Captive Mail (10 page)

He waited to see if she would actual y talk to him, his hand stil caressing her soft skin.

“She didn’t let you climax either?”

Inwardly Harlan smiled with relief. A woman’s curiosity was a marvelous thing. “Oh, we could climax, but not inside her. Only the king was al owed to do that.” He chuckled against her hair. “Sometimes we were al so wet it was ridiculous.”

“And the king al owed this?”

“He was happy because the queen was always sexual y “He was happy because the queen was always sexual y satisfied and eager for him.” She wiggled against him and his cock thickened even more. Whatever potion Frytha had given him made it incredibly easy for him to recover. “Of course, as time went on, the king wanted to give her everything she desired himself and we weren’t as necessary.”

“And he didn’t kil you?”

“No, he is our friend. We are stil required to service the queen on ceremonial occasions and when the king is away on business.”

“There should be women to satisfy her instead.”

“There are not many women on Valhal a, you know that.”

He sighed. “The king has invited many females from the queen’s planet of Earth to live on Valhal a. These women are not appreciated by the men on their home planet and are eager to find mates who wil be both loyal to them and sexual y satisfy them. The queen herself was abandoned with a child by a faithless man on Earth.”

“How typical.” Inga snorted. “It seems that males are the same the universe over.”

Harlan held his breath. “Did your father abandon you?”

She went stil . “My father left the temple, yes.”

“And he never came back?”

“How could he? He abandoned his vows to my mother. If he had returned, she would have had to sacrifice him to the goddess.”

“A hard choice if she loved him.”

She shoved hard at his chest and rol ed off him. “She didn’t love him. He was just her mate.”

He held her gaze. “As I am to you.”

“Yes.” She swal owed hard.

“A means to an end, a hard cock for your pleasure and a few jets of life-giving seed.”

“Yes.”

“And what if I want to be more, Inga? What if I want to make a life with you, a life that includes love?”

She didn’t say anything to him and he shoved a hand through his hair. “I’ve learned how it must feel to be a female on Valhal a, denied my freedom, my voice, only valued for my breeding abilities. I would
never
do that to a woman, especial y not to you. Can you not even try to trust me?”

She looked away from him.

“I have given up everything for you. Is that not enough?”

He climbed off the bed, walked over to where she had left her dagger and brought it back to her. He placed it in her unresisting palm. “If I mean so little to you, perhaps you should just end my life now. I won’t stop you.”

“You are being unreasonable, male. You have no right to demand anything from me.” Inga hissed.

“Nay, but I can ask.” He shook his head as she continued to glare at him and smiled. “Perhaps I ask too much.

Perhaps time wil make you see me as I real y am.”

There was a knock at the door and Inga looked up, secretly glad of any interruption that would save her from the confusion of her thoughts about this man.

“Who is it?”

The door opened and Sigrun swept in and made straight for Inga. Harlan stepped back into the shadows behind the bed.

“My dear, the search party has come back and your male was right! The king is there and he
has
taken a wife. Our guards didn’t let themselves been seen, of course, but I wonder what we should do now?” She patted Inga on the cheek. “I told you to wait until we had found out the truth before you went through with the ceremony. You could have had your pick of a dozen males that the king has brought with him!”

Inga tried not to look over to where her male stood. “I thought we received the right male from the goddess, mother.”

Sigrun waved an airy hand in the air. “The goddess can be wrong, you know. Now I must cal a meeting of the inner council. Get dressed and meet me in the council chamber.”

The silence that fel after Sigrun and the guards left was hard to break. Inga forced herself to look at the male.

“Is there something you wish to say to me?”

He inclined his head an icy inch. “I’m glad you took my advice and found out that it was the king at the summer palace.”

Despite the conciliatory nature of his words, Inga stiffened. “It was my mother’s decision, male. None of your doing,”

“I’m sure. Were you so certain I wouldn’t stay that you bound me to you with sacred vows? Did you not think I would make those vows
willingly
?”

The fury in his voice made her want to hide. Instead she found her clothes and began to pul them on. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to let them fal .

“I did what I thought was necessary.”

He walked as far away from her as the chain would al ow and turned his back. “Did it ever occur to you that no vow made unwil ingly can keep a person forever?”

“Obviously. Nothing kept my father here.”

“And every male, of course, is just like him.”

Just the ones I love
. Inga pressed her lips together to stop herself from shouting the words aloud. Why didn’t he understand that? She’d already given him far more of herself than she had given any other person on the planet.

His shoulders sagged. “May I go back to my quarters now, please, Princess?”

“These are your quarters,” Inga managed to whisper.

He didn’t turn around, just sank down onto his haunches and stared down at the carpet until she left.

Harlan waited until the door clicked shut behind the princess before letting out his breath. Damn her lying ways.

She’d deliberately tied him to her before finding out if he spoke the truth. And it wasn’t because she loved him; it was because she was too scared to trust him to choose to stay by himself.

He got up and walked over to a gold bowl and a jug of water. He took his time washing himself clean of her scent, although her perfumed soap was now al over him, making him want to fuck her al over again…

He couldn’t win. If he made a break for freedom, she’d believe him a traitor, and if he stayed, she’d convince herself that he stayed because she’d forced him to take the sacred vows. She was far too clever and far too scared for her own good. He picked up a comb and began to work it through his long hair, wincing at the tangles. The task normal y soothed him, but nothing would calm his agitation.

