She didn’t need a mirror to know her cheeks turned crimson. The last spanking had left her hungry for her warlord’s dominance, and she’d been unable to hide how much she wanted him.
“What, then?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Now do as I’ve asked; up on the bed.”
Still, she hesitated, and he reached out and swatted her backside with a resounding crack. It stung, but deliciously so. “Any more delays will result in pleasure for me and none for you.”
Horrified at the thought of him leaving her aching and needy, she gasped. “You wouldn’t leave me wanting, would you?”
He arched a brow.
“You would! Darios, that is cruel.”
She suddenly found herself in what was quickly becoming a familiar position, on her belly across her husband’s lap. His hand came down smartly on one upraised cheek.
“Cruel is disappearing without a word.”
His wide palm treated the other side with a sizzling swat.
“Cruel is leaving your newly affirmed husband imagining all manner of horrible things happened to you that awful day.”
The spanking continued, with him alternating sides and speaking at a greater volume to be heard over the sound of skin striking bare skin and her cries of protest.
“I’m sorry, Darios. Ouch!”
“Not as sorry as I was when I thought you’d been abducted.”
“Please,” she squealed, her feet flutter kicking in the air as the heat and sting on her backside increased. “I didn’t intend to worry you.”
But she didn’t have to plead with him further, he stopped and began stroking her tingling hot cheeks with light feathery caresses.
“There is also the matter of a missing crown.”
She stiffened, knowing she deserved a few swats for taking it. “About that.”
“I cannot wait to hear this.”
“I thought taking it might give you incentive—”
“To spank you?” he put in drily. “You were correct.”
“No, to come after me.”
There was a pause, his palm resting on her warmed cheek then his fingers flexed, and he murmured gruffly, “You are mine, princess. Priceless artifact from our pasts notwithstanding, I will always come after you.”
“Oh, Darios...” she breathed, too moved to say more.
The light stroking resumed before he said, at length, “You’ve been rather willful in this first week of our marriage.”
“Yes, but you must admit this has been a very unusual week, my lord.”
“This is the truth,” he murmured quietly.
“The blood is rushing to my head, Darios. May I get up?”
He flipped her upright, perching her bare behind on his equally bare thigh. She hissed when her burning cheeks met hard, unyielding muscles. The mild discomfort was quickly forgotten when he cupped her chin and held her still for a smoldering open-mouthed kiss that left her breathing hard.
After one more soft lip touch, he patted her hip and set her on her feet, rising in a fluid motion beside her. “On the bed. We’ll get this punishment done and get on with our pleasure.”
“You mean it’s not...but I thought...” Her hands flew to her burning behind, and she rubbed while she spluttered, “If not punishment, what was that?”
“A little extra I hadn’t planned. Which will teach you not to delay when I’m in a disciplinary mood.”
“You hold a mean grudge, my lord.”
“When my wife nearly terrifies me into an early grave, you better believe I do.” He patted the bed. “No more stalling.”
Despite her stinging rear cheeks, she trusted him implicitly. And since he was in this mood, she figured her best course of action was compliance. She crawled atop their huge plush bed. Flushing hotly, she got on all fours like he ordered, feeling vulnerable and incredibly naughty with her bare breasts swaying and her freshly spanked bottom pointed in the air.
The bed shifted moments later when he joined her.
“You mentioned you like the warmth of me surrounding you. With this, you’ll feel the heat both inside and out. It won’t harm you but will make you burn and sting some. Reminding you now, and hopefully in the future, if you are ever tempted to run off on impulse, who you belong to and to whom you owe your trust and fealty.”
“It’s you, Darios, my overlord, my husband, and the possessor of my heart. There is no question.”
“Possessor of you heart. I like that,” he murmured while stroking her already-warm cheeks with affection. “Is this the new tradition you came up with?”
“I don’t know yet. I thought of it, spur of the moment, when you rescued me from the red devil. It’s still not quite there yet, though it’s close.”
His low chuckle sent a pleasurable ribbon of warmth coiling through her belly. It soared to an incredible heat when he announced, “Let’s see this done, shall we? Place your chest on the bed and reach behind you with both hands. I want you to pull your bottom cheeks apart and hold them open while I insert the ember root.”
“Ember!” she screeched. “Darios, you can’t. I’m not a fire bringer, like you.”
“Ember root, Aurelia.” He held up an innocuous-looking object. Pinkish in color, it was shorter but slightly wider than one of his fingers. “Do you honestly think I’d do something that would harm you?”
“Well...no, but, what is that?”
“Something husbands have used on Voltarre for discipline for centuries. It’s carved to fit snugly inside you. Like that day in the tub, it will warm you, as I did, and give you a sense of fullness. It may sting a bit but will also keep you from clenching your muscles during your punishment, which can lead to bruising. Something I’m trying to avoid. It will remain in place for the duration of your punishment.”
One end had a rounded tip and gradually flared out to double its size in the middle. The other narrowed to form a neck, then broadened into a knob-like handle.
“You are joking, aren’t you?”
