Page 17 of Shadowbound

“Very good,” she murmurs. “I like how you bring yourself down to my level without me having to ask.”

Sister Beatrice never had to ask much either, I think. Not that I minded. I was eager—more than eager—to kiss between her thighs whenever she bid me do it.

Then thoughts of the past fade and I give a startled gasp of pleasure as Sylvanna begins to work the mysterious thick liquid into my hair. Her long fingernails feel amazing as she massages my scalp and the liquid smells of flowers and pine needles—it’s so much different from the harsh lye soap I’m used to. It doesn’t sting at all and it lathers into a mass of foamy bubbles I can feel dripping down my neck and shoulders.

My reaction seems to please my new Mistress.

“Hmmm, you like that, don’t you?” she murmurs as she continues to work the lather into my scalp.

Even more than her tender ministrations, I like the view I have of her full, bare breasts. They’re wet and bobbing just in front of my face as she scrubs my hair. The wide dark bands around her nipples look so suckable. I want to feel them in my mouth…but even more I want to hear her moan my name as I give her pleasure…as I serve her with my lips and tongue.

I’m quite certain that Sister Beatrice would have “punished” me by having me suck her nipples if only she hadn’t been wary of my Holy Fire. In fact, I used to fantasize about exactly that.

I want to reach for Sylvanna…but I remember how her shadows were quick to restrain me. I promised to keep my hands to myself—it’s no more than I’ve been doing all my life, after all. But of course, for most of my life I couldn’t touch a woman without burning her. And though I don’t mind hurting myself to raise the Celestial Fire, the idea of giving a woman pain instead of pleasure is sickening to me.

Now I have finally found a woman I can touch…only I can’t touch her. Not yet.

“Patience, my Paladin,” she murmurs and I know she’s probably been following my thoughts with that damn Jewel of hers. “Duck under the water now,” she tells me. “Rinse off your hair.”

I do as I am told and then rise to tower over her at her command.

“Very good—now I am going to cleanse you with my own hands and in doing so, claim you as my own,” she explains. This time the liquid she pours into her palms comes from a deep red bottle. She rubs it between her palms and starts with my shoulders.

Standing on her tiptoes to reach me, her small hands massage the warm liquid into my flesh. At the same time, her stiff nipples and full breasts brush against my abdomen and my cock throbs with need. I clench my hands into fists at my sides. May the Old Gods give me strength!

“You’re doing very well, Alaric,” she tells me as she finishes my chest. “Now turn around for me.”

I turn and she scrubs my back, this time using some kind of sponge that has a scratchy side. It feels fucking amazing and I enjoy every minute of it, even though my shaft is still rock hard.

It seems that my shaft is to be her next area of attention because she orders me to go and sit on the topmost step which leads into the bathing pool. Then she kneels on the step below it, right in front of me.

She makes quite a vision, kneeling there naked with her full breasts floating in the water and for a moment, I consider other fantasies I’ve long had. Unlike my fellow knights who make use of the local wenches at the taverns, I’ve never had my shaft sucked. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to have a set of soft lips ovaled around my cock…to look down and see a pair of beautiful eyes looking back up at me as a woman took me in her mouth.

“Later for that as well, my Paladin,” she murmurs and the Jewel at her temple pulses. “For now, we’re just getting you clean.”

To my surprise, she uses the sponge to wash my legs and feet before turning her attention to my cock. She gets more of the special liquid from the red bottle and grips my shaft, stroking up and down as she massages it into me.

“Oh…Gods!” The groan is torn from my lips and once more, my hands fist at my sides. How can I bear to let her touch me like this? How can I let her torture me with pleasure without returning the favor? But I must resist—I am not allowed to touch her without permission.

The pleasure rises higher and higher and, to my surprise, I feel the Celestial Fire rising within me as well. It’s almost like the two are linked, though in the past only pain has brought my Holy Fire to the surface.

Sylvanna must feel it too, because she abruptly stops “washing” me.

“That’s enough for now, I think,” she murmurs. “We can’t have you blowing up my bathing pool.”

I nearly groan as she takes her hands from my shaft and balls, but she’s not done with me yet. She bids me to come back into the water with her and she has me turn and bend over, facing away from her with my elbows resting on the stone lip of the pool.

“What are you doing now?” I ask and then jump, because I feel her small fingertips sliding between my buttocks. “Hey, what…?” I whirl around to face her, protecting my vulnerable ass. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I growl, glaring down at her.

“Simply claiming what is mine. Don’t worry—I won’t hurt you. See?” She holds up one small hand and I see the long, sharp nails suddenly slide into her fingers, which makes the nails much shorter. “Retractable—like a cat’s,” she tells me.

It’s not her nails I’m worried about—though maybe I should be.

“You never said anything about…about washing me there,” I point out accusingly. Everyone knows that a male who likes to have his arsehole played with is a lover of other men—which I most certainly am not.

“Alaric, I’m claiming every part of you.” Her voice is soft but stern. “You must submit to me, even when what I need to do to you isn’t comfortable.”

“I don’t want someone fucking around back there,” I growl.

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