The Dark King's Bride

by Janessa Anderson

  Lily moved herself over to the large bed, and reached down towards the covers. The tips of her fingers danced across the surface of its smooth material, taking in how luxurious and soft it felt to her. Her eyes were so focused on it that she tightened from the sudden sound of the bedroom door shutting, firmly, into place. Turning halfway, Lily looked towards the direction that the sound resonated from, and found Magdalene to be moving over to the other door in the room before turning her attention towards her.

  “My lady,” Magdalene said, “I will draw your bath for you, and then I will call for you.”

  Lily watched Daniel’s maid bow to her shortly before moving the other door open, and stepping across the entrance of it. Her attention drifted over towards the direction of the glass doors to the balcony. She moved herself across a large, white fur rug that stretched over the surface of the white stones that were beneath it. Moving past where a grand fireplace was positioned between the vanity and wardrobe, she stepped up to the doors, and slipped her hands onto the white, sheer drapes hanging down in front of it.

  Once the curtains had been pulled away, her vision filled with the sight of the sky becoming dark and giving night reign of the sky while the land was being ravaged by the rain that was pouring down without mercy from the sky. A streak of lightning moved across the heavens, brightening the land and also coming with a loud clap of thunder following it afterwards.

  A soft gasp left her mouth due to the noise and sight having frightened her like it would a small child that was terrified of storms. Letting go of the soft curtains, Lily turned herself to move away from the glass doors, quickly, but found herself instead moving into the open embrace of Daniel Willows who had been standing behind her without her knowledge. She lifted her eyes up to his face, and gazed upon him with her expression of awe and surprise telling all that she was feeling at the moment from finding him to be there.

  * * *

  She looks so beautiful like this…

  Daniel gazed upon the angelic face of the woman that he intended to make his queen looking up to him with an expression that was mixed of fear and surprise. He proceeded to ask her what was troubling her when his hearing picked up on the sound of a loud crash of thunder outside the strong, impenetrable walls of his fortress. In that same instant, Daniel registered her body tightening against his muscular one at the same time catching the sound of a soft gasp escaping from her mouth. He got the answer he sought for from her by the way she spoke to him with her body language.

  Poor Lily…My poor…sweet…beautiful Lily. You have no reason to fear the storm, my love. The walls of my fortress will keep it away from coming in while my arms will give you warmth and comfort.

  Slipping his arms around her back until she was against him, completely, Daniel placed one of his palms on the back of her head, and pulled it so that it could rest one of her cheeks on a side of it. He ran his fingertips of the same hand through her hair to massage it, as well as her head, while his other one pressed against the small of her back, giving her some support. Daniel waited for a few moments before he eased his eyes shut, and immersed himself into the warm embrace he had her and him in at the moment.

  Oh my god…I…I have never felt anything so nice such as this in a long…long time. His senses started to become flooded with an overwhelming feeling of contentment from Lily’s curvaceous frame pressed against the front side of his. Having Lily so close and against me right now is the best sensation I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

  There will be another feeling that you will find just as nice, Daniel. The passionate part of his conscience whispered, slipping into his train of thought he was having at the moment. I know of something that will rival, and, maybe, will be even better than what you are feeling right now.

  What are you rambling on about now? He kept himself in the moment with his beautiful companion as his arms clung to her body, and kept her firmly against him, unwilling to let her go at the moment. What will I enjoy even more than this?

  I am pretty sure that when you take her to bed…you are going to experience a whole new intense pleasure unlike anything else that can compare to it.-

  The second that he caught what direction his passionate side was heading in with his response, his ears picked up on the sound of footsteps moving into the area where he was locked in the embrace with Lily still. He eased his arms from her body, gently, and looked over one of his shoulders in the direction of the adjoined bathroom in the chamber. Daniel watched as Magdalene walked out of the bathroom with a white robe in her hands, and brought herself to an abrupt stop due to witnessing him being in the area with his guest without her knowledge.

  “My lord,” Magdalene said, “I didn’t hear you come in the room. If I had, I would have-“

  “Don’t fret, Magdalene.” Daniel spoke to his only maid and servant in a kind, understanding tone in his deep but firm voice. “There is no need to apologize.”

  “I was just about to assist Lady Lily with her bath, my lord.”

  “That won’t be necessary, Magdalene.” Daniel moved across the room to get to her, and eased the white robe she had for his guest off of her arm, and draped it over one of his in a fluid motion while he kept the conversation brief with her. “I will be assisting Lily with whatever she wishes or needs for the rest of the night…You may go to your quarters for the rest of the night, and take it easy.”

  Nice move, Daniel…

  He chose to ignore the confident words coming from his conscience in order to keep a hidden smirk from coming to the surface of his face. Daniel wanted to make sure he didn’t show his cocky side in front of Lily to keep her from witnessing it so soon.

  With his eyes on Magdalene, he watched her head to the door of the bedchamber for a few moments before his attention drifted to Lily once more. One of his hands stretched out in her direction while he spoke to her with a highly sensual tone emerging in his deep voice due to the burning passion he possessed for her deep inside.

