by Stacy Reid
“Haris are not supposed to be in my private room.” Green eyes stared at her.
“I also understand that haris are not allowed in your wing, yet, here I am.”
She smiled at the startled look that entered his eyes before he quickly banked all arousal. He had not expected her response. She did not know how to be coy. She was a warrior who just discovered there was someone who could dip to her feminine core and draw out a woman who wanted to be pampered and protected, seduced and loved.
She knew, in theory, how a mate should make her feel, yet the reality far surpassed all that she had envisioned.
He chuckled, low and smooth and the vibrations from it rushed through her and melted the tension caused from uncertainty. He walked to the side table and poured wine from a decanter into two golden goblets.
Her gaze scanned the room. It suited him. Simple, yet masculine, with a hint of elegance. A cavernous fireplace blazed with dancing flames, and a large desk and great chairs were strewn about the room. An entire wall held hundreds of books and scrolls and tablets. Several maps, as well and one of the most beautiful weapon she had ever seen, graced the wall above the fireplace.
“The sword is magnificent.” She accepted the wine he handed her.
He leaned on the desk. His gazed flicked to the sword, and she shivered with the chill that came from him.
“It is.” Piercing eyes met hers. “It’s imbued with the spirit and will of my ancestors. It belonged to my mother.”
She swept off the divan and stood in front of the sword.
Ajali studied the sensual way she moved and desire flared inside him. She seemed oblivious to the raw sensuality she exuded. He had no intention of taking her tonight, yet her presence tempted him. The caftan she wore was so sheer he could see the luscious outline of her nipples. She had removed most of the jewels except the one that pierced her navel and circled her stomach.
He could not afford a distraction tonight.
He had spies embedded all over Amagarie, and their deception had flown with wings to reach his ears. The Mevian emperor had Serangites and witches working with him. The walls whispered that his enemies planned to capture him.
Capture.
That had startled Ajali. Many would welcome his death, but he could not imagine what they could gain from his capture. Torture? It perplexed him, and he had ordered his eyes and ears to delve deep and provide him with details of every meeting, gathering and rumor.
Treachery abounded. Enemies were within and outside his walls. Since removing his warriors from outside his wing of the castle, no movements had been detected. He needed to lure them into trying to take him. He needed to appear vulnerable. His lips curled with disdain. Vulnerability. He would try his utmost best to be entrapped by Tehdra.
The duty to deliver death to his enemies pelted in him, yet the need to have Tehdra under him until all his raging lust was sated vied ruthlessly for his attention.
He had never had another in his private wing before, much less his room, where he sought solitude. She turned, and obsidian eyes met his, and the need to take her rushed through his veins like a storm. He was not sure if it was her cool beauty that aroused him. Ajali was not ruled by his cock. Ever. And he was not about to start. However, he could not deny that he wanted more than her body. There was something about her that intrigued him. He already knew she was a liar. That alone impressed him; most feared him too much to even consider lying.
She claimed she was tutored in the sensual arts.
Lie.
She claimed she was unskilled.
Lie.
The grace of her movements and the way she walked was predatory.
No lower house would send an unskilled daughter to his kingdom. Many were not able to afford a master to train them in the fighting arts, but none came to him unskilled in how to arouse and please him. Her mouth had tasted of innocence, and its effects punched him deep and hard. He doubted he had ever bedded an innocent. Virgins, yes, but not an innocent. Virgins that came to him knew how to use their hands, tongues and voices alone to bring men to their knees. She knew nothing, yet the carnality that she possessed was raw and unmatched.
She was the enemy. From which quarter, he had yet to discover. But he always kept his enemies close and she was as close as anyone could get.
“Was Xian hard on you today?”
Her throaty voice caressed his cock. “No, she was very careful in how she handled me. She is a fine teacher. Her patience was unmatched. Will you watch me tomorrow?”
He raised his brows. He was sure she was there to spy against him, yet all her actions indicated she wanted him near. Ajali did not fear death from her quarter; he could kill her before she formed the thought to assassinate him. But he wanted to know who she spied for, and torture was not the method he would use. After all, it was always more beneficial to turn a mole in his corner. He needed to start moving his pieces across the board.
