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Clearing her throat, she gestured for him to continue. “So you were stuck in hell and you all went insane…you a bit less, if I understood right. What happened?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, his eyes drifting from her to the fireplace as a distant look came to them as if he were looking back and was no longer in the room with her. “We were delivered a way to escape,” he said slowly. “My kin were wild with their hunger to the point of attacking each other no matter how I attempted to redirect them.” Pain filled his eyes. “Our mates had died within the early years of our captivity, my own Ariana within just months when a small number of centaurs viciously attacked us.”
Tiffany felt her heart break just a little then. There was no room for jealousy. By his own words, it had been centuries ago. But her heart still bled for him for suffering the loss of one he clearly had dearly loved.
He released a quiet, frustrated growl. “I blame that a little on the power of the taint within us as it fed on our grief. The hunger there knew no end no matter how much you filled your belly, and it consumed them. They attacked everything within reach, indiscriminately and as I watched them, I realized a terrible truth.”
“What was that?”
His gaze shifted back to her and hardened. “I couldn’t let them leave the labyrinth. There was only one way that I could free them that would be merciful to my flock and save them from committing any more horrors, as well as saving the world that they would have escaped into. My flock was filled with cousins, brothers… sons,” he added in a choked voice. “I killed my own two sons while they were busy tearing apart one of the smaller males between them, his flesh filling their mouths.”
Bile rose and Tiffany felt like she was going to be sick. Understanding flickered in his eyes and he wearily dropped his head, his double pairs of horns suddenly seeming very much like the weight of a heavy crown. His eyes pinching tightly closed against the chaos of his grief, he shuddered with unspent grief. He was still being tortured by it. Though he had clearly loved his flock, that love had forced him to destroy them. They had become true monsters… nightmares and horrors. And he carried that with him still. The guilt of a father and king who had stepped with them into the darkness and had been the sole survivor of it.
Scooting closer, she gave his hand a squeeze and leaned into his arm in a physical offering of comfort. His eyes dropped down to her and some of the chilliness left them.
“Are you not afraid, little human?” he rasped. “I am still infected with the taint of the labyrinth. It waits and lurks within me like a spider on its web.”
“And it hasn’t hurt me yet,” she countered. If he was going to try to use that to scare her away, it wasn’t going to work. She would have felt it within him—she was certain of it.
His lips slowly curled in response. “It is more likely to try to devour any threat that comes to you. I fear it has burrowed so deep into my instincts that it has struck a claim upon you.”
A shiver ran through her as she experienced the sort of awe that she imagined came with knowing that someone had access to that sort of power. Whatever lived within Barbasa would destroy everything to keep her safe and she couldn’t deny that there wasn’t an appeal to all of that.
“And what of you?”
Leaning forward, he bent his forehead down to hers to press their brows gently together as he threaded his free hand through her hair. “I had my claim on you from the first,” he rasped. “Never have I felt such a powerful pull since Ariana. I would gladly let the taint to consume me and bring down the world should anything happen to you.”
Tiffany dropped her head to his shoulder and soaked in the feeling of his solid presence beside her. “I would gladly let you.” She swallowed. “And I think would like to claim you in turn.”
His hand tightened on hers and he pressed his lips to her head, the bit of beard on his chin surprisingly soft as it brushed the bridge of her nose. “There’s no rush, Tiffany. When you are ready, you will know. In the meantime, I am here, however you want me. But first, let us put up our supplies and then rest,” he murmured.
Her head still laying against his arm, she nodded before pushing herself up. He was on his feet immediately, his hands outstretched in an offer to help her stand which she gladly accepted. Together, they picked up the gifts he’d given her that had remained strewn across the floor during their conversation and stacked them neatly in one corner. She looked at the untidy heap and acknowledged that she would have to make another basket for that before hurrying after him to help him put away what remained in the bag. There was the pressed oil to fuel the lanterns and cook with that he explained was harvested from olive groves and had come up from along southern routes, as well as the honey, various powders and spices for cooking, and lard, among many other food staples that she had stared at it all in wonder.
