Beauty and the Damned

6 | Dragon's Heart

The moon was bright and it was the only source of light that illuminated her chamber from the big windows. It was calming to look at and with the peaceful surrounding, she was ready to sleep.

But a knock on her door was enough to jolt her from her bed. Wondering who could it be, she opened the door.

His eyes darted towards her body made curvier by her dress. It was the same dress she wore today and somehow, she didn't feel like removing it. And deep down, after what happened at the gazebo today, she wanted him to touch her again. It was something shameless to be even thinking about but she couldn't stop herself. Somehow, the man totally had made her crave for more.

He leaned on the door frame and a lopsided smile was plastered on his face. "You look ravishing," he said.

She swallowed hard, anticipating what he would do next. And when he stood straight and walked inside her chamber, he closed the door behind him.

"You shouldn't be here," she said, almost breathless.

"And yet you let me in." His face was illuminated by the moon and she could have sworn there was a certain glint in his eyes.

"You don't want to see what's hidden in here."

But the man just tilted his head. "That's for me to decide, isn't it?"

She gulped, feeling the rise of tension. What is the man doing? What is he doing? Why is he in her chamber? But what's more important is why did she let him in?

His eyes were hooded and the more she looks at it, the more she gets pulled into his spell. That's why when she felt Rowan's touch on her waist, she did not complain. And when she felt his breath on her, she leaned into it.

Before she knew it, Rowan's lips are on hers, kissing her hungrily. She did not back down. Ariadne answered his kisses with the same intensity.

She grunted when her back hit the wall as Rowan pushed her there. Ariadne gasped as Rowan pushed both her arms on her wall, pinning them there. They were both panting when they broke the kiss and she could still feel the ghost of his tongue on her mouth.

She was panting as she stared at him. And his eyes mirrored hers. They both knew they want it. So without another word, their lips met once again. With a swift hand, Rowan was able to lift her leg and wrap it around his waist. She moaned at the feeling of him. He's too near. It's too much. She feels like she's going to explode.

His lips trailed kisses down her neck and she let out a sigh as Rowan's lips traveled all the way down to the valley of her breasts.

With his other free hand, he found the lace of her dress and swiftly untied it. With a harsh pull, Rowan removed her dress, exposing her two mounds. She saw how his gaze fixed on her breasts and she could feel something build up inside her. And she couldn't believe how she ached to feel his touch, how she ached to feel his hot breath and his mouth on her mounds.

"Rowan," she rasped and the man seems to have gotten what she wanted. Without any warning, he brought his lips to her breast. A soft moan escaped her lips. Rowan let go of her wrists and her hands wrapped around Rowan's neck, pulling him closer, feeling him more.

A louder moan escaped her mouth as she felt his teeth graze the tip of her breast. She bit her lip as she felt Rowan's hand, slowly making its way to her other breast. She called his name once again and that was Rowan's undoing. His hand found her other mound and squeezed it enough to make her crazy. Ariadne grabbed a handful of Rowan's hair, not knowing if she wanted more or she wanted to stop. It was too much—too much feeling she's feeling all at once and she couldn't cope up with it.

And then she felt his hand making its way to her legs exposed by the slit of her dress. His lips traveled from the valley of her breasts to her neck then to her jaw and back to her lips. She remembered calling his name whilst kissing him and she gasped as Rowan's hand squeezed her legs.

And the anticipation builds up as she felt his hand getting closer and closer to the thing between her legs. Rowan broke from the kiss once again and looked at her, his gaze darker than ever. His fingers played with the tip of her breast.

And when his fingers found the thing between her legs she gasped. He remained to stare at her while his hand made lazy strokes near her thigh. She met her eyes and they both know they want the same thing.

She let out a shuddering breath as she stared at Rowan.

"That's it," whispered Rowan while still doing lazy strokes on her.

"Rowan," she said, almost breathless. And when his finger found her hole, she bit her lip and closed her eyes at the sensation, so raw and so good. Then his finger became two and she let out a loud moan she was certain Delilah heard it from her chamber.

Then Rowan said, "Your Majesty." Her brows furrowed. Since when did Rowan sound like a woman?

She opened her eyes and looked around. It's morning already. The sunlight liberally poured into her room and when she looked at the foot of her bed.

"Delilah?"

She got up from the bed, naked as she always is every morning. Delilah was giving her curious looks. She wrapped the blanket around her naked body. Though Delilah was looking at the floor, she could tell Delilah was wondering something was different about her. For one, she doesn't normally cover up even as Delilah was there. But she just dreamed about him! It wasn’t just an ordinary dream. They were doing something rather vulgar in her dream and she doesn’t understand why she was even dreaming about it in the first place. She swallowed hard as she could feel herself sweating.

“Is there something wrong, Your Majesty?” asked Delilah. But she shook her head rather enthusiastically.

“Nothing,” she said, her voice high pitched than normal. But she cleared her throat and composed herself. That was just a dream, Ariadne. Snap out of it!