“I will train you tomorrow.”
Surprise then pleasure flared in her eyes.
“I would like that,” she gave him a smile filled with simmering sensuality.
Fuck! It seemed as if his distraction would indeed start tonight and not in the morn.
“Why are you untutored in the sensual arts?”
“Initially, I was pledged for marriage to a lower house merchant. It was a greater opportunity to join your harem for my family. It was a privilege for me to represent my house. As the youngest daughter of three, I was considered the most beautiful.”
A credible and quick answer.
“Are you displeased?” Her gaze was direct and curious, but not fearful.
Pleasure darkened his veins.
Without waiting for an answer, Tehdra spun and faced the sword. Being in Ajali’s presence was hard, yet to be outside of it was inconceivable. His scent intoxicated her. Intelligence and cunning shone in his eyes, and she admired and dreaded it in equal measure.
He suspected her. There was no negative emotion that her darkness could not ferret. He had buried it swiftly and deep, but she had felt it. It was not a panicky kind of distrust; it was glacier cold. She lifted her hand and ran it across the astoundingly beautiful weapon. She bit her lips as she felt him move behind her. The raw energy behind her lured her into leaning back slightly. Her body curved into the hardness of him and it was delightful. Primal awareness rushed through her, and the need to mate infused her limbs. Molten desire spiraled through her, and her nipples puckered painfully.
His hand covered her fingers that caressed the sharpened blade.
“Are these dragon claws and scales?” she murmured huskily.
A hardened perfection of green dragon scales and black claws decorated the hilt.
He lowered his head, and she felt the inhalation of his breath right down to her aching and already throbbing core.
“My mother battled a summoned dragon in the first Great War. Our books tell of her fight and triumph.”
Tehdra froze. “Your queen was victorious over a summoned beast and its master?” Impossible. For a Darkan to be able to summon its beast, it would have to be fully bonded and more than likely an elder of their race. How could the queen of Nuria defeat a Darkan who had access to all of his demon’s brutality and immense power?
“This was the weapon she used to fight. She was young and willing to die for her people. The battlements rang with cries of dread and defeat as hundreds faced only a handful of Darkans.”
Her stomach clenched as powerful hands rested against her hips and drew up her caftan. Why was she not pulling away and feigning an excuse to leave his presence? Because she wanted him, craved his touch.
Yess…. The triumph from her beast rolled through Tehdra.
“Screams of pain and fear rent the air, and the Darkans claimed lives as if they were death gods. Cries for retreat were called, but the Darka
ns advanced with only the thought to annihilate.”
She swallowed as the caftan bared her knees in slow increments. Lust pumped through her and lethargy filled her limbs as she leaned further into his hardness.
“The king, my father, was in the Darkan’s direct path when he summoned his demon beast to corporeal form. Hundreds rushed in with flames dancing to protect my father, and they were destroyed like ants with one belch of fire from the dragon. Its heat was indomitable, and it incinerated all that it touched.”
Tehdra uttered a raw sound of arousal as he bunched the caftan at her hips and trailed his hand to her core and cupped her flesh.
The powerful male body behind her shuddered, and a curse slipped from him. He paused for several seconds, and she realized he fought for restraint.
“High countess Xie lo Chanz of the house of Phoenyx, was secretly in love with the king, who was to marry her oldest sister. The king and his army battled the dragon and its master, but he could not win.”
Tehdra actually mewled when he ran his fingers down her slit. Her womb spasmed, and her sex clenched as liquid heat coated his fingers.
“Fuck!” A jagged, aroused exclamation tumbled from him. He nipped at her ear, hard enough that it stung, but her pleasure only rose higher.
She heard his ragged breathing over the thunderous beating of her heart.
“Xie rushed in to save him without thought of her own self. When the dragon breathed death on her, she owned his fire. She took it from him and wielded it with a mastery that was unmatched. She battled him for hours, and from the ashes of her battle, she awoke a power that was beautiful and deadly—the Phoenyx.”
