B-ronken-R-ing 159...

***

When had she returned to bed and succumbed to sleep? Inés wondered drowsily as she came to, her eyes yet to open. She shifted to face the ceiling, then back again, burying her head into the pillow before prying her heavy eyelids apart. But with her face in the pillow, she might as well have kept her eyes shut.

The sunlight against the white silk pillowcase confirmed it was undeniably morning, yet fatigue weighed her down. Not only had she spent most of the previous day at the palace, from noon until the evening party, but she'd also gotten swept up with Cárcel, who had suddenly appeared in Mendoza. It would have been stranger if she could rise promptly.

To be fair, it was she who had insisted that he stay the night, worrying he might fall from his horse and break his neck on the way back due to lack of sleep.

She had also dragged him into the bathroom with the intent of ravishing him after he was clean. She had undressed him and provoked him, despite his repeated warnings that he might be too rough with her because it had been a while since they'd engaged in amorous congress. In the end, it was Cárcel who had been swept up by her, but Inés felt the consequences she now faced made up for her actions. Just as he had warned, he had been rougher and more persistent than ever before.

But it didn't matter who had started what. The fact remained that Cárcel Escalante must have left the room at the crack of dawn looking as refreshed as ever, just as he always did after spending the night with her.

They had started by scrubbing each other down but found themselves quickly exchanging breaths and locking tongues. As soon as he pressed her against the wall, he had thrust himself inside her, setting off their passionate encounter. Reflecting on it now, Inés thought it was ridiculous that they had ignored the luxurious bedroom to make love to each other against the cold bathroom walls, with nowhere to lie down comfortably, as though they were illicit lovers. They had kissed each other sloppily and desperately like there was no tomorrow. She had swallowed him up with her whole weight, her feet hanging in the air, and writhed in ecstasy at the sensation of him driving his full erection up into her with abandon.

Before she knew it, she had been on her feet again, bent over with her hands against the wall as he took her from behind. Afterwards, she had found herself sprawled across the furs Cárcel had dragged into the bathroom. With her backside barely off the ground, he had pounded into her over and over again.

They had coupled like wild beasts. He had thrust into her with fervor, and she had moaned so loudly that she had been nearly screaming. Her long hair draped over the damp furs, she had been on all fours as he had bit into the back of her neck. When his gentle touch had turned her head to face him, she had jerked around, crushing her lips against his as if to devour him first.

Inés had enjoyed the way Cárcel thrust deeper into her at that moment. The way he momentarily cast aside all the caution he had exercised throughout the night and stared down at her with a dangerous gleam in his blue eyes. She was pleased to see him reach rock bottom, utterly consumed by her without any consideration for her comfort. The slight pain she felt quickly gave way to a peculiar sense of bliss.

"My naughty Inés," he had groaned through gritted teeth amid wet kisses and hard thrusts. She had whispered to him like a succubus, urging him to push her down by the neck and take her hard, to leave bite marks all along her back. She asked for him to empty himself all over her, both inside and out, to turn her into a lewd mess.

That she was all right with it if it was him.

"Because I like you, Cárcel, so it's all right. Cárcel...I like you..."His grip on her hips had tightened at her breathless confession.

"So you enjoy being taken like a dog? To have your refined and virtuous body defiled like this?" Even as he teased her, his voice had been full of joy. The overwhelming emotion conveyed through his labored breaths had reached her ears like a sweet melody.

"Yes, Cárcel. I like you, regardless. And I like going at it like dogs with you. I like you, Cárcel."

"How much... how much do you like me, Inés?" he had asked desperately, so thrilled that he almost sounded like a lost child.

"So... much," she had answered breathlessly in between his thrusts.

"How much, Inés? Tell me. Please."

"Very much..."

"You will be the death of me someday, Inés Escalante."

"Harder...harder, Cárcel... Mmh..."

"That's right... you will be the death of me. There's no doubt."

"Hard enough to break me."

"Look at you. You've got me wrapped around your little finger..."

They must have sounded like they had lost their minds.

She couldn't possibly count how many times she had reached her climax, and how many times he had ejaculated. They had gone at each other like wild beasts, sucking and biting and climbing each other at every opportunity, but in between, they had paused to simply lie in each other's arms and gently fondle each other's wet hair. Time had passed quickly. It felt as though they had combined seven nights into one.

She had finally felt alive. As he had taken her so roughly on top of the furs, or broken down and held her gently against his chest, or when he had slowly and serenely entered her and she melted into him before forcing him onto his back and climbing on top of him to have her way with him... every moment. It seemed ridiculous that such a primitive act made her feel like she was truly with him. Each time he released his seed within her, and even as he ejaculated all over her buttocks and back, she had felt like they were truly one.

He had gripped her buttocks firmly as if seeing her covered in his cum was too provocative of a sight, and with haggard breath, he had flipped her over and buried his face between her legs, which she then spread up into the air. The brief moment of humiliation she felt at this vulgar position had been blissful as well.

