The Dark God's Bride Trilogy, #3 (16 page)

Amara insecurely pressed the night robe even tighter against her body. She moved out of the way to let the blonde woman enter. At that moment, the butler came to lobby to answer the door. Now Amara was even more embarrassed about her state of appearance. She had forgotten that she had live-in help now.

“We have a guest, Madame?” The butler asked.

“Uh… yes. Get this lady some dry clothes, some hot cocoa, and if she want to stay, hot meal and a room. I’m going back to bed.”

“As you say, Madame.”

Amara fled upstairs as quickly as possible to avoid another moment of awkwardness. She didn’t even need to answer the door that time. She went back to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. When she turned around, there was no room for her to move forward. He was blocking the way.

“What is that woman doing in our home?” The harsh tone of his voice almost sounded like a shout.

“She showed up at our doorsteps dripping wet and there’s a storm outside. I can’t just turn her away, so I offered her a room to stay for the night. I’m sure she won’t do any harm.”

He heaved a heavy sigh. “You have no idea.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. Do you know her or something?”

A flash of lightning showed her a glimpse of him. The left side of his face and neck looked like that of a severe burn victim. Even the hand he used to cover that side of the face looked badly burnt as well. So this was what he didn’t want her to see.

He saw something in her eyes and swiftly turned away.

“Let me see…”

“
No!
” he roared.

“Fine! But remember that when I get hurt, I have the right to hide it from you too!”

“No, you don’t!”

“It’s only fair.”

“To hell with fairness!”

“But then you’ll never know,
will you?” She grinned. “I’m asking you one last time. Let me see.”

She could hear him grinding his teeth vehemently. He turned around and slowly let his hand fall to his side. The next flash of lightning was unflattering. It looked worse than she had imagined. She came closer to him and reached for his face. She didn’t dare to touch the raw flesh in fear of causing him pain. It looked appallingly painful; too painful to even look at. How he could endure such pain while talking to her like this, she would never know.

“Are you happy now
, mortal?” he asked, barely masking his anger. She just had to make him show the distortion that was his face! It wasn’t as bad as it was when he first pulled himself out of the flesh-melting hot lava, but it was still horrid enough to draw the horror from her eyes. He could see them now, between bright flashes of lightning. Her clear grey eyes widened in absolute disturbance in what she saw. He would have waited until he fully recovered if he didn’t miss her so damn much. He realized his mistake. If he had done that, she wouldn’t have had the chance of coercing him.

“I told you to be patient, didn’t I? Another day and you wouldn’t have to see me like
this!
”

She bit into her lower lip to prevent a sob from escaping. She didn’t want to offend him? Was that what this was about?

“
It’s horrible, isn’t it?
”

She nodded.

“Does my outside finally match my inside?” he asked bitterly. His hands folded into fists as he waited for the answer he dreaded to hear.

She may have been successful in stopping the sobs, but she couldn’t prevent the tears from overflowing.

“Am I that horrible to look at?”

She nodded once more.

“
You asked for this!
” he growled angrily. “
So look! Look at me!
”

He stared down into her misty grey eyes. They were not filled with loath and terror like he had thought they would. Instead, they looked… hurt?

“Let me distract you from the pain,” she breathed.

What did she just say?
He furrowed his brows because he didn’t know what she meant.

She drew his head down to her level and lightly brushed his lips with her own. That was all that it took for him to lose every ounce of self-control. He had never lost control with a woman before no matter how skilled they were, but this grey-eyed mortal achieved just that with only the feather
-light touch of her soft, soft lips.

He claimed her mouth fully because they were his to claim. Everything that was this woman belonged to him. Her beautiful dark hair, her silken skin, her full luscious lips, even the tips of her dainty little fingers…
all his
.

He had made love to her not long ago, and yet he wanted her again. He couldn’t explain his intense desire for her. It had been there since the moment he laid eyes on her and
would unlikely fade anytime soon.

He pressed her back against the door and lifted her legs so that they wrap
ped tightly around his waist. After he freed himself, his arms went under her thighs for leverage and support. He couldn’t wait for another moment of being a part from her. Still, he felt that he must offer her a choice to back out.

“If you don’t want this…”

“I want this,” she assured him. “I want you.”

She was giving herself freely to him, and there went the last of any self-control he might have reserved. He pushed against her, burying himself deep in her tight sheath and captured her intense gasp with his mouth. Had he ever desired a woman as much as he did her? If he had then he couldn’t recall when or where. Since the moment he first laid eyes on her, he wanted her for himself. He made all kind of excuses for himself why he desired her in the past. He had been sealed away for a long time and she was the first female he laid eyes on. He thought it was only natural that he wanted her.

But it wasn’t true. He knew now that it wasn’t true. He had his pick of beautiful women, but it was this particular one that dwelled inside his mind, and in his thoughts, and in his dreams. In the three years he had been trapped between time and space, he was out of his mind with jealousy whenever he thought about her being so far away from his watchful eyes. He wondered if she had moved on. He wondered if she had taken new lovers to her bed and shared with them the passion that he himself had taught her. If there were such lovers, he would have murdered them all.

“
Mine!
” he growled uninhibitedly. He would fill her body with so much pleasure that she wouldn’t even think of seeking another. She lifted her lashes to look at him, helpless. Her sensual expression was all too beautiful. How could he capture this beautiful moment and keep it with him always?

