Aurora's Promise (13 page)

Connyn’s hands moved up and down her back, soothing and
reassuring. “Everything will be all right,” he said. “I’m sure your sister will
make the next portal.”

His words, another proof that she wasn’t dreaming, had her
looking up. In the dim light of the room, his eyes swept over her face. There
was something in the way he held her, in the way he gazed at her. Tender, but
possessive. Watchful, but triumphant.

“Welcome home,” he whispered. His kiss echoed what she had
seen in his eyes. The tender taking of her mouth didn’t mask the entitlement he
presumed over her body. Every sweep of his hand over her back and ass, each
stroke of his tongue in her mouth furthered his claim on her. Even the way he
tilted her head, twisting her hair in his fist to hold her in at an angle that
gave her maximum pleasure and him unimpeded and unchallenged access, declared
the innate assumption of his rule.

When he released her, she was panting and more than a little
breathless. He smiled arrogantly down at her. “Come,” he said, pulling her by
the hand toward the set of stone steps. “My mother is probably racing down from
her rooms to meet us at this very moment.”

Aurora stopped and yanked her hand out of his. “Your mother?”
She smoothed down her hair and tried to ignore the rising clamor of the jitters
set free again. “I thought no one knew we were coming.”

“My mother always knows when I reenter Ilyria. Intuition,
she claims.”

Touching her lips, Aurora could tell they were swollen and
tender from the kiss. She’d bet a week’s salary they were bright red too. It
would be obvious to anyone seeing her right now that she had just nearly been
kissed senseless. “You did that on purpose.”

Connyn’s grin turned wolfish. “I did. And I’d have done a
lot more if I didn’t know we’d be interrupted by my parents.”

“I find your need to mark me and make your claim on me
evident before others barbaric.”

He laughed and pulled her to him, pinning her arms to her
sides as he held her and nuzzled the side of her neck. “Get used to it,” he said.
Then his teeth clamped down over the curve of her neck and he sucked her skin
into his mouth hard.

This time when he released her, she pushed past him and
darted up the stairs. “You are such a jackass,” she hissed over her shoulder.
She hadn’t gone up four steps before he overtook her, stopped her and moved in
front of her.

“This is one of the five guarded portals in the palace. If
you go through before me, you might be hurt by an overzealous soldier posted
outside.”

He led her to the top of the stairs and stopped on a shallow
landing, another bowl spilling its light out onto a door that looked to be made
of the same stone as the walls. There was no handle on this side of the door,
just a square red stone the size of a matchbook set in the middle. Connyn
placed his hand over this stone and the door slid silently back into the wall.

“Impressive,” Aurora whispered as they stepped out of the
darkened stairway and into a long hallway with a soaring ceiling and twin
balconies on either side running the length of it. Further comment froze in her
throat as her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw what filled the balconies
and hall before them. Lined up rank on rank were soldiers unified by four
specific things. They all had black armbands around their right biceps with a
red stone sewn into it, each wore their hair long and tied back in the same
manner as Connyn, every soldier was
huge
with a violence of expression
scary enough to terrify and most importantly, each and every one was
brandishing their weapons directly at
them
.

The full readiness to do violence revealed in their eyes
cleared in the one moment it took for them to recognize Connyn. A command, loud
and low, brought the entire company to one knee. Though all of the soldiers,
men and women, had their eyes fixed on Connyn, he only looked at one in the
front. Aurora had become used to his typical arrogance, but she could no longer
believe the man standing before her was just simply full of himself. The regal
weight of authority that settled on his shoulders was a sure and perfect fit
and the attitude of the company before him proved him to be worthy of its
burden.

Connyn stepped sideways, drew her forward with his arm
around her waist until she was even with him and said, “My mate, Aurora Kilth.”
At once, every head bowed in deference. Turning toward her, he said, “Every one
of my soldiers will defend and protect you with their life down to their last
breath, hope and strength. As they would do for me. As I will do for you.”

At the end of the hall, a door crashed open. Instantly all
were on their feet and Aurora found herself backed against the wall with Connyn
directly in front of her and a barricade of hard muscle and brutal purpose
beyond him.

Almost as quickly as the barrier of soldiers had been
formed, it began to melt away from the center, leaving an open pathway between
Connyn and a couple rushing down the length of the passage. Connyn brought
Aurora back to his side. Though his hand rested lightly on her hip, she could
feel the rigidness of his stance, sense the pride bound by nervous expectancy
in the set of his expression.

As the final soldiers standing between them shifted to the
sides of the hall, she got her first look at the man and woman approaching.
Without any doubt, she knew them to be his parents. Both were tall and Connyn
looked to be a near perfect, though younger, version of the man. Except, Aurora
noticed, for the eyes. His father’s eyes were such a dark brown they looked
almost black. Connyn’s eyes were a match to his mother’s.

