“You want more?” Devon said, his breath hot on the curve of my ear. He took a nipple between his fingertips and squeezed. He licked my ear, then left a gentle kiss on my earlobe. A large hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed lightly. The pressure increased, until the hand pinned my face down against the soft sheets. Disorientation swirled around me. Stars permeated my peripheral vision. My arousal cinched at the bottom of my belly before someone behind me dipped two fingers into my pussy. He curved his digits, pressing against my sensitive walls. Briefly, I turned around to get a better view, and saw that it was Hansel who played with me. But of course it was. He’d always been the best at fingering me.
“Fuck!” I screamed. I bucked my hips, but a firm grip kept me in place.
“Not yet,” Devon said. He kissed my earlobe again, and his pinching of my nipple tightened. Pleasure and pain mixed in my thoughts, blinding my senses in ecstasy.
I shifted my gaze to my left. Above me, I spotted Theo, who took my hand in his and led it to his cock. It throbbed, hard and eager for my touch. My fingers quivered as I wrapped them around his length. He was larger than the rest of them, and imagining him plunging inside my pussy, torturing me with both fast and languid movements, caused my walls to tighten around Hansel’s fingers even more.
“She’s so fucking tight,” Hansel said. Smack. Another slap flew across my ass, courtesy of Hansel.
“Please, please, please,” I said, as I felt my climax edge closer. “I need one of you inside me.”
“Do you hear that?” Theo asked. “She’s begging.”
“Mmmm,” Liam said. He was watching from next to Theo. Gently, he brushed my hair away from my face.
“Fuck you,” I said. “Stop teasing me.”
“You like it,” Liam said. “It won’t be fun if you got what you wanted so easily, would it? You want to be played with. We’ll treat you like a princess, but sometimes that’ll get too boring, and you’ll want to be ravished like a fucking whore.”
“Patience,” Hansel said.
I was sick of hearing that bullcrap. That taunting. The lustful, sinful part of me just wanted to be animalistic and find release in the most intense, best way possible. “Just fuck me already!”
Hansel quickened the pace of his fingering. His digits found my sensitive spot. My muscles tightened in response, and a sultry moan poured from my lips. My grip around Theo’s thick cock tightened, and another slap fell against my ass.
“I’m c-close,” I said.
“Are you?”
I nodded.
Theo’s cock twitched.
I braced myself for the sweet sensation of release. For the tension in my belly to come apart. My eyes rolled into the back of my eyes and my lips parted as I readied my body to come.
Hansel pulled his digits out.
I blinked my eyes open as Theo parted himself from me.
What?
They weren’t really stopping, were they? Not now. Not when everything was getting so good.
I looked up, meeting Devon’s gaze. He had his arms folded.
“What the fuck?” I asked, my pussy pulsing from unreleased lust. “Why’d you guys stop?”
“We only award good girls,” Devon said. “And you were acting like quite the bitch.”
“Finish what you started,” I replied, unable to hide the shaking in my voice. I’d turned into a mixture of lust and desperation.
His eyes darkened, although I still saw a hint of playfulness. “No.”
I wanted to reach for my own center. I was so close! They couldn’t do this to me. But soon after, Hansel pushed me on my back. I slammed against soft sheets and was pinned down by his strong, muscular arm. Frustration rose in my chest as I began thrashing, fighting for an escape. My vassals were far stronger than I, however, and my efforts proved futile.
Hansel placed an innocent-seeming kiss on the side of my cheek. “Good night, Cara.”
“I’m not going to bed.”
“You need rest.”
“Nobody’s resting after that. I need…” Vulgar words danced on the tip of my tongue. Pride made me unwilling to admit to my desperation. I wriggled. With that, my thigh nudged against Hansel’s hard-on. He was obviously trying to hold himself back. “Is it worth it?” I asked. “You guys are blue-balling yourself.”
Fire danced in Hansel’s pupils. “It’s entertaining. Definitely worth it.”
