Page 26 of His Dark Delights
I bit back a yelp as his grip tightened further. “Right. How could a stupid farm girl understand a king’s reasonfor war? I will never be yours and you will never have my heart as long as you crave bloodshed more than my happiness.”
Soren shook me then, not enough to hurt, but enough to frighten me. He growled. “I do love you, Lilly, but I cannot give up my purpose. What else can I do? What else will make you happy?”
I found clarity through my tears. The sobbing ache in my throat eased, and a blanket of chilling serenity flowed through me. I met his gaze, eyes full of cold, hard ice. “I could be happy again if I loved you less. Better yet, not at all. Then—then I might be happy again.”
“But you do still love me, and while you do, I still have a chance,” he claimed. His hands smoothed down my arms to my elbows.
“Chance of what?” My heart skipped a beat at the familiar intimacy of his touch.
It was deranged, but I longed to feel his kisses on my neck, his fingers on my bare shoulders, his teeth biting my thighs. But mostly I ached for his weight on top of my body again, crushing me, controlling me, and focusing my mind as he entered me. I wanted to bury my face in his neck, inhale his scent, and twist my fingers in his shirt, never to let him go. I hated myself for that desire and the dampness growing between my thighs.
“A chance to keep you, to make you mine, and to make you happy.” The king’s grip was firm, not rough, but not gentle, either. I felt the inherent strength of his fingers, used to wielding a sword and winning victories.
I was nothing more than another fight to win. He’d said so himself once before. We were waging war—the battle for my heart. If Soren Carnifex won, my lifewould be forfeit.
“You most certainly have no chance of that. I’ve already told you I’ll never be yours as long as you are at war, and I see that’ll never end.”
“You will be mine.” His eyes darkened, and his tone dropped, becoming husky as he amended, “You are mine.”
My betraying heart skipped a beat.
“No!” I yanked myself from his grasp, bumping into the desk again. “From this moment on, I feel nothing for you, and I never will again!” My fingers brushed along something solid.
Soren lunged, grabbing me and pulling my face to his chest. His frantic heartbeat thumped against my cheek. The cage of his arms, the confinement, it was stifling. He was too warm, his scent too intoxicating. I couldn’t inhale… I couldn’t breathe—
“If you feel nothing for me, then why are you trembling, Lilly?” His voice was hoarse and rough. The sound struck me through the heart, and I reacted viciously, out of character.
My fingers curled around the item on the desk; something solid and heavy. I lifted my arm, swinging in through the air, and aimed for the king.
A king who was a soldier, a warrior, and a trained killer.
Soren caught my arm in the air. His grip as hard and unyielding as iron locked onto my wrist, twisting with precise calculation. A pathetic noise breached my lips. My fingers went limp, and a mug slammed on the floor, shattering into a dozen porcelain pieces.
His lips crashed into mine, stealing the gasp from my mouth. The addictive taste of his tongue cascadedover mine when it swept in. He deepened the kiss, pressing himself against me until I succumbed to the desire burdening my soul.
Ren’s kiss, his body flush with mine. It was warm, familiar, and mind-numbing. He was the incarnate of my doom, solid and radiating safety when he enveloped me in his arms. Thoughts of my death at his hands invaded my mind, warring drastically against the wanton longing in my core, leaving me rattled, confused, but prone to his demanding mouth and greedy fingers.
The space between us became nonexistent. As Ren untied my gardening apron and unbound the laces of my corset, I couldn’t tell where I ended, and he began. Not until he grabbed my face in those massive palms, stealing every ounce of my attention.
His thumbs swiped over my cheeks, wiping away the fresh tears I hadn’t realized were spilling over. “Why do you have to be so pretty when you cry?”
“Ren,” I whispered, half-sobbing, unable to fathom anything other than the name I loved him by.
He surged forward and caught my mouth again. Kissing me with near bruising intensity, he groaned against my lips. Then he caught my skirts, hitching them higher and bunching them around my waist. He used his larger frame to urge me back, forcing my behind onto the edge of the desk.
The glossy wooden surface met my bare thighs, and cool air kissed my soaked underwear. A shiver rolled through me as Ren peppered my neck and chest with his lips. As he descended my body, sinking lower, I arched my head back and closed my eyes.
Fabric rustled, and a belt clinked loose. Anticipationthrilled through me, and I sucked in a breath. Yet the moment of joining never came.
I peeked open an eye to investigate, flinching right as Ren’s mouth met my core. He waited for nothing, delving his tongue between my folds and instantly targeting my clit. Inflamed bliss rocked through my taut lower stomach, and an unbidden moan flitted through my lips.
Ren bowed over with his head buried between my thighs, one hand hooked behind a knee, holding my legs apart. His other hand fisted around his cock, pumping his length to the same rhythm as his flicking tongue.
“Fuck, you taste so good. Even your sweat tastes like sugar. You always smell like a garden in bloom and your cum is like honeysuckles on my tongue.” A masculine groan rumbled through him before he dove in for more.
The force of sensation surging through my belly sent me reeling. I fell onto the desk, back arching and hips tilting to meet the sweet glide of his tongue. Mindlessly, one of my hands found its way into his hair, nails scraping over his scalp and twisting in the silken raven’s feather locks.
There was an abyss within the core of my being, empty and dark. Ren brought the light with the skill of his mouth, blinding and hot—impossibly hot. It burned through my blood and my bones, enough to ignite the very essence of my soul.
