The King and the Coquette

by Tilly Hart

  My hand slid down her stomach to the nest of blonde curls which lay between her thighs and with the barest of touches I skimmed the delicate folds which lay beneath. She reacted beautifully with a sensuous roll of her hips and a gasp which set my heart racing. My thumb grazed the engorged button nestled there and her hands tightened their grip on the blanket as a roil of need lifted her hips to my hand. I grinned at her lustful display and delved a finger into her moist depths. With every twist of my finger she writhed more and more and it took every ounce of willpower not to sink my aching rod into her, but the sooner I did, the sooner it would be over. I didn’t want it to end.

  ‘So wet…’ I muttered as my fingers sank into her nectar, bringing the slick wetness back over her moist folds and teasing my fingers around her swollen bud. Her back arched as she gasped out a ragged breath, her body aching for ever more sensations. I growled as her fingers found my rigid member and tightened around the sensitive head. My teeth ground against my lip as my eyes fluttered to a close, focusing on nothing but the pressure of her fingers and the wetness beneath mine.

  Not yet, my sweet, not yet.

  I kissed her stomach, the ridge of her hip, the creamy smoothness of her inner thigh.

  ‘Please, Dante...’ She moaned in a high whisper filled with anticipation. It would be rude to deny a lady who begged so prettily. The first touch of my tongue to her hot, moist folds had her grasping wildly at the covers and uttering a desire fuelled curse. With a growl I lost myself betwixt her thighs. It could have been minutes or months that passed between those heavenly limbs, and I relished in every second. Her hips lifted to my mouth whenever I paused. She was so sure in her sexuality, so confident, it drove me wild. I was like a beast unleashed upon her, and hungrily I tasted what she had to give. Her chest rose rapidly and her breath came in heated, ragged spurts. My tongue twirled around her as my fingers curved into her and time and again I drove her to the edge before taking her back once again.

  ‘I need, oh gods, please.’ Her fingers worked into my hair and pressed me harshly against her, determined not to let me tease her once more. The bed was rough against my swollen manhood, tauntingly so, and each movement brought on a new urgency. She wasn’t the only one fraught with lust.

  And so I went at pleasing her with a new vigour, determined to leave her a simpering pile of spentpassion by the time I finished with her. Her body trembled with the rise of the impending climax, her core pulsating around my fingers and her hand gripping my hair painfully. Her need only drove me on all the more. And then she tumbled into the abyss where her body wrought with spasms in that blistering moment of release. If she was beautiful in her composure, she was a marvel in her abandon. I held onto her through the waves, riding out the storm that passed through her until her limbs sagged against my cheeks.

  ‘Oh Dante... that was—’

  I captured her mouth in a kiss; it wasn’t her words I needed; it was to take her as mine.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  My pulse raced in my throat as stars twinkled between my eyes. I felt Dante move up the bed and take my lips, but I wasn’t back yet, I was still floating somewhere between myself and another realm. He leaned back on the bed beside me and gently stroked two fingers from my neck to my navel and back again, then grazed his nails lightly across the underside of my breasts. Slowly, tenderly, he brought me back to him, and as I blinked up at him the realisation of my predicament haunted me.

  Dante had opened his heart to me, in a tumble of words and feeling which showed that not only did he desire me, but he respected me. I wasn’t to be another disposable trinket to another royal, to him I would be his queen. It was ironic that finally I had found the man who could make me happy, who would love me truly, and who stirred up such intense desires in me, yet he was the one person I could not have. The one person I had to betray to save my sisters. It was like I had fallen for a fire, to be near it was dangerous, to fall into it could be deadly.

  After tonight it would all be over, and though laying with him was wrong, no matter how much I wanted to, it was the best gift I had the ability to give him. One night of passion, of fulfilling desire andslaking our mutual lust.