  “Shall we, Lily?”

  Chapter Nine

  A look of complete and absolute shock washed across her face from the sight of Daniel, her king and host, extending one of his hands towards her after he had just asked her for his permission to assist her with her bath in a hidden, subliminal way. Her body froze for a moment, as did her voice, out of the intense confusion that had hit it from the request the had made to her as Magdalene was on her way out.

  This is not good, Lily… Her rational side went into full blow panic mode from the situation she had been placed into. I don’t see a good outcome from him helping you with your bath. This can only go in one direction…

  I don’t think he has any alternative motives. Lily kept her eyes upon his face for a few more moments before they moved down to his palm that was still reaching out for her to take while she maintained the conversation she was having at the moment with her conscience. He hasn’t given me any reason to not trust him.

  Lily, you cannot ignore the signs that are right in front of your face.

  If you are talking about the way his voice is sounding right-

  It is not only the voice, but also the way he has been looking at you…and how he had his strong arms wrapped around the curves on your body to where you were pressed against his body, completely. You can’t honestly-

  “Lily…”

  Daniel’s deep voice caused her to break out of the conversation with the rational part of her conscience. Blinking a bit, Lily lifted her eyes towards his face, and found him to be waiting for her next move. Her body shivered with nervousness at the prospect of him assisting her with a bath. She drew in a breath, and had her right hand to slip into his open palm before she looked down in time to focus on his fingers wrapping around the sides of it.

  I really hope that I am making the right decision, and I won’t be regretting this later on.

  Even though she had put on a confident and comfortable front with her conscience, Lily couldn’t get rid of an unsettling feeling that was
resonating through her. There was a feeling about the moment going on pass the point of no return that she couldn’t get off of her mind.

  She lifted her eyes from their hands being nestled within one another, and discovered him to be looking at her with concern pouring of out of his piercing gaze. Her gaze slowly started to drift further into his own while she picked up on the sound of his deep, sensual voice speaking to her.

  “Lily, what is troubling you?” Daniel asked, gently. He clearly saw how upset she truly was at the moment even though it was lingering on the surface and not revealing itself, completely, and it made him become more concerned at the moment. “I can see that something has put you on edge with me, and I would like to fix the situation the best that I can.”

  His words pulled at her heart strings, and her inner emotions, causing the moment to make them more intense with her. She couldn’t hide the truth from him anymore. She had to tell him.

  “Daniel,” Lily replied, “I am just feeling a little nervous at the moment.” She spoke from her heart to him, revealing her issues in the softness of her voice. “No one else has ever undressed and bathed me besides my mother when I was little. I…I never had a man do it for me before.”

  Lily did her best to keep calm and relaxed before him to keep herself from showing more of her feelings, but found it extremely hard from the way his eyes looked into her soul, and his deep, sensual voice causing every muscle in her body to tighten up with little difficulty.

  “I promise that I won’t do anything you are uncomfortable with, Lily.” Daniel spoke to her with a soothing sound to his voice while his thumb of the hand that was holding hers started to caress the back of it, massaging and sending tingles throughout her body. “If I start to do anything you disapprove of or makes you uncomfortable, let me know and I will stop doing it that very instant. My only wish it to please you and make you happy.”

  Her body started to ease the tension away from it once she found him wanting to take care of her, not hurt her. She drew in a breath of air, and gave a nod of her head prior to speaking up to him with the nervousness no longer there in it.

  “Very well, Daniel.”

  “May I have the honor of bathing you then?”

  “You may, my lord.”

  For a moment, Lily assumed he would ask her about calling her by a title instead of his name, but noticed a smile moving across his face in her direction. A shy yet sweet smile started to dance across her face from seeing how content and happy he seemed at that moment with her. She maintained the eye connection with him while her body moved with his towards the open doorway of the adjoined bathroom in the bedroom she had been taken to.

  * * *

  Moving over the threshold, Daniel led Lily over to a side of a large, white porcelain tub was nestled in the heart of the large bath chamber with hot water being close to the rim of it and small amounts of steam resonating from it. He moved his gaze over towards his attractive guest, and allowed it to dance over the curves of her body that was hidden beneath the white gown she had on at the moment since her attention was focused more on the large, lavishly decorated bathroom that he had brought her into.

  My god…I have never seen any woman so beautiful and pure of heart like Lily in all of the years of me being a vampire on this realm of existence.

  Daniel couldn’t get over how over a short span of time with the daughter of Radcliff and Marigold he was wanting nothing more than to go ahead and have the wedding that very night with her. She made him feel more alive than anyone else had ever done in the past centuries he lived on the planet in such a short time frame.

  This is the one for me…If I don’t ask her for her hand and marriage before tomorrow night and I let her slip away…someone else will take her far away from my sight…or her father will make sure she is locked up even tighter than she was before we met one another.