The joy on the woman’s face was undeniable as she flung her
arms around Connyn’s neck and hugged him. The words she whispered against his
neck sounded like a prayer and Connyn wrapped his free arm around her for a
moment to return her embrace. When she stepped back to look in his face, there
were tears standing in her eyes and Connyn’s expression gentled. “I’m well,” he
whispered. The woman smiled and her husband moved to her side.

“Welcome home, son,” he said.

Connyn nodded in acknowledgement. “It is good to be here.
Mother, Father, I’d like to introduce my mate, Aurora.” He turned to Aurora. “My
father and mother, Cynn and Kaia Kilth, reigning sovereigns of the Third Royal
House of Kilth.”

“It is a great pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“The pleasure is ours,” Cynn replied. He gestured toward the
outer door. “Shall we?” When his wife nodded, he took her arm and escorted her
out.

Before following, Connyn stopped in front of the soldier he’d
maintained eye contact with previously. “I will call for your report soon.”

“At your request,” the soldier replied.

Once they exited the hall, Aurora found herself in a large
atrium with a domed roof several stories high that showered a rose-colored
light down on them through its many faceted windows. Connyn saw her looking up
and said, “The dawn is just breaking here. Time-wise, Ilyria is about seven
hours behind Colorado.”

“You must want some time to adjust and change,” Kaia said. “We
will meet you for lunch in our quarters if that suits.” The comment was made to
Aurora with barely a glance to her son.

“That’s fine with me,” she said and turned to Connyn. “Unless
you have any objections?”

Connyn shook his head. “No. We will be there.” With a hand
on her back, he guided her toward a set of spiraling stairs on the left. By the
time they neared the landing, Aurora was ready to get out of the winter clothes
she’d dressed in for the hike through the woods to the portal. Connyn had
already shed his jacket and left it hanging over the railing at the bottom of
the stairs. However at this point, Aurora didn’t feel comfortable enough to
sling her clothes haphazardly around the palace and settled on simply unzipping
her coat.

“There are other entrances to our private quarters, but the
stairway through the center atrium is the main one. Other stairs lead to my
parents’ quarters, a formal reception and dining area and the raised gardens.”

He stepped out on a large landing whose floor was a mosaic
of the same glossy black stone as the portal room, white marble and the
diamond-cut red gems. An archway flanked by two guards opened up off the
landing and led into a courtyard-like room with its roof open to the sky and a
door identical to the one in the portal room. There were two guards stationed
at this door as well. Other than the floor and the red stone on the door, there
was no separate adornment. Nothing to remove attention from the design centered
on the floor of the room.

Unlike the other room, these walls and floor gleamed a
pristine white so bright that when the sun was directly overhead, it must be
blinding to anyone crossing through. Centered in the white polished stone floor
was a large circle of the red stones. Within the circle was a black,
abstract-looking lion rearing up on its hind legs, the claws on its front legs
extended and ready to strike. The image was both frightening and awesome. The
lion wore a collar around its neck with five diamond-cut places set in relief
and the third one filled by another of the bright red gems.

“That is the royal symbol of the Kilth. The
Kyltar.
Each house is represented by a different colored gem unique to its specific
territory. The red
rythra
stone is found only in the mountains of the
Third House.”

He stepped forward and placed his hand over the stone
centered in the door. As the heavy door slid sideways, Aurora watched the
guards for any change of expression. They stood immobile, the slight rise and
fall of their chests the only indication that they weren’t made of stone as
well.

Connyn gestured her through the entranceway and immediately
all but the place she found herself in was forgotten. The room was circular
with doors leading off the back half in several directions. This roof was domed
as well with faceted skylights allowing in the soft morning light which seemed
to make the walls and floor glow. They in turn were made of a muted golden
stone that was roughly hewn with thin veins of red running through it,
sparkling in tones of light rose to deep crimson.

Under the apex of the dome was a tall fountain carved from a
single piece of
rythra
that sent splashing water into a circular pool
whose tributaries wound through the entire space. Lush flowering plants and
trees perfumed the air and lavishly adorned the garden. There were benches set
randomly throughout along the pathways and shallow stone bridges that crossed
the fountain’s stream and ended in front of the archways leading from this
entry. All were open entries except for one, which was blocked by an identical
door to the one they’d just come through.

“Oh my god, Connyn. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s your home now,” he said. “One of them.”

Emotion rushed through her. Happiness, disbelief, a streak
of fear. “One of them?”

“Of course we have other places in our ruling territory, but
for now, this is the safest place for you to be. And there are things that must
be completed here in Vystral before we can leave.”

She turned to look up at him. “Besides lunch with your
parents, what kind of things?”

Pushing his hands between her sweater and coat at her
shoulders, he slid the heavy jacket down her arms and let it drop to the
ground. “Some House duties need to be seen to.” He started to pull her sweater
up, but she yanked it back down.

“There are guards on the other side of this door,” she
hissed.

Backing her against the door, he whipped off her sweater and
bra in a matter of seconds regardless of her struggle to keep them on. “The
stone is soundproof. They aren’t going to hear anything.” He bent down and
untied her laces. When she tried to shove him away, he leaned into her and
pinned her against the door while he removed her boots.

