In The Hands Of Fate Pt 02

**I am completely in love with this story. It just keeps coming. Read them in order and I hope you enjoy...feedback is most def welcomed. Part 3 is in the oven! ~ TC

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Ardress was dying for a shower but she was wary of whatever surveillance there may be watching her. When she had awakened from her cry-induced nap, she had distinctly noticed the moistness between her legs and the coating on her fingers. She glanced around the room, horrified that someone may have been watching her touch herself in her sleep. She felt dirty and wanted nothing more than to shower.

She peeked into the bathroom, it was huge. The fixtures were modern and gleaming but the layout of the room still screamed antique. The tub stood alone in the center with an elegant shower spout and clear glass encasement. Under other circumstances, Ardress would have found the décor gorgeous, but at the moment all she could think about was Kadari and a fresh shower.

She got an idea and grabbed the linen from her bed. She draped them over the top of the shower so that the whole tub was canopied and secluded by the fabric. After locking the door and placing against the lever, she undressed standing in the tub, placed her clothes outside and glass door and proceeded to start the shower.

While under the hot stream Ardress' mind raced. She had to get out of there and back home...only, she didn't even have any idea where she was. The estate was so big that she had yet to see what surrounded it, what landmarks there were to gauge how far away from home she was. She concluded that the next time she saw Mikahr, she would demand that he tell her where Kadari was...if he was safe or harmed. She had to know either way.

She closed her eyes and let the water wash her tears away. She lathered soap onto her washcloth and proceeded to clean herself, when she heard the chair scraping against the floor. She jumped at the sound of an intruder.

"Who's there?" She called out, her voice shaky from fear. She was naked in a strange place. She looked around for something to defend herself but there was nothing and she yelped as the linen was snatched from off of the shower.

They both stood there for a moment, Mikahr taking in the sight. Ardress held her hands against her body, not knowing what to do. The fact that he was looking at her with such desire caused her abdomen to tighten and this confused her.

"Come out of there," he ordered through the glass.

"Get out!" She shouted and pointed at the door, exposing the breast that her hand had been covering. His gaze dropped and he was speechless for a moment as he watched the water cascade over protruding nipple. A wave of pleasure went through his shaft, before she quickly realized her error and covered herself up again.

"Oh, now you want to act modest? After the show you put on today, you aren't fooling anyone with the act...now get out or I'll drag you out." He threateningly opened the shower door. What show was he talking about? Ardress was even more confused.

"Turn around," she ordered. He hesitated for a moment and then turned around with a huff. She quickly snatched the linen from his hands and wrapped her body in it under the running water before turning it off and stepping out. Mikahr turned around to face her and another wave went through his crotch. The wet sheet did little to hide the flesh that it was clinging to. He could make out the dark triangle of womanhood. She followed his gaze and gathered more sheet around herself.

"What is the meaning of this? If I am royalty, you certainly have no right to be in here," Ardress tried to sound in control.

"What was the meaning of this afternoon?" Mikahr ignored her statement.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your little show," he pressed.

"You keep saying that...I don't know what you mean."

"I don't like the games you're playing," he added. "Acting like you are so innocent. You're nothing more than a beautiful whore...a gold ring in the nose of pig."

She gasped, "How dare you?"

"No, how dare you touch yourself the way you did? Have you no shame?"

Ardress was embarrassed that he had seen her masturbate and her face flushed as she averted her gaze to the floor.

"You said yourself that you knew there were cameras...you knew someone was watching...that I was watching. What did you expect to do...tease me...try to use me to get to Hirundi?"

"What? No...I don't...I didn't..." Ardress stuttered, searching for the right words to defend herself. Mikahr stepped up to her, his face inches from her own as he stood slightly over her; she was tall. She smelled fresh soap and cinnamon on his skin. Another tingle fluttered inside her.

"I'm onto your game, Princess," he whispered. "I know your type: the ones who try to use their beauty to control men. Maybe that works on pawns, but I'm more of a knight."

"Certainly not the king," she quipped, and surprised herself with that one.

"It's the queen who really has the power anyway, right?"

