The Long Betrothal Ch. 02

With some dismay at being caught out in his weakness for small animals, Maxen grunted and withdrew from the kitchen, leaving both laundress and cook smiling indulgently after him. He climbed the stairs slowly, still wondering if words could sway the Lady Kerin.

- -o- -

This was her penance, Kerin thought, leaning back in the half-filled wooden tub. The water was only lukewarm, but the morning had been chilly, and even lukewarm water was comforting to her cold toes. She was clean and should be getting out, but she was taking a moment for herself to think about all that had happened since Maxen's arrival. No matter how she examined events, penance seemed to fill her need for a descriptor.

Marrying the man she loved, the man she'd always wanted to marry, might not sound like penance, but Maxen didn't even like her.

She'd been truly horrible when he came to collect her five years earlier, but since the messengers she'd sent to avert his visit had gone missing, Kerin had seen no other way to accomplish her aim. Her brother Selyf had been hiding in the keep's small buttery, and Kerin was expecting an envoy from the baron whose son he'd killed. Maxen must go. He was an honorable man, and Kerin feared confessing their plight to her intended would have one of two results: he'd try to help, thereby endangering himself, or side with the letter of the law. Neither was an acceptable risk.

So, she'd acted the veriest bitch, sneering at him and drawing her skirts aside as his men passed, as though they were somehow unclean. She'd seen the confusion in his eyes, followed quickly by disappointment and occasionally pain, when one of her insults sliced too near to his heart.

Her strategy had been successful; Maxen had fled north, and a few weeks later Penrhyn Tywyll was saved. Kerin's hands were bathed in the boy's blood and her soul surely doomed to eternal damnation, but her people and their land were safe, as were Geralt and Milot. She dismissed the rest of her vassals, having no way to keep them on after giving away her dowry and most of her wealth to avoid Maxen and the baron's wrath, but she'd saved the lives of her few ladies, her senile father, and her two most faithful friends.

But, no, Kerin didn't imagine she deserved Maxen's love. A lifetime of penance was exactly what she deserved.

The knowledge didn't make it any easier for her to bite back the tears which threatened whenever she recalled rounding a corner to find Maxen trysting with a servant girl. Every time she closed her eyes, the image assaulted her: the woman's long plait and uncovered head, her skirts pooled on the ground as she knelt before him, and the look of utter rapture on Maxen's face as he leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and his trousers unlaced. Until that moment, she'd been sure nothing could be worse than feeling his hatred. Still more troubling was the number of times since then she'd been assaulted by the image of herself in the same position, kneeling before Maxen. She was caught in a no-man's-land somewhere between arousal, disgust, and despair.

More penance, she supposed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she stood, leaving behind an even sheen in place of the tears she'd resisted quite successfully.

- -o- -

Maxen paused on the empty landing outside the king's chamber, wondering if a present would mitigate Kerin's anger. She might not even accept a gift from him. After a short pause, he decided to test the waters. Steeling himself, he stepped inside. And froze, staring at his wife-to-be.

Kerin was standing with one foot in and one foot out of the wooden tub in which she'd been bathing, as shocked as he. For a long, motionless moment, she held his eyes.

Without looking away from the fiery hazel gaze, Maxen saw enough to haunt his nights forever. Kerin was flawless, her fair skin unblemished save for the thousand kisses of dew left over from her bath. The curls covering her lower lips were dark with moisture Maxen imagined as an invitation, and her breasts were just as full and lush as he'd imagined them. They were rising and falling rapidly when Kerin regained her senses, whirling to grab the length of cloth awaiting her.

Covering as much of herself as possible, Kerin faced him again, schooling her features into their usual arrangement of calm. When she nodded her greeting, she might as well have been wearing silk and jewels. "My lord Maxen."

Half his mouth turned up, threatening her composure. "My lady." He nodded in return.

When he continued to stand with his back to the door, not saying anything, Kerin prompted, "Is there any- "

Maxen winced, one hand going to the sash at his waist, and her eyes fell. There was a bulge beneath his shirt where his navel should be, and amusement had claimed both corners of his mouth.

Kerin's eyebrows rose. "My lord, mayhap I should summon someone to have a look at the growth which pains you so?"

Maxen's teeth appeared, rendering her speechless. She was so surprised by the wide, warm smile, she forgot her state of undress as he approached, explaining as he fumbled with his garments. "The affliction isn't permanent, m'lady. In fact, I'd hoped to rid myself of it by leaving you thus encumbered."

She was fairly writhing with curiosity by the time his hand emerged from beneath the linen tunic. The tiny ball of fluff was mostly hidden by the breadth of his hand until Maxen deposited it atop an open palm waiting conveniently at Kerin's eye level.