Even after taking her so many times, Cárcel had taken his once again erect member and stroked it to get himself off. He watched her squirm in ecstasy as he licked along her sensitive bundle of nerves and as her stomach tightened in another climax, he lapped up the juices she released as though to quench his thirst.

And when he thrust into her once again, Inés remembered having lost all control herself. Cárcel had stared down at her in awe, chasing each movement as if to memorize it as she moaned wantonly with each rocking of her body along with his thrusts, and her reddened eyes squeezed shut from the overwhelming sensations.

"Don't close your eyes, Inés."

She had moaned and gasped helplessly.

"You should look at your husband."

"Cárcel, please..."

"That's right, just like that. You have to look at me."

"Ah… Aah! Nn… Cárcel, I…."

"My Inés..."

He had grasped her face to look straight at him and delivered a few more languid thrusts as she trembled with another release.

"You have to come while looking at me, Inés. Always."

She had let out another sobbing moan.

"Because I'm the only one for you now. Because you chose me this time. Because I am yours."

He had pulled out just in time to ejaculate all over her stomach. He was fulfilling all of her wishes. The milky white semen splattered all the way up to her swollen breasts. Inés had been so out of it that she had hardly noticed him doing this, gasping for breath as she came down from her climax and looked up at him.

His eyes had shone with bliss and something darker as he spread his semen dribbling down her mounds all over her reddened skin. He had pressed down with some force as if trying to imprint his scent on her, before his hands reached her nipples and he pinched them, leaving a droplet of cum on each peak.

"It almost looks like breast milk."

She had stared up at him in a daze.

"I can imagine you having our child, Inés."

He had sounded so innocently blissful even as he had just spread his semen over his wife's breasts, making it dribble from her nipples. She wasn't pregnant yet, and here he was, talking about breast milk as though he didn't just do something filthy and lewd.

But she could recall the shadow cast over his expression, too. There had been a sense of incompleteness and fear in his eyes.

Inés closed her eyes again, still unable to raise her head from her pillow. It had been a whole month since she had come to Mendoza without him, but she couldn't remember anything about her time here. Her mind was too full of the memories of the previous night.

With her face still pressed against her pillow, Inés fiddled with the pillowcase, feeling rather glum. She recalled the way they had embraced each other, limbs intertwined, in the darkness of the bathtub. She missed the dim light on the wall, the haggard breaths they had shared, the way the water had lapped at their skin as he had thrust up into her. That sensation of him filling her up completely.

The reason she was refusing to lift her head even though she was awake was likely because she didn't want to confirm that he was no longer at her side. They had fallen asleep together, but the fact that she was waking up alone... Inés scoffed to herself and put a stop to that miserable train of thought.

She had known this would happen, and had already lamented the fact that Cárcel Escalante would not be at her side when she awoke. She had trusted that she would be fine for a while, since they had shared such a blissful night. She thought herself ridiculous for feeling so miserable even so, as soon as she had woken up, despite thinking she would be ready.

"I should have told him to stay for lunch," Inés mumbled dully before tutting at herself as if surprised by her own words and sitting up. Though she had meant to jerk upright as if to escape her thoughts, her tired body was slow to react.

Cárcel had to leave Mendoza as soon as possible, she knew this. At least until she knew more about what that bastard of a crown prince was planning.

Inés finally sat up with her back straight and furrowed her eyebrows.

She nodded to herself. Cárcel needed to stay away from Mendoza as much as possible. He was supposed to arrive in Mendoza at least two weeks before the crown prince's wedding, but that seemed too soon. Inés wanted him to arrive the day before and take her back to Calztela right away. Being in a carriage the whole way would be too stuffy, so riding on horseback would be better, she thought. Just as she turned around to reach for the bell by the bedside table, she saw it.

There was a letter on the pillow Cárcel had laid on. Inés blinked slowly.

Though her bed was large enough for her to crawl to the edge of it to get out, his pillow had been right next to hers from sleeping in each other's arms, so the letter was within her reach. But instead of reaching for it right away, she simply stared for a while, watching in awe as the warm morning sunlight that shone past the bed posts illuminated the envelope.

"To Inés, the light of my life."

'The light of my life.' It was one of the many ways the lovers of Ortega referred to each other, in a place where love was easily purchased and won over, and thus it was a phrase that Inés had despised.

The sunlight flickered over her name. Inés drew a hand down her face, her expression rigid, as though she had just been unexpectedly challenged to a duel. Then she raised her hands to cover her face completely before slowly bending over and burying her head in her blanket. Her ears were flushed red.

He's out of his mind. You've gone mad, Escalante!

"How... How could he write something like that?"

How embarrassing! He must have been delirious from lack of sleep...

She thought she might have scoffed in exasperation, but she couldn't bring herself to do so now. It felt as though someone had set her face on fire. Her ears burned as though they had been singed.

Inés couldn't help herself from clasping her hands over her mouth and lifting her face to glance at the letter again, her eyes wide with turmoil.

She looked like a twelve-year-old girl who had just received a love letter for the first time in her life from a boy she liked.