  He couldn’t allow that to happen. He wouldn’t allow someone else to steal away the heart of the woman who he planned to marry, or Radcliff to lock her away from his sights. The thought of either happening to her made his blood slowly boil a bit.

  There is only one clear decision in this matter…Lily will become my wife tomorrow night at the midnight ceremony.

  Slipping his hand away from hers, Daniel went over to where a nearby hook was positioned on the rock wall beside the door to the bathroom, and hung the white robe that Magdalene had placed out for her. He turned back around, and looked towards Lily from where he stood with a kind look in his eyes.

  “Well,” Daniel said, “Let’s see about that bath now, Lily, in order to warm your body, and relax any tension that is in your muscles.”

  “Very well, Daniel.” Lily replied, politely. “I think that is a good idea as well.”

  “Well…”

  “Well what?”

  “Lily…You have to remove your clothing in order to take the bath properly.”

  The moment he said those words to Lily, he watched a look of shock mixing with that of a horrified expression moved across her face. His eyes could tell that she hadn’t realized she would have to undress herself in front of him in the privacy of the bath chamber since Magdalene was not there to assist her with it due to him giving her the rest of the night off. He took note of her hands grabbing at the skirt of her dress a bit nervously while his ears picked up on the shaky sound that had grown within her gentle voice.

  “O-Okay, D-D-Daniel.” Lily looked around the area she was in with for a moment for a changing screen, but found nothing there to change behind in order to keep some form of modesty. Moving her eyes back towards him, she focused on his gaze while her childlike nervousness exposed itself even more in her voice towards him. “Um…C-Could you turn around while I undress? I…”

  Seeing her feeling distressed about taking her clothes off in front of him, Daniel walked across the floor, erasing the rest of the space between herself and him, and cupped her face in his hands. His thumbs brushed her cheeks up and down in a gentle, massaging gesture, while he spoke up to her with his deep voice taking on a more soothing sound to it in order to calm her nerves.

  “My lady…” Daniel whispered to her, softly, “You have no reason to fear anything from me.”

  “I know…It is just…”

  “Just what, Lily?”

  His eyes watched her head lower down a bit from his piercing stare to look in the direction of her feet. He slipped his hand away from her face just so that it was still nearby as to cup it again when the time seemed just right. Daniel waited in anticipation as he listened to her gentle voice.

  “I have never undressed in front of a man before, Daniel.”

  Of course…That explained everything to him. He was the first man she had ever been in this situation with, and he would also be the first one to see her body without any clothes on covering the curves that drove him absolutely crazy with unbridled passion. Any woman that hadn’t done this sort of thing in front of a man before would be nervous about what to do or how to go about it.

  Letting a faint smile come to his face, Daniel moved his hand back onto her face, and cupped the bottom of her chin. He eased her head back up to where their eyes met, and spoke to her with only tenderness within his deep, soothing voice.

  “It is perfectly natural for you to feel nervous or even afraid to do this in front of me, Lily. A woman who has never undressed for a man before would be just as nervous and on edge like you are right now.”

  Daniel thought for a moment: How am I going to ease the concern and dread from Lily? He didn’t wish for her to continue to be uneasy about the whole arrangement of not only staying there at his home, but also bathing before him. Suddenly, his sent him a suggestion that seemed to be the perfect fit for the moment.

  Moving his hand away from her face, he placed his hands at his sides shortly before his deep voice escaped from his strong mouth once more.

  “If it will help you, I will undress you from behind so that way your more private parts will be facing away from
me, and you won’t have to show them to me until you are comfortable with the idea of displaying them…Would that be okay?”

  “I…” Lily answered, “I would really like it if you did that for me, Daniel…if you don’t care to.”

  “I don’t care to do that at all for you, Lily.”

  Walking around behind her, Daniel lifted the very hand that he had cupped her cheek, as well as her chin in, with his other one, and started to tug at the lacings on the back of her dress that kept the rest of soft, fair skin, not to mention her curvy figure, hidden from sight.

  Chapter Ten

  Remain calm, Lily…Everything will be okay. Daniel won’t do anything to upset you or cross the boundary lines he has agreed to.

  Lily attempted to ease the tension away due to her conscience’s plea. She knew that he didn’t seem the type to go back on his words to her. He had been honest to her this whole time, and didn’t seem like the kind to turn on her now when he has won her trust.

  Slowly, her body started to detect a faint draft from behind, informing her that Daniel had already started to undo the upper part of the back of her dress. Her muscles tightened up on the spot out of nervousness from his hands working her gown’s binds free. Lily drew in a breath of air, and brought her hands to lie across her midsection, one on top of the other, as she released it out of her mouth.

  I am going to be okay…There is no reason why I should be so nervous right now. Daniel is very trustworthy and not the type of man to betray me.

  She found herself brought out of her train of thought by a new sensation: the tips of Daniel’s fingers moving down the center of her back as more of her gown was being opened up and pushed to the side. Lily struggled to keep her breathing patterns from being too loud or fast due to a warmth resonating from him she had not anticipated to expect.