An Entanglement of Flesh and Curse
“Mix bodies?” Her unfocused eyes blinked without pause. She turned the words over in her mind, trying to grasp the situation. They floated through her skull like oil on water, refusing to sink.
Shin-wol lifted Yeo-won by the waist and laid her down on the bedding. Their facing positions reversed until he loomed above her.
The instant his hand settled on her breast, gooseflesh rippled across her skin.
Yeo-won seized his wrist with both hands and cried out.
“Wait! What—what are you saying you’re going to do?”
“There isn’t time enough to explain it from the beginning.”
Her mouth fell open.
This couldn’t be happening. She had vaguely sensed that the skinship growing heavier each day might one day lead here, yet she had never imagined it would arrive so abruptly.
“No matter what, right now is—”
“The mark has already descended as far as your chest. If we delay any longer, this curse will begin to devour your body. Is that what you desire?”
His voice cracked like a whip. Startled, Yeo-won frantically touched her throat.
“Is there something on my neck?”
It had stung now and then, but she had simply assumed it was a scratch. There were no mirrors in this room, so she had no way of knowing what mark had appeared on her neck. Neither the dagger nor Cheong-sil had said a word.
Perhaps they had remained silent on Shin-wol’s orders. Yeo-won chewed her lip, still tracing her throat. Everything was happening far too suddenly—the curse, the demand that they mingle their bodies. She had been about to say that she needed even a few hours to steel herself.
The moment her lips parted, Shin-wol lowered his head and kissed her without hesitation.
His tongue traced her lips, then slipped between them. It caught her startled tongue at once, coiling around it and drawing it deep. This was no longer the kiss from before; raw lust threaded through every stroke, and Yeo-won squeezed her eyes shut.
Their tongues tangled, producing wet, obscene sounds. When Yeo-won flinched and tried to retreat, he drove his tongue forward with ruthless insistence. He swept over hers, scraped the delicate inner flesh of her mouth, and bit down just enough to sting.
Kissing him felt like having her soul pulled from her body. The long, dizzying kiss that had once been impossible to follow now allowed her to breathe in shallow gasps through the narrow gaps between their lips.
While she was lost in the kiss, Shin-wol’s hand moved below, closing firmly over her breast. The smooth press of his palm against her nipple felt both foreign and chilling.
“Hup—”
The moment her grip on his wrist slackened, his hand began to knead her breast with deliberate gentleness.
“Haa…”
When the tongue filling her mouth finally withdrew, Yeo-won exhaled a burning breath. He licked her lips once more as though reluctant to leave them, then sealed another kiss there like a stamp before sliding lower.
The cool brush of his breath against her nape made her body jerk.
He licked the column of her throat with thorough care.
It felt faintly ticklish, strangely intimate. Similar to the way Cheong-sil sometimes licked her face, yet entirely different.
That hot, wet tongue traced the wound as if soothing it, then a low voice murmured.
At the same moment, his teeth sank into her shoulder.
“Ugh!”
A crushed moan tore free at the sudden pain. The bite burned as though he had driven fangs into her flesh. The faint metallic scent of blood rose between them. When he licked the wound, the pain ebbed. It hurt enough to bring tears to her eyes, yet before she could speak, the hand still cupping her breast began to move again.
He pressed the stiffened peak, flicked it lightly with a fingertip, then began rolling it in slow, deliberate circles.
“Ah!”
A moan burst from the sharp, dull pleasure. Startled by how loud it was, Yeo-won clapped a hand over her mouth. Her body twitched at the electric jolt; Shin-wol caught her nipple between thumb and forefinger, tugging and caressing with merciless skill.
“Hngh…”
Her tightly pressed lips trembled as she fought to hold back the sounds. Moans still slipped through her teeth, and her body jerked in time with every stroke of his hand.
“Huu… Shin-wol… my lord…”
Moisture shimmered in her half-lidded eyes. As though trying to restrain him, she laid her hand over the back of his.
The moment she spoke his name, lust flooded his mind like ink in water.
He bent his head and took the erect nipple into his mouth, sucking hard.
“Hauk!”