His brows slammed together, looking the opposite of amused. He confirmed it by saying in a deep, unyielding tone, “I found little about the past week to joke about. This lesson will be a reminder to prevent anything like what we’ve just been through from happening again. Now, get in the position I have asked of you several times.”
With her cheek resting on the bed and her backside pointing in the air, Aurelia reached back and spread her cheeks, exposing herself in a manner she’d never imagined doing—ever.
She closed her eyes, and her face burned with embarrassment. Darios seemed to know what it took for her to do this because he slid his hand up the back of her thigh and patted the lower curve of her behind in approval.
“Putting your trust in me and submitting to my commands even when they aren’t comfortable is part of the lesson, princess.”
“If I admit to having learned the lesson already, can we be through?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so,” she groaned.
“Try not to tense up during this next part.”
Something cool slid between her cheeks, as he gently slathered what she suspected was a slippery gel up and down the cleft. He took his time preparing her for what lay ahead, even dipping inside, and spreading the gel there, too.
A moment later, the small, smooth tip of the carved root pressed against her. There was a bit of pressure, probably because she’d done the opposite of what he instructed and stiffened up. When it entered, it stretched her as it slowly advanced.
Her breathing quickened, and her mouth went suddenly dry. Involuntarily, a fretful whimper arose from her throat.
“Relax. It’s not much bigger than my finger, and you took that without issue. Slow your breathing, and the rest will slip right in.”
She tried to focus on his words, to allow her muscles to go slack. The root advanced, until with a little pop, it seated fully and snugly inside her.
She blew out every molecule of air in her lungs.
&n
bsp; He patted her behind. A habit he’d acquired that she found patronizing but loved nonetheless. “Not too awful, now, was it?”
“Dare I ask if you’ve ever had one inside you?”
“In that tone? I wouldn’t advise it.”
“Then I reserve my judgement of awful until it’s no longer inside of me.”
“Fair enough. Let’s continue.” Something smooth and cool rubbed in light circles over her cheeks. Curious, she was about to ask about it, when it came down with a solid thwack on one side, repeating quickly on the other. The slow circling resumed which she welcomed because whatever it was stung—a lot!
Now she had to know. “What is that?”
“Your hairbrush. I hadn’t thought of using it for this purpose until you gave me the idea. So, you have yourself to thank for this.”
“So glad to be of help,” she muttered under her breath.
“I can keep this up all night if you need it.”
“I don’t. I swear.”
With a splat, the brush fell twice more. It burned, and the source wasn’t only her spanked bottom but the root he’d inserted inside her. She squirmed, trying to ease the building heat.
“Keep still,” he advised, “and stay relaxed. It will make the twenty you’ve got coming easier. Afterward, I’ll have your vow of obedience and we’ll put this behind us.”
“Yes, my lord. Will you take it out then? It’s burning.”
“Is it unbearable?”
She thought about it and had to admit, “No,” though she did so with great reluctance. “Darios?”
“Yes, princess.”
“After, will you reaffirm that you love me, too?”
Splat, splat!
Without warning, the brush came down crisply, and he growled, “After what we’ve been through, you have to ask? I love you, Aurelia. If I get angry, disappointed, or frustrated to tears, it doesn’t change any of that.”
She twisted so she could see him kneeling tall on the bed behind her, one steadying hand on her lower back, the other rubbing in light circles on her warm, tingling cheeks. His eyes rose to hers, a brow arched.
“You cry?”
“If I lost you? I’d overflow rivers with my tears.”
Her eyes prickled and grew wet. “I was wrong when I said possessor, Darios. You are the champion of my heart, which I give to you without reservation. I love you and will try my utmost not to cause a single teardrop to fall.”
He dropped the brush. One hand sank into the back of her hair as the other curved around her jaw. Upright on her knees the next moment, his lips crushed hers in a hungry kiss that set off a wild rush of need surging inside her.
When he pulled away, he was breathing hard like her. “For a quick lesson before a thorough fucking, this has got to be the longest punishment on record. You’ve got fourteen yet to come. Are you ready to continue?”
“Uh-huh,” was all she could manage.
He lowered her back into position and without further commentary, got straight to his task. His strokes fell into a rhythm—two spanks on each cheek then he stroked the cool back of the polished wooden brush in a soothing circular motion over the warm, stinging spots he’d made. After a brief pause, the pattern repeated.
Sometimes while the brush circled, he ran his fingers the length of her wet seam or delved in between—which felt wonderful. And he’d lightly tap the end of the root poking out from between her cheeks. It would shift inside her, heating up just like it did when she tensed, or squeezed in anticipation of a swat, which she suspected was the underlying purpose of the embedded root in the first place.
It kept her from tensing up and making the spanking worse than it had to be.
But, always, he returned to the pattern: two swats, one side at a time, and the soothing circling caress in between.
“That’s twenty,” he said at last.
“Thank heavens,” she groaned, “because I’m on fire.”
“I have a soothing cream for after.”
“No, not in that way. I burn inside, but for you, Darios.” She angled her head and peeked at him over her shoulder as she implored, “Please, come inside me.”
