(a/n: i like writing things with double entendres)
Chapter Nine
It was as soon as we'd left the gates of Father's estate that Aziel asked me a question.
"Do you know where the pond is? The one your Father mentioned?"
I tightened my thighs around the horse, trying to stay in place. Sure, with Aziel's entire body around me, it was near impossible to fall. But that was the problem. Touching him and relying on his body was a problem.
"I-no." I said, eyes focused on the path ahead, and that only. "I've never really been outside of the estate."
"Never?" Aziel asked, disbelief lining his tone.
My eyes hardened, and I stiffened defensively. "No, never."
"Ah," he breathed out against my ear. My stiff composure was soon melted into a mess of shivers.
"You're not cold, are you?" He asked.
"A little," I lied. He didn't need to know why I was shivering.
Suddenly, he swerved the horse off the main road, leading us onto a gravel path. The shaded cover of trees darkened the scene, leaving a much wetter, lush view of trees and bushes around us.
"Are you sure this is the way? There aren't many ponds in thi-"
"I'm sure, Romina." Aziel cut me off. I silenced myself, pressing my lips together. "Don't worry, I'm not about to lead you astray."
I fear you already have.
I kept the words from my tongue, deciding instead to remain in silence, focusing on the steady bump on his arms around me, the thuds of the horse's hooves on the ground, the shallow breaths Aziel thought appropriate to dispose on my skin every moment or two.
I wasn't sure how long we were riding for, exactly, but it felt like forever, trapped between his body like that. He pulled Charlie to a stop as the path grew thinner, and the vegetation and dirt slowly crept inwards, cutting off the path.
I furrowed my brows. "I-"
"We're not lost," Aziel emphasized, taking this opportunity to slide off the horse. When I turned, he was rummaging through the side pack, taking out a rope. "It's just been a while since I've walked this...place." I observed his face, eyes rolling over his sharp features; the uncertain quirk of his lip, the concentrated frustrations in his eye.
I slid off the horse as well, feeling my booted feet hit the ground softly. It was pine and dirt along this path. I hadn't realized how far from gravel we'd come. With a glance behind us, I could barely see the outline of where we'd come. Just the muted hoove-prints Charlie left in the ground, hidden partially by the overgrown grass on the ground.
"We look lost." I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to change my tone to not offend his ego...but point him in the right direction. "Father has got to be waiting for a while now." My lips pursed. He wouldn't be happy about that. God knows what he would think happened. "Maybe we should head back. We've had a long enough ride today."
"No," There was a strange stubbornness in his tone that annoyed the hell out of me. He was acting like a child before going to bed; refusing to admit where he was wrong, refusing to just backtrack where he was misguided. "Just through this brush, I'm sure."
With the conviction only a man with an ego to uphold could muster, he drew a small blade from his coat and began cutting through the growth ahead.
"Aziel..." I said softly, nearing him. I risked touching his back with a careful hand. As quickly as I touched him, he turned, snatching my hand and pushing it to my chest. There was a darkness in my eyes that I...I couldn't describe. It was so cold and scary. I swallowed but couldn't look away.
"Be careful," he hissed, voice low and raspy. "I could've...I could've hurt you. Cut you."
I pulled my hand from his hold and narrowed my eyes. There was defiance in my soul, but it was a fire lit only by Aziel. Only he could draw this out in me. This...this rudeness.
"Turn back." I said stubbornly, planting my feet on the ground.
Without moving his eyes an inch, he rolled his eyes at me. I saw it in the small curse he let out of his lips, the tightness that clenched his jaw. And then he went back to hacking away at the plants in his goddamned way.
Not bothering to fight, I sighed and followed. He cut and cut and made a path for him—for us, I supposed. I glanced back over my shoulder at Charlie, tied to a tree, docile and waiting for us to return. But every time I looked back, she was farther away. Soon I couldn't see her at all, hidden by the trees and green everywhere. My eyes were facing backwards when Aziel came to a stop. I bumped into him, but he didn't seem bothered. Slowly, my eyes turned towards what he'd stopped for.
Before us, in all its small, musky glory, was a pond. If it could be called that.
"See?" Aziel mused, pointing towards the small...puddle of water. It wasn't a puddle. It wasn't a pond. It was...
A waste of time, I thought bitterly. I turned, stamping away from him, the bottom of my boots clogged with mud. I did not want to know how dirty my clothes would be when I returned home.
Probably the last time I'd ever return. Father would never let me leave after this.
"Romina—hey!" Aziel called about behind me, humour quickly fading from his voice as I sped up my pace to escape from him. I heard him running up to me before I had the chance to run myself.
A strong hand wrapped around my wrist, spinning me and pulling me to a stop. "Hey." He said, staring down at me. I swallowed. I didn't know why I felt like I was getting in trouble. But I was. I knew it.
"What?" I asked.
Then, bluntly, without remorse, he said four words that set my entire face aflame.
"What? No, Romina," His hand came down and gripped the waist of my skirt, pulling me forward so I stumbled into him. He leaned down so his voice was a whisper. A rumble.
A command.
"Take off your skirt."