Aftermath (9 page)

“Am I pleasing you, faerie?” he asked.

She tilted her head up to find him peering at her from between his legs. “Yes, Braedon. You please me greatly. Why do you ask?” And why did he stop what he was doing?

“Because you were giggling.”

“I was?”

He slipped off and lay at her side, his head remaining near her pussy. “Yes, you were. You find something amusing about my cock?”

His grin told her he was teasing her, a side of him she had not thought to ever experience. “I hardly find your glorious shaft amusing, Braedon. I was just amazed at all these new positions and sensations. Please do not stop what you were doing.”

“You mean this?” He leaned over her and took a long swipe of her slit with his tongue.

She shuddered, the feeling warm and wet. “Yes, that.”

“And what about this? Do you like this also?” He slid two fingers inside her pussy, at the same time rolling his tongue over the distended pearl that begged for his attention. She nearly came off the bed, her pussy clenching around his fingers in a tight grip she felt deep in her womb.

After that she could not speak as he suckled her clit and fucked her pussy with his fingers until her juices poured down her buttocks and onto his hand. Now he was the one with the control and she willingly gave it up to him, lifting her hips as he drove his fingers deeply and latched onto her clit with his mouth.

But it was when he nibbled on the bud with his teeth that she climaxed and screamed, then clamped her hand over her mouth, afraid servants would come rushing in to see if she was in need of aid.

It took her a few moments to come to her senses. In that time, Braedon had turned around so that he faced her. She had not realized she still had her hand held over her mouth.

He gently extricated her hand. “Faerie, you may as well not try to quell your sounds. No one will disturb us tonight. No one will come to your rescue if you cry out. And,” he said, a gleam in his eyes, “you have not yet begun to scream tonight.”

Trista’s eyes widened at Braedon’s sensual smile. For someone who typically appeared so cold and unfeeling, his touch and the way he looked at her warmed the room like a roaring hearth in the winter.

Her body flamed with heat. She rolled to her side and reached for him, needing to learn all she could before the tenderness he exhibited departed and left her with the cold man she knew would return.

“Your body is so different than mine. So hard where mine is soft.” He laughed, the sound vibrating against her. “I should hope so. That is what makes sex so much fun.

You are soft here,” he said, slipping his hand between her legs, “and I am hard. You are wet and make it easy for me to slide inside you”

He lifted her leg and moved it over his hip, positioning his cock head against the entrance to her pussy.

“Look at me, Trista.”

Tearing her gaze from his cock disappearing between her legs, she met his eyes, so like the clear blue pools surrounding the castle of her home.

“I want to watch your eyes when I drive my cock inside your cunt,” he said, his voice taking on a dark, husky quality that made her shiver with need.

Her pussy clenched and grew wetter as she eagerly spread her legs further to accommodate his shaft.

She moved against him, taking more of him, but not nearly enough. This was insanity! “Braedon, please,” she begged.

He stilled and she frowned. “Braedon.”

“Yes, faerie?”

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to beg me again.”

“Why?”

“Because I liked it.”

She smacked his shoulder. “You are a terrible tease!” And she liked this side of him, part of her very sad that none of the inhabitants of Greenbriar ever got to see it. “Now give me that cock or I shall…”

“You shall what?”

“I shall turn you into a toad!”

He threw his head back and laughed. “A toad does not have a very big cock, my lady. I seriously doubt you would be very happy with your magic then.” Nevertheless, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, sliding his tongue inside her mouth and making her forget all about turning him into a toad. When he had her breathless with anticipation once again, he leaned his head back to search her face, moved his hips back and plunged inside her pussy, this time taking her breath and making her cry out at the same time.

“Ah, that is what I wanted to see. Your eyes widen and turn like a molten river of gold.” He moved against her with a gentle rhythm, his pelvis rubbing her clit softly at first, then harder as he picked up a pace that soon had her clasping his back and biting down on his shoulder. He did not seem to mind though as he growled and bit her neck, seemingly as caught up in the same passion. It was not long before she felt the familiar stirrings of approaching orgasm.

Braedon pulled her back and made her look at him again. “I want to watch you come, Trista.” She could not. ‘Twas too intimate. But when she tried to rest her head on his shoulder he would not allow it, instead holding his palm between her breasts and pumping his cock between her legs harder and faster until she forgot all about any sense of shyness and held onto his upper arms, watching the way his eyes darkened in color, then widened as he too found completion. He roared when he came inside her and she screamed, this time not bothering to worry whether anyone heard her, for she did not care if all Braedon’s guards burst into the room at that moment.

He had taken her to a magical place and as far as she was concerned, they were the only two people in existence at the moment.

Drenched with the efforts of their lovemaking, she collapsed against him and he pulled her close, stroking her back and buttocks for a few moments. She thought he would pull back the coverlet and stay there with her, but instead he eased from the bed after he caught his breath and began to dress. She lay there and watched him, smiling at his taut, muscular body, wondering if he would ask her to move into his rooms soon. ‘Twould make more sense instead of hopping from room to room each evening. Perhaps she would suggest it first.

There was much she had to suggest, beginning with their wedding plans.

“Braedon?”

“Aye.”

“About our wedding—”

“That will be for you and Nadine to plan. I want no part of it other than to show up, say my vows and bed you that eve.”

“But surely you and I will discuss—”

He cut her off with a stern look, much the same as he had the other night in the forest. “Woman, what is it with this constant need to have discussions about inane subjects after sex? Did I not hold you as you requested? Did I not stay and touch you? It does not mean I will become a simpering ninny who will have lengthy conversations about womanly subjects with you, now or ever. When I fuck you, I will fuck you. Thereafter we will not discuss family, children or anything else of a feminine or inconsequential nature. Now I bid you goodnight.”

