Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
My heart aches at his tone and I’m careful with my words. “You do not sound as if it was a good thing.”
“He suffered,” Prince Jasper says, a flat note in his voice. “He suffered greatly. It changed him, permanently. After we returned, we fought about which of us should rule. He is older, though only by a few years, and he would have taken the crown. But eventually we agreed that I should be the one to assume the throne. He is…not the same as he once was. It would not be right for him…in his state.”
“But you still have a brother,” I say. “You did not lose your brother, at least?”
“Yes,” he says, pain in his face. “Yes. I have kept my brother.”
When he moves across the blankets to me, I offer my hand to his and squeeze. The gentle touch turns to more as he moves closer.
It’s then the gallop of a horse is heard and we’re quiet a moment and our appearance more polite. We both eat and make idle chat as our squire passes by and the moment he’s out of view, it’s apparent we won’t have much time.
He kisses me more gently than he did in the garden, but that does not last very long. It’s possible that I am the one to take things further, grabbing at his clothes and kissing him harder. Lost in emotion and a need to be loved, I deepen the kiss, and he moans against my lips. Before I know it, I’m on my back on the blankets with my skirts around my waist.
Prince Jasper drinks me in, his eyes raking over my exposed flesh, and he kisses hungrily across my belly before stroking his fingers between my legs.
“You’re so wet,” he says, sounding a bit shocked. “You like to fuck until you’re sore, don’t you? I knew it. My little whore.”
He needs this and so do I. It’s the only thought I have.
I spread my legs for him then, and he wastes no time in undoing his trousers. He gives his cock a possessive stroke, then pushes into me and fucks me hard. I find a way to move my hips to get some contact on my clit, then push my own hand between us.
“Yes,” Prince Jasper hisses. He whispers against my neck, “So fucking good for me. My good little whore.” The pleasure builds with every touch and every thrust.
I bite down on my lip, trying not to make any noise, and Jasper kisses me until my mouth is open again.
“Bite down on me when you come,” he orders, and I do. I come while he is fucking me like my body is his to use, my teeth sinking into his shoulder and muffling the cries of my pleasure, and he comes soon after, driving into me with deep groans that sound like they would be painful to hold in.
We lie together on the blankets for several minutes, and then Prince Jasper sits up and begins putting me back together. He offers me some grapes from the basket, and I eat them while he readies himself. The gallop of a horse is heard a moment later in the distance and Jasper gives me that cocky smirk. “You look ravishing Princess, but he’ll never know.”
“I—” Another thought has come to me, and I cannot believe it did not occur to me earlier. “I have taken nothing to prevent conception.”
Prince Jasper moves across the blanket and kisses me as if nothing is wrong. “Do not worry, Princess. It won’t be a problem.”
I want to believe him, but as we ride back to the castle in the carriage, I know it very well might be a problem.
There is a second problem as well. I have not told him about my secret lover. And now, hearing his story about the war, I don’t want to.
Chapter 15
Cora
Prince Jasper does not come to dinner in the great hall that evening. His absence only makes my nerves all the more unsteady.
My father does not make any excuses for him, and I do not ask. I keep the conversation as light as possible and try not to think about how I can still feel the prince between my legs. I can still see the pain in his face as he spoke about his brother. I could be there for him in a way he needs, and I want to. Truly.
And his poor brother…
What does he mean by permanently changed? Changed in mind or body? Such things happen to people even when they do not fight in wars, and I would never expect him to abandon his brother simply because he had suffered…
Injuries, I suppose. He must have been tortured, if he was captured.
I cannot think of it for too long, otherwise it will show on my face.