Her eyes were blue fire; she’d never been on top. She’d always been covered by the weight of the one taking her or pinned up against some unyielding surface. But here her hair sifted lightly around her, tickling down against his body with every move she made. Her own body felt free and light, the pleasurable drag of him giving her a primal sort of strength she’d never felt. It was something that kept her moving until the way she let her weight fall into him had her breath shaky and her body hot, muscles quivering. It was addictive, the way he felt and she never thought she would tire from it.
Then she found herself on her back, the ground cold and hard against her and causing her to gasp. Or perhaps it was the way he moved within her that had made her gasp. She felt him push deep inside her and it had her lips parting, a strangled, inelegant noise escaping her lips. It had little stars of light dancing in her vision, her fingers curling and grasping against his skin as he thrust into her again. His body curved over hers, fair protecting her from the rest of the world as she fell apart beneath him. Her heels scraped against the stone floor and her back arched, pressing her body up into his as she cried out in the most breathless of ways. “Xavier… I…”
Her mouth found itself covered with his. His lips brushing at hers as he thrust a little harder and she found her body tightening up all over again. Sobbed breaths escaping her as he moved. There it was again, that heavenly feeling that had her squirming beneath him, shaking, and then he was simply resting inside her. Her body weak beneath his, even if her muscles were twitching around him still. Had she tried to merely lift a hand, she felt it would be impossible.
“Just as wonderful as I thought you’d be Emeline…” Xavier fair purred it into an ear and she made a soft noise in response, but couldn’t have defined what exactly it was.
Chapter 5
She woke in her bed, bundled in the soft fabric of her blankets and entirely naked. For a moment she was confused as to how she’d gotten there, why she hadn’t put on a nightgown… but when she remembered a flush crept up across her cheeks and she curled around a pillow with a smile on her face. There was a soft clink of metal against metal that drew her eyes open and had her blinking to focus, but when she did a giggle escaped her and she reached to scoop up the stack of four, gleaming coins.
He had left her four coins, not two or three like the whore. Maybe that meant she was worth more? She clutched them to her chest like a favorite toy. The hundreds of gold coins she had at her disposal were meager in comparison to those four. Who knew four coins could carry so much meaning.
The sound of horns blaring had her sitting up abruptly, gathering up a blanket around herself as she leaped from the bed to peer out the window. Wind caught in her hair, fair slapped her in the face, but she couldn’t mistake the banners that were flying high and proud as they moved into the courtyard. Nor could she mistake the booming tone of her dear husband’s voice. It dulled some of her euphoria, but didn’t kill all of it. He would be gone soon. There was no reason to have her good mood ruined by that man.
That thought only elated her more.
Moving over to the wall she rang the bell for her handmaiden, who was there within a moment and helping her into her underclothes and her dress. It was a lovely red color, dark flowers sewn into the material of it. There were bruises on her body, but the girl knew her place and didn’t ask where they had come from. Nor did she ask where the coins had come from.
“Thank you, you may leave now…” She watched the mousy girl leave the room and then followed herself, after she had tucked her coins into a hidden pocket in her gown. Her steps were light on the stairs as she made her way to their entrance hall and stood there, waiting.
When Harold walked in he was regaling some poor knight with a tale of a massive boar he had slain on his trip and how the wind had howled and the storm had raged. The man did have a flair for the dramatic.
“Welcome home, my love. What are we to eat for supper this evening?” Her voice jumped into the air, strong and confident. The past couple of days had done that much for her. Or perhaps it had been last night that gave that to her.
“Two of the largest bucks you have ever seen, and a boar the size of our breakfast table. You will not believe the stories I have to tell you and Jeffrey. We must have the hall prepared for guests at once, it will take them all evening to get it ready. I brought a few of our lordly friends with me to celebrate, it will be marvelous. Performers from nearby cities will be here all for our amusement. Marvelous, marvelous!” He was speaking even as he moved past her, more than likely to take a bath of his own.
That was fine, “I am certain that I cannot wait to hear those tales…” She had begun to walk off towards the courtyard as she said so, to waste the day.
By the time people had begun arriving for the celebration the sun was setting and she was chatting with the wife of some Lord or other. She really couldn’t have cared less who it was, at least she was somewhat entertaining. She had to have been somewhat important to be sitting up at her table.
A group of masked jesters had taken the center of the room, were performing all sorts of tricks to amuse their gathered mass. Contortionists that made her own body ache and jugglers that handled several torches at once. When the King walked in, her gaze skipped towards him. He was looking so very happy and delighted with himself, she could only imagine what sort of a shock it would come as when he found himself dying.
She wondered where Xavier was, what he planned to do. How he was going to kill Harold. Perhaps it would be poison. Perhaps a dagger like he’d used the night before. It fascinated her, how he could orchestrate an assassination in the midst of such company. Perhaps if she saw him again, she could ask him how he had decided on what to do.
