Page 29 of Caroline the Cruel
She giggled as they shut the door and sticky hands roved up his chest, trying to wrap around his neck, before he pulled them off and spun the girl around, bending her over a stack of crates.
“What did you say your name was?” He grunted as he reached around to unclasp the trousers she wore and yank them down.
“Kelsey,” she sighed as he rubbed his cupped fingers slick with spit across her opening to ease his entry. He always liked to at least know their names.
“You ready for me, Kelsey?” Johnneth didn’t wait for her to respond before he buried himself in her. Gods, he needed this.
Kelsey let out a loud moan at the intrusion, which she followed up with satisfied, rhythmic whimpering as he pounded into her. Her breathing hitched and after a bit, he could feel she was getting close, so he reached his hand around to her front to encourage her pleasure.
“That’s it,” he breathed, as the girl’s tight core muscles gripped around his cock when her first orgasm hit. It was always better for him when they came, too, and thank the Gods Kelsey didn’t need much because it had been a while. Johnneth moved a hand from her hip up to her shoulder so he could hold her in place as he pushed even deeper, taking her relentlessly.
A vision of his rough hands on Caroline’s silken skin in the same place flooded into his mind. The image of her from behind as he followed her up the winding staircases of Roskide made his cock strain even harder. He shouldn’t be thinking of her, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was hoping he’d be able to drag out the pleasure a little longer, but thoughts of what the queen’s body would feel like writhing under his like that day at the winery, shred what little control he was clinging to.
The girl cried out again, and her clenching and his visions of Caroline were enough to cause him to erupt. Johnneth gasped and jerked a few more times as he spent himself within the girl.
Banging on the closet door snapped him back to reality.
“Althorpe, is that you in there?” Angus yelled.
Shit. “Give me a minute,” he croaked out. It had been quick for them both, but hopefully it had been enough to take the edge off.
“Sorry, Kelsey,” he whispered, pulling his softening cock from her entrance. “I hate to fuck and run, but we’ve been caught.”
Kelsey snickered as Johnneth patted her on the backside. He buttoned his pants and fished out the coins she was promised, finding a hand in the dark to slip them into. “You’ll remember to take something for prevention, right?”
“Of course. This isn’t my first dalliance, lover,” Kelsey purred. “Maybe we’ll bump into each other again?”
“Maybe,” Johnneth murmured as he slipped out the door, giving her some privacy to take care of herself. When his eyes adjusted, he was standing toe to toe with Angus’s formidable form.His brown skin stretched taught across his tense features, and the gold of the man’s eyes darkened a shade. He was pissed.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing and where the fuck is the queen?” Angus seethed.
“Relax, commander. She was summoned about half an hour ago. I figured I had a minute to ease some tension, okay? Men have needs.Somemen have needs,” he clarified.
“Save it and report to the queen’s chambers immediately. You Gods damned guards, always thinking with your dicks. I ought to have you all castrated, so you’ll think with a different part of your anatomy.” Angus stormed off down the hallway in the opposite direction, leaving Johnneth to obey.
Johnneth had been pacing in Caroline’s rooms for hours when the queen finally appeared. She landed on her feet, but her knees gave out and she sobbed as she dropped to the floor. Johnneth darted forward, driven by his instinct to catch the falling woman. As he gathered her in his arms, she cried out at the contact. Rivulets of blood ran down her back, now bare and stripped of the fabric that had been shredded around it.
“Gods,” he swore.
Caroline’s head lolled, and her eyes rolled back in her head. He took her chin in his hand and turned her face toward him. She was taking slow labored breaths and looked like she was about to lose consciousness.
“Caroline, stay with me.”
What was he thinking? He wasn’t going to get a better opportunity than this. The queen was unresponsive. Johnneth fished around in one of the hidden pockets he’d sewn into the seam of his pant leg, searching for the rosenwood dagger.Shit, the pocket must have flipped to the back of his leg during his romp with the castle girl.
Caroline went limp in his arms, and he had to adjust her to keep her from slipping out of his hold. “Easy there. It will all be over soon.” If he could get his fingers a little deeper. Cool wood brushed against his fingertips. He flicked them, trying to wrap around the hilt of the blade.Got it.
His heart was hammering as he tugged, pulling the weapon free. This was it. Bury the dagger deep, then Caroline would be the Cruel Queen no more. He could even escape Roskide with his life. The dagger caught on the lip of the pocket right before it came free. Johnneth wiggled and twisted it as Caroline stirred.
“Angus?” she muttered.
“Gods damn it,” he cursed.
The door whined on its hinges and crashed against the wall as Angus gusted into the room. Johnneth stuffed the dagger back into his pocket, concealing it. He hoped Angus hadn’t glimpsed the distinct red wood that was characteristic of the only known substance that could mortally wound a Dallimore.
“Don’t worry, Johnneth. We’ve got her,” Angus soothed, thankfully misinterpreting the meaning of Johnneth’s curse. “I’m here, Caroline. Easy.” He placed firm hands under her armpits, taking her weight from Johnneth and motioning to her four-poster bed. “Go place a pile of pillows in the middle. We’ll need to lay her across it and get these wounds cleaned before they heal over.”
Once he had a mound of pillows on the bed, he and Angus carefully laid the semi-conscious queen across them, face down.