  I curved my body against his, tracing a finger along each ridge of his bulging abs. The fire light enveloped his olive skin, a glowing orange about the contours of his broad chest and muscled arms. He was so strong, so vital, so ruggedly manly in the bedroom. In court he had to hold himself apart, keep an air of separation between his people and himself. But here, alone in these great chambers, he was as much a heat fuelled man as any. His words still soared in my chest. He was right; I had lived and lost and learned a great deal. I had learned that good men do not triumph, and loyal women do not become the wife. But my flaws he saw as achievements, and that was a wondrous thing.

  He watched me through those thick lashes, his lips reddened with our passionate embraces.I let my fingers drift down to touch him, drawing a circle about his swollen sex. A shiver ran through him and it was as if I had pulled a lever, launching the beast that lurked within him. With a fierce hiss he threaded a fist into my hair and drew me to him, his lips crushed to my own and his tongue snaked between them. I inched my hand up and down his stiffness, indulging in each veined ridge. He was so large, so hard, so ready. Tension began to increase between us, clear in the hiss of his breath and the tense lines of his jaw. My back hit the bed as he pushed me down and pinned my under the length of his body. His skin pressed fully against mine, his hardness trapped between us.

  ‘Simone...’ My name was a growl upon his lips and it sent fire to my very core. I spread my thighs beneath him and ached for him to take me. Instead, he grasped my hands and thrust them above my head, trapping my wrists in one large fist. Ablush heated my cheeks at the excitement it brought. I moaned, utterly exposed to him with my arms spread at high as my thighs were wide. Dante slipped his hands between my thighs once more, teasing at my already ravaged flesh and bringing a new wave of wet desire. His fingers were strong and sure and he expertly worked me into a frenzy.

  But his fingers weren’t enough, I needed more. I needed him inside me.

  He fisted his member and brought it up the length of my wetness, teasing me outwardly, but denying me the fullness that I craved. I wriggled my hips beneath him and held his eyes as he smirked.

  ‘You are delightful Simone, but once we do this, there is no going back. I will want you to be my one and only, the place where I come to be at peace and in lust. You will be mine, in body and in heart, and I will pester you until you agree to wed me.’

  My heart near stopped, his words and the fire that burned deep in his brown eyes seemed to be sincere, so utterly true. Could it be that he really felt that way? I felt like poison given in a sweet treat, sent to ruin in the guise of pleasure.

  ‘I will endeavour to please you tonight, your Majesty, and from there we can but take it a day at a time, but please, make me wait no longer.’ There was a tremor in my voice and a roiling in my gut, I wanted him to lose himself in passion so he would stop the professions of love which burned my soul.

  ‘As you wish, m’lady.’

  With that he thrust the full length of him deep into me, his pelvis crashing to my own as he split me around him.

  ‘Oh.’ I blushed as the words left my lips, but never had I been so full. He withdrew to the tip and then claimed me once more, twice, thrice and again and again until I lost count. I writhed beneath him, our bodies a tangle of sweat and entwined limbs, a cascade of untempered passion falling over us.

  Dante grunted as his hips rocked against mine, alternating between powerful thrusts which left me gasping and throbbing undulations that sent swarms of shivers up my spine. He kissed me hard, and I rose to his touch, my every breath draw out by his powerful onslaught.

  Dante let out a growl and pulled out of me, leaving me craving him once more. He flipped me roughly to my stomach, tipping my hips up to the ceiling and using his large hands to spread me before him. I groaned a
nd buried my head in the covers at his intimate inspection, his fingers delved into me before he replaced them with his hardness. His position behind me left me even fuller than before, and his fervour only increased as he held me firmly by the hips and thrust lustily into my wetness.

  The elegant bed covers, now crumpled and moist from our lovemaking, muffled my moans. The slap of his hips on my buttocks rhythmically sounded throughout the cavernous chambers, though his breath grew more ragged with each passing stroke. Pressure built deep within me as I gripped at the sheets, knowing that soon I would tumble once more into ecstasy.

  A fierce growl belied his nearness and his fingers once again entwined into my hair, pulling my back up against his chest as he thrust solidly into me. One hand stayed locked in my hair while his other reached down into the curls between my thighs, finding his way to my still swollen nub and caressing it as he took me.

