by Marian Tee
He blinked.
She swung at him with all her might, enough to have his face snapping to the side. And then she screamed, “What else can I say to that, dammit? You swore on your mother’s name – who’s a fu---freaking angel? Of course I’m going to believe whatever you’re going to say!” Her voice wavered in the end and she hurriedly added with a glare, “And I’m not crying, okay?”
His Georgina was still there. He would forever thank the heavens that he had not destroyed her will even after the way he had abandoned her with seeming cruelty. Silviu wanted to reach out to Georgina, to stop her from crying because the look on her face, the way her lips quivered and her nose turned red – he just wanted to take her in his arms and keep her safe there.
“Stop looking at me like that. You fucking think I’m crying, don’t you?”
Considering that her eyes were already shining with unshed tears, Silviu considered it prudent once more not to say anything.
“You’re laughing at me silently, aren’t you?”
He gave up. He smiled, hauled her into his arms, and kissed her.
Her arms wrapped around him immediately, and as Silviu lifted her up, George’s legs twisted around his waist while she kissed him back hungrily. Her tears added a salty taste to their kiss. It hurt him, those tears, and he gentled his kiss, pulling away so he could lick her the drops dry. “I’m sorry for making you doubt me, Georgina.”
“You have to trust me a little more,” she told him, her voice still wobbly. “I don’t have as big a mouth as you think I do.”
He did not say anything, simply continuing to kiss her tears away.
“I’m not kidding!” she growled.
“And I do not want to lie to you.” He tipped her chin up. “You are the worst liar I have ever met, milady, and believe me, with the number of years I have spent on this earth, that is saying a lot.”
“You’re such a showoff about your age,” she sniped.
He laughed, knowing that she was deliberately changing the subject. The sound of his laughter was rusty even to his own ears. And so it should be, since he had not even managed a smile the entire time he had been without her.
Less than three days. That was the span of time he had spent with Georgina and yet she had so easily woven him around her little finger, had intertwined their lives in such a way that he could not imagine living without her. If he had made the wrong move, if she had died in the Red Witch’s hands because he had waited too long---
Silviu’s head dropped down on her chest, kissing her heart.
He knew that he would have died with her.
“What are you thinking?” she whispered, feeling his heartbeat increasing.
“I was thinking about what I would do if I lost you.” He did not lie and it was not just because he could not do so to his heartkeeper. He spoke the truth because he needed her to understand.
“And?”
“The whole world would have paid if you were gone from my side,” Silviu said seriously. “So for the sake of all those you hold dear, milady, try not to die on me.”
She was silent for a moment, and he did not prod her to speak. The way her lips shook even harder told him that she was doing her best to keep her own emotions under control.
Women in Chalys, whether they were human or not, were not afraid to show their emotions. They relished showing what they were feeling inside, as if it was a badge of honor. But this one – his proud little future duchess - she was a fighter, a warrior in her own right.
“I wish,” she said in an unsteady voice, “I could be just as dramatic and tell you that I can call some earthquakes and tsunamis to the kingdom if someone takes you away from me. But I’m just human.”
“Georgina---”
“But I swear, Silviu, I will never stop fighting for you, and I will give up my life for---”
He kissed her again, not wanting to hear her say such words. In their world, such words could be a taken as a vow and he did not ever want the day to come that she would be made to sacrifice her life for him.
“I missed you,” he said hoarsely against her lips.
She did not answer, his heartkeeper still being the proud lady that she was.
It only made him smile. “I will make you say you miss me too before the night ends, milady.”
“You can try.” She ended up gasping the last word out as he tore off her chemise and brought them back to bed in an instant.
Using his powers for something so small made her laugh triumphantly, knowing it was because Silviu did miss her. In the blink of an eye, he was just as naked as she was, and when his hard body covered hers, George’s laughter turned into a moan.
Oh, damn it. How she had missed this, too!
She pushed against his shoulders, making him flip them over so she could be on top. She kissed him all over his face and Silviu took it as his cue that she wanted to take over. He laid back, her angel-demon lover, his gloriously long golden hair like a halo around him. God, he was so sexy! If she had a camera with her, she would take photos of him all night long – especially like this!
She moved down, kissing his neck, biting him. “If I become like you, will I have fangs as well?”
Silviu’s chest rumbled with laughter. “I’m afraid not, milady.” He grinned when she looked up to pout at him, but soon his laugh turned into a groan as her lips found his nipple and she started to lick it.
“I’ve dreamt of this, you know.”
“Good,” he rasped, all his attention focused on the way her sexy little tongue drew circles around his nipple.
“Did you dream of me---” She sucked on his nipple and was rewarded by his groan. “---while I was gone?”
“I didn’t sleep.”
She stopped kissing his nipple. “Ha!”
Silviu did not smile. “I am not lying. I did not sleep because I was watching over you all the time. I needed to be sure that the…your aunt would not do anything to you.”
For a moment, she didn’t answer.
And then she snarled, “You’re just saying that to make me cry!”
This time, he did smile.
“Please say something sexy so I won’t cry. I don’t want to cry.”
