War-Torn

by J. E. Keep

  She stayed so near to him, letting her breathing return to normal as her fingers stroked up along his thigh gently. “You enjoyed that. Taunting him.”

  He gave a soft but abrupt and curt laugh. “That vile thing?” he asked, then squeezed her tighter, his strong fingers digging into her flesh at her side and over her stomach. “Absolutely,” he stated. “I enjoyed every minute of it, he deserved it all, and it set my daughter free.”

  Her breath came quicker and that strange flush swept over her pale flesh, the dim light of the stars and the moon all that lit up the room. It cast everything in a soft wash of colour, and her fingers circled his thigh. “He only wanted me to get back at our family,” she lamented as she felt her father’s warmth against her side.

  “He didn’t even want me. What if they don’t let me keep the manor, daddy? What if they take it all away from me?”

  He kissed down her face to her cheek, the touch of her hand so tantalizing to him. So wrong. “It’ll be yours,” he urged. “His family will challenge it, but we’ll take measures to secure it for you.” He squeezed her hip and stroked his strong hand up her side as the other came over to rest on her neck, to feel her smooth, pale skin. “As long as they can’t prove the marriage wasn’t consummated, they’ll never make a convincing case.”

  Caprice’s pulse raced and her fingers dug into his thigh. No longer was it the soft caress. Instead it was fear and apprehension. “How could they prove it? How could they tell?”

  It wasn’t right, especially not under the circumstances, but with her hand so close to him, the exhilaration of events... her fingers grazed the bulge in his black pants. It had swelled out so far, the accidental brush of his daughter’s digits was unavoidable.

  “There’s only one way they could attempt it, darling. But it’ll prove nothing, which is why they so rarely approve such tests of noble ladies.” He kissed her cheek, admired her fragile beauty in the dark of the room. “With any luck, my agent will be able to trick the rebels and hand us the Queen’s would-be assassin, and nothing would be denied me any longer by the Crown.”

  She nodded eagerly, her head brushing past his lips, and she swallowed. His daughter was normally so composed, so in control, but the moment she’d come to him for help, everything had changed. She’d been relying on him more than when she was a child even, and the way her hand didn’t stray and escape the press of his masculinity was either an oversight on her part or terribly wanton.

  “I just want this all to be over, daddy,” she sighed.

  “It will be, soon,” he murmured, and his heart was thudding so heavily she could feel it resonate through to her.

  His strong hands stroked her neck and side, he fondled her ear as his eyes met hers in the dim room. “You have always been my favourite, Caprice,” he confessed to her. “Always been my most beloved. You have never disappointed me, and you have only ever exceeded my expectations.” He kissed her cheek and the very corner of her lips. “Once this is all over, you’ll be in charge of half of our new noble empire. An independent lady, with debts to nobody.”

  She knew it, but hearing it from him made it so much more real. He sounded so certain, with none of the stray doubts that she sometimes had to worry about. Her hand squeezed his thigh harder and they shared the same breath as her dark eyes caught his. “Promise I was your favourite?”

  “Was” — he kissed the corner of her lips again — “and still are.” He followed it up with one plushly upon her full lips. It was an unfatherly gesture, but he held her so tight and close, so comfortingly, it just felt natural then and there.

  When at last he broke the kiss, she could see his dark eyes glimmering. “The saddest day of my life was when I gave you up. And having you back is the happiest.”

  “Why’d you let him marry me, daddy?” she asked, but her head felt light. She’d been so busy all day, and now in the dead of night, her exhaustion was making it all feel so dreamy. As if she were outside of herself, watching as she pet the inside of her father’s thigh.

  He took a deep breath, and she felt the suppressed tremor through her touch of him. He struggled with himself, but at last he kissed her lips again softly, very lightly. “I loved you too dearly, my precious girl,” he said delicately. “But no father can hold on to his child forever, I told myself. It had to be done. You had to go and have your own life, and then...” He looked away a moment. “The opportunity to mend the rift between our Houses and enrich us came. He would’ve died before long and you’d have been free to live your life as you saw fit. It seemed ideal.” Though she could detect the sadness on his voice, the regret that was so foreign on him.

