“Give me the same weapon and opportunity,” she said, baring her teeth in a saccharine smile. “I’ll succeed where they failed.”
He believed it. The words were backed by a steel core. Thanks to her bastard father’s influence, he suspected over time that steel had become too inflexible, and it had imprisoned her. But now, freed of the negative effects of it, she would use the ferocity in other ways. She was a warrior. He wanted to give her the chance to prove it.
Gripping her nape with a firm hand, he returned his other hand to her thighs again. She made a quiet noise of anger and protest, but knowing she couldn’t escape, this time she chose to go rigid as a board. He rubbed his fingers against her smooth labia and eased his fingers between them. She caught her bottom lip in her teeth, and the golden waterfall rippled from her reaction.
“You are despicable,” she said tightly.
“You, my slave, are wet.” He withdrew his touch from her body but continued to hold the back of her neck as he brought his fingers to his mouth. “And your honey is sweet.”
“It’s the oil the slaves put inside me to ease your passage.” Her voice dripped with scorn. “They wished to look after my comfort. I told them I doubted you were of a size for it to be necessary.”
“I will have them beaten for their interference.” He tasted the light honey flavoring of the lubricant, but he also tasted her. However, he stepped away to pick up a cloth and placed it in one of her bound hands, tightening his grip over hers when she would have dropped it. He hardened his tone. “Get rid of it. The only honey between your legs will be what my touch creates.”
The mutinous set to her mouth was enhanced by the mask. It made him want to force her to her knees and put her lips to other uses. Grasping her chin, he dipped his head close enough to speak against her ear. The hood was thin enough to ensure her hearing wasn’t obstructed. “Do it. Or I’ll use my mouth to remove every drop of their honeyed oils. When I’m done with you, you’ll be dripping with your own, unable to deny it. You’ll also be moaning from my kindness to your tender flesh.”
She turned her head, quick as a snake, her teeth snapping. He drew back in time to save himself from being bitten, but that was a distraction. The slack in the chains that would allow her to reach between her legs with the cloth allowed her another attack angle. She brought her hands in front of her, clasped them together, and swung the doubled fist into his body.
He expected she’d been aiming for his balls, but her lack of sight hindered her. Instead, she hit his abdomen with admirable force. His captive followed that up with another swing. She was doing a blitz attack, moving forward until she ran out of chain.
That was easy enough to counter. He simply stepped out of range. When she realized it, she stopped, though her fists remained clenched, her mouth a hard line.
“That just drove your number of punishments up past where I can count,” he noted.
“I’m surprised you can count at all.”
“That would be unfortunate for you, because then I’ll just keep going until my arm tires.”
She spat more curses at him. Foul words he wouldn’t tolerate from her. Warrior she might be, but she wouldn’t talk like a common soldier.
He pinned her to the pole, his fingers wrapping around her slim throat. Her breath suddenly shortened as he leaned in and let her hear menace in his low voice.
“There’s nothing you can do to hurt me, my lady, that will cause me to hurt you back the same way. I won’t injure you or take your life. What I’m going to do is something you’ll think is far worse. At first. I’m going to make you cry out with pleasure against your will, over and over, so all my men will know your body is mine to command.”
Her lips curled in a sneer, as if she were about to retort, but he tightened his grip on her throat and captured a sound there he knew was erotic response. She was proud, an incomparable prize, but she desired surrender. Most submissives couldn’t help but react strongly to their Master’s hand collaring their throat, and this queen was no exception, no matter how she tried to hide it. He lowered his voice even further, a whisper against her fair cheek.
“Before this night is done, you will willingly give me both a slave’s obedience and a queen’s heart. The type of torments you’ll experience at my hands are the kind that will have you begging. For the mercy of my touch, for my cock to fill your emptiness. For me never to leave your presence, because you will not feel complete except when I am in your sight.”
She’d stilled, and he touched her lips with his thumb. “You push me, and you’ll find out how ruthless I can be. You’ll stay in that falcon hood for days, taking food and drink from my hand, until all you know is the care of your Master and no will of your own that doesn’t obey mine. If you think I can’t do it, that I can’t find the way to your soul, you should think again. When I’m done with you tonight, you’ll need me to carry you, for your legs will no longer support you the way my arms can.”
Her skin had flushed, her lips parting. He traced her temple with his lips and moved down to her neck. When he bit, he heard her draw in a breath, make a little moan. Fuck, she’d made him hard as a rock, how still she’d become. He’d gotten through. He was a Master. He wouldn’t be played with, and she was his. His only.
He skimmed his fingertips down her back, over her buttocks to her lower back, pushing the curtain of chains out of his way. Resting his thumb in that dip just above the crease, he spread out his fingers to cover, stroke.
“Your father gave you to me, thinking it would save his precious kingdom,” he muttered. “If you were mine, they would have had to tear down my castle, brick by brick, overthrow my empire, kill me. Go to the afterlife and destroy my soul, before they could get to you. Even then, I would make whatever deal with the devil was necessary to protect you from harm. And to keep you as my own.”
“So I would be in hell with you,” she said sullenly. She’d rallied. His lips curved.
“It would be warm there. But you can find warmth here, in my arms.”
“Sugared words from a man wanting to rut between a woman’s thighs.” She tossed her head, the feathers on the mask fluttering. “As meaningless and quickly gone as his seed spilled upon them.”
“I’ll spill that seed in you, my love, and fill you with my child. Our child.”
She quivered, a reaction he felt low in his gut. They’d been trying. If they conceived here, Matt couldn’t imagine a better outcome to their fantasy. He wanted her to bear his child. He wanted to cherish and raise the life they created together.