A more insidious thought crept into his head. If the king was stil at the summer palace, why had no one come looking for him? Did they truly think he was dead? Or mayhap he wasn’t as loved by the king and queen as he had believed…

He put down the comb and stared at his reflection in the mirror. What had he become? Just a nameless “male” who served the princess? His fingers traced the livid tattoos that covered half his upper body. The queen wouldn’t even recognize him now and he wasn’t sure he even recognized himself. Not trying to escape went against everything he believed about himself as a man and a Valhal an. But how could he betray the princess? He’d dreamed about her his whole life. She needed to be loved and he was certain that it was his destiny to love her.

The door opened and Frytha came in carrying a bundle of clean towels.

“Oh there you are, male. The princess thought you might like a bath. I’l take you down to the handmaidens’

quarters.”

Harlan’s fists clenched. “I don’t wish to bathe.”

“Don’t be sil y.”

Harlan swung around to face her. “By Thor, I do not wish to bathe. Go away.”

“Just because the princess has acknowledged you as her mate doesn’t mean you can start to put on airs.” Frytha folded her arms over her chest. “If the princess wants you bathed, you’l bathe!”

In the end, it took six of the guards to subdue him, and he didn’t end up in the bath, but in the punishment cel in the cel ar, where they chained him to the wal to await the princess’ pleasure. His body was bruised and his head was ringing from being smashed against the wal , but he didn’t care. The opportunity to fight
something
had been impossible to resist, and in a strange way, he felt much better for it. The cold and darkness suited his mood and he had no desire to see the princess at al .

He pressed his bloodied cheek against the unforgiving stone and closed his eyes. Better to be here like this than trying to please a woman who refused to even acknowledge him as an equal. Perhaps this was what she real y wanted after al . A mindless savage she could fil with “love” potions, chain up and fuck. Much easier for both of them that way. She’d never have to risk her heart and he’d…he swal owed hard. He’d slowly fade away and die.

*

“I don’t understand you, Mother.” Inga stared at her mother and the rest of the council. “We have spent years keeping ourselves separate from the Valhal an monarchy.

Why would you want to risk losing our autonomy now?”

She paced the marbled floor of the council chamber, her arms wrapped around herself while the other six women watched her.

“Because we have heard that change is afoot,” Sigrun said. “We intend to make an official visit to the king’s residence and see what is going on for ourselves.”

“And what if the king keeps you al for his pleasure?”

“The king is married, Inga. He has no need of another female now, especial y as she has already given him a son and is apparently breeding again.”

“If she is breeding, the king is probably fucking half a dozen other females. Why would we want to gift him with more?” She held her hands wide. “I thought you al hated men? What has changed?”

Lady Hilda smiled at her. “We don’t al hate males, Princess. Some of us had wonderful experiences with men and fled to the temple to avoid having to mate with other males who would fail to measure up to our standards.”

“Not al of you.”

“And not al of the women wil want to meet with the king and his court. None of them wil be forced to do anything they don’t want to.”

Inga shook her head. “It stil seems…wrong to me somehow.”

How had she suddenly become the lone voice of reason in the council? Had al the other women gone mad? Had introducing one perfect specimen of manhood into the community destroyed the delicate feminine harmony of the temple?

Sigrun took her hands. “If you do not wish to accompany the council, that is your right. But I have decided that it is time to reach out to the king.”

Inga pul ed her hands free of her mother’s again. “I don’t want to come.”

“Then stay here and guard the temple. I wil leave you plenty of help.”

Inga turned away from her mother. “I think you are making a terrible mistake.”

Sigrun didn’t answer and Inga stood immobile and waited until she heard the unmistakable sounds of a procession leaving the sanctity of the temple and heading out into the mountains.

What should she do if her mother and the other council members failed to return? Take the remaining women and delve deeper into the forests, find another sanctuary? But she didn’t want to leave everything that was familiar to her.

She didn’t want to leave her male either.

Inga made her way to the main altar of the temple, knelt before the statue of Freya and bent her head.

“Goddess, what should I do?”

Freya didn’t answer and Inga wasn’t surprised. She was too busy thinking of her own selfish needs rather than those of the community who might need her leadership and guidance if her mother didn’t return. One thought did occur to her. She didn’t have to leave the male behind. He was bound to her with sacred vows and would have to accompany her.

Inga opened her eyes and stared at the image of the goddess. But if she forced him to leave with her, she was denying him any chance of reuniting with his king and queen. Wouldn’t that make her into the tyrant he already thought her? What if he refused? Would she beat him and bring him with her anyway?

“Oh Goddess,” she whispered. “Please help me make the right choice.”

With that last heartfelt prayer, she rose and backed out of the altar. She needed to talk to her male. She needed to see if she could be the woman he wanted her to be. The door to her suite was ajar and there was no guard posted outside, Inga frowned and quickened her steps until she was able to throw the door open. She gasped at the signs of a struggle, the overturned furniture and the broken lamp.

There was no sign of her male either and Inga pressed her hand to her mouth. He’d left her. His vows meant nothing to him. He’d
betrayed
her…

“Princess!”

A voice behind her made her spin around and try to wipe the pain from her expression. One of her guards was coming up the stairs, her face flushed, her armor askew.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Your male is in the punishment cel .”

Inga had to reach out and touch the wal to stop herself from swaying at the ridiculous sense of relief that flooded through her. “What did he do?”

“He went berserk when Frytha told him to take a bath on your orders. We had to subdue him and chain him up for everyone’s safety.”

“Thank you, I wil go down and see him now.” Inga gathered herself and turned back to the door. “Please make sure that this mess is cleaned up before I return.”