by Brynn Paulin
And that day might be coming soon with the talk of a civil war amongst the people.
“My older brother. He lives in the hills, several days’ journey from here. He’s visiting my parents with his new wife…”
“I’m sorry.”
She turned her head, wrapping her arms around her middle when he released her. She drew in her bottom lip and closed her eyes while she took a deep breath. “You don’t trust me.”
“I have never trusted anyone.” He knew it would hurt her, but he couldn’t lie. “Emma, I love you. I promise, I will learn to trust. Somehow.”
She shook her head and started up the stairs. “After all this time, all the years I’ve waited for you, all the nights I’ve kept myself for you…was my virgin blood on your sheets not enough to prove my faithfulness to you?”
“Do you want me to find him? Do you want me to tell him what a fool I was?”
“He’ll think you mean to kill him.”
“Shall I prostrate myself before you?”
Emma turned and looked at him, her eyebrow raised in disbelief. “We did that last night, my lord. Perhaps you would like to tie me to the bed instead, since you do not trust me when I step foot outside it.”
Ailig’s anger rose again, this time at the wife he loved. How many times could a man apologise for his stupidity? Perhaps he should tie her to the bed, so that she’d know who was her master.
Emma shrieked as he scooped her over his shoulder and hurried up the steps. Setting her on her feet inside their chamber, he latched the door and turned to her. “Scream all you want. No one will save you.”
“You’re a barbarian,” she accused, but he didn’t miss the excitement in her eyes. She liked this. Roughly, he pulled her clothes from her, suspecting she might like it. “Get on the bed,” he ordered.
She crossed her arms beneath her pert breasts. “Surely you jest. You have just threatened to kill my brother.”
Ailig narrowed his eyes. “You’ve grown wild and wilful while I’ve been away and I am unable to keep you in line with my strong hand.”
“You’ve never…”
“I think perhaps my lady wife is in need of a thrashing.”
Her eyes went wide and she backed away. “No, Ailig.”
“Too late.” He advanced on her until her back met the wall. She held up her hands to ward him off but he captured them in one large fist and lifted them above her head while he pressed against her. “You’ve taunted me. You’ve left my bed. I’m hungry.”
“You are hungry? You want to beat me because you are hungry?”
His kissed her, tasting honey on her sweet breath. “Emma,” he whispered. He brushed his cheek against hers. “I would never beat you. But I am hungry. Your activities forestalled my path to the kitchens.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“For all these things, you should be punished. Then I think perhaps I will tie you to the bed and have my way with your pretty body.”
She didn’t say a word, only stared at him for a moment. There was no fear in her eyes, only a bit of uncertainty. She bit one side of her lip and he leaned forward, clasping the other side with his teeth. Gently, he pulled it free, then soothed the tormented flesh with a flick of his tongue. Her mouth called to him. Cupping her head with his free hand, he brought his lips to hers, hungrily supping at her mouth.
Emma couldn’t stop the moan that crawled up her throat as Ailig plundered her lips. And the thought of him tying her down… She trembled, but it was not from fear. Illicit excitement ran through her. It confused her, but she was willing to play Ailig’s game, whatever it was. He was her husband and she’d missed him. He’d never hurt her—she knew that without doubt. She knew from earlier that he sought her pleasure as much as his own, too.
Lifting into him, she pressed her breasts to him and met his forceful kiss with her own. The woollen fabric of his garments chafed her sensitive nipples, but even that sent tremors of pleasure to her womb. When he touched her, he’d find her ready for him. How wanton she’d become.
Ailig stepped back and held out his hand. “Come, wife.”
She crossed her arms. “I still hold that I’ve done nothing wrong.”
He waited, arm still outstretched. “I promise you’ll like it.”
That was what she was afraid of. She sniffed. “Being punished?”
He pried her hand free. “Come along.”
In moments, he was seated on the bed with her draped across his lap. Slowly, he ran his hand over her bottom. It tickled and she tried to wriggle away, especially when her arousal grew great enough that she feared it would dampen his leg. He held her fast, with one arm tight over her back.
His fingers worked between her legs, finding her wet pussy. “I think someone protests more than is true,” he commented, slipping two fingers deep within her sheath. Emma bucked. Her legs spread slightly as she silently asked for more. He turned his hand so that the knuckle of his bent fingers bumped the sensitive spot at the front of her folds with each inward thrust.
“This is my pussy,” Ailig muttered.
Of course it was. He was her husband after all. Her brow furrowed and she twisted as best she could to look up at him. He thought she’d be unfaithful to the vows she’d made? Disappointment chilled her, even as his clever fingers built her pleasure. How could he not trust her after all this time?
She tried to get off his lap. They needed to talk about this.
With a sigh, he removed his hand from her folds, resting his palm on her bottom.
“Ailig,” she started.
Suddenly, his hand drew up then landed solidly on her behind. Fire shot through her and she cried out, trying in vain to get away again. His hold was too strong. Two more strokes landed and the fire grew. It spread down to her thighs and up towards her back. One more and she realised what he meant. She moaned as the flames from her thrashing licked at her pussy. How was it possible that a punishment could stoke desire? All at once, she wanted more.
