Ceno starts a little foreplay.

Once alone with Ceno behind the curtain, you find yourself being tossed onto the abnormally soft bed and pounced on by the young prince. He goes straight for the sweet spot on your neck, kissing and nipping it in just the right way. You arch your back into his toned body and gasp out how much you loved him, while he whispers the same against your ear.

“I was so worried about you,” he pants against your skin, “I swear if that bastard did anything to hurt you...”

You gently push him up so you can look him in the eyes. You hadn’t noticed until now that he had somehow shrugged off his robes before joining you on the bed; only a fine cloth shirt separates you and his upper body. Smiling, you gently push him the rest of the way up into a sitting position and slide your fingers under his shirt. “Please, don’t do anything rash, ” you murmur softly as you slide your hands up his body, feeling up his abs as you do so, “My heart almost stopped when he came after you.” You tug his shirt off his body, his golden curls swirling on his head as the fine cloth sweeps over his dome.

“I’ll be fine, ” he tries to comfort you, “He’s not the first bully I had to stand up to.” He then gave you a playful smirk.

You roll your eyes and smile back. For the first year you spent in Deni, you were positively brutal to Ceno. Every time you caught him looking at you, you would knock him off his feet and then stand over him and threaten to beat the shit out of the “little runt.” You didn’t ease up on the boy until he challenged you to a duel after his friends dared him to do so. You saw this as an opportunity to put him in his place, so you eagerly agreed to the duel. Much the same way you did with Prince Iasos, so you could humiliate the young blonde boy who seemed to always be by your side. The moment he challenged you, you started chasing him around the training yard with your practice sword. However, unlike your fight with Iasos, Ceno was actually able to beat you. While you were chasing him around the yard, letting out your Amazon war cry, Ceno caught you off guard by diving under you and knocking you off of your feet.

You remember looking up at the sixteen-year-old boy in shock, dumbfounded that someone so weak could have beaten you. You only became more confused when Ceno dropped his sword and start apologizing repeatedly. It was a strange and humiliating situation for the both of you.

Afterward, your trainer dressed you down and made sure you knew exactly why you lost, that you were being incredibly reckless, and not paying attention to what your opponent was doing, while Ceno received a similar dressing down from his mother.

“That fight still didn’t count,” you remind him with a coy smile.

Ceno smiles back and slowly coils his strong arm around you, “And yet, you still find me worthy of sharing your bed.”

You started to lid your eyes as you run your tan fingers over the light skin of his chest. “The reason why I want to share a bed with you has nothing to do with our childish antics.”

Ceno lightly runs a hand through your hair before grabbing the back of your head. You feel him pulling your lips closer to his. “Then tell me why you do find me worthy,” he urges breathing warmly against your lips.

Despite how much you want your lips to meet, you have to stop him by pushing back against his chest. “Not yet, ” you pant breathily, “I need you to stay focused for tonight, and you can’t do that if my curse is setting your loins on fire.”

“But I’m already aroused, ” he purrs. He is now brushing his nose against yours, his lips are so close you can feel the warmth on your chin. You were so tempted to just let him kiss you, to toss you onto your back, spread your legs, and make passionate love to you.

“Not as aroused as you will be if you kiss me.” The way you say “kiss me” seems to make him want to kiss you even more, for now, his lips are brushing against yours. “There…” you gasp in a short breath of air and swallow, “There are…other places where you…can kiss me.”

Ceno pauses for a moment as if to ponder if it was better to kiss your lips and risk a powerful boner or kiss the rest of your body. You soon learn his decision as he drops his lips to your jaw and kisses it instead. The moment his lips met your skin, you let out a warm exhale. The fact that his lips are so close and yet so far just makes it all the hotter.

Soon his lips are traveling slowly down your throat, over your neck, and across your shoulders. As he kisses his way down your body, you find yourself slowly laying down on your back, and arching your spine. You are quick to realize that Ceno has driven your Amazon heat into overdrive with his teasing. Something that you had experienced a few times with Thea, but not with Ceno. In this state, a man could do whatever he wanted to an Amazon and she could neither argue nor resist. An Amazon in this condition is in a precarious state. Even if she hates the man’s guts he could mate with her without risk of suffering the effect of the curse. You are about to find out just how trustworthy Ceno is.