A muscle ticked in his forehead, and his eyes zeroed in on one spot before the stream. "River Sole. I know this place. Vetta's body was forcefully taken with sexual pleasures from here by Cone's guards while he watched and laughed. And forced me to watch too...to listen to her screams...since she was taking my punishment for me."
Danika's heart went through her stomach. Her mouth became an entity of speechlessness.
His eyes left that spot to zero in on the tree behind her. "I was whipped there. Fifty strokes of a hot whip cooked on fire. Then I was ordered to face-fuck Chad while he watched."
"What!?" she gasped in horror.
"Cone was a heartless, kinky hellhound." His eyes darkened. Sometimes, he wondered why he had just killed the man. He should have kept him alive and made him suffer. But his rage towards that son-of-an-elf had been too great for him to think straight at that time.
"By the Gods." Her hands covered her mouth, and she turned and looked at the palm tree itself. It was a familiar tree she had played around when she was younger. Suddenly, that palm tree was no longer as beautiful as she always thought it was.
Danika pushed the realization firmly away. If both of them saw ugliness, who would teach the king to see the beauty of River Sole again?
"I remember thinking this place was very beautiful the first day I saw it in the middle of hard labor." His eyes clouded. "Ten years later, there is no beauty in this place."
"The mistress has so much hatred in her heart for me." Danika lowered her head. "In the end, I only know glimpses of why she is the way she is."
His eyes went back to that first spot. "Vetta changed completely. But in the end, that girl is still inside her—the one that was buried under the bricks of the hard life of ten years in barbaric slavery. All you have to do is call her name—her real name—for that girl to come crying forward from her cage."
Danika took a minute to assimilate his words. Somehow, she felt that remembering these words would be important to her in the future.
"How did we get here, Danika?" the king asked softly, looking around with eyes filled with the past. "Let's go back."
But she couldn't allow them to go like that. The king was already on his way out when her hand shot out and grabbed his. He swiveled his head to look at her without turning.
"We're already here, my king. Why not enjoy the view? Look at the scenery above the water. Isn't it beautiful?" she whispered.
"I do not see the beauty in this place, Danika. I only see the horrors it holds," he stated firmly, tension radiating from him.
A thought came to her. Slipping her hand down to his, she squeezed his hand in comfort. Then she walked, tugging at his hand to follow.
He did. She walked them towards that palm tree until they came up in front of its tall trunk, it was large leaves at the top of the tall trunk were like beautiful green umbrellas above them, darkening the place further. It was an advantage because it gave them a little privacy, and they'd see any patrolling guard first before he saw them.
A coldness Danika hadn't seen since he arrived at her bedroom doorstep hours ago shadowed the king's eyes now. "I do not want to be here—"
She dropped to her knees in front of him and began untying the ropes of his pants. They came undone. She palmed his warm flesh, pulling him out of his confinement.
"What are you doing?" Her actions threw him completely off-balance.
"Making a new memory, my love." Gray eyes looked up at him with a softness so blatant. "When you think of this place, think of this. When you see this place, see this." Then her head lowered and she took him deep into her mouth.
"Gods..." His dick sprang to life. It grew thicker and thicker as he watched her swirl her pink tongue around the head before slowly taking it into her mouth.
King Lucien sucked in a breath as the wet, warm mouth engulfed his phallus. He was hard. He was fully hard now. Suddenly, he was struggling to remember why he was trying to leave this place a few minutes ago.
Just as he was about to pull her to her feet, she moaned around his length, looking blissed out, as if sucking him made her high like the finest liquor.
"Danika, wait..." He stared at her flushed face as her eyelashes fluttered and lifted. Their eyes locked, and her hand tightened at his butt. Then her eyes slid shut. She hummed around the dick in her mouth and started bobbing her head, sucking him with obvious relish, her mouth and tongue hungry—and by the gods, his insides had lit up. This place was wrong—so wrong, he couldn't stop it. He gave in, unable to help himself.
Groaning, he shivered violently and had to gather the remains of his self-control so he wouldn't roll his hips. He grabbed her bobbing head. "Stop," he wanted to say, but she looked completely relaxed, opening her mouth wider and looking at him expectantly. Waiting.
It dawned on him. She wanted him to face-fuck her.
"Heavens, woman. Do you have any idea what you're asking for?" His fingers buried into her hair, gripping the massive blonde curls like a lifeline, trying to hold onto his sanity. It was proving hard because this was Danika—the woman he wanted most in the world—kneeling before him with her mouth open. Willingly.
A small smile feathered her lips. "I might not be able to take a whip, but I can take this." Looking him in the eyes, she whispered, "I want this, Lucien."
His hips jerked of their own volition, slamming back into the heat of her mouth. She gagged a bit, but then she closed her mouth around his length and let out a long moan. She was bloody loving it. Her tongue trailed his scar from the base to the tip, drawing a long groan from him as pleasure worked its way down his spine. His hips jerked again. And again. He couldn't stop.
Soon, both his hands tightened on her hair, and he was yanking her mouth onto his aching, throbbing dick. He'd never been harder in his life; the feeling of her willingness, her hot mouth tight around him, the whisper of the night air around them, and the sound of the surf of the river.
He thrust himself over and over, so deep inside her mouth, growls emitting from his mouth as he hit the back of her throat over and over again.
She gagged. Her jaw shook. Yet, she clamped him tight and swallowed. Twice. He came with a roar—the first of it was kind. His hands tightened in her hair, and his thighs trembled.
For the first time, a release was threatening to bring him to his knees. His vision went dark around the edges, and he kept spurting deep into her throat. She closed her eyes, milked him, and swallowed all of him.
It did bring him to his knees when it was all over. That brought him to eye level with her. His chest was heaving, and a smile was on her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck, adjusting her head on his shoulder.