The palace had changed a lot in the last nine years. Kai had practically destroyed it and rebuilt it from scratch, with modern materials and a sleek, minimalist look. For that, she was grateful. She might have hated it if it had been the same walls within which she used to be caged.

A part of her wondered if that could be the very reason why he’d changed it. But that notion was just too self-centered by half, so she dismissed it.

The sound of drums making the floor vibrate beneath their feet, Kronos and Nalini ran downstairs, racing like children. She burst out of the palace, getting a kick out of the fact that instead of rushing to pull her back in, the enforcers just inclined their heads as she passed.

Freedom. This was what freedom tasted like. She could get used to it.

The streets were alive that night; there were stands where people offered grilled meats, refusing any payment on that one special day, which had very little to do with profit or greed. Celebrating just being alive and part of this world.

She ate everything. Kronos almost managed to keep up. There she was, going from one stand to the next, gorging herself like a pig, when he found her.

“Leave some room for the torrent delicacies down the street.”

The words were whispered against her neck as he came from behind, entering her personal space like he had a right to stand there.

“There’s always room for dessert,” she retorted, turning to Kai.

He’d never looked more glorious. He wore nothing on top, and of that, Goddess Light knew she approved. No male should be quite so glorious. Carved in gold, sculpted like a god, each muscle powerful. Low on his waist, there were layers of dark fabric hanging, following his every movement. Strange that a male who’d never stepped foot on Tejen would be so adorned, in a manner so similar to their ceremonial dress. And yet not very strange at all.

“A skirt?” she teased him, and yet she approved.

Oh, Goddess Light, how she approved.

“One of us has to wear it, and I suspected you might prefer the trousers.”

He knew her well, too well for a stranger. Reason should have reminded her they’d actually really only met a few days ago. Yet they hadn’t. Not at all. She’d known him, most of what there was to know about him, from nine years of age, and he’d lived with her, within her, since. She’d just been too blind and stubborn to listen to what her heart had whispered.

Her eyes dipped low to his formal wear, and she smirked, wondering….

“Don’t look at me like that right now, Nalini Nova.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll feel compelled to let you check for yourself whether I wear anything underneath.”

She shook her head, wishing she could be annoyed. “It’s quite unnerving how you effortlessly go through my shield.” She attempted to glare, and failed. “I’m supposed to be good at this, you know.”

He feigned shock. “You are?”

There was no reaction more appropriate than sticking her tongue out.

Teasing him shouldn’t have felt quite like this, like playing with fire, yet it did. There was teasing and flirting, and then there was what they were doing right now. Playing, poking, and pulling at each other’s ankles, all the while knowing that there was only one way this was going to end that night.

Nalini blushed and then recalled how he’d asked about a wife and children. Even thinking of it now, when he had only kissed her once, was true, pure insanity. She banished the very thought before he could catch it. Or so she hoped. His expression betrayed no sudden need to run for the hills before she could get clingy as hell, so there was hope.

“Come,” he said, pulling her to him. “Dance with me.”

So, they danced. All night, in any manner of ways. Slowly, unhurriedly, undulating against each other as the drums beat in sync with their hearts. His head dipped to her throat, and his lips dropped one hot kiss against it, making her gasp and then groan. Oh, how he made her feel with such simple touches. Not liking how he so completely got her under his power, she got to her tiptoes and claimed back the upper hand, as her teeth found his earlobe and nibbled at it. That would teach him.

But all it taught him was to growl, take her hips, turn her around, and press her against his cock, grinding on her, making her feel every glorious, hard inch of it through layers of fabric.

Too many layers. Too many people around them. At this point, she didn’t think she would have cared, if the street hadn’t been crawling with laughing children who shouldn’t witness what she planned to do to this male. She almost begged him to sweep her away, take her to his room and lock her there, but Nalini Nova didn’t beg, and Kai wasn’t willing to stop this delicious torture quite yet. Instead of heading to the palace, or somewhere, anywhere with closed doors, he pulled them against the closest wall, ever so slightly away from the crowd. His hands dipped below the layers of soft material, one finding her naked, heavy breast, the other cupping her dripping sex. He teased her there, claiming her in public, marking her as his; her clothing remained in place, somehow making it all the more indecent.

Her mouth popped open, and she breathed hard against his chest.

“The instant I get you home,” he whispered low, “I’m going to destroy every single thing that presumes to hide you from me and kneel at your feet. You’re to be worshipped. You shall endure it.”

“You’ll do no such thing. I like these clothes.” She didn’t know how she could clearly enunciate anything in her current state, but somehow she managed, her voice low and seductive, the unfamiliar intonation of a temptress. “You’ll kneel and wait for me to remove every single item from my body. Slowly.”

As she felt her inner muscles strain, and panted against him, she plunged her hand inside his belted fabric, finding him bare. She grasped his enormous dick and moved her hand up and down, pressing her thumb hard, coaxing him.

“Oh, goddess, yes,” were his last words; she then sealed his mouth with hers, muffling their panting and groaning.

He was so good with those infuriating hands, one pinching, caressing, massaging her breast, the other penetrating her wet folds, playing with her clit.

