by Zoey Ellis
Maddoc growled in annoyance. He rose from the bed and headed toward his pile of clothes. Searching through them, he lifted his pants and dug his hand into the pocket to collect something, then approached the table of food and indicated for her to follow.
Ana scrambled off the bed and did as instructed, apprehension growing in her stomach. Father surely would have poisoned the food by now, and even though she had been completely fine with the idea of poisoning him earlier that day, the idea of it now was… unsettling.
Maddoc held out his hand again, and in the center of his palm sat a large blue pebble. It didn’t look like it came from anywhere on the royal grounds; it was an unusual color, almost as though it were a gem. “This was created for me by a woman whose life I saved,” Maddoc said. “It detects harmful substances.”
“How is it able to do that?”
“When I hold it near poisonous or toxic substances, no matter how small a dose, it burns bright blue.”
Ana laughed nervously. “Is that what you were doing yesterday?”
Maddoc nodded. “Yes, I was checking if the food was poisoned. It seemed too good to be true for the king to feed me, although I’ve made it quite difficult for him to kill me outright, at least for now.” He turned to face the table holding out the pebble in his palm.
Ana watched his face to see how much he truly believed what he was saying. There’s no way this could work.
To her utter surprise, the pebble began to shine blue almost immediately. She gasped and Maddoc stiffened. He held his hand over the table, watching the stone, and it glowed when hovered over every dish, even over the mead. But when he moved his hand over the water, it faded back to its normal blue color.
“It seems the king was trying to trick me into a false sense of security,” Maddoc said, his voice low. “The man has no honor.”
Ana frowned. “Because he tried to poison an outlaw?”
“Because he’s supposed to be honoring the Royal Promise,” Maddoc barked. “He shouldn’t be trying to kill me by sneaking poison into my food while he is paying off a debt. He will have to suffer for this.” Maddoc growled, turning from the table agitated. “I wonder sometimes if I should bother waiting for his demise. I should just kill him.”
Ana’s stomach plummeted. Fear twisted back into her stomach, along with a heavy dose of annoyance. “You won’t succeed.”
Maddoc turned to her, his eyes blazing. “Anything I want to do, I do it.”
“Then why didn’t you?” she said sharply. “You keep insinuating you can kill him any time you want; you claim you had the opportunity to do so when he was injured. Why didn’t you then and why don’t you now? I’m starting to think you can’t do anything to him, only find ways of punishing other people to make him suffer.” She huffed out a breath as her heart pounded in her chest. “Instead of using other people, and causing them pain, why don’t you just do it?”
“Have you ever heard me say I want to kill the king?” Maddoc thundered.
“It’s obvious you do. It’s what you tell the villagers, and it’s the point every time you strike a blow at the crown,” Ana said hotly.
“This is what makes you ignorant,” Maddoc said, stepping toward her. “You believe everything you’re told, you do everything they say, you don’t learn things for yourself or try to make sense of the illogical facts they present to you. Lies upon lies upon fabrications dominate this kingdom. You even watch them,” he accused. “You watch them playing their games of gossip, and yet you believe that everything you are told is the truth.” His expression was of such disgust that Ana flushed.
“Are you saying that you never did any of those things?” Ana asked, knowing she wouldn’t believe him if he said no.
Maddoc said nothing for a moment. He took another step and she stepped back at the same time, the tension between them so thick it was like being tethered to lightning. “It is how it is presented,” he said finally.
Ana blinked. Wasn’t that what Mother said?
“For example,” Maddoc continued, “do you agree you are a whore?”
Ana ground her jaw so hard she was surprised her teeth didn’t crack. “No, I don’t fucking agree.”
“And yet, even though you’ve come here against your will, you open your legs to me and accept me between them without question,” Maddoc said. “I present you with my cock and you open your mouth and drink whatever I give you, you moan and scream and touch and caress me, you urge me to fuck you, wriggling those sexy hips and spreading your legs wider to tease me with that sweet slit.”
