A Blood Oath
DAPHNE
Ash carries me up the stairs in silence and I keep my eyes trained on his stoney expression, marveling at how handsome he looks with a day’s worth of stubble shadowing his jawline. It’s almost at war with his perfection, yet at the same time completely matches his savage personality.
I wonder if it will scratch my face when he kisses me. If he kisses me.
Once we’re over the threshold and in his room, he sets me lightly on the bed then slowly backs away from me to seat himself in the armchair in the corner of the space. His eyes are a wonder of silver steel and they seem to heat as they drag over my body, spending ample time in the places I am most curved.
“Do you know…” he begins, untying his cloak and leaving it to fall off of his shoulders, “...when I was only a child, all but five years old, a deal was struck between monarchs that was brokered to bring two kingdoms more power. A union meant to strengthen two realms that alone, were no match for the forces that sought to overtake them.”
I nod in acknowledgement that I am listening, then I too, untie my cloak, folding it over carefully and setting it on the table next to the door, the book deep in pocket, hidden.
“This union,” Ash goes on, watching me carefully as he strips himself of his tunic and throws it on the floor at my feet, “was made with a single promise.”
My eyes catch on his powerful shoulders and the glint of silver and black ink that coil around his swollen chest and arms. It’s hard to listen to him when he’s sitting there like that. All golden skin and deliciously sculpted muscle. I can feel an ache growing between my folds and I have to wonder if he can sense it, because even as I watch him, he watches me right back, and the seat of his power behind the front of his pants begins to visibly harden and grow. Punching up so swiftly it makes my mouth water.
He continues on, his voice deceptively thick, “That one day the firstborn son of one realm would be betrothed to the firstborn daughter of the other realm, and together they would wield the ultimate alliance. For the boy was young and gifted with magic that began to manifest quite early. High magic that ran through him so potently, it frightened even his parents. And the girl-” he pauses, shifting in his seat and untying the front of his trousers “-the girl would be born of magic that most in Faery have only ever wanted for their own. But as she had yet to be conceived, none were very certain what the extent of her powers might be. Because in Faery, a child born usually receives magic from the more dominant parent. In this case the one with the most high magic. You see because all faeries are not gifted with high magic. And each common Fae that has it, has either been blessed by their ruler, or sacrificed one to the Tithe. And as it is true that high magic is passed down through generations, it can also be gifted to those in our service that are not Fae, mortals that possess enough inner strength to contain it.”
“What happens if they don’t?” I ask.
He shrugs, causing the sinewy bulges in his arms to flex and shift gloriously. “They die. Literally burn up. Turn to ash, or water, or fire, or ice, or stone, or explode in pieces of ribboned flesh, whichever the magic chooses to escape as.”
“Oh,” I say softly. “How depressing.”
“As I was saying… Both kingdoms were in danger of being invaded by the same enemy, the ruler of which has a thirst for power so deep it can never be sated. For this particular enemy,” he says, watching me as I walk slowly up to his chair, unwinding my braid as I go, “it is a long endured curse. A curse brought on by a natural covetous nature. A curse of greed that will follow that line of magic until vanquished by the purest and most unselfish of hearts.” His eyes glaze over, heating when I cross my legs. “Take off your clothes, Daphne,” he commands. “Slowly.”
My face flushes and for a moment I am unsure of how to begin, but then as he continues speaking again, I decide to divulge myself of the boots on my feet first. Once they are off, I stand and begin to drag the tight fitting armored pants off of my hips, conscious of Ash’s eyes on me the entire time.
“Many years passed in which the boy grew older and reached maturity and in all of this time, still no child was conceived within the realm which he was partnered to. So the boy was sent to the Feast of the Meadow in his father’s stead-” he licks his lips as I lift the tunic over my head, his eyes on my heavy bosom as it bounces free of the constrictive armor “-and there is where he met her. Not the girl he would be betrothed to, of course, but the enemy of both realms. And that is where he made his first great mistake, wooing the bitch so thoroughly that she set her sights upon him as her own. Finding out that the boy did not feel the same, that he only sought to pleasure himself with the use of her for one night. She grew angry, staging an invasion to lure out the boys father and then sacrificing him to the Tithe to pay for a curse that would end his line. As the boys’ father bled into the river, he cast his remaining magic away from himself and into his son that stood in the midst of battle, only minutes from his rescue. But sadly, enough of the curse was paid before it was done. It put the boys’ mother into a deep sleep in which she would not wake, preventing her from birthing new children and the boy from ever reproducing.
“But… even a curse cannot betray a blood oath, and should a girl ever be born to fulfill his commitment, the enemy knew the curse would become null. Neutralized. Non-existent.” Seemingly done hearing the sound of his voice, he stands up, removing the rest of his clothing until he’s left unforgivably naked, his sex hard as marble as his eyes fondle every inch of my skin. “Now go and get under the waterfall,” he growls, stroking himself when I stand up and give him my back.
He follows behind me slowly as I step into the shimmering rock basin in the attached bathing chamber. Gasping in surprise as the first tumbles of glorious water cascade over me, I turn to find him in the doorway with glowing silver eyes. His hand tight around his girth as he watches me wash away our voyage.
He steps under the water and says, “It is you, Daphne. You are my betrothed.”