Her eyes and lips rounded, her unconventional attire no longer a concern. Some speck of habit limited her movements when her hands snaked from between the folds of her drapery, but her conscious mind was entirely devoted to the tiny creature perched unsteadily on Maxen's palm.

She cooed softly as she reached for it. At the last moment, she paused, looking to Maxen for permission.

Maxen smiled again as he nodded, thrilled with the reaction his gift was getting.

Her long, graceful hands cradled the kitten against her body, giving Maxen narrow glimpses of skin as her drapery moved. Kerin murmured soothing sounds as she petted the kitten, and it rubbed the side of its face against her jawline.

She looked to him in amazement, as though he'd given her a castle, a crown, and an ocean of her own. Had she never owned a pet? Maxen wondered suddenly. Surely this degree of gratitude was out of line for such a small boon?

To Kerin, the kitten was just as wondrous as Maxen imagined.

When their mother died, she'd taken over rearing Selyf, and since then she'd been so focused on survival that she'd had no time for anything resembling recreation. Her ladies were lovely but young, and also her responsibility; she wouldn't burden them with worrisome confidences. Kerin could lean on Geralt, but there was little he could do to soothe her, and their relationship didn't extend to physical affection.

The kitten tucked beneath her chin touched her almost as much as Maxen's smile. When given with such a sweet token, his expression hinted at a possibility she'd never allowed herself to contemplate. Kerin's walls crumbled. Turning sideways so as not to crush the kitten between them, she stepped forward to lean against his chest.

"Thank you," she murmured softly, her face tilting up toward his.

For a moment, Maxen merely studied her, finding no sign of calumny. All he saw was the sincerely gratitude she'd spoken, and he couldn't help himself- he kissed her.

Kerin was awake this time but no more able to defend herself against Maxen's sensual assault than she'd been during their first kiss. She loved him, she wanted him, and she let him do as he would. Her body molded itself to his as his tongue slipped between her lips. She responded in kind, learning what he liked, meeting languid strokes and tender nibbles with her own innocent warmth.

Maxen gathered her in, supporting Kerin's weight with one arm and unconsciously aiding her bid to protect the kitten they'd both forgotten. As his hands moved, so did her loosely draped cloth, and Maxen's fingers met the bare skin of Kerin's hip.

She gasped at the searing feeling of his flesh on hers, pulling her mouth away and giving Maxen access to her neck. As he kissed from her mouth onto her collarbone, he nudged her hand aside, belatedly remembering the kitten. With a hidden smile, he scooped both Kerin and kitten into his arms, depositing them softly on the feather mattress.

Kerin found herself lying beneath Maxen seconds after her feet left the floor, with no time to regain her wits before his mouth descended.

Maxen's lips were warm and dry, a contrast to the wet, hot tongue he used to steal her thoughts away. One of her hands buried itself in his hair and the other clung to his shoulder as he licked and nibbled from her parted lips to the hollow of her throat.

Shifting his weight to one side, Maxen freed a hand to brush her draperies aside. As his lips followed the satin path of her graceful neck south, his hand stroked downward, revealing more of Kerin's body to his heated gaze. He lifted his head to watch, holding his breath as he bared her breast.

He cupped the soft flesh with reverence, and Kerin arched, whimpering with feelings she couldn't have defined even if her mind was working properly.

Fighting off a savage desire to part her thighs and plunge inside, Maxen lowered his head, lifting her breast to meet his mouth. A rough groan died in his throat as he lapped at the gentle swell, the delicacy of her skin, the swollen, pebbled tip. His lips closed around her and Kerin gasped, her fingers tightening on his shoulder and tugging at his hair.

He suckled as she keened, a high-pitched song of need driving the movements of his mouth and hands.

Maxen wedged himself into the space between her thighs, his cock straining against the fabric which struggled to constrain it. She tasted so good and moved against him so delightfully, her legs tangling with his, pushing Maxen ever-nearer to the dwindling limits of his self-control.

Kerin's hips shifted as she unconsciously tried to direct his weight to press more firmly against the yearning heart of her desire. An especially frantic toss of her head disturbed the kitten and it squeaked, penetrating the sensual haze enveloping its bedmates.

With a small grin, Maxen plucked it from the tangled nest of Kerin's hair and set it on the floor beside the bed.

During the deep breath she took before Maxen returned to his spot between her legs, thinking to pick up where he'd left off, Kerin realized her mistake. Her body and her heart were in consensus, but her mind couldn't so easily dismiss the risk. Dallying with Maxen was dangerous to more than her heart- allowing him to breach her defenses would put her men's lives at stake, and that was something Kerin simply couldn't do.