Ana stared at him horrified. “That’s not—”
“Those are the facts!” Maddoc thundered. “And even if they weren’t, it would be easy to imply. Tell me, would you call a woman doing all those things a whore?”
Ana’s face burned so hot she could barely breathe. She pressed her palms to her cheeks to cool them down, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Maddoc. “It’s not the same situation.”
“It’s exactly the same. It’s even predictable.” Maddoc grabbed her, pulling her against his body. “I already know that when I touch you here,” he said, brushing his hand over her nipple and tweaking it, “your slick will perfume the room. If I put those nipples in my mouth, the potency of your slick triples, and makes me harder than I’ve ever been before.”
“Stop,” Ana begged quietly, lowering her eyes, mortified.
He dropped his hand to her mound and tickled along her folds. “I know that if I yank your hair while your hips are tilted just the right way, you will come so beautifully and squeeze my cock so hard, you will dominate my thoughts for hours.”
Ana swallowed, trying to come to terms with what he was saying. “I don’t care if I’m your whore now. I won’t always be.”
Maddoc peered down at her but she couldn’t look him in the eyes. She had been trying so hard to justify the way he’d made her feel, but he was right, it could be simplified down to one simple truth: she was his whore. It wasn’t like she didn’t know that would happen when this started. He’d wanted to humiliate her, embarrass her, and ruin her—and that’s what he’d done. She couldn’t stop him from telling people that… if he survived her father’s attempt to kill him.
“Even if my reputation never recovers from this, after tomorrow night, you will go on your way, and I’ll marry my fated mate,” she said trying to cling on to the hope that Ryden would still want her. “I’ll do all those things with him, and I won’t be a whore then.”
Maddoc’s fingers on her slit froze. “He is not your fated mate.”
“It was arranged,” she explained. “We have been paired.”
“I don’t give a fuck. It is a lie.”
“And how would you know?” Ana asked, irritably.
“How can you not know,” he bellowed.
Ana jerked, surprised at his sudden anger. “I haven’t… been with him yet. I’ll know as soon as I am—it should be better than being with you.”
Maddoc roared, veins pulsing in his neck as he grabbed her and lifted her until her eyes were level with him. “There will never be anything better!”
Ana snarled at him, her anger jumping to match his. This man was so arrogant! “Nothing better than being your whore?” she snapped at him. “I’m sure your ego allows you to believe that, but I assure you, it’s not true!”
“If I wanted a whore, I could get a different one for each hour of every night.” The darkness in his eyes swirled as his gaze clung to her. “It’s not about that.” He carried her to bed and threw her down. “Do you think you will ever be as aroused as this?” He pried her legs open to reveal fresh slick smeared all over her inner thighs.
Ana hissed and tried to push his hands away but he held on tight, dragging her to the edge of the bed. He positioned himself at her entrance, his mushroomed tip massaging the aching muscles of her entrance that had been waiting for him from the moment she woke. She bit back a moan, but her muscles clenched around him of their own accord, and he sunk in s
lowly.
“Do you think any other cock could fill you so deeply? So completely?”
At that moment, Ana couldn’t imagine it. He was so deep, she was almost breathless. “It’s not my choice,” she said, with difficultly. “That is how I’ve been paired.”
Maddoc’s eyes flashed as he pulled all the way out, then slammed in again. Ana cried out, trying to catch her breath.
“He will not have you,” he ground out bitterly as he pulled back, then slammed in again. “You belong to me. You always have.”
Ana twisted her torso, surrendering to the blunt force pleasure he served, but tried to keep her mind on what he was saying. “Only… for three… nights,” she managed, as her body shunted on the bed from his thrusts.
Maddoc lifted her from the bed and held her firm on his cock as he turned them around. He sat on the bed and wound his fingers into her hair, pulling her back slightly as he looked down on her, the moonlight making his shining eyes almost enchanted. “It was never only for three nights, Analisa.”
