Warning: Mature content ahead. Feel free to skip at any time.
The moment Rosalind's fingers touched him, he twitched, and she snatched her hand back with a soft gasp as her eyes flew up to him.
Was that supposed to happen? The thought flashed through her mind as she swallowed the lump in her throat.
Alaric's eyes darkened at once. "Stop testing my patience, Rosalind," he hissed.
"B-but I touched it?" Rosalind couldn't help but ask, her voice laced with confusion.
She had only poked him, and the moment he twitched beneath her fingers, she had pulled back as though it had burned her skin. Now she was staring at him in disbelief, almost as if that alone should have been enough.
But it wasn't the way he wanted her to.
Alaric leaned his head back, his eyes clouded with the sharp edge of desire as the urge to simply force himself on her rose in him. But this was his little Rosalind, and he had to take it slowly at first so that she would not be frightened the next time.
When his gaze returned to her, his voice came lower. "Hold it, Rosalind."
Her cheeks turned even redder.
It was no longer enough for her to merely touch him. Now he wanted her to hold him. Rosalind wasn't even sure she could survive this night without fainting.
With trembling hands, she reached for him again, and for a brief moment she hesitated before finally letting her fingers wrap around his length just as he had instructed. He felt warm in her palm, and far bigger than she had imagined, and the feel of him alone made her heart pound wildly in her chest.
Her fingers were soft, just as Alaric had imagined, and the moment she wrapped her hand around him, his lips parted slightly.
"Stroke it."
Stroke?
Rosalind's brows pulled together in panic. How was she supposed to do that? She didn't remember reading this part in the book, and she was no longer sure whether the book had ever prepared her for this at all. Right now, she was only trying not to collapse from the sheer humiliation of it.
But she didn't realize that it was no longer the book guiding the moment. It was Alaric's desire.
"Let me show you," he said.
Rosalind quickly pulled her hand away again and swallowed as she watched him reach for himself. Her eyes stayed fixed on him as his hand began to move, slowly at first, stroking himself back and forth with an almost lazy rhythm.
Her gaze lifted to his lips as they parted slightly.
The sight of him touching himself was doing something strange to her lower stomach, something she couldn't quite name. Her fingers clenched tightly into the fabric of her dress as she took a shaky breath.
Slowly, his pace began to quicken.
He threw his head back slightly, and the soft grunts that escaped him sent a strange heat through Rosalind's body. Something inside her shifted, and suddenly she felt a damp warmth between her own thighs. Her face twisted with confusion.
Why was she wet from simply watching him?
Alaric's voice grew rougher with each passing second, and all he could picture was Rosalind's soft hand wrapped around him, moving over him the way he wanted. In his mind, he could already see those innocent eyes fixed on him while she pleased him, and the thought alone drove him harder.
His pace increased until, at last, he climaxed, the liquid spilling over his hand.
When his gaze returned to Rosalind, she was still kneeling before him, her wide eyes fixed on him, and the sight alone filled him with dark satisfaction. To have this stubborn woman on her knees before him, ready to obey, stirred something possessive in him.
"Open your mouth, Rosalind," he commanded.
Her eyes widened immediately.
It couldn't be what she was thinking...
"You will take every drop and waste not a single one," he said, his voice low and dangerous.
Her lips parted in disbelief. Never in her life had she imagined she would be reduced to this. The thought of it filled her with shame and disgust, and it struck her deeply that it had come to this... kneeling before a man, forced into such a degrading act.
"You should be grateful to receive something so precious, Rosalind," he murmured as he stepped closer. "And if you dare waste it… you will hate what I do to you."
Rosalind wanted to protest. She wanted to run. But where could she possibly go? Alaric would find her and drag her back, and whatever punishment followed would be far worse than this.
The thought of doing this, and not to any man but to a devil like him, left a bitter taste in her mouth. Her eyes had already begun to sting with tears.
His hand found the back of her head, his fingers tangling into her hair before tightening there. The pull forced her lips apart.
Slowly, he guided himself to her mouth, pressing against her lips.
Rosalind clenched her fists at her sides.
She had no choice. Not until she found a way to escape this place.
Her lips slowly parted, and she felt the warmth of him as the salty liquid slid into her mouth.
