Page 40 of The Sword and the Damsel

“I want you.”

Something shifted in his face, like a dam breaking. Suddenly, he clutched her with furious strength, grinding his hips against her. “And if I’m yours, then you’re mine.” He pulled her into a desperate kiss, squeezing her too hard and nearly suffocating her with his ardor. “Mine, Alais. No going back. No annulment. No lovers. Only I touch your body. Only I kiss your lips. Anyone else tries, and they die. Do you understand, Alais?”

Oh, for God’s sake.“Yes, I understood the vows I made to you before God and my family in the chapel today. Did you? Because it seems like you have a lot of questions.”

“I can’t take this anymore. I need you. Now.”

He reached down to replace her hand with his own. She cried out as the intensity sharpened at his touch.

“Kiss me,” she begged as her body arched beneath his touch. Suddenly, his lips were on hers, his tongue tasting her, twisting, and teasing. He stroked like a master musician, playing a subtle melody and then strumming deeper chords that touched her very soul.

“You are exquisite,” he murmured, nibbling on her ear. “Every last inch of you.”

His mouth traced a trail of fire down her neck, her shoulder. He kissed his way down her chest, between her breasts, then traced the crease beneath one breast with his tongue, swirling up to the peak until it brushed over the bud of her nipple.

And then he pulled back. She gasped at the sudden absence, feeling a cool sensation where his tongue had traced, the tips of her breasts hardening as if straining toward the absent warmth of his mouth. His fingers continued their tantalizing dance, making her moan and wail, awash in sensation.

“More,” she pleaded, barely able to form words. Moments later, his lips brushed against her breast again, followed by his tongue, flicking and circling, teasing her nipple until she was writhing with need. She’d never known her breasts were so sensitive, that she could feel such joy and desperation in every part of her body from such a delicate sensation. Then he grazed it gently with his teeth, and she lost her mind. Her back arched off the bed. Her whole body trembled. The pooling heat between her legs pulsed and throbbed. He put a finger inside of her, and she moaned, “Oh, Victor…”

She looked into his face. As he drove her to the brink, she saw a swirl of emotions in his eyes—hunger, tenderness, desperation, and even, love. As she thought the word “love,” something within her squeezed, and she convulsed from head to toe. He made a quiet noise that sounded almost pained, as he slid another finger inside of her.

“This can’t be real,” he murmured as he moved his mouth to her other breast. “I’ve dreamed of you so many times, but all of my dreams fall short. So far short. Oh my God.” He gave a desperate moan as he suckled her and her back arched again. Her body trembled. She was so close, and she wanted all of him.

“Victor, I need you. Take me now, please,” she begged, desperate for him to fill her and bring her to fruition.

“Not yet. First, I want to watch you melt. I want to see you fall to pieces. Let me take you soaring through the heavens.”

Something shifted in the way he was touching her, and she couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much, the intensity too great. She writhed to escape, but his fingers were relentless, pushing her to the brink and then over it. And then…. And then everything dropped away. She soared, floating through sparkling stars, her body a vessel of pure sensation.

“My God, that was gorgeous,” he said in an awed whisper as she came back down to earth, tingling and catching her breath.

Her body was warm and languid, but she knew they were far from done. He had to enter her. They needed to consummate, and however lovely she felt, it wasn’t enough. Not yet. She reached out and ran her fingers lightly down his chest and his belly and grasped his naked flesh, running her hand up and down the hard and velvety skin that felt so different from any flesh she had ever touched. He made an odd squeak and took deep, rasping breaths.

“Now take me,” she demanded, as his flesh twitched in her hand. She pulled him toward her center, and he shifted tohover over her, placing his legs between hers. Wrapping her legs around him, she pulled his hips against hers, opening herself, offering herself.

He slid into her, pressing forward slowly until she felt him reach some unseen barrier.

“Oh God, I can feel it. After this, there’s no going back.”

By way of answer, she put her hands on his buttocks and pulled him into her with as much force as she could muster. She wanted this done, once and for all, and she gasped at the welcome pain as he broke through her maidenhead. It was such a precious vindication, the final proof that Robert’s lie was just that.

He cried out, embedded to the hilt within her.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, not sure whether the sound he made was pleasure or pain. Her own moment of pain quickly disappeared in a flood of profound relief that the deed was finally done.

Panting and gasping, he whispered, “I’m supposed to ask you that.”

“I’m fine. Just don’t stop.”

And so she watched his face as they started to rock together. “I’m yours, Victor, all of me,” she murmured to the rhythm of their coupling. “I’m your wife. I want you just like you want me. No one will touch me but you. No one will kiss me but you. You are the only man I want. Take me. Make me yours. Love me.”

And he did.

She could feel the ripples of each thrust on top of her head, in her fingertips and toes. Like the body of a lute, she vibrated at his strokes. The pace of the music quickened, and she thrummed beneath him, chords feeding into each other, driven by his steady rhythm. Their music grew wilder and more raucous until her whole body stretched taut, like a string being plucked, justbefore its release. And then everything dissolved in an explosion of sensation far beyond anything she had felt before.

As if from a great distance, she heard Victor cry out her name as his flesh within her spasmed and pulsed and then slowed. He lingered inside her as his release subsided, each tiny pulsation from him creating an answering frisson in her. He rolled to the side at last, and they both lay panting.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” he whispered.

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