Under the Oak Tree



Chapter 39: Chapter 39

He must be angry because I interfered when it wasn’t my place.

Maxi’s entire body shook. Enraged men frightened her, and she felt faint at the thought of such an immense man admonishing her.

Violence was not the only thing she feared. Seeing the man who had been so kind to her suddenly turn so cold made her heart ache. Suppressing the urge to beg him not to hate her, she clutched his cloak.

They soon reached the castle. Riftan dismounted before helping Maxi down.

“Take my hand.”

She hesitantly placed her hand in his, and he lifted her off the horse. But instead of setting her down, he continued to carry her across the garden, ignoring the servants who had rushed out to greet them.

“Send Talon to the stables,” he ordered in an icy voice.

Riftan strode into the great hall. Maxi looked up to study his expression, but he marched on without sparing a glance at the space she had spent weeks renovating. She could see that he was livid. She swallowed hard before opening her mouth to speak.

“R-Riftan… P-Please put m-me down.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Riftan climbed two steps at a time with Maxi in his arms. Though he had traveled for days in full armor, he showed no sign of fatigue. Only when they reached the bedroom did he finally set her down.

Maxi tried to find her balance as Riftan’s eyes bored into her. Was he going to berate her now? Would he strike her? But she had only tried to settle a conflict as the lady of the castle…

Clutching her dress, she was about to speak when something abruptly entered her mouth.

“Mmph!”

Her eyes widened. She felt a cold, armored hand slide behind her head before grabbing her by her hair to pull her in. Sweet, chapped lips rubbed against her own soft lips, and a wet tongue slid inside her mouth.

Maxi gripped Riftan’s arms. Her heaving chest was pressed tightly against his armor, and the stubble on his chin chafed her skin painfully. Gasping for air, she looked up with quivering eyes to see Riftan’s cold, hardened face staring back at her.

“What were you going to do if I hadn’t arrived just then?” he snarled.

He grabbed her face, and Maxi shuddered as the cold steel touched her skin.

“I-I didn’t think th-they’d b-break through the gates…”

“You shouldn’t have been there in the first place!” Riftan cried, his voice growing louder. “You should never, ever put yourself in danger. Do you understand?”

Maxi quickly nodded, which seemed to placate him. He relaxed his shoulders and let out a long sigh. After hesitating for a few moments, Maxi caressed his chin. Riftan leaned his finely shaped forehead against hers. His hair smelled faintly of grass, and Maxi wondered if he had slept in a meadow the night before.

“I felt my blood run cold the moment I saw you out there. Dammit! I didn’t ride day and night to come find you like that.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Riftan’s face grew serious again.

“If I had arrived just a second later, things could have been much worse. Dammit…”

“I-I didn’t m-mean to d-distress you. I’m s-sorry.”

Riftan began to knead his face with armored hands. Startled, Maxi tugged at his arms to stop him. Riftan stared at her hand for a moment before undoing the knot binding the armor to his arm. After removing the vambrace and gauntlets, he threw them onto the floor and pulled Maxi’s face closer to his.

“Are you hurt?”

“N-No, I’m fine.”

“Show me.”

Like a moth to a flame, Maxi’s gaze became fixed on Riftan’s dark eyes. Hot, calloused hands grazed her cheeks and disheveled hair. Her breath quickened, and her heart began to race. Every night that he had been away, she had curled up alone in their spacious bed, missing him terribly.

“I want to see it with my own eyes,” Riftan said in a low voice, caressing the soft spot behind her ear.

His hands slid down to push her robe off her shoulders. Maxi shivered, though she wasn’t cold. In fact, she could feel sweat trickling down the back of her neck. His muscular body emanated heat from beneath the cold armor, igniting a spark inside her.

Riftan removed Maxi’s hairpin, and her hair cascaded down. Tossing the pin onto the floor, he grabbed a handful of her mane and brought it to his face.

“A head for every scratch.”

“W-What?”

“I’ll cut off a head for every bruise I find on you.”

Hearing Riftan whisper such words so gently made the fine hair on her body stand up. It was a stark contrast from the fiery temper he had shown earlier. He slowly slid her dress off her shoulders. Her body shook like a dragonfly caught in a spider’s web. His dark eyes moved steadily from her pale collarbone to her breasts, which were still covered by a thin chemise. Maxi felt breathless.

“That’s one head,” Riftan murmured, pointing at a small bruise on her forearm.

Maxi tried to cover up the mark. “Th-This is from when I-I bumped into a shelf in the l-library…”

“Don’t lie.”

“I-It’s not a- oh!”

Riftan gently kissed the bruise. His wet lips made soft pecking noises as they moved down her arm. When he reached the spot on her wrist where her erratic pulse could be felt, he bit down gently. Then, he wrapped an arm around her hips and lifted her off the floor. Maxi instinctively clung to his neck, her breasts just below his head. He pressed his lips to them as he strode to the bed.

“Riftan… I-I promise, I’m not hur-”

“I told you, I’ll confirm that myself.”

Riftan strode to the bed and gently lowered Maxi onto it. Her dress was bunched around her waist. He pulled it off and threw it on the floor. Clad only in her chemise, Maxi looked down nervously. Riftan removed her shoes before lifting the hem of the chemise. When his hand grazed against the scrape on her leg, she felt a sting and reflexively tried to pull her leg away.

“I g-got this when I t-tripped over my own f-foot…”

“This just sealed their death sentence.”

Riftan’s eyes grew frighteningly dark as he examined the wound. Maxi held his arm firmly.

“It d-doesn’t hurt at all. Please d-don’t kill anyone.”

“They not only tried to raid my land, but they even tried to harm my wife. Killing them and their family isn’t nearly enough. If I don’t make an example out of them, this could happen again.”

“B-But y-you’ve only just returned…”

She had not meant to whine, but the words escaped her lips before she realized it. Flustered, she jerked her head up, unsure of where she should rest her eyes.

She squeezed her eyes shut and blurted out, “Y-You’d have to l-leave again if w-war broke out… Th-Then I’ll be a-all alone… again.”

“Dammit,” Riftan muttered under his breath.

He pulled her down toward him and kissed her with such fervor that she thought he might devour her. Maxi moaned into his mouth. As he pushed her head back, her body arched backward unsteadily. Riftan raised her chemise to her waist and stroked her hips. The coldness of his armor and the searing heat of his hands made her head spin. Maxi clung to his neck with shaking breaths. His tongue, which had been roving inside her mouth, slowly slid out to lick her wet lips. When he looked down at her, his black eyes were full of desire.

“The things you do to me…”

Licking the saliva dribbling down her chin, Riftan pulled the chemise over her head. Finding herself naked on the bed, Maxi curled up into a ball. Riftan cupped her breast with a burning hand and began to suck greedily. Maxi pulled him closer, letting out a soft moan. She brushed her hands against his bronze neck before combing them through his thick black hair. It was a strange feeling. She was naked under a fully armored man, allowing him to do to her as he pleased. She felt both powerless and hedonistic at the same time.

Riftan’s eyes clouded over as his hands began to move more urgently. Unable to contain himself any longer, he suddenly pulled her into a crushing embrace. Her breasts were firmly pressed against his armor, their hardened tips grinding roughly against the cold metal. The chill of the armor against her skin sent a tingling sensation up her ears.

“These past few weeks have felt like years. You were all I could think about.”