by Alice Wilde
“Say it,” Ero commands, stopping all motion.
“I…I need you,” I gasp.
Ero rises and flips me onto my back, climbing on top of me. He pulls me up by the neckline of my chemise and then stops, looking into my eyes.
“Give me permission, Annalise.”
“What?”
“Give me permission to ravish you,” Ero says. “But I’m warning you now, I won’t stop until I’m done.”
I pause, my heart racing, my mind giving me every reason why I should say no. My body imploring me to say yes.
“What will it be?”
Against my better judgment, I put my hands on his face and try to kiss him, but he pulls away before I can.
“Answer me.”
“Yes,” I reply meekly, almost hurt by his rejection of my kiss.
Ero grins and releases my chemise, and I fall back against the bed. Placing a large hand against my throat, he presses down gently. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to send my blood pounding through my veins. He leans down and takes the edge of my neckline in his teeth and free hand and rips it apart to expose one of my breasts. Ero traces his free hand along the side of my neck and down my chest before taking my nipple between the knuckles of two of his fingers and tugging firmly. He presses down gently against my throat as he does this, causing the sensation to intensify, and I moan.
Ero sits up, releasing me, and I whimper at the loss of his touch and then again as one of his hands finds my hair and tugs at it, exposing my neck. Before I have time to anticipate anything, Ero bites me. The bite is hard enough to hurt, but not enough to break skin, and he continues to bite me on his way down my body. He seems to vary the pressure and pain of the bite depending on the area of my body.
I’m struggling against my own mind. His actions aren’t unlike what Damien tried to do with me, but for some reason, I’m enjoying this. The only difference I can think of is that I want Ero to do this to me, and I trust him to stop before things go too far.
Ero is awakening sensations in me that I didn’t know were even possible, and I want him with more intensity with every passing minute. My body is practically aching with desire as Ero continues to slowly make his way down to my chest. I expect him to stop and play with my breasts, but Ero only continues past them, kissing, biting, and licking his way down my torso. Spasms of electricity seem to shoot through me at various points, and I feel like I’m about to burst with pent-up excitement.
It suddenly occurs to me that his face is almost between my legs and my thighs clench around Ero’s torso in anxiety. Aside from the woman who checked my virginity, no one’s face has been so close to my groin, and certainly no man’s. For a moment, I worry that Ero doesn’t actually know what he’s doing either, but then he wraps his arms around my legs and pries them apart with ease. He looks up at me for a moment and smirks before lowering his face between my thighs. Ero definitely knows what he’s doing.
I close my eyes and moan as Ero flicks his tongue against my clit before taking it in his mouth and sucking. My back arches, my vision blurs as I try to comprehend what’s happening to my body as it seems to tense and become almost painfully frustrated, and then I cry out as wave after wave of relief and pleasure wash over me.
Rosa had once told me that a man could use his hands to excite a woman. But she had said this was only ever to get her ready enough so that he could enter her easily. I hadn’t known that there was this kind of ecstasy to be had. It was as though I wanted to scream, laugh, cry, and sing all at the same time. Everything wrong and evil in the world leaves me in the moment, and I want Ero in ways I’ve never wanted him before. I want him to take me. Screw the fate of the world!
“Ero,” I gasp, his name barely escaping my lips.
Ero raises his head to look at me, a knowing grin spreading across his face.
“Good, isn’t it, princess?” Ero says as he blows cool air over my wetness. “I doubt you’ve ever felt anything like that before.”
I shake my head, unable to think of anything to respond with.
“I’m only just getting started.”
“How—”
The rest of the words never leave my mouth as Ero returns eagerly to what he was doing before, but this time he slides down further, pressing his tongue up into me. Another completely new sensation, and I suddenly begin to squirm with anxiety. I grab a handful of Ero’s silky white hair in my hand and tug at it, but instead of causing him to look at me it only makes him plunge himself deeper inside me.
Gods, how is his tongue so long?
I let out a whimper. I don’t want him to stop, but fear is starting to take hold of me as I realize the possible consequences of our actions. I’m about to say something when Ero pushes his hands up underneath me and drags me down toward him, lifting my lower body up off the bed as he places my legs over his shoulders and wraps his arms around me to keep me stable as he somehow manages to use his tongue to enter me deeper. I doubt this position would be possible if he weren’t so strong.
“Ero!” I finally manage to force myself to shout.
Ero stops what he’s doing and carefully lowers me back onto the bed. I can’t help the tears that well up in my eyes almost instantly, and I struggle to choke them back.
“Did I hurt you?” Ero asks, his face showing genuine concern for me.
I cover my face in my hands, not wanting him to see the tears rolling uncontrollably down either side of my cheeks. A shadow moves over me and I peek out to find Ero learning over me, his arms on either side of me holding him up.
“What’s wrong?” Ero asks, his voice shaking. “Tell me what I did.”
“It’s not you,” I say through sobs.
“Then what is it?”
“I’m worried you’re…you’re going too deep,” I say, my face flushing with embarrassment.
Ero blinks and then sits back, relief spreading across his face.
