I'll Wait
He pressed his lips just beneath her earlobe and gently drew the fluttering skin into his mouth. Her slender shoulders flinched and curled inward.
He smoothed his palm over the tightly coiled, delicate muscles, pressing his chest flush against the slick line of her spine. The sensation of bare skin against bare skin was almost unbearably stimulating.
"D-don't…"
She murmured it in a thin voice. Letting the words slip past one ear, he nipped lightly at her delicate shoulders before sliding his hand down below her waist.
She was thoroughly wet. When he gently caressed the flesh slick with both their fluids, the woman who had gone rigid began to twist her whole body.
He caught her wrist on instinct.
"Why are you doing that?"
"I told you not to! I have no intention of doing that thing twice in one night!"
She cried out, her face thoroughly cowed.
Looking down at her with furrowed eyes, Barcas let out a low sigh and drew the blanket over them.
"If Your Highness does not wish it, I will do nothing more. Still—please sleep in my bed."
Wrapping her in the soft fabric and gathering her waist into his arms once more, he watched confusion and unease cross her small face.
Like a snail withdrawn into its thin shell, she poked only her face out from the blanket and shot him a wary look.
"Why should I? By now everyone in this castle will know we've consummated the marriage. There's no need to share a room and put up with the discomfort."
He felt the languid heat that had been wrapping his body vanish in an instant as he stared at her. Had she not looked so extremely unsettled, he might have poured out something sharp.
Drawing a long breath, Barcas slowly stroked the rounded curve of her spine.
"There's no reason not to share a room. It's natural for a couple who have spent the night together to share a bed."
"B-but we…"
She faltered, flustered.
He brushed the hair stuck to her face aside and brought his lips to her cheek, which was cooling to lukewarm. Whether it was his breath skimming her skin that tickled her, her slender nape—barely a handful—twitched and trembled.
Feeling his impatience grow, he swept his hand down over her lower belly atop the thin blanket.
"We are no different."
When he whispered it low against her ear, he felt a faint tremor run through her body.
The face that had come to rest against the bridge of his nose grew gradually warmer. Had the surroundings been bright, he would have seen the flush spreading across skin as translucent as milky glass.
Feeling the desire he had only just sated rising again, he lightly bit her soft earlobe. The woman drew a sharp breath—hik—and shuddered.
Since she didn't seem particularly opposed, he rolled the bud-like ear with his thumb, then lightly touched the tip of his tongue to the small opening. She started and jerked her head back.
"You said you wouldn't do anything more!"
"Is even just touching not allowed?"
Embracing the small body that fit snugly in his arms and whispering against her forehead, he watched her large pupils shake violently.
Sensing her inner conflict, Barcas fretted at her thin waist over the blanket, then toyed near the long, straight hollow of her navel.
She curled her body more tightly. But this time he could tell it was not from tension or anxiety—it was from arousal.
His belly heated with the hope that she might accept him once more.
"May I take the blanket off?"
"N-no."
"Really no?"
Even in the dark he could clearly see her eyes rolling as if she were deliberating.
With a tug at the corner of his mouth, Barcas quietly slipped his hand inside the blanket and carefully parted her knees.
In that instant, the woman who had been gradually relaxing began thrashing as if struck by lightning. He narrowed his eyes and tightly gripped her thin waist. A sharp scream burst from her lips.
"That hurts!"
He released his arms as if burned.
Seizing that moment, the woman leapt from the bed and, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket, staggered toward the door.
Watching her with a grim expression, Barcas strode after and caught up to her.
"Why on earth are you so determined to go back to your room?"
"I-I… I don't want to be here. My room is more comfortable."
Her voice was laced with deep fear. The moment he recognized it, it was as if cold water had been poured over his head.
She was a woman who harbored a strong aversion to sexual contact. Perhaps his forceful behavior had touched upon her nightmares.
"Have I made you uncomfortable?"
When he murmured it in a tightly locked voice, complex emotions flickered across her face.
She lowered her head and spoke in a subdued voice.
"You haven't done anything wrong. It's just… I'm more comfortable with my own way."
"Your way being to run off like a frightened rabbit after the deed is done?"
He hadn't wanted to press a woman who already looked so unstable, but an edge crept into his voice of its own accord. Fortunately, instead of shrinking, she bristled with thorns in response.
"Who said I was frightened? I simply prefer efficiency."
In the bluish dark, his arrogant imperial princess lifted her chin high.
"I'll stay only as long as I want, when I want, and then leave. While we're doing that, you can have your way—but afterward, I'll do as I please!"
He folded his arms across his chest and sent her a crooked look. At the sight of her putting on airs even as her shoulders trembled, a cruel impulse surged for a moment.
He could handle her however he wished. He could force her to stay on the bed, could sate his desire as much as he wanted.
But he also knew that if he yielded to that savage impulse, he would wound her so deeply it could never be undone.
He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them.
The blue eyes that had ceaselessly provoked him since childhood glittered in the dark like shattered glass. Meeting those eyes squarely, he asked:
"Is that truly what you want?"
Something like hesitation flickered across her pale face. But she soon stubbornly thrust out her chin.
"Yes."
Looking down at her quietly, Barcas twisted his mouth.
"Then I suppose I have no choice but to wait until you want to linger long in my bedchamber."
As if the words were unexpected, confusion settled in her eyes.
"That will never happen."
"We'll see about that."
Replying flatly, Barcas snatched his trousers from under the bed and pulled them on quickly. Then he draped the tunka hanging on the wall over his shoulders and scooped her up, blanket and all.
A scream burst from her lips, startled by the sudden action.
"D-don't! I can walk on my own!"
Ignoring her words, he stepped out into the brightly lit corridor.
She immediately hid her face in the blanket. At the sight of her looking exactly like a caterpillar tucked into its cocoon, Barcas let out a short laugh and strode down the corridor.
Servants passing through glanced at him with startled faces, but he paid them no mind.
Coming straight to the door of her chambers, Barcas supported her back with one arm and twisted the handle.
As he entered the room, she finally poked her face out.
When her moist, reddened eyes and disheveled golden hair came into view, his throat tightened stickily and a fierce thirst rose.
Suppressing the urge to press his lips to hers that instant, he set her down on the bed and knelt before her.
"When do you think you'll want to come to my chambers again?"
"How should I know?"
"Tomorrow?"
"I said I don't know!"
He furrowed his brow. If she didn't come, he could simply go to her. But he wasn't certain whether pressing her that way would be right.
She wanted to choose for herself. If that was the only way this absurdly fearful woman could feel secure, then he had to follow it.
He wound a lock of hair that glittered like golden glass around his finger and stroked it carefully.
"I'll wait."
Light shimmered in many colors across her blue irises. Gazing quietly into the dark pupils that trembled violently, he added slowly:
"Come to me when you wish."