Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

"My Queen, do you know why your heart is beating like this?"

A soft smile lingered on Drayce's devilishly handsome face as he asked the question towards the young woman with a blushing face. Because he had pressed her cold hands against his cheeks, their bodies had closed the little distance there was initially between them. It allowed him to appreciate her veiled appearance up close, especially those beautiful jewel-like purple eyes. 

The young queen could only stare into his red eyes in bewilderment. It was as if her head was in a fog. She was confused by her body's reaction, and she was even more confused by his action. She wanted to pull her hands away from his face, but his hands would not let go of hers; his strength was something she could never compete with.

Drayce continued to look at his flustered wife, waiting to get her answer. Her entire face, even her ears, were pink under his intense gaze. 

"Do you know why your heart is like this, my Queen?" he asked again, slower this time, as he felt her confusion.

"B-because...I...am scared?" she replied in a very low voice, as if mumbling to herself. 

"What are you scared of?" he whispered as gently as he could. "I believe you are not scared of me now." 

Seren didn't deny it; she knew she was not scared of him. To be more precise, she was no longer scared of his presence because it appeared there was no reason for her to feel that way. The days and nights they had spent together for the past few weeks had convinced her of this. 

However, although she admitted that was no longer the case, her heart would misbehave like this whenever he was close like this with her. 

'If this is not fear, why is my heart like this?' She had asked herself this question many times, yet she could not find an answer. Her eyes moved away from his eyes to take a look at his entire face and found herself staring at his lips which had a light smirk on them.

That pair of thin lips looked alluring, and she gulped as she resisted the sudden urge to trace her fingers on those lips.

'Have I gone crazy? Why would I even want to touch him for no reason?!'

"My Queen?" She saw his lips open to form those words, pulling her out of her daze. 

When Drayce saw Seren looking back at him again, he moved her hands away from his cheeks. He moved her right hand towards her own heart and pressed her left hand against his chest. "See? My heart is the same."

She lowered her head to stare at her hands. Under her palms, she could feel both of their heartbeats racing, as if the two of them were trying hard to outmatch each other's pace. 

As she had learned something new, she looked at him and finally asked, "But why?"

"It's normal for hearts to be like this when a husband and wife are close," he explained. "I feel this way only with you and you must feel this way only with me."

Seren recalled that she never felt this way with her brother, even when they sat side by side in the same carriage and spent the entire day together. Only Drayce, the second man she had ever spent her time with, made her feel this way. 

"Then, how can I stop it?" she asked innocently. It was not an unpleasant feeling, but it was strange and unfamiliar and it made her have crazy thoughts like wanting to touch his lips.

Drayce had a teasing smirk on his lips as he moved closer to whisper in her ear. "You can't. It will only get worse as we get closer."

What he said was confirmed in the next second. She felt her heart going crazier when he leaned closer to whisper and his lips touched her earlobes. 

"It-It's not good then…we should stay away from each other..." she mumbled under heavy breathing. 

"That can never happen, my Queen. But I can make your heart calm down if you permit me to do something with you," he said as he moved away to have a good look at her face. 

She gazed at him with questioning eyes, though at the back of her mind, she had an odd feeling she might not like his response. "Permit to do what?"

"Permit to love you," he replied. 

It puzzled her even more. There was nothing but pure innocence in her purple eyes. 

"How?"

'Ah, I keep forgetting my wife is a blank parchment. Never mind, I would love to fill it,' he thought as he replied to her question in a calm voice, "By doing what we have been doing on most nights whenever we slept together, and many more.?" 

The whole time, the teasing smirk never left his lips. He looked forward to how her innocent brain would take it. He particularly enjoyed seeing her eyes widen as she pondered over his words. 

She blinked as she hesitated. "You mean biting?" 

Drayce sighed inwardly. 'Out of all we've done, she only recalls the biting. Doesn't she recall what I did before biting?' Keeping his thoughts aside, he nodded playfully. "That's one."

She retracted her hand that was still pressed on his chest and wrapped her arms around herself as if to defend against him. "No biting! I told you, it hurts…"

He didn't insist. "That's why I said it's one. There is much more to being husband and wife, something else other than biting."

"More? Will they hurt too?" she asked.

"A little," he said after consideration. He needed to be honest with her about this.

The thought of being inflicted more pain scared her. 'If biting hurts this much, then the rest will probably hurt more. As I thought, is this a punishment? Torture?'

"I-I don't permit," she protested. She was about to move away from him but he was fast as he held her arms and pulled her closer to him. Her legs were trapped between his as they were sitting face to face and she couldn't move.

The thought that he would bite her right at this moment scared her even more. She tried to speak, "I-I don't—"

"Shhh!"

