Seduced by Darkness (Dark Court Rising)

by Bec McMaster

“We are.” He bites his bottom lip. “I’m just not sure if I should let you have my innocence. I barely know you. You might be planning to ruin me.”

  “Oh, I plan on ruining you.” I can’t help laughing.

  He shakes his head. “This is not what I intended when I first saw you.”

  “You’re such a liar,” I say, pulling pins from my hair and letting my hair fall in silken tangles over my shoulders. “Show me what you would do to a woman on a night like this. Show me what happens when you steal her away from the bonfires.”

  My handsome stranger stares up at me, every inch of him arrested.

  And then he sits up, reaching over his shoulder to haul his doublet off. Muscle curls in his abdominals. I see the ripple of them, before he’s casting his clothing aside.

  He holds out a hand. “Then come here. And I will show you.”

  5

  Thiago

  Gods, she’s so fucking perfect as she slides into my lap and presses her lips to mine.

  All these years and she’s finally here in my arms. I can’t stop kissing her. I can’t stop tracing my palms over her skin. She’s real. She’s here.

  She’s mine.

  I had plans for the evening the second I saw her. She would be skittish. I needed to get to know her, woo her, gods, maybe even kiss her….

  But she destroyed those plans the second she kissed me.

  The moment she stripped off that gown all my thoughts of a slow seduction dissolved like a dream. She doesn’t want to know my name, or where I come from. She just wants this. Fine. I can work with that. I will have her one way or the other.

  “Now what?” I ask, brushing my hand up her thigh as our lips break apart. Her skin is like silk.

  “I don’t know.” There’s a hint of a blush to her cheeks.

  “You’re ruining me,” I point out.

  “Yes, but…. I’ve never been in this position before.” Her gaze drops away. “I don’t chase strange males. I don’t kiss them. I don’t…. I don’t do this.”

  I take pity on her. “This?”

  Taking her hand I place her palms on my chest and glide them over my skin. Her breath catches, her gaze focusing on what her hands are doing. It gives me a moment to examine her face.

  Gods, I’ve dreamed of her thousands of times, imagined her thousands more, but I never even came close to the truth. There’s a certain type of wonder in her expression, as if she’s inexperienced. I doubt that’s the truth. She wouldn’t have simply stripped her gown off if she was—and she’s clearly after pleasure tonight and nothing else—but it makes an odd shiver run through my gut.

  Mine. She feels like mine in all the ways that matter. My cock aches. I want to roll her onto her back and drive myself into her. I want it so desperately I can barely restrain myself.

  But I do.

  I capture those wrists and lift one of her hands to my mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to her palm. Our eyes meet. She shivers. And only then do I let myself look at the rest of her.

  She’s lean and lightly muscled. No delicate court lady, this one. The sleek muscles in her thighs argue for hours in the saddle, and the clear delineation in her arms speaks of some form of manual labor. There’s a faint callus on her hand too. I capture it and explore that callus, forced to seek my answers in her skin since she’s so unforthcoming.

  I have answering calluses on my own hands, though mine are on both palms.

  Sword work?

  How intriguing. She doesn’t bear the form of a warrior, nor a guard, but someone’s taught her about footwork. I could see it while we danced. She’s not merely trained in the art of dancing—though her form there is excellent. It’s more than that.

  So she dances like a court-trained lady. She clearly knows her way around a sword. And the stables.

  Aristocrat, my mind supplies, but probably not of the highest echelons. She doesn’t speak like a woman who is used to commanding others. She doesn’t like knowing she has me at her mercy tonight. She’s too kind to be a member of some ruling family somewhere.

  “You’re beautiful,” she whispers, tracing the “tattoos” across my chest.

  I feel Wrath stirring against her touch, and force him deep inside. Capturing her hand, I kiss it again. “You keep stealing all my lines, my love.”

  “Mmm. What next?” she whispers. “If I were seducing you, what would I do next?”

