Mikhail shuddered, and the muscles of his chest tensed beneath her fingers.
"Does it hurt? Forgive me, I was thoughtless to ask a question you can't answer," she soothed.
"Where does the pain come from? Does it come from the marks themselves, or is it your entire body?" Talia asked, sliding her hand upwards to press her fingertips against the vein in his neck. "Does it come and go, or is it-"
"It's not.... the marks..." he mumbled.
Talia glanced up to see that he was watching her, and she was suddenly conscious of how close they were, of how her hand was pressed against his neck.
He reached up and covered her hand before she could remove it.
"I...I might... I might be able to..." she stuttered, watching as he lifted her hand from his neck and pressed it to his lips. "If...if I... had access to s-some of the b-books from the..."
Mikhail set his glass on the floor, freeing his other hand to slide around her waist and pull her closer still.
"W-what do you t-think you're--"
"You know what I want now. What is it you want? Tell me what it is, and I will give it to you," he said, drawing her between his legs.
"I... it's... it's not that... simple!" she insisted, pushing back against his chest with her free hand.
"No?" he grinned tauntingly. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her neck. Talia stiffled a gasp.
"And... we don't have to marry for me to... if you want me to try to break the bond... you don't have to-" she tried to
"I want to," he growled, his muffled words tickling her throat.
"This isn't... I can not make any promises when I... when I... when..." her faltering reason shattered at almost the same instant she felt his tongue lightly stroke her earlobe.
"What do YOU want," he repeated, whispering the words into her ear.
She felt his hands slide down to her waist, and then, with one swift movement, he lifted her and sat her directly on lap.
"To save my people from starving! To stop them from being crushed beneath the Emperor's heel!" she cried out, fearful that his touch would once again confuse her and weaken her resolve.
"And if there were no Vezda... what would you want then?" he breathed against her neck. His hand was moving... down her waist, over her thigh... between her legs!
"To bring honor to House Eosin!" she insisted, squeezing her legs together and trapping his hand.
"And if there were no House Eosin? What then?" he whispered, laying her back gently against the array of pillows. He freed his trapped hand and used it to slide the thin material of her dress slowly up over her knees.
"I... I.... would still be an enemy of an empire like Unaria... I would still... oh!" she cried as he bent to kiss her exposed thigh roughly. "Please... I... that's not..." she panted.
"And if there were no Empire... no Emperor... what would the Princess desire then?" he demanded.
He raised his head to stare directly into her eyes, but his hand continued to move, lightly stroking the inside of her thigh.
Talia took a deep breath, and let it out to steady herself, ignoring the growing heat between her legs, and stared directly into his eyes.
"My freedom... I would want my freedom," she answered.
Prince Mikhail frowned, but removed his hand and leaned away, bending to retrieve his wine glass. He studied it for a moment before taking a sip.
Talia sat up and smoothed down her skirts, not allowing herself a victorious smile. She had stopped him before he could do anything worse than-
Mikhail lunged, wrapping his arm around her to press her against him as he kissed her hard, possesively almost. She partially opened her mouth to cry out in shock and felt the thrust of his tongue and the sweet taste of Vezdan wine as it trickled down her throat.
He pushed her back against the pillows again and the weight of his torso on top of her made it difficult to breathe through her nose.
She pounded her fist against his shoulder, but he did not relent, kissing her passionately, thrusting his tongue against her own until at last, he broke away also panting.
For a brief moment, they stared at one another, both breathing heavily, and Talia knew she should say something... insult him... accuse him... push him away... tell him not to take such liberties, but the words did not come.
As if her silence was encouragement, he grinned and dipped his head to kiss her neck.
He skimmed his tongue down her throat and nipped the sensitive skin at the base of her neck, while yanking down the fabric of her dress to expose her tight corset. His fingers tore frantically at the front laces as he ran his lips across her shoulder, but found no purchase. He leaned back glaring at the confining garment, and she almost laughed at how such a simple thing could anger him so much, but in the next instant he had tossed her skirts up exposing her bare legs and with no hesitation, he snatched the hidden dagger from her garter and placed it against her chest.
