Warlord and the Waif by Chloe Parker

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CALDER

I SLAM MY door shut behind us as Ella makes her way into my room, the hem of her gown brushing the floor. She’s like a torch in the cold, her face flushed with ire, her eyes glittering and her mouth waiting to unleash whatever vitriol she has in store for me. Her hair is wild with red curls.

She’s stunning. Her beauty pierces my heart like a knife.

“Why could you not stay silent?” I demand before she can speak, “Foolish woman! Do you understand the mess you’ve made for us all?”

She narrows her eyes in confusion. “What do you mean?”

I shake my head, striding to the window to glare out into the growing storm.

“By keeping you at my side tonight, I hoped you would show some propriety. But instead you pestered our guests yet again, ruining any chance I had of stopping them.”

“From what?”

I turn to face her, and the words turn to dust on my tongue. I can barely croak them out.

“Ioni intends to take you,” I say, “And I plan on ensuring that you never step foot on her ship.”

Ella blinks, then nods.

“Portia said this might happen.”

That doesn’t improve my mood. I slam my fist against the stone wall, and Ella flinches.

“Then why did you continue to trouble our guests?” I demand.

“Because I’ve never been good at keeping my temper, and I don’t keep my mouth shut when powerful people belittle the ones I love,” she says, “I’m not a prop in your little game, Calder, and I can’t read your mind. If you wanted me to play the dutiful handmaiden, you’d have been better off locking me away in that tower again.”

“You drive me to my wit’s end!” I roar, stalking toward her and grabbing her by the shoulders. Even the light touch eases the pain of my curse, making me mad with desire. “You must leave Kaer Idunn tonight, or else you will be taken away and never return.”

“I don’t want to go,” she protests, “What if they realize you helped me escape?”

“I’ve survived this long,” I shake my head, “I can live another thousand years on this planet as long as you’re safe.”

“We can find another way out of this!” she insists, “You’re a big scary warlord, remember?”

I hold her tightly, my chest shaking. “This is the only way I can protect you.”

“I’ve always protected myself,” she says, gripping my forearms, “And I want to save you too.”

I stop short, unable to formulate a response. She’s so small, so delicate. That she could even think herself capable of such a thing is absurd.

But the curse undoubtedly lifts when she’s near.

Should I tell her?

If I do, she’ll insist on staying. But I know she must go for now. Ioni will take her away forever, but if I can hide her in Oddí she may one day return. My plan is to transfer her contract somewhere deep in the city, where she can hide away until the Hyperboreans leave and they’ve lost her scent. There are more than a few humans among the workers, and she can take shelter with them.

Of course, she would have no reason to return.

But I must let her go.

Her fingers trail up my arms as my grip on her loosens, and everything in my strains to lift her into my embrace and take her to bed again.

“What is it between us?” she says, “This feeling that I can’t get enough of you… And the fact that I make the pain of your curse stop? What does it mean?”

I want to tell her.

But if I do, she’ll most certainly stay.

“Nothing,” I bluff, “I took my pleasure, and now I’ve tired of you.”

Ella’s eyes narrow and she yanks her arms away from me.

“You’re lying.”

She strides to the window and turns her back on me, framed in the dying light from the stained glass. I follow, unsure of how to force her to leave. She sees through every facade I throw in front of her.

“You always see through me,” I murmur, stepping toward her and wrapping my arms around her from behind. She leans into my embrace and, though I can’t see her face, her shaking shoulders tell me she’s crying. “I ache for you, not with pain, but bliss. You burn too bright for this castle, Ella. In fact, I fear you’ll burn Kaer Idunn to ash if you stay.”

She turns in my arms, tears streaking her face. Her weeping does nothing to stifle her flame, and I can see it burning still in her eyes.

“I’m going to come back,” she says, “You can’t keep me away.”

I brush her tears away, tangling my fingers in her hair.

“I would never stop you.”

I pray that she will return, and that she will help me break the curse.

But now, it’s time to hide.

She leaps into my arms and kisses me, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. Her kiss is insistent and demanding, just like she is; never satisfied with what I offer, asking for more and more. And I’m willing to give her anything, scrambling for her thin undergarments and tossing them to the side, needing her like I have for the past weeks.

I sought to command her every action, yet she has taken control.

Ella hangs on to my horns, rolling her hips against me as I walk her forward to press her against the stone wall next to the window. She sighs as I box her in, moving one hand to undo my trousers and trailing my teeth over her neck. When I withdraw, I see that she’s covered in love marks from the night before, concealed before by her long hair.

I suck in a breath when she clamps her mouth over my neck, sucking so hard that I wonder if she’ll draw blood.

It’s only right that we leave our marks on each other.

She gasps when I pull my cock out of my pants, stroking it over her jewel. Ella cries out for me, then remembers herself and looks at me, her lips swollen and lush.

“What if they hear?” she breathes.

“Let them,” I growl.

Then I position myself against her and let her sink down on my cock.

I groan at the sight of her eyes sliding shut, melting into her as she melts into me. When I move, I see every gorgeous spasm of need play out across her face, and I thrust deeper to elicit a loud cry. She doesn’t hold back, clawing at my cuirass, finding buckles and unlatching them. I withdraw from her only to let the leather armor fall with a thud to the floor, then I thrust deeper, feeling her spasm around me in shuddering waves.

I grip her hips, grinding into her with a growl, but can’t get as close as I want. She gasps in surprise when I hold her tight to my chest and carry her to the bed, still inside her, sinking deeper, and then she sighs in contentment when I take a seat and she presses her knees into the furs, taking control and riding my cock. I nearly lose myself in her, but stop myself from coming, holding her shoulders until she stills.

“Turn around for me, beauty,” I murmur in her ear.

Ella gives me a confused glance, her eyes glazed, so I help her by turning her shoulders. She untangles herself from me with a moan as I slip out of her, then positions herself facing away from me, seated across my lap and sliding her wet cunt over my cock.

I slip my hands around to tease her breasts, and then I press myself home again, the new angle showing me more about how she likes to be fucked. Ella’s breath hitches and she rolls her hips over me, groaning when I lower one hand to stroke her jewel. She’s swollen with need, pulsing around me, and I run my hands over her body as she sets the pace she likes. She tips her head back against my shoulder and I capture her mouth with mine, bringing her to completion, feeling her writhe against me.

I want to keep doing this, to make her come over and over. But the feeling of her clenching around me is divine, and I spill into her with a groan. She cries out in need and I greedily swallow her sounds of pleasure, swirling my finger around her jewel. The rapture of her orgasm envelops me, too, and I’m unsure if I’ve ever felt something quite like this in all my time carousing across the galaxy.

I lift her into my arms, pull her to the pillows, wrap us both in blankets. She clings to me, unable to stop kissing me, her lips and tongue soft on my throat and chest. I bury my face in her hair, inhaling her scent, wanting for all the worlds to keep her in this bed forever. I imagine her cries of pleasure filling the corridors of the Fury as we one day fly away from this place, and the future seems real in her arms.

“One day I will take you away from this place and give you the stars themselves,” I rumble as she drapes herself over me. Her red hair unfurls in a curtain across my chest, and I stroke my fingers through it.

We will escape from Myste, Skoll willing.

But for now, we must part.