they’d restored the Night Court gardens. Signs of damage lingered here and there, but overall this section was in better shape than closer to the palace.
Hyacinth summoned a page, who ran off with the message, then she led us through several barely lit winding paths. “The usual equipment, Conrí?” she asked, glancing coyly over her shoulder, swaying her naked bottom—reddened from a recent spanking—enticingly.
Con glanced at me and I shrugged. I didn’t know what they considered usual, either. Besides, I wasn’t supposed to speak.
Noting it, Hyacinth said, “You can always ring for something if You need it, Conrí. Or I can remain with You.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Con replied, seeming not to notice her disappointed pout.
She stopped at a turn, nimbly unhooking the privacy ribbon that crossed the entrance, dropping to her knees to allow us to pass.
“How do you know it’s unoccupied?” Con asked.
“This alcove is expressly set aside for our king and queen, Conrí. It hasn’t been used for many years.” She kept her gaze demurely cast down. “But we always keep it ready, as is our sacred duty.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s a bell pull with a red cord, Conrí. I’ll listen for You, should You need anything.”
Without reply, he escorted me down the winding path, densely lined with impenetrable foliage. We rounded a corner to find a candlelit alcove with a gorgeously appointed bed—with the requisite four posts—made of living wood, orchids growing from the surfaces. Several tables held a variety of supplies, such as the expected oils and cloths, while a number of chests held other tools for exploring pleasure and pain.
It occurred to me that my father had likely used this place—an image I absolutely didn’t want in my head—but then I recalled a distant memory of being told when I took the throne that this alcove existed, ready for my pleasure. And that it had been completely refurbished at that time. Calanthe and her rituals, handling even these intimate details.
Con had left me to my thoughts, prowling the space in wolf mode, first checking the periphery and, yes, even under the bed. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the bed itself, testing the golden rings embedded in the various surfaces, then taking up a crimson ribbon from a cluster hanging conveniently from a hook on the wall.
“Turn around and cross your wrists,” he ordered, and I obeyed with a burst of rising excitement. He wrapped the ribbon snugly and expertly around my wrists, binding them. With heady awareness, I realized that Con would know very well how to secure a prisoner. Pressing a kiss to the back of my neck, he lifted the crown off my head and set it on a nearby table, following it with his own. Then he slid the straps of my gown down my arms, letting them dangle there as he kissed his way down my naked spine. The dress fell away from my breasts, but only so far as the bodice that hugged my waist. I shivered with need, my bare breasts tightening with the erotic sensation of being out of control, but also safe and cherished.
Con sank to his knees, sliding his hands up my thighs to hook his thumbs in my lace panties, drawing them slowly down my legs. With one strong hand on my waist to balance me, he eased the lingerie over one heel then the other. “Turn around,” he told me, holding my waist with both hands, arousal gruff in his voice.
I did and he placed a soft kiss on each nipple, sweet, nearly reverent. The tenderness and—yes—love in his touch undid me, and I trembled violently. He lifted his face to study mine. “Do you want what we saw—being tied to the bed like that?”
I swallowed against a suddenly dry mouth and nodded, though technically I could’ve spoken. He nodded with me, then wrapped his arms around me, laying his cheek against my belly. “I keep thinking,” he said, “not that I want to bring up bad stuff, but I think we have to talk about it. That stone slab, they tied you down. I saw the chains and … And I don’t want you to—”
“Con,” I interrupted. Had my hands been free, I’d have combed them through his hair. “That’s part of why I want this.” Something I hadn’t realized until this moment, that maybe this was part of why I’d wanted to visit the Night Court, to exorcise my own demons. “I need to … replace all that. With you.” With someone