Page 171 of Immortal Bastard

“But this is my fault! I can’t bear the thought of them hurting you! I’ll never be able to sit through that! I’d rather be the one getting hit.”

“Hush.” He pulled her onto his lap and rubbed a soothing hand down her back, urging her close. “If anyone ever laid a cruel hand on you, I’d fall into a murderous rage, and then we’d really be in a mess. By the end of the day tomorrow, this will all be over and we can put it behind us. You have to be brave. I need you to be brave for me.”

She buried her face in his neck and sucked in another sob. “Why did you make me feed like that earlier?”

He sighed. “Because I needed to keep my wits. We couldn’t afford to be distracted. I wanted us both clearheaded when we faced the bishop.”

“I don’t like that guy.”

He chuckled. “Eleazar isn’t a bad male. He has a difficult job and does it well, with honor and impartiality. Tonight wasn’t easy for him. Try not to think too cruelly of him for only doing his duty.”

She scooted back and looked up at him through reddened eyes. “We can leave. I know you love it here, Christian, but we can run away together. We can make our own laws and live however we want.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled into her tear-streaked face. “No, little one. This is the safest place for us.”

“But I don’t want them to whip you.” She covered her mouth and whimpered. “Four hundred lashes is too much.”

“I would take a thousand lashes every day if it meant keeping you safely by my side. Four hundred is nothing, my love. Your tears are injuring me far worse than a whip ever could.”

She sprang forward, wreathing her arms around his neck and hugging him in a chokehold. “I didn’t understand. I mean, I heard you. I heard Larissa. You all kept saying that terrible things would have happened if you didn’t find me, but… Until I saw Isaiah tonight, I didn’t truly understand what you meant.”

His arms closed gently around her back, and he kissed her temple. “It’s all right, pintura.”

She leaned back. “But I still don’t trust your bishop.”

“You must understand something about our bishop. He was a friend to my mother and like a father to me in many ways. As the only male of the Schrock line, a large responsibility rested on my shoulders from a young age. Eleazar taught me how to manage such encumbering duties. He demanded I get the same respect as every other elder on the bench, despite my young age and misbegotten start. He punished anyone who dared to call me a bastard.”

She nuzzled closer. “That doesn’t give him the right to force you into this.”

“There is no force, my love. I surrender willingly so that we may stay here and live a long life under the protection of The Order.”

“Protected maybe, but not free.”

“Every society must have rules.” He pressed a kiss to her nose and then another to her lips. “Come now, no more sadness today.”

She leaned forward, pressing her face to his. “I’ll never be able to sleep.”

“Let me help you relax.” He lowered her back to the bed, stripping away her shift and spreading a trail of kisses to her breasts. She stretched her body out beneath him in beautiful surrender as he dragged his lips lower.

When she willingly opened her legs, his tongue teased the small piercing at her apex, and she moaned, her sensual cries music to his ears. Tasting her there was akin to sipping from the fountain of youth. He could drink her sweet honey forever and never have his fill. He licked and teased, bringing her slowly to climax as her pleasure rolled into his. He savored her sweet release down to the last drop.

When he was ready for her, she accepted him into her body. He pressed deep until their pelvises kissed.

“Taste yourself on my lips,” he whispered, kissing her slowly.

Her tongue stole into his mouth, and he moaned as her fingers raked deliciously through his hair. He thrust into her, driving his cock deeper with every stroke and claiming her body.

Pressing her arms into the bedding over her head, he looked into her eyes, sensing how the day’s events had strengthened their bond.

It was his belief that God strengthened them with challenges so that they had a better chance of survival. Just as a chrysalis must struggle to break free of the cocoon, the effort was necessary. His mate was going through a beautiful transformation, a chrysalis on her way to becoming a radiant butterfly.

“Tell me who you belong to, pintura.”

“I’m yours,” she rasped, gasping and arching as he rocked into her.

“That’s right, my love. You’re mine. All mine. Forever.”

She cried out as another wave of pleasure crossed that euphoric precipice. Her sex fluttered, gripping his cock as it stroked into her. Deeper. Faster. He couldn’t get enough of her.

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