Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

brIAR

His words have no meaning. Nothing has any meaning. The amount of pleasure coursing through me is overwhelming. It twists and turns through my veins, clenching and releasing through my muscles.

“So you like me punishing this naughty clit with my tongue then,” he hisses around the reptilian organ.

I should be repulsed, disgusted, anything other than what I am—aroused beyond comprehension. His muscles ripple in the waning sun, speaking of strength and virility. How I want to run my lips and tongue over them, learning his body as intimately as he has learned mine.

But I can’t. The wise woman in the woods… the wise woman… she said… I… Gods, but what did she say? I can’t even remember now. It feels as if it were centuries ago.

It’s preposterous. Philip should be an old man, not this paragon of sexuality undulating before me. Right? I cannot bring my mind to understand how much time has passed. My head aches and throbs as I force it to work. It’s as if a wall resides between me and what I yearn to know.

I scratch at it, begging it to come down.

What am I supposed to know?

What did the woman say?

How am I to answer Philip when I cannot even control my own mind?

“Briar,” he barks out, his eyes hooded as he leans over me.

Is that concern I see sparking in those reddish depths? As I watch him, I observe the struggle. Hazel wars with molten red as the man tries to tame the beast.

Dragon.

Abomination.

Salvation?

My breath comes in a gasp as he surges inside me, sliding his member deep inside. The weight of his body presses me further into the thorns, sending splintering shards of exquisite pleasure flowing through my body.

Everything tightens, coiling in my gut. Again, I stand at the edge of some precipice, some unknown place. But something holds me back. He holds me back. Philip gives me just enough pleasure to keep me on the razor edge but never lets me go.

How I long to tip over, to dive into the black pool in front of me. It looks so inviting, so calm and peaceful. Just one touch. One small touch. As if this monster knows my mind better than I do, I’m yanked back once more, pressed against this wretched wall in my brain.

I beat at it, claw at it, and slam my palms against the rough surface, but it never gives way. Tears stream down my face as futility makes my limbs leaden, wooden, and unable to move. All I can do is slump down and sob.

Darkness overtakes me. It’s as if my body is asleep once more, even as my mind knows everything going on around me. I don’t understand. True love woke me up. Was it all a farce? A dream?

Am I dreaming even now?

“Briar!” Philip screams my name, his voice hoarse as if he’s been shouting for days.

I’m right here.

“Briar!” His fingers scrabble over my body, twisting and turning me, delivering agonizing pleasure with each tug as he removes the thorns from my body.

Philip. Please ! I beg, my body limp in his arms.

Nothing.

Everything is dark and cold.

What I would give to have Philip’s warmth wrap around me once more. This time, I won’t even fight him.

You must.

The wise woman! She followed me, even down into the realm of waking nightmares.

Help me ! I scream in my mind.

Desperation coats my insides, filling my lungs with its acrid stench.

You must not lie with the dragon . Her voice is thick and muffled, as if far away from me.

I won’t ! I scream back. I can’t. I would surely be crushed .

And that’s when I recall my dream. Philip pressed me into the thorns, and I did not die. Would mating with a dragon even kill me? What am I even saying? It was a dream. Vivid, but a dream, nonetheless.

“Briar. Briar, answer me.”

The phantom jostles my body, holding me against his warmth. Concern drips from his lips as he presses them against mine. Air floods my lungs as light pierces my eyes. With his kiss, I am once more back with the living.

A sob wrenches from my throat as I burrow into Philip’s chest, soaking in the comforting warmth. He wraps his arms around me, clutching me close. His heart beats strong and steady, lulling me into breathing softer and slower.

“Briar,” he murmurs against the top of my head. “What happened? You were gone. Where did you go?”

“A nightmare.” The words drift out on a mournful sigh. “I dreamed you were a dragon. An abomina-” His arms tighten even more around me.

If not for the witch’s blessing, it would hurt with how tight he squeezes. Instead, pleasure rushes through my body, filling me up until my breath comes in light gasps.

“I’ve heard that word far too much from your lips today.”

Fear stills me. It wasn’t a dream? “Everything you did to me… that wasn’t a nightmare?”

“No, my innocent Briar. Enough games. I will have my answers.”

Before I can protest, he lays me down on the bed and grabs my wrist. I twist and turn, but he’s far too strong for me. Helpless, I lie there, allowing him to truss me up, knowing the worst is probably yet to come. Deep inside, I know I’ll enjoy it. It’s some twisted curse I have to endure.

“What do you know about what happened to my kingdom?”

His voice permeates my brain. I hear the words, and yet, I have no answers. I know nothing. I am nothing. Just a child caught in the middle of a political war. At least, that’s what my brain says. Somehow, the voice is not my own. It sounds strangely like the woman in the woods.

“Answer me,” he roars.

This time, my body flinches as the command strikes me dead in the chest. Before, he was allowing me to choose, giving me the opportunity to do the ‘right’ thing. Now, I have no choice.

“I am nothing. I know nothing.” The words spill out in some unholy amalgamation of her voice and mine. Terrified, I look up at Philip. “W- what’s happening to me?”

