15
Rafael
Her mouth formed the word. Her eyes glared up at me. But my brain struggled to wrap around the strength in her voice.
She defied me so beautifully, even knowing it would end in nothing but pain for her. I'd known men to promise me the lives of their children to avoid a brand if they hadn't been raised on the island and in the culture that dominated our community. For a moment I wondered if she thought I wouldn't do it.
If she suspected that my obsession with her would be enough to save her from the pyre. But the steel to her green eyes and the posture of her spine as she squared her shoulders left little doubt. She knew I would do it.
She believed me when I said I'd hurt her. She just didn't care.
Her secrets were more important to her than protecting her flesh.
It confirmed something I'd always known about Isa. She felt safe inside her mind. Whatever had happened in that river, she knew her body was just flesh. That the core of who she was lurked deeper within, and that the place where nothing else could touch her was her ultimate defense.
I knew with sudden clarity that it was where she went when nobody was watching. Why she was so silent in her room at night. The safety of her mind was a haven she couldn't resist when there were no distractions around her.
"No?" I asked, walking her backward. She didn't resist the fact that I steered her toward the bed. There wasn't the slightest attempt to diffuse the situation or deny me access to her body.
Her body was just a shell.That,I could have. Just not her mind. Not her soul or her heart.
I'd find a way to pry them open, but until that happened there was one part of her that I hadn't yet possessed.
"No," she repeated, holding her own despite the fury I felt on my face. My skin felt hot, as if I was the pyre myself and I could burn her with my touch. I'd cleanse her with the flames if I could, but I didn't know how to do it when I never wanted to hurt her.
Not like this.
I wanted her to bear my mark, not the mark of a failure. I wanted to not have to hurt her, but she couldn't give me that. She couldn't meet me halfway, so intent in her own damn stubbornness to cling to her secrets. As if her sins were horrible, when they could never compare to mine.
"You'd rather accept a brand than tell me why your sister hates you?" I asked, my voice a grumble in my frustration. I lifted her onto the edge of the bed, setting her on her knees so that she was closer to my height. Leaning forward, I touched my lips to hers and held her eyes. She held perfectly still for my kiss, not returning it or fighting back. Then she suddenly opened her mouth, grabbing my bottom lip between her teeth and sinking them into my flesh until the metallic taste of blood exploded over my senses.
I grabbed her by the hair, wrenching her head back so sharply that she had no choice but to release me. I trailed my blood stained lips down over the front of her throat, leaving a red stain on her delicate fawn skin as I nipped at her flesh sharply enough to mark her. Her gasps fueled me on, her attempt at denying the fact that she wanted it set to fall on deaf ears before she ever murmured a word of protest.
Butmi reinawas coming to terms with her sexual appetite, with her desire for the nightmare who haunted her from the dark. She reached up to grasp my hair, tugging firmly to pull me closer rather than push me away.
I dragged my tongue up over the cord of her neck, baring my teeth one last time when her nails drifted down to my shoulders to claw at me. I took her mouth with mine, catching her bottom lip between my teeth and biting down the same way she'd done to me. Her eyes held mine as the flavor of her blood burst over my lips, staining my teeth as I dragged back slowly. Her delicate pink tongue darted out to soothe the wound, wincing when I settled the palm of my hand over the scar on her thigh.
With my request for information so at the front of her mind, the physical reaction she had to being touched there was even more prevalent. I'd punish her for her refusal to give me what I wanted, for her rejection in not giving me the last pieces in understanding the shards of her history.
But the way she glared at me with her blood-stained lips brought out the other part of me. The Devil who wanted to worship his Queen, because even my hatred of the denial couldn't quiet the simple truth of what she'd done.
Nobody dared to deny me anything.
Nobody butmi reina.
I slid the fabric of her dress up her thighs, staring at the smooth expanse of skin as it revealed her body to my gaze. Once the fabric snagged around her hips, she lifted her arms for me with a tiny smirk. So confident that she could take whatever I would give her, she had a surprise in store when her punishment finally came.
Even before the brand, there was a part of her I hadn't claimed. A part of her that wasn't yet mine.
It would be before the night was over.
Raising the dress off and over her head, I lifted her off the bed as soon as she was in her bra and panties. Twisting and striding for the bathroom, I carried her into the room and quickly stripped her of the rest of her clothes before lifting her to set her on the counter. Her shoulders pressed into the cool glass of the mirror as I lowered myself to my knees on the tiled floor.
The same way she'd kneel at my feet the next day to receive her penance. I leaned in, licking her from her entrance to her clit and sealing my mouth over her pussy. She moaned, reaching down to pull at my hair as I worked her with slow strokes of my tongue. Tasting her, laving her with my mouth, I watched her through hooded eyes as her breasts heaved.
She held my gaze, watching me worship her on my knees. She couldn't understand the significance of the moment, but I'd made myself a promise as I watched my father burn alive.
I knelt for no one.