When he turned on his heel and left her bedchamber, Trista could only stare at the closed door, her mouth hanging open. Surely she was betrothed to a human who had two different personalities. One of warmth and laughter for fun, games and sex, the other a cold, surly, arrogant beast from the depths of hell who made her shiver with loathing.

She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling, pondering the mystery that was Braedon of Greenbriar.

If she was to marry him, her life would unfold differently than she had imagined.

Did she have feelings for him? At times, yes, especially when he touched her and made love to her. But other times, when he was not making love to her, she wanted to cast a magic spell upon him and turn him into the stone statue that matched his behavior.

He infuriated her, vexed her and made her want to stomp her feet and throw large objects at the vicinity of his hard head. But at the same time she wanted to curl up with him and touch and kiss him all over, then beg him to make her feel the things he made her feel, the things that made her toes curl and her insides warm like a sunny day of summer.

Oh how she wished her sisters were with her! She missed them and craved their counsel. Here there was no one to talk to about her feelings of confusion where Braedon was concerned.

Perhaps tomorrow she would seek out Nadine and ask her about Braedon. The woman seemed wise about her nephew and might be able to offer some advice on how to handle the beastly side of the man she could be forced to marry. For with each passing night it appeared more and more evident her father was not coming to her rescue.

And if she was, in fact, going to have to marry Braedon, she would have to know how to live with a man she did not at all understand.

* * * * *

“I do not understand the man,” Trista whispered, trying to keep her voice low so the others in the kitchen could not hear.

Nadine looked around, then pulled Trista into a small hallway off the kitchens. “He fears what happened when his father died will happen again. That is why he trains the guard incessantly. That is why there is no frivolity at the castle. His parents were gay and happy and the celebrations were many. His father, though we all loved him, was not one to focus on war and preparation of the guard. So when the wizards attacked, no one was prepared and the casualties were high.”

“But no one expected the wizards back then. At any castle. It was unheard of for them to storm a castle.

Now all castles within the realm are prepared for attack on our own grounds.” Nadine nodded. “Aye, but Braedon has never forgotten the sights and sounds of the wizard attack and I think he associates any happiness and parties with the death of his father.”

“That is ridiculous. He must be made to see that happiness and death do not coincide.” The old woman shrugged and patted her arm. “We long ago stopped trying. ‘Tis best to leave it alone, child.”

Trista thought the better part of the day and well into the night about what Nadine had said. How could parties and frivolity have anything to do with death and destruction? Braedon was confused. And his pain was causing pain to his brother, his sister, to everyone in Greenbriar.

She hurt for him, for all of them. And she understood, finally, how deeply he felt that pain.

Then a thought struck. What he needed, what the castle needed, was brightness and light, some happiness and joy. All Braedon needed to eliminate his constant dour moods and surly demeanor was to be shown that nothing untoward would happen if a little gaiety and frivolity was introduced in Greenbriar once again.

She knew then what had to be done. Greenbriar needed a celebration! And since he told her that under no circumstances was she to involve him in any planning of any sorts, that she was only to involve him in matters relating to fucking, she went in search of Nadine.

She would keep this party under wraps and surprise him. Once it was fully under way, there would be nothing he could do to stop it. The people of Greenbriar would once again wear smiles on their faces, and perhaps they would welcome her, smile at her, and she would feel part of this community.

And perhaps Braedon would begin to smile and feel joy outside the bedroom.

She warmed at the thought, excitement filling her.

There was much to be done!

Something was going on at the castle, and it had to do with Trista.

Braedon was not certain what had happened over the past several days, but the people of Greenbriar had begun to…smile.

And something else that vexed him.

They had begun to seek Trista’s counsel.

Even now he watched them enter the great hall, hurrying toward his betrothed and whispering to her.

She would listen a few moments, casting her gaze in his direction, then say something back to them and they would nod and hurry off. As they passed him, they would bow their heads and hurry past.

But not before he saw the hint of a smile on their faces.

What was wrong with his people?

His entire clan seemed as if they harbored a secret.

Even his brother and sister bore the hint of secret on their faces lately, yet when he used his sternest voice to question them, they only giggled and scurried away under Nadine’s direction.

And Nadine would not directly answer any of his queries, seemingly having somewhere else to be and too busy to stop and talk with him.

A conspiracy was at play here, he could feel it. And he knew who the main conspirator was. ‘Twas time to get to the bottom of it.

“Trista!”

She looked up, a smile of innocent bemusement on her face. “Yes, my king?”

“Come here.”

She glided toward him, dressed in a pale silk gown that made her appear as if she were floating above the floor. Then again, with her wings fluttering madly, she very well could be.

“What are you about?”

“My duties, Braedon.”

“And what would those duties be?”

“The duties of a queen, of course. Those things you told me I must learn. Nadine has been instructing me the past week.”

“She has been learning quite well too, Braedon,” Nadine said, coming up to stand beside Trista and beam proudly. “I hardly had to tell her anything more than once. Pretty soon you will not even need this old woman around she is so efficient in her tasks.”

“Fie, old woman,” Trista said, placing her arm around Nadine. “I would be lost without your counsel. I cannot do anything without you.”

Braedon’s brows knit in a tight frown. The two of them were hugging each other as if they had known each other forever. Very strange indeed. “I am glad you are taking to your duties so well. There is much to be done here in Greenbriar.”

“Aye. Now if you will excuse me, I must see to…things,” Trista said, glancing over at Nadine and grinning.

“Yes,” Nadine nodded. “There are many things that need to be done around here. ‘Tis a very large castle.”