  It was more than I could handle and within moments he brought me to the brink of utmost pleasure, sending me spasming into a heady climax. As uncontrollable clenching took hold of my body, it drove him to his own peak. Dante roared as he sunk into me with long, hard thrusts, my body wringing every ounce of pleasure from him.

  At last in a tumble of sweat and exhaustion we fell to the bed, him still nestled inside me, his juices wet between us.

  ‘I... Simone, thank you,’ he sighed into my ear, his muscled body relaxed against me. Soon his breathing settled into the gentle pattern of sleep. It was time.

  Almost.

  Just a few more minutes in his arms, with his warmth against me and his breath on my neck. Hot tears fell silently upon my cheeks, the gravity of what I was to do weighing heavily, especially after what I’d just done. Diego sentme to seduce him into this very moment, yet he had laid claim to my heart as well as my body.

  But it was now or never, and never wasn’t an option, not when my sisters’ lives lay in danger.

  When Dante’s breathing took on the slower motion of deep sleep, I rolled him to his back and crept naked from the bed to where my dress lay abandoned. I reached inside the bodice to another of Diego’s cleverly concealed pockets and withdrew the dagger which hid there.

  The metal was cool between my fingers, the heat of our lovemaking still running through me.

  I climbed onto the bed and knelt beside Dante; the dagger poised to draw across his neck. He was beautiful in his slumber, innocent, unaware, a man sated, not the worse way to die.

  Execution would be my punishment. It was a price I would willingly pay. I hoped that when the girls were women grown my actions tonight wouldn’t tarnish their name.

  One last kiss, I needed one kiss goodbye. Tears streaked my face as I lay my lips tenderly upon Dante’s.

  ‘Forgive me,’ I whispered as I pressed the blade to his throat with a shaking hand.

  CHAPTER NINE

  I dreamt that Simone kissed me and smiled, but her words came through my drowsy state and sent a chill to my core.

  ‘Forgive me,’ she whispered, as she took her wet, salty lips from mine. My eyes flicked open to see her knelt beside me, a gilded dagger at my throat, tears streaking her sweet face and a grimace of determination clouding her features.

  My hand flew to her wrist as the cold metal pricked my skin. Her eyes widened at my awakening and the vice like grip I maintained.

  ‘No...’ She grabbed the ornate dagger in her other hand and slashed at me wildly.

  ‘Fuck, Simone, stop it.’ I wrestled her away from me and flipped her to her back on the bed, pinning her dagger clutching hand with my knee. She struggled violently beneath me set on her goal of killing me.

  Killing me.

  It had all been a ploy. And I had fallen for her hook, line and sinker. Diego was right, I was a fool.

  Simone thrashed against me, but she was no match for me strength to strength. After a few minutes of desperate bucking she stilled and closed her eyes. Great sobs bubbled up in her chest and wracked her naked body beneath me. Adrenaline coursed through me and rage rose along with it.

  ‘What were you thinking? You are trying to kill me? My guards are right outside the door, what did you think would happen come morning?’ I spat the words at her, sitting my naked ass upon her stomach and pinning both of her hands to her sides. The dagger fell from her fingers as she gave up her mission, or at least appeared to. I launched it across the room in a fit of anger, watching as it stuck into the floor and trembled.

  ‘I... can’t...’

  ‘You betrayed me. I was falling in love with you, and all the while you plotted to kill me. Why?’

  She shook her head, and I leaned in close, nose to nose, eye to eye and lowered my voice to a menacing growl. ‘Simone, I will have you arrestedand brought to trial should you leave this room without giving me a damn good reason. At the moment you and I are the only ones who know. I need to know who plots against me. You are not the person behind this.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’

  ‘Because I have seen the woman you are, and this is not you. You are not a political schemer, you have no vendetta against me. You are not a killer.’

  ‘But what if I am?’ Her voice softened and tremored as she spoke, her eyes welling with tears anew.