“I need the bath,” she said and Delilah immediately went to prepare her bath. With Delilah in the bathroom, it gave her time to take a deep breath and calm herself down. But every time she closes her eyes, the memory of her dream shows up again. It was so vivid that she could almost feel the man’s touch on her skin and his kisses on her neck and his tongue on the peak of her mounds—

“Good heaven,” she muttered to herself as she shook her head, trying to erase the image of Rowan, pinning her to the wall. Of all the dreams she could dream, why did it have to be about him? Why was she dreaming of something like that? She has never felt the touch of a man. Before she got cursed, she was too prideful and she believed that no man is good enough for him. So she rejects every suitor that she had. But strange enough, after Rowan’s touch yesterday, she was craving for farther too much that she ended up dreaming about him.

She stared at herself in the mirror and she could see how flustered her face is.

“The bath is ready, your majesty,” Delilah said behind her and she almost jumped in the bed. Delilah looked frightened and surprised at the same time as she looked at her.

“Is something the matter, Your Majesty?” she asked.

She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes for a bit, clearing her mind. She should stop thinking about the damned dream and do her duties today. So she got up. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just had a bad dream.” And then she walks into the bathroom.

But the moment she was there, she realized the quiet space only gave her more chance to think about her dream so she shook her head and was determined to remove it from her memory. Ariadne immediately dipped into the pool of water and closed her eyes. And as she rested her head on the edge of the tub, she did not think about the dream. She was thinking about how to make the man kiss her to lift her curse. And with that thought, she was brimming with hope once again. Perhaps the dream was to foresee what is bound to happen. Perhaps the dream was telling her how to get the man to kiss her.

She immediately finished her bath. But just as when she was about to get out, she stopped in her tracks. The hair on her arm rose. Something is inside the bathroom. The feeling was familiar. The suffocating air, the haunted ambiance as if someone was mourning, and the eerie presence that seems to have come to take her life.

When she whirled around to see what it was, she hitched her breath. No, it wasn’t a something. It was a someone. Someone she knows very much. Someone whose face she has not forgotten ever since that day when she was cursed. It was someone who has placed the curse on her for eternity should she not find the cure for it.

The witch still looked the same: youthful and wise. She was still holding the scepter and on top of it was a red rose. The witch’s eyes traveled to her naked body and Ariadne did not bother to cover up.

“Nice to see you again,” the witch said and she almost scoffed.

“I could say the same but then I remembered you cursed me,” she said and crossed her arms, eyeing the witch, preparing herself for what she’s going to do.

But the witch just waved a dismissive hand. “You had one test and you failed it. You deserved the curse,” the witch said much to her anger.

“Nobody deserves the punishment you gave me, witch.”

But instead of getting offended for what she just called her, the witch just smiled. “Is that compassion I see? You don’t think this punishment should be given to anyone?”

She couldn’t say anything because she knows where the conversation is going.

“So it took one punishment for you to realize that you were just doing to your people what I did to you. Punishing them extremely for what the mistake they had done.” The witch laughed. But Ariadne isn’t in the mood to be laughing.

“What are you doing here? You’re not yet done with the punishment? Then get it over with. I still have some things to do.”

But the witch just shook her head as if she was expecting something more from here and she failed to do it. “I am not here for punishments, Queen. I think you already have a lifetime of that if you don’t find the cure quickly.”

She gritted her teeth but before she could even say another word, the witch said, “I came here to tell you something. A clue to the cure.”

Her eyes widened at the witch. “A clue to the cure?”

Then the surrounding started to move. She doesn’t know what was going on but she is sure it has something to do with the witch and her scepter. But she remained standing on the ground, ignoring the dizziness.

“The Dragon’s heart is the key. The Dragon’s heart is the way.”

She furrowed her brows as she looked at the witch. “A dragon’s heart? Where on earth should I find a dragon? And how is that supposed to cure the curse? What about true love’s kiss like what the book says?”

The witch gave her a knowing smile. “Perhaps your visitor knows something. He is, after all, from a place where the dragons are. And screw those books. You won’t need books if you want to kiss the man. But perhaps books can be useful." 

And before she could even ask another question, the witch was gone. She stood there in front of the bathroom door, contemplating what the witch had just said. And she realized she was in the bathroom for quite a long time when she heard Delilah knocking on the door, calling her.

She cleared her throat and opened the door to see Delilah standing at the foot of the bed. But what was more surprising was the fact that Rowan was standing in the doorway and was leaning on the door frame looking at her. And seeing him there made her remember her dream last night.

“I couldn’t wait any longer so I came here personally,” he said. He looked at her the same way he did in her dream last night when she opened the chamber door.

But what the man said next made her freeze. “I came here to say goodbye. Thank you so much for having me here and I wish you good luck.”

She was too shocked that she lost her voice for a moment. And Rowan did not intend to wait for her answer. He just bowed and turned on his back.

* * *