I can’t sleep. I know it’s not going to happen tonight no matter what I do.

I just keep seeing the rock that almost hits Mila. It flies through the air and smashes into the car with a sickening crunch. I keep picturing that rock hitting Mila’s head instead of the car, breaking her skull, causing blood to roll down her face.

I sit up and get out of bed. I pour myself a drink, but that’s not helping.

I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t expect it to actually be dangerous. I hoped that we’d be able to do some PR spots, show the country that I’m with a beautiful woman and that the royal line is going to continue, and hopefully that would help my parents with their difficulties.

Clearly, I was wrong. There is far more discontent in the country than I suspected, though I think a lot of that is because of Perko and his people.

I had the crowd under control. That’s the most frustrating part of all this. I had them eating out of my hand and they were loving it. They wanted to see Mila, wanted to touch her and take pictures with her. I thought they were angry, but they were actually just curious.

It was only a few bad apples in the crowd. I think Perko planted those people in there to cause a scene. It’s already all over the news and online, but I haven’t brought myself to read the articles yet.

I feel so angry I can barely breathe. Not because of what Perko did, though that was low and snake-like, even for him. No, I’m angry at that bastard for almost hurting Mila. I could handle getting hurt, but Mila should never be even close to anything like that again.

I need to be more careful. I should never have brought her out of that car. It was my call, no matter what Aleks says about it. I thought I had the people under control and on my side, and for the most part I did. But I underestimated the trap, I got overconfident. And I fucked up.

Angry flows through me, and soon it’s past midnight and I still can’t sleep. I keep staring over at the door that separates me from Mila, and I hate that fucking door. It shouldn’t be there. She’s supposed to be my Princess, my fucking Princess, all mine, but we’re still pretending like this is just a business arrangement.

I know, deep down inside of myself, that there’s much more than just business going on. Maybe at first I could lie to myself and pretend like I only needed to use her to get what I want, but I’m well past that now.

It’s obvious what I need. And I’m going to take it.

I walk over to the door and knock softly. I don’t hear anything, so I slowly turn the knob and push the door open.

Her main room is empty. The lights are all off and the room is silent. As I move closer to her bedroom, I notice a small sliver of light shining from underneath the door. Slowly, I push open her bedroom door and look inside.

Mila is sitting up in bed, and she doesn’t look surprised to see me. Her television is on in the corner, though it’s muted, and she’s reading a book. She puts the book facedown in her lap and she stares at me with a neutral expression.

I look back at her for a second and I don’t say a word. I let the silence grow between us, and I know she knows why I’m here. I can see it in the subtle ways she’s breathing but trying to keep herself under control.

“Come with me,” I say finally.

She bites her lip, a little unconscious nervous habit. “Where?”

“Come on,” I say.

I turn and walk back into the main room. Mila appears a minute later, wearing a light t-shirt and long flannel pants. Her hair is down around her shoulders and she looks so fucking beautiful it almost hurts.

“Come on,” I say again, and step out of the room. She follows me, wordlessly padding along the silent rug as we walk down the hall. I pass some guards on late duty and nod at them, but nobody moves to follow me.

We get into the elevator. I hit the bottom button and we slowly descend down the length of the cavern again.

Mila stands close to me, but she doesn’t say a word. I look at her lips, her breasts, her hips, and it’s like we don’t need to talk in this moment. It’s almost like she knows exactly what we’re doing down here, though I know that she doesn’t.

There’s a lot about Bellestan that she doesn’t know. There’s a secret history of the country that has existed since before time was written down. It’s the sort of history that the Soviets tried to destroy, and it still exists in small circles of our people. It exists in our stone and our words, in places like the lake at the center of the cavern and in the minds of the royal family.

I wasn’t entirely truthful with Mila when I first brought her down to the lake. I said that nobody really knows what it was used for, but that’s not entirely true. The royal family knows, or at least we have a very good idea.

The lake was a religious and ceremonial place. Many thousands of years ago, they used to sacrifice great warriors to their gods in that lake. They’d drown the man until he stopped kicking, and then they’d try to bring him back by breathing air into his lungs. If he survived, he became a holy man. If he remained dead, he was simply a sacrifice to their old gods.

We don’t drown people down at the lake anymore. But we have our own rituals, a little more modern, yet still rooted in the deep past.

The elevator stops at the bottom and the doors slide open. The room is dark but there’s still that strange glow at the center of the lake, giving everything a pale illumination.

I take Mila’s hand and we walk slowly along the rock path toward the lake. She holds my hand more tightly, almost as if she were afraid. I glance back at her and smile softly. She doesn’t need to be afraid.

We make it to the edge of the lake. I look at her and slowly sink down to my knees in front of the water. She does the same thing, no words passing between the two of us. I release her hand before reaching slowly into the water with my palms cupped. I scoop up some of the water. I look at Mila and wait.

