Chained To Him [Editing]

Chapter Thirty-Eight

When they arrived at Aragon's chambers, he was still away, but the guards opened the door for Jayde and motioned her inside.

"Have a good night," John whispered in her ear as he left. She didn't look at him or any of the other guards as she stepped inside. The silence that followed the closed door didn't offer the sense of relief that she'd hoped for. It was too much like before, when the soldiers would take her from the fields to see him. She would wait in this room, alone, anticipating what was to come next without any ability to stop it.

Moving to the table set against the wall, Jayde sat at the edge of a chair and poured herself a drink. He would want her to drink tonight, anyway, and she desperately wanted to quell the shaking in her limbs. Over the past six years she had learned to be a soldier, and she had learned to steal herself in moments of terror. But it didn't matter with him, it never did. He had known her long before she learned to be brave. But Jayde figured it was her own kind of bravery to be here now, to face him with a drink in her hand. It was her own kind of resistance to give herself to him all while she plotted against him.

When the door finally opened, Jayde didn't flinch, but watched as Aragon stepped quickly through the door and shut it hard behind him. His scowl didn't waver when he saw her, and Jayde wondered if she would have to pay for someone else's mistakes as well. She stood as he stalked toward her, and before he could say anything she reached out to him and took his coat in her hands, working at the top button as he watched her silently, suddenly still. She slipped the coat from his shoulders and guided him to a chair across from hers. When she handed him a drink, some of the fire had left Aragon's eyes.

He didn't try to speak but allowed the silence to rise between them as they drank together and regarded one another across the table. For the first time, Jayde wondered what it was he saw in her. What was it that drew him in when he seemed to want to stamp out the qualities she actually admired in herself? Maybe it was simply the process of breaking her down that made him want her – maybe it was the only way he'd ever gotten to know someone so well.

As she finished her glass, Jayde rose from her seat, feeling dizzy with fear as she stepped behind his chair and set her hands on his shoulders. She let her fingers spread out against his collarbone, run up the side of his neck as she leaned forward to kiss his throat. If she wrapped her arms around him now, could she strangle him like this? It would be a fitting way for him to go after what he'd done to her. But she knew his strength well, and knew also that he was no ordinary man – she wouldn't easily be able to kill him like this. Would she even try if she had a better chance at succeeding? She felt the purr of a moan in his throat and didn't try to finish the thought. It was too exhausting, too hopeless, and if she failed he would only hurt her. She just wanted him to stop hurting her.

Straightening once again, Jayde moved in front of him and took his drink from his hands as he began to lift it to his lips. His eyes locked onto her as she set it on the table and slipped into his lap, straddling him and bringing her lips to his throat once again. His hands came around to grip her thighs and pull her closer, and she could feel the hardness in his trousers pushing against her.

Just as powerfully as the fear always seemed to come, it left her, and Jayde let the quiet feeling of complacency wash over her as she wound her fingers into his shirt and kissed him hard on the mouth. He let her control the kiss, deepening it as she ground her hips into him. She touched him as if she wanted him, fingers working at the buttons of his shirt. Before long, she found her own breath coming harder.

Jayde gasped as Aragon gripped her thighs suddenly and stood, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck as he carried her toward the bed. They collapsed onto it, and this time she found herself beneath the weight of his body once again as his hand slipped below the skirt of her dress. It had always been too easy to play a passive role with him; it was inevitable that he would have her, and so often she was too scared or exhausted to do anything but cave to his whims. But she understood what he wanted from her in this moment, and she had decided to give it to him. She tangled her fingers into his hair and pulled him to her for kiss after kiss, sighing against his lips when his fingers sank into her. Aragon only pulled away from her to remove his shirt the rest of the way before attending to the ties on her dress. She shifted for him as he pulled the fabric off of her, and instead of lying back to endure whatever he decided to do to her, she reached for his trousers and hooked her fingers into the front of them. Aragon smiled softly at her and obeyed, unbuckling his belt and shifting out of his pants until he hovered naked above her. He let his hands trail over her skin, thumbs brushing and circling her stiff nipples as he lowered his mouth to them.