His eyes dropped to the floor.

The connection was severed, and I suddenly felt cold.

“There’s something I have to do…and I don’t want to.”

So, he was there for a reason. My punishment hadn’t ended. It had only begun. “You said you wouldn’t kill me…”

“And I won’t,” he said, his deep voice rough like coarse sand. “I keep my word.”

“Then…what do you have to do?”

He lifted his gaze and looked at me, his stare just as intense as before.

The lit fireplace. The food. The silence. It all became clear. “No.”

“I said I don’t want to.”

“Then don’t.”

He drew in a deep breath, his chest rising in his armor. “It’s not that simple—”

“You said you would never desire me that way.”

His eyes dropped again, his jaw tight.

“You said you wouldn’t—”

“That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I don’t have a choice.”

“You don’t have a choice?” I asked quietly, in disbelief. “You know what? Be a man and just own up to it—”

“Yes, I desire you.” He raised his chin, his eyes darkening. “The moment you shot that arrow into my neck. The moment you picked up your sword and stood your ground. The moment you got into that bedroll and admired me. The moment you sliced down the Teeth and saved me. And even every moment you’ve run your big mouth until it made my ears bleed. Alright? There’s the truth.”

My mouth shut at his words.

“But that has nothing to do with this.”

“She asked you to do this, didn’t she?” I whispered. “What kind of barbarian gives an order like that? Especially a woman—”

“A woman who’s been raped while her son was forced to watch.”

Like the breath had been stolen from my lungs, I couldn’t breathe.

“By your father.”

He and the queen had the same eyes, but I didn’t notice the similarities until now.

“I tried to change her mind. But she refused.”

“Then we’ll just pretend it happened. She doesn’t need to know the difference.”

His dismayed look told me that wasn’t an option. “She’ll check.”

“Check?” I asked incredulously. “As in—”

“Yes.”

“Fuck, what is wrong with you? All of you?” Now I grew hysterical, unable to believe this kind of evil existed in the world. “I wasn’t even alive when all of this happened, but you’re going to get your rocks off doing this to me?”

His features tightened, as if he was in pain. “It’s not right. I agree with you.”

“Then don’t do it.”

“As I already said, it’s not that simple—”

“Then make it simple—”

“If it’s not me, it’ll be someone else. My mother commanded me to do this, and when I refused, she appointed Geralt, one of her guards—and he was more than happy to oblige.”

He must be one of the two at her side, both huge and vile.

“I don’t need to tell you how that would go.”

The bile flooded my mouth. I could taste it all over my tongue. “And I should be grateful?”

“I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

I looked away, embarrassed that I’d been caught looking at his big dick against his wall of hard abs and line of masculine hair.

“You could have let me die, but you didn’t.”

I kept my eyes averted.

“So, whatever this is…it’s mutual.”

“I wish I’d let you die out there.”

“No, you don’t.”

My eyes moved back to his.

As if he saw the truth in my eyes, he said it again. “You don’t.”

My arms tightened over my chest, and I suddenly felt cold, despite the warm fire right beside me.

He remained seated, his eyes potent against my skin.

Paralyzed, I just sat there, unsure what else to do. The air felt humid, thicker on my throat, congesting my lungs. It was dry and cold outside these four walls, but within, it was a different world.

He watched me for a long time, the intensity of his stare so powerful I was forced to look at the fire. The flames licked the wood, burned the surfaces until they glowed red. That was exactly what his stare did to me—set me on fire.

He moved to the bed beside me, a slight dip occurring underneath his weight. His arms were on his knees, his shoulder almost touching mine.

I concentrated on the fire, but my breaths deepened with his proximity, and my tongue suddenly felt dry.

In my peripheral vision, I saw him remove the vambraces from his arms, the gloves from his hands, the breastplate of his armor. One by one, they came off until they ended up on the floor, along with his tunic.

I should have kept my stare on the fire, but the offering was too tempting. I still remembered the way he looked under that sheet, how hard he was, how much harder he’d been than any other man I’d seen. It was as if he lifted boulders for fun, ate an entire buck for breakfast. The muscles of his arms had cuts as if someone had sliced him with a blade.

Tags: Penelope Sky Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net