Heir of the Gods

Ch. 3: Naught But a Ruse

Julianus' arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush to his chest, the medals jangling again. Cassia rested her hands on his arms, shivering at the corded strength she found there.

She tipped her head back to look at him, nerves drowned in a tide of something she didn't immediately recognize.

"What a delightful creature you are," he said, watching her with that heavy-lidded gaze. "Nothing like I expected."

She shoved him away, then kept pushing him toward her bedchamber. He let her, never stumbling as he walked backwards until his legs met the bed. He fell to the feather mattress and she climbed on top of him, pinning his hands above his head. She leaned forward, her mouth hovering over his. "A truth for a truth," she said.

Julianus' mouth quirked. "I wanted to take you in the carriage today after that little stunt you pulled with your ladies." She raised an eyebrow, and he just shrugged and pulled a hand free, drawing a finger down her throat to the top of her sternum. "That dress did make an impression, Your Highness," he said, grinning now. "Your turn."

"I've never been with a man before," she whispered.

Again, surprise flickered over his face, and she didn't know if she should feel insulted or not. She was not averse to the idea like her mother and her ladies-in-waiting said she should be, she had just never met a man she wanted to take to her bed. Still, she began to wonder if there was something about her that had made him assume otherwise.

"Then why me?" he asked, surprising her in turn. 

Cassia sat up, blushing as she became aware of his body's response to her. His fingers played with the slits in her skirt, callused fingers feather-light on her skin.

Placing a hand on his hard chest, she met his eyes and said, "Do you want to break me?"

"How would you know if my answer is true or not?" His hands settled on her waist.

"I'm very good at reading people, Lord Julianus," she rasped, something fluttering low in her stomach as his fingers traced down her waist to the creases of her legs. "And I don't think you're the kind of man who is a very good liar."

His grip on her tightened as he turned his hips. She found herself on her back, looking up at him when he said, "I prefer my horses a little wild. They are more likely to survive battles that way."

That was the sort of answer she'd been waiting for. All the others had wanted her tame. She could never afford to be tame.

He found the laces of her dress, quickly peeling the layer of silk away from her skin, leaving her completely exposed to him. He threw the dress to the side, watching it fall to the floor. His hands traveled over her body and he groaned deep in the back of his throat.

Fingers shaking a little, she undid the clasps holding his cloak in place. It slithered to the floor, and she moved to the silver buttons of his jacket. In her ear, he whispered, "You're not frightened?"

He stood up suddenly, shrugging out of his jacket, which clattered as it fell to the floor. Then he toed off his boots before climbing back onto the bed, hovering.

"Do you want me to be?" She slipped her fingers beneath his undershirt, exploring hard ridges of muscle.

Julianus laughed, the low sound sending a shiver through her body, his only answer the soft clinking of his belt being undone. She pulled his shirt over his head, fingers tracing the scar on his neck down to the middle of his sternum where it sharply curved and went toward his heart.

"The sword of a Brunian warrior. At Orlanti," he explained, kissing up her throat as his hand trailed over her thigh. "Fierce, proud man. I almost hated to kill him." He laughed quietly. "I do not suspect he felt the same."