Her waist arched violently. He wrapped an arm around it, holding her in place while his tongue flicked the sensitive bud inside the wet heat of his mouth. His other hand continued to knead her opposite breast. Startled by the sudden onslaught of pleasure, Yeo-won clutched his shoulders and writhed.
Shin-wol only pressed her down with his weight, turning his head this way and that. He nibbled, licked, rolled the tender flesh between his teeth, and sucked with single-minded devotion.
“Hngh… hah… ah…”
Yeo-won gave up trying to push him away and raised both arms to cover her eyes. She tried to deny the pleasure by squeezing them shut, but it was useless.
Having toyed with one nipple as though it were candy, Shin-wol suddenly lifted his head only to capture the other without hesitation. Because her breasts were small, he drew not only the peak but a generous portion of soft flesh into his mouth as well.
Yeo-won bit her lip until it hurt.
A ticklish, aching heat coiled low in her belly. Her sex twitched, releasing a slick flood of arousal.
At last Shin-wol’s face drew back. Even in parting, the tip of his tongue flicked her nipple sharply, and her waist shuddered.
Breathing hard, Shin-wol sat up. Beneath him, Yeo-won still covered her eyes, lips clamped tight. He smiled faintly and pried her arms apart.
“Hngh…”
Her dark, tear-filled eyes swam with ecstasy. He pressed one brief kiss to her tightly sealed lips. Light, repeated pecks coaxed them open, and then a kiss so deep it stole her breath swallowed her whole.
Shin-wol guided her hands to circle his neck himself.
The sight of her clinging to him, sniffling like a child while her body radiated ripe sensuality, stirred something deep in his chest. Her cheeks burned red as ripe plums, and he felt his own arousal grow heavier. Proof of it prodded insistently against her flat stomach—his erection, swollen nearly to his navel.
Yeo-won glanced downward at the strange pressure, then gaped in open shock as though she had seen something forbidden. She jerked her head up and shook it frantically.
His expression must have revealed everything; there was no need for words.
“That isn’t the problem…”
Even as she shook her head in denial, his hand slid downward. With one palm he easily parted her tightly closed thighs, then stroked the length of her sex with his middle finger.
Each pass produced a lewd, wet sound that echoed through the room. Mortified, Yeo-won opened her mouth to protest, only to be silenced once more by his lips.
The hot, slippery arousal flowing from her soaked his finger and spilled over at once.
His voice had grown low and rough. When he parted her folds and slid inside, the trapped heat rushed out. A sweet, musky scent bloomed throughout the room.
The rare thrill made Shin-wol’s hand move faster. He bent over her, taking a peaked nipple back into his mouth and sucking with wet, rhythmic sounds.
He spread her slickness over every inch of her sex with broad strokes of his palm. Deliberately, his fingers nudged the sensitive bundle of nerves at the apex. Yeo-won’s body jerked beyond her control; her thighs quivered. When his thumb began circling her clit, she clawed at the bedding, desperately clinging to the last threads of her sanity.
Then, without warning, he located her entrance and pressed two fingertips inside. The sudden stretch turned her vision white. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Ah! It—it hurts—ngh!”
She grabbed his shoulder on instinct. In response, he gently bit down on her nipple.
“Hngh…”
The finger that had entered only halfway moved slowly, pressing deeper by degrees until the back of his hand brushed against her folds. Yeo-won panted through her tears, legs shaking violently.
The finger that had pushed to the hilt withdrew, then drove deep again. Each thrust sent droplets of wetness flying. The crude, wet sounds filled her ears until her mind began to drift.
Suddenly the fingers pulled free. Before she could catch her breath, he lifted her legs high.
Yeo-won startled and struggled, but he only laughed with arrogant amusement and settled her feet on his shoulders.
In this position, her most private place would be completely exposed. She sobbed and shook her head, yet his fingers plunged back inside her.
“Hah—!”
Every squelching thrust sent a strange pleasure chasing the pain, setting her thoughts ablaze. Watching her hover on the razor’s edge between torment and ecstasy, Shin-wol lowered his head once more.
“No—! Ahhng!”
The moment his tongue swept over the swollen flesh beside her entrance and his lips closed around her clit, the pain dissolved into a dizzying wave of pleasure that nearly bowed her spine.