He interrupted her with one hand surrounding her tiny waist, while the other moved towards her neck and rested below her ear. His fingers moved towards the back of her head while his intense gaze was fixed at the shallow impression of her lips under her pink veil.

Seren couldn't move and could only hold her bated breath, waiting to see what he was up to next. 

Drayce moved his thumb to caress her lips through its gauzy cover. "This 'something else other than biting' will feel good, my Queen."

She felt the change in the way he looked at her and even his voice sounded different. She pondered as she tried to figure out the reason behind it. 'What is it?'

Drayce lowered his head to peck on her veil-covered cheek. He inhaled deeply as he moved towards her ear. "This 'something else other than biting' will hurt a little but later you will enjoy it," he said in a hoarse voice as he captured her delicate earlobe in his teeth and bit it lightly. 

A surprised gasp left her lips as she heard him say, "Just like this, a little pain but more pleasure."

Initially, Drayce was in a teasing mood and merely wished to teach her things one at a time, but like always, the urge to be intimate with her took over his rational mind and he couldn't help but find himself drowning in lust. 

His wife had a scent so fragrant and tempting, it made him simply want to devour her whole. It was a refreshing scent that he could not thoroughly describe in words, but it always managed to make him lose himself. 

'Mine…'

His hands surrounded her tightly to hug her, and he buried his face in her nape to smell her where it smelled the best. 

Seren was trapped in his strong arms, but surprisingly, she seemed to...like it? 

'Is it because it's cold and he feels warm?' 

As she grew up without being close to people, her instinct had always been to avoid skinship. Her hand wanted to push him away, but then she thought it would do her no harm to return his hug. It was a strange feeling, doing things she would not normally do.

'Ah, I must really be going crazy,' she couldn't help but sigh inwardly. 'But this feeling...I really like it…'

Just as she raised her arms to hug him back, she heard him speak while still nuzzling into her nape. 

"My Queen, do you want to know what are the things other than biting that husbands and wives do?"

Her hands stopped midway from hugging him back. She found her voice getting smaller as his actions were affecting her. "W-What are they?" 

"For that, I need to take you back to your bedchamber."

"Bedchamber?"

"Because we can't take your clothes off here," he replied.

Her heart made a loud thump as her panic and anxiety soared. She exclaimed, "Clothes off!? You can't—" 

"You can remove mine too," he interrupted her, still drowned in his own world as he nibbled on the delicate skin of her neck. He didn't realize what effect his words had caused her.

She wanted to push him away, but he spoke again, "Without removing our clothes, how can I show what other things we can do other than just biting?" He moved back to look at her face, his red eyes full of lust and his hot breath fanning across her face. "Before our clothes, we first need to get rid of this veil."

What her body felt because of his seductive touches had all vanished with his last statement. It was as if he had poured icy cold water on her head. Her mind had cleared up, and her heartbeats returned to normal. 

"No," she firmly rejected. However, it was as if Drayce was drunk with emotions and simply smiled.

"Shhh!" He put his forefinger on her lips to stop her from speaking further. His eyes were a vivid red as he caressed her lips over the veil. "Without removing this veil, how am I going to see what these lips look like? How would I know how they taste?"

She frowned at his response. 'No means no. Besides, why does he want to taste my lips? Perhaps, I am not the only one becoming crazy.' 

She heard him again as his lustful gaze never left the shallow impressions of her lips under the veil. "I want to taste these lips. I want to suck them and bite them till they get swollen and turn red. I want to taste your tongue till it goes numb..."

These all sounded so weird to her as she couldn't imagine doing what he had just said. She could not understand why he would even want to do those. 'Oh no. What if he has really lost his mind? Will bringing him to a physician help?'

Drayce looked at her pretty-looking purple eyes and saw the puzzlement in them. "Shall we try it today? First, this veil, and the rest we can remove when we return to your bedchamber." 

Drayce's fingers moved towards the string of the veil that extended behind her ear. 

'Can he remove it?' 

A sudden fear took over her mind as she remembered Martha's words—no man should ever see your face, or it will bring disaster to you and him.

"Y-Your Majesty, you said you won't take it off until I permit you to," she spoke in a rush, and Drayce's fingers that were moving towards her ears stopped. He looked back at her with a frown. 

"I don't want you to take it off." Seren's words were firm, and her gaze was determined.

The lust in his eyes disappeared as her rejection sank in, causing him to cover his face with his hand to hide his expression from her.  There was frustration, disappointment, as well as a little bit of guilt on his face as he swallowed his desire.

Should he force her and go against her wish? The answer was no—because he was not a monster.