Word Count: 2348

*Explicit content at the end of this chapter, read at your own discretion!*

¬Akara

I find my way back to Tai's office after many hours waiting for him upstairs. By the time the sun had set and he hadn't made it to dinner, I decided to seek him out myself.

Sure enough, he is in his office, slumped over his desk looking down at a mess of paper on his desk. It smells like him in here, for all the amount of time he spends in here in comparison to anywhere else. He probably had his dinner summoned down here so he doesn't have to step away from here. As much as I understand how dire our situation is, it still hurts my heart knowing he's done here so often.

Resting my shoulder against the doorframe, I rub my arms, the fire at the other end of the room has since gone cold, reduced to glowing embers. "How are you feeling?"

He looks up, and my stomach twists. His lovely emerald eyes are shaded by darkness, lack of sleep starving away any healthy colour from his face. Not to mention he is sick, like me. Maybe his illness isn't as pressing, but I haven't allowed myself to forget how much pain he lives with under the surface of his skin.

Pain he doesn't have to tell me about. I can see it.

"Tired. I feel like I've been staring at all this for hours," he mutters, running a hand back through his dark, curled strands. They fall around his face in a cascade, slightly too long now. I don't know the last time he did anything for himself.

I approach slowly, looking down at his desk. "What is it?"

"Names of people who have recently gone missing. I think they are all connected to Vaia," Tai sighs, turning the page so I can look at it. A lump gathers in my throat; that's a lot of names. We used to have people go missing a lot from my home village, what with the Beast being the child-eating monster that it was, but this number is disturbing.

"I wouldn't be surprised." At this point I'm as defeated as Tai, not surprised by anything Vaia is doing. But the more people she is choosing, means the more lives that are being lost after being forced to drink from the river. Clearly whatever she is doing to try to make powerful Tani isn't working...

Tai shifts between pieces of paper, each full of hurried handwriting. "There is no trend in who she chooses, clearly. They are all different, in age, in the village they are from. Even the Province."

"She's outsourcing to other Provinces?" I ask, shuddering at the thought.

Tai's gaze clouds with anger, with guilt. "Potentially."

Leaning against the edge of the desk, I look around. He's given up on keeping the space clean and clear, and due to the sensitive nature of what he is investigating, and the fact that Marek likely still has spies conveying information to him, he hasn't allowed anyone in to tidy up in here. It will be over soon, I remind myself. Soon, we will take Vaia down, and Tai will return back to normal.

"Have you heard anymore about Evolet?" I ask tentatively. She's another who has been haunting my thoughts. Why would she help me? My last experience with her was her trying to kill me...She told me she isn't ready to come back yet, but she will. When will that be, and how?

"No, we have found no trace of her anywhere," Tai admits. He only had people looking into it because I insisted, because I couldn't get it out of my head."You're the only evidence that she's alive."

"Kailor isn't doubting my account, is he?" I mutter, having already expected that. Kailor doesn't believe a word that comes out of my mouth, and when I mentioned Evolet, I knew he would be skeptical. None of us can come up with a reason for her going out of her way to save me, and yet not come all the way back to the estate with me.

Kailor lowers his gaze, brow furrowing. "I wouldn't take my father's opinion of you into consideration."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No, never," he shakes his head, looking at me as if I just viciously swore at him. "I believe you wholeheartedly. I just can't grasp why she helped you escape."

"Neither can I."

Tai rests his hand atop mine, his touch warm, washing some of the tension out of my body. "Maybe you should get some sleep."

"Come to bed with me," I basically plead. These days, we have either been sleeping in our separate rooms, or Tai has been coming to bed late. I want nothing more than to fall asleep in Tai's arms, to breathe in his familiar, safe scent as I'm lulled to sleep. I half expect him to shake his head and tell me he has more work to do and will come up later, but surprisingly, he stands, collecting his papers to put in the desk draw in front of him.

"Alright," he breathes. I don't bother hiding my smile, backing up toward the entrance of the office, waiting for Tai to join me. He looks over me, gaze looking down before it settles on my stomach. "How is your wound feeling?"

"Better now," I exclaim contentedly.

We walk up the stairs together. "I've talked to the nurses and they have no idea how you keep getting sick and then healing overnight."

"It must be magic lingering in my system," I say uneasily. I'm not ready to tell him that I've been drinking Tani blood, especially since it will only anger him and he will likely take it out on Zavian. Thankfully I'm not addicted. In fact, the thought of it makes me sick.

Tai doesn't question that. We have avoided using his magic since we still have no idea what is wrong with it, and since we know nothing about it still, anything could be possible with my sickness. It's terrifying.

"Come bathe with me," I offer through a yawn. I want nothing more than to sit in some hot water right now with Tai. We haven't had much of a chance to be totally intimate. In fact, we hardly even hug anymore, like too much is on our minds that indulging in anything like that makes us feel guilty. I'm tired of feeling like that, like I can't do anything that makes me happy.

Tai pauses his unbuttoning of his jacket. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why not?" I ask, stepping forward to grab his hand, raising it so I can start pulling each of his rings off. They glide into my palm one by one, all of solid, pure silver, some with colourful gems sunk into the centre. These are probably worth more than this entire estate, which is a thought that has my heart jumping into my throat, as I gently let them fall onto the side table.

