Gideon tore his gaze from me and turned to face Mariam. His voice was low, steady, and absolute.
"You have seen that he is prepared. You will wait outside. When we are done, you will see the mark. That is your proof."
Mariam's thin lips pressed into a bloodless line. "Your Highness, I am ordered to witness the consummation itself. A mark can be faked. The act cannot."
Gideon took one step toward her. The air grew thick with his alpha pheromones—deep cedar smoke and crisp winter frost—calm, yet undeniably commanding. His gray eyes were cold as ice.
"I am his husband," he said quietly. "The peace between our kingdoms rests on this marriage. If you continue to obstruct, I will send word to your king…"
Mariam paled. After one last glance at me, she bowed stiffly and retreated. The heavy door closed with a soft click.
We were finally, truly alone.
My heart thundered so loudly I was certain he could hear it. This was real. No witnesses. No excuses left. Just me—an untouched omega prince—and the tall, battle-scarred alpha who was now my husband. Nervousness twisted in my stomach like a living thing, but beneath it lay something warmer. Curiosity. Want. A strange, fluttering hope that this night might not be the cold transaction I had always feared.
Gideon turned to me, and the hardness in his eyes melted away. He approached slowly, as if I were a wild creature he might startle.
"Liora," he murmured, voice low and rough. "This is your first time. I will not rush you. I will not take anything you do not freely give. Tell me… do you want this?"
Heat bloomed across my face. My body was already answering for me—slick gathering slowly between my thighs, my cock half-hard and twitching against my belly. I had never felt so exposed. Why was I even feeling like this right now?
"Yes," I whispered, my voice barely carrying.
He cupped my face with both large, warm hands and kissed me—slow, deep, and achingly tender. His tongue coaxed mine gently, tasting, exploring, until my knees felt weak. One by one, he removed my layers: the black silk robe, then the sheer crimson gown. It slid down my body like water, leaving me completely bare. I fought the urge to cover myself, cheeks burning.
Gideon stepped back just enough to look at me. His gaze was reverent, almost worshipful. "So beautiful," he breathed. "Every part of you."
He undressed as well, revealing his powerful chest dusted with fine golden hair and marked by old scars. Then he lifted me as if I weighed nothing and laid me down on the wide bed covered in crimson velvet and soft white furs. The fabrics were cool against my heated skin.
He settled over me carefully, keeping most of his weight on his forearms. For a long time, he simply kissed me—my mouth, my jaw, the sensitive spot beneath my ear. His lips trailed lower, tasting my throat, my collarbones, then closing warmly around one nipple. I gasped sharply as his tongue swirled, gentle but insistent. Pleasure sparked through me like lightning.
Gods… I never knew it could feel like this. Warm. Wet. So good it makes me tremble.
While his mouth continued its slow worship—licking, sucking, grazing the sensitive peak with careful teeth—his hand drifted lower. His palm was large and calloused from years of sword and rein, yet impossibly gentle as it wrapped around my cock for the first time. The heat of him made me jolt.
He stroked me slowly, from root to tip, thumb brushing over the slick bead at the head and spreading it down my length in one smooth glide. I whimpered, hips twitching up into his fist without permission. He did it again—long, unhurried strokes that built a sweet, aching pressure low in my belly.
It feels… too good. His hand is so warm, so sure. I've touched myself before, but never like this. Never with someone else's touch guiding me.
Gideon hummed against my nipple, the vibration sending another spark straight to my cock. He twisted his wrist on the upstroke, thumb pressing lightly just beneath the head, and a broken moan tore from my throat. More slick leaked from me, making his strokes wet and obscene. He never sped up. Every movement was deliberate, luxurious, as if he had all the time in the world to learn exactly what made me shake.
"You're leaking so much for me already," he murmured against my skin, voice dark with satisfaction. "Such a responsive little omega."
I flushed hotter, embarrassed and thrilled at once. My cock throbbed in his grip, flushed dark and glistening. He kept stroking while his mouth moved to my other nipple, giving it the same devoted attention. I was panting now, fingers tangled in his golden hair, lost in the dual sensations of his tongue and his hand.
Only when I was trembling and whimpering did he finally slide his fingers lower. He trailed them through the slick that had dripped down my thighs, gathering it, then circled my entrance with one thick fingertip. The touch was feather-light at first, teasing the sensitive rim until I was pushing back against him without meaning to.
"Easy, love," he whispered against my stomach. "Tell me if anything hurts."
He pressed one finger inside me—slow, so slow. The stretch was strange, intimate, a faint burn that made me tense. Gideon froze instantly, kissing my hip, murmuring soft praises until I relaxed. Then he curled the finger gently, searching, until he found that spot inside me that made stars burst behind my eyes.
I cried out, back arching clean off the bed.
There—right there. It feels like lightning and honey all at once.
He stroked that spot again and again with the same patient rhythm, never rushing. Slick poured from me now, coating his hand and the sheets beneath us. When I began to rock against him, he added a second finger, stretching me wider. The fullness was overwhelming but so, so good. He scissored them carefully, opening me, preparing me, all while his mouth returned to my cock—licking a slow stripe up the underside before taking just the head between his lips.
I was moaning continuously now, lost in the wet heat of his mouth and the steady thrust of his fingers. Every curl, every gentle thrust built the pleasure higher, until I felt like I was floating, trembling on the edge of something vast.
He spent what felt like an eternity opening me, kissing me through every gasp and moan, murmuring praises against my skin. "So good for me… so wet and perfect… my sweet omega."
By the time he finally withdrew his fingers and positioned himself between my spread thighs, I was shaking with need and nerves. His cock was heavy, flushed, and glistening with my slick. The thick head nudged my entrance.
Gideon looked down at me, eyes dark but gentle. "Breathe, Liora. If it's too much, we stop. I swear it."