8
Maddoc remained infuriated for the rest of the night. He didn’t speak to her again, and she didn’t dare say anything else or ask him any more questions.
He kept her permanently lodged on his knot, and as soon as he slipped out of her, he was pummeling her with his cock again. There was a vicious edge to the way he handled her now, as though he was annoyed she mentioned Ryden or defended her father. He bit her on her breast, hard enough to draw blood this time, and wouldn’t let her clean it up. He now slept with her underneath him completely, not allowing her to get up without him knowing.
Ana felt trapped, suffocated by his overbearing behavior and his body. When she panicked from the feel of claustrophobia, a soothing rumbling vibration thrummed from his chest and seeped into her body, helping her to relax. As she drifted to sleep she realized he was purring for her.
Each time she woke up after that, his purr strengthened, settling her underneath him and soothing her back to a sleepy state. She wasn’t sure what he meant by it was never only three nights, but each time she woke, his words revolved in her mind. If he planned for more, then why the pretense? Were his men orchestrating something while he was in here with her? Was he using her as a distraction for the guards, her parents, and the court, while he did something horrible somewhere in the palace? That seemed to be the most logical conclusion, but how could she figure that out without more information?
As dawn approached, he got up and dressed, then picked up Ana and placed her near the center of the room by the window. She wasn’t close enough to see out, but the daylight shone directly on her, which brightened her mood.
Maddoc stood in front of her, his eyes roaming her face as she looked up at him. “I will answer all of your questions at dawn tomorrow.”
Ana nodded, but she knew that by dawn tomorrow, it would be too late. The king had already planned for something terrible to happen to Maddoc. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it now that she’d spent time with him. Was it foolish that she didn’t want him to die?
“Don’t punish Father for the food, Maddoc. Please.”
He held her eyes for a moment. “Do you think if it were reversed, he would spare me?”
Ana’s face dropped. No, of course he wouldn’t. Father had wanted to kill Maddoc for years. “But you are an outlaw. You might not like it, but you break laws. You can’t compare yourself to my father.”
“You are not one who can make that comparison, Analisa.” His gritty voice was tinged with annoyance. “You have no knowledge of what your father does on a daily basis, the decisions he makes, the people who are effected by it.”
“I do. I watch court hearings all the time.”
Maddoc shot her a look. “Have you ever turned up to one unannounced?”
Ana frowned. “What difference would that make?”
Maddoc didn’t answer, but his gaze never left her, and a twinge in her stomach made her wonder if she really wanted him to.
“You said you wouldn’t kill him,” she mumbled, her eyes low.
“And I won’t.”
Ana, grateful for that, dipped her head.
Maddoc used a finger to tilt her chin up. “Remember, no one is to touch you.”
Ana almost rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure why you think I’m engaging in all of these sexual activities. I can barely survive nights with you.”
Maddoc’s beard twitched. “Sex is a commodity in Allandis high society, Ana.”
Ana nodded, she’d always known that. “But why would I do anything with them?”
“Being a virgin doesn’t mean that you don’t trade other favors.”
Ana thought back to the way he had ordered her to her knees the previous night. He’d been checking if she’d had any prior experience before.
As if he read her mind, Maddoc slowly lowered to his knees, Ana’s eyes widened, unsure what he was doing, but when he leaned forward and pressed his nose to her mound, she let out a breathy moan. “Maddoc,” she whispered.
His tongue brushed her folds, stroking them gently before pressing his mouth farther in and sucking, flicking and grazing everything he could reach.
Ana moaned, pleasure racking her body as his mouth closed over her clit. She ground her hips in her his face, tilted them and spread her legs to give him more access. He set a steady rhythm, brushing and swirling his tongue until she was climbing that breath-stealing peak. His hands squeezed her ass, pulling her closer to him; her hands were in his hair, grabbing handfuls as the pleasure built.