  I kiss my way up the inside of her arm, flexing upright, until she sinks into the cradle of my hips. “You would grab a fistful of my hair,” I whisper, “and let me taste those beautiful breasts.”

  She complies immediately and I shudder as she brings my face to her skin. I’m not the only one. The second my mouth closes over her nipple, she gasps and grinds against me. Fuck. She’s so responsive. I suckle hard, even as she rocks against me instinctively. I’m ridiculously close to spending in my trousers. I haven’t been this on edge since I was a young fae warrior in his prime.

  Capturing her in my arms, I roll her onto her back, tracing my tongue around and around her nipple. Our eyes meet as she moans.

  I could drown in her eyes. They’re a starry night, an endless canvas of the darkest midnight. I can’t hold back any longer. I drive up and capture that dangerous mouth, the one that’s causing me to lose control, lose all my focus.

  She kisses me back exuberantly, twining her arms around my neck.

  There’s something about the way she kisses that steals my breath.

  Holding nothing back. Giving everything of herself and more. There’s no artifice in her. No games. Nothing beyond need. She kisses me as if she needs my mouth the way she needs oxygen.

  “Vi.” I breathe the word against her throat. “You’re getting dangerously close to undoing me.”

  “Good,” she purrs. “Why don’t you undo those trousers?”

  “Is that a command?”

  “Does it need to be?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the one in control.”

  She drags her fingernails down my chest. “Then take them off. Take it all off. I want to see you bare.”

  I rear onto my knees, my hands dropping to my buttons. Her gaze follows my fingers and so I make it a tease. One button at a time, until I’m fisting the hard shaft of my erection. The way she looks at me….

  “You’re… huge.” Her eyes widen, and she brushes tentative fingers against me.

  Capturing her hand, I curl her fingers around me. “You say all the right things,” I tease. “Are you sure I’m not the first stranger you’ve lured into the darkness?”

  “Fairly certain.” There’s a wicked glint in her eyes.

  I slowly stroke her hand up and down my length. My nostrils flare. I’m not going to last long if we continue this. And as much as I love the feel of her hands on my skin, I want my mouth on hers.

  Reaching out, I trail my hand down her abdomen. A shiver runs through her as I reach the thatch of hair between her thighs. She grows very still.

  “I want to kiss you. Right here.” I delve my fingertips into that wetness and she gasps.

  “Then do it,” she blurts.

  I kiss my way up her thighs as she lies back. Tension coils within her as I nuzzle into soft, wet flesh. She’s so fucking delicious. A soft cry greets me as I lick her in slow, deep strokes, gazing up the length of her body. Hands sink into my hair. It’s a silent entreaty.

  A silent command.

  As my lady wishes….

  Flicking my tongue against her, I chase after each and every shiver. Restless gasps tear from her lips.

  “You’re so fucking wet.” I love it. I want more. Capturing her ass in both my hands I drive my face into her, licking and tonguing her deep. Torturing her with soft, teasing strokes, before returning to shove my tongue into her.

  She cries out in shock, grinding herself against my face. I love the taste of her, the little tremor of aftershocks that run through her. The way she begs for more….

  I want her to beg for mercy. I want her on
her hands and knees before me, her arms bound behind her back, and her face pressing into my mattress as I fuck her hard….

  It’s not my thoughts.

  It’s not me.

  Or not the me I want to be. I shudder into her pussy.

  Fuck her, whispers my Darkness. Take her. Claim her as ours. Don’t ever let her go….

  I force it all down by focusing on her. Control is the altar I worship at. I will lock this beast away inside me where it can never, ever get out.

  I haven’t lost control in five hundred years. I won’t start now.

  “Oh, gods.” Her spine arches like a bow and then she’s hovering there, right on the edge of the storm.

  I slide a finger inside her tight sheathe, stroking up, curling against that delicate little patch inside her.

  She shatters with a tortured scream and I ride her through it, hungry for every gasp and breathy demand. And then she’s collapsing beneath me, shaking and over-sensitive. Mine to kiss. Mine to claim.