"Apparently not or you wouldn't have the audacity to come in here while I'm naked."

"You are not the queen. And when I call you 'princess', I jest. You are just a pawn. We were going to use you to get to Prince Kadari but he doesn't even care that we have you."

Her heart leapt at the mention of Kadari in the present tense. He's alive. Her heart rejoiced.

"He'll come for me," she nodded with certainty.

"He said that he, 'has many wives and one is not worth the life of a prince'. So you see, Princess, he is not what he seems."

"You're a liar," she pointed an accusing finger at Mikahr.

"And you are a silly pawn who has been check-mated. You lost the prince and no one here respects you as royalty because of how trashy you are."

She raised a hand to slap him but he caught her forearm. She swung at him again with her left and he grabbed that arm too, locking them behind her and then backed her up against the glass of the shower with his body. Fear and excitement coursed through Ardress' veins as he spoke through clenched teeth.

"You dare raise your hand to me again?" She struggled against him and felt him harden. Her eyes widened when she felt the familiar throb between his legs. He pressed it harder against her.

"This is what you wanted right? That's why you wanted me to see you touch yourself, isn't it?"

"No...I didn't know..."

"You did know. You said so yourself, that you knew there were cameras...that someone could be watching."

"I didn't know what I was doing...I was asleep," Ardress pleaded though his erection had caused a pooling of desire between her legs. Why was her body betraying her?

"Yeah, of course, Princess," he husked. He reached between them with one hand and snatched the sheet away from her breasts. She took the opportunity to free a hand and swung at him again. She caught him hard across the face before he reigned in her arm once more and pressed her even harder against the glass.

Once he had her subdued, he put his attention back on her breasts. He bowed his head and flicked his tongue against her nipple, circling the areola before taking the tip between his plush lips and into his hot mouth. Ardress gasped as her crevice slickened even more.

"No, please don't," she whispered, unable to find her voice.

"Is this not what you wanted, Princess?"

"No..." she said with uncertainty laced heavily in her response. Did she want this?

Mikahr was handsome with his dark brown skin and long locks framing his strong face. His arms were corded with strength and his stature was manly and sure. And what throbbed against her was more than a little bit. The familiar ache returned and she wondered what it felt like to be penetrated by a man. She had been so close with Kadari and that had been snatched away from her, leaving a desire that wouldn't die down.

Mikahr snaked a hand down between them. Ardress cried out when his finger dipped between her lips with ease. She was embarrassingly moist...practically drenching. Mikahr's hard-on raged against her and he sighed at how wet her pussy was.

"If you didn't want this, why are you so wet?" Ardress was at a loss for words. She couldn't explain herself. There was no way to deny that she was turned on, especially as she trembled with pleasure while Mikahr stirred between her creamy lips, swirling his fingertips around her stiff clit and stroking her opening as it slickened his fingers incessantly. His cocked throbbed against her thigh and she tried not to like what he was doing to her, but her hips began to move against her will...moving against Mikahr's probing fingers.

He dipped his head to her breasts again, licking and sucking her tips, nibbling lightly. His grip slackened and Ardress instinctively pushed him away from her breasts, but her strength was weakened by desire and after each push he'd press back, taking a nipple back into his mouth again as his hand continued to play between her legs.

Her breath became ragged as orgasm neared. She hated herself for allowing him to touch her so erotically, but there wasn't anything she could do to stop the train that was coming. Mikahr felt her knees weaken and he knew she was about to cum. He slowly pressed the tip of a thick finger against her opening and teased the rim while he wildly assaulted her breast with his tongue, licking her globes thoroughly. He had expected her tight hole to be much looser. Ardress flailed her arms, striking his shoulders, but this time he didn't care about being hit...he knew she was in the throes of pleasure now, no longer fighting him.

His fingers were driving her crazy. She wanted him to push deeper but he continued to tease her entrance, stroking until she convulsed, and cried out against his neck. His lips met hers in a hard, almost painful kiss, devouring her mouth like he couldn't get enough of her tongue.

