Neela

Neela

“Why do I get the feeling you’re throwing me to the wolves again?” I asked as Ronan led me up the pearlescent path to his parents’ estate. He wore black jeans and a black T-shirt, completing the whole dark prince thing he had going on. I was there for it.

“Again? When did I ever do that?”

“So you don’t deny you’re taking me into the dragon’s den?”

The prince snorted. “Dragons don’t exist.”

“That is completely and entirely not the point.” I stood still, forcing him to stop too. “Are you certain I should be here?”

Ronan’s family estate was a palace straight out of a faerybook. Tall, slender towers reached toward the sky, their spires crowned with intricate sculptures that came alive in the sparkling sunlight. The palace walls, adorned with delicate ivy and vines, gleamed with a pearlescent sheen. It even smelled delightful.

“Of course. I’m sure my parents would love to meet you.”

“You’re sure?” My voice rose in a squeak. “You mean you haven’t asked them? I thought they knew I was coming.”

“Relax, princess,” he said, closing the distance between us and laying a gentle hand over my denim-clad pussy. “They’ll love you.”

“You’re a big fucking liar, princeling.” I stepped away. “I’m not going in there. Just take me straight to this enchantment ceremony. House Mentium runs it, right, so your parents will be there. I’ll bump into them and say hello.”

He shifted his weight uncomfortably as though I’d said the wrong thing.

“What?” I demanded.

“You’d be better off groveling than tossing them a hello.”

My chest tightened with the familiar sense of not being good enough. “Why the hell can’t I say hello like a normal fucking person? I’m a princess, right? I’m just as good as them.”

Ronan smirked. “Do you remember how you used to call me arrogant?”

“Used to?” I spluttered. “You, princeling, are the most arrogant being I’ve ever met. And I’m including all fae and all humans in that.”

“Well, where do you think I get it from?” he asked with a light grin.

Some of my tension disappeared just by chatting with him, but I definitely didn’t want to meet his parents now. I tugged him away from the stupidly opulent castle with its sprawling gardens and twinkling pools. “Let’s go straight to the ceremony.”

He allowed himself to be pulled behind me out of the wrought iron gates, but not without complaining about it. “The ceremony doesn’t start for an hour. What’re we supposed to do until then?”

Wicked images filled my head, ones where Ronan had to stay completely still while I did whatever I wanted to his body. “Oh, I can think of a few things.”

He squeezed my hand so tight it almost broke my fingers, and his voice was husky. “Yes, please.”

Heat pooled within me, and I scanned the surroundings for a hiding spot. “Maybe we should take a swim?” Perhaps we could get away with some underwater fondling, and nobody would see a thing.

Ronan looked thoughtful, like he was making a life-or-death decision. “Not here. But I know a place…”

He led me along a series of moonways, and it felt like we were crisscrossing the entire realm. “Where are you taking me?”

“I told you, I know a place.”

I harrumphed. “Yeah, well, I know a bunch of places, like the Docklands, Sewer City, the underpass, but most of them would be terrible locations for a date.”

“A date?” He looked at me, then swooped in and picked me up and whirled me around. “I wasn’t sure that’s what this was.”

“Well, I mean, it’s got hand-holding and talking and kissing, I’d say that’s a date. Oh, plus some kind of object enchantment ceremony—”

“Nope, we’re not going there anymore.”

“We’re not?”

“The spot I have in mind is way better.”

“Oh.”

Ronan must have sensed my disappointment. “Trust me, the Imbuing Ceremony is boring. It’s just a bunch of bored fae sitting around watching experts imbue objects with emotions.”

I gripped his arm, feeling the thick muscles underneath his fine shirt. “They make objects feel emotions?!”

“No, no,” he laughed. “The objects don’t have feelings. But whoever is touching them gets the emotion that’s imbued in it. Usually happiness, but sometimes sadness or guilt or whatever.” He shook his head. “Some fae have crazy-ass taste. Anyway, at the end of the ceremony, they sell off the artefacts to the highest bidders.”

I frowned. “Sounds like rich fae getting more shit.”

“Exactly. You’d hate it.”

We exited a moonway halfway up a huge mountain that seemed to be made out of solid honey. It was a dark golden color and stuck to the soles of my shoes with every step, and smelled of wattle. I bent down and scooped my finger in the ground-honey and sniffed it. “Is this honey?”

“Sort of.”

I went to lick it off my finger, but Ronan grasped my wrist before it got to my mouth. “Better not.”

I twisted my lips. “Do I want to know why?”

