306

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"I am going to go with you after the ceremony tomorrow," Inés said. "I was planning to surprise you, but I am telling you ahead of time so as not to give you the fright of your life when I walk in through our front door."

Cárcel's eyes went wide. "You are coming with me to Calztela?"

"Yes. That way, we can be together until you leave the next morning. And I can watch you get on the warship from afar."

"Do not overexert yourself," he said firmly. She was surprised by his attitude, having imagined that he would jump for joy.

"You are the one going to war. Why would traveling with you to Calztela be too much for me?" she replied, furrowing her brow as if she had been insulted.

He gently pressed at her wrinkled brow and answered, "The banquet will continue late into the night. I will be able to get away at noon, but... I am worried about you getting in a carriage late at night to travel to Calztela."

"Just forget about it and watch me miraculously appear before you. You can look forward to it."

"I cannot. It worries me," he insisted.

Inés was disappointed to see him react so contrary to her expectations and eyed him pointedly for a moment. Then she slapped away Cárcel's hand, which had crept up and begun to fondle her breast. His other hand remained on her face, gently smoothing her furrowed brow, looking genuinely concerned even as his wayward hand began to touch her chest.

"Do I really deserve a slap for worrying about you?" he asked playfully as he leaned in to press his lips against the tip of her chin, smiling. It was Cárcel Escalante's signature seductive smile.

Inés raised her other hand to cover his lips and said coldly, "Save that smile for some other woman you wish to seduce."

"But you said yourself that I will never have another woman in my life aside from you." The hand that had fondled her over her dress dropped away before suddenly slipping under the layers of clothes that were only loosely held together with a ribbon. His palm swept across her bare skin and took a gentle hold of one breast as he trailed kisses down her cheek and muttered, "You even claimed that you would poison me if I were to betray you."

"I would kill you. Both you and the woman."

"It's thrilling to hear that you love me enough to want to kill me, Inés." His seductive smile turned into a bright beam. Only his face seemed lit up in the dim room, since they had closed the curtains before their lovemaking that afternoon.

I never thought he would be so happy to hear that I would kill him if he betrayed me... Inés grumbled inwardly. If he had said the same thing to her, she would have undoubtedly chided him for daring to say that he would kill her. She knew her selfish temperament too well. She most likely would have replied with something like, "Even if I were to betray you, how could you possibly think about killing me when you say you love me? You should have kept me from betraying you in the first place. You must have done something wrong for me to betray you. Obviously, you ought to only kill the other man before you take me back..." 

It was nonsense, of course. He had not even betrayed someone as terrible as Oscar, and he would rather die than ever do any wrong, meaning that Cárcel Escalante would never dare to betray her. Even when she had allowed him complete freedom at the beginning of their marriage, he had been miserable. Other men most likely would not be able to understand him or the way he was not only happy but aroused by his wife's obsession with him.

"Please tie me up and continue threatening me," Cárcel requested.

Inés gave him an exasperated look, but he seemed charmed even by that as he pressed kisses all over her frowning brow, making her shake her head.

They had just finished a round of lovemaking, and yet her telling him that she would kill him if he betrayed her had aroused him once more.

"Would you not say such things with that growing bulge in your trousers? And do not make it sound like I would actually do something like that," she said.

"Blast it, you're right," he agreed, roughly pulling her closer by her waist. His arousal pressed firmly against her lower stomach. He let out a ragged breath near her ear. "Whenever you say things like this, I want to spend the whole day peeling off your clothes and devouring you. I want to tie you to the bed so you cannot go anywhere."

"I can be stark naked all day, but you won't be here," Inés replied with a pout, as if this were his own fault.

Cárcel muttered a few curses under his breath and lightly bit the tip of her nose. His hand that had slipped under the open neckline of her dress and was fondling her breast clenched for a moment. He grabbed and twisted her mound before going back to gently massaging it while his fingers persistently touched her erect nipple. "Once I return, would you do that to me?"

"Do what, exactly?"

"Tie me up by my hands and feet, strip naked, climb on top of me, and tease me. Please?"

"What a bother... You get aroused without all that effort, so why would I?"

"If you promise to do it, I can pleasure myself with that thought alone the whole time I am at war."