“Is that all?”
“All?” I ask. “Aren’t you worried about it?”
Ero sighs and shifts to the empty side of the bed, pulling the quilt up over me. He puts his arms behind his head and stares up at the ceiling.
“To be perfectly honest with you, Annalise,” Ero says, “I have a hard time believing that this supposed curse really has anything to do with your virgin blood.”
“It doesn’t make much sense to me either,” I say. “But that doesn’t mean I want to take that chance.”
“Did you feel any pain?”
“No.”
“Then everything should be fine,” Ero says. “Perhaps if I’d used a finger instead, we might have cause to worry.”
“A finger could ruin me?” I ask in disbelief.
Ero turns his head toward me.
“I wouldn’t say ruin you, but it could cause you to bleed.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Wait, Roan didn’t—”
“No,” I say hastily, stopping him before he can finish.
My stomach twists at the mention of Roan’s name, and I suddenly feel guilty and confused. Tears well up in my eyes.
“He did, didn’t he?” Ero asks, mistaking the reason for this new wave of tears. He turns onto his side and props himself up on his elbow.
“No, honestly,” I say. “I just feel guilty for betraying Roan.”
Ero watches me for a moment and then laughs.
“There’s nothing to feel guilty about.”
“Maybe for you.”
“For either of us,” Ero says, his tone surprisingly serious. “If you want to go into technicalities, you’re twice married, and in both cases, it was out of necessity. Nothing about any of this is normal.”
“I didn’t just marry Roan out of necessity,” I mumble.
“So what if you have feelings for him?” Ero says. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings for anyone else.”
“How can you be so casual about this?”
“I’ve been with lots of women. It’s nothing new to me.”<
br />
My jaw tightens as I look at him in disgust before turning onto my side to face away from him. I feel so stupid! I’d given into the weakness of my flesh for a moment of pleasure—and with Ero nonetheless! The emotionless, loveless creature that he is. He probably told me what I’d wanted to hear just to get me into bed with him.
Tears sting my eyes as I realize I’m going to have to tell Roan. I wouldn’t blame him if he never looks at me the same way again.
And with that thought burning in my mind, I cry myself quietly to sleep.
Nineteen
Ero
Dammit.
This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I’d let her into my heart and then I’d gone and ruined everything. You never let anyone into your heart—there’s nothing but pain and torture. She loves Roan; it’s evident from the way she’s acting. I shouldn’t have gotten between them, and I shouldn’t have said what I did to her about other women.
If I had been honest, I’d have told her that what I experienced tonight was unlike anything I’d done before. No one I’d ever been with could compare, and I hadn’t even taken her. I’m not supposed to feel anything for anyone, let alone a woman, but it seems that the closer I get to Annalise, the more I want her, and the less anyone or anything else matters. Even my own resolve. Even the idea of hurting her sends a dagger through my heart.
I hate myself for hurting her. Hate myself for not telling her the truth. And most of all, I hate Roan. I hate his hold on her, the way he cares for her in a way that I never could. I hate him for opening his heart to her. I hate him for loving her.
After everything I’ve done in my life, I don’t deserve to love or be loved. Idiot. Fool. Bastard.
She’s crying, and it’s all my fault. I need to make her hate me so she can forgive herself, even if there’s nothing to forgive.
I need her to hate me.
Dammit.
Twenty
Annalise
I jolt awake as a huge hand clamps down over my mouth.
“Shh,” Ero whispers in my ear.
We lay still in the dim light of the room, listening hard. At first, I hear nothing, and then there’s a light scratching at the door and quiet voices whispering in the hall outside.
“I think the door is barred,” someone says.
“You’re right,” another, deeper voice responds. “We’re going to have to go about this another way. Do any of you recall the scene we walked in on all those years ago?”
“It was a bloodbath,” another man says. “It wouldn’t be hard to make it look like that, but I don’t think anyone would believe it if the door was broken in.”
“What’s happening?” I whisper through Ero’s hand, which is still pressed over my mouth.
“It’s an assassination attempt,” Ero says, dropping his hand from my mouth. “They’re going to try to kill us, or perhaps just you. If I understand them correctly, I think they’re going to try to make it look like another instance of what happened when my family was murdered to prove I’m cursed and a madman.”
“How could they do such a thing?”
“You of all people should know what lengths people will go to get what they want,” Ero says through gritted teeth.
His wording instantly reminds me of the night before, and regret floods through me once again.
“We’re going to have to find a way out of here,” Ero says, not noticing my change in demeanor. Not that I’d expect him to.
“But you already checked the room for another way in or out,” I say.
“I know. I hadn’t thought we would be the ones needing another way out.”
Ero gets out of bed and pulls on his shirt and shoes. “Get dressed.”
I slip out of the bed and pull my dress on as hastily as I can before taking my torn chemise and tossing it into the fire. Almost instantly I realize how big of a mistake that was when the room begins to fill with thick, dark smoke. I reach to pull out the cloth, but as soon as I do, it sets a rug on fire and the smoke intensifies.
