Chained to the Devil’s Daughter (Mating the Elements #1)

19

Searra

W ould you chaperone a trip to the gardens with me?”

Ash’ren stilled. Lava churned around his pupils. Never in our history was he a candidate to prance through the inner rings with Devil’s golden princess. I’m thirty-flaming-three, and my father is nowhere around. I meant what I told Fara. I’m ready to flaunt my man.

His moment of disbelief was swift. Desire poured from his churning depths into mine, wrapping my soul in a chrysalis where I wanted to turn to goo and poof into a sexy, slutty butterfly for his use.

“Shall we take the stairs, or the tree, Queen Firefly?”

I glanced at the window, where the branch of the tree gently tapped in the breeze. It was dumb enough that he’d climbed through it in broad daylight. I didn’t need to hold my breath through an eeny-mini-minor fear of heights, too.

“The door.”

“You’re no fun,” he teased, tugging my braid. “Thought you loved climbing trees.”

“Absolutely not.”

“As the lady wishes.”

Ash’ren set a mindful pace through the palace and out into the daylight. It felt so natural to be on his arm, it physically pained me not to snuggle deeper. The strength to reign in my urges was only credit to the gawking folks of all stations — guards, servants, nobles alike.

Ash’ren’s bicep was tense, hard as stone. Maybe I’d made a mistake gallivanting him around so early. Rings, had I painted a target on his back? I peered up at him, expecting to find pain or annoyance at the whispers that floated around us. Ash Render . The princess’ dog.

Rage. A lethal storm raged in his eyes, his unusual magic seeping from under his boots with every step. Judging by how we were suddenly alone, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

“Pitiful,” he scoffed.

“Their opinions of you don’t matter. I know who you are.” He seemed to drag his gaze to mine, confusion barely leaking through the lethality. “What is it, then?”

“They fear me so greatly, yet they left you alone in my care.” He spat on the ground. Void-black saliva sizzled on the pebbled walkway. “You should get rid of them all.”

“I can hardly imagine the palace so quiet,” I huffed. Gently, I fastened onto his arm to slow our pace, which was steadily speeding toward a light jog. “They’re brainwashed.”

Ash’ren seethed, unraveling from my grip. He rubbed both hands over his face, his left traveling up to his broken horn. I could barely hear him muttering what sounded like numbers. On my tippy toes, I plucked his worried hand and held it between us.

“Our rule will not abide by the same harsh laws as my father’s. The cruelty will end with us. Well, granted, some of these flaming forkers will continue being cruel. In which case, we will kill them”—Ash’ren’s face lit up—“with kindness , you sadist.”

An easy smirk returned to my lover’s face, and he spun me back into his side. He shook his head as if to say, your kindness is too good for them , a phrase I could hear as clearly as if he’d spoken it into my ear.

I started to walk, but he was planted like a tree.

“What?” He was quiet. I rolled my eyes. “Kindness is challenging, but it’s reward—”

“ Our rule?” His grin became so deep it filled my guts as much as his cock did, jostling my insides a little. “Are you proposing to me, Princess Firefly?”

“Ha! Ha! Funny guy!” Alarm bells ricocheted in the empty space between my ears. Flaming rings, I could dang well keep this secret! “All I’m proposing is that we take a walk.”

He closed the distance between our heights, as though he were about to plant one on me. Shrubbery rustled nearby and I flinched away. I was fully intent on disobeying the rules of courtship in a couple of hours, but I wanted to do so on my terms.

Undeterred, Ash’ren continued his descent until his lips brushed my ear.

“ When you propose, my little love bug, you won’t be able to walk for days.”

I shivered. Ash’ren straightened, a calm mask of propriety and indifference falling into place as he resumed our walk, my cheeks hotter than the longest day of Inferno.

We strolled the flagstone path of the public gardens into the center of the labyrinth in easy silence. I was pleased to know our comfort with one another had not worn away like the little bit of my soul that’d withered without his presence. Every breath filled my lungs with fresher oxygen, the frost air crisper, the scent of the flowers sweeter. With every furtive glance, his pupils dilated, full of the same addictive emotion swelling my heart. But even in the easy silence, I longed to fill the space with the alluring sound of his voice.

“I—”

“I—oh, no, you go ahead,” I said with a giggle when we both began talking at once.

“No, you go.”

“I was just going to say, erm,” I trailed off, searching the sky for random words to summon that would make him talk to me for hours. “No, I’ve lost it.”

“I didn’t have anything to say. I wanted to hear your voice. I was gonna wing it.” He bumped my side with his hip. “Best I came up with was, it’s nice to walk with you this way.”

“I know.” I wasn’t sure how I’d walk alone ever again. “It really is.”

Our steps fell quiet as we toured the colorful garden to its center. Curtains of metallic orange vines that crawled overhead hid the oasis, casting glittering shadows on the flagstones. A statue of my father lorded over a water fountain.

“Don’t worry. Soon we’ll have a new king to keep watch of the—er, not anytime soon though, you know. Rules.” I shrugged casually, but Ash’ren’s sneer didn’t twitch away from the effigy.

