Page 10 of The Jester

I start to make frantic circles with three of my fingers, coaxing throbbing, trembling pleasure from my pussy.

As the stranger sits back a bit on his knees so he can watch me, still fucking me with his fingers, he studies my hand like he’s trying to learn the exact pattern and rhythm that will take me over the edge.

My orgasm approaches, the pressure building deep inside my body. I lean forward and brace my weight on his shoulder, my knees becoming weak. “It’s okay,” he mutters, “I can take it. Use me.”

My nails dig into his naked back, but he hardly seems to notice. His eyes are black with desire, and I can feel the sheer force of his arousal coursing through every movement.

“Keep going, please.”

“You’re in control,” he says. “I won’t stop unless you tell me to stop.”

He continues his relentless thrusting, each movement driving me further into a swirling inferno of desire. My heart beats so wildly I feel like it’s about to crack my ribs.

I cry out again, desperate for more.

Without missing a beat, he keeps fucking me while I rub my clit. I release a loud, unrestrained cry of pleasure. It mixes with the torrents of water running down the rock face beside us and echoes off the damp walls of the cave. As I uncoil for him, the way he wants me, he wraps around my limbs and squeezes me tight, putting me back together even as I fall apart.

Shaking, I collapse forward, body trembling uncontrollably with the force of my climax. My skin feels electrified, every nerve lighting up with pleasure. But he catches me. He holds me steady, then pulls me down into his arms and keeps me close while I return to my body.

“Si’thari, you are incredible,” he whispers against my ear, his voice muffled from inside his mask.

“So are you.” I run my fingers through his hair, desperate to take off his mask. Smiling, I stroke his earlobe and he leans into my touch. “If I can’t see you, I should at least know your name.”

He looks up at me and something flickers around him. Sadness. Frustration.

I feel as if he is about to speak when something shatters the moment.

It is a scream. Distant. Somewhere beyond the falls. But it is not a scream of pleasure.

I stand quickly and run to the entrance of the cave. More screams. And then... a wave of pure, unadulterated fear hits me smack in the chest. It is so forceful I almost collapse back to the floor. There is another, then another. A tsunami of terror pummelling through me so hard I can barely breathe.

“Something bad is happening,” I whisper. “We have to go.”

But when I turn around, the stranger has already gone.

Chapter Five

ALANA

Irun, my heart pounding in my chest, my breath coming in short, sharp gasps. The screams grow louder as I approach the bonfire, fear congealing in my chest and my temples.

Not just mine . . . everyone’s.

My dress tangles around my legs, but I push forward, driven by a sickening sense of dread, trying to slam the gates of my empathy back down so I can at least see through the blinding fog of chaos and figure out what is happening.

As I break through the tree line, I rip the mask from my face and throw it to the ground. The scene in front of me steals all the air from my lungs. Dark, bulky figures move through the crowd, their faces obscured by grotesque masks, their hands wielding chains and weapons.

I know these figures, but only from the twisted tales we were told as children.

Fae traders. Gloomweavers.

My wings shudder, and dread drips down my spine. I rise into the air. I have barely reached the lower branches of the nearest tree when something whizzes past me, pain strikes my leg, and I drop to the ground.

Stunned, I stare up at the dark canopy. My legs are hot. I smell smoke. It swirls around me, but I can’t figure out where it is coming from until someone shouts, “She’s on fire!”

I look down, and realise they’re right. My dress has caught light.

As fiery arrows fly through the air all around me, I roll over and over, wrapping my wings around myself and crying out as they absorb the heat that burns me. Finally, the fire is extinguished. I rise unsteadily to my feet. My ears are ringing, and my leg feels tingly and numb. I pull up my dress and see a large, red wound on my thigh. Not from fire, from something else.

---