“Dammit, princess,” Ero chokes out, trying to mute his coughing as best he can. “You’re going to kill us before they even get a chance to try.”
“I didn’t know that would happen!” I whisper sharply back at him. “Wait…”
Ero looks at me curiously as I watch the smoke fill the room.
“Do you see that,” I say, pointing toward the thatching of the roof.
He turns to look in the direction I’m pointing. Even though the room is rapidly filling with the thick smoke, there’s a section of the ceiling that it appears to be flowing toward.
“There might be a hole in the thatching,” Ero coughs. “Let me take a look.”
I watch as Ero pulls a chair over to the corner of the room and steps upon it, pulling himself up onto the rafters to take a closer look.
“There’s smoke coming from the room,” one of the voices says in alarm from outside the door. “We don’t have time for a new plan. We need to get in there before they set the whole place fire.”
“Or we leave them to die in the fire,” another man says.
“Don’t be daft. Didn’t you see what that spirit woman did at the pyre? Bjarke will skin us alive if we let his house burn down. Besides, if they’re not dead from the smoke by now, we’ll just kill them.”
The men almost immediately start pounding away at the door, no longer afraid to wake us.
“Ero,” I say worriedly, looking up at him.
“There’s a small hole in the thatching,” Ero says. “But it’s not big enough for either of us to fit through.”
“Make it bigger,” I say as quietly as I can manage.
“I’m trying, but I need you up here with me. I don’t know how quickly they’ll get through the door, and I may not have time to pull you up.”
“Fine, let’s go!”
“You’re not going to be able to breathe up here,” Ero says. “Get low and take as deep a breath as you can.”
I lower myself to the floor as quickly as I can and do as he says. As soon as I’ve taken as big of a breath as I can manage, Ero scoops me up and over his head, boosting me up onto the rafters before climbing up himself. He quickly makes his way along a beam and over to the hole in the thatching.
Ero tears at the roof, gradually making headway. The door below has begun to buckle and crack as the men outside continue to work on breaking it down, and I can feel my vision starting to go black as the air in my lungs drains from me. I see Ero glance over his shoulder at me anxiously, and then he begins punching through the rooftop as hard as he can. His knuckles quickly grow bloody, but the hole finally gets larger.
Just as the hole is nearly big enough for us to fit through, I collapse from the lack of oxygen, tipping sideways over the rafters.
The fall knocks me back into focus and I breathe in what little oxygen I can, the smoke less thick this low to floor.
I look up through the haze as the door makes a loud crunching sound and then crashes to the floor just a few feet from my head. The men lunge through but are instantly spluttering and stumbling as the smoke catches in their eyes and lungs. My head is starting to throb and my eyes are dry and aching, my vision fading.
One of the men notices me on the floor and shouts, but before he can make his way to me, a roar and blur of white fur fills my vision as a giant leopard drops the man to the ground, tearing into his flesh.
I gasp for air once again as the leopard looks toward me, his green eyes shining even in the dark room. My eyes close as the leopard bites down on the fabric of my dress, pulling me across the floor and out of the room to fresh air.
“Is she okay?” Ero asks anxiously from somewhere close by.
“She’ll be fine,” says Li, “but I’m going to have to examine her once we have a safe place.”
Ero growls.
“Where are you taking us?”
My stomach drops as I recognize the voice of one of our attackers, and I try to open my eyes, but soon
give up on account of the excruciating pain. What does Li mean by fine?
“Shut up! You and Bjarke will pay for this. Mark my words,” Ero snarls.
“As if you have any means to do anything about it,” another one of the attackers says.
I hear the sound of a fist against flesh and then silence. Ero must have hit one of the men.
“Do you think Roan is okay carrying her like that?” Ero asks. “Why hasn’t he shifted?”
“All in due time,” Li says. “We need to get Annalise a room as quickly as possible. I don’t think she can open her eyes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ero growls.
Our pace quickens and I suddenly hear the sound of voices echoing as we reach a larger space.
“You, Bjarke!” Ero yells. “Explain yourself!”
The other people in the room grow quiet.
“Who are you to command me?”
“Ero, rightful heir to the throne,” Ero growls. “Now, tell me why you attempted to have me slain beneath your roof in my own bed?”
“I…I have no idea what you’re talking about. Raving lunatic,” Bjarke says with a callous laugh.
“Your men already betrayed you,” Ero says.
“Idiots. You blasted fools. I told you this was not to be linked to me under any circumstances.”
“We didn’t, my lord,” one of the men says quietly. “I swear we didn’t betray you.”
The people in the room whisper and murmur excitedly amongst themselves as the shock and realization of Bjarke’s confession settles in.
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Ero says in a low, deep voice. “The men and women here have witnessed the traitor’s admission of guilt. Seize him.”
Almost immediately, I hear men move into action, and I’m surprised by how easily Ero has taken control of the room…and the throne from Bjarke.
“As is my birthright, I am claiming my place as lord. If any of you wish to challenge that claim, do so now.”
The room goes quiet as I hear Bjarke and our attackers dragged from the room.
