Chapter 15

Luka

“Stop!” Caleb’s voice boomed.

At first it came down like an angel’s trumpet, because it made the beastly guard scramble off of me. But seeing Caleb’s face, somber with disappointment and anger, I feared it rang like a death knell.

What could he possibly think of me now?

My body was still torturing me as I got up to my feet. “Your highness, I can explain—”

“You see how she insults you, Caleb?” Olivia stood with her hands on her hips. “Look at that outfit she’s wearing, to show off her body and seduce anyone she could find. It’s disgraceful, and it brings shame upon this household.”

“Please, I can explain.” My breaths were shallow, and I winced from pain, but I had to speak. “Mia bought me these clothes, over my objections, and she wanted me to try them. I didn’t want them. I swear on my life. I don’t know this guard, and I did everything I could to get him away from me…”

Caleb looked between me, Olivia, and the guard, who was now on his knees in a submissive pose, clearly begging for mercy. I couldn’t tell who he believed.

“Get up, scum.” Caleb kicked the prone guard. “I order you to be punished by execution for treason. Guards! Take this man away.”

A group of men came in and within seconds, the offending guard was gone.

“It wasn’t him, it was her,” Olivia whined. “She has a sordid personal life, isn’t that obvious?”

I hoped it wasn’t obvious, because it wasn’t remotely true. But if Caleb had condemned the guard to death, would he do the same to me if he believed her?

“Please, your majesty,” I pleaded. “I would never dishonor you. It’s not true what she says. I was attacked.”

He walked toward me silently, and I was terrified of what he would do. He reached up to my face, and I was terrified he’d hit me. But no. He wiped my tears.

“You can’t possibly believe her,” Olivia cried out. “Caleb, she’s a liar. This is all her fault. Don’t let her fool you.”

“Now, Olivia, for you, what punishment do you think you deserve?” Caleb asked. My jaw dropped, and so did Olivia’s.

“Me? I don’t deserve any punishment, especially for bringing this to your attention. She should be punished!” Olivia pointed straight at me. “She’s the one who betrayed you.”

“Stop your slander!” Caleb frowned, inhaling a deep breath. “You continue to lie, without regard to the consequences that happen to anyone else. You need to experience consequences for yourself to reflect on your actions.”

Caleb snapped for the guards, who instantly came to the room. “Olivia, you’re fortunate not to be put to death. But I will keep you in the dungeon. Only for a year, out of respect for our families’ long acquaintance. And you’ll have time to think about your actions.”

The guards removed Olivia as quickly as they had come in, and I could hear Olivia screaming as she was taken down the hallway. “No, please! Caleb! You mustn’t do this!”

I looked at him expectantly, hoping he wasn’t about to summon a third round of guards. But it was just us, which felt so strange. He approached me and cradled me in his arms, wrapping them around me.

His cheek was next to mine, with impossibly soft skin even with the small coating of stubble. I breathed him in, and the aura of the horror that just transpired started fading.

He picked me up effortlessly, one arm beneath my knees and the other propping up my back, and we looked at each other. His blue eyes were sad but relieved. His scent and his touch were a balm, and my pain was dissipating the longer he stayed close.

He took me to my room and laid me down on the bed, keeping my head propped up. I was still shivering from the shock of it all. His touch was delicate, like feathers, and his smell was like warm cinnamon.

“None of that should have happened, Luka. You’re safe now. I’ll take care of you.” He kissed my forehead before he walked toward the closet.

Caleb brought out comfortable clothes for me, putting them on a chair. Slowly, gently he pulled off the ripped ones that Mia had gotten for me, touching my body lightly, like a precious object.

“You’re safe now.” His voice was soothing, and mixed with his smell, it was like magic. If it was a drug, I was addicted. I felt so calm that I imagined his touch as ocean waves rippling over me.

Once I was dressed, Caleb joined me on the bed, inches away. He touched my cheek with his fingers, curled his hand around the back of my head, and pressed his lips to mine.

It was soft and gentle at first, and grew deeper and stronger in its intensity. He didn’t want to let go, and I didn’t want him to stop.

I touched his cheek, feeling the muscles of his jaw yielding, and slid my hand down to his neck. I felt him growing hard against me, through both layers of our clothes. He took a hand and pulled me in one sharp motion toward him, and I gasped from the excitement.

He lifted up my skirt, feeling my thighs, and reaching up between them. He rubbed me slowly in circles, lovingly, hungrily.

I put my hands inside his pants, and I could feel him throbbing. It felt smooth, and he moaned as I slid my fingers up and down.

He nibbled on my lip and prodded with his tongue, feeling the softness of each other’s mouths. We separated from each other only briefly to remove our clothing, both of us helping the other.

When our clothes were off, we both looked at each other to take each other in. His body was muscular, with hair on his enormous chest, and he had veins all over his biceps.

He looked at my body with a mixture of awe and lust, wanting to savor it. I could feel his eyes like they were hands.

We held each other close together and kissed, and I felt like we were just one person. His arm was tight around my back, possessively, holding me there like he never wanted to leave this moment. I felt the tight roundness of his ass, the thickness of his thighs, the strength of his back.

With his body pressed to mine and his arms tight around me, I felt cared for in a way I never had before. His kiss was more natural than breathing.

He moved his head away from mine to search my eyes. “Do you want to do this?”

I nodded, full of anticipation, fear, and emotion. He slid in slowly, gently, letting his thickness slip in gradually. I closed my eyes, content.

But something was wrong. It started as a pinprick, but grew into a chasm of fiery pain, not from down there, but from inside me, from the very center of my soul. It was like I was on fire, being turned into ash.

The last thing I remembered was fainting, passing out cold, unable to stay conscious through the agony.