At long last, she couldn’t hold it back anymore; her head fell back as she screamed in release.

He wasn’t done yet, but she’d unhanded his cock. Nalini fully intended to remedy this unacceptable state of affairs, but before she could return to business, he’d lifted her off the ground and was carrying her to the palace, like she was no heavier than a feather. Damn brutish giant.

She should have blushed as she passed some faces she recognized, as this display was making their intention for the rest of the night quite clear. And yet, she couldn’t find any timidity or shame.

Kai carried her to his room; she knew it was his, she’d seen it before. It hadn’t changed much, although the walls did seem different, sleek and metallic, rather than the old stones she recalled. The bed was also much larger, and a good thing, too.

She wondered how many females had seen it.

Kai laughed. “None.”

“Will you stay out of my head!”

“No,” he refused unapologetically, gently depositing her on his soft mattress.

Then, as he’d said he would, Kai lowered his frame, dropping to one knee. She bit her lip, and licked it, too, extending her leg and caressing the side of his face with the tip of her toe. He took the foot in his hand and kissed it, making her laugh. Then, his lips wrapped around her biggest toe.

Kai moved her leg down.

“Clothes.”

His word was a low, tense growl. A command that he gave all the while kneeling at her feet. And she obeyed, removing them just like she’d promised. Slowly.

First, she unhooked the cape and peeled the armor from her torso, leaving the long chemise split down her middle. Then she did away with the layers gathered around her waist before turning, giving him a view of her back as she removed the rest of the top. She hid her breast with one arm and turned her head over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of him. The effort it took to remain immobile was making him shake. She laughed and winked.

“You’re going to regret this,” he threatened darkly. “All of this.”

It didn’t take much for his temper to flare, and with each passing second, she poked the beast within.

“Am I?”

Taking a leaf from his book, as kneeling was apparently hot, she sat up on her knees, before bending forward and pushing her hips up. Only then did she start lowering her breeches, one inch at a time, making it last.

She laughed and turned back to Kai.

He was done. Completely, utterly done.

On his feet, his eyes blazing, he towered over her menacingly, glowering. She laughed as his hands pressed on her back, holding her in place. Then she was done laughing.

He brought his head to her hot, wet center, and relentlessly, punishingly, he attacked it. Sucked on her clit, too hard. Bit it. She yelped and started to pant. Needing….

She wiggled slightly. His hand pressed harder on her back, keeping her in place.

Kai coaxed with his tongue, lips, and teeth until she panted harder than she had after twelve laps around the stadium, and when she was close, so, so close, he stopped.

Then he started all over again.

“Son of a fucking shitty—”

A slap. Right on her left cheek. Then his teeth bit into her ass, hard.

“Silent,” he growled.

She knew she deserved it, so she just laughed.

She took it all, until Kai’s fingers parted her ass cheeks and he licked her there, shocking the hell out of her. Not an unpleasant sensation. Like, at all. Especially while he still played with her clit with one hand and fingered her with the other. Then one of his fingers entered her sensitive hole. Another one. Parting it. Expanding it.

“What are you … Argh!” Her sentence ended in one endless scream as the pressure of a foreign object pushed against her ass, hard.

“I made this for you. Intended to give it to you someday soon. Looks like it’ll be today.”

She tried to turn, but she couldn’t see what the ever-fucking hell he’d done to her. There was something—something that felt like a cock, but cold and metallic—inside her fucking asshole. Her asshole. He’d gone there. Really.

She started to move, but one of his hands returned to the small of her back, keeping her in place.

She turned her head as far as it could go and glared.

Kai smirked, moving the invasive object, slightly at first. Inside and out. Inside a little deeper, and out again. Faster. “How much are you enjoying yourself, little lady?”

Very, very much. And he knew it. If anything, her fucking soaked pussy was making that quite clear. No way was she actually saying it though. She stuck her tongue out again.

“What I will do to that tongue… later.”

Kai never stopped fucking her ass with that thing, whatever it was, but his hot, hard member was suddenly at her entrance. She yelled as it pushed inside her, filling her so fucking much. Given its length and girth, it would have stretched her to the max by itself, but with her asshole full as well, she was close to breaking. Kai finally stopped fucking her ass, although he left his instrument inside her. He retreated his hips once, before pushing back inside, hard, fast, deep. The second time, she moved with him, meeting his thrust. Tears in her eyes, every single part of her skin tingling, she felt like she might just die if this ever stopped. She was howling, panting, crying, chanting wordless prayers, along with him.

Finally, it was just too much, she exploded in a million particles, tightening around him; groaning, he followed her into the abyss, coming and coming and coming inside her.

Kai dropped on her back, his body hot against hers, although he kept his weight off. Seconds, hours, years might have passed. Then, he removed the object from inside her ass. She muttered something that may very well have been a protest, and he laughed. He dropped to his side, taking her with him, then flipped her over to have her straddling him. His hips moved upward, as he hardened inside her.

“Again, now? After that?”

She could have used another minute.

Kai sat up and wrapped his lips around her left nipple as he cupped the other one, playing with it, and she realized she didn’t need a minute at all.