Talia sucked in a shocked breath, but before she could scream or move, he cut the laces and tossed the dagger. It hit the floor with a muffled clang, as he ripped apart the rest of the corset, exposing her breasts and abdomen.
She shook her head and tried to squirm away, but his mouth was on her again in an instant, licking the curve of her breast before taking it in his hot and rough mouth
Talia cried out, arching her back almost reflexively, clawing at his broad shoulders as he suckled. She almost didn't register that his hand had slipped down to her waist until he was tugging frantically on her lower wraps, yanking them down to expose her fully.
She cried out again and pushed weakly against his shoulders, kicking her legs, but his hand was between her legs now, and then she felt his finger gently trace the wet opening there.
Her entire body jolted as if she'd been hit with a bolt of lightening.
"Ssssh," he whispered soothingly against her neck, but his thumb brushed the sensitive nub above her hole, and her body jerked in response again.
"Please... please... don't... please... I can't..." she whined between panicked gasps of breath.
His thumb began to rub circles across the small throbbing bundle of nerves, and she was shaking in response.
"You can..." he whispered. "you can feel this and not have to give me anything. I swear it."
Talia closed her eyes and shook her head. What he was saying made no sense! He was going to take her virginity so that she could not bargain with the Emperor! But that made no sense either. The Emperor already believed her to be defiled. Was this-
As if he knew he was losing her attention to her own thoughts, he sighed impatiently and placed one finger against her opening. Talia drew in a shocked breath and opened her eyes to stare into his own, just as he slid his finger into her wet and throbbing entrance.
She cried out in shock and kicked her legs, the foreign sensation of his finger curling against her inside caused her to arch her back again, and twist against him.
"It's so wet," he mumbled and licked his lips, watching her twist and squirm.
"Please... it's... what are you doing to me?" she cried, as he slowly pushed his finger further in and pulled it back slightly. The friction... the sensation of being rubbed that way from the inside would surely drive her mad!
"You don't like it?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"No! It... it hurts..." she lied.
His brow furrowed as if he were concerned.
"I can make it feel better," he offered.
Talia cried out as he plunged his finger deeply again, and then he lowered his head and... and...
She gasped in shock and embarrassment as she felt his tongue caress the wet skin stretched around his finger, but then the tip of his tongue flicked across the small throbbing nub above her opening and her entire body convulsed violently.
As if urged on by her shaking limbs, he licked her harder, stroking that sensitive place with a quick, practiced tongue as his finger began to thrust steadily in and out of her hole.
She cried out, lifting her hips to meet the frenzied movements of his mouth and finger against the burning cleft between her legs.
Her hands needed to grip something, to hold on to something physical, and she reached up to grab the pillow, not caring now how shameful she mush have appeared, spreading her legs open even wider to accommodate him.
There was something building in her abdomen... the throbbing, the friction, the heat, seemed to become even more intense as he licked and thrust and moaned against her damp cleft. Like a string being pulled too tight... she was trembling... knowing instinctively that something more was coming... but the intensity of the sensation between her legs right now felt too good for her to care.
She did not want him to stop. She did not want him to...
And then it was as though something inside of her... pushed to the absolute limit of what it could withstand... broke. Like a small explosion, her breathing stopped, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, she opened her mouth but nothing came out and then wave after wave of pleasure rolled across her, leaving even her toes to feel as if they were tingling.
He knew. He knew what he had done to her because his movements became slower, less urgent. He slid his finger out, and kissed her overly sensitive opening before lifting his head to look up at her.
Embarrassed, she covered her face, and tried to turn on her side, but immediately felt his hands at her waist, and then his arm slide under her as he hefted her up, and cradled her against his chest.
"Sssh," he soothed. "You don't need to feel shame. You did nothing wrong. You gave nothing away. You betrayed no one and nothing."
Talia swallowed the miserable cry that threatened to tear its way out of her throat and nodded, hiding her face against his chest. The words she had secretly hoped he would say, the ones that actually would soothe her, and that she longed to hear at that moment, were not the ones he spoke. She had never been more certain that he would likely never say them, than at that moment.