Page 23 of Tasteful Anarchy and Tangled Auras
Chapter 9
Bryn
Goddess above, I cannot wait to leave court. I strip off my clothes and step into the huge tiled shower. I feel like I am being suffocated. I hate it here. The duplicitousness, the excess, the protocol. Just leave me in the fucking woods by myself.
I snort as the hot water from multiple jets soothes me. The fact that Eira thought her anger should get me hard. It’s hilarious. It was like a kitten pawing at my shields. Which only delineated the contrast to the tiger that Adelaide is. I wonder idly as I shampoo my hair if other males make a show of not being able to stop Eira’s magic.
Adelaide is superb at this Court game, though I can tell it wearies her. I see her relax when she is in our rooms or when she’s with the servants. It’s like a weight has left her. She flashes that brilliant smile more, and cracks jokes, and plays with her hair.
Her bitch cousin tonight was too much for her, though. I’m worried about her. Adelaide’s so clearly a free spirit and needs to be away from this viper’s nest. I simply cannot imagine her being yoked to the throne. I itch to take her to one of my cabins and take care of her every need and desire. I imagine massaging the knots from her shoulders as she hums in pleasure at the feelingof being so adored. I take myself in a soapy hand, hoping to get some relief from the need that sings through my body simply by being near her.
I haven’t laid my hands on her in over a week, since that night she had been unquestionably disgusted by me touching her. I am abruptly low at the mere memory. She heated for me tonight, but I believe it was the latent anger she had from our run-in with Eira. Especially since she practically ran from me after the way I couldn’t help but respond to her scent.
She’d never believe that my intentions had been noble, that I hadn’t become her consort with my own purposes in mind; her hatred overwhelms me with its intensity. In the quiet of the night, though, in her dreams, her body finds mine and I wake to stroke her curls, careful to disentangle myself lest she wake and her disgust of me grow. I sigh. Goddess, I’m in such a poor mood, I can’t even jerk off. I quickly rinse and step out of the luxe shower space. Toweling off, I head to the bedroom.
As I get to the doorway, my nostrils flare. I can smell her. I round the corner on the balls of my feet, utterly silent.
She’s under the covers, squirming. No, she wouldn’t be.No.“Adelaide, freeze,” I growl. To my unmitigated surprise but absolute satisfaction, she obeys. Her frantic eyes flick to mine, and I stride to the bed and toss back the covers.
Adelaide
“ADELAIDE, FREEZE.”There is complete command in his voice. I comply without thinking. How the hell is he out of the shower already? Oh my Goddess. I am shamed to my very toes. He crosses the room and pulls the blanket off to find me utterly naked, knees bent, two fingers buried in my pussy. The indignity of being found as such is incomprehensible, yet I stay as ordered, completely still. Like a terrified rabbit.
Emotions cross his face, finally settling somewhere between dismayed and hostile.
“Howdareyou?” he whispers, then snarls, “I assumed you were having sex with someone else to meet your needs.”
“I...what?”
“We’renot having sex, soI’mnot giving you orgasms, which means that you must be finding release withanother.”
I abruptly remember that he has spent zero time in the human world and, even worse, that Court protocol states that a male must make sure his female is always pleasured. To not do so is to bring ignominy upon the male. And that a paired female wouldneverbring herself to orgasm on her own; she’d seek her male, or another partner.
And then I recall what I said to him that night when he acted like such a hypocrite yet had me on the verge of orgasm from a single touch. Oh Goddess, this is awkward.
“I.... Um, no. I’m not having sex with anyone else. Well, withanyone,really.” I add the last part a little bitterly.
Bryn climbs onto the bed, his sublime body and now-hard cock on display, and takes my wrist in his hand, removing my fingers from within myself, and raises them to his mouth. He makes sexy little content noises as he sucks them clean, fierce eyes locked with mine the entire time.
Holy shit.
“I will take care of you, little female,” he says. “It is my responsibility.”
I recoil at the word “responsibility.” I don’t want this to be a duty for him. “Bryn, wait—”
He presses a blanket down next to me, then lays down, still holding my wrist. He turns my body, pushing the blanket up between us. I’m oddly sad I am not feeling his cock in the crack of my ass as he spoons me, but I’m overwhelmed by too many other sensations to dwell. He pulls the blanket over us.
“Adelaide,” he whispers gently into my hair. “Don’t worry, a chroí. I’ll help. I wish you had told me that you needed relief.” His hand skims down my side then trails up my rib cage, raising goosebumps. He cups my breast, fingers tracing smaller and smaller circles. I press myself back into him, moaning and completely lost already.
“It hurts, huh, love? Your little clit is just aching. I’ll stroke you. I’ll make it feel better.”
His tone is so tender. He finds my nipple and I gasp and squirm. “Mmm, you’re so responsive for me.”
His talk is driving me crazy with need. I want him. I want to roll over and straddle him. But he so obviously can’t stand me. Spoiled Priestess from a masochistic royal family. He’s only doing this out of duty. Or maybe still hoping it will make me more likely to agree with their plans. I don’t know. I can’t fucking think, and when he whispers, “You’re so needy, Adelaide. You want this every night, don’t you,” all I can do is whimper and rock my hips.
