KALDRIC'S POV:
I turned and practically escaped from the unknown battlefield, slamming the door behind me.
I stood in the hallway, facing the wall, one hand resting on the cool surface, gasping for air.
'What was I about to do!?' I gulped, staring at my hands that were shaking, begging to feel her but I couldn't continue, not when she had no senses nor any idea.
What was I going to tell her?
How was I supposed to explain this?
The stone of the hallway felt cool against my palm, a contrast to the roaring fire of desire currently running through my veins.
I closed my eyes, my breath hitching as I tried to summon my mother's cold warnings or my father's failures– Anything! To knock me back.
'Control, Kaldric, Control.'
But all I could see was the curve of Ardelle's smile and the way she had looked at me through a haze of ale.
Suddenly, the creaking of the door reached me. Two small arms slid around my waist, and a warm forehead pressed firmly between my shoulders.
"Don't leave me, My Lord," she whispered.
The playfulness was gone, replaced by an aching vulnerability that the alcohol had finally dragged into the light.
"You… you are drunk, Ardelle," I murmured, my voice strained. I tried to peel her arms from my waist.
"You need to sleep. You won't feel this way when the sun rises."
She refused to let go, tightening her grip until I could feel her heartbeat, until the desperation assaulted me.
"No…! Why must you always avoid me?!"
"Why me?" I tried to tease.
The jealousy from the hall still had a bitter aftertaste as I looked over my shoulder and found those glimmering emerald orbs staring at me.
"Go find your hero. Go find Aldwin."
"You are my hero," she mumbled, and the world seemed to stop spinning. She moved around to face me, her hands sliding up to my chest.
The heat drove me wild as she clutched me, her eyes purely innocent and sincere.
"With all your coldness... your harshness... you are my hero. You are my husband." She looked up, curling her lips in an exquisite smile, trailing her fingers on her chest, like she owned my body.
Up and down.
Fingers poking so shyly that it indirectly pierced through the cloth. My eyes shut briefly, holding my breath to capture my senses.
"My world. My Lord."
My heart skipped a beat. Her… world.
'She won't remember,' a dark voice whispered in the back of my mind. 'I could... just a kiss? Just one?'
My conscience fought back.
'No! This is wrong. She isn't in her right mind.'
But then, looking at the way she leaned into me, the counter-argument won: 'She wants me. She has always wanted me.'
"Whatever, however you are. You are mine. And I do not desire anything beyond that." she breathed, her fingers tangling in the laces of my shirt, resting her body against mine, completely surrendering herself to me.
"Ardelle—"
"Please don't neglect me this time."
I tried to hold her to push her back but her grip on me tightened accompanied those pearl-like tears glistening in the corner.
"I want you, My Lord. Please touch me, hold me, kiss me. I beg of you. Show me that I mean something– anything– to you."
That would be torture. She was begging me for a crumb of intimacy. Running my tongue over my lips, I took a deep breath.
Contemplating the woman clinging onto me, casting a spell on my heartbeats before I leaned down. My knuckles on her cheek, swallowing hard as I slowly pressed my lips on hers.
It was slow at first, reverent and cautious, letting her taste the salt and the heat of me. I wanted her to feel the weight of what she was asking.
It lasted two seconds. I pulled back, my gaze darkening when her cheeks were scarlet, a tempting smile adorning her and she rested her forehead against mine, blending our breaths.
"My—" she started to moan against my mouth.
"Shhh," I silenced her, my restraint snapping.
I kissed her again, hungrily this time, my tongue claiming hers. Our lips moved in a mystic rhythm, as one hand swept her off the floor and the other buried itself in her hair.
She swayed entirely, trusting me blindly as I was guiding us back toward the bed. My body once again blazes with double the lust.
"This is a kiss, Ardelle."
I lowered her onto the furs, my body following hers, pinning her down with a weight that was both protective and predatory, allowing her to feel the heat of the moment.
I pulled back just an inch, my breath hastening, pecking her cheek, her jawline, her neck, her throat, indulging how her body quivered under me.
She let out a soft, airy chuckle, her cheeks flushed a deep, beautiful crimson while her hand entangled with my locks, "I... I see."
"Do you like it?" I raised one eyebrow perfectly.
