Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Thalia

While this might be everything I’ve ever wanted, I scramble up from the bed in protest. “You can’t just take me out of Conclave Hall like that. How does that look to all the royals?”

“I clearly don’t give a fuck, but if I’m lucky, Sorin and any other thinking to offer marriage will know it’s futile.”

I screech in protest because that’s just bullying.

And I keep to myself the part of me that’s relieved to see he’s able to experience strong emotion. I’m not sure if it’s because he truly has feelings for me or if he’s acting on old instinct.

I try to brush past him, intent on visiting Archer, but Bastien’s big hand goes to the center of my chest. He backs me up to the bed again, and with a push, I land on my butt, my heels planted on the wooden floor.

“Stay put,” he says in a low rumble. He removes his breastplate and armor, then pulls his shirt off and drops it to the floor. “I told you I was going to prove it to you… you don’t want to marry Sorin.”

I should be offended, incensed, and fighting back on principle alone. But the fact he’s baring all those glorious muscles and that tanned skin my hands know so very well has knocked me senseless.

He sounds menacing and sexy at the same time, and I very much want him to prove it to me that I don’t want Sorin because in the process of him teaching me that lesson, I’m hoping he will learn something too.

“Don’t move,” Bastien warns again as he walks over to one of the chairs and sits. Head bent over his task, he makes short work of the boots and undoes the buttons of his pants as he rises.

Never taking his eyes from mine, Bastien moves toward me, fly open, that golden trail of hair that starts below his navel disappearing inside.

He bends, places his hands on my knees, and spreads my legs so he can squat before me, bringing us eye to eye. My legs are completely bare to him as the slit in my dress is peeled open, but it’s my face he stares at.

“Tell me what you promised Sorin,” he demands quietly.

I shake my head, because the prospect of me marrying Sorin is exactly why Bastien is before me half naked with his hands on my legs. I’m not giving up this advantage.

Bastien growls low and places his hands on the backs of my ankles, stroking up my calves. The calluses on his hands cause goose bumps, and I clutch the quilted bedspread tightly in my fists. My breath hitches when his hands reach the backs of my knees and then smooth around to the tops of my thighs.

“Tell me,” he again demands, gliding his palms up toward my hips, pushing the fabric of my dress away. His gaze drops briefly to my white panties, his only barrier now, before lifting to me again as he awaits my answer.

I stubbornly hold my silence, but my breathing has quickened so much, my chest rises and falls like I’ve run a marathon. My heart gallops away from me, and I’ve never been more excited to see what the future holds than I am at this moment.

Bastien spreads his fingers wide, his thumbs blazing a delicious trail up the insides of my thighs. My breath stutters and I close my eyes, concentrating on the feel of his hands as they creep higher.

“Let’s get you out of this dress.” My eyes fly open, astounded he’s not trying to force me to tell him about Baynor. His tone is gentle, which is confusing.

Grasping my hands, Bastien gently tugs me into a standing position. We aren’t touching, but we’re so close I can feel the heat coming off his body. I tip my head back to look at him, but he’s not looking at my face anymore.

Lightly fingering the material between my breasts, Bastien says, “You look beautiful in this.”

And his tone… the reverence and desire… it’s the man I used to know. It’s the man who used to love me.

His gaze slowly lifts, pinning me with such intensity I’m frozen in place. “I wanted to bury myself in you the minute I saw you in it.”

Bitterness. I hear that in his voice because it means he doesn’t want to feel this way. This is not the man who used to love me.

The dichotomy squeezes my heart painfully as I let him work this out.

Perhaps it’s anger with himself and the way he’s feeling that makes him do it, but Bastien grabs the inside of my plunging neckline and rips the fabric apart with such force, I gasp.

He releases the flimsy material, and I’m naked from the waist up. He stares at my breasts, lust etched on his face. And something else… almost a look of dominance.

My pulse is jackhammering so hard, I’m slightly dizzy. There’s a chance my legs will give way, but I’m confident Bastien won’t let me hit the ground.

His palms come to my breasts, and he softly kneads them. When he strokes my nipples with his thumbs, they tighten immediately, and a moan escapes my lips. Bastien tips his head, as if I’m a curiosity.

As if he doesn’t know he’s got the power to make me his slave. He cups my breasts, squeezes them gently and I breathlessly await his next move.

He tilts his head the other way and then pinches a nipple, and my deep groan vibrates through me like an earthquake. “Bastien,” I whisper, feeling wound so tight, I might shatter like glass.

He dips his head, puts his mouth near my ear. “What did you promise Sorin?”

I know enough that he’s not going to stop as long as I maintain my silence. He couldn’t get the truth out of me right now if he ripped it away with magic. It’s a game we’re now fully invested in, and he’s using the power of seduction to make me tell him what he wants to hear. My greatest fear is that he’ll walk away when I do, and I can’t risk that.

He’s too close to letting me in.

Instead, I turn my head, grazing my lips against his cheek, to the corner of his mouth. “Please don’t stop touching me.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, a low curse of both disappointment and resignation.

It happens so fast.

My torn dress is whipped off my body, and I’m not so sure Bastien doesn’t creatively bend distance, but I’m on my back on the bed with him stretched over me. He holds his weight off with his elbows on the mattress, but his hips are wedged between mine, and I can feel the hard length of him pressed against me.

Bringing his lips down to mine, he whispers against them, “Tell me what I want to know.”

I’m tired of this game. I’m not telling, and he’s not stopping. Cupping his face with my hands, I speak from the heart. “I want you, Bastien. More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life. I can feel you want it too. Please… let’s just have this, okay?”

