Beautiful Torture *Book Two of the Beautiful series*

25) More to Know

Akeso chuckled humorously behind his grumbling, "Love has no restraint." There was a slight pause, "Do you not agree, Hunter?" His only response was more embarrassed muttering.

Retying his string, Alexander turned to find Lucy watching him with the same hunger, as if they had not just been interrupted. "Once we are alone," he promised, placing a hand on each of her knees, pushing her legs together. "You may enter, feline," he bellowed without looking away from his queen, who sat up so she could kiss him. A kiss that said she would hold him to his word.

Hunter reopened the door, grumbling as he walked in with the goddess in tow. "No respect," shaking his head, he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against a wall to stay out of the way.

"You should have sensed what was going on and waited another minute," Lucy muttered as her face flushed with irritation and embarrassment. When her familiar did not make a snarky comeback, she looked up to find a pained look on his face as he turned his eyes away. Glancing at Alexander, who had seemed to be reminded of something dark, glared at him too. "What am I missing?" Before either of the men could answer her, someone stepped up to stand in front of her. She was overcome with a sense of calming warmth, making her turn to look at the deity standing within arms length.

Akeso was a shining radiance. She smiled at Lucy who felt even warmer at the gesture, but there was confusion on the young girl's face, like she was waking from a dream and finally realizing what her surroundings were. A room of healing.

"Luciana," the woman said musically. She moved ever closer, sensing the sudden waves of dark panic crashing through the room. They threatened to consume them all, affecting Hunter so sharply that he keeled forward slightly with a look of impending nausea on his face. But the goddess pushed back, her warmth flooding through it, wrapping Lucy in a blanket of blissful numbness.

"W-what happened?" Lucy managed to ask after shooting her dragon king a look of concern. He was watching her so closely, as though trying to pluck thoughts straight out of her head.

"We were hoping you could tell us, my love," Alexander intercepted and placed a warm hand gently on the bare skin of her knee. It caused the faintest shock of pleasure, the only feeling able to penetrate the block Akeso had created.

Lucy scowled down at her hands, thinking hard. There was a blank space in her memory where she knew something important ought to be. The sensation of reaching for the information but not finding it was unnerving. "I–" she swallowed hard, "I do not know."

In spite of himself, Alexander released a harsh sigh and turned, pinching the bridge of his nose but facing away from her as if he could hide his immense disappointment and frustration. He feared this would be the case. That she would not recall, or that perhaps she would refuse to in order to protect Alexander from his own wrath. A wrath that could rival the very gods above them.

"I am sorry," she offered meekly, so unlike the woman who had just been gripping him in a lust filled frenzy moments ago.

"Shh," he faced her again, a blur in the speed of the dragon. Stepping in front of Akeso, he pulled Lucy's small frame into his arms and held her tightly. So tight he could feel her budding bump against his own stomach. "You will not apologize for this. Not ever. Someone hurt you and they will pay for it in blood, be it this night or a hundred nights from now. I vow this on my birthright. On my kingdom. On my own flesh."

He dropped down to his knees so that his head was level with her abdomen. His hands found the growing crest and cradled it before he tilted his chin up and found Lucy's piercing green eyes meeting his own. Small tears shone there. She lifted her fingers and entwined them through his raven hair, savoring the familiar texture.