Her fingers grasped his leg as he continued. She felt the liquid flowing from her channel to fill her folds. Each shift against him drove her higher and she felt her release building as it tightened in her womb as it had the night before. Shots of pleasure streaked through her.
She couldn’t stop her cries, which had turned from indignant to lust-filled.
Ailig stopped, his hand stroking over her bottom, and she knew he was finished. She needed more. He couldn’t leave her like this. Turning her head to the leg she clasped, she sank her teeth into his calf. He jerked, as his bellow coloured the tower’s air.
Two more hard swats thrust her over the edge. Hard spasms tore through her body. She barely realised it when he lifted her into his arms and positioned her on the bed, so that she knelt facing the corner. He pulled her arms forward and tied them to the post with his belt. “You are a delightful, naughty little minx,” he said, glowering down at her as she looked over her shoulder at him. He might have frightened her if not for the humour in his eyes. “I cannot believe you bit me.”
“I cannot believe you struck me.”
He drummed his fingers on his thigh. He stared down at her, his lips pressed together. “I would suggest another, but I fear you would enjoy that.”
“And you would not?” She stared pointedly at his arousal. She knew she was overstepping her boundaries as wife, but lack of sleep tended to make her peckish. And today she certainly was.
“Perhaps I should bind your viperous mouth…” he suggested.
“Perhaps you should untie me,” she retorted.
Ailig dangled a length of cloth before her. “Last chance.”
“You would not.”
He shook his head, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “I think you enjoy this…”
Maybe she did. And if it proved to him that she loved him, she would comply. The arousal shooting through her only urged her onward. She did not fight him as he wrapped the fabric around her head, pulling it between her lips and
tying it behind her head. Merciful heaven, it only made her desire him more.
Ailig stripped off his clothes then stood over her. Emma looked beautiful, her pink ass high in the air as she bent forward. Her damp folds glistened with her arousal. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. That much was very clear.
Carefully, he knelt behind her, stroking his hands over her heated behind. “You liked this.”
Emma dropped her head to the mattress.
He laughed, giving her a light swat. “Don’t be embarrassed, love. It’s all to heighten pleasure. Can you say this does not feel good?”
She shook her head, underlining her assent with a quiet moan.
He kissed the ridge of her spine, trailing his mouth to the hollow at the small of her back. Emma trembled beneath him. Holding her legs apart with his, he lightly dragged his palms up the backs of her legs. Finally, he traced her drenched pussy.
His cock throbbed as her honey coated his finger. “Do you want me inside you?” he asked. “Tell me, Emma. Your husband? Do you want your husband inside you?”
Her eyes burned her ire into him. She growled as she rolled her eyes heavenward. Closing her eyes, she dropped her head back to the blankets. Her head gave a faint nod.
He grinned. His fear was completely unfounded. He knew it. In all these years, Emma had never given him reason to doubt her faithfulness. Not when he’d courted her between calls to King Henry’s service nor while he’d been married to her and again called away. She was his love. He had no reason not to trust her.
But how beautiful she looked tied as she was. Next time, he’d bind her arms and legs wide to each post and make her come until she cried for mercy. Today was not that day. As wet as she might be for him, he knew she still would have some soreness from her initiation to womanhood yesterday and their vigorous activities through the night.
He’d have to be gentle.
Splaying a hand on her back, he grasped her hip and slowly slid the tip of his cock into her waiting sheath. The tight muscles grasped him, daring him to move deeper into her. Emma tried to push back to him and take more, but her position forestalled her action. He withdrew just as slowly as he’d entered her.
“No!” Emma cried behind her gag. Her fingers clenched on his belt and she yanked, trying to get free.
“You want more?”
She made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a curse. That was his woman. Just as he liked her. Full of fire. But she was not the one in control here.
He traced the edges of her pussy with his cock, then dragged the slicked head along the crevice of her ass until her head thumped on the bed, her knuckles white with her need. With one last pass over her folds, he found her opening and pushed into her tight channel, ploughing through the tender tissues within until he was deep inside.
They moaned in unison as they became one once more.
The time for play had passed. He was too close to losing himself and Emma was too close to murdering him when he let her free. With measured, careful thrusts, he worked in and out of her. Her taut grasp drove him to a frenzy. The need for relief raced through his blood. It balled in his groin, pulling his balls close to his body as they readied for the moment of ultimate pleasure.
Beneath him, Emma screamed. Her body went rigid as her channel clenched around him. A flood of her release gushed around his cock and dragged him down the path she travelled. Black spots flooded his vision and he felt his seed shoot from him. Then he was falling…
* * * *
“Ailig?”
Ailig stirred at the somewhat hysterical yet muffled calls. Shaking his head he came awake, his head throbbing. The scene came to him all at once. Their chamber. He and Emma naked. Emma beneath him. Merciful heaven! Groaning, he rolled to the side and quickly unbound her hands.
She ripped off the gag and dove for him, kissing him wherever she could reach. “I thought you had died!” she exclaimed.
“I am not going to die.”