  She breathed in his scent and her head tilted down, her eyes upon his lap and her pale, stroking hand. It looked so small against his thick, strong thigh, and she flexed it just to appreciate the contrast. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips, and when she licked her mouth she tasted him.

  Slowly her hand returned to her own lap, bundled there like a flower, and she exhaled deeply. “I’d do anything for you, daddy.”

  It was like time froze then. He stared into her gaze, held her, but remained unmoving. It was as if a battle raged within him, silent and hidden. A storm within a box. At long last he spoke, his voice sounding hoarse. “You are too perfect a daughter, sweet Caprice.” It was almost as if he lamented that fact. “I am so sorry for marrying you to that vile, old vulture.” He looked like he wanted to say more, do more, but his hand trembled at her cheek as he gazed at her longingly.

  “A few months of misery for a future of ease. It was a worthwhile trade.” She smiled, her full lips pulled taut as she stared at him. A cloud passed by the moon, blotting out the silvery light for a few moments, and her hand brushed his side as it went behind her. “You don’t have to regret it, daddy. Any of it,” she reassured him.

  It was torture. She was such a vision of beauty, so curvaceous and lovely. He swallowed down his doubts and anxieties. Forced them to the back of his mind. But failed. “I should’ve kept you to myself as I longed to do,” he said softly. “Locked you away in our manor where we could chat and trade tales till the end of my days.” He shook his head slowly. “I very nearly did, darling. I very nearly did...”

  “But instead you did the right thing, and you got me anyways. Brought us closer together,” she said softly. She seemed so calm and put together, even as her body felt so heavy with world-weariness. “You protected me from him.”

  He leaned after her, let her descend towards the bed just a bit. “I’d do anything to protect you, my child,” he said with such sincerity. His lips found the corner of hers again and smacked lightly in the large room. “And when you rule over a noble House of your very own, you shall still have your doting father. Always and forever.”

  She smiled as she lay back, feeling that full duvet beneath her as the cloud pulled away from the moon and illuminated her refined features, her sharp eyes and the halo of brown curls around her head. She kicked off her heels, her bare feet swinging slightly. “Thank you for coming to the party with me tonight. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t by my side, father. Keeping me safe.”

  Gazing down over her angelic form, he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You’ll never be alone, for you’ll always have your father’s love, sweet Caprice.”

  She shimmied out from beneath him, moving her body in such a slinky manner to raise herself onto her elbows. “I should bathe, daddy. With everything that’s going to happen, tomorrow... it’ll seem suspicious any other way.” Her eyes were drifting down already, but she twisted her spine about to face away from him. “Will you get the clasps in back?”

  Such a different style than she’d worn for the party, the gown was rich and smooth. It was lighter and let her fresh, peachy skin show through at the shoulders and back, and she pulled her hair away from the golden clasps.

  He’d resisted her already, but she hadn’t relented with her teasing, even in such a moment. He took hold of her bicep and le
aned in, kissing her shoulder near her neck. “Very well, my child,” he said in his husky voice, the restraint audible as his other hand came up and took hold of the top clasp, undoing it, then moving down to the next golden binding.

  Her lashes descended as his fingers brushed her creamy flesh, and she felt the gown begin to give way, falling from her chest, and she took in a deep inhalation. The dress was not so restrictive as her ball gown, but it still made free breathing a luxury.

  With the last of the clasps undone, he saw the gown slip away from her, exposing the smooth skin of her back. He knew then how dangerously close he was to doing something wrong. He couldn’t help, though, but touch that milky flesh of hers, trail his digits down over it. Though he stopped and rose smoothly. “I’ll run the bath for you, my sweet,” he said and made his way to the attached bath chamber.