I fought until my limbs had no more energy. The four of them watched me struggle like a useless mouse. I thought they were like felines, waiting to go in for the kill, but they never did.
And they all fucking fell asleep.
What the fuck?
I failed to fathom this madness.
But they’d trapped me in a state of lust, one I couldn’t even abate myself, because they wouldn’t let me.
I loved the heck out of them but I wanted to kill them for doing this to me.
I didn’t know that I’d regret these thoughts in the future.
Four
I fingered myself the next morning.
But of course I did.
I came, feeling awfully bad about myself right after. Rubbing my clit just wasn’t the same as having one of my vassals do it for me. The thrill of being pleasured by a bunch of guys was far better than some sad fap in a mythical restroom. Such were the realities of my life now. I guessed I shouldn’t complain so much. The tease was supposed to be part of the fun, right?
That didn’t mean I’d stop blaming them for being assholes.
Hansel kept me in place the entire night, his soft snore tickling the edges of my ear. I tried waking my vassals up, but being pigs might have exhausted them too much. Either that, or they’d magicked themselves into having perfect naps. None of them budged the entire night, and woke up in the exact positions they’d gone to bed in. This was next-level teasing. Fuck them for being so adept at being assholes.
I stepped out of the shower and toweled my hair dry. I inspected the length of my hair. It’d grown slightly ever since coming here, still red as ever. Out of curiosity, I summoned my wings. They spread out from my back. They were white, glorious, and contrasted nicely with my red hair, making my locks stand out. I blinked at the sight of my own reflection.
Wow. The wings truly made me look gorgeous. Like an angel. Now I just had to make them useful so that I had an excuse to keep them out all the time. I exited the restroom, re-entering my room to face my vassals. I was legitimately pissed off at them. They had no right to do what they’d done to me yesterday, and they ought to finish what they’d started.
Their aloof expressions and postures told me they weren’t keen at all to do so, however.
They were talking about something and didn’t acknowledge my entrance. Still, Hansel did have a dress prepared for me. It was always his prerogative to ensure I was well dressed.
“Not sure why we turned back,” Theo said. He was leaning against the windowsill and had a bone in his hand. My guess was that he’d just finished a piece of seagull. Aphrodite had provided some for breakfast.
Hansel sat on the bed, next to my dress. “Not going to question it if I like the outcome. I much prefer being myself.”
Devon was leaning against a wall, one leg crossed over the other. The light from the window shone on his skin, emphasizing his gorgeous bronze tone. “She did mention that it’d take some time for us to readjust. Maybe the effects from the portal wore off after a while.”
I cleared my throat, signaling my arrival.
Liam, who was sitting at the edge of the bed, glanced at me first. “Princess,” he said mockingly.
An angry blush warmed my cheeks. I curled my fingers into a fists, withholding the urge to yell at them. “You didn’t treat me like one last night.”
“You liked it very much.”
“Yeah, except for how it ended.”
“It was fun,” Devon added.
“Not for me. I couldn’t sleep a wink.”
Hansel pinched the bridge of his
nose. “Maybe I should have pampered you more.”
“You’re going to baby her too much,” Liam said. “That’ll soothe the fire right out of her, then she won’t be the Cara we know and love. How is she supposed to smarten up if we keep giving her what she wants?”
I frowned. “Smarten up?” I was very smart. I didn’t need to do anything of that sort. Then again, thinking like that might be an indication of my ignorance.
“You need to do that,” Liam added. “You shouldn’t believe the lies Aphrodite tells you so easily.”
“I don’t think she’s lying to me.”
“Everybody can tell that she is,” Hansel said. “She just wants to use you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, then continued toweling my hair. This topic made me uncomfortable, and my mind began searching for ways to avoid it. “I don’t see how. She… she loves me. I think that confession she gave me at the dining table kind of showed that. Right? I mean, you guys heard her, didn’t you? Or were you too busy being pigs?”
Devon scowled. “We heard her loud and clear.”