It seemed as though the moment he sat down, the entertainers swarmed their table. Bowing and twirling and doing all sorts of things. One of them stepped forwards, tipping his hat. His mask was that of a rabbit, its ears perked as though waiting for something to happen. He introduced them as A Company of Strange Men, a rather dull name in her opinion… but perhaps there was some sort of story behind it. She rested her chin on her palm as she watched the performers and nudged at the food on her plate. The deer meat was uninteresting to her, but then she couldn’t really help her impatience.
Harold seemed to find them amusing at the least. Their bright colors dancing before his eyes, smoke escaping from somewhere and muddying up the air to make their actions seem a little more mischievous. One of the masked figures caught her eye, something about the way he moved. She watched him juggle knives, their twinkling blades flicking up into the air and dropping perilously back to his hands. It had her eyes widening in a way that the fire juggler hadn’t been able to do.
“Oh my, that cannot be safe… not at all…” The murmur escaped her, but before she could say much more, one of those twinkling blades flew from the mass of bodies that were dancing around each other and she heard a sickening thunk nearby. The masked man that had caught her eye nowhere in sight.
Could it have been Xavier?
That would have been mighty clever of him…
Her gaze turned and she looked on her husband with an expression of utter and complete horror. It wasn’t all faked either, she’d never seen a man die before and the blade had buried to the hilt in her husband’s chest. Rising from her seat, she moved over to where Harold was gasping for breath and bleeding out. Arms wrapping around his shoulders she leaned into him, sobbing something like ‘Harold no!’ for all the spectators she had.
His eyes were wild, panicked, but there was only delight in her own eyes. She made sure he saw it, too, before she leaned in near his ear. “Die, you bastard… I am free.” Then she let the tears roll down her face as she felt fingers close around her arm and pull her away. “No, but I cannot. Harold. I must make sure he is okay? Will he be okay?” By the time her gaze reached the knight’s it was panicked and sad.
“Your highness… we will do what we can… but you should return to
your chambers at once. I will take you there and you will be safe. Do not fear, my Queen.”
So noble of you sir knight, yes take me to my chambers so I may dance with joy…
She found herself guided down darkened hallways, through doors until she had reached her own. The room was dark, it seemed foreign as though the events of the day had painted it unfamiliar despite the fact that she had lived in it for what felt like her entire life. “You may leave, sir knight… I shall be safe in my chambers…”
The armor clad man gave little protest, it was clear he wanted to be down in the hall finding justice for his king’s death. If he only knew that the cause of death was standing right in front of him, protected by the sword he would wield against whoever had done it.
The irony didn’t escape her.
Closing the door, she turned to move deeper into the darkness of the room. Spinning a circle, her dress flared out around her like the petals of a flower. Her fingers lifted to her hair to pull the pins from it that kept it all bound up, letting the loose curls fall down around her shoulders. A smile tugged at her lips even as she found the laces of her dress and undid them, letting one layer after the other fall from her body as though she was shedding her old self.
She didn’t see the body stretched so lazily across her bed until she had spun once more and made her way closer to it. The shadowed form of him startled her, made her jump and smother a yelped noise. The moonlight filtering in through her window was enough to make out his face after a moment, the look of pure enjoyment on it. “Xavier?”
“Again, little bird, don’t stop on my account. You looked like you were enjoyin’ yourself.” His tone was gruff, gave her chills as it reminded her of the night before.
“Perhaps,” She perched on the edge of the bed, the smile having returned to her face. “He bled so much… did you know a man could bleed so much? I feel so… so…”
“Free?” He supplied for her, reaching to tug her closer to him, “and yes… I did know that men bleed a lot. Especially fat men. Fat, rich men bleed the most, in fact.”
A giggle escaped her and she tumbled against his side, a hand splaying on his chest, “do they? Would you bleed as much as he did?”
“Do I look like a fat, rich man? Besides, we don’t ask that question Emeline. D’rather not bleed at all.”
“I like asking questions I should not ask,” She rolled atop him and caught up his hands to pin them down against the bed. “Perhaps I want to see how much you would bleed?”
His eyes widened up at her, “You do, don’t you. Aye m’lady, you could if you wanted. Though, don’t suspect you will. I suspect you’ve far more entertaining things to do with me in light of the death of your husband.”
“Well… I suppose it is true I can think of a one and a thousand more pleasing things that I could do with you.” She leaned down, her hair falling past her to create a curtain around them, and kissed him.
His hands skimmed down to her ass, catching up flesh and fair holding her against himself. It was wild, but she loved it, her inhibitions had been lost somewhere along the hallways back to her room. She rested her weight back into his grasp enjoying the support of his hands even as her kisses trailed down from his jawline to his throat and lower. His fingers moved, sliding against her skin in a way that had her shivering, his touches driving her crazy, making her feel wanton and exposed with how they lingered possessively even with how distracted he was with what she was doing.
“Five coins…”
“What?”
