Page 9 of Kronos’ Consort

Her eyes widened as she suddenly understood where it was he’d brought her to and why it was in such variance to the cell where she’d previously been held.

His bedroom. The thought thundered in her mind, accelerating her pulse even faster. I’m in his bed.

There was an excited succor to the verdict; a sign that he had comprehended her plea and not made her return to the tiny white room that had caused her so much terror, but there was something else, too.

Something far more unexpected.

An intimacy that only two lovers sharing a bed could understand, a sharing of personal space that spoke of vulnerability and care. There was goodness only knew how many other rooms in the gigantic place Kronos called home, with countless beds that he seemed to be able to conjure from thin air. Yet, he had decided to bring her there, to sleep by his side.

She bit down on her lip at the development. Beyond her obvious accessibility, what did that mean? Was the façade of intimacy all in her head, or was there genuine sentiment blooming between them in the darkness?

“Your heart is hammering faster than usual.” His tone was matter-of-fact, but the nonchalance was belied by the way he rolled in her direction, the crown of his already swollen erection nudging at her thigh. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, Master.”

She whispered the reply, still trying to put the final pieces of the puzzle of the prior day into place in her mind. Those hours had been a giddying mixture of emotions. She’d felt the suffocating terror of being stuck in the white room, the panic somehow still lingering at the back of her throat. She’d known the dizzying pleasure of his caresses and the orgasms he’d bestowed, and on top of all of that, she might have only been seconds away from some serious neurological side effects of oxygen deprivation. No wonder sleep had been such a blessing.

“You’re sure?”

One of his huge hands reached for her, skimming over her hip and reinforcing what should have already been evident. She was just as naked as he was, the dress he’d enrobed her with for Shelley’s farewell no longer covering her.

“Yes.”

She gulped back the word, unsure how she felt about being naked in bed with the muscular giant who’d stolen not only her liberty, but to all intents and purposes, her free will. His size and strange powers meant he could keep her there with ease, but more worrying was the ever-growing idea that she might not want to leave.

She couldn’t shake the idea that something potentially special was blossoming between them, an intimate connection that warmed her from the inside, and the nagging feeling that if she somehow walked away, she might never experience the likes of it again.

Her focus fell to his roaming hand, considering the touch of his fingers over her needy flesh. Even the most fleeting of his caresses stirred something in her, an electricity that had been suppressed for too many years.

He’d told her that she could continue to resist him, could break his rules and face the no doubt painfully compelling consequences, but he’d also suggested another way; an option where she capitulated and fast-tracked the pleasure she was really looking for. As his hand grazed over her eager sex and her hips rose in response, it was that choice that forced a whimper from her lips.

“So, why have you woken?” He edged closer, his fingers brushing over the soft hair at the apex of her thighs. “I assumed you would need longer to recuperate.”

“I woke up and didn’t know where I was, Master.” Her lips twitched in spite of herself. It wasn’t the first time she’d experienced that disorientation in the last few days, but it was the only time she’d roused to find him there in the bed with her.

“Hmmm.” He didn’t sound convinced by her explanation. “You were exhausted when I brought you here.”

“To your bed?”

“Mmmm.”

She heard the smile on his lips that time, his fingertips running an intoxicating line along her inner thigh. No doubt he’d intentionally avoided the sensitive nub that most sought his focus, preferring to tease her. She also hadn’t forgotten that he’d promised her some sort of consequence for attempting to escape, and based on how he’d found her when he’d returned, she could only imagine what he might have had in mind. Perhaps heightening her arousal and then denying her was only the appetizer of what would turn out to be an extraordinarily elongated meal.

“I…” She frowned, conscious of the way her legs splayed wider, her pussy seeking his touch.

It was as though the energy between them had a life of its own, its will goading her despite every logical reason to resist his allure. She was still his captive, held there against her will and seemingly completely unable to leave. There was no rational explanation for craving his touch, but no matter how she wrestled with the conundrum, she always came back to the same silly conclusion.

She wanted him and couldn’t conceive of a future without his undeniable magnetism.

She writhed under his hand. “Should I go back to sleep?”

Not that there was any chance of that. Between the thickening sexual tension in the room and her wired mind, which was remembering more of their interactions in pockets of intense memories, sleep was the last thing on her mind.

“Do you want to sleep?”

His face was still masked by the darkness, but based on the heat emanating from him, his pulsing prick at her hip, and the way his arm had draped over her to tug her even closer, he couldn’t have been more than a few inches from where she was strewn. As though his fingers sensed her quandary, they shifted to her labia, his fingertips trailing an invisible line over her needy lips.

“Or is there something else my little one needs?”