  I stood and went to her gown, ripping the stays from it and used them to secure her wrists behind her back, just in case she had any more hidden weapons. My heart skipped a beat as she sat up on the bed, her hair—wild from our earlier ministrations—tumbled down about her face, her lips still swollen with my kisses and her skin still reddened from my grip on her waist as I took her. She may have just tried to take my life, but my body was a traitor too. I grasped my breeches and pulled them on, throwing her dress over her front in a bidtogive her some decency.

  ‘Tell me.’

  Her shoulders drooped, and she let her hair fall down about her face, shaking her head forlornly. ‘I can’t.’

  ‘You have little choice. There is no way you can complete this god-forsaken mission, so whatever is held against you is unavoidable, unless you confide in me.’ I sat in front of her and tipped her chin up so she faced me. ‘I can help you, I’m the king, I have a lot of sway, you know?’

  Simone bit her lip and closed her eyes, taking a long slow breath in, then releasing it out and catching my gaze.

  ‘In Dostland I killed a man. Prince Albert helped to keep it quiet so that only those closest to us knew, but it blackened my name. It was one of his Marquis’, a despicable man who thought he could take what he pleased from whoever he pleased. One night I stumbled into him in a dark corridor, and he pinned me to the wall, hiking my skirts up around my waist and molesting me. I screamed, but no-one came. So I shoved him, hard, and he fell back, his head slamming against a rough stone wall. He might have lived had I sent for help, but I didn’t, I fled to my rooms and cried until morning. By morning he was dead. A servant had seen me with him before I had pushed him and reported it to the Prince. I explained what happened and despite his understanding, he blamed me. The prince pardoned me for the murder, but in his eyes it tarnished me. It’s why he married another. A pure woman. Not like me.’

  ‘You defended yourself Simone, you are not to blame for his actions, or the fallout they caused. I have killed men on the battlefield, some barely more than boys, in the first spring of their burgeoning adulthood, it haunts me still to picture their faces, the shock, the devastation of my sword bringing them to their end. But when it is their life or yours, you act.’

  ‘But he wasn’t trying to kill me.’

  ‘And you weren’t trying to kill him.’

  I ran a finger over her cheek, wiping away the wet trails that gathered there.

  ‘Tell me, was it all a lie, everything you felt for me?’ It pained me to ask, but I needed to hear the truth.

  ‘No. I came to court under the duress of blackmail, the threat of revealing my mistake and being even more ostracised than I already am. But you were nothing like the man I was told you were. I thought you were sof
t and weak and going to lead Latania to ruin. I believed that you cared more about your sister than your kingdom, that your loyalties were skewed. It wouldn’t have made killing you easy, but I didn’t expect to fall for you under the seduction. I tried to run once before, but he took my sisters, and is holding them. If I don’t kill you tonight, they are to die. They are only children, Dante, and I love them with all that I am.’

  She sniffled and her hair fell down over her face as she continued to speak.

  ‘But you. You turned out to be nothing like the story I’d been fed. You are strong and courteous, firm yet fair. The courtiers look up to you and the people throughout the kingdom hold you in high regard. I wasn’t to kill a demented king, I was to slaughter an innocent one.’

  Simone shivered, and I threw more wood onto the dying fire, urging it back to a roar. The anger flickered in me like the orange flames I roused. Suspicions began to connect in my mind. Who sought to gain the most from my death? Who disagreed with my decisions as a ruler? Who introduced me to Simone?

  Diego.

  It had to be Diego.

  That black-hearted worm.

  Ever since his journey far from home, he’d changed. He left a young man, set out hoping to find his place in the world. Third in line to the throne was a coveted position, but far enough from ruling that he had more freedoms than Alessandra and I. While he’d been distancing from us in the months before father’s death, it was after his passing and Diego‘sexpedition that the change had truly gripped him. Where once he was charming, he had become deceptive. Where once he was quick minded, hehad become calculated. Where once he laughed and lived, lately he had watched, and waited.