It was dark, pitch black, the sound of loud angry voices knocked on my mind. They resounded through the darkness as though I where in a case of tin. I tried to turn but my body refused to move. I was so tired, too tired to move, too tired to speak, too tired to even cry at what they where saying.
"You brought the pest to life, and what has he done?!" I heard a fist slam down on an invisible table. "Killed my wife, killed the king, this thing needs to go! NOW!"
Who killed the king? Someone killed the king? Why?
"No." I heard, the small gentle voice of a lady.
Ussie! Ussie I miss you a lot Ussie.
Ussie?
Who is Ussie?
Where am I?
"You may not have understood me! I SAID HE NEEDS TO GO." He screamed his voice ever echoing in this cave like darkness.
The lady refused, though considerably quieter than the first time. She was scared, it was obvious, yet there was something about her voice that spoke certainty. It was as though there where no other choices, as though she had resigned to her fate because she had no other expectation of it.
Who was this woman? Why was I here? Where they talking about me? I vaguely recognized both of their voices however my mind was so foggy, so clouded by sleep it was hard to think right.
My mind wandered slightly and their voices came in and out of focus. "SLAVE... ...NEVER... ...you down with him... ...hope..." I heard the man shout and could imagine him towering over the lady his claws raised as she cowered beneath with despair filled eyes. I felt her breath upon my face and the warm embrace as she held me in the darkness.
Since when was I so close to her? And how, when it was so dark, did I still feel as though somehow I could still see her, feel her presence around me, like a pocket of mist, like the scent of sugar or syrup.
"He is mine." She repeated but it ended in a strangled gasp as she reached out and fought for her life against the man, that so strangely, took on the form of my father and former master. I heard her claws shred his back before he turned around once more to deal her the final blow. And in barely seconds her throat was ripped from her neck.
Dread filled my mind, sickening dread, and I was not sure why. I did not know the woman, I could not even see her. Yet I knew her now gruesome blood covered form was there smothering me, above me.
I was sad. So sad. I felt him lift me from underneath her arms, I felt him spit on me and throw me back onto her ever stiffening corpse. I felt my hands wipe tears from my face that I did not know I had cried. I pulled at her hair, that though I could not see, I knew was black. Black and long and elegant. I heard a baby's gurgled crying that spoke of strange despair ringing in my ears, and realized it was my own.
Then light shone in my eyes. Covering me in a cloud of red. And then she woke again and she hugged me tight and she held me to the heavens and chuckled, "what a good boy" she sand sweetly, with a smile the size of the moon. And the warmth rushed to my body, the comfort.
And I turned over to fall face first into a wall of muscle and my dream faded. I tried to catch it again but it was gone.
I looked up with tired eyes to find myself in the arms of Veldore, of my mate. He noticed my waking and looked down upon me and kissed my lightly on my forehead. And through the simplicity and gentleness of that, felt all the love in the world.
He brushed a large warm hard against my cheek and brushed the stray strands of hair away before placing a sweet kiss on my lips. I relaxed in his arms and let the warmth envelope me as I felt truly at home.
I could, however comfortable, not return to slumber and passed minutes staring into his chest with a blush I hoped I could pass off as one from heat. I pressed my hand against him and admired how smooth and warm his skin was, then my mind brought me back to the nights previous events as I attempted to recall them on after another rather than in the jumbled mess which they appeared. Causing me to both blush and wince. Some being more erotic then the others.
I looked up at Veldore through my eyelashes as I addressed the first issue. "You will not truly kill your own brother will you my mate?" I asked, hope evident in my tone.
He looked down upon me, his expression turning to stone. "This is the first thing you ask when you wake up in the arms of your mate?" He replied, his voice some what sour.
"My apologies I did not mean to-" I stopped myself not knowing how to continue. "My apologies I just wanted to know." I looked back down.
He sighed. "I am not a man that goes back on his word." I looked up at him with a questioning look, what was that to mean? "Do not ask me again."
"I promise I will not." I nodded then addressed the second issue. "You are convinced I would never wish to leave you are you not?"
He slid his left arm under me and placed it against my back while his right felt its way down to my bottom and pulled me closer towards him. I snuggled comfortably in his tight embrace while awaiting his answer.
"And that you would never get far if you did." He growled possessively.
I nodded best I could under his dominating grasp.
"Under which circumstances you need not keep me locked up correct?"
He paused. "Perhaps."
I sighed, the language of royals. So often manipulated by speech they walk around your question rather than answering it straight out to prevent making any unintended promises.
"Please do not keep me locked up." I tried.
He kept quiet as his right hand taunted me with sly folding. His hand began to run up my leg and started tracing the inside of my thigh. I felt his hand stray too close to me and I jolted slightly in pleasure.
"Please Veldore."
"Why." He asked with a stubborn child like tone.
I paused, thinking about it, if I said I was bored he might just get me something to spend the time with. If I said I lacked company he would outright refuse seeing as how his possessiveness reached further than I dared to describe. And if I said I need fresh air he was sure to throw a window open and declare it a problem solved.
