The chaste kiss

IVORY'S POV

"Your Highness, what are you…" I was cut short by the feeling of something rough on my body. I dared to turn back, just for my eyes to meet something shocking.

The king was behind me, his clothes wet to his knees, sponge in hand, gently scrubbing away the dirt on my body.

My mind began to reel. Why?

"Why are you doing this?" I felt the sponge pause against my mid-back, and my eyes widened as realization hit me that I had spoken out.

"Be… because you were chosen for me." He replied dryly.

I took the chance. If I was going down this hill, it was best I knew what I was getting myself into. So I asked him the question that had held me in disbelief since I arrived here.

"Am I yours?" I turned to look at him, my eyes meeting pale yellow ones that made my breath catch in my chest.

The sponge fell into the water with a plop, and his free hand raised to lift my chin so that I could be eye to eye with him. My gaze dropped to his lips and then down to his chest, which had now become visible through the soaked shirt. He was so toned. My eyes followed down lower to see…

"You like what you see, mi Rosa?"

I whipped my head back up to stare back at his face, a playful smirk on his lips.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to." I sighed. "You may punish me as you see fit, my lord." I moved to turn to him in a kneeling position, but instead he pushed me back into his chest and took my wrist in his large hand. He brought my wrist to his lips, and when I thought he was going to take a drink to quench his vampire instincts, he instead placed a chaste kiss on my pulse, sending delicious sparks through me.

"Yes, you're mine, little one." He breathed into my palm, and my body shuddered at the feel of his breath. "But as much as I want to give into both my wolf and vampire instincts to mark you, I can't do that yet."

His eyes met mine, and I could see a hint of sadness and restraint in them. "If I mark you now, you might not make it. It's not like with werewolves. If I mark you, you'll have both sides, and you are not strong enough because you are weak."

Or because I'm an omega.

I gulped and turned away from him. I fiddled with my hands on my lap as I choked back tears. I should not make this harder for both of us. I took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Your Highness. You can reject me." It’s better if he makes it quick.

Everything went still for what seemed like eternity. "I won't… yeee!" I squealed when I felt myself being turned around, my back against the warmth of the tub where he had just been sitting, the vampire king above me with his face inches from mine.

"The very next time you say those words, Ivory, I will not hesitate to mark you. Do not think of running from me or rejecting me, because I will find you and bind you to me. You are mine."

My bare chest was heaving, my nipples grazing against his shirt a mere breath away from his chest, but his eyes were still on mine. A sharp yellow boring into mine.

"Your Highness… I—"

A gasp tore through me when I felt his lips on the corner of mine, a tease of a kiss.

"And call me Lucien." He said as his lips traced down in kisses to the crook of my neck. My breath came in ceaseless gasps. My knuckles would be white from how hard I was gripping the bath.

"Your High… Lucien." I tested lowly. I yelped when I felt myself being lifted and moved to the other side of the tub that could easily fit five people with at least a six-way crawling distance from both ends, but he did it in less than a second.

"You're creating a battle in me you know nothing of, mi Rosa. I want to ravish you and claim you. But I will wait."

My wolf purrs at his words and I gasp. She hadn’t been responsive since the rejection until now.

He was behind me again swiftly, and I heard a plop of some semi-liquid before I felt his fingers in my hair. The smell of coconut shampoo clouded my senses, and I unintentionally let out a moan.

"Don't make that sound if you don't want consequences, little one." He mumbled before slowly rubbing circles in my hair, and I had to bite my bottom lip to stifle any traitorous sounds.

"And try to say more words. You need not fear me. I would never hurt you."

I wanted to believe him, but the stories I had heard about him had given him a reputation that no being in the realm could match.

My mind reeled back to what he had said as he continued to wash me. "If I mark you, you'll have both sides, and you are not strong enough because you are weak." It was known knowledge that when you and your mate marked each other, the stronger of the two shared their power with the weaker vessel, and then they became either equals or more powerful.

And he was right. The marking might kill me. I was an omega, the weakest of all. It would have been better if I had been mated to another omega. But instead, at first it had been the Alpha, which I could definitely survive, probably after staying in bed for a few weeks to be able to contain his power. But for a king?

I might probably and definitely die.

Warm water hit my scalp and he rinsed my hair. He took the sponge to wash the rest of my body, but I reached for it, and gratefully he obliged and placed the sponge in my hand, giving me the decency to wash myself.

I stepped out of the tub and felt a large towel wrap around my shoulders. The white was so pure it reminded me of the snow I had watched from the window of my cell one morning.

I felt myself being lifted up again.

"I can walk." I managed to say. He looked at me, contemplating, before finally letting me down on my feet.

His hand placed on the small of my back as he guided me out of the bathroom. My eyes immediately turned to the spot I had peed on. My instincts already moved me back to get a mop, but the spot was already cleaned. I sniffed the air for the smell, thinking it might have dried, but there was nothing.

"Oh, I cleaned it." I felt his hand leave me as I turned to look at him in time to see his hand on the back of his head, his gaze to the floor.

"I'm sorry. I was scared… I thought—" I blinked back a tear. I had thought he wanted to kill me, and I felt helpless and was too terrified to even run. And now I was basking in a cocoon of embarrassment.

"It's alright, Ivory. I'm sorry if I scared you."

His hands dropped to his sides as we stared at nothing in particular.

"There are clothes in the closet through that door. Pick anything you like. I'll let you be." His hand gestured to a door, and he turned away from me and walked to the bedroom door. I thought of something to say, my mind going up in confused circles. His hand was already on the door knob when I finally spoke.

"Thank you." I managed to say.

His hand tightened around the knob, and I saw his head nod before he opened the door and left me alone in the quiet.