  Simply mine.

  “Mmm.” I press a kiss against her thigh. “I could do that all night.”

  “I can’t.” A fist tangles in my hair. “I want you. Please. I want you. Now.”

  No more denying myself. Or her. I surge upright, fisting my cock. Five hundred years of waiting for her. I don’t have to wait anymore. I want her so desperately I can barely control myself.

  “How do you want it?” I gasp, as I settle between her thighs. “Hard? Or slow?”

  She melts beneath me with a gasp as I trace the head of my cock through her wetness. Nails dig into my upper arms. “Just. Now.”

  So be it.

  Capturing her mouth, I drive into her in one slow thrust—

  And she cries out, her body locking so tight around me it feels like a glove, a vise. Every inch of me goes still. No. No. But it’s there in every moment of our encounter.

  Her hesitancy. Her curiosity.

  The way her flesh gripped my finger.

  If I were seducing you, what would I do next?

  I am such a fucking idiot.

  “Vi?” I whisper, because I can’t believe I’ve done this. All these years of waiting for her, and I didn’t even ask if she was experienced or not. “Are you a virgin?”

  She takes a deep breath, stroking the muscle in my upper arm as she shudders beneath me. “I think that’s… in the past tense now.”

  There’s a rushing, roaring sound in my ears. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because it didn’t matter.” She bites her lip. “I wanted it to be you. I just want this one night with you.”

  One night is never going to be enough.

  And if this was to be her first time, then I want it to be perfect.

  “It doesn’t hurt.” She must be reading my mind. “It’s just… different.”

  I shudder as I press my face to her throat, begging myself to be patient. Ripples of tension clamp down around me—her body clenching around the invasion of my cock as if it’s slowly surrendering to this new sensation. I run my hands over her skin to distract her, my mouth sliding over hers. Luring her into another gentle, devastating kiss.

  Vi arches beneath me, then gasps. Our tongues tangle together, hot and slow. Everything is slow now. Clasping our palms together, I pin the back of her hands to the heather and then rock against her.

  It feels like a wave of pressure crawls up my spine, gripping the back of my neck.

  “Better?” I need to know.

  She sinks her teeth into her lower lip and nods.

  “Do you like this?” I thrust slowly. In and out, grinding my teeth together as she gasps and clenches.

  “Yes.”

  I kiss her throat, her chin, her mouth. I take her so slowly she’s practically begging by the time I can feel tension coiling through her.

  “Harder.” She digs her nails into my shoulders, her thighs clamping around my hips.

  “Like this?” I thrust hard and she gasps again.

  Teeth sink into the sensitive area where my shoulder meets my neck. A hiss escapes me. Fuck. I slam into her, and every inch of her flexes in supple welcome. Shoving a hand under her ass, I shift her into position until every thrust I make is grinding over that sweet little spot between her thighs.

  A soft moan echoes in my ear. For all that she’s new to this, she catches on quick. Hooking my arm under her knee, I haul her thigh up until I can get deeper. Sweat slicks my spine. Every breath comes as a harsh pant. But she’s there…. Mouth parting in a gasp as she comes with another scream.

  Finally. Permission to let myself fall over the edge with her. I chase her into pleasure, rutting into her hard.

  It’s her name on my lips as I come.

  Vi.

  Violet.

  My Vi.

  Her face in my head, in my heart, as I collapse against her, both of us gasping and breathless. A trembling hand runs up my spine, curling into the flesh at the base of my skull.

  “Oh, my gods,” she whispers. “That was….”

  “Written in the stars,” I tell her with a rough laugh.

  Our eyes meet.

  I kiss her. Hard.

  This is the start of forever.

  She just doesn’t know it yet.

  But first, I need to make amends for how I took her tonight. And she will have my apology from my hands and tongue, until she can barely take any more.

  Morning light creeps over the clearing, gilding the pair of us. Vi’s shoulders rise and fall as she sleeps in my arms. There’s something about the innocent way her lashes lie closed over her eyes that makes me want to hold her here forever, where I can protect her.