"....I love it," she whispered, her eyes dark with longing. She slowly lifted and kissed my cheeks too.
I smirked, the predator in me surging to the surface. My hand slid downward, tracing a slow, deliberate line along her thigh, feeling the heat of her skin beneath the fabric.
My mind was a chaotic storm of– It's alright... just a few touches... just a little more.
I buried my face in the crook of her neck, sucking on her pure skin, marking her neck. My lips move intensely, tearing a moan from her throat.
Her body arched, her hand pressed me harder into her skin. She was impotent to control, unsure how to react. The fusion was absolutely divine.
She was losing her breaths, letting out soft voices when I finally pulled back after forming my mark on her delicate body with a trail of saliva connecting us.
"And this is a mark of mating."
"It felt… good. Can you do it again?" She asked shyly.
"Where?" I smirked, kissing my mark again, running my free hand along her curves, helping her to relax, "I will do it anywhere you want."
She loosened her bodice and pointed at her chest, "Here."
I was hesitant at first, well aware it would boost my desire to an unbearable extent but to defy the request would be cruel too.
I lowered my head, burying it in her perfectly shaped chest, kissing slowly at first before the hunger and yearning took a hold of me.
With the sound of her moans pushing me towards the edge, my eyes were shutting, concupiscence climbing unruly into my body while I was focusing entirely on the marking.
"Yes… like this." She hummed, lifting her knee unknowingly that brushed against my thigh. My body shivered, experiencing a strong pump.
After marking her, I pressed my full weight onto her, feeling her arch her back as a low moan escaped her lips, our bodies were latched as one.
I pinned her wrists beside her head. Resting my forehead against her, permitting her to sense the building embers, emerging from our bodies and colliding wildly.
"How does this feel?" I asked breathlessly.
"I... I don't know," she panted, her hands freeing themselves and clutching my shoulders.
"I feel strange... I feel heated... here, between my legs. I feel… wet. It's... is that wrong or right?" She asked so innocently that my heart threatened to leap from my chest.
I smirked against her throat, kissing her pulse, "You are feeling exactly how you should feel, Ardelle. This is what a woman feels when she is… excited."
"I see." She nodded in understanding, her body relaxing immediately upon realizing it was natural.
To teach her a little more, I pressed my lower region against her. Her eyes fluttered open, shivering violently at the bulge.
Her face burned when she felt my arousal and was about to pull herself back but I didn't let her, kissing her jawline, losing my breath.
"This is what a man feels when he is… heated."
Forming her lips in a thin line, she looked down and back at him. She was registering, to comprehend something beyond her reach before it brought some discomfort on her face.
"What happened?" I stopped immediately, pulling away instantly.
She was hesitant at first. Her lips quivering, "I.. I have seen that. The men… they had this and sometimes they… poke from behind–"
My blood boiled, an explicable amount of wrath and urge to burn those who did it alive arose. I did NOT want to listen further.
"They do not matter, Ardelle. I do. Your Lord does." I told her sternly, holding her face possessively in my palm, to stare at me and obliterate the existence of any other man.
She stared. Her body tense at first which soon began to melt and she rested her palm under my hand with a clarity I never saw before.
"Can I… feel it… Feel you again?"
I nodded, lowering myself and letting her feel me.
She closed her eyes, wrapping her hands around me, pulling me in her breath-taking embrace and I wholeheartedly accepted it.
At that moment, though she was the drunk one, I felt like I was the one who had lost his senses.
Truly, I found myself being drowned in a fierce fire that threatened to burn the bridges I built. That warned me to shatter the oath I once made.
But apparently, lust was a worse enemy for a man. I couldn't… stop it.
I remained like this, my forehead resting against hers. My pulse, which was trained by military instinct and discipline, was suddenly overwhelmed by a burning passion.
Right now. Only Ardelle and I existed.
The rest? It faded. It was blurred.
For a moment, I didn't know who I was or what I wanted to be.
But, sadly, it lasted for a moment. Just… a moment.
BOOM!
Before my mind could register or pull back, the very foundations of the threshold rattled, indicating a horrible blast had taken place.
The second blast followed—shorter, sharper. The signal for an internal breach.
The coup had begun.