“Suck my cock.”
She gaped at him and then she laughed, a little tearfully still, but at least her eyes were beginning to dry.
He raised a brow. Why aren’t you sucking at my cock?
Fucking arrogant bastard. How she had missed him!
She moved down, loving the way his muscles tensed and flexed with her every move. She blew gently on the head of his cock, and Silviu groaned.
She took his cock in her hand, and it had grown to such proportions that her fingers could not properly wrap themselves around it. “Did this one miss me, too?” she purred.
“Just fucking suck---” He ended up cursing in his native demon language as her mouth took him all the way in, sucking him so deep her lips nearly touched his balls. He gripped the sheets, fisting, trying to control his body’s movements as she sucked him hard, her mouth bobbing up and down his cock.
She began to play with his balls, and his hands moved, sinking into her lush hair, tightening. She sucked hard on the head of his cock, and his hips jerked into her mouth in reaction.
She started moving her mouth faster, and he forgot everything as he lost himself in the pleasure of her mouth. His hips were moving more furiously now, and he was literally fucking her mouth, harder, faster, his fingers tightening its grip on her hair.
“I’m about to come,” he growled.
She did not answer, only squeezing his balls hard.
Fuck!
He shot his cum into her mouth, his eyes dazed as he watched her take it all in, her own eyes on him. She swallowed everything as he continued to jerk into her mouth, and when he was spent, she released him slowly, licking her lips as she did.
Fuck if that wasn’t a turn on!
She shrieked in surprise when he suddenly flipped her on h
er back. She raised herself as he moved down. “What---” His wings burst free from behind his back and she fell back against the bed, the sight of those beautiful black wings turning her body into mush. Who would have known such a sight would be an incredible turn on for her?
His wings started to beat, and the cold air it created tickled her bare skin. She looked down when Silviu pushed her thighs wide open.
The sight of him down there made her swallow. “Silviu, you don’t---” But he was already kissing her there, tiny little kisses on every inch of her pussy. Her head fell back. And then he was sucking on her clit, his fingers pushing inside her.
“Ooooooooh.”
He tossed her legs over his shoulders and tongued her clit in a way that had her body writhing, her legs tightening around his head, instinctively wanting to keep him there.
Even her hands joined in, gripping his hair, using it as an anchor as she moved up to grind her pussy against his mouth.
She felt him laugh, and she felt herself redden but she still couldn’t stop herself. “Please,” George gasped.
And then he stopped.
“Nooooo.”
He moved up, and she was shocked to find his cock hard once more, so hard it made her weep, just imagining how Silviu would take her with it.
When George looked up, he was smiling.
“Damn you!”
“Say the words, ma threa.”
She shook her head.
He held his cock and began teasing her folds, pushing it in just the slightest bit before pulling it out, giving her the briefest taste of ecstasy.
Her head tossed from side to side against the pillow. “Damn you!”
“Say the words,” he growled.
His cock was so fucking close. It was so damn hard. She tried to push herself up, tried to get it all the way in, but his hips swung away and the emptiness drove her crazy. “I MISS YOU!”
The words were barely out of her mouth when he pushed in, his cock ramming so deep into her that she bucked in the bed, the shock of it, the absolute fullness of it taking her breath away.
She screamed as he pounded into her like a rutting bull, in and out, each thrust more possessive, more ferocious, more demanding than the last.
He fucked and fucked and fucked her, and all she could do was gasp. “Silviu!”
“I’m here, ma threa.” He held her face with both hands and kissed her, his tongue mimicking the thrusts of his cock. In, out, in, out, boldly claiming what was his by destiny and by choice.
His heartkeeper.
“Please,” she sobbed against his mouth.
His fingers moved down, rubbing her clit the way he knew she would love.
She started to tense.
He rubbed her clit faster and as he withdrew his cock, Silviu pinched the nub of flesh the same time he pushed his cock back in, as deeply as he could go.
It was more than enough, sending her over the edge, his heartkeeper screaming his name over and over.
The emptiness, the terror, and the darkness of the past few weeks disappeared at the lovely sound of her voice.
Now all he knew was joy, and as her vaginal muscles squeezed his cock with every pulse of her orgasm, Silviu found himself nearing the edge as well.
Her eyes flew open, locking with his. “Silviu,” she whispered. The acceptance that he had dreamt of finding for so long, the passion and the courage he had always wished to see in a heartkeeper – it was all there, everything and more.
His body tightened, the look in her eyes making him shudder.
“Silviu.”
The sound of his name on his heartkeeper’s lips was all he needed to push him over the edge as well and Silviu pounded into her, throwing her legs wide open as he speared her pussy with his cock again and again, her cries making his once dark world dazzle with so much color.
His heartkeeper.
His.
Only his.
“Georgina,” he said harshly.
She looked up at him, her eyes still cloudy with desire.
“I love you.”
Her lips parted in surprise, her eyes widening, her throat convulsing. But she did not say a word and he did not mind.
He kissed her hard, and she kissed him back just as fiercely. The words he needed were already there, her kiss just as telling but even so Silviu wanted the words. When he lifted his head, he was smiling.