"You're injured," he comments lowly as he steps forward, finally tugging his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. He's looking at me with eyes that burn like fire, clearly trying to hold himself back from stripping me down right now. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Is that you telling me you're afraid you can't keep your hands off me?" I say coyly, unsure of where all my confidence is coming from.

Something in his eyes flickers as I tug on his hand, pulling him with me into the bathroom. He watches me turn the taps on, the bath starting to fill, gaze tracking my every movement. He's tempted, I can tell, he just cares too much, which is so typical of him. But that's why I love him.

"I did sound like that didn't it?" he smiles, leaning against the bathroom door frame, waiting for me to make the first move. "I'm okay with whatever you are."

I lean over, pouring some bath salts into the water, letting the heady scent of lavender lull all my reservations out of my body. "It's just a bath, Tai."

Turning to face away from him, I gently pull my clothing off, letting each article fall to the ground in a pile. I'm painfully aware of Tai's gaze as each section of my skin is revealed, my senses heightening to the point it's nearly unbearable. Anticipation thrills through me as the last piece of my clothing is removed, and I turn, utterly naked in front of him, the King.

Tai's eyes are nearly unrecognisable, a dark shadow having passed over his irises, full of need and desire like nothing I've seen from him before. They pass over every part of my body, thorough in their exploration. I don't flinch though, letting him look, a smile touching the corners of my lips.

"I can't tell if this is a fever dream or not," he murmurs.

I run my hands over my hips. "It's just a naked body."

He frowns for a moment, dark curls hanging down over his eyebrows. He steps forward, capturing my gaze with his, the desire still there, but it's touched with a gentle warmth, a caring, kind look.

"It's not just a body, it's your body. And I'm hopelessly in love with you," he breathes. I grab either side of the face, deciding if there is any way I want to express my love back to him, it's like this.

He melts into the kiss with no hesitation, his hands resting on my bare waist, pulling me closer to him. I allow him to kiss me for a long moment, the taste of him, the feeling of his tongue in my mouth all enough to have excitement coursing through my body.

Pulling away, I gesture toward the bath with a coy smile. He undresses and steps in first, almost taking up all the room with his large figure. Carefully, I step into the warm water, steam wafting up around me as I nestle in between his legs, resting my back against his sturdy chest.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on," he murmurs in my ear, arms resting around my waist.

I rest my head in the crook of his neck, enjoying the feeling of his arm fingertips tracing around my stomach, raising higher with each pass. All my senses are on high alert, impatient with how much time he is spending lazily touching my skin, only a few inches away from my breasts.

Finally, as if he can read my hurried thoughts, he fingers brush against the underside of my breasts before trailing up, circling my nipples. My back bows off his chest, the water rippling around me as I let my eyes flutter closed, enjoying his touch.

"Is this okay?" he asks breathlessly. At this point, all I'm able to do is nod numbly.

After a while, I decide I don't want to wait anymore, and twist my arm around my back to touch him, however he grabs my wrist, stopping me only a few inches away from him

"Me first," he purrs in my ear. I oblige him, turning my head to kiss his neck.

His hands drift past my stomach again, and then to my hips, where he pauses, waiting for my permission. When I don't protest, he rests his hands on my legs, pulling them apart gently in a way that sends water splashing up the side of the tub.

For a moment, I'm convinced I'm going to have to beg for him to touch me, but finally his fingers glide between my legs, pressing exactly where I need him to.

Gasping, I clutch his legs, fingers gripping into his skin as a wave of pleasure consumes me. The hot water and the heat of my blood match as Tai moves his fingers expertly against me, whispering filthy words that a moment ago, I wouldn't have even thought he would have the confidence to say.

The pleasure becomes close to overwhelming as Tai's fingers reach lower down, and before I can react, he slides one inside of me.

He holds my hip down with his free hand, stopping me from writhing at the euphoric feeling, as he accompanies his single finger with another, filling me completely. I moan, unable to help myself gently thrusting his fingers inside me, increasing the pace with every pass, until pleasure becomes nearly unbearable, almost too much to handle.

"I can't wait until it's me inside you, and not just my fingers," Tai murmurs against my hair.

I want to tell him that he can, right now, but I can't seem to form any words that aren't his name. A pressure is building within me, so intense it's all I can think of as Tai continues moving his fingers at a deliciously satisfying pace.

Suddenly, a wave of euphoria hits me, my entire body going numb for a long moment. Tai continues to whisper sweet words in my ear as I come down from my high, until he withdraws his fingers. I turn around, my body still shaking from the pleasure.

Tai's eyes are half wild, ends of his dark hair wet, sticking to his skin. I smile wickedly, leaning in to press my lips to his, ready to reciprocate the amount of pleasure he gave me.

❤️••❤️

If you guys want to read ahead, you can read more of KING'S SEDUCTION on Radish! It's chapters ahead of Wattpad (:

You'll will find it under KING'S POSSESSION on Radish, as season 2!

👻••👻

I'm officially rewriting Alpha Jasper's story now on Radish! It will be following the same storyline with the same characters, but with revised scenes and some new ones!

I love Jasper's story so much that I wanted to go back and rewrite it. I hope you guys will enjoy it, you can find it now on Radish (:

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~Midika 💜