HEIRS OF TIME (CASTE BOOK 2) SAMPLE CHAPTERS

Chapter 4

All dressed in gold and white, and splendid in their royal outfits, the sovereigns advanced towards the middle of the Pomona room, their eyes welded to one another. The image was almost unreal. The queen’s white hair, loose to the waist, was suffused with threads of gold, while Carmichael seemed to descend straight from Olympus. With a shaved head and a firm jaw, he no longer took his emerald eyes away from his wife and sent her a perfect smile. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw my mother’s because I hadn’t seen that look on her face in a very long time. And, even if I couldn’t repress a slight pang in my heart to see her on the arm of a man other than my father’s, I swore to be grateful to Carmichael, for having been able to rekindle a spark of happiness in her.

The exclamations gave way to devotion, to applause, then to a whole lot of bows, as the couple tried painfully to reach the centre of the room. My gaze unconsciously shifted to the man who was staring at me earlier. He was now riveted in the direction of the king and queen. This allowed me to observe him in more detail. From this distance, I couldn’t make out the colour of his eyes, but I noticed his dark brown hair. Shorter on the sides, it thickened above his head, in a crumpled effect, thanks to locks carefully held back and a few released carelessly on the forehead. A thin beard adorned his manly face but left no doubt about the youth of his features. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five or thirty, and looked as handsome as an Adonis, in his tailored black suit. I bit my lower lip, my cheeks glowing at the clearer sight of this man with such strange behaviour. I jumped when his eyes landed on me again and thought I saw a smile on the corner of his lips, which he immediately hid behind a firm face. I didn’t let myself be discouraged, however, and held his steely gaze, thinking that he wouldn’t have the impudence to continue this exchange any longer. I was wrong and, when a sharp heat took hold of my legs and my stomach to shoot up in my brain, I couldn’t help but open my mouth and noticed the same behaviour in him. We attracted each other.

As the party got into full swing and we locked eyes with each other, everything around us evaporated. Only his face haunted my mind, and the dancers disappeared. Time was suspended as in a fantastical bubble. My thoughts wandered, I suddenly imagined the feel of his skin against mine, his lips resting on my mouth and his hands roaming my hips. My heart raced, and I suppressed the urge to join him. What was happening to me, for God’s sake? It wasn’t the first time I had met a handsome man, but the effect his attention had on me was beyond comprehension. My chest heaved frantically from my overly rapid breathing. I swallowed and saw that his eyes were on the royal couple, now moving in a most sensual dance. Then I remembered Johnny’s last words. I widened my eyes and decided not to continue my observations. I have to admit that seeing my mother behave like this in public bothered me. The effect her movements, however chaste, had on visitors was clearly noticeable. However, I had been warned. I observed the consequences that this dance provoked among the castes; they touched and caressed each other, making sensual and passionate movements. I turned in the direction of the enigmatic stranger who never took his eyes off me while strolling here and there. And suddenly he froze.

This time, I choked. The warmth soaking into each of my limbs seemed to reach the stranger since I discovered a huge smile on his features for me and, in his eyes, a fever that was difficult for me to ignore. He took a step forward. Scarlet, I lowered my head. Panicked at the idea of him joining me, but also totally excited at the prospect, I looked around. I was hoping to find an escape, but with the fervour of the bodies surrounding me, the alcohol intoxicating me, and the fire having seized my flesh, I could only raise my face in his direction. I took a step back when I saw him standing a metre away from me, and I still had to raise my head to better see his features. Speechless, I quickly exhaled and felt a lump go up my throat, and shivers ran through my arms. His whole being exuded sensuality, and I had to suppress the urge to put my hands on his chest, while his eyes seemed to tell me that he struggled as much as I did at the prospect of touching me. Surrounded by long black lashes, his captivating blue eyes were still staring at me as he took another step forward. He was only a few centimetres away from my body.

“Hey,” I said in a mocking voice, pointing to him with my index finger, “the way you look at me... I’m not sure I like it very much.”

My lie should show like the nose in the middle of my face, but I raised my eyebrows. I tried to contain the searing attraction that was pushing me towards him, thinking back to the way he had snubbed me with his eyes since his arrival. He smiled and, when he brought his mouth closer to mine, I gasped and had to squeeze my thighs.