“You’d be worth five coins…”
Her voice was amused, sultry with desire. Her head lifted, her back arching as her hands planted to either side of him and her fingers curled into the covers tightly. Her hair falling heavier on one side as she peered at him. He seemed taken aback for a moment and then there was that crooked sort of smile coming into evidence. She sat back on her knees and to her surprise he moved, muscle defining a little as he sat up, his hands running up her sides, fingers curling to play into the hollow of her spine as it arched and trace out the curve of it slowly. The tantalizing caress drew a pleased noise into her throat and then his face buried against her shoulder.
The soft scruff of his face itched at her skin, had her arms moving around his shoulders even as he followed a trail of kisses up her collarbone lazily. The touch of his tongue got surprise to tickle at her senses heatedly. It burned at her, fair scalding at her skin in a way that made no logical sense, and was chased by the soft press of his lips. Arousal pooled low between her legs even as his head moved, his hair tickling against her skin as he chased kisses up the arch of her throat. Each one unhurried, slow. It was sublime, it had her eyes fluttering closed as her head tipped back and her hair hung out behind her and tickled against her back enticingly.
“Just five?” The rough sort of hoarseness of his voice tickled at her ears, had her shivering again just at hearing it.
It had her pulse pounding enticingly as her breath hitched up and her teeth caught at her own lip to curtail a smile. Up his hands went, one skimming up over the nape of her neck into her hair and then her head was pulled back, her body arching backwards as he caught at her hair firmly and dragged her towards the mattress. Even as she curved backwards his lips skimmed over the swell of a breast and then a shocked noise keened out of her as they closed over a nipple. She arched into him more, her legs drawing close as she tried to sink her chest away from the intensity of the sensation.
But he had caught her up and she felt his teeth graze and his tongue flick and her fingers twitched as her body flinched helplessly, winding tighter at the clarity of the pull of his mouth. Another cry escaped her, a quiet sort of rushed breath dragged in through her nose as he lavished her with attention. Her fingers buried up into his hair and curled tight against his shoulder as she pulled herself closer and clung to him tightly. He had barely started touching her and already she was so undone by it. Already she wanted more. She was so addicted to him, she had felt such giddy excitement at seeing him sprawled out in her bed like he had been. Suddenly she had a cohort in life, and he reveled in the dark parts of her that had never seen the light.
He was so much more intelligent than any other man she’d ever encountered. In bed and in speech and in action. The rough feel of his hands on her body was wondrous, it had her skin alive under his touch, every breath she took caught up in wanting to get closer to him and encourage the way he held her, touched her. By the time his lips left the soft peak of her, every tug of his mouth was directly tied to the clench of her insides in a way that had her pushing the full weight of her chest towards him until his attention turned to the other breast. His teeth skimmed past her, pinched at her and drew another keening noise out of her as she shivered, caught between pulling away and encouraging him.
When his hand brushed past her hip and his fingers teased over her stomach it sucked in slightly and then his hand was there, dipping between her legs and tight against her. His fingers rubbed into burning skin and then buried deep in the heat of her and she cried out as her body caught tight around him. He dragged his fingers through her until she was caught up around every shift, breath caught up with each frictioned slide.
Then they slid free of her and she whined, left wanting. Her eyes focusing on him after a moment with unbridled desire, she squirmed towards him. “Do not stop, you cannot.”
“Is that so?” He grinned at her in that infuriating way he could and then dropped his head back down so his lips could catch at her skin again. The feel of his mouth and the teasing touch of his tongue drew her body into an arch as he moved downwards.
“What are you… oh…” She didn’t even get to finish the sentence because suddenly his tongue was velvet between her legs, teasing heatedly against her in a way that had her breath catching up again. A gasp moved through her and her toes curled. It flicked against her again and she groaned, knees pulling up a bit even as she shuddered. Pleasure caught like fire in her abdomen, the tight feel of her musc
les enough to make her whimper with every movement of his tongue. “Xavier!”
He didn’t respond verbally, but then how could he talk when he was making her squirm with his mouth. As soon as his name jumped free of her she realized it would be better to keep quiet, who knew if those guarding her room or walking past outside the door would hear her. The need for silence only added to the intensity of what he was doing. It surpassed anything she’d ever felt before easily with each glancing brush of his tongue being too much to handle without moving. It didn’t take long for her body to fall apart from it, the quiver of muscle and the delicious clench of her body something that echoed out into every muscle.
When his face peeked up from between her legs he licked his lips and grinned at her, “Only five coins?” He crawled back atop her, settling between her legs as he kissed her parted lips. Her entire body tensed as she felt him fill her up, a groan moving through her even as he thrusted and wound her body up all over again.
Each movement had voice catching up in her gasped breaths, her head falling back against pillow as she clung to him and kissed him back. Their bodies meeting easily, colliding with soft impact and driving her to insanity until she felt her body release from it again.
“Maybe… six coins?” She offered breathlessly as he lay atop her, sated himself. The chuckle that escaped him vibrated through her tingling body, which had her grinning broadly herself.
A Song for Redemption
Veronica Cross
A Song for Redemption
Copyright 2016 by Veronica Cross
First electronic publication: December 2016
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
Romance: Pummel Me: A Boxing Romance Page 68