  As he began to run the water from the pipes — a luxury few knew anymore — he couldn’t help but let out a ragged sigh. How she tests my resolve, he thought.

  It was only moments after that she came in, stripped down to nothingness and leaving her creamy, voluptuous body exposed. She kept herself half hidden by the doorframe, her hand running up along the wood. “Use the golden oil” — she paused — “and just a drop of the pink.”

  She’d always been one for her fine oils and creams, so it was no surprise that she was so specific.

  Looking back to her he said in a husky, almost anguished voice, “You are a merciless tease, Caprice.” Though he did as she asked. His sleeves still rolled up, he bent down and added the oils, exactly as she specified. He tested the water, found it pleasing, and choked off the flow before setting a towel along the edge so that she needn’t touch the cool surface of the tub as she climbed in.

  She was silent for a while as she shifted into position, her creamy flesh slowly disappearing beneath the water. She had curves that most women lay awake at night dreaming of, and her pink nipples were tight atop her breasts. “I didn’t realize you had such delicate sensibilities now, father. You always used to bathe me.”

  He licked around his lips as he watched her sumptuous flesh through the scented water with such fascination. “You are more woman now than most men can handle, Caprice,” he responded, and without being asked he lifted the wash sponge and dipped it into the water. He soaped it lightly and brought it to her flesh, started at her shoulder and began to make little circular motions as he moved over her.

  Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed, inhaling the rich, floral scent of the oils. She trusted him, completely, and her body shifted to always follow the sponge. The water rippled, but it could do nothing to hide her flesh from him. Her thighs, however, were kept together, and he could see that promising tuft of downy hair pointing down.

  “Am I the only one you bathed, father?”

  As the swirls of the soapy sponge made their way down, leaving her arm and shoulder coated in its light foam. “Absolutely,” he said honestly, moving about the sumptuous curve of that hefty breast. “You were the only one of my ‘brood’ that I ever cared to spend any time with beyond what was necessary, Caprice.” The pale foam coated her stiff nipple. “I have my sons in the service to be proud of, your sisters, but they could hold no candle to you.”

  She smiled, the expression almost devious as her back arched and she tilted her body towards the sponge, forcing him to wash over her tit. “It’s the only way I really feel I can relax. The handmaidens couldn’t do anything the way you could. They couldn’t give me the same experience.” Her eyes fluttered open. “Daddy knows best, after all.”

  His hand trembled for just a moment at her breast before he steadied it. “You’ll cling to that term forever, won’t you?” he said, though they both knew he enjoyed her calling him “daddy.” Despite his attempts to deny it.

  He didn’t skirt it then. He cleaned her breast, soaped and rubbed it. His fingers grazed her flesh in the process before he moved across her chest to the other, repeating his slow, meticulous movements. Lathering her teats with such careful attention, and enjoying every moment he had to appreciate her nubile flesh.

  “You don’t stop being my father just because I grow up and get married,” she said, her eyes opening slightly and watching as he moved the sponge across her body. She shifted and her legs parted, revealing more of that untouched place. “You’ll always be my daddy, for the rest of my days.”

  She watched as his dark, piercing eyes moved down over her to that sweet, forbidden nexus. “Forever and always, sweet Caprice,” he said, and his hand rubbed upon her flesh, brought the sponge down across her lower stomach in its circular fashion. He skirted the tuft of pubic hair before brushing through that.

  He leaned in, unable to tear his eyes away from her as he spoke. “I have seen and bedded many women,” he said in a low voice. “Many more than just your mother” — the confession was not exactly unexpected — “but you, my child?” He managed then to tear his eyes from her body to meet her gaze. “You are the loveliest by far. Not a single tart in all the Union holds a candle to your luscious form. But yet you sprang from my own loins.” And his hand moved between her thighs, and he rubbed over that still virginal slit and cleaned with such dutiful attention.

