“The Ghost is my father. I found his insignia on a vat of poison hidden inside the castle walls. The late king was murdered by the Brotherhood, likely with the knowledge that you were going to take his place,” she breathed.
“Did he send you here?” I asked carefully.
She nodded.
“I’m starting to think he sent me here so that I could find you,” she said, her voice shaking from the possibility.
My fingers lightly cupped her cheek, squeezing gently along the cusp of her jaw. The Ghost had never been specific in his instructions so long ago. My mission had been to work my way inside and wait. There was a part of me that had thought he’d forgotten about me, but with his daughter here in my arms that was no longer a possibility.
Had he known that the two of us would be forced together? Had the gods foretold that we would come together as mates?
“Maybe he did. I’ve decided that I’m going to keep you though, whatever happens,” I answered.
The edges of her lips lifted wistfully, and I couldn’t help but follow the gentle curve with my thumb. She was so soft and perfect. The bond between us pulsed hard and my knot finally began to deflate. My seed dripped down her thighs, combining with her slick in an intoxicating mixture that felt like a heady addiction I couldn’t get enough of. I pulled free from her tight little body, yet I still didn’t let her go. If anything, I pulled her even closer.
“In the week you were gone, where did you go?” I asked her, dragging my fingers along the curves of her body. I circled the peak of her hipbone and I’m not even sure if she was aware of the fact that she was lifting to meet my touch.
She took a deep shaky breath.
“We’re in this together now, Ariana. We’re on the same side,” I coaxed gently, and her smile widened.
“I know. I can feel it. Here,” she murmured as she pressed the tips of her fingers over her heart. I reached for her and grasped her fingers within mine.
“Tell me, where did you go?” I asked again.
“There are passages hidden deep within the castle walls,” she began. “They’re ancient. There are relics there from hundreds of years ago. More spider webs than you can imagine. Rats. Old food and massive stores of liquid fire stored away and forgotten.”
“How did you know they were there?” I pressed.
“The books in my library. There were hints of such a system. I found an entrance at the bottom of an old unused well in the gardens,” she explained. “For days, I watched your advisors and you from specific places that were designated for observation.”
“Very impressive,” I answered, and I meant every word. “I’ve lived here for years and I never suspected that there might be secrets like that within these walls.”
She was quiet for a long time, likely deep in thought.
“What are you thinking about, little omega?” I questioned gently.
“I don’t trust your advisors, Magnar. Especially Neegan,” she whispered.
“I trust no one, Ariana. Except now I trust you,” I replied firmly. She quivered a tiny bit in my arms as she grasped my fingers a little more tightly.
“Maybe together, we could begin to weaken the Cult,” she offered anxiously.
“Together, we are going to destroy them.”
The next several days passed by in a blur. I rutted my omega through every last surge of her estrous, making sure that she didn’t suffer through it alone. When she cried out for my cock, I gave it to her. Occasionally, I would force her desire to a head by giving her a hard spanking over my knee, making sure that her bottom was bright red and her pretty little pussy was soaking wet before I sank my fingers inside her for a few delicious orgasms before I granted her the privilege of my knot.
I punished her nipples and between her thighs periodically with my palm, discovering that her body would respond with arousal every time. She cried out with pain, but her pussy told me that she wanted it. She couldn’t hide that from me, and she never would again.
I liked that.
The room smelled of our mating and her nest grew sticky with our fluids. Eventually, I called for the servants to take it away and when my feisty mate fought against it, I paddled her bare bottom with her hairbrush right in front of them. She begged me to stop, but I didn’t until she was sobbing and repentant. I made her make it up to me with her soft little mouth before I bent her over and used her sore little pussy as hard as I pleased.
I noticed that she came very hard for me after that. I knew it because I could feel how much her body tightened around my cock with every last orgasm.
Toward the end, she slept often. Her body temperature began to normalize. When she was resting, I would press my palm against her forehead, checking to see if the mating fever had abated. By the fifth morning, her heat had finally broken.
When she woke, I lifted her from her nest and carried her into the bathroom. I’d prepared a warm bath for her and lowered her into the heated water gently. She sighed softly in pleasure and I pressed a glass of cold mead to her lips.