“Elements, no. We’ll have a queen to kneel to.”

“Nobody must drop to their knees before me other than you.”

A feral growl rumbled from his inner beast. The ground escaped from under me. Then I was standing on the ledge of the fountain with a starving demon at my knees. The black-and-silver gemstones on my peekaboo heels—I couldn’t very well wear an outfit with no black at all—sparkled against his cheek as he kissed my toes. His thumbs bore down on my muscles as he licked up my ankle. Hitching my leg toward his shoulder, he gave the sensitive inside of my knee a sultry kiss that made me wish his forked tongue would grace me somewhere more useful.

“Ash!” I fell forward, catching myself on his shoulders. His hands clutched my waist in the next second, twirling me down from the pedestal. My feet touched the ground as a guard clomped by on the other side of the vine wall, my skirt swishing into place.

I shoved Ash’ren. “You are reckless!”

“Yes, but that’s something you love about me,” he drawled, his hands coming to my hips, snapping them to his. “My recklessness led you to the best cock in your life.”

“Because it’s the only cock I’ve ever had.”

“True,” he said with a vulgar grin, obviously pleased to be my only lay, “but that’s not the only reason.”

Invading my space, he placed one leg between mine, resting his foot on the water fountain. His bulge kissed my fluttering pussy between our clothes. Seeing as how my heels barely got traction on the flagstones with a thick thigh between them, he easily took control of my hips and dragged me along his erection.

With a shiver, I fell onto his chest.

“Ash, oooh, frick, Ash, we can’t be seen.”

“Shhh, Firefly.” His warm breath was an erotic tingle against my neck, pitching my core into a steady pulse of arousal. “I’m aware.”

Very well. That meant he was watching out. Which meant I could relax the control into his hands. Which meant . . . I fumbled at his pants, wanting to shove my hand down them and stroke his length.

But Ash’ren chuckled, this laugh darker than those before. He swatted my hands away.

“Dirty girl, what’s your plan?” Sweeping under my skirts, he slid the lace covering my pussy aside and ran a thick digit through my slickness. “You want to take my cock out, to stroke me until I come in your panties? You want to walk around with my mess in your thong all day. You dirty little slut.”

I whined. “H-hurry up!”

“I’ll worship my queen however I like. Do not rush me.”

“B-but—”

The pad of his thumb pressed my clit, silencing my protest. The woven fabric of his tunic sleeve bunched in my fists as a long, thick finger slid inside my pussy, working me at an unhurried pace.

All the lonely one-handed orgasms I’d given myself the past nine years combined had nothing on the feel of him fucking me with a lone finger.

“Take another for me. Good girl,” he murmured as he added another, curling and massaging my inner walls. “That’s it, my dirty queen. Take what you need from your pawn.”

I gripped his shoulders and writhed, fucking his fingers as deeply as I could. Slowly, he began twirling his thumb, passing over my engorged clit with growing intensity and slickness.

“Come for me, Your Majesty.”

His voice was distant, but an orgasm barreled toward me regardless. I bit his shoulder to stifle my moans as it hit, grasping my womb in undulating waves. I was lost in the thrall of its power, crashing through me like a maelstrom.

Not seconds later, my knees still knocking, Ash’ren lowered my skirts and removed his leg from between my thighs, not in a rush but certainly with purpose. Taking his cue, I teetered back to sit on the fountain’s edge and smoothed my gown.

After the guard passed by on the other side of the vine wall, Ash’ren and I shared a giddy look. He turned his gaze upward, and I followed it to the statue of my father. Ash’ren’s previous lethality toward the thing was now pure vanity.

“You dirty man,” I scolded. “You liked that, didn’t you?”

“Hmmm,” he said with feigned innocence, hands in his pockets. “Why in the four elements would I enjoy giving you mind-blowing orgasms in front of your cultist father?”

“Was it mind blowing, though?”

“Shall we try again and see?” Ash’ren sat beside me. With a quick glance around, I leaned toward him, close enough our arms were glued together.

“Oh!” Fara came sailing around the corner, yelping at the sight of me nestled into a man not yet named my suitor. Fara dipped into a low bow. “Your Bone-Blessed Majesty, Tor'cha has, erm, has some questions for you.”

“Fara, you of all people do not need to use my full title,” I chided softly. I stood and turned to Ash’ren, who was smirking with that haughty, knowing look that made my insides dance. Surely, he didn’t know the surprise, though. Only the secret of what we’d done before my father’s likeness. “Excuse me, Ash. Thank you for attending me to the garden, I had a lovely time.”

Ash bowed with extra drama and pitched his voice in a deep mockery of society’s rules. “As Your Great Highness, Lady of the Rings, Ruler of Hell, Queen Firefly wishes.”

I couldn’t help a little snort. I remained rooted to the spot as he tucked his hands into his pockets and backed away.

“Well, then,” I whispered directly into Fara’s ear. “Time to plan a Naming banquet.”

Some tense ha ha ’s followed my statement. No, this wasn’t betraying anyone. It was totally cool. And it wasn’t as though I would call it off now, even if I’d wanted to. To be clear, I did not.