For a long moment, neither of them moved.
The slap still hung in the air like smoke after a struck match. Aneesa stood with her hand trembling by her side. Tariq stared at her, chest rising, eyes locked on hers with a look that was not anger, not fully, but something on the edge of it. Something sharp and unreadable.
Then, he dropped to his knees.
The sound was soft. Humbling.
His head bowed, one hand pressed lightly to the floor.
"I'm sorry," he said.
The words barely left his lips, but they cut deeper than anything else in the room.
Aneesa blinked, the anger inside her dissolving faster than she was ready for. Her legs gave way, and she sank into the nearest chair, hands clenching her skirts.
"I didn't want this," she said as she panted quietly.
Tariq looked up.
"I never wanted to be in a palace. Or in silk. Or in your father's eyes, a gift to be unwrapped and placed in a box."
She wiped at her face, but the tears came anyway.
"I wanted to see the world," she whispered. "I wanted to trade books for stories, not bodies for power. I wanted...freedom."
She looked at him then, really taking him in.
"And I trusted my father," she added. "And he sold me away like an old cow."
Tariq's face softened. Confusion and guilt fighting across his features. He rose slowly to a crouch in front of her, then reached out, gently wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of his fingers.
"And here I thought you were fearless," he said softly.
"I am," she murmured bitterly. "But I'm also human."
Tariq's thumb lingered near her jaw, his breath barely audible.
"I never wanted you like this. I often daydreamed of courting you outside of this prison we now share. I am confined here, too. Born to fulfill a purpose. Always yearning to see the world as a free man."
"I didn't realize that you felt…" she whispered, trailing off to silence as she sensed his demeanor change. They both stared into each other's eyes. The trembling in her body now still.
Tariq leaned in, and she didn't stop him this time.
His lips met hers with no fire, no storm…only understanding. The kiss was careful. As if he were afraid she might break. She responded with the same softness, letting her hands flow through his hair as he deepened the embrace, and their breaths aligned.
He then stopped and pressed his forehead to hers.
"Say it…tell me to stop," he whispered, but she didn't.
Not when he lowered himself to his knees again, this time parting her legs to expose the soft, wet spot he longed to touch.
"Aneesa…tell me to stop," he uttered in a breathy whisper. But Aneesa wouldn't, not even when he hungrily began to lick and suck causing her to writhe with pleasure beneath him. Aneesa did not even try to contain her moans as he flicked his tongue on her button until her legs quaked and she climaxed yet again.
"The more you do that, the better you will be to receive all of me," he said gently, lapping up her honey as he slid two fingers inside her and pumped in and out until she squeezed them tightly with her womanhood, throwing her head back with a startled shout to the heavens.
Traiq stopped and stood. Aeesa shook violently as he lifted her out of the chair. She clasped her hands around his neck and surprised herself by kissing him deeply. He moaned as their tongues entwined before laying her back onto the stone table, ripping the last of the silk that wrapped her body, and marveling at her in the nude.
"Do you want me to stop?" Tariq asked as he pulled out his manhood and stroked it. It was much larger than Aneesa had imagined, but she shook her head. "I cannot promise I will stop once…" he started before she interrupted, "I'm a virgin," she uttered before averting her gaze.
Tariq smiled in amusement, then pushed himself between her legs and gently kissed her. "We will discover what it's like together," he said, rubbing himself against her. They both moaned as he spread her legs wider and slowly pressed himself into her.
"It's too big," she moaned, instinctively pulling away. But the Emir would not allow it. "Don't worry, I've read that your body will gladly receive me." He said, holding her waist firmly in place, "You need only relax," he whispered, pressing himself even deeper inside her.
"Uh..Tariq…I..I can't," Aneesa moaned. "Give yourself to me," he growled, rubbing fiercely between her legs before he simultaneously thrusted as deeply as he could inside her. She shouted at the feeling, a mixture of pain and pleasure, but he stifled it with a kiss as he pumped in and out of her.
Faster and faster. Losing control of himself as he growled louder. His eyes seemed to glow brighter, and they both moaned with satisfaction.
"I'm…going to." Tariq whimpered, pounding deeper before he shuddered and slowed, his tool pulsing against her walls as he climaxed. He didn't stop; he continued filling her gently with his manhood until her body trembled.
He then lifted her from the table and carried her to his bed, where their bodies met again and again with reverence and something far more dangerous than lust: permission.
They were fire without fury.
Ash without ruin.
And for the first time in a palace built on power, they moved with nothing to prove.
Only armed with the need to remember that even inside this gilded prison, they were still human.