“I have seen it,” she blurted hysterically. “I have seen that we will be parted by death.”
Horror shot through him, but he shook his head, holding her tight. “Nay. It has just been too long since I have had sustenance. A bit of mead yesterday is not enough—” He tilted his head. “What do you mean you ‘have seen it’?”
Emma scrambled away from him. “Don’t hurt me! I am not a witch.”
“I know you are not. Love, come here. I would never hurt you.” He had seen many things in his travels and he knew there were those who had visions. However, he had never expected one of the gifted in his bed. “Come. Tell me of what you have seen.”
If death lurked in the shadows, he wanted to know his enemy and avoid him. For the first time since Emma had voiced her fears so long ago, a darkness fell over him. As she crawled into his arms and clung to him, he held her tight. He’d hold off what she’d foreseen if only by his will alone.
“It’s unclear,” she began. “Our future has always stretched out before us but the darkness of an end draws closer. It’s so close now…” As she spoke, Ailig closed his eyes. He would not allow this ending she foretold. He clasped the stone around her neck. Emma was his for eternity. It had been ordained.
Chapter Three
Emma heard the voices in Ailig’s chamber below hers, but she ignored them. Over the past months, he’d often had merchants and townspeople visit while he’d done business with them or governed their affairs. And whenever he could, he came to be with her, which wasn’t as often as she would have liked, but he was in their bed every night so she had no complaints. They hadn’t spoken of her vision and as the days went by, she could almost believe what she’d seen would not happen.
Still, a pall hung over them and she wondered when King Henry would next call upon Ailig to serve him. Wealthier land owners could send knights in their stead. Ailig did not have that luxury. When the king called, he was bound to answer even if the call came more than once per year.
The voices ceased while she stitched, and she wondered if he would join her in the solar soon. Ailig had had a sturdy chair brought to the chamber so that he could sit with her occasionally and talk. He’d taken her in that chair once too, an experience she’d like to repeat some time soon.
A smile played on her lips as she heard his heavy steps on the stairs leading towards her. It faded as he entered the room, his shoulders dropped and his face sombre.
“What is it?” she asked, coming to her feet. She knew immediately that the time had come. Her stomach seemed to drop from her body as dread stabbed through her.
“I’ve been called.”
“Now?”
He shook his head. “On the morrow.”
Her lip trembled and she bit into it to hide her fear. She wouldn’t burden him with her worries. Perhaps the darkness on the horizon was naught but their separation. He’d go, but soon they’d be together again. They had to.
He took a deep, regretful breath and she knew he sensed her turmoil. He pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head as he held her against his chest. “Would that we could leave this all and travel far away where we are not the lord and lady and we have no obligation to king. I would do that for you if I could.”
“We have duties,” she answered, wishing he could be a merchant like her father.
“I will return, love,” he promised. “I promise I will return to you safe and whole.”
“I know,” she lied as her hot tear rolled over her cheek and onto his hand.
He lifted her into his arms. “Come. I will see no one else today and only hold you in my arms.”
Ailig held her through the night. Neither slept as they clung to one another, touching, kissing, reaffirming their love.
He rose at daybreak, dressing and gathering his mail and sword. Leaning over the bed, he kissed Emma goodbye and bid her to stay there until his horse had faded into the distance. Turning into her pillow as the door shut, she wept as bitterly as if he’d died, for deep in her hea
rt she was sure she’d never see her knight again.
* * * *
Emma stood outside the keep’s walls, watching the water catch the last rays of the sun as it sank low in the west. As she often did, she prayed that she’d see Ailig riding over the horizon, his horse tromping along the shore as it made its way home. That scene hadn’t greeted her in four months and as she drew a cloak tightly around her to fight the chill of fall, she didn’t see Ailig returning home today either.
Perhaps tomorrow.
Perhaps not. Perhaps never. News of the war between the barons and the king had reached even the far north and Emma knew Ailig was engaged in a battle which might keep him away far longer than either of them had thought.
She hoped he’d come home soon. As the days passed, she became increasingly worried not only for his safety but for hers as well. There was word of marauders throughout the territory. None had travelled to this area, but Emma feared it might be soon and she wanted Ailig nearby if they did.
Even today, she’d been terrified when she’d been in town. It was foolish. The three men had merely been travelling through on their way south. They had meant her no harm. They hadn’t even spoken to her, yet with her skin crawling, she’d immediately returned home with one of the men from the castle.
Now, as she watched the sun set and wished for her husband, one of the men stood nearby keeping watch over her. It was foolhardy to be outside the stone walls. She should return before it grew any darker.
Turning, she headed back for the keep and the lonely bed that awaited her.
“Hello, pretty lady,” a deep voice rumbled to her left and she turned towards it in shock, realising too late that she should have run in terror towards the keep’s gates. She screamed, hoping to rouse help, but her cry was smothered by a hand clamping over her mouth. Struggle as she might, she couldn’t free herself. To her horror she soon heard more men’s voices as she was dragged onto the boat the men had hidden at the foot of the mountain.
As soon as they let her go, she scooted as far away as she could.
