Rapunzel and the Dark Prince Page 6

  Soon, night fell, and she could no longer see well as I once could, but the moon was full. She was still able to read the signs. We had crossed the border into Dorvania a few hours back, which was familiar territory for me. We did most of our trading in the Dorvanian capital or in Mirkasha, from where our goods would travel on the spice road.

  She yawned. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m really not sleepy.”

  “Bored, are you? Be careful what you imply. I am happy to remedy that.” There had been no one on the road in a long while at this hour. My hand brushed her back, finding the hooks of her dress, and unfastened them one by one. “Take the reins,” I told her.

  Chapter Ten

  Rapunzel

  Prince Dorin popped open my dress down to the last fastener in just a few seconds. Then he pushed my dress down off my breasts and arms, leaving me bare from the waist up, right there on the public road. No one was coming, but someone could come! Now I did feel truly shy.

  Nor was he done. He wrapped an arm around the bottom of my rib cage, pulling me up against him, and pulled down my dress and underthings, so they were bunched around the top of my legs, but my pussy was as bare as my breasts. The night air was cold on my skin. I pressed closer against him. My braid fell across one of my breasts, and he pushed it aside, taking both of my breasts in his hands and slowly massaging them, pushing them together, and them down again to their natural position.

  “It’s torture, not being able to see your sweet face and your beautiful body,” he said. “If I never see you again, I will have to keep my hands on you as much as possible. Don’t let go of the reins, but you’d better not tug them either. You must keep steady, no matter what.”

  I did as he said, and one of his hands moved between my legs, finding a slick gush of desire.

  I moaned at his touch. He always knew just what to do. One moment, we were riding along like normal through the astonishingly open world, and now just moments later I was a prisoner again. My only thought was for him and the things he would do to me. I never knew quite what they would be.

  He pinched and pulled on my nipples as they grew hard. My breasts felt tight. My arms were cold, but the core of my body was growing warmer and warmer, and hungrier too.

  He took my braid in one hand and pulled on it, exposing my neck to him. He kissed me there, and then reached my ears and nibbled on the lobe and around the delicate edges. I felt little jolts of sensation run down my entire back and into my nipples and pussy. My whole body seemed in conversation with itself.

  He went back to gently toying with my breasts as he kissed me on the mouth now. His tongue was deep inside me. I dragged my teeth across his lips, dreaming of biting him. He slid his hands up and down my stomach. Back to my breasts. He tugged my braid to the other side and nibbled the other ear.

  I don’t know how long all of this took, that he alternated between different kisses and caresses, pinches and nibbles, while he left the core of me alone, slowly building up the feelings there.

  “This is nice, but it’s making me feel very tortured,” I said.

  “That’s the point,” he said.

  “It’s making me wish we could just have sex again.”

  “Also the point…”

  “And we’ve—we’ve come to a fork in the road,” I said.

  “Is there a sign?” he purred in my ear.

  “Yes!” I squinted a moment, drawing Lightning closer. Dark paint on dark wood was hard to read at night. “Yirvagna! It says this way to Yirvagna!”

  “Ah, good. We’ll meet my men soon, I think.”

  Hearing this, I panicked and grabbed at my dress. He took my hand and directed it back to the reins. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll hear them coming.”

  He thrust his hand between my legs with a deep, firm stroke, and I was wound so tight I cried out right away.

  He pulled on my braid, his mouth close to my ear. “You want me to fuck you, my sweet?”

  “Well, not if it’s going to be dangerous.” I mean, we were riding on a horse and in a hurry and I’d already fallen out of a window recently so I had safety on my mind.

  “No. It won’t be dangerous.”

  His tail lashed around to the front and with his fingers curled around my folds and his other arm around my ribs again, he lifted me up a little so my entrance was well exposed. His tail slid up inside me. The tip of it had a thick head that was a little like the head of his cock but more pointed and flattened. His skin there was a little rougher and thicker than the skin of his body, and although the tail was not as thick as his cock, it was endlessly long and had more freedom of movement. It pushed deeper and deeper until I felt impaled, and groaned, then it flicked inside me like a little animal trapped inside me and fluttering against my inner walls. All the while, both his hands played with my clit and my lips.