"I need the option to leave." I admitted. "I need to know I can slip out to the gardens if I feel the need." I drew a breath as his silence penetrated my wall of comfort. "I need to know I am not a prisoner... I am not a prisoner... I am your mate."
His eyes fell on mine and he gazed deeply into mine spitting me open and reaching out for my inner utmost hidden secrets. Searching for any accidental slip up of a lie. And since I did not lie and I held no intentional secrets I knew he found none.
"Fine." He nodded. "Have it your way." He brushed his hand entirely too close and I shivered gasping slightly. "However-" He started, and I raised a single brow preparing myself to scowl. "However you will be accompanied by six of the kings guard and you are not allowed off of the palace grounds and you are certainly not allowed anywhere near the palace doors." He ordered. "You are not to slip away from the Cinde or I- when I find you I can promise you here and now you will not get another chance."
I supposed this was as good as it was to get. I nodded and reached down to my thighs to remove the teasing hand from my crotch with a gentle brush. He did not move however and barely noticed my attempts to pull his hand away.
He did not seem to notice is what I mean. In what I was guessing was some sort of retaliation he moved his hand sharply inwards and pulled a finger up against my length. I shivered and tried, more rashly than before, to pull him away. Instead he brought his whole hand up against it and started stroking it gently. I trembled beneath him and moaned breathlessly as pulled limply at his arm.
"V-Veldore no, not just after- ah-" I moaned as he did anything but stop clasping both my hands around his wrists with a hold I knew would last little more than a second. "Not after last night- V- Veldore!" I tried with a shaky voice as he ignored my cries.
He shrugged me off and towered above me, a colossal giant in comparison. He lowered himself on me, brushing up against me as I moaned into his ear, trembling silently. Veldore lifted a hand to my face and brushed the lining of my lips tenderly before bringing his down against mine. I pressed myself against his gladly and slid my arms around his broad athletic back for support.
His hand continued to run up and down my length and had me flushed blushing yearning for more beneath him. Every touch sending a rush of sparks up throughout my entire body as my mind surrendered insanity to the beast above me.
He ran a teasing finger around my hole and I shivered bucking forwards involuntarily. I felt my face flush an even darker shade of red. He continued and held my body close to him as it ground against his despite intending it.
I felt sweat form on my brow as the pleasure heated my body like a kettle. I drew a large in take of air as he slipped a finger inside and moved it fast, in and out. I breathed a quick "no" as my breath hitched a new high and gripped him tighter than ever.
"Your want me to stop?" He asked, facing me with a lust filled smirk.
I felt my face redden and I kept my mouth shut not wishing for him to stop for the world.
"I thought not." He grinned as he lent back in and simultaneously kissed me as he slipped in another finger, taking his sweet time with the process.
His tongue teased my own drawing sweet circles around my tongue as the taste of vaness and vanilla slipped in. I allowed my tongue to melt with his and move with the rhythm he created as I stroked soft soothing circles just below his shoulder blades his back and heard him grunt in satisfaction.
He then slipped away once I was breathless, my lips burning both with apprehension and the want for more as I gazed up at him, trying to fill that single stare with all the love I could muster, all the love in the world, all the love I felt for him. I don't know if I succeeded but I saw a blessed smile run through his face one I thought I would never come to see grace earth.
He pulled me closer as he pressed against me and I hugged him tight keeping my eyes shut tight in expectation. He brushed me sweetly on the cheek and pushed himself inside. I moaned and fell into rhythm with him as we molded into one.
***
We lay in a mess of sweat, heat and the ever strengthening smell of sex. Veldore lay beside me with his arm curled around my waist and our legs tangled in between each other. It was an odd position yet even if I had the strength to move myself I knew I would not. Odd does not dictate comfort.
I placed my head closer to his. "I love you." I breathed.
"And I love you." He returned.
We lay there is a comfortable silence, too worn to break the serene spell that was cast upon as and too unwilling.
When I thought about it, this solved the last issue. Veldore could not possibly arrange a marking ceremony so fast after this. At least not a royal one. Would he try again tomorrow? Or would he allow me to decide when I was ready, I some how doubted it.
I felt worried to ask however felt too curious for answers to keep silent.
"Yesterday..." I began. "You said you wanted to mark me today... However it is too late now..." He kept his eyes on the ceiling however I noticed them narrow somewhat. "Are you sure you still want to mark me so early?"
"Cinde-"
"I do not think I am ready."
"Cinde it is not too late."
I stared at him wide eyed. What did he mean? Of course it was! The sky itself was beginning to darken.
"It is to take place at midnight, a royal marking of course."
I continued to stare my mouth slightly ajar.
"But it there is no way you can ask such a thing to be prepared in such a short set of time!"
"I asked them to prepare it yesterday." He shrugged casually. "I suspect they've been up all night setting the preparations."
"You mean this? You're quite serious?"
He nodded.
So the marking was due upon us, with only hours to spare.