“Amara. Since when did you become so beautiful?”

Her grey eyes lit up in astonishment, and then, they turned to a warmer shade. She pulled him even closer and sought his kisses.

Rion stared up
the staircase even long after the raven-haired woman left.

“This way, Miss,” the old man urged once again in a language she didn’t comprehend, but he was making the gesture for her to follow him. She glanced up at the staircase once more and then followed him. He led her to a bedroom that was much smaller than what she was used to and said, “I hope you find your accommodation for the night satisfactory. I will come back with a change of clothes and your dinner within the hour.” He bowed his head and then retreated from her presence.

Rion rounded the room; her fingers ever so lightly touching the surface of every piece of furniture. She stopped in front of a large mirror and spent a long while staring at her image reflecting back. She looked the same as she remembered herself and wondered if her husband still looked the same as she remembered him. She looked up at the ceiling when she heard the sound that a man and a woman would make during mating, and grimaced.

Her mother had educated Rion and her sisters on many occasions that it was common for men to seek the company of other women away from home and they must overlook such things if they wished to maintain a happy home. Her father had a string of mistresses, but her mother was the mother of his legitimate children and his only queen. Her mother was a very practical woman, and she taught her three daughters to be the same, especially when it c
ame to the different faces of marriage. Born as princesses, the decision of whom they would marry was never theirs to decide. Her mother was very serious about teaching the sisters how to be wives to powerful men. Rion resented those lessons almost as much as she resented her fate.

Her people had pampered her only for the sole purpose of marrying her off to make or fortify alliances like a sacrificial object. She would live like a hostage for the purpose of warming the bed of a man she had never met.

Her eldest sister was married off to a man old enough to be their grandfather. Liana was in for a shock at her wedding night and almost committed suicide. Fortunately for her sister, the old man was quick to die and left her a widow.

Her second sister was married off to a lecherous violent brute who forced her first night. He was abusive to her sister on a daily basis and even had the gall to bring other women into their marriage bed. He quickly grew bored of her sister because she wasn’t beautiful enough and sent her back home.

When it was Rion’s turn to get married, her mother gave her very little details about her future husband. Only that he was the fourth prince of Loma, and he was in need of a wife. Like her two sisters, they neglected to tell her any details beyond that.

Rion
was fearful for her own fate. So fearful that her mind was clouded by a nobleman who offered to save her from being married off to a foreign prince. He would marry her himself. She was so desperate to escape her fate that she believed his lies. She gave him all of herself, foolishly believing she was in love. She became pregnant with his child and she thought that he would come to her father and ask for her hand in marriage. But he was a coward and a liar! He fled and left her to deal with the aftermath.

To survive, she plotted to pass the child off as her future husband’s. She didn’t care who he was or what he looked like anymore. Be it an old man or an ugly hairy brute! She would seduce him, bed him, and survive. Her child would survive.

But then she met Summit.

She recalled the exact moment she saw him walking down the corridor of the temple. She marveled at the sight of him. He was tall, he was powerful, and he was stunning! He was a man at the prime of his youth and
had the physique to show for it. His blue eyes were so ethereal and not of this world. Just looking into them sent chills through her. The charming smile he had on his face when he offered his greeting literally melted her. Two rows of straight white teeth gleamed brighter than his shining armor.

During the length of the ceremony, she just couldn’t believe that she was about to become the wife of this man. Then sadness veiled over the perfectly beautiful day. Regret felt like daggers ripping through her flesh. If only she had been patient. If only she had waited to meet her future husband. If only… she wasn’t carrying another man’s child.

She was so remorseful that she was going to cry right then and there at the altar if it weren’t for the many pairs of eyes watching her, including his blue ones.

After the wedding ceremony, he brought her back to his palace on his chariot. During the entire time, she was going over the plan in her mind. She
tried to figure out about how she would seduce him, how she would get him into her bed, and how she would reveal to him the pregnancy months later.

He looked down to his side and flashed another one of his smile
s at her. His intent was friendly, but she felt so nervous that she diverted her gaze. If she couldn’t even look him in the eye, how did she plan on seducing him?

While he and his brothers were celebrating the happy occasion, Rion waited for her husband in her bedchamber. She rehearsed the plan over and over again in her mind until she could play it backward, but her nerves failed her the moment she heard the door opening. The brothers pushed her husband into the room and closed him in with her.

She couldn’t look at him so she focused on her reflection in the mirror. She picked up the hairbrush and began running it through her hair. He paid her a compliment about her hair and astonished her. She thought about the possibility of him acting the gentlemen in front of other people and only showing his true self behind closed doors. Her father had been that kind of man. Her husband then offered her the privilege of calling him by his given name. Neither of her two sisters had the privilege of calling their husbands by their given names. She wanted to take him up on his offer, but his name got stuck in her throat. She saw his reflection in the mirror, and he looked nervous and a little unsure. Then he said something that she still remembered until this very day. He said, “You have nothing to fear from me.”

“I know, your highness…” she replied shakily. She didn’t believe his words at the time.

“Good,” he said. “I am exhausted. I will retire to bed early.”

She flinched because she thought that was his invitation to his bed.

“To sleep,” he clarified. She could tell that he tried his best not to frighten her. “Just sleep.”