The warm mouth enclosing her nipple shocked her into action instead of stillness this time, and she began to squirm, her palms shoving against Maxen's broad shoulders.

Above her, her froze, his eyes rising to Kerin's panicked features. Maxen's lust was riding him hard, and the hot press of Kerin's body set his mind afire. Fury flowed across his handsome features when he realized she'd once again bested him. He'd sworn not to get an heir on her and yet, here he was, ready to break his vow just because she'd let him kiss her. In the back of his mind, he knew his anger was exacerbated by his arousal, but at that moment, it mattered naught.

He pushed her hands away, imprisoning her wrists against her ribs with one callused hand as he slithered down her body, the width of his shoulders forcing her Kerin's legs further apart.

"No!" Her soft cry barely penetrated the heated fog in his brain.

With his arms pinning her to the bed, Maxen curled his free hand toward his body and parted the plump folds of Kerin's womanhood. Her curls were damp, but the moisture seeping from between her lower lips was sweet and fragrant and not left over from the bath. The first stroke of his tongue up the sensitive center of her slit froze a scream in Kerin's throat and stilled the frenzy of her struggles.

"No," she moaned again, less fervently.

Maxen's tongue dipped into the well of delights between her legs and circled the aching nub above. With wide, leisurely ovals, he avoided the pulsing crest of her clit until her hips began to chase his mouth. Then he opened wide and sucked her delicate tissues against the firm, flat strokes of his marauding tongue.

Kerin squealed, thrashing helplessly as the aching place between her thighs became an expanding hollow at her core. "No!"

Maxen ignored her struggles and her wails.

"No, my lord, no!"

He took pleasure in the frantic shrieks and the drumming of her heels on the downy mattress as he fed on her weeping pussy, lapping up the center and nipping at the pearly pink tip. She might pretend to be too good for him, but her body didn't share those royal reservations. With vengeful satisfaction, Maxen proved he could control his body by dominating hers.

Kerin writhed and strained against the heavy form holding her down, unaware that her feet had gone from kicking to pushing, assisting her hips in their violent bid for the concentrated attention of her captor's magical mouth. Her wails turned to moans and back to rhythmic whimpers as she arced and quivered, reaching for completion.

In the final moments before she came, Kerin went silent, her thundering heart forcing her lungs to heaving gasps which stole her voice, and then her breath, as the coiling wellspring of yearning burst into spasms under Maxen's tongue. She moaned, long and low, panting for oxygen to replenish what she'd used. Her contractions continued even after Maxen lifted his head, his face grim as his gaze roamed her sweat-glazed skin.

Powering himself away from her, Maxen leapt from the bed, his feet missing the kitten mere inches. The sudden scare enraged him further- the kitten's near-demise another charge on Kerin's list of crimes. In an instant he'd scooped it from the floor and deposited it back on the bed beside her.

Her lids flew open and her face fell as she regained her senses. The scorn on his face brought tears to her eyes, whose existence Maxen quickly attributed to feminine deceit.

He growled, a wordless sound of rage, and fought to get his emotions under control. "Pray, don't squander your tears on me, my lady. Their cause is as transparent as your clothing."

Kerin hurried to cover the parts of her body their love-play had exposed, curling inward to protect herself from his ire.

Maxen didn't slow. "You waste your efforts pretending principles when you find me engaged with a public woman in the gardens, but let me lick your quim while you dream of another."

His sneer scraped her body raw. "It seems to me I've engaged with yet another whore."

Kerin flinched, but Maxen refused to be swayed by her wiles. "Keep the kitten as payment for my trespass; in the future, you'll get neither gold nor seed from me."

The heavy door slamming behind him startled the kitten and it jumped. Kerin collected the quivering ball of fur and curled around it, shaking with fatigue as her mind and body struggled to adapt to the rapid change of temperature.

He meant to deny her children?

She shivered and hugged the sleepy kitten closer.

For a while, she'd been swept into a tumbling whirlwind of passion and some stupid part of her had begun to believe her life could be the idyll she once expected it to be. Discovering that the depth of Maxen's hatred extended to stealing her hope for children proved the truth of what she'd feared: there was no chance at all of Maxen showing mercy if her crimes were discovered.

Kerin's eyes filled and her throat tightened with tears she refused to shed as the inevitable conclusion loomed: she could no longer afford to linger here, risking her men's lives. Kerin would leave her new pet and, hopefully, her memories of loving Maxen ap Dyfed behind.

There was absolutely no alternative; she and her men must escape from Tywyll Keep.

- -o- -

Back soon with Chapter 3... thanks again for reading!