**DAPHNE**
I feel Ash's lips crest my cheek as his arms circle close inside of the cloak. His hands slide underneath my tunic and feather across the pain along my spine.
"Ah." I hiss, jerking away from his hands.
His body stiffens, one hand pulling up my chin so that he can stare into my eyes. "You're hurt," he announces, and I nod. "When?" He hisses, his jaw locking in anger. "After you read from the book?"
Again, I nod. Ash's eyes flare in wonder and he drops his hands against his sides. Looking toward Finn, he commands, "Steady the course. I will return shortly."
Then he drags me down to the state room, locking the door behind us and drenching our bodies in utter darkness. Raising his hand toward a large glass ball that hangs from the ceiling, a strange throbbing purple glow emits from his fingertips before catching inside of the hanging lamp and casting a glow about the room.
"Well, that's handy," I say in wonder.
Ash turns his attention to me, the strange purple hue of the lamplight making his face appear paler somehow. He reaches for the cloak and removes it from my shoulders to toss it upon the chest near the door. Then I feel his fingers at the bottom of my tunic, lifting and pulling until it comes up over my head.
I gasp at the sudden chill felt against my skin. "What are you doing?" I ask even though I already know. He must be searching for the wound that plagues me. The burn that rode through me, lifting me from the bed.
Then I feel his palm glide up my back from the base of my spine and I wince at the tenderness there. "Does it hurt terribly?" He asks.
I nod, "Yes. But not as badly as before. What is it? What's there?"
He spins me around, his eyes catching on my heaving bosom before raising upward to meet my gaze. "There's nothing," he says softly. "You are as perfectly unblemished now as you were the first time I stripped you back at Hadimere Palace." With that, his eyes grow heavy and he drops to his knees.
"There's nothing there?" I startle, shocked. "But there is *pain* there!"
"Hush," he commands, his hands clamping over my rear as he pulls my hips forward. "I can make you forget the pain." Kissing my bare stomach, his fingers dip into the waistline of my trousers, yanking them downward and baring my flesh to the cold air.
"Ash," I moan as he dips his tongue lower, trailing a burning path toward my sex.
"I told you I was going to taste you, did I not?" He whispers, removing my boots and pants completely then pressing my body back until my legs hit the bed. "Sit," he commands.
I don't listen right away, instead I reach my fingers into his hair and trail them down the corded muscles of his neck. He groans, nipping at my skin with his teeth. Gazing down at him, I see he is panting, his silver eyes glazed with lust. A feral heat ignites in my body and wetness pools between my thighs. I sit and he spreads my legs, his hands stroking up from my knees to my thighs.
"My perfect little peasant," he says. Taking his hands away to remove his own tunic, I reach for his chest and trace the swirling ink markings along the muscles of his shoulders. His body shudders as I caress him, and his eyes raise toward mine, glowing fire in their depths.
I think of how my stomach turned mere hours ago. Causing me to retch into a vase. Suddenly I'm in need of something to wash the sourness from my mouth.
"I need something to drink," I say, my mouth going dry at the sight of him panting before me.
Eyeing my sex, his chest rumbles. A growl forming in his throat as he raises up and heads for the trunk by the door. Opening the box, he pulls out a goblet and a cask of something I can only hope is not Faerie Wine.
"'Tis only white berry juice that I may offer you," he says, his gaze falling toward my abdomen and lighting with a strange glint.
My hands go directly toward my stomach, my mind wandering toward the babe at rest. I can only hope that the pain I experienced did not harm the life inside of me in any way. And now that I'm thinking on it, perhaps it was more than silly of me to play with the book knowing what I know and who it is I carry.
Ash hands me the goblet and I drink deeply. The freshness of the juice gliding down my throat.
*Oh thank heavens.*
I drink the entire glass and then another. The juice seems to replenish me, my body feeling stronger and less tired. "That's wonderful," I say. "Thank you."
Ash smirks, placing the empty glass on a table. Then he spins back toward me and in one fluid movement, lifts me by legs and flips me over.
"Ah," I moan as I feel his teeth bite into the soft flesh of my bottom. My stomach is pressed against the soft fabric of the bed as he straddles my legs and I feel his pleasure harden against my rear. He kisses up the side of my back until his lips are pressed against my ear.
"You are helpless like this," he hisses. His hands lock on each of my wrists as he slides down to separate my legs with his knees. "I love to have you at my mercy." He chuckles then groans as his hands stroke down my sides to fondle the flesh of my backside. "I will taste you and then I will fuck you. And when you wake tomorrow, you will hardly be able to walk."
"Please," I moan, feeling the wet heat at my center drip down from my core. I try and push up only to have him shove me back down almost roughly.
He laughs darkly and spreads my legs further so that I lay nearly spread eagled. Open for his consumption. "You are not to move," he tells me. "If you do I will punish you."