She hesitates before doing the same thing. I take a deep breath and say the words that I don’t even understand anymore. They’re old words, a prayer to the old gods. When I’m finished, I drink the water from my palms and Mila does the same.

That’s the first part of the ritual. It’s the easy part. I slowly stand, but before Mila can rise, I push her shoulders back down, forcing her to stay on her knees.

“For thousands of years,” I say softly as I unbuckle my belt, “the royal family has brought outsiders down into this place. Do you know what we do down here?”

She shakes her head, her eyes wide.

“It’s a ritual,” I say. “An old ritual. Not the original ritual, but an important one.” I finish with my belt and slowly slide my pants off. I kick them aside before beginning to unbutton my shirt.

“Why am I here?” she asks me.

“Because it’s time,” I say simply. “You want to know Bellestan?” I pull my shirt off and stand before her in nothing but my black boxer briefs, my cock hard as fuck, my heart beating fast. “This is Bellestan.”

I reach forward and gently cup her chin, tilting her head up toward me. She looks at me with her serious eyes and doesn’t look away. My heart is pumping in my chest, and I know this is the right thing to do. I’ve never brought a woman down here, never drank of the water before, never said the words. I never made her kneel in front of me and stare into my eyes, but this is right. I know I need to have this with Mila. I don’t know why, or what’s making this all happen so fast and so strong, but I can’t back away. I need this, and I think she needs it, too.

I slowly move my hand down along her cheek until I grab her hair in my fist. With my other hand, I slide my boxer briefs off, revealing my thick, hard cock.

“Do you accept me, Princess?” I whisper to her, first in Bellestanian, and again in English.

“Yes,” she whispers.

“Then show me.”

I press her forward and she opens her mouth, taking my cock between her lips. She lets me slide my thick shaft down into her mouth and throat. I groan as it fills her throat and she gags slightly, but she doesn’t pull back. Her hands reach up as she takes my shaft and slowly she pulls back, her eyes looking up into mine.

I hold her hair tight as she sucks my cock on the shore of the lake. Her lips and tongue work my tip and shaft as she slides up and down, sucking me hard, taking me deep into her throat. She’s so fucking sexy with my thick cock spreading her pretty lips apart, and she sucks me so fucking perfect. I want to come deep into her pretty little throat and makes her swallow every drop, but that’s not how this ritual ends, and I’m not going to fuck this one up.

She works my cock, sucking my tip and jerking my shaft with both hands. I let her work me in the shadow of the cavern as the ancient statues watch. I can feel the power in the space as my cock fills her throat, causing her to gag again. She pulls back, gasping for air, eyes searching up into mine.

I grab her by the hair and pull her to her feet. I turn her and press her up against the closest stone soldier. She puts her hands up, bracing herself as I yank her pajama bottoms off, pressing myself up against her back, pinning her there against the statue. The rock itself weighs twice as much as the two of us combined, so it’s no issue to lean against it.

I reach down between her legs, sliding along her smooth ass, and I find her tight little pussy from behind, dripping wet and aching for me. I slide a finger inside of her as I kiss her neck and cheek from behind. I’m going to fuck her tight little cunt down here and fill her with my cum, make her my Princess for real.

“Last chance to back out,” I whisper. “Before I make you mine.”

“Bran,” she whispers. “I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be afraid.” I smirk against her skin. “I’ll protect you. And you’re going to enjoy this.”

I spin her around and kiss her neck. She moans as she wraps her arms around my neck. I hoist her into the air and she wraps her legs around me. I pin her against the rock and kiss her neck before pulling her shirt off and teasing her breasts with my tongue and lips.

“I want it,” she moans finally. “Please, Bran. I want what only you can give me.”

“You have no clue what I can give you, Princess,” I whisper back. “But I’ll fucking show you.”

I drop her back onto her feet and spin her around again. I spread her legs wide and slowly press my cock against her sweet little ass before sliding myself down to her dripping wet cunt. I push my cock inside of her, sliding deep into her, making her gasp and throw her head back.

I grin and grab her hair as I fill her. She has no fucking clue what she does to me, how her fucking pussy feels wrapped around my cock. She’s like sucking the pleasure from my skin with her tight little cunt, like her pussy is made of honey. I grab her hip with one hand and her hair with the other before sliding myself back out and thrusting deep inside of her.

I slap her ass hard and thrust again, deeper this time, making her take more of me. She’s so tight, she can barely fucking handle my big cock, but I don’t care. I slap her ass again and thrust again, deeper still, sliding in until I’m stretching her out completely. Her hands grasp the stone and moans escape her lips, and I’m out of my mind with fucking desire.

This is the last step in the ritual. I have to fuck her into a frenzy and give her my seed. I have to come inside her tight little pussy and make her scream.

