Page 31 of The Bone King and the Starling

“That may be longer than the time you spend in Winterbren, my lord. Lady Hilde had to stitch some of my back and cautioned me against any intense physical exertion.”

A slow smile creeps across my face. The warmth of the room coalesces around me and I get goosebumps. “Last night was intense, wasn’t it, little bird?”

Her cheeks flare with color. She nods, holding my gaze this time for once. “Yes.” Her voice is a little too breathless and my cock is behaving with poor conduct. Were it a trainee on the fields of Ithanuir, I’d beat it senseless. As it stands now, I still have need of it. “It was, my king.”

“I enjoyed myself greatly.”

And then it happens. The dawning of a small sun. She smiles at me for only the second time, the first being when I first met her. It’s a small, caged thing, unlike the first time when she gave me a little more. She didn’t call me by any honorific, and she didn’t look down at her feet, but sought my gaze. Yet, this is still a start.My heart beats harder in my chest. Slow, steady, loud. I lick my lips. My mouth has gone dry and I am thirsty.

Softly, she says, “You were very vocal in your pleasure, my lord.” Her grin stretches and is punctuated by a slight, breathy chuckle. Is she…teasing me?

I bark out a laugh so startling that she jumps, knocking grapes off of her tray. I shake my head slowly and gather them. “As were you, my lady. At least, I hope your screams were those of pleasure.”

“They were,” she breathes.

A growl picks up in my chest and I cannot help edging forward, closer to her an inch. “There are other males more experienced than I who could have taken your virginity. In any ways you like to be pleasured, I would like to learn.”

“You were very… It was…lovely, my king.”

I smirk. “Lovely?” Her breaths become more staggered and I see her gaze stray to my lap and the erection tenting my pants. “Ignore it. I want to hear more about what you liked, what you didn’t like… Eat, princess.”

I lean away from her and she exhales. “I liked all of it, my lord.”

“You are lying. I can sense it.” I can see it in the way her eyes shift left and her smile falls and she returns to fiddling with her sweet cake. She picks up a piece of it and nibbles on the syrupy edge.

“I did like all of it. Too much. I worry that…” She shakes her head. “Sorry, it’s stupid, my king. I don’t mean to trouble you with childish imaginings.”

“Trouble me, little bird. I desire it.”

“It’s just…it was intense as you said and I doubt very much I will ever experience anything like that again. I wonder if it was not a curse, rather than a gift, to have experienced it at all.”

My lips purse. I debate, hesitating, wondering if I should just tell her…ask her… But if I ask, she could say no. “Was there anything else you didn’t like?”

She looks surprised for a moment before biting her lip and shifting her legs against the mattress.

“Tell me.”

“It’s not what you did, my king. You did… Everything you did was perfect. I’ve never experienced pleasure like it. It’s only the bruises. They are a little painful, but Hilde has given me a milk elixir and they already are feeling…” She’s rambling a little and my brows draw together. I reach for the tray in her lap and move it away for the moment.

“I’d like to see,” I say, but I hesitate, wondering if I should just strip her as I like, or if I should ask her permission. I’m not used to asking permission for anything, let alone something I really want. And I’ve never wanted anything like this before. Her heart. “May I?”

“C-certainly, my lord.” My lord again. Hm. I frown, but it does not stop the motion of my hands as I draw the blankets and furs down to her knees and then roll her knee-length tunic up to her hips.

Revealing the juncture of her thighs is a painful thing because my need roars in my ears, cut down only by the fury I feel towards myself. She has finger-shaped bruises covering the outsides of her hips and her inner thighs are red and chafed, covered in a salve undoubtedly applied by Hilde.

“Spread your legs,” I bark.

She doesn’t speak as she obeys. Her mound is dusted in curls and looks slightly swollen but otherwise unharmed. I reach down and try to spread her mons with my fingers so I can see her asshole, but she squirms. I let her go, drop her tunic and push the blankets back to cover her.

“Did I draw blood?”

“No, my lord.”

I nod once. “And Hilde, what did she say of the bruising?”

“Only that it would be uncomfortable for a few days’ time, likely less. I’m okay, my king.”

I look into her eyes. “Truly?”

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