  “Ahh, it’s too much, Dorin, it’s too much…”

  My breathing came faster and faster. I started tugging the reins, and the horse started turning around, confused by my commands.

  “Steady your hands,” he told me.

  I forced myself to guide Lightning back to the path, while I was sweating, soaked between my legs.

  “Please, make me come now, please,” I begged, and I’m not sure if I was telling him or my own body, which kept riding waves of intensity but not peaking.

  And then I heard horses in the distance.

  Oh, god. I reached for my dress, blushing furiously.

  “Dorin, stop,” I said. “Please stop! I don’t want my first sight of your people to be like this!”

  The horses were approaching fast. His tail pounded a beat inside me, and I beat with it, suppressing my groans as I climaxed just in time.

  I shuddered as his tail whipped out of me fast, with a wet sucking sound. He pulled his hands back and replaced my dress back over my shoulders. An ache as deep as anything I had ever felt welled within me and a part of me just wanted to be fucked now, but I tamped it down, limp in his arms.

  Chapter Eleven

  Prince Dorin

  My cock was as hard as my sword, but it was worth it. I couldn’t see Rapunzel now, but I knew how she must look, her pretty human face flushed with arousal, her nipples still hard against the fabric of her dress. I wanted my men to see that even if I had been blinded by the Witch, I was still the master of the situation.

  The horses came upon us before long, and I heard familiar voices call my name.

  “Dmitry! Andriu!” I held up a hand of greeting. Dmitry was my head of the guard, and Andriu was one of the strongest knights in the kingdom. I had known them both since childhood.

  “We got your message, came as fast as we could. Gods, Dorin, I’m sorry to hear it. You shouldn’t have gone alone.”

  I wouldn’t accept pity. “All that matters is, I found my bond mate. The mages will take care of the blindness spell once I get back.” At least, I hoped that was true. “This is Rapunzel.”

  Dmitry whistled. “Pretty as a plum.”

  I wished he hadn’t gone with that metaphor.

  Rapunzel still seemed a little subdued by the tail fuck—it was a lot of Yirvagnan women’s favorite thing—but it was too much to hope that she would stay that way for long. “You and your plums, huh?” She nudged me. Within a few minutes she was asking me a hundred questions about the men, entirely within their ear shot. “Are they your brothers? Your friends? Do you live in the same palace with them? How long have you known them?”

  Dmitry laughed. “You have certainly found an interesting woman.”

  “Interesting?” Rapunzel said. “I feel like I must not be interesting at all when I’ve spent my whole life in a tower.”

  “Whole life…in a tower?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’ll explain along the way. We should hurry straight to the capital, change horses if we must. The King of the Northlands wants Rapunzel, and at first I thought that my claim should be enough to deter him, but now I think he has other reasons.”

  “
Interesting, and a lot of trouble,” Dmitry said.

  At that moment, we heard a screech in the air above us.

  And then the sound of some large beast swooping overhead.

  “Dragon!” Andriu yelled. “Your majesty, please get Rapunzel to safety. We’ll take care of it.”

  “Curses,” I snapped, reaching back for my bow and arrow instinctively, and then lowering my hand again. Of all the weapons, the bow was the one I had mastered. Now I was no help there.

  “It’s too bad,” Dmitry said. “One of our best archers losing his sight.”

  “Don’t be stubborn,” Andriu said to me, his tone commanding. “We are here to protect you and your bride, not the other way around.”

  “I still have the final word,” I said, but I knew he was right. With another curse, I lowered my body, sheltering Rapunzel, and led my horse into the trees, where the dragon would not be able to see us.

  The dragon swept down, I heard that clearly, followed by the very sound of swiftness, an arrow flying from a bowstring. They called to each other, coordinating their plans with very few words. I didn’t hear any fire or feel any heat and I didn’t think the dragon was all that large. It had a high-pitched shriek.