Ardress forgot who the enemy was...in fact she was sure the enemy was her own body. She couldn't stop the desire she felt for this man she barely knew and yet, when she looked into his face, into his eyes, she felt a connection that she couldn't account for. She had never been this free with anyone except Kadari, and only when he had become her husband. She couldn't explain what was happening between her and Mikahr...why he had such a power over her.

He lifted her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. He continued to kiss her languidly as he carried her to back into the dark bedroom and set her on the edge of the bed. He stood between her legs and removed his shirt, his skin glistening in the single sliver of moonlight that sliced into the pitch black darkness.

He quickly removed his linen pants and pushed Ardress back on the bed, looming over her with his arms holding his chest up above hers. His erection throbbed between them against her belly. Fear gripped her at that exact moment. His shaft felt long and thick against her, searing her skin with its fiery heat.

"Wait," she hesitated.

"Shut-up," he said harshly and Ardress flinched. He was being rough with her, now.

He reached down and rubbed the tip of his cock up and down her soaked slit, teasing her clit once last time before positioning his tip against her opening.

"Please, wait, I'm not ready...this isn't how I planned this," Ardress pleaded again.

"I know. You planned to seduce me...but you're going to receive a taste of your own medicine, Princess," he snarled before pressing into her in one hard push. She cried out in agony. She was so tight around him he nearly came on the first stroke. He mistook her cry for pleasure and stroked again, then again burying his ridged length inside of her to the hilt. A broken cry escaped Ardress' throat and she heaved a powerful sob.

Mikahr stilled his hips, his erection still deep inside her tightness. He looked down at her in the moonlight in disbelief. She can't be! He thought wildly as she wriggled beneath him like a delicate butterfly impaled on the tip of an anthropologists needle. She was so tight that his cock almost ached inside of her. He seemed frozen above her in thought.

His stillness allowed her time to slightly adjust to the feeling of his hardness within her. Tingling happened within and her walls rippled around the length of his shaft. He shook his head...still in shock over what he was discovering about her...what he had just done to her. He withdrew himself, switched on the light beside the bed and immediately looked between her legs. Blood! Oh God what had he done?!

"Princess Ardress..." he started but lost his words. His withdrawal left her feeling oddly empty and sore.

"I assume you finally got what you wanted," she sniffled and looked away from him. He felt like the lowest piece of shit ever. He had taken her virginity...without any regard. But he hadn't known that she was pure. He thought she was a seductress...Prince Hirundi had told him so.

" I am so sorry. Did I hurt you? God, I'm so sorry," he addressed her with sincere eyes. He wanted to hold her, but he reserved himself. He didn't deserve to touch her again and he didn't want to violate her any further.

"Just get out," she bowed her head. God, she looked so delicate and vulnerable. Mikahr sat on the edge of the bed trying to think of something to do to make it better.

"I said, just go," she repeated, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Please, I didn't know," he tried to explain.

"So that makes it okay?" She glared at him.

"I thought...I thought you wanted it. I'm sorry, Princess, please believe me. I would have never touched you had I known you had never been with a man before."

"I told you to wait...that I wasn't ready. You wouldn't listen," she sobbed, overwhelmed with the reality of what had just happened to her. "I never thought my first time would be like this." Mikahr couldn't deny her the truth. She had asked him to stop...told him she wasn't ready, but he had misunderstood her. He longed to comfort her, but he knew she probably hated him. So he rose, dressed silently, and slipped out of her room. He went to the video room and watched what had happened, then erased the footage. He was a monster for what he had done to her. He felt horrible, absolutely horrible and he was worried for her body and her feelings...he knew that both had to be hurt and it was all his fault.

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Ardress had spent the night in turmoil with her emotions and what she had been told about Kadari. She wouldn't believe that he would abandon her, or have other wives. Had she been so easily fooled? Was she that naïve?

She tossed and turned, pondering her life at the moment. She had an identity that she knew nothing about, her husband could be nothing like what she thought and her first lover had been a man she didn't even know anything about except that he was devastatingly sexy in everything that he did. She hated him and she lusted after him at the same time.