“You’re crazy if you think—”

He popped open the snap to her pants, unzipped them and
pushed them and her panties down over her hips.

“Stop that! We’re supposed to be getting ready to meet your
parents. I’m not about to let you—
ooof
!” Aurora lost her words as her
breath rushed out when he picked her up by bending her over one of his
shoulders to let her legs hang down. At first she thought he was getting ready
to carry her into the bedroom, but after he pulled her jeans and panties off,
he set her back down.

Now completely naked, she pushed against his chest with both
hands. “Damn it, Connyn, I’m not—”

Taking her by the forearms and pushing them up, he pinned
her arms to the door above her head. Shackling both her wrists in one hand, he
moved his other hand down to grab her ass, his fingers sliding intimately
between the globes of her bottom. His face had the harsh expression of a
conquering warrior bent on the total subjugation of one of his own.

“You are,” he said, “completely and wholly mine.” His mouth
came down on hers in a possessing kiss as two fingers pushed into her cunt.

She sucked in a sharp breath at the invasion and pressed
back against the door, its cold stone a shock against the heat of her skin.
Before she’d regained her balance from the kiss, Connyn had removed his hand
and unzipped his pants. She’d barely registered the hot press of his cock
against her stomach before he was wedging her legs apart with his knee and
lifting her with his arm around her waist.

“I—”

Her breath caught and her body jerked. He was at her
entrance and then completely lodged inside her in one thrust. She’d only been
slightly wet and not nearly slick enough to allow his fully erect cock easy
entry. She’d felt every inch of him enter her, still felt every inch of his
massive erection as her body struggled to accommodate him.

He bent his head to her breast, delivering a rough kiss
there before scraping his teeth over the top swell. Then he sucked the nipple
deep into his mouth and laved it hard against the top of his mouth. Finally he
nipped it sharply and released it to repeat the same action on her other
breast.

With her arms still restrained above her head, his arm
wrapped like a band of iron around her waist and her own weight pinning her
down on his cock, she felt taken, impaled and fiercely wanted. And more than a
little angry at his proprietary handling of her body.

“You can’t just—”

Connyn rocked against her and bit the top of her left breast
hard enough to make her gasp and leave a bright red mark.

“I won’t ever hurt you, Aurora,” he said. “But I will have
you when and where I want you. As is my right. As is your right with me.” He
released her wrists but captured the hand that wore his ring. Lacing his
fingers through hers, he continued to hold it pressed to the door.

“And every time you walk through this door to the rest of
the world, I want you to remember this.” He thrust up into her hard and deep. “Remember
whose you are and to whom you belong.” He withdrew nearly completely only to
thrust in deep and hard again. “Remember me inside you. Taking you. Having you.”

He thrust with the pounding of his words into her body which
was now fully accepting and open. The harsh rhythm was eased by her own body’s
softening and the wetness of a desire she couldn’t deny or deflect. She could
hardly breathe. Even when her magic was running high and hot, sex had never
even gotten close to being as intense as it was with Connyn every time. With
every powerful stroke of his cock driving into her she was pulled further into
the maelstrom of furious passion and unbroken possession.

Fire lanced through her blood and she grabbed his shoulder
with her free hand, dug her nails into his sweater to hold on. Brought her legs
up and tightened them around his waist. He shifted so that the next time he
thrust, he ground up against her clit. She cried out and arched her back, her
breasts flattening against his chest and her nipples sensitively scraping over
the thick woven cotton of his sweater.

“Remember this,” he whispered next to her ear. Leaning in,
he pressed her harder against the door and drove into her again and again. “Remember
coming apart in my arms with me deeper inside you than any other man has been
or ever will be.”

Suddenly the streams of fire that had been chasing sparks of
sensation throughout her body coalesced into a single explosion. It rocketed
through her in a pulsating rush and she cried out, clutched at him. Clung to
him as she rode the raging flames he’d set loose. He thrust deep one last time and
then went rigid against her. His release flowed hot inside her, leaving her
flushed and gasping for breath.

Once she could think again she tried to convince herself
that orgasms weren’t worth putting up with his arrogance. But with her body
still tingling and his cock still lodged inside her, it wasn’t a battle easily
won.

The after-amazing-sex lethargy held her limbs limp as Connyn
pulled out of her and refastened his jeans. She leaned against the door with
her eyes closed, afraid that if she tried to walk at the moment, she’d wind up
face down in the stream.

But she needn’t have worried. Connyn picked her up and
carried her into one of the adjoining rooms, laying her down in the middle of a
soft bed that sank beneath her weight in a very comforting manner. The bedding
was cool and silky against her skin as she stretched out on it.

Connyn ran his hands down the length of her body, cupping
her curves with his large hands in a way that declared complete and irrefutable
ownership before pulling a soft, lightweight blanket over her body and kissing
her gently on the lips. “I’ll be back to collect you for lunch,” he said.