Page 15 of Tamed for Her Pleasure

I’m a princess, the future heir to a kingdom, yet I would willingly be nothing more than his little girl.

He stares down at me with an ungodly fire in his eyes. He wants me, not as a pawn for power but as a woman, one he desires.

He reaches out his hand to me, and I take it, feeling the shroud that holds us prisoner flutter away. As I rise, the sounds around the tent penetrate my dazed mind. My ass aches and mypussy aches more, with a desperate longing to be touched, to feel his fingers there…his mouth moving over me.

My breath catches.

He cups my chin and tips it until our eyes meet, then grabs a handful of sore ass.

I yelp.

He chuckles, releases me, and hefts his axe from the table, tucking it once more at his hip, leaving me to pull up my panties and pants with a huff. Then, with my hand in his, he escorts me from the tent.

Chapter Six

Penelope

Iride with Alfred, and one of his men brings my horse. My stomach is in knots as we head to meet my father and his contingent, who, we are informed, wish to parlay. I am aware of his big body where it presses to mine, of his arm casually looped around my waist where he holds the reins in a single hand.

My bottom aches.

I like that it aches.

Yet even that does not save me from the churning soul-searching that assaults me with every clomp of the horse’s hooves.

I question the many life choices that have brought me to this point. Will my father be angry? I have tested his patience on many occasions, and I worry that this will finally tip him over the edge.

There is a nervous tension throughout the war party as we emerge from the forest, and the great city of Pershore comes into view.

The grassy plains leading toward it are dusted with snow, as are the cream-colored stone buildings that rise beyond the impressive outer wall, tall enough to swallow the first three stories. Towers and steeples peek between the network of roofs, rising ever higher toward the center, where, at the highest point, is the castle and my home where the red and white flags of Pershore flap in the winter breeze.

Pride swells in my chest as I see it through the eyes of an outsider.

There were points in my life when I wished I were born into a different life. Now, and unexpectedly, it does not feel so much a burden but an honor to one day ascend to the throne. To leave this great kingdom in the hands of someone unworthy is nothing less than a crime. It’s true I do not agree with every decision my father makes, but I also try to learn from what he does and why.

His decision to keep the omega and her mate is still unwise, in my opinion, and also unjust when bonds have been made. Although, barbarian hordes aside, I believe my father would have eventually succumbed to common sense.

“Stay by my side when we dismount,” Alfred says. “I want the bastard to see you. It will not end well for anyone if you try to run or get up to mischief. The lives of three people are on the line, and not only them but the unborn child that Freya carries.”

“Do not preach to me, heathen,” I say. “It was I who came to you, remember. I swore I would see them reunited and will do nothing to the detriment of it.”

“Good,” he says, a hint of amusement in his voice. “I’d hate to have to spank your bare bottom in front of everyone, lest it tip us into war.”

I growl under my breath, thinking about stabbing him.

But as we draw closer, I sense my impending doom. I don’t need to see my father’s face to know I have fucked up and willsoon be married off to one of the many lords or princes who vie for my hand.

A sudden recklessness invades me, one I have felt before.

One that is usually a precursor to trouble.

Alfred

The lass is plotting something. I know this because she suddenly goes quiet, and I can all but smell the mischief on her. She doesn’t have a nervous bone in her delectable little body, so I know it is not that. I don’t have time to fucking caution her, nor to take her aside and spank some sense into her wayward behind. I tell myself I don’t really know her, so her quietness could mean a myriad of things, and yet I also feel like I do.

I elect to remain vigilant for any trouble.

We pause a small way out, and our main forces spread out so the Hydorian bastards can get a good look at us.

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