He shrugged. “Apparently it’s a killer high, but you won’t come down for a month. But if you want to, I’m game. We’ll do it together. But we should get some food supplies first. The biggest problem is that if you get hungry and eat more honey, your month-long high resets. A lot of people spend years here.”

I wiped my sticky finger on my fae denim pants. “If I was out of it for a month, I’d miss my Ascension. Nice try, asshole.” I didn’t really think he was trying to sabotage me, not anymore. In fact, I tried not to think too hard about what he was doing and how we would solve the unsolvable problem of him versus me, life versus life, the prince versus the tomcat.

He just laughed. He didn’t rise to my teasing anymore, he just chuckled and joined in. Perfect company, really. And a perfect cock to go with it. “How much further is it to this place you know?” I complained. My panties were wet from thinking about his body, and walking so far with them in their current state was uncomfortable.

Ronan ducked into yet another moonway, which took us through the inside of the honey mountain and emerged right inside it. He stepped out, and his voice echoed in the small space. “We’re there. Ta-da!”

I looked around, thoroughly unimpressed. “It’s pitch black.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great!”

I tried to see if he was kidding, but I couldn’t make out his features in the blackness. “Um…”

He summoned a light globe in the palm of his hand, revealing rocky walls and a shimmering dark pool. “This is my cave.”

“Yeah, your man cave. Literally.”

“It’s my favorite place in the world.” He definitely wasn’t joking. The globe of light flickered off his square jaw, showing his full lips set in a wistful expression and intensity in his coal eyes. “I stumbled across this spot while I was exploring moonways, right after I turned eleven. It always felt so calming. And after that, whenever I needed to defuse my emotions, I came here.”

A joke about his favorite place in the world being a featureless black cave was desperate to come out of my mouth, but I wrestled it into submission and kept quiet. The truth was, there was so much more to this prince than I ever realized. He was kind and sweet. He’d cared so much about my brother and was helping me even when it hurt himself. He was at the top of the rankings among the heirs, so damned skillful at everything he tried. Handsome and sexy, too, the male desired by almost every fae in the realm, but even among all those amazing qualities, what mattered most was his heart. And it was pretty damn good.

I swooped up his hand and kissed his knuckles. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

He blinked back to the present, and his coal-black eyes squeezed in a smirk. “Shall we?” He nodded to the inky pool, then pulled off his shirt, displaying his sculpted chest and that delicious V that beckoned the eye down.

My nipples tightened as I traced the outline of his muscles with my gaze. “You are beautiful,” I breathed.

His smirk was maybe the sexiest thing about him. “You can talk.”

He yanked me closer and peeled off my shirt. As he tossed it aside, my small breasts jiggled, and I felt his gaze on them. He let out a low growl and pulled me to him, pressing his bare chest against mine, my jeans pushed into his. The warmth of his skin sent shivers down my spine, and I ran my hands over his back, admiring the ridges of his muscles.

He lowered his head and nibbled at my ear, then whispered, “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

I laughed. “About a day. Pretty sure we screwed yesterday, although you’re not all that memorable, so maybe I’ve got that wrong,” I teased.

His mood was intense, his black eyes fathomless. “I mean before that. I wanted you for so long, Neela. Ever since you first writhed on my lap. I’ve thought about you every fucking moment.”

Those words sent desire screaming through me, the idea that he dreamed about me, thought about me, even while he hated me. All those times he’d tormented me, he’d really wanted to touch me. Every time he’d barked out an insult, he’d really wanted to lavish me with praise.

“Every moment?” I asked.

“Every fucking moment.” His breath was hot against my skin, and I felt myself getting even wetter. “You were born to rule me, Neela. And whenever I look at you, I want to drop to the ground and worship you. Your body,” he planted a kiss on my neck. “Your mind,” he licked down over my shoulder, then murmured into the Y at the front of my armpit. “Your soul.”

I let out a low moan as he trailed kisses down my arm, his hands roaming over me with a hunger that left me dizzy.

He dipped his head lower, nipping at my stomach before sliding his tongue into my belly button. I arched my back, lost in the sensations coursing through me.

The prince looked up at me through thick lashes, eyes blazing with desire. “I want you,” he growled, his voice sending shockwaves through me. “And I always have.”

His fingers trailed lower, unbuttoning my fae denim jeans and slipping inside my panties to find my clit. I gasped as he circled it, my back arching in pleasure. He pulled away from my stomach to watch me, his desire evident in his eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

I wanted to tell him I loved him, to utter those magical words that would be my undoing, but my words were lost in a moan as he pushed two fingers inside me.