Her swollen privacy ached tenderly and there was a new sensation that was driving her mad. Only what she could describe as an itch deep within her that was unreachable. A new part of her had been opened up and it was begging for her attention. She was trying her best to ignore it and failing miserably.

Ardress tossed and turned restlessly like that for what seemed like hours until finally, sleep claimed her weary body. However, it seemed like as soon as she closed her eyes she was startled awake again by a loud explosion.

She sat up in the bed as the estate came to life. Smoke started to seep into her room and tiny licks of fire darted from under the door. She called out in the darkness. She didn't know why, but she called for Mikahr. She continued to scream as she frantically looked for another way out of the room. She ran for the French doors and flung them open. The terrace was too high up for her to make a jump.

She saw an entourage of people running and yelled for their help. Hirundi slowed pace and squinted at the balcony before hurrying on his way to whatever escape vehicle he had waiting for him.

"No," Ardress yelled. "Brother, don't leave me, please!" She screamed. "Help me, I am going to burn." She looked back into the room and flames had engulfed the whole wall where the door was. It was a raging blaze and she could feel the intense heat growing closer towards her on the terrace.

She paced desperately surveying her chances of surviving the jump down onto hard pavement. She knew the impact would be enough to break a limb. She wept. Mikahr was nowhere in sight. The heat was becoming unbearable. The back of her neck seemed like it was sizzling and the smoke was beginning to burn her eyes even out there on the balcony. Another loud explosion rocked the palace estate.

She coughed and lifted her leg over the ledge. She had to take her chances jumping because if she stayed on the terrace the smoke or flames would surely kill her.

"Ardress!" She heard her name being yelled. She couldn't see, the smoke was so thick and the roar of the flames muffled the voice, but she was sure that it was Mikahr. For some reason, she had felt that he wouldn't leave her.

Her vision was blurred and her eyes and nose burned. She felt hands grab her arm and a mask engulf her mouth and nose. The inhaled fresh air into her lungs deeply as she stumbled within the guidance of strong hands. She couldn't see where they were going but she could feel the air cool considerably as she was led away from the flames. After walking blindly for a while she felt wind on her face and heard the sound of water.

"Careful, step up," she heard Mikahr's voice clearly for the first time. Her stomach fluttered.

"Where are we going?"

"Onto a boat...I have a safe place I can take us, but we have to hurry."

"What happened back there," Ardress asked.

"Your husband just tried to kill us all, including you," Mikahr spat more nastily then he had meant to. He had to remember that this wasn't her fault. That she wasn't how he initially thought her to be.

"No," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Princess. He knew we had you here at the estate and he attacked us without regard for your safety. Had I not know how to get you out of there you would have died and would not have cared."

She shook her head in confusion.

"I'll prove it to you," Mikahr said, desperate for her to believe him, "but you have to trust me."

"And why should I trust you...you hurt me?"

The words stung Mikahr to the bone. He cared what she thought of him and he didn't want her to be afraid of him. He wanted to protect her...he had saved her life.

After leaving her in the tiny cabin bathroom to douse her eyes, he went and maneuvered the boat out into the water. He was at the helm for a long while before Ardress came up from below, her eyes puffy and red but able to open and able to see. He killed the throttle and seated her safely before buckling her in, then he fired up the speed and took the helm again. Neither of them spoke for a long moment.

The night air was warm and the water was still tropically-blue in the moonlight. Jungle lined the shore to the right of them and to the left of them was open sea.

After a long ride in silence Ardress finally spoke over the roar of the engine.

"Thank you for saving me," she said loudly and sincerely. "I really do appreciate it."

He admired her in the moonlight. God she was so incredibly beautiful!

"And I really am sorry about what happened...what I did," he hesitated. "There's no way I can ever make it right and...God I'm so sorry I hurt you and I will never harm you again, Princess." The way he called her 'princess' made her belly flip-flop and she became keenly aware of the newly acquired itch again.

"Tell me how you can prove to me that Prince Kadari isn't the man I know him to be," she changed the subject without acknowledging his apology.