  Her devious smile didn’t fade, and the shrug of her shoulders sent the water cascading over her breasts, lapping at his wrist. Her legs parted further and her pelvis tilted up slightly, a moan filling the air between them. It was so sweet, a reward for his gentle care. “Perhaps that’s why, then, daddy,” she offered. “I inherited my looks from you.”

  Samei lifted his free hand and caressed her cheek with the backs of his digits. “Yet your mother, as fair as she is, couldn’t hold a candle to you. You are too precious and lovely for this world, my girl. By far.”

  She struggled to keep her eyes open, to look at her father through the partial lids and thick lashes as her knees touched either side of the tub. Her skin grew warmer, turning pink under his ministrations, and she inhaled sharply. “Daddy,” she whimpered on her exhale, leaning in against his hand.

  He watched her writhe beneath the water, murmur for him, and drank it in like it was the finest of liquors. He tentatively rubbed her needful quim, the lap of the water at the side of the tub accompanying his skillful ministrations.

  Through it he leaned in towards those succulent, pouty lips of hers. He kissed them sweetly, then again like no father should. “Always and forever my favourite, sweet Caprice. Daddy’s girl till the day I die.” And he admired her so completely as his fingers brushed along her cheek and her sensitive labia below.

  She pushed her lips back against him, her tongue darting out for a brief, daring second before she leaned back, her breath increasing and sending the water rippling about her breasts. Her nipples were so hard, still partially covered in soapy suds as she lamented, “He wouldn’t touch me. Said I disgusted him.”

  His hand increasingly moved at a more vigorous rate, the soft yet coarse feel of the sponge rubbing over her delicate cunny. “He lied,” he nearly hissed, his bare arm shaking with the movements below the water. “He was a sick fool who got off on torture, and would deny you your rightful credit, sweet girl.” He kissed her again, firm and wantonly, tasted those luscious lips. “Cum for daddy,” he urged. “Cum for your father like a good girl, pet.” His voice was so harsh with his own denied desire.

  If she was shocked by his words, it was only in the best way possible, for it wasn’t soon after she gasped and bit down on her lower lip. She drew it between her teeth to stifle her moan as she thrashed in the water, losing control of her body as he rubbed over her throbbing sex. Her eyes squeezed shut and she couldn’t hold back any longer, that familiar refrain of, “Daddy,” cried out in the throes of orgasm.

  Duke Samei Ellefor watched his daughter squirm before him in the water, drank in the sight of her climaxing to his hand. He stroked her affectionately, upon her cheek and sex, brought her down from her high with attentive care, stoking her pleasured clit delicately until she
could handle it no longer. “Good girl,” he husked approvingly. “Your father’s pride and joy.” He laid the sponge aside and kissed her sweet lips.

  The exhaustion clutched for her once more and her eyes dropped even as her arms reached out for him. “I know what I said about the monsters, about you not being able to tuck me in and protect me from them. But I’d like you to try,” she said hazily.

  The stern duke put his arms about her, held her water-slick form against him, heedless of the mess. “Of course, my child. Of course.” He kissed her dark curls and reached out with one arm.

  He plucked a towel from nearby and wrapped it about her before he pulled her out of the water. She was so light in his hold, and he lifted her with ease, swathed in the rich fabric of the towel. “I was always going to anyhow,” he said with a smile as he carried her out to the bed and laid her down.

  With meticulous care he peeled back the blankets, picked her up again then put her in them before pulling them around her snugly.

  “I wish you could stay the night,” she lamented once more, arms wrapped about his neck. “I don’t like being alone anymore.”

  Samei kissed her forehead tenderly, gave her a final squeeze in his arms. “Hush, don’t fret, my girl. Once things are settled, your loving father can visit you more often,” he said with a warm smile. He tucked her in tightly, in such a fatherly manner that contrasted what he’d just done in the bath. “We shall probably have more time to ourselves than ever.”

  “I’ll call for you as soon as it’s safe,” she murmured, but already she was beginning to drift, secure in the knowledge that he could see her through. That he would take care of her. That he’d always be there.