He felt my depths for only a moment before removing his finger and placing his hands on my hips. He carefully lowered my jeans while I wriggled to be free, wanting to return to the part where his body was entwined with mine.

When I stood before him, completely naked, he got to his feet and stared at me.

“Your turn,” I said, looking at the V that dived beneath the waistband of his jeans. The chill of the cave air sent shivers over my skin, and he saw my shudder and pulled me close to him. “Take off your pants, princeling,” I demanded, but I made it difficult by leaping up and wrapping my legs around his waist, and he carried me to the pool. When we reached its edge, he set me down gently and stepped back.

He looked at me briefly, his eyes smoldering with heat, then dove into the water. His body cut through the blackness like a knife, and he disappeared beneath the surface.

I held my breath as I waited for him to resurface, shivering in the cool air and the lack of his body warmth. He stayed under the inky blackness for ten seconds, then twenty. “Very funny,” I called out as he remained under for thirty seconds, then forty.

How long could fae hold their breath? I searched for signs of movement in the black water, small bubbles of escaping air, any current or ripples. Nothing.

Surely he’d been down too long. Anxiety crept through me, ripping away my lingering desire and turning my skin to ice. I jumped into the pool and kicked out, slamming my leg into something warm and hard.

Ronan surfaced, and I slapped him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

He looked genuinely confused. “Swimming.”

“Why did you stay under so long? Were you trying to scare me?”

I was shaking, although the water was surprisingly warm against my icy skin. Ronan’s light globe hovered above the pool, casting flickering light in the small space.

Ronan saw me shivering and pulled me close. “It’s okay, I’m alright. Fae can hold their breath for minutes. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Man, I was shaking a lot. An uncool amount. An I-care-about-you amount, and Ronan noticed. He smirked. “Were you worried about me, tomcat?”

I pushed away from him. The pool was shallow enough to stand comfortably, with my breasts just covered. “Of course not. I just didn’t know what I would do with the body. You’re a big bloody male, you know. Heavy as fuck.”

He grinned and pulled me against him, causing a wake of water behind me. “You don’t want me to die. Sucked in,” he teased, muttering into my hair.

I rested against his chest while I recovered from my shock. Of course fae could hold their breaths for minutes, it was foolish to think otherwise. What couldn’t they do? Er, we. What couldn’t we do? I had a lot to learn about this place.

The dark cave and warm water were soothing; I could see why Ronan liked it here. He said he came here when he felt emotionally overwhelmed as a teenager, and it made perfect sense. The lapping warm water, the lack of sensory input, and the total calm were all utterly relaxing.

After I stopped shaking and my adrenaline subsided, I came back into my body and remembered I was naked and close against the prince. Ronan’s big cock pressed into me, still clad in fabric. I jumped up, and he caught me, then he ground me against it. Fae denim may be softer than the human equivalent, but it wasn’t as smooth as flesh.

“Can we lose the jeans?” I asked.

He grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

I floated away and admired his bunching shoulders and angled chest as he wriggled out of his wet denim pants. “I did ask. Repeatedly. You’re just not very good at following orders.”

He held the jeans and swung them over his head so water flicked everywhere. “I never have been.”

“We’ll have to work on that.”

He laughed and stepped toward me, water sluicing down his body. “Yes, princess.” My eyes hooded as I took in his long, powerful limbs, chiseled abs, and broad shoulders.

“Come here,” he said, pulling me into his arms. His skin was hot against mine, and my temperature rose as I pressed into him. He bent his head and kissed me, and all thoughts of fae cockiness and disobedience flew away. We were just two people in a dark cave, lost in each other’s embrace.

We kissed and explored each other until our fingers were wrinkled from the water. He lifted me out of the pool and laid me on the edge, covering me with his body.

“This is perfect,” he murmured, brushing his lips against mine.

We stayed there for hours, talking and caressing. He gifted me three orgasms, only claiming two for himself, and we finally fell against each other on the flat stone floor, looking up at the rocky ceiling.

“Did you come here with Seb?” I wanted to know more about my brother and about his life. I hadn’t managed to muster any actual grief at his death, but the sadness of a life taken too young swirled around me.

Ronan leaned his head on his hand, propped up on one shoulder, and pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek. “I’ve never brought anyone here,” he said softly. “I’ve always kept it apart, the one place I can come to when I need to be alone. A place just for me and my deepest thoughts.”

I ran a hand in lazy circles down his chest. “But now you’ve brought me here.”

“Yes.” He kissed my temple. “Now I’ve brought you.”