“With pleasure,” he growled as he stretched out on his back entirely naked. Somewhere he’d lost his breechcloth, but she didn’t care when or how when he pulled her on top of him, straddling his thighs. Spanning her waist, he raised her high enough for his cock to find her center then let her weight slide her down his shaft so that he was deeply embedded.
They both groaned as they came together.
Her hands found the firm expanse of his chest, and while she rocked onto him, she felt extra full with the ember root still planted in back. It shifted, sending a wave of heat coursing through her. “You forgot something.”
“No, I didn’t. You will enjoy being warmed and filled completely, wait and see.”
“I’m on fire for you, Darios, as though you were a mythical dragon who breathed his fire into me.”
He chuckled, thrusting upward and moving hot and deep inside her. “I’m no myth, Aurelia, merely a man.”
“Yes, but one who can fight off ice blasts, magma flares, and red devils. To me, you are much more than a mere anything.”
“Keep stroking my ego, as well as my cock, and you’ll soon experience a magma flare deep inside you.”
“Darios!” she cried, half moan half laugh at his outrageous claim.
She squealed when he declared, “Enough,” and with an arm around her waist, rolled them both until he was on top of her, his weight pressing her back into the big soft bed. “Say the words, Aurelia.”
Half-dazed with lust, she stared up at him in confusion. “Give me your magma flare?”
Laughter rolled out of him, startling her further. “Not those words, little one. The words that made you mine.”
“Oh,” she said, rather relieved that wasn’t what he meant.
Growing serious, she laid her palm upon his magnificent chest, resting it flat over his heart and the sunburst inked into his skin above it. She kept it there while she took his palm and pressed it between her breasts where her own heart beat steadily. Almost verbatim, she repeated his words to her that night.
“When you find the one meant for you, and only you, you feel it here. You are the champion of my heart, Darios, and abide here permanently now.”
Yearning to be as close to him as possible, touching as much of his skin as she could while he possessed her, she wrapped both legs around his waist. Then she slid both hands over his shoulders, and up his neck until she cradled his firm jaw in both palms.
“Though it seems impossible, considering we are from two different worlds, I have no doubts whatsoever I was meant to be yours. I love you and, this time, there is no think about it.”
His eyes flashed with fire, and his already-deep voice turned gruff with emotion. “I knew you were mine the moment I saw you gazing up at me from that cage—frightened, vulnerable, and soot-smudged, though still beautiful. I love you, princess, and there are no doubts in my mind, either.”
What came next was a passion-filled, soul-deep joining. Arching her hips, she met him, driving rhythm beat for beat and thrust for thrust, never looking away from the smoldering desire in his eyes and the love that also sparked there. Fueled to new heights by unconditional love and forgiveness, their bodies fused in one powerful cataclysmic release. So hot, in fact, Aurelia could have sworn she heard the air around them sizzle when they climaxed.
Later, after their skin had cooled and their pulses slowed, Darios propped himself on one arm. She gazed up at his beloved face and saw the change that had come over him in the relaxing of his features—half-lidded eyes, banked fire in the brown depths, and the softness of his full lips. Though as she watched him, his mouth tipped up in a grin.
“Champion of your heart?” he asked.
A bit melodramatic, but it was how she thought of him. And she wasn’t embarrassed by what she’d said, or how she felt. She’d stand beneath t
he flags flying high atop the citadel and shout it to all of Voltarre if that’s what it took to convince him.
“You are always defending me, and since we’ve affirmed ourselves several times now, possessor is a given. It shouldn’t only be men who have a special title wrapped in tradition for their chosen one. Champion is a perfect representation, I think.”
“Always fighting for equality,” he acknowledged with a chuckle. “Are you ready to embark on another millennium-long war? Because my men are stubborn and not likely to give up what they are accustomed to when it works in their favor.”
“So, you admit it!”
“When have I denied it? Our men, like yours, have always taken the lead, but we have outpaced Aeldor in women’s equality. We have fire maidens, where your army is all men.”
“You spank, where our men do not,” she returned.
“And you enjoy it, though you’ve failed to admit it.”
“Darios!”
He grinned, ending the debate with a quick yet thorough kiss.
“Champion may very well catch on, but need I remind you, we already have a special word for what I am to you—affirmed husband.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Yes, but it’s neither beautiful nor romantic like bride of my heart.”
In a swift, fluid motion, he flipped onto his back while draping her over his body like a blanket. His hands plunged into her hair as he brought her mouth to his. “Only you would desire a beautiful, romantic term to refer to your man.”
“I’m sure there are others who feel the same way.”
“I prefer three little words, rather than flowery titles. I’ll have them now, Wife.”
She knew instantly the ones he meant. “I love you, Darios.”
His glittering gaze sparked with heat. “That is what I call beautiful and romantic, and all I’ll ever need to hear.” He captured her lips with his own and like the very first time, his blistering-hot kiss set fire to her soul.
Other Titles by Maddie Taylor
THE RENEGADES’ REWARD
Devastated by tragedy, they left everything behind.
Now, they will fight any foe, take any risk, for a price.
Claimed by the Warlord Page 31