He frowns and continues to walk around the bed. “Answer me, witch. How are you speaking through Briar when I left you for dead amongst your thorns?”

Could it be? Did Philip really destroy the last person I had to cling to? Tears prick my eyes as I toss my head back and forth. I don’t want to believe it. I don’t want to be so alone.

“Memories last a lifetime,” the voice hisses through my lips.

Try as I might, I cannot keep them in. Even when I bite down, they still flow out, echoing around the room.

“And what have you to do with my Briar?”

“Yours? She will never be yours. Even if you possess her body, her mind and spirit are mine.”

Philip hunches down and brings his face close to mine. “Briar. I order you to tell me how to defeat the witch.”

Tears stream down my cheeks as I laugh in his face. “As if it would be that simple. Your kiss woke her, yes. But there’s far more to true love than a mere peck on the lips.”

He growls and steps away, pacing for a bit as he chews on his thumbnail, deep in thought. Before the witch can say anything else, he lets out a mighty roar, enough so that the walls tremble around me. My heart pounds in my chest as I watch, helpless, as his rage bathes my body.

Deep inside my mind, the wall shifts a bit. It’s as if dust and stone rattle forth, littering my psyche. Light splinters into my skull, making it pound. For the first time, pain ricochets through me with no pleasure to temper it.

Anguished whimpers float from my lips, bringing Philip back to my side. “H- hurts,” I cry out, tugging on my wrists so I can cradle my head. “P- please. It hurts.”

“What hurts? Tell me, Briar. What hurts?”

My eyes drift closed as hazy memories float about inside the wreckage of my brain. Fragmented images bounce about, none of them making sense. The woman. The spindle. Her rasped orders flood my ears as if I’m right there again.

I cannot refuse her, cannot disobey her. Despite everything screaming at me, I prick my finger, succumbing to her spell. As blackness encroaches, I watch her lips.

She’s speaking to me.

Telling me something.

What is she saying?

I cannot hear, cannot make it out.

Bond.

I cannot bond with the beast.

Unholy.

Abomination.

Salvation.

“Bond!” I scream out before the witch can close off my mind again.

I have no idea what it means. Maybe Philip does? Maybe his dragon does? Agony rips through me as I writhe on the bed, unable to process the feelings flowing through me.

“Please,” I whimper, pleading with the man before me. “Please make it stop.”

“I hear you, Briar,” he growls. “I hear you.”

He walks away, and for a moment, I worry he’s going to leave me like this. But soon, he comes back, his heavy tread matching the beating of my heart. In his hands are more of those infernal vines.

They cut through his hands, making them raw and bleeding, but he endures it for me. Kneeling beside the bed, he wraps it around my breasts, forcing the thorns deep into my skin. My mouth drops open as pleasure rushes through, pushing out the pain, until all I can feel is bliss.

My vision wavers as relief rushes through me. Then he takes more of those thorns and wraps my other breast. With each breath, they strain against their bonds, sending flutters through me.

My blood drips down my side, hot and thick as each inhalation forces the brambles deeper into my skin. But I don’t care. Nothing matters anymore. All I can feel and sense is pleasure coursing through my body, erasing the taint filling my mind. With each stabbing prick, the haze recedes until I’m me once more. At least as much of me as was there before.

Philip kneels before me, his eyes a dark red. The dragon shines through as he lifts his hand to show me the dangerous talons sliding from his fingers. They no longer frighten me. Now, I know the exquisite agony they will bring.

He slides his palms under my bottom and curls his hands up, digging the sharp points into my muscles, holding me still. I scream as pleasure forces my body to go taut. I writhe under his grasp as need courses through my veins.

Again, his tongue laps at me, but this time, it’s not the thin point I’m used to feeling. It’s broad and firm, like what I would imagine a human to feel like. Arching my neck, I look down the valley of my breast to watch him.

Philip lifts his head and makes a grand show of licking his lips. “I’ll never tire of tasting you, Briar. Neither me nor the dragon. We own you, and soon, the witch inside your head will know it too.”

“Does that mean you can fix this? Fix me?”

“Shhhh, princess. Lie back and let me keep the pain at bay.”

Heat washes over my skin as my mind goes numb. All I can feel is Philip tasting me, teasing me. He drags his tongue around the tip of my clit for a moment before sucking it in between his lips. The pressure is immense as he alternates between sucking and licking until I’m wriggling in his implacable grasp.

Desperation rolls off of me in waves, and again, I find myself staring down at the abyss. The black pool ripples before me, beckoning me to dive in. I want to. I want nothing more than to slip beneath the waves.

Philip growls against my skin, once more causing the dark waters to undulate beneath me. Whatever is happening in my mind is tied to him. If only he can break through. Behind me, the wall continues to loom, but now, thin cracks splinter the surface.

Bright light shines through, but I cannot touch it. I cannot reach it. Something still holds me back. My eyes roll in the back of my head as Philip pulls away, yanking me away from the scene and back to the present.

“Don’t worry, princess,” he breathes against my sensitive skin. “Soon you will be free.”