  “What does the dragon look like?” I asked.

  “It’s white,” Rapunzel said.

  “As I suspected…it’s a snow dragon.”

  “Does it breathe snow?” Rapunzel would, of course, mostly know the fire-breathing variety of dragon, because they were native to this region.

  “No, thank heaven for that. It lives in the snow, that’s all. They don’t breathe anything.”

  “Oh!” She bounced in the saddle. “They got it! It’s falling! Or maybe just landing. It’s hard to tell.”

  The dragon hit the ground with a snarling scream.

  I couldn’t help myself. “Wait here. You know how to ride Lightning by now.”

  “Do I?” she asked. “Dorin, don’t fight that dragon! Your men have it under control! …I think.” I heard the dragon’s tail slap the ground, and a grunt from Dmitry.

  “I just want to talk to it,” I said, and jumped down from the saddle. My foot struck an unexpected rock, which hurt like hell, but I swept my tail forward and used it to check the path ahead of me as I walked. I drew my sword but hung back a little.

  “Dragon!” I called. “Did the King of the Northlands send you?”

  The dragon hissed.

  “Be careful,” Andriu said. “It’s angry.”

  “Well, so am I. I know your king made a deal with a witch for Rapunzel, but she is my bond mate. Tell the King of the Northlands that Rapunzel already belongs to the Prince of Yirvagna. Any further attempt to claim her will be considered an act of war.”

  “A bluff…,” the dragon said. Its voice had a reptilian slither, paired with a certain musical tone. “You would not send your men to the Northlands. You would lose them in the cold. You think you have winters in Yirvagna?” It hissed with amusement. “The king shall have his maiden of long locks.”

  Long locks… The fact that he put emphasis on Rapunzel’s hair was telling. Maybe a king would not pay five gold for a common girl. Maybe he would pay for the longest hair in all the world. Hair was often used in spells. I had never heard that long hair was particularly special, but it seemed possible.

  “Is it hair he wants?”

  “Hair with a girl attached.”

  “I’m not giving you that. Her hair is mine now, and I’ll cut it off and cast it into the sea rather than let your king have any piece of her. Maybe you know nothing of bonding spells, dragon, but I will fight to the death for her. I have already killed the Witch.”

  The dragon snorted out a cold puff of air. “I will tell the king your words.”

  “See that you do.”

  I returned to Rapunzel with some reluctance. “You heard that, I’m sure.”

  “You’re really going to cut off my hair…?” She sounded anguished, but then said, more bravely, “Well, I guess it will probably suit your court much better. And if it means I never have to worry about the King of the Northlands again…You never liked my hair anyway.”

  “It’s grown on me,” I said. “But we could cut it off at your feet and it would still be very long without being so tempting.”

  We rode on for another hour, just to put a good distance between ourselves and the dragon. It was wounded, but not badly, Andriu said. When we stopped at a stream to fill our water flasks, I knew I should do the deed sooner rather than later.

  Rapunzel was doing her best to be brave and accept the idea. We talked it over a bit, decided on the precise length. I even humored her for saying a short goodbye speech to her hair.

  And then, as I held a sharp blade to her hair, I started to feel reluctant myself. There was something so enchanting and otherworldly about her, that I hated to disturb. But I said nothing. It must be done.

  Maybe I should have known. That hair would not be cut for anything. Not with shears, a knife, or a sword. The Witch had clearly enchanted it with a protection spell.

  “I’m a little bit relieved,” Rapunzel said. “As long as everything works out in the end.”

  “Yes indeed, a beautiful bit of trouble,” Dmitry said, and I only said, “Hmph,” but I feared he was right.

  Chapter Twelve

  Rapunzel

  Dorin told me we had crossed the border to his kingdom, which meant this would also be my kingdom, and the path was slowly climbing upward, around forested slopes. Small cottages nestled here and there, and sheep and goats grazed in clearings surrounded by old stone walls. Every bend in the road was a new adventure.