  My fingers trail down her flank.

  Her lashes flutter, her hip shifting in response to the stroke of my fingers. Not quite asleep, not quite fully awake.

  But completely aware of my touch.

  “You were a virgin.” I kiss her shoulder, stealing a shiver from her. None of this makes sense. Lammastide is often a night for stolen pleasure, and events such as this occur regularly, but I never expected her to be a maid.

  I like it though.

  I like it too much.

  She has never known another and now she never will. The Darkness within me purrs and stretches with contentment. For once we’re in perfect agreement.

  Vi is mine—ours—and nothing is going to tear her from my arms.

  “Mmm.” Her lashes flutter open.

  “I should have spanked your ass for not warning me.”

  Dark eyes the color of midnight come into focus as she turns her head to look at me. There’s a moment where she realizes where she is and who she’s with, and then her eyes go very wide and she stills.

  “Good morning.” I can feel her heart hammering in her chest and I can’t help kissing her shoulder so she knows there’s nothing to fear. “You have blue eyes. I didn’t know you had blue eyes.”

  They’d been midnight-dark in the vision Maia gave to me, and over the years I guess I’d let memory soften them to the darkest of browns.

  The tension slides out of her. Both our masks are long gone. It added a certain kind of spice to the encounter, but I want to know who she is.

  “You have green eyes,” she whispers, staring deep into my soul.

  I don’t know why, but instinct tells me she’s the watchful sort. The way she looks at me tells me she sees everything. A not entirely comfortable situation, but somehow…. Nobody has ever seen the whole of me.

  And I want them to, I realize.

  I want her to.

  Vi turns her head. “Where’s my dress?”

  Oh no. I’ve only just found you. I curl up as she pushes herself upright, tangling my arms around her. “There’s no hurry.”

  She glances toward the sky. Dawn. I can almost read her thoughts and so I sweep her hair over one shoulder and brush a kiss against the nape of her neck.

  “Stay with me,” I breathe as she shudders.

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes
, you can.” Slowly, I drag her back down to the heather. Forever, if need be.

  Forever, whispers the Darkness and my gut goes tight with tension because I hadn’t realized I’d let it slip through the cracks in my wards. We can fuck her forever.

  I shake it away and cage it deep. Maybe it’s the woman in my arms who allows me to do so this easily. It never settles without a fight, but she’s here. She’s mine. She’s—

  “Vi,” I whisper, tasting her name. “Violet. You never did ask my name.”

  She arches back into me. “I think it’s wisest if I don’t know.”

  I freeze as things become abundantly clear.

  She gave me her virginity, she was two seconds away from stealing into her dress and fleeing, and now she still doesn’t want my name.

  I bite her shoulder. Hard. And she squeals.

  “I’m starting to feel a little used, Violet.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought that would be a problem.” There’s a little hint of temper there. “You were the one who hunted me down. Is this not what you wanted?”

  It’s not what I wanted at all. Caught in my own fucking net. I wanted her so badly I couldn’t keep my hands off her, but all she wants is this.

  So be it. There’s more than one way to catch the demi-fey.

  “Fine. No names then. Just my cock.”

  I slide my fingers up her thigh, back and forth. Teasing. Tempting. Her breath catches.

  “Open your legs,” I whisper.

  She’s slick and wet as I find her. A breath rushes from her chest as I trace the heart of her pleasure.

  “Gods, what do you do to me?” she gasps.

  “Have you never touched yourself?”

  Stillness. The answer is there as she shudders. Yes. “It’s different,” she whispers. “It’s different with you. More… intense.”

  I drive a pair of fingers into her and she arches back into my embrace.

  “Touch me,” I demand.

  Her groping hand slides between us. Fuck. I can’t help flexing into her grip, burying my face in her nape. I could spend like this.

  She nudges back into me, her intentions clear. I want to take up her silent invitation and thrust myself inside her, but I still owe her for that no names business.