A dark and heady desire rose in Tehdra. Sensations—delicious sensations—twisted and throbbed between her legs. She shivered as he sank two fingers deep inside of her. The moan that was dragged out of her throat was like a purr. Her heart beat in time with the slow thrusts in her sex and intense pleasure torpedoed through her.
“She dominated the battlefield with her rage and power. The dragon and its master burned under the flames that she controlled. But she did not stop there. She turned her terrifying rage on all that remained.”
Ajali inhaled rough and harsh as her hips writhed sinuously against his hands. She felt the sultriness start to beat in his blood like a drum at her movements. It rose hot and dangerous and poured from him to her. She cried out and arched in his hand as heat washed over her and coated her in decadent fire. Perspiration glistened on her skin, and the fireplace roared and leapt to life as fire climbed the walls and swirled around them.
The moans turned from languid to harsh gasps as the fieriness in Tehdra became dominant. Her hips roiled and undulated to the fingers that plunged inside of her, rough yet tender. Hands cupped her breasts and tantalized her nipples. Wet heat trailed at her neck, his teeth nipping and delivering sharp stings. But it was the lust. It raged in her blood like a fever. Flames seemed attached to his fingertips whispering over her flesh.
Her mass of hair clung damply to her back and nape. Engulfed in warmth, Tehdra gasped hoarsely when she saw that they were both surrounded by a halo of fire.
“Ajali,” she gasped as he spun her around, lifted her and placed her on his desk. Her beast snarled at his display of strength, loving every minute of his apparent loss of control.
“Spread your legs,” he demanded, and she obeyed.
Tehdra flung hands out against the wall for a brace she did not need. His arms held her up as he bent his head and swiped his tongue through her core that creamed and clenched around his fingers.
“Aahhhh.” Tehdra all but shouted as pleasure unlike any she could imagine swept through her, destroying her restraint.
His tongue swiped and licked her into mindless abandon. He found her nub and sucked harshly then gently, then with focused intensity. Sweat ran in rivulets down her body, and she flung her head back as her chakra pulsed and her darkness subtly leaked from her.
“Ajali,” she whimpered his name, fighting to hold onto her sanity, as his tongue fucked into her clenching sex once again.
Cruelty bled into her mind as the need to pounce and dominate bled into her. Her control teetered on the edge of violence. She reclined against his desk and arched her hips higher as he widened her legs. Her incisors lengthened as the vicious need to be on top of him, with her fangs buried in his veins, poured through her. Charka, black and churning, swirled around her and mixed with the soft fire that seemed to engulf them. She ruthlessly reined it in as fear rushed through her; he could not witness the crack in her control or he would deliver death to her instantly.
She bucked and shivered on the desk as he swirled his tongue from her soaking core up to her navel. He trailed wet erotic heat over her piercing, then dragged his tongue to her nipples and bit hard.
More….
“More,” Tehdra gasped hoarsely as bliss whipped in her veins. Her darkness luxuriated in the bite of pain that radiated from her nipples and core where he plunged his fingers back inside her.
He wound her hair in his fist and held her gaze. His face was dark, savage and beautiful with his arousal, and his green eyes contained echoes of flames in their depths. Every cell in Tehdra’s body came alive with need, a burning torrent of lust as Ajali took her mouth with raw, seductive force. His tongue teased and plundered her mouth, and she groaned and twined her tongue around his as they pleasured each other.
Her body shook as his thumb flicked repeatedly against her clit while he pumped his fingers almost mindlessly into her swollen core. Her body weakened as sensation after sensation pummeled through her, and her orgasm rose to feverish heights, almost cruel in its intensity. Tension tightened inside of her with each thrust of his fingers, each touch, and each kiss until she fragmented as shards of ecstasy consumed her.
Her body still trembled as it came off the high of her orgasm. Her mate. Pleasure hummed, dark with brutal need riding it.
“Ours.” The beast hissed against her mind.