There was so much there she suddenly had no doubt that he wanted to keep her there forever. A smile pulled at her lips as she looked around their well-stocked kitchen. In a small way he demonstrated that everything there was now hers as well, and she couldn’t imagine any other place she would rather be.
Barbasa pluckeda dark berry from its bush, smiling down at the female at his side as he fed the plump fruit between her lips. She moaned at the first trickle of juice and her tongue swept across his fingers. A lustful growl burst from him and his cock thickened immediately in reaction. And to which she smirked, in clear enjoyment of his need for her. And he did need. They had been dancing around each other ever since his terrible confession, flirting and sharing the briefest of touches. It tormented him that he didn’t get to so much as enjoy the taste of her lips because both of them knew that once he began kissing her, the game would be over.
So, he endured it, waiting for her to be ready as her body heated and creamed for him, driving him to distraction night after night. That she allowed him to stroke her cunt with his fingers and tongue and bring her to completion for the first time two nights ago had filled him a satisfaction that had quickly been eclipsed when she had placed her sweet mouth and hands upon his shaft. He had nearly drowned in the pleasure despite the inexperience within her touch. Or perhaps because of it.
It was hard to say. Satyrs didn’t put more weight on such things in terms of value but he did enjoy the fact that she was learning to chase her desire and fuel her passions from him. His previous mate he had stolen from a human male who had done much damage that hindered her ability to seek pleasure. Tiffany had an unrestrained eagerness unbroken by men that delighted him.
It was certainly getting harder to resist her. Their daily walks helped. To a degree. He had to acknowledge that her very nature tempted him as much as her sensuality, so even her simple pleasure pulled hard at his desire. Moreover, despite their very real physical differences from the hips down, she never seemed bothered by it. In fact, more often than not, she acted as if there were no differences between them at all. She wasn’t simply ambling by his side as his mate had once done as they wandered, but rather, she wrapped her arm in his, held him close to her as he’d seen humans do from a distance. He didn’t feel set apart by her but cherished as her own and he didn’t realize until then how much it meant to him.
Plucking another blackberry from the bush in front of them, he pressed it to her smiling lips and her blue eyes flashed with laughter. Holding his gaze, her mouth opened and her tongue slid out and stroked along the length of his fingers before her hot mouth closed around the berry at his fingertips. Another shiver ran through him, and she released his fingers with a light laugh.
“Are you trying to fatten me up, Barbasa?” she teased. “What is with this sudden interest in feeding me from your hand?”
“I wouldn’t mind more of you to hold,” he replied as he ran a claw along the her bottom lip, the tip ever so gently indenting it. “But in this specifically, perhaps I just enjoy seeing you lick my fingers the way you lapped at my cock. It gives me ideas.”
Her eyes darkened at his words. “Really? I might just be interested in hearing those ideas,” she murmured as she slid back, ducking out of his grasp. “…if—”
A soft growl rumbled through him as his eyes narrowed and tracked her movement. “If what?”
Her smile widened as she sidled back more causing his muscles to tighten instinctively as his body prepared to give chase. She wouldn’t dare tempt him. Now when she knew that the taint was so thoroughly imbedded within his instinctual nature. If she ran, he wouldn’t be able to resist giving chase. And when that happened—it worried him too much to think about.
“Tiffany,” he rumbled in warning as he offered his hand to her. “If you are in the mood to play games, there are better ways we can do it. And safer within the confines of our home. I will be at your command.”
Her eyes glittered with interest and the tension in his muscles eased, certain that she would take his hand. He was, therefore, taken by complete surprise when she suddenly whirled away and sprang forward from the balls of her feet, leaving him gaping after her. He was so shocked that he stared after her for a minute or two streaking among the trees. His blood pulsed hotly through him as his heart sped in reaction to the sharp excitement and need rising rapidly through him. But it was the uncoiling touch of the taint that ultimately broke his control and sent him springing after her, his hooves carrying him far quicker over the forest floor.