"You are going to think of it regardless, now that you have the idea in your head. Why do I need to promise you anything? Go ahead and imagine me naked all you like," Inés said, generously giving him permission. He would never betray her anyway, so she decided to allow him some small pleasure. But he looked unsatisfied with her response. "Simply imagining it isn't enough. I need your promise-to keep my hope strong."

"To feed your lust, you mean."

"I don't mind whatever you call it, as long as I have you."

Inés's heart throbbed at his sincere and loving words amid the playful banter. She was certain now that there was something wrong with her head as well. His gorgeous eyes were staring intently at her breasts all the while.

She placed her hands on his cheeks and raised his face so that his gaze was forced to leave her chest, now freed from her inner slip, and meet her eyes. "Once you return, I promise to torment you until you beg me to stop," she told him indulgently and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "How do you want me to torture you? Shall I keep you yearning and aching all day long?"

"I was asking for you to tease me, not to torture me."

"But you love the idea of being tortured by me, you insatiable creature."

"I love whatever you do to me... but if you keep me from finishing for so long, I might die."

"Humans do not die so easily. Oh, would you like me to tie you up and make you watch as I pleasure myself?"

"Damn it, Inés."

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it if I spread my legs in plain sight and touch myself down there with you unable to touch me. Right?"

"We can do that right now. What are we waiting for? Let's do it."

"We are discussing future promises, Escalante."

"You touching yourself... Why did I never think of that myself? I'm an utter fool."

"Your wife isn't, so it's all right. Promise you'll return to me safely. Whether you want to be tied up or tie me up, I don't mind. Do whatever you want when you return. I just want you to make it back to me, Cárcel."

Their lips slowly pressed together. He let out a small sigh and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Inés then turned to kiss his shoulder and muttered, "Of course, you must return with all your limbs intact, so that I can tie them up." 

"If I do not return in one piece, just consider me to have died at your hand. We ought to get divorced in that case..."

"There you go again, saying something ridiculous."

"I never before imagined clinging to you as a one-legged man... I cannot allow that."

"You are mine in whatever shape or form, Cárcel Escalante." She pinched his taut chest and bit down hard on his shoulder.

Cárcel seemed unaffected, however, as he nuzzled his face into the crook of her shoulder and breathed in deeply. A peaceful silence settled over the room for a while.

Then Inés suddenly spoke up as if she had just remembered something. "How could you not be thrilled at the thought of me seeing you off? You ought to ready a carpet for me all the way from the foot of Logorño Hill."

"If you put it that way, it does sound extremely ungrateful."

"Do you admit that you did wrong?"

"I do."

"Then refrain from drinking too much at the headquarters and wait for me to arrive."

"Waiting for you will be torture... what if I meet you halfway at Patería?"

Patería was situated quite a distance away from Calztela. It was not a distance one would usually travel to greet someone.

"First you told me not to come, and now you want to meet me halfway... Stop being so extreme, will you?" she said.

"My love for you is too strong, Inés."

"I am going to see you off, not the other way around. Just wait for me."

"I suppose you're right..." Cárcel grimaced, apparently already pained by the idea of waiting. They still had a whole day before they had to part, so he was being ridiculous.

Realizing that she found his antics endearing rather than irritating, Inés had to admit that she had lost to him. She did not stop him from nuzzling against her hair and acting overly familiar once again, choosing to fondle his chest instead.

It was a special moment because it was so much like their everyday in Calztela. She knew that they had to part soon, but didn't want to. I do not know how I am going to wait for you, Cárcel... The words on the tip of her tongue disappeared along with a sigh.

After several more extended moments, she finally said, "This is apparently my last chance."

"Ines..."

"Ending your own life takes you back a decade in time based on the first time you committed that sin. The incident you remember... That was my first time committing that sin. At twenty-six. Then I was sixteen again, and at twenty I killed... my child, and then myself, and returned to when I was merely six years old. To the time I designated you as my betrothed without your consent. I had an inkling, but Oscar made it clear that this was a predetermined rule. If I were to commit suicide once again..." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Time will be turned back, and you would be born again, but I wouldn't exist. In other words, we would not get another chance to be together."