56. Chapter Fifty-Six

The road to Hel is paved with good intentions.

If that wasn’t the story of my entire godsdamned life—but truth be told? I couldn’t care less at the moment. Every single gasp that came out of her mouth was glorious validation that I hadn’t been alone in my longing. Miraculously, it seemed that Arken wanted this just as badly as I did.

It somehow made up for all of that suffering in silence, if only because I knew now that I hadn’t been suffering alone. But gods, I didn’t want her to suffer any longer. I never wanted her to suffer again.

I would give this woman anything she ever wanted, so long as she asked for it with that same breathy moan. I’d set the world ablaze. Fates, I’d set myself on fire just to see another flicker of the desperate, needy hunger in her eyes as I stripped her of what remained of her clothing.

As I pulled off Arken’s tights, I drank in the sight of her—entirely exposed now, and writhing with anticipation. I marveled at the way my touch seemed to affect her, raising gooseflesh anywhere I wanted with the slightest brush of my knuckles against her sensitive skin.

“Kieran,” she groaned softly as I dropped to my knees before her.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

The only response I received was a subtle whimper as she let her legs part for me, and heat pooled in my lower abdomen, my cock twitching in response to the stunning sight. As I dipped my head between those lovely, soft thighs to meet what was waiting, I was certain.

All of the torture. All of the waiting. All of the risks be damned.

To see her glistening cunt drip for me like this? The fucking sounds she made as I lowered my mouth to taste her?

Oh, this had been worth it all along.

And perhaps I could have brought myself to regret my impulsivity later, had I not felt her quiver against my tongue—had I not tasted the sweetness of her impending release as she called my name out again into the darkness, those glowing little fingertips pulsating with Light as they tangled themselves gently in my hair. So eager. So encouraging.

“Fuck, Kier,” she moaned. “That feels so… You feel so godsdamned good.”

“Yeah?” I whispered, teasing at her swollen clit with a single fingertip before replacing it with my tongue again, savoring the taste.

“Yeah,” she panted, tossing her head back against the pillows. “Please don’t stop.”

“Who said anything about stopping, Asher?” I growled, taking hold of her hips and tugging her ass closer to the edge of the bed.

I had only just gotten started. I had no self-restraint left, I needed to devour her. Evidence of her arousal was already slick against my chin and throat, and it was somehow not enough. It wasn’t until I felt her buck and shudder, her body teetering on the edge of orgasm, that I finally pulled back, planting a quick bite down on the tender flesh of her inner thigh. Her whimpers returned, and my eyes nearly rolled into the back of my head with pleasure as she fisted both hands in my hair and tugged me up hard so that my chin was now resting on her belly.

“I need you,” she whined, her golden eyes wide and wild as they gazed back down at me. The kohl around her eyelids was smudged, and her lower lip swollen as if she’d been biting down this entire time. “Please, Kieran, I can’t—”

If I wasn’t already ravenous and rock hard, the sound of her begging would have been my undoing. But she didn’t need to beg for me… Not yet.

“Shhh, sweetheart,” I whispered hoarsely, rising to my feet and crawling back into bed with her. “I know.” As soon as I slipped in beside her and pulled the blankets over us both, her hands were on me, small keening noises escaping her lips.

“I need you,” she repeated, tugging me closer.

“I’m here, Ark,” I murmured, burying my face against her neck. “I’m right here.”

It had been damn near an entire year of self-restraint, and after all this time, we had finally given in.

And when I finally slid inside her, shuddering at the sensation of her flawlessly perfect fit, I cursed myself for ever having held back in the first place.

This was rapture. It was ruination. It was everything I had ever fucking wanted, but never once dared to dream of experiencing. Made for me. She was fucking made for me.

And she was so. fucking. tight.

“Oh. Oh my gods,” she whispered, tiny tears welling up in her eyes as I sank myself deeper, inch by inch.

“Fuck,” I groaned, feeling her clench around my cock as she took me to the hilt. I slid my hands up her waist, still trying to be delicate where the fresh, pink scar tissue had formed across one side of her ribcage.

“You don’t have to do that,” Arken half-murmured, half-moaned.

“Don’t have to do what, exactly?” I asked. I hadn’t even started moving yet, I was far too content with the feeling of her hot, wet warmth coating my cock. Obsessing over the way she was already twitching, spasming beneath me after one slow, measured thrust.

Those star-flecked eyes of hers seemed to darken and heat beneath her lashes, precious metal going absolutely molten as she held my gaze with confidence.

“You don’t have to be so gentle, Kier. You’re not going to break me.”

“No,” I breathed, extending a hand to caress her cheek. “I won’t break you, Little Conduit. Not tonight.”

She sucked in a sharp breath at the implication, and I smirked.

“But if you want it rough, pretty girl, I will so very happily oblige. Is that what you want from me right now?”

“Please,” she whispered.

Gods. I fucking knew it. Oh, I was going to have so much fun with that little masochistic streak of hers. Another night, though. No matter how well that tincture was working, this woman had been on her deathbed not twenty-four hours prior. She needed time to recover… and regain some stamina, for the things I had in mind. But I could give her this.

“Lay on your stomach,” I instructed, immediately missing the slick heat of her cunt as I withdrew, shoving the blankets aside. “Wait, actually—”

On second thought, I leaned in and kissed her hard, needing the taste of her mouth paired with the taste of her arousal that still lingered on my tongue. She moaned as I invaded her mouth relentlessly, my fingers teasing at her clit just to get her all worked up before I flipped her over.