  Although now his men were with us, and they seemed nice on one hand, they made me nervous. They said I was trouble and bad luck, and they said it in a friendly way, but their prince was blinded thanks to me.

  I learned that the bow was Dorin’s favorite weapon, and he had lost that, thanks to me. He seemed more cross now that we were around people he had known a long time. They had more expectations for him than I did. They tried to help him, and he usually wouldn’t let them. He would let me take his hand and guide him a little bit when we stopped in town for a short rest and change of horses, but mostly he said, “Don’t make a fuss,” at least a dozen times.

  On our second day of travel, Virha Palace came into view, spires poking out of the next mountain over. Dmitry pointed it out to me, but even before he said anything, I had spotted it and hoped it was my new home. It looked like something from one of my storybooks, and I was delighted to count three tall towers and other, smaller towers. Actually, it was almost like the whole castle was a bunch of beautiful towers smashed together. I wasn’t sure I could ever live somewhere that didn’t have a tower.

  But my tower was plain. The palace had all these fancy embellishments I didn’t know the names for, stones of different colors formed in patterns around the roof, and framework around the windows with bits of carving.

  “Are you actually speechless?” Dorin asked.

  “Maybe, for a minute. Not for long!”

  It took a couple more hours to get to the front gates. The gates were still a broad distance from the palace, past a lawn with pools and fountains. We were met by members of the palace guard immediately, or at least I assumed. They had uniforms on like Dmitry’s, and long weapons on poles. I didn’t know half of what I was seeing. Dorin clutched my waist.

  A woman came riding out across the lawn. She was wearing a long skirt and cloak, both richly dyed.

  “Dorin!” she called, as she drew closer.

  Now I saw that her cloak was trimmed with fur, and fastened with a gold pin, and she had gold bracelets at her wrists and several jeweled rings. She had gray in her hair and a lot of lines around her eyes, but was still quite nice to look at. She must be someone important, dressed so finely.

  “This is your bond mate?” she asked, looking at me with some surprise.

  “Yes…Rapunzel, this is my mother, Queen Maria of Yirvagna.” />
  I was starting to feel very nervous. Dorin had a real mother. I hoped she liked me. There was a moderate resemblance between them, mostly in the mouth. She had smaller horns and if she had a tail it was under her skirt.

  The Queen was still looking at me with scrutiny in her level gaze, but she asked, “How are you, my son?”

  “Fine. I’m fine. I should go see Jarvin and maybe he can do something about it.”

  “Yes, you do that, and I will get your bride situated.”

  He hesitated. “I’d rather not leave her alone. To give the short explanation, she has been kept in a tower by a witch all her life, and has never seen other people.”

  “She’s safe with me, you know that! And something must be done; the whole court is expecting to see you both. It’s better to have it over with, and then you can have some time alone.”

  “Don't dress her up too much,” he said. “I want her to be touchable.”

  We rode up to the palace. The stone edifice seemed absolutely enormous up close. When we were almost at the doors, Dorin stopped and climbed down, lifting me off the horse. “Rapunzel, I’m going to see the head mage to fix this spell. I’ll return to you as soon as I can, and we’ll make an appearance together.”

  I tried to be brave as I watched his back retreat around the side of the palace. Apparently he wouldn’t be going through the main doors.

  We walked into a great hall. I draped my braid in several coils over my arm after Queen Maria gave it a look.

  Huge tapestries covered the walls, with scenes of dragon and wolf hunts, very bloody. Queen Maria saw me staring at them, and said, “Yirvagnans are proud of their heritage as great warriors. The forests are full of dangers to this day, so we maintain a well-trained army. Perhaps it is for this reason that we have also become known for our beautiful court. We must balance it out somehow.” She waved a hand, for me to come closer to her. “I was in your shoes once. Just a weaver’s apprentice. I had to learn court etiquette, and quickly. You will do the same.”