“And we don’t believe a word of what she said,” Hansel said. He was usually the nicest in the team. I wasn’t used to hearing him being this harsh or resolute. “Aphrodite and Ares are mad, Cara. You can’t trust them so easily.”
“They’re my parents.”
“Gods don’t care for blood ties,” he continued. “You must know that. Their long life spans allow them to litter half-bloods, children, across both realms, and sometimes they don’t even bother to acknowledge their offspring as theirs. Many half-bloods go through their entire lives without knowing what they are.”
I tensed before I testily dragged my towel down a lock of hair. “She was very convincing at the dining table.”
“The stories of how they acted during the Vassal War give us room for concern,” Devon said.
Theo flared his nostrils, indicating that he agreed.
“And what exactly did they do?” I asked.
“The massacres. The lies. Aphrodite was supposed to give up her position in the war, and Ares was to be put to death to appease the goddesses. They were cornered during the Battle of the Lake, and the goddesses thought they’d won.” Devon paused, his words hanging in the air ominously. “Aphrodite won the goddesses over to her side. With her sweet tongue, she convinced them that she’d lost her love for Ares and merely wanted to be with her sisters. But when the time was right, she turned on them. The vassals came in, and half the population of goddesses were wiped out, all killed by Ares and his followers.”
“They can’t be trusted, Cara,” Liam said firmly. The moon outside began to dim, and the temperature around me dropped. I could almost hear hope dying in the back of my mind. “After all the lies they scattered during the Vassal War, only a fool would believe their carefully crafted facades.”
“What’s to say that they’re not being truthful this time?” I was Aphrodite’s daughter, and she wanted to claim me as hers. Couldn’t a girl dream a little?
Hansel sighed. “She’s been too taken by Aphrodite. There’s no convincing her.”
I shook my head. “I understand where you’re coming from.” Clotho did warn me about my parents, after all. But the taste of a mother’s love was too intoxicating. The child in me had awakened, eager for more of Aphrodite’s gentle treatment after receiving just some of it. What if I truly had a blood family? The kind I’d always wanted? “You’re worried and concerned for me. You just don’t want me to get hurt. But did you guys listen to her? I want to take a chance.”
“We’re your family,” Devon said. As I turned to him, I saw his liquid gold eyes pinning me down. He pushed himself from his position and ambled toward me, his footsteps gentle with careful grace. With sincerity filling his expression, he took my hand and brought it to his chest. “You don’t have to worry about being alone, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“I’m greedy,” I said. “I want all the kinds of love the world has to offer.” It could be due to my childhood. I recalled the crippling loneliness of being an outcast. How I never seemed to fit in. Bullied. Shunned. Motherless.
Devon’s attention lingered. I felt smaller under his gaze, like someone who ought to be protected by him. Softly, Devon stroked his thumb over the back of my hand. The coarseness of his touch grazed my skin and sent trickles of tension down my back. Suddenly, the memory of what they’d done to me last night returned, and I wanted them to finish what they’d started. “We’ll stand by you,” Devon said. “Regardless of what you decide. But it’s still our duty to let you know what you’re risking and getting yourself into. We don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I won’t be.”
“How blindly you have faith is why it’ll be painful if things go wrong.”
My heart quivered at Devon’s warning. What were the chances, right?
The child in me wished to follow blindly.
My mind kept circling the Aphrodite’s confession at the dining table.
“She won’t betray me,” I said.
Devon narrowed his eyes. “And how can you say that so surely?”
I bit my jaw tight. “What she said yesterday, and how those words left her lips. It’s not easy to fake.”
Devon closed the distance between us. He wrapped his arms around me, swallowing me with his large, muscular frame. Gently, he lowered his head then took my mouth, kissing me in the sensual way he liked to.
The suddenness of it took my breath away. “Let’s hope you’re right, Cara. For your own good, and perhaps for the sake of the two realms, too. You’re playing a dangerous game. Your mother has won wars with her deceit. She sees you as just a toy.”
“I don’t want to be her toy,” I said. “I’m her daughter.”
“The world of the gods is cruel and vicious.”