If Bastien was going to continue holding out, whatever I said dissolves his need for me to tell him about Sorin first. His mouth comes down on mine, and I am truly home.

His hands and lips roam everywhere, testing every dip and valley that he knew so well seven years ago, intent on rediscovering.

I melt under him and let him have his way.

One hand smooths down over my ribs to my hip and straight into my panties. I vibrate with need as Bastien’s fingers find me wet and willing.

He strokes me, ignites me, and makes me crazy with need. He swallows my moans with his mouth before moving down my neck to my breasts. Tongue flicking and finger thrusting, I’m going crazy.

“I can’t…” I mutter, arching my back when his mouth finds a nipple.

Bastien lifts his head, eyes burning as he stares at me. “Easy, Thalia. I’m just getting started.”

“I can’t handle anymore… just… just…”

“You can handle much more,” he says, lips moving down my stomach in a trail of soft kisses. “I remember that about you.”

My heart squeezes at his admission, more confirmation he hasn’t banished the memories along with the love for me that was stripped.

Bastien kisses all the way down to my pelvis before sliding my panties free. He hums low in his throat as he pushes my legs apart… a sound of hunger. My fingers grip the quilt, and my eyes practically roll into the back of my head as his mouth finds my core.

“Oh, gods,” I mumble, hips straining upward.

Bastien lifts his mouth, stares up my body at me. “Tell me, Thalia.”

“Tell you what?” I ask breathlessly.

“You know what I want to hear.” He dips his head, licks me, and I buck. “Tell me the truth,” he demands.

“Fine!” I groan, lifting my head to glare at him. “I’m not marrying Baynor. Are you happy?”

And perhaps what will actually be the most monumental thing tonight, the thing I’ll take with me, that I’ll turn to for hope time and again… Bastien smiles at me.

Genuine, warm, relieved. “Yes. That makes me very happy, and I’m getting ready to make you very happy you told me that.”

Done with this torturous teasing, he dips his head, latches his mouth onto me, and brings me to the fastest orgasm I’ve ever had.

I scream. There’s no helping it. Delirious with pleasure and my heart pulsing with hope, I barely even register Bastien coming back up my body. He spreads my legs, pushes the front of his pants down to free himself, and with one punch of his hips, enters me.

Fills me up so completely that tears spring forth. It’s so beautiful.

Bastien doesn’t hold back, pumping in long, luxurious strokes. He kisses me the entire time, elbows dug into the mattress and his hands on my face to hold me still.

It’s everything I remember. It’s like it always was, and yet, it’s different too. Because no matter how much things have changed tonight, there is one thing missing… love.

At least on his part.

I’m sure it’s still missing, but I push the thought away.

It can be recreated. I know it.

With every stroke, Bastien drives me higher and higher until a second orgasm builds. I can’t even hold it back. Don’t want to, really, because surely there will be more later. Tonight. Tomorrow?

Bastien’s hand slips behind my neck, and he pulls me up slightly. Lifting his mouth from mine, he stares down at me, hips still thrusting. “Give it up to me again, Thalia.”

Words.

Words alone command my body, and the orgasm rips through me so fiercely, Bastien feels it. I know he feels it because his entire body jerks. He plants deep, drops his forehead to mine, and growls out his release.

Our breaths are harsh, mixed, and I’m boneless.

I’m also madly in love with him. That’s never changed for me.

Bastien presses his lips to mine briefly before rolling off my body. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he glances back at me and frowns. “So, what did you have to give Sorin to get his troops?”

So much for cuddling after. I sigh with the knowledge that this might have changed some things, but not all things. I roll onto my side and prop my head in my hand. “It was easy to figure out he doesn’t want me.”

“Oh, he wants you,” Bastien growls.

“He wants Kestevayne,” I say firmly. “I am just the means to get it. Anyway, it appears Croyden is not doing well financially, so he hoped to expand his holdings to infuse money into his city.”

“You bought his troops?”

“Basically. I told him I would deed him lifetime rights to the largest salt mine in Kestevayne. Contingent, of course, on us winning Kestevayne back.”

“A diplomat,” Bastien proclaims, and I hear the tinge of pride in his voice. It gives me no warm fuzzies, for he stands and buttons up his pants. He bends and grabs his shirt from the floor and then moves to the chair to grab his boots. “I’m going back to Conclave Hall since I now have a much larger army to manage. If you want to visit Archer, the guards will accompany you.”

He turns for the door but stops when I ask, “And what was this?” My tone is soft but accusing. “Was this just to soothe your pride? You wanted to prove I wanted you and not Baynor?”

“I already knew you wanted me and not Baynor,” he replies. “I didn’t need to make you come twice to know that. But make no mistake, I would’ve never let you marry him just to get his troops. You’re far better than he deserves.”

I don’t know how to take that.

“What about what I deserve?” I ask curiously.

Something flickers over Bastien’s face, a pure emotion I’d label as regret.

“You deserve to be happy, Thalia. For everything that was done to you, for what you suffered and continue to suffer. That’s all I want for you.”

It’s what I want too.

Bastien would make me happy if he’d open his heart, but he’s clearly not ready to do that yet.

“I want to leave to see Hephastus,” I say, rolling off the bed and grabbing my ripped dress and panties. I don’t hold them in front of me. I make no attempt to hide my body and take heart that Bastien watches me like a hawk. “I’d like to go today.”

Bastien nods. “I can make that happen. Give me two hours.”

“I’ll be ready in two hours, then,” I say and head for the bathroom to shower.

I feel his eyes burning into my backside the entire time, and I don’t mind it.