CHAPTER THIRTY
BETH
I turned around, ready to protest, but instead of Margiad or Delyth, Daeary stood behind me, his hands still rubbing circles on my scalp. He grinned widely, his eyes sparking with fiery delight.
Punching his chest, I said, “Where did you come from? Where are those women?”
Daeary laughed. “I have ways to come and go as I please in the palace. As for your ladies-in-waiting? I sent them to sleep.”
My eyes flew wide open. I reached up and grabbed his wrist. “What do you mean, you put them to sleep? Did you kill them?”
He grimaced, looking aghast and a little hurt. “No, I did not kill them. I did not hurt them at all. What do you take me for? I simply delivered lusty dreams. They are asleep on your bed, making beautiful love with whoever they choose to.”
As an afterthought, he added, “I have no influence over who people dream about, but I do not judge.”
“Oh.” I was lost for words. I knew so little about this man, this demon.
His grin grew wider. “There are facets to my powers that are very helpful. This is one of them.”
My gaze strayed to the entrance room on the other side of the pool. “How did you get in here? Aren’t there guards outside the door?”
Pulling me closer, he chuckled. “There were. Then I set some uniforms on fire. Do not worry. They were able to easily extinguish the flames. The commander was very upset, though.”
His snickers turned into a belly laugh. “He might have worn the uniform when it burst into flames. There were some impressive blisters on his ass, but he will be fine.”
He turned serious again. “And now I am here. Do you want me to leave?”
His eyebrow rose as if he knew exactly I wouldn’t send him away. And he was right. I turned around and leaned back into him. “No. Stay and wash me.”
His lips caressed my shoulder. “Your wish is my command, milady.”
Then he peppered the skin with tiny kisses, working his way up to behind my ears, leaving shivers wherever he touched, despite the hot water. Then he tilted my head back, and massaged, and pulled, and dragged his fingertips through the wet strands until I was purring like a cat.
Far too soon, he said, “Your hair is clean. I shall rinse it.”
He pushed me away until I floated horizontally under the water’s surface. Then he washed the shampoo out of my hair. When he stood me upright again, I was so relaxed, I allowed him to maneuver me like a doll.
“You are still filthy everywhere else. Let me take care of you.” His voice had dropped so deep, his words vibrated through me. “Allow me to clean you.”
Who was I to deny him? I sighed dreamily as he pulled me against his body, using his hands to clean me. I giggled when he rubbed my armpits and sighed when he moved lower.
He massaged my skin, running his palms along my belly, my hips, and my inner thighs. Soon, his movements slowed and became more targeted.
“I need to wash you everywhere, you dirty girl,” he murmured.
He pulled me tightly against him until a telltale hardness pressed against my lower back. A deep groan erupted from his chest, and I wiggled my butt for good measure, enjoying the effect I had on him.
“You are a devious little devil.”
I couldn’t feel how wet I was in the water, but when he pushed his thumb into me, there was no resistance, and he slipped in easily.
“Are you sure nobody’s going to disturb us?” I whispered breathlessly.
He didn’t answer, but continued with rubbing my clit slowly, interspersed with massaging my inner walls until I thought I’d burst. Every time I was getting close, he pulled away. I whined loudly, pressing my legs together, wanting him to push me over the edge.
“I have you, little lamb,” he murmured. Then he turned me around, put both hands under my ass, and lifted me up. When he pushed his cock into me, I was so slick it didn’t hurt. I could still feel how big he was. He pulled back and pushed in again, each time a little deeper.
It took another two attempts before he was lodged fully inside. The whole time, I stared at him with wide eyes, panting frantically. His massive cock was so large, he was hollowing me out with each push, forcing me to open for him. The flames in his eyes rose to a raging inferno until his face was bathed in yellow, white, and red.
When he kissed me, he pushed the fire through me. I was burning inside and out, desperately clinging to his wet shoulders. If he hadn’t gripped me so tightly, I’d have dropped and drowned under the cooling jade-green surface.
