Page 25 of Empress of Ruin
She isn’t on the bed. The bathroom door’s shut, and the water is running. A spark of panic tightens my chest. Lyra’s in a dark place today. I haven’t seen her since the morning…
I walk over to the bathroom and try the door. It’s locked. Urgency grips me. I’ve cornered and trapped her, and once someone’s been cornered, they turn animalistic. A beast will chew off its own limb to escape. What would a woman do if she saw no way forward or out?
“Lyra!” I roar.“Open this fucking door!” I sound as crazed as I feel.
No response comes. I don’t remember where my bathroom keys are—why didn’t I remove all the locks in this apartment?
I slam my shoulder against the door once. Twice. On the third time, the door cracks… and then the handle turns.
Relief nearly brings me to my knees. Lyra stares at me with a wide, frightened expression. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind her—hair sticking out, eyes crazed, face red. I take a deep breath, attempting to compose myself.
“I’m having all the locks removed tomorrow,” I bite out.
Lyra’s demeanor doesn’t shift, except for the slightest flicker of resignation. She doesn’t respond, and my anger doesn’t abate.
“What the fuck were you doing in here?” I growl.
She blinks slowly, then gestures at the towel wrapped around her. I hadn’t even noticed it in my fear-fueled rage. “Showering.”
I exhale a deep breath, some of the tension seeping from me, and pull her into my arms. She clutches her towel with a death grip, not returning my embrace, but she doesn’t step away either. Perhaps she recognizes that now isn’t the time to fight me.
Her skin is slightly damp, but warm. Mostly smooth. Her body is soft where mine is hard. Her hair is wavy and unkempt. She looks and feels so goddamn beautiful, and so fuckingmine. I would burn countries to the ground before ever letting her go.
“You’re scaring me,” she whispers.
“Just give me another minute.” My tone is gruff. I never quite know what to expect with Lyra, which keeps me on my toes and is refreshing most times, but can lead to situations likethis. She’s a variable I struggle to predict.
When she starts trembling in my hold, I finally release her and step back.
“If I find you hiding in another bedroom or bathroom again, I’m going to take my belt to your ass, then fuck it.” I let the threat sink in for a beat. “I expect you to be in bed, naked, in the next five minutes.”
I leave her to make her decision. It doesn’t take the full five minutes; it only takes two before she appears in our bedroom, drops her towel, and dives under the sheets. I could fuck herright now. It wouldn’t hurt to fill her up with my cum. But, for tonight, I’m more inclined to simply hold her and enjoy the fact that she’s here, and she’s mine. She will alwaysbemine.
I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into me. She tenses, but doesn’t struggle. She shifts uncomfortably when I rest my hand on her breast, but that’s fine. Her discomfort will fade as our rituals turn into routines. She’ll start to anticipate her morning spanking; she’ll start to get wet for me when we’re in the same room. She’ll get so used to having my cum inside her she’ll be uncomfortable without it.
She’ll accept me. Shehasto. Or keeping both of us alive will become far more difficult.
Chapter Eleven
Lyra
Ahand clapping down on my ass is not my preferred method of wake-up call. Especially after the fuckingshitday I had yesterday, realizing the depth of everything I’ve lost, and recognizing that even though I’m back in my home country, I’ll probably never get any of those things back.
I fist my hands in the bedsheets, close my eyes, and count each hit Killian lands. At least it’s my ass and not my pussy this morning. The spanks sting and burn, but they also cause a different sort of heat to roll through my belly. Killian must notice, because on the fifth spank, he props my knees up under me and runs a hand through my slit. A taunting chuckle of amusement escapes him. I battle the urge to tell him to go fuck himself.
“Beg me to fuck you,” he whispers. “Make it good, and I might commute the rest of your punishment.”
I don’t. He gives me a full minute to comply, then resumes spanking me—this timemuchharder. He spanks the same spots several times in a row, back and forward,farpast the ten times I was expecting. It hurts, and I know it’ll prevent me from sitting comfortably, so I try to crawl away.
He yanks me back and wraps his hand around the nape of my neck.
“Beg me to fuck you, and I’ll stop. Until then, lie still and take it.”
Fucking prick. I try to hold out. Really, I do. But his blows increase in intensity, and I can literallyfeelbruises starting to form under my skin.
“Stop!” I finally cry.
He does, but only for a heartbeat. “Something to say?” When I don’t respond fast enough, he viciously spanks me again.