“Now you can lay on your stomach,” I murmured.

Arken tossed her hair as she shifted, and I let myself admire every inch of her flawless flesh, from her pretty little shoulder blades to the dip of her spine, right down to the freckles beneath those dimples just above the ample expanse of her ass and thighs. Fuck me, this woman was an actual goddess. Under any other circumstance, I could study this view for hours just to memorize every curve and crevice, but I had run out of patience for that slow admiration. Another time. Another night. I just needed to be inside her again.

And so I took hold of my throbbing cock with one rough stroke, notching myself against that exposed sliver of pink flesh that was still so wet and wanting. Arken whimpered as I placed one hand against the small of her back, pressing her hips down hard into the mattress, holding her in place.

“Tell me what you want again, Little Conduit.”

“I need you to fuck me, Kieran,” she panted. “Hard.”

Music to my godsdamned ears.

If I thought the sounds that Arken Asher had made as I ate her out were heavenly, they were downright tame compared to what escaped her throat as I drove the entirety of my length back into her weeping cunt without hesitation. Gasps became moans became an agonized, garbled mess of whimpers and whines as my hips found a brutal rhythm, pistoning in and out of her with as much force as I could muster.

Groaning, I ran one hand over my face in utter disbelief as I kept going, keeping a relentless pace. How did she feel this fucking good?

“Don’t stop,” she begged again. “Fates, please don’t stop. Gods fucking damnit, I can’t—”

“You can take it,” I groaned, grabbing hold of her ass cheek with my free hand. “I know you can.”

And oh, she took it. She took it so godsdamned well from this position, rocking her hips and pushing her ass back to meet my every thrust and take me even harder, deeper. I couldn’t even begin to describe how good it felt to feel Arken slam and tighten against my cock, over and over again. I was quickly losing myself to delirium, to this fever dream of perfect pleasure, a riot of heat and friction.

I had sampled my way through half of Sophrosyne at this point, having lost count of the notches in my bedpost years ago. I thought I had enjoyed plenty of great sex in the past—but that was nothing. All of it had been pitiful compared to… whatever the Hel this was.

This was everything. It was ecstasy. She was so—

“Gods!” Arken screamed, the sound slightly muffled as she pushed her face into the mattress. Gooseflesh raised on my arms in response to her piercing cry. At the soul-deep sense of fulfillment that I felt, knowing I was giving her just as much as I was taking—stealing—from the satin in between her thighs.

I was close. I was so godsdamned close already. I had never been this quick off the mark but she just felt so incredibly divine that I could feel my muscles start to tense, my balls beginning to tighten. But there was no chance in Hel that I was getting off before she did. I bit down on my lip, pouring everything I had into penetrating her faster, harder, coaxing her right to the edge with me.

As she started to tense, I leaned forward and slid both hands underneath her to clutch at her breasts, kneading those sensitive little peaks and drawing her back flush against my chest. I could taste the salt of her sweat as I ran my tongue against her neck, and her entire body went taut like a bowstring in my arms.

“Kier, I’m gonna—”

“Come for me,” I demanded, with more authority than I’d earned. But it worked, and with one more rough thrust, we found simultaneous release, Arken’s tight cunt pulsating as I spent myself inside her.

Godsdamn.

“Fates,” Arken panted as she recovered, flipping herself back over and tossing her head back against the haphazard pile of pillows. The smile that spread across her face was borderline delirious as her eyelids fluttered closed. “That was so… Godsdamn. Is this even real? Are you even real? Am I dreaming? Good gods.”

I chuckled, smirking with dark pride and a deep sense of self-satisfaction.

“Oh, my sweet Little Conduit,” I murmured, leaning in close to the shell of her ear. “I’m very, very real. And I’m not done with you yet.”

Even hours later, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.

As Arken slept soundly in my arms, entirely spent for the night, I couldn’t bring myself to regret a single godsdamned thing.

All the self-control in the world couldn’t have stopped me from giving her anything she wanted the moment I heard that beg beneath her whine. I had needed her, she had needed me, and maybe we both knew better, but fuck.

There was just something about having her here, in my own private space, for the first time. It felt so natural and easy. We had been so close as I tended to her scraped up little head that I could feel her breath against my cheek and that alone had been intoxicating enough.

Only under duress…

Fucking Hel.

No, I couldn’t bring myself to regret any of this, though flickers of guilt passed through me every now and again as I stroked her hair.

Had I manipulated her into this?

Consent was paramount to me, and I knew I had given her adequate space to make her own decisions, but I knew damn well what I was doing, teasing her like that after tending to her head. I could tell that she thought we were just playing that same old game, toeing the line to see who would chicken out first, but she hadn’t realized I was playing to win this time around. Or that she was my prize.

The moment she’d kissed me, I had gotten exactly what I wanted out of that little exchange. I hadn’t even dreamed that I would actually get her to kiss me—would have never guessed that I would get any of this—but I’d needed to try. I felt like I would’ve died on the spot if I ignored those impulses again.

Still, perhaps it had been wrong of me to push her like that. To even tempt her in the first place. But fuck if the taste of her mouth wasn’t worth it. And I would go to the literal ends of this realm and back to taste the rest of her again.

Just before Arken fell asleep, I felt her lips move as she murmured against my skin.

“I would hardly call that duress, Vistarii.”

I chuckled softly.

“All in due time, Little Conduit.”