But he held me safely with one hand between my shoulder blades, while the other kneaded my ass. His tongue moved inside my mouth, twirling and pushing against my flesh until I didn’t know where he began and I ended.
My world shrank to the points of contact between us as he pistoned in and out of me. He crashed against my clit with his pubic bone every time he entered me. His hand felt like a brand against my shoulder blade as his lips scorched mine.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, and they shut on their own accord. If somebody had fired a cannon next to my head, I wouldn’t have noticed it.
At some stage, the fire between my legs and the flames he pushed down my throat connected. The heat grew higher, licking inside my lower belly, and he groaned with every thrust.
I knew he was close. I don’t know how I knew, but we seemed to have formed a psychic connection where I could feel his emotions, the sensations raging through him.
Then he threw his head back and increased the speed with which he fucked me. Every exhale was accompanied by a groan and a rumble. There was a word under his vocalization.
No, not a word. He exhaled my name like a prayer. “Beth. Beth. Beth.”
I couldn’t respond. I was incapable of forming words. All I could do was hang on for the ride, waiting for the raging fire of my orgasm to consume me.
And then his cock swelled even bigger, stretching me to the point where it was this side of painful. He pulled me against him, crashing my nipples against his chest, and roared as his climax thundered into my body.
The flames burned me up, and I came, my cunt contracting around his exploding cock, the waves of the cataclysmic event moving out from my center, into my extremities, into my fingertips, into my toes.
I lost track of time, forgetting to breathe as my orgasm thundered through me. When reality asserted itself, my head swam with oxygen deprivation. I felt dizzy, exhausted—beyond what should have been normal for the most powerful climax of my life.
Daeary’s eyes were no longer burning. They looked dull and gray, like coal that had burned itself out.
Something was wrong. The harder I stared at him, the more fuzzy his outline became. My heartbeat slowed until I wasn’t aware of it any longer. Weakness overcame me, softening my muscles until my body slipped out of his hands like putty. My head went under the water, and I offered no resistance to the liquid filling my nose and my throat.
The waves against my ears were the only noise I heard. I opened my eyelids just a bit, to enjoy the jade green color of the water. To my surprise, next to me was a male face, conjured by my oxygen-deprived brain. It was beautiful, angular with eyes so intensely blue, they made my chest clench. He blinked, and a membrane flicked over the eyeballs, disappearing just as quickly.
Sorrow was etched into his face. I wanted to ease his burden, but what could I do? I tried to reach out to him, to show him it was okay, but I couldn’t move. My heart slowed down until it was quiet, so quiet. I waited for another beat, but it never came.
I realized what was happening, and strangely, I was okay with it. I was happy to die here, no longer concerned about anything but the peace surrounding me, and the merman’s wide-eyed gaze.
That was, until a strong grip on my hair pulled me back up above the surface.
“Oh no, you shall not perish,” a gruff voice said.
I offered no resistance as the same hands dragged me out of the pool. Daeary lifted me into his arms and carried me across the entry room to the far side of the apartment.
My ladies-in-waiting were on the ground, fast asleep, occasionally twitching in their dreams. Their faces wore rapturous expressions, clearly enjoying what their dream lovers did to them.
Daeary paid them no heed, laying me on the bed. He kissed me on the forehead and said, “You will not slip away.”
Then he placed his lips on my mouth and pushed warm air into my lungs. He tasted of smoke and heated metal, of molten rock and the smell of rain on hot asphalt.
With every breath he exhaled into me, I felt stronger, until I was back to normal, and the strange weakness disappeared. I closed my eyes, enjoying the intimacy after the most spectacular sex of my life.
Eventually, Daeary pulled away. “That is enough. I shall see you soon, little lamb. Be strong, and trust no one.”
I forced my eyes open and watched his magnificent naked body as he left the room. He stopped beyond the threshold and turned back, as if he wanted to catch a last glimpse of me. His eyes were lifeless, like burned ash, and his face looked as haggard as somebody dying of cancer.
Instead of his usual vitality, his shoulders were drooping, his head hanging low, and as he walked away, I could have sworn that for a moment, his knees buckled under him.