Five
The next morning, Aphrodite had already gotten bored of the castle. Living for so long gave her a short attention span, one that rivaled mine. My soft duvet had turned into one made of straw, and the stone-tiled ground, through her (or the chiasma’s) magic, transformed into dirt.
I’d woken up surrounded by my vassals, who were still keen to continue their teasing game, much to my frustration. I refused to let their stubbornness get to me. Instead, I acted like I didn’t care. If my ploy was working, I wouldn’t know, because they were doing a good job of pretending like they were unaffected, too.
Liam sat up, wearing an annoyed scowl. He pressed his hand on his head then turned toward me. “Your mother has a terrible choice of bedding. A straw blanket? It’s so damn prickly.” Liam’s hair draped over his torso. He often had it tied up, but he’d gone to bed without his ponytail. His black locks framed his sharp jaw. The ceilings had turned to straw, too, allowing streams of light to form patterns on his face.
I thought I’d woken up to an angel, but, of course, he was anything but. The uncaring bad-boy attitude Liam projected always reminded me of the devil.
I pulled Theo arm from my torso, stifling a grunt. He was still sleeping like a babe, completely oblivious to our sudden change in surroundings. I pushed myself to a seating position, then wiggled my way through the arrangement of limbs and hard torsos to get off the bed. Before I stood, Liam grabbed my arm, then pulled me toward him. He wrapped his arm around my waist, before planting a kiss at the side of my elbow.
I blew a breath through my nose. “If you’re not going to go through with it, then don’t start.”
“We like seeing you like this,” Liam said, dragging a teasing touch down the side of my arm.
Devon had woken up, too. He propped himself on his elbow and looked at me with his honeyed eyes. With a smile inching up the sides of his face, he rested his cheek on the edge of my thigh. His gesture wasn’t sexual, but intimate, which allowed some of my annoyance to dissipate, and sent warm sensations up my belly.
They were so beautiful.
What had I done to deserve these men?
My stomach grumbled,
breaking the comfortable silence that hugged us. Liam peered up at me. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
“If my stomach is any indication,” I said, “yeah. Or maybe it just wanted to sing a song.”
“Sing a song?” Devon asked, lifting a brow.
I was uttering stupid things again. I shrugged, indicating that Devon just had to deal with the craziness that left my lips sometimes. They were hit and miss. Sometimes awesome, often just gibberish. My vassals knew that, and they probably liked it.
“I should check with Mommy about what’s on the menu,” I said.
Liam frowned. “Mommy? Are you that close now?”
“It’s how the other kids used to address their parents. Figured I’d hop on the bandwagon, even though I’m, like, ten years late.”
The displeased expression on Liam’s perfect face wrinkled further. “Don’t you think that might be a bit too cringey?”
“Who’s to judge?”
“Us?”
“Haven’t you heard?” I asked. “Cringey nicknames are the best way to foster bonds.”
“Since when?”
“Don’t bother,” Hansel said. I hadn’t realized he’d woken up, too. “Cara’s a hard mystery to solve.”
I puckered my lips at him. “You always get me best.”
He winked at me, then straightened with a proud expression, as if my favoritism was a competition to be won.
I rolled my eyes at him before slipping out of the bed and heading toward the door. Still, I couldn’t hide the smile on my lips.
“Where are you going?” Devon asked. “It’s still early. Don’t you want to cuddle?”
His need for attention, strangely, stirred warmth in my belly, but I quickly bunched up my hair to neaten it in an ironically messy ponytail and slipped out the door.
“So much for loyalty!” Devon shouted. He didn’t really mean that I was betraying them, did he? I was just excited. He did sound lighthearted, so I brushed his comment off as a joke.
Hansel did seem a little dejected when I didn’t let him dress me up, however. He loved making me look pretty with his expertise, and somehow, despite us being in a new and foreign land, he’d managed to whip up a new outfit for me. It lay next to the new bed, waiting for me to put it on.
Goddess Academy: The Complete Reverse Harem Collection Page 45