Her eyes narrowed, her face becoming suspicious.
“By tomorrow’s ball I will make you say it, ma threa.”
His words tied her up in knots and butterflies filled her stomach at his voice, arrogant, possessive, and tender all at the same time.
He loved her.
He loved her.
Silviu kissed her. “Yes, milady. I love you.”
George gasped, realizing that he had read her mind.
He smiled, even more arrogantly. “And tomorrow, I will make you so in love with me that you will tell me the words over and over, in front of all the guests.”
****
“You are the Duke of Brimstone and you did not tell me?” Irritated beyond belief at Silviu’s admission, George threw her spoon at him during breakfast the next day. But since he was, like, a thousand feet away, with both of them seated on opposite ends of his gigantic table, the spoon only made it halfway to him before clanging against the table and then dropping to the floor.
Silviu merely shrugged. “It was better that you did not know.”
She snarled, “Because I have a big mouth, you mean?”
Adrijan said diplomatically, “I believe the word is unfailingly honest.”
“You’re sweet to say that, but we both know that’s just a fucking lie,” Georgina said without taking her gaze off Silviu. “When are you going to trust me?”
“I do trust you---”
“No, you do not! We need to stop with these white lies and omissions. I know how to keep my mouth shut---”
“And if someone makes you drink a truth serum?” Ilie asked silkily. “What then? Do you think you will be able to keep your mouth shut? Your inner self is revealed with a truth serum, milady, and as you are who you are---”
“Fuck you, werewolf.”
Mihail coughed.
Ilie scowled. “I liked you better when you did not have a sense of humor.”
“Don’t be like that to him! He’s been through a lot, you know! He was really hurt and sad after what happened to the bats!”
Everyone kept quiet.
Mihail was now glaring at her.
Oh, shit. Maybe she had made him sound too…emotional? Too gay? Too not like one of the warrior marquises that made up the Duke of Brimstone’s famous Galeré?
Silviu laughed at the look on his heartkeeper’s face. “My love, do you see now?” All three marquises reacted in various ways upon hearing his words, but he paid them no heed. He knew, by the stunned look on their faces, that they understood he did mean it. He loved Georgina, his heartkeeper. He did and he was not going to be ashamed of it.
His heartkeeper, however, seemed disgusted with him. “Shut up,” she grumbled. “I don’t have a big mouth and that’s final.”
Adrijan looked at Ilie, who was white-faced. He changed the subject, saying, “I have heard that the entire land is in an uproar over the ball.”
Silviu grimaced. ‘Uproar’ was putting it mildly. Even now, his ears were still ringing with the protests that he had received from his people.
George considered Adrijan’s words thoughtfully. “I don’t get it. Don’t you guys like parties? Is that it?”
Adrijan smirked. “We like parties, milady. But we prefer those where we can eat what’s supposed to be eaten.”
She choked. “You eat humans, too?” She looked at Silviu. “Seriously, Silviu! That’s not cool! I mean, you don’t---” She stopped at the indifferent look on his face. She glanced at Mihail and then Ilie.
“Really?” she squeaked out. “I mean, really?” She shook her head, seriously upset at the w
ay they did not deny her accusations. “That’s got to stop!”
“No. It is the rule,” Mihail said coldly. “We are very clear about this. The territories outside Asphodel – and that includes the Woods of the Wraiths – are not to be trespassed. Those who are lost in our territories are no longer considered human. They will be considered prey, the kind that may be eaten.”
“But what about those who ignore the rules without meaning any harm? I just wanted to take photos that night!”
“Then you are lucky that instead of prey, you became heartkeeper to Silviu.”
“That’s not right!”
“That is the law in this land and it will not change. Once you step outside Asphodel, you need to forget that you are still in the world of humans. You are not. The kingdom was built to protect our kind – to keep us from the eyes of men and to live in peace among ourselves. It is not our fault that the failings of your race continually cause humans to put themselves in danger.”
She looked at Silviu.
“Once you become my duchess, you may have a say of this but you will need to speak with the other dukes.”
“Who are demons like you,” she said darkly.
“Yes.”
“And none of you will back me up on this?”
Ilie let out an impatient sigh. “Has no one ever told you to choose your battles?”
Silviu started. Through his bond with his Galeré, he said, You are so dead, Ilie.
What the fuck do you mean---
George growled.
When Ilie looked at the duke’s heartkeeper, she appeared near to exploding. “I hate that fucking line!”
Again, Adrijan played the role of mediator by changing the subject. “Milady, has Silviu told you about our plans for tonight?”
“No,” she snapped. “Because he thinks I have a big mouth.”
He said quietly, “He plans to kill your step-aunt.”
She turned to Silviu in shock. “Silviu!”
His face hardened. “You do not understand, milady. Your step-aunt is no ordinary human. She was once the head of the strongest coven of witches. She was – is – a mass murderer, and she will never give me her blessing to marry you.”
“Surely you’re joking? Lady Beyotch is so weak she makes me carry her bonnet, for God’s sake!”