It scared Tehdra, the sheer magnitude of the hunger he evoked within her. He had the ability to empower her and make her whole, but he could also destroy her completely.
The fire in the room died as if sucked into a vacuum. The fireplace now burned low, and the flames that had engulfed them receded as if they never were. Sweat glistened on both of their skins and want still raged in his eyes. Yet, he made no move to take her.
“Leave me. Be ready for me in the morn.” Frigid and remote.
She glanced down at his trousers that strained under the size of his erection. She delved deep to try and uncover his feeling. Only indifference radiated deep inside him. It was not anger, pain or fear. It was simply…coldness.
When she met his gaze, the hunger that had been so promising was banked. She lowered her legs that were still splayed wide and shimmied off to lightly stand on her feet in front of him. She did not want to leave. His presence and scent lured her. Yet, she could not decipher if he really wanted her gone.
Voice still husky with desire she asked, “Why?”
“You question me, hari?” His voice was bland, and it frustrated Tehdra that there was no echo of negative emotion to give her an inkling of his thoughts.
“You do not need me?” she asked with a look at his trousers.
A sardonic smile curved his lips. “I will see you in the morn.” An order that was final and dismissive.
With a curtsy she glided from the room, unsure as to what had just happened.
***
Fucking hell! The madness Tehdra raised in Ajali was unheard of. It seemed as if his tale of distraction would soon become a reality. Never had he felt such violent and painful arousal from someone who was blatantly untutored in sexual arts. Her dark and spicy taste, her hesitant touch, all of her reactions fairly shouted pure and unguarded, yet those obsidian eyes had swirled with lust and something wicked.
Every nerve had been awakened, and he had burned in lust. He’d held fire in his arms—raging and exquisite fire that he’d wanted to flame hotter and hotter.
She was fucking perfect.
He would need to be careful. He’d almost lost his head and cock deep inside her just a few moments ago, even though he had commanded a secret meeting to plan and lay traps for the enemy. Her enticing power as a fucking diversion was indeed strong, Ajali thought viciously. What he wanted was a sham, a cover, not the need that had pelted through him from her fragrance alone. Her unique flavor was something dark and stormy, like the essence in the air after rain and wind had raged and passed on—earthy and sensual.
The walls silently opened, and Uriah stepped in with Ajali’s Kingblades, who were his cloaks and shadows. Their intent gazes flicked across the room. He noted the amused curl of his brother’s lips, and Gavyn, one of his most loyal shadows, laughed outright.
“It seems rumor of your distraction are not unfounded, my liege,” he smirked, sauntering over to an oak chair and sank into its depth.
Fuck!
Ajali looked around the room. At the singed tapestries. At the blackened fireplace. At the messy desk and the tablets and scrolls scattered on the floor. They were testimonies to his apparent temporary madness. He ignored the amusement in all their gazes. He could guess their thoughts. He had never lost control of his flames before with a lover. Never. The idea that she was able to wreak havoc on his famed icy restraint would make them seek her out and probably fucking sing praises to her.
“Let us begin,” he commanded, setting all revelry and teasing aside.
It was time to move his piece across the board and box in the enemy.
Chapter Seven
Mevia—Kingdom of Sounds
The Emperor’s stronghold dungeon
“Can it be done?” a disgustingly pure and beautiful voice asked.
“It can be done, my lord,” Princess Shilah said after a short, fearful pause.
A snarl of rage rumbled as a man thrashed in the chains constraining him. The manacles, forged from the pure valnetium iron found in the hardened core of Amagarie, were unbreakable. The Emperor’s high chancellor twisted his lips sinisterly as he observed the Darkan in chains. They had over ten chains holding it enslaved. They’d captured a female Darkan before, and made the mistake of only binding her with five shackles of valnetium iron. When they had started to exorcise the demon from her, the rage and strength she’d displayed had been breathtaking. Tormented by pain, she’d burst forth with madness, and had almost destroyed all of those that held her in the dungeon before escaping over the castle walls. They had hunted her to no avail.
