Watching him drop to his knees, I didn’t care about when his brother was coming for a visit. This was for us, and he knew that too. Placing his body above mine, he never released my stare when letting the tip of his shaft find access to my core. Both of us held our breath when he pressed inside of me, holding still for a minute when he was fully in.
A bite of pain found me, but it wasn’t lasting once my pussy settled around his size. Being with him felt like being the planet the sun orbited around. I was the center of everything that mattered to him. If anyone asked how losing my virginity went, I knew this would be the first time I described.
Warmth, magic and love…
Philip made love to me in a way I never knew was possible after what those men had done to me. I thought sex would hurt every time, but with him, all I felt was encompassed by his warmth. He made me forget what I had suffered…
14
Briar
Waking up, I could feel how wet my eyes were as I remembered Philip’s sweetness. He was everything my heart would never let go of, and now I was mated to other men.
Mornings were the only time I allowed myself to grieve like this. That was one thing Alasdair and I shared because he was similar. We dried our eyes before the others arose, pretending we hadn’t cried at all.
Curling into the fetal position, I knew this was a heavier dose of grief because it mixed with guilt. The tenderness between my legs was a fair warning that yesterday’s activities were going to make our trip a little harder on me. I’d never tell the men, so this was my only moment to let myself hurt physically and emotionally.
“Was I that bad?” a deep voice rumbled from the foot of my bed.
Gasping in worry of who might be in my chambers, I flipped the blanket down to find Cian sitting in the chair across from me. His spare rooms were lavish and beautiful with white fittings against the black stone. Clearing my throat from the tightness inside it, I hurried to clean my eyes better. “What are you doing in here?”
“You mean after spending the whole night wondering why I couldn’t fuck my whores?” When I expected cruelty in his tone, I didn’t hear it.
“So you know then.” Biting my lip, I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Oh, I know a lot, Miss Rose, more than the others ever did about you.” Cian sat forward when I finally braved looking up at him. “I came in to ask you where my brother is, but by your sorrow, I can only assume I won’t like the answer.”
There was this moment of hope in his eyes that pleaded for me to give him a different retort. It spurred me to weep harder right in front of him. I was too fresh from my dreams, already having my guard down. “He’s gone. Philip is gone.”
My hand reached for the necklace around my neck that had his skull crushed inside of it. Gripping it firmly, I’d never let go of him. Even if I magically fell in love with one of the others, Philip would never lose his place in my heart.
“How?” Cian tried to gather himself better, but I knew he hadn’t learned of his brother’s death.
“How much do you know about what happened to me and why I am here?” I asked first, knowing it played into the story.
“Well, aside from it taking me longer to remember you were my brother’s bride after mating you, just that my mother chose you.” Cian was being honest with me in ways that made it refreshing from what Cullen had done just last night.
My lip quivered just a little. “I didn’t know it was you until I saw your face, Cian. I didn’t know…”
“That you’d be looking at the same face as Philip’s when tricking me into helping you?” he finished but made it a question.
“You are the victim in this, Cian. My karma was served hard and fast for my choice to trick you.”
“But you still haven’t answered my question about my brother,” he changed the subject from not wanting to hear my apology.
“It happened a century ago in my kingdom. When Morrigan swore her revenge on my parents, your mother took me and raised me in the forest instead to hide me away. I didn’t know I was the princess until I came of age, but that was when Morrigan struck the hardest. She placed me under a curse that only true love could wake me from. I woke up only a few days ago.”
“One hundred years later, meaning my brother died before he could get to you.” He was lost in thought, so I led the conversation.
“Morrigan killed him and my family. It left me as the only person to still be on Earth when the others found me.”
“How did they wake you if my brother is dead?”
“They found his grave and dug up his skull, but they didn’t know it was your brother until that moment. They thought it was the prince I knew as Philip.” My hand reached for my necklace again, feeling the vial of his remaining essence.
“What is that?”
“I crushed his skull into chunks for me to always have him with me.”