I think I can handle that.

I rock back and thrust again and again, now fucking her faster and deeper. I grab her hair, yanking it back, making her gasp. I kiss her neck and slowly find her mouth as I grind my thick cock deep inside of her, sliding in and out. She wiggles her hips and works her ass along my shaft, sending pleasure rocking through my whole body.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard before as I fuck her tight little cunt deeper and harder. I want to dominate her, destroy her, tear her little pussy into pieces and leave her begging for more before I’m finished with her.

I slap her ass rough then reach around her hip and find her clit. I rub my fingers against her soaking spot as I grind my cock inside of her again, making her go fucking crazy. She throws her head back and moans, working her ass and twisting her hips, sliding along my shaft. She says my name again and again, panting and moaning as I control her. I slide my hands back up her body as I thrust into her, savoring the slap of my skin against her thick ass. I tease her nipples and feel her sweet breasts before taking a fistful of her hair and pulling it back again.

I slam into her like an animal, holding her hair in one hand as I slap her ass with the other. I’m dominating her, controlling her, fucking her however I want to fuck her. And she’s loving it. Her whole body is tense as I fuck her deeper and rough, not holding anything back.

I suddenly pull out and grab her. I press her down to the ground again, onto her knees, and shove my cock down her throat. I fuck her little face, making her taste her own pussy. Her right hand slides down between her legs as she works her own clit with my cock in between her lips.

“You love the taste of your own pussy, don’t you?” I ask her, pulling her back.

“Yes,” she gasps for air.

“I knew you did, you dirty fucking girl. You’re a slutty little Princess, willing to do anything for her Prince, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she moans. “I’ll do anything for my Prince. I want to make him happy.”

“That’s right you do, you filthy slut.” I press my cock down her throat again, this time holding her there for a moment before letting her pull back. She takes my cock, covered in her saliva, and jerks my thick shaft. She has to use both hands to cover it all and I groan as she works me, her full breasts pressed together in the cave light.

I push her away and turn her around. This time I keep her on her knees. The ground is soft sandy dirt closer to the water, so I take her there and put her on all fours. I slide my cock deep into her in a single thrust and grab her hair as I rock against her on the edge of the lake.

I slap her ass hard as the sounds of her moans fill the cavern, reflecting off the walls. She’s practically screaming as I fuck her cunt deep and hard, rocking my thick cock between her legs, making her take every single inch. I’m out of my mind with lust and desire, and I know I’m getting close. I’m going to come in her tight pussy from behind. I’m going to fill her up completely.

“Don’t stop,” she says loudly. “Oh fuck, Bran. I’m so close.”

“You’re going to come on my big fat cock, aren’t you?” I grunt at her, pulling her hair.

“Yes,” she gasps, her moans reaching a peak. “Yes, I’m going to come on your big fat royal dick. Keep fucking me, Prince Bran.”

I rock into her pussy, taking her like a goddamn fiend, as her whole body starts to shake and tense. I know she’s coming as she bucks back up against my cock, needing every single inch, needing to come badly.

Her moans and screams as she comes push me over the edge. My grunts mingle with her deep-throated moans as I rock into her, slamming shaft-deep into her pretty pussy. It’s so tight and slick, and I can’t hold back.

I explode deep inside of her, filling her pussy with my cum. She doesn’t stop bucking her hips and riding my rock-hard cock as I dig my fingers into her ass and sides. The orgasm is so intense that for a second, I’m pretty sure I black out as tingling pleasure comes back and takes me over.

Slowly we rock our bodies together as our climaxes finish. I slide myself out of her and wrap my arms around her skin, pulling her close against me. I don’t care that we’re getting dirty in the sandy spot next to the lake, all I want in this moment is so be close to her.

I breathe in the smell of her hair and we listen to the sound of the cave. It’s a strange noise that echoes through the otherwise silence, like the sound of wind whistling through an open window. The water looks absolutely still and motionless, though the depths still glow its strange and otherworldly light.

I feel so good that for a second, I forget all about what happened earlier today. It just doesn’t seem to matter in this moment. I lean down and kiss the top of her head softly and she looks up at me with a smile on her face.

“That was…” she trails off.

“I know,” I say, smirking at her.

“Does every Princess go through that?”

“Yes,” I say. “Something like that, at least.”

“It was strange.” She laughs softly.

“I know,” I admit. “But it’s an old ritual and it’s supposed to be important.”

She gives me a look. “We’re not married now, are we?”

“No,” I say, grinning. “But I know that ritual, too.”

“No thanks,” she says. “Maybe another time.”

I laugh and kiss her again. I don’t know what came over me or why I had to bring her down here for this, but I’m glad I did it.

I wanted to bring her closer to Bellestan’s culture, and nothing is closer than what we just did.