A slow sound escaped Alaric's mouth as he felt himself slide into her mouth, and just as he had imagined, her mouth was warm while her tongue was unbearably soft as she slowly took him in.
Alaric had to force himself not to lose control too quickly, his eyes fixed on little Rosalind as she did this with tears gathering in her eyes, and somehow those tears only made him want to do even more wicked things to her.
He moved slowly at first, pulling back before easing in again, and his fingers tightened in Rosalind's hair as he guided her so she would have nowhere to pull away and would please him exactly the way he wanted.
Rosalind's hands were pressed against the ground while Alaric pushed her head forward and then drew her back again, and she could feel him going deeper into her mouth, reaching toward her throat until she nearly choked, but the sounds that slipped from her lips only seemed to drive him further as he pushed deeper and faster, just as his hands guided her.
Suddenly, the thought crossed her mind that she should bite down and rob him of this pleasure forever, and the thought kept circling in her head again and again while Alaric continued to thrust into her mouth, going deeper than before until she could feel him press against the back of her throat.
He could already feel himself nearing release, but he clenched his jaw and forced himself to hold back because he wanted Rosalind to take more of him, and the thought alone was enough to send a dangerous thrill through him.
He had known she would feel this good, and just the thought of it made him want to throw her onto the bed and do even more wicked things to her, not just use her mouth.
This was only the first step in the dark list he had in mind for her, and he intended to give her more and more until there was no room in her mind for anyone else but him.
Alaric's grunts grew louder as he moved back and forth, and saliva had begun to spill from the corners of Rosalind's lips while he kept guiding her with both hands tangled in her hair, pulling and pushing her against him while she struggled not to choke.
He continued until his legs began to tremble beneath him and he could no longer control himself, and then at last his release spilled into her mouth. Rosalind felt it slide down her throat while some escaped past her lips, and when he finally pulled away, her cheeks were wet with tears while her mouth was slick with saliva and what he had forced her to take.
He looked down at her with a grin.
"You did well, Rosalind," he said, stroking her hair gently as though he had not just forced all of that on her, and Rosalind found herself wondering why she had not even gagged the way she thought she would.
"Come," he said, pulling her up to stand, but Rosalind's legs nearly gave out beneath her until his arms came firmly around her waist.
"I should reward you, my sweet rose. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life," Alaric said, and this time it was not even a lie.
Rosalind was unlike every woman who had come before her, and none of them had ever come close. Why he had not met her first?
Rosalind shook her head as something suddenly rose in her throat, and before he could even say another word, she hurried away from him because she refused to throw up on his chest and anger him further.
She dropped to her knees, her hands gripping the cold tile as she emptied everything from her stomach onto the floor.
Alaric only watched her with the faintest smile on his lips and not even annoyed that she had just vomitted in his chamber.
When Rosalind was finally done, she slowly turned to look at him, half expecting him to order her death for what she had done, but instead he only said, "You're learning, Rosalind. In time, you'll get better."
But Rosalind did not want to get better. She did not want to learn any of this, and the mere thought of what she had been forced to do filled her with such shame that she bent over and threw up again.
That night, Rosalind slept on the king's bed with Alaric's arm wrapped tightly around her waist because he had refused to let her go.
The floor she had threw up on had already been cleaned, and the clothes that had been stained with it were taken away, and now she lay in one of his shirts while he held her as though she were his only lover in the world. Behind her, she could hear the soft sound of his breathing as he slept.
Rosalind clenched her fists.
Sleep would not come to her.
Tears began to slip down her face. She felt used, humiliated, and deeply degraded, while the very man who had done it lay sleeping soundly beside her. All she felt for him was hatred and even more disgust. Silent tears escaped her eyes with no one there to wipe them away, and Rosalind remained still, her back pressed against his chest while he held her close in his sleep.
More than anything, she prayed that before this ever happened again, she would have already escaped this cursed place.
Elsewhere in the castle that same night, Sabine sat upright in bed after hearing the faint rustle of something in her room.
Still half asleep, she murmured Alaric's name and gave a soft chuckle, thinking she had only been dreaming of him. Then she settled back beneath the duvet with a smile still lingering on her lips, completely unaware of what was waiting for her the next day.