, Elena?”

  “Please don’t ask me that,” I said softly.

  He studied me.

  “You are right,” I relented. “We must share. We must do it openly. But don’t ask too much of me too quickly, Cassius. You’ve been a husband. You’ve…dallied.”

  The reflection left his gaze as humor sifted back in.

  “I have indeed dallied, my warrior,” he murmured.

  “I have not.”

  He grew serious.

  I continued to speak.

  “My mentor, Melisse, taught me that if you find a raging river you need to cross, you might make it if you take a great bound. However, you are more likely to find yourself falling into the waters, lost to them. But if you took your time and studied the riverbank, eventually, you would find safe passage.”

  “Your mentor sounds wise.”

  “This is why she’s a mentor.”

  He gave me a squeeze with his arms, stating, “You’ll have what you wish, my princess. I’ll give you today, and tomorrow, and the next day as well.”

  I didn’t want to smile at him. I fought it.

  But I was almost certain part of it leaked.

  Cassius released me with one arm and tucked my hair behind my ear before he fully released me.

  He walked to the door but didn’t open it.

  He turned back to me.

  “I will share in my rooms tonight when we have privacy guaranteed. But much is happening that if you don’t know of it, you need to. To that end, it would be cataclysmic now much more than it normally would if Serena assumed reign of the Nadirii.”

  I was suddenly unable to breathe.

  His voice grew quieter when he finished, “The Go’Doan, particularly G’Liam, know many ways of healing. I urge you to consider using those vials. As much as this might be loathsome to you, I advise you test them first on an animal. If they’re safe, then use them. With what is happening, we all need more time with those having wise, composed heads.” His voice went downright low when he concluded, “And I would suspect the one who would need that time most is you.”

  After delivering that, and with a short bow, he opened the door and walked through it.

  I studied it after he closed it behind him, feeling a chill on my skin.

  I knew what this chill meant.

  My mother was hiding nothing.

  Princess Serena

  Private Play Suite, Dahlia Rooms, Heden District, Fire City

  FIRENZE

  There was a large mirror before her.

  Her sheers were on the floor.

  The cups of her brassiere were shoved down, pushing up her breasts, their rosy peaks stiffened and jutting with need.

  Her wide belt of beads and fringe was about her hips, the bits dangling driving her mad as they consistently brushed her sensitive skin.

  The curls between her legs were partly exposed to the eye.

  Her arms were high above her, tethered at the wrists with suede straps.

  There was a tool thrust inside between her legs that was long and bulbous, coming down to a narrow end with a handle that could be seen. It was filling her so wide, it would stay in place on its own. However, the walls of her cunt were spasming around it uncontrollably.

  And he stood beside her, examining her arse like he was a physician vaguely interested in a patient.

  Serena watched as he then swung back and landed a sharp swat on her already stinging cheek, the beaded fringe digging in, and her eyes rolled back in her head as her pussy spasmed again.

  Another sharp slap and he held on, gripping the abused flesh and bouncing it about.

  Then a few lighter strikes that would almost seem affectionate, if she did not open her eyes and see he was more involved with opening the fly on his leathers with his free hand than he was in her.

  “Please,” she whispered, needing his attention. Needing an admiring eye. An indication she was behaving rightly. That he liked what he saw. That he wanted what she was giving him.

  That she was pleasing him.

  He took his cock in his left hand and shifted slightly so he could take the handle of the tool inside her in his right.

  With that, he fucked her as he stroked himself, turning his gaze to the mirror to watch his ministrations between her legs.

  Her stomach tightened, her nub throbbed, her nipples ached.

  Goddess, she needed release.

  His eyes lifted to hers.

  “Watch me fuck you,” he ordered emotionlessly.

  Immediately, Serena looked down, seeing the slick, smooth wood disappear inside her then reappear. And again. Again. Again.

  It was mortifying to be used thus.

  It was also beautiful.

  “Please,” she begged.

  He thrust it up, left it inside and turned fully to her, shifting hands, left to right as he carried on stroking himself, but now not touching her.

  “Do you know my name?” he asked.

  She tore her gaze from his magnificent shaft and lifted it to his face.

  “I—”

  “I told you my name when we met. Do you know it?”

  “You are Shen, of the Trusted,” she said.

  “That is the name the person you asked after me was instructed to give. That is not my true name. The one I gave you when we met.”

  Oh no.

  “I’m sorry,” Serena whispered. “Our relations were such, I thought of naught else but what you gave me and everything else slipped my mind.”

  He released his cock and struck her arse, one cheek, the next, back, again, and again, her breasts bobbing, her disregarded nipples in agony, until the pain drove up her pussy, convulsed at her clit, her head fell back, and he grasped both cheeks and squeezed hard.

  She whinnied in sheer need.

  He released her arse and pulled the tool from inside her, dropped it to the floor and thrust his cock through her crevice, gliding it along the lips of her wet.

  She forced her gaze back to the mirror and saw the slick cockhead framed with her curls and the beads.

  At the sight, the feel of hi
m, Serena shivered everywhere.

  “You lie,” he growled in her ear, easing his shaft back and forth between her legs, but not inside.

  She did.

  She did lie.

  She did not remember his name, for when she met him, she did not think it would be worth remembering.

  And she didn’t know if she wished to continue to lie, and make him angrier, earning what he might deliver, or if she should be honest and admit it.

  She wanted to please him.

  She only wanted to please him.

  But she did not know how.

  Mercifully, he told her.

  “If you’re honest, you get a reward.”

  “I lied,” she said instantly.

  And then maddeningly, he kept riding her without riding her.

  But he also reached around and pulled at her nipples.

  Serena’s head fell back, hit his shoulder, and she moaned.

  Cruelly, he twisted his fingers.

  “Watch me work you,” he ordered.

  It took much, but she made her gaze go back to the mirror.

  Still at her breasts, he pulled his shaft back, shifted his hips, and she felt her eyes get wide as he touched a finger to her hole.

  Her lips parted as he put pressure there, spreading her, opening her.

  She’d never done this.

  She didn’t because she’d never desired this.

  “I will fuck you here,” he said in her ear.

  “Yes,” she whispered without hesitation, willing, needing to get anything from him.

  His finger disappeared, and he slid between her legs, but this time, he dipped his knees and drove inside her pussy.

  “Yes,” she hissed, convulsing against him, against her bindings, tipping her hips to get more.

  He drove hard and deep, still tormenting her nipples.

  “What’s my name?” he asked, his hips pounding into the heated cheeks of her backside, stinging pain with each thrust, shafting pleasure in its wake.

  She quivered.

  “What’s my bloody name?” he demanded.

  “I-I don’t know.”

  He pulled out.

  She gasped and cried, “No!”

  He went to where the tethers were looped around a hook on the wall, released them, gave them slack and demanded, “Knees.”

  Serena dropped at once to her knees.

  He re-secured the suede in a manner her arms were still over her head, walked to her front and shoved his cock in her face.