Just as she was about to tip over the edge, Maddoc pulled away and rose to his feet, those intense eyes back on her.
Ana panted, frowning. “Why did you stop?”
Maddoc tilted his head toward the window, and when Ana turned to it, she was almost blinded by the sun. It had just broken over the horizon and was streaming through the window. Ana almost cursed. The damn sun!
Maddoc leaned in so close, she could smell herself on his glistening lips.
“I will finish at dusk tonight,” he murmured. “And I will know if you have touched yourself, so don’t.”
Ana rolled her eyes in amusement. So she couldn’t even touch herself. She should have guessed. Strangely, the idea of seeing him at dusk was exciting. Having him kneel before her like that, giving her pleasure with his mouth while she stood, had to be one of the sexiest and erotic things she had experienced with him.
She nodded, and Maddoc glanced down at her lips. She wondered if he wanted to kiss her as badly as she wanted him to, but they couldn’t touch each other now.
After a long moment, he picked up her dress and walked out.
Milly came to collect her again, this time armed with appropriate gowns, shawls, and hats. She was pleased to see that Ana wasn’t as distressed as the first night, so she left her alone to bathe while summoning her parents.
Ana took her time bathing, glad to wash off the sweat, dried semen, and crusted blood. She didn’t feel as achy as last night, but her body still pained her a little. Her mind was busy mulling over Maddoc’s behavior. The most concerning thing for her was his implying he’d planned to extend their nights together. Father certainly wouldn’t allow it, but Maddoc was not stupid—and would have known that. She wondered if he planned to kidnap her, but that didn’t make sense either. And why would Maddoc, who traveled all over the kingdom, steal a princess who would be recognizable anywhere she went? It wouldn’t be smart to have her live as an outlaw like him, so what did he mean? She sighed and shook her head.
The most immediate and pressing issue was Father killing him at dawn tomorrow. At the beginning, she didn’t think twice about his impending death, but now… she wasn’t sure she could be part of that—not without at least warning him. Maddoc was forceful, brutish, crude, and rude when he wanted to be, but there were moments, like this morning, when he was almost perfect, and that in itself was amazing. She never expected to find even one part of him desirable or worth of a second thought, but h
e was more complex than Ana realized.
She knew, though, that she couldn’t expect Mother and Father not to take the opportunity to kill him if they had the chance. She may have found some qualities in him she liked, but she wasn’t so blinded that she didn’t realize they were largely due to her instincts as an Omega. She didn’t know the man apart from what she’d experienced in the room, and he had done some terrible things over the years. In that sense, warning him seemed foolish.
Mother and Father arrived after her bath and sat where they had yesterday morning—the queen on the chair facing the bed, the king standing slightly behind her, and Ana sat on the bed.
“You seem to be doing much better this morning than yesterday morning,” the queen remarked, her eyes roaming over her daughter carefully.
Ana nodded. “I think I’m getting used to it.”
“You shouldn’t have to get used to that,” the king growled.
“Did you remember all things we talked about,” the queen asked.
Ana inhaled a breath and nodded. “I wasn’t that successful,” she admitted.
The queen smiled. “That’s all right. Sometimes it takes time to get ahold of our own instincts and emotions. I’m sure you’ll do much better tonight. Tell us what happened.”
Ana shrugged. “I’m not sure how much there is to tell,” she admitted. “Much of it was similar to last night, except he was more focused on me than the table.”
“It looks as though he didn’t eat at all?”
Ana shook her head. “He has a method of determining whether his food is safe or not.”
The king lifted his brow while the queen inclined her head. “How?”
“Magic.”
Both the king and the queen stared at her, clearly as shocked as she had been. “Magic?” the queen finally said. “Maddoc uses magic?”
“I don’t know how extensively he uses it, but he does believe in it, and he was able to use it last night to figure out that everything on the table was poisoned, except for the water.”
