Somehow, it might have been easier if he'd simply taken her, as he'd intimated he would do, take her against her will and with force because she could not resist.  But this was different, this was almost akin to seduction, and Aurora didn't know how to react to it, how it made her feel atop her fear and revulsion and. . .curiosity?  How could this man, this legend of a distant past, make her feel anything remotely resembling curiosity?<br/><br/>Her body, young and full of life and throbbing with the needs of youth, responded, altogether against her will, to the least bit of gentleness, and she moaned, softly, as he kissed and nibbled at her, even as her muscles tensed in a confused start as so pleasant a reaction.  "Balthazar. . .promise me. . .promise me I will be Empress."