“Point taken,” he says tightly, still looking away. “Very well. I will do as you wish.”
“Good,” he says, and turns from Sebastian, dismissing him. He hesitates but then backs off to leave. Constantine throws him a bone over his shoulder before he disappears. “I will come to you tonight,” he says softly, letting him know he has forgiven him. “I will give you comfort.”
Sebastian’s shoulders relax and he nods. “Thank you,” he whispers before he vanishes into the house and Constantine goes back to his precious memories of his sweet Aefre.
Chapter 3
Tuscany, Italy, 1013 – Constantine
The journey back to the castle had been long and arduous. He would be glad to see it again after so many months away. His latest charge had done remarkably well considering she had never ridden a horse before in her life. He smiled at her, remembering that when they had first set off from Normandy, they had shared a steed. He thought he preferred that. Her pert little buttocks pressed up against him, her giggles as she felt him grow hard against her. She insisted after several weeks that she procure her own horse, as they weren’t getting very far, what with him sliding her off the horse and to the ground, many times a day, to have his way with her. She had come to quickly love the act performed between a man and woman after a brutal introduction by that monster who called himself her husband. He had never had more satisfaction in killing than when he had ripped Radulf’s head off. Constantine had shown her how to enjoy herself and how they could enjoy each other together. She could please him like no other woman had in the past.
She was a fascinating creature, so eager to learn and put into practice what he had shown her, and yet she retained this innocence about her that belied her desire and her wanton lust. He could not get enough of taking her, he wanted to be inside her all day, every day. He was losing his focus, as he stared at her and she shifted under his intense gaze.
“Sire?” she asked him. “Is everything to your liking?”
“Very much so,” he murmured, and she smiled prettily at his tone.
“Do we have much farther to travel?” she asked.
“Not too far,” he said and jumped gracefully off his horse. He made his way around to her, sliding his hand up her leg.
“Again?” she asked him with mock exasperation, and he chuckled at her. “Shall we not wait until we are home? At your home,” she amended quickly.
“Your home now, my sweet,” he said to her. “Very well, we shall wait. But do not say that I didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me? About what?” she asked with a slight frown.
He hoisted himself back onto the horse and clucked his tongue for her to move forward. “That I will ravage you for hours upon hours with no mercy given, for your lack of cooperation,” he said with a wicked smile that had her blushing furiously.
“I consider myself warned,” she said with a look that melted his heart and heated up his loins to the point of painful if he grew any harder.
The sun was setting, and they were finally in sight of the castle. He pointed it out to her, and she shaded her sensitive eyes against the dropping sunlight. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, and he wholeheartedly agreed, but he was only looking at her. “I’ll race you,” she said with a laugh of delight and with an expertise he wouldn’t have given her credit for, she spurred her horse forward and he struggled to catch up. He watched her from behind, her golden hair flying in the wind, her buttocks raised as she galloped towards the castle gates. He hoped that Lance and Vincentius and all the others had left, as he sent word for them to do. Having shared everything in the past, he knew they would fail to understand why he was keeping this one all to himself. He could not explain it to them. He could not explain that he had fallen so far in love with her, she was all he could think about. She had lived up to everything he had expected of her thus far. The Hunting issues aside, once she overcame her difficulty, she had been insatiable. Living for the Hunt, the chase, the fear. Her excitement of joining together beside the bodies of those they had slain thrilled him. He had never known a woman like her, and he was certain it would be another one thousand and seven hundred years before he found another. If at all. He truly believed she was a one-of-a-kind, and he thanked Jupiter every day for being at that marketplace, on that day that he found her. She eased the beast deep inside him. He hadn’t once had an urge these last months to seek out those women he could unleash himself upon. He hoped it would last, that she had changed him, that she could keep him calm and happy as she had been doing but doubt lurked. He feared that one day he was going to break again, and he could only pray to the old gods that she was not around when it happened. He couldn’t bear to hurt her. Not in that way.
He planned to introduce her to some light play soon. He thought she was ready for that. Maybe that would help him keep the monster locked away.
He pulled up beside her as she slowed, her breathing quick and uneven in her excitement. “Do not slow down now, my love, if I don’t have you soon, I fear that I am going to explode with unfulfil
led desire.”
“Then lead the way, sir. I wouldn’t wish any harm to come to you due to my actions.” She smiled at him again in that way that started the fire burning in him. He took her hand and steadily led the horses towards the castle gates. A quick word with the guard on duty confirmed the departure of all his unwanted guests. It was not taken very well, he was told, but they daren’t defy him. He would deal with them later. Until then, he was eager to get his hands on his beautiful girl.
“Come, I will show you to your bedchamber,” he said as he pulled her down to the ground.
“My bedchamber?” she asked. “Are we not to share a chamber?”
He balked at the idea. Sharing at a resting stop was one thing, to have someone with him the whole time was something else. Even if it was her.
“No, my sweet. You need your own space to do your own things, as do I,” he said, thinking of the numerous women that he had about the castle.
“My own things? Whatever do you mean?” she asked him sadly. “I only want to be with you, to do the things that you want to do.”
He let out a small sigh. It was a charge’s reaction and one he should have been expecting. For all her strength and fire, she was still a brand-new Vampire in his very old world. “You have never had your own space that is just yours to do with as you please. Wait until you see the bedchamber, I have had prepared for you. I am sure you will find it to your liking.”
“Is it next to yours?” she asked fearfully.
“It is the closest chamber to mine,” he said carefully. There were no chambers next to his, which is how he liked it. “You need to be close to me, and as such I have made the necessary arrangements.”
“Will I be able to visit with you every night?” she asked.