“Let me change your mind,” he said hoarsely, his sensual tone breaking my last defences.

He held out his hand to me. Without thinking, I put mine there. He caught it so quickly that I had no time to notice that he was lifting me, carrying me at the speed of the wind towards one of the doors of the Pomona room. When he dropped me off, I caught my breath and realized that I was in one of the cells. The barred doors were open. I could have run away, but I didn’t, mesmerized by his seductive smile.

He caressed my cheek, which ignited at his touch. The air thinned in my lungs. Then he withdrew his hand and took off his jacket, which he swung across the room. My eyes caught his, lava was flowing through my veins, and my skin was burning. No longer able to fight my attraction, I moved closer to him, my chest brushing his chest. From the top of his metre ninety, he lowered his head to watch my fingers remove one by one the buttons of his shirt. I took it off him, slipped it over his shoulders, and let it fall to the ground, admiring his finely sculpted musculature beneath his tattoo-laden skin. My mouth went to rest on his solar plexus, my fingers roamed the fine fleece that rose from his navel.

He grabbed a lock of my hair and tilted my head back. Panting, I waited for his kiss and closed my eyes. I wanted him to touch me, I wanted to have him all to myself. But there was no kiss, so I opened my eyelids. He smiled, and his dimples widened. His hands went to the back of my dress. He slowly undid the zipper, and the fabric fell to my feet. He bent down to slide off my panties, which went to join my dress. When he got up, his clear eyes met mine again. He bit his lip and grabbed my hair. This time he kissed me.

The merger of our mouths ignited me whole. His tongue found mine, his hands wrapped around my neck, travelled over my head, caressed my shoulders, and down my back. The furnace spread in my throat, traversing my chest which was now heaving at an alarming rate, then crept into my stomach to finally settle between my thighs.

I should have been more reasonable, I should have been more suspicious, but no, I was his. I wanted him and he wanted me. I felt in my soul such intensity that it was until now unknown to me. And even if the place didn’t lend itself to a romantic getaway, I didn’t care. So my hands went to unbuckle his belt and unhook his pants. As he tried to extricate his legs and then took off his shoes and socks, all without leaving my mouth, the blood in my veins caught fire. I made no objection when he finally lifted me off the ground, before laying me down on the bed usually reserved for prisoners. I let him slowly climb my body, his eager eyes locked on mine.

Our breaths mingled. His elbows sunk into the mattress, and he cupped my face and stroked my cheeks. I gasped. My eyes couldn’t leave him. His skin against mine, his lips a few centimetres from my mouth, his gaze anchored in mine, time stood still and my breathing got thinner. I stared at his face, his full mouth still swollen from the fiery kiss we had just shared. I ran my tongue over my lower lip, exhausted by this insatiable desire that was consuming me. This gesture immediately drew his mouth to mine, his gaze still fixed on my eyes. He let a hand caress my shoulder. Then it slowly descended along my ribs, my hips, to finally grab my thigh, which he pushed aside. My hands circled his ribcage, and our bodies fused. I dug my nails into his back.

I smiled at him, my mouth half open, my breath more panting than ever. The sensations I was experiencing caused me to spasm. I shuddered and I wanted more, I wanted him. He was mine.

“Tell me you like what I do to you.”

Lost in the unbearable frenzy that inhabited my whole being, I whispered an answer he didn’t hear.

“Tell me,” he repeated.

“I like what you do to me.”

“I want you to remember this night for eternity,” he said.

I let myself be overwhelmed, unable to suppress my exclamations of pleasure as he pressed his sweaty body against mine, his mouth trailing down the side of my neck, as he joined me in a throaty moan. His soul grabbed mine.

And so I knew happiness, because with him, at that moment, it seemed to me that I had never known anything more marvellous.

When, in the early morning, I woke up, immediately thinking back to my torrid night with this handsome stranger, my eyes widened in embarrassment. He was glued to me, one arm across my belly, his sublime face soothed and his mouth slightly open. His hair tickled my chest, and it was with a certain delicacy that I shifted his arm and slipped out of bed. I got up and left him sleeping. I ran through the Pomona room and returned to the comfort of my apartments and the security of my Elizabeth suite, a blissful smile still gracing my face.