Page 9 of Settle Down, Princess

My title was a common enough term of affection for a woman, but the word stung as hard as if he’d slapped me. I could almost hear the rattle of my cage, threatening to close around me again. I drew myself up tall upon Arik’s lap and his hands went to my waist, ready to stop me if I tried to slip free.

But he needn’t have worried.

I turned in his lap, draping my hands around his neck and tipping my head back to look into his eyes, just like I’d seen the serving girl do.

“What do you want, Master Arik?” I asked, my lips closer to his than they’d been to any other man’s. “Do you want me to come back to your lodgings?”

“Gods…” he hissed, his hips bucking upwards. “Right now, I can’t think of another thing I’d want more.”

I wanted to kiss him then because I’d never kissed a man before, and if I was going to, I wanted it to be by my choice and with a man like this. One who waited for me to show him that I was sure; one with eyes the colour of a summer sky. I liked the pained expression he made as my lips darted closer to his then stopped, hovering in the air between us. I liked the feel of his hand sliding up my back, anchoring me to the spot, though he didn’t move to close the gap separating us. I knew he wouldn’t do that; that he’d wait until I did. However, as soon as my lips brushed against his, he took over.

The grip on the back of my neck tightened and my tentative little kiss became something much harder, much hungrier. I had been trained in all the niceties of setting a table but not in anything like this. Not how to cope when a man kissed you open-mouthed, his tongue sliding against yours; when it felt like he’d eat your entire mouth with his hunger. That tide inside me was rising again, like a great wave, and I rose on his lap, unable to sit still. I hung over him, holding his head between my hands, sucking on his bottom lip, chasing his tongue when he pulled his back until we were forced to pull apart, gasping, to draw breath.

“Yes?” Arik’s blue eyes were hard now, piercing mine as he asked the question intently. “I’ll need to hear that over and over if tonight is to go as I hope.”

“Yes,” I said, meeting his gaze with just as much focus, then stroking the side of his face and repeating softly, “Yes.”

Chapter 7

We went staggering out of The Siren and into the street, but I had no idea where our final destination was. The sun was starting to set, casting a hazy golden glow over the whole area of the docks and the wide expanse of water. The illumination didn’t follow us as we moved down into the alleyways. We walked as a group down the dank, cramped streets, though it wasn’t long before I started to lag, having to hold my skirts up to avoid them dragging in the dirt. When I stopped for a moment to rearrange my grip, Creed turned his head, quick to note my absence. He stalked back to me, then, bending down, and in one smooth move, he grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder. He straightened up and caught up with the others easily, despite carrying me like I was a sack of meal. Before I could protest, Roan moved to Creed’s side, matching his pace, and tilted my chin his way.

“Any of that sweetness for me, lass?”

There shouldn’t have been. I barely knew the man and knew nothing of his character, yet that seemed to be the blessing of roseblood. I didn’t care whether I knew him or not, his strong features drew my hands forward, and then there was all of that red hair. I petted it like one might a lapdog as Creed grunted, feeling me wriggle in his grip as I tried to get closer.

Kissing Roan was an awkward affair at first, with the bounce of Creed’s steps forcing our teeth to clack against each other before Roan’s hands went to my cheeks. He cradled my face gently before brushing his mouth against mine. The roseblood freed me; left me caring little who it was that I kissed. I just needed to feel someone else’s mouth against mine, a tongue sliding sinuously past my lips. I sighed and squirmed until Creed took my waist in his hands and dropped me to my feet in front of him. His eyes glowed with an unearthly light as he herded me backwards before my body collided with a closed door. I felt the handle press into my hip as he slapped a hand above the wood over my head.

“You’re drugged, girl. Most people don’t have this kind of reaction to roseblood, and if they do, only for the first few times. But you’re well and truly flushed.”

“Flushed? That’s what this is?” I smoothed a hand over the leather armour he wore, something deep inside me pleased by the breadth of his chest. “I had no idea that this is how it could make me feel.”

“And I’ve got the antidote.”

“So do I,” Roan said, moving forward to look at me over Creed’s shoulder, his face falling when he saw the other man pull out a pouch of herbs. “You bloody killjoy.”

“I can brew you a tea and it’ll take the heat away. You’ll be as you were before,” Creed told me, his eyes boring into mine, but that was exactly the wrong thing to say to me. Dimly, I remembered what ‘before’ meant and I knew I didn’t like it at all.

“Or you can play with me.”

Roan produced a leather pouch of a now familiar red powder, then licked his lips before coating them with roseblood. I smiled and threw my arms around his neck to draw his head down to me, his lips to mine. Gods, this was much more preferable than the way I’d first tasted it. No bitter beer, just a rich, carnal sweetness that had my blood fizzing in my veins and my hands running across the thick muscles of his shoulders and his back as I rubbed up against the front of his body.

“Where’s this suite?” I asked as I pulled my head away, my voice hoarse with passion.

“We’re here.”

A hand slid between us and pulled me free from Roan. Arik was standing in front of me. He watched me lick away the residue from my lips and shifted closer, putting his hands up to my shoulders. A hand went around my throat, tilting my head up, offering me to him. When I tipped my head back, Silas smiled down at me. He didn’t loosen his grip, not until Arik had kissed me. I was getting the hang of it now, this savage dance of tongues, even though it had my head whirling. Then Arik pulled away and drew me with him, up a staircase and onto a landing and then through a door that opened into a fine suite. It smelled of men—close, richly spiced and completely alien—and my thighs started to rub together the moment the door was closed and locked behind us.

Arik released my hand, but stared down at me as he fed the tongue of his belt through its clasp and slid it free, his money belt and knife sheath going tumbling, unheeded, to the floor. The others drew closer around me. He reached up to undo his shirt, but I put my hands over his, stopping him. His blue eyes had become like chips of ice, cruel and hard, though a half-smile touched his lips as I undid each button. And I realised I didn’t care about what he felt or didn’t feel for me. And I didn’t need him to love me, or even like me.

What I needed was the one thing I’d been denied all my life. The freedom to make my own decisions without worrying about how they might impact others.

I knew not what went on between a husband and a wife, but I did know how bulls covered cows, how stallions covered mares. There seemed to be a lot of bellowing and screaming, but then the mechanism of producing more progeny began. His… member pushed inside her, over and over until they… like the serving girl and the sailor in the tavern… My hands hovered in the air, trembling slightly.

My father and the King of Khean valued me for my untouched state, like I was a journal that would be ruined the first time someone opened it to use. But I was more than a blank page to be written upon. I was writing my own story, one touch at a time. Taking a deep breath, I smoothed my hands over Arik’s bare chest, then decisively shoved his shirt from his shoulders.

Oh.

So this was why unmarried women were kept as good as blind around men. If I’d known this was what lurked beneath a man’s clothes, I’d have thrown one of the footmen down on a bed and ravaged him years ago. Arik’s skin glowed gold in the lamplight, and his body was hard where I was soft. My eyes were everywhere. Muscles tightened and shifted as he moved, and he let out a low chuckle.

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