Captive Mail (11 page)

“Of course, Princess.”

The guard waited until Inga passed and then fel in behind her. As they descend into the bowels of the temple, Inga became aware of an increasing amount of noise.

“Whatever is going on?”

She stopped just as the door below them flew open and two unknown men surged through it, swords out and pointed straight at them. The bigger of the two men had bright red hair and a ferocious expression on his face.

Inga drew her dagger. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

His insolent gaze raked her body. “I might ask the same of you. I thought we’d contained al those screaming females in their quarters by now.”

Inga’s guard stepped in front of her. “Be quiet, scum. You are addressing the Princess Inga.”

Inga briefly closed her eyes as the red-haired man’s smile grew.

“A princess, eh?” He started up the steps. “I’l take you into my personal custody, then.”

Inga went for him with her dagger, but he knocked her blow aside as if she were a fly. Her guard suffered a similar fate and then Inga knew nothing other than a sudden crushing blackness.

“Harlan. By Thor, Harlan,
wake up
!”

Groggily, Harlan opened his eyes, blinked rapidly and closed them again.

“Harlan!”

He forced himself to look again and found he was staring up into Bron’s anxious face. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

Before Bron even started to release his chains, he forced Harlan upright and hugged him fiercely.

“Did you think we’d forgotten you, my friend? We never gave up looking for you.” Bron fingered the gold col ar around Harlan’s neck. “We’l have to wait until we get back to the palace to see the blacksmith to get that off. What in Odin’s name have they done to you in this hel ish place?”

“I…” Harlan shook his head and tried to piece together what was happening. “How did you get here?”

“We fol owed the females who spied on us back to this place. We also saw several of the more important women leave. I suspect they intend to meet formal y with the king.”

Had Inga gone with them? Harlan wondered, his thoughts stil hazy. Surely not. She wanted nothing to do with the king or any males.

“Who else is with you?”

“Sven and four others.”

Harlan gripped his arm. “There are many women here who are terrified of men. I hope Sven hasn’t gotten into a kil ing rage.”

Bron grinned. “Actual y, we found most of the females in one building and managed to lock them down. My ears are stil ringing from the screaming, but as far as I know, no one has been hurt. Now that I’ve found you, we’re to rendezvous with Sven in the forecourt of the temple.”

He hauled Harlan to his feet. “Can you walk? Have they kept you chained down here for the entire time?”

“No, I…”

Bron was already on the move, his sword out and his gaze on the exit. Harlan fol owed along behind, ignoring the aches in his body and the blurriness of his vision. Even through the thickness of the wal s, he could hear the sound of wailing women in the handmaidens’ quarters. He hoped everyone was al right. If Sven were agreeable, maybe he’d let Harlan go and reassure the women as best he could.

Having fucked every single one of them, he somehow felt responsible.

The main court in front of the temple was deserted except for an al -too familiar towering figure who strode toward Harlan.

“Harlan, you’re stil alive, by Thor!” Sven punched Harlan on the shoulder, making him rock on his heels. “What did they do to you? You’re stripped and painted like an offering to the gods.”

“I
am
an offering to the gods. The earthly kind.”

“What?” Sven frowned. “Are they intending to sacrifice you?”

“No, I avoided that fate.”

“And you’l continue to avoid it. We’re taking you back home.”

No! Take your hands off me!”

A commotion behind Sven made Harlan look up. Another of Sven’s raiding party was escorting Inga down the stairs, her blonde hair had come loose and she was fighting the man at every step.

man at every step.

Harlan pushed past Sven. “Release her immediately!”

Inga pushed her hair out of her eyes and glared at him. “I don’t need your help, male!”

“Princess, you’ve made that very clear, but I’m going to help you anyway.”

“By bringing these devils down on us? No doubt they intend to set fire to our temple and ravage al the women.”

Bron raised an eyebrow, glanced at Sven and then at Harlan. “That was our plan? I thought we just came to save Harlan.”

“Aye,” Sven said. He nodded at the princess. “And now that we have him, we’l leave you in peace, my lady.”

“And what have you done to my mother and the rest of the council?” Inga asked, her head held high, her bearing that of a queen. Harlan had never felt so proud of her in his life.

“I assume that your mother and her council are meeting with my king and queen. Wasn’t that was the purpose of their trip?”

“You didn’t attack them?”

Sven frowned at Harlan. “Why does this female assume the worst of us? What have you been tel ing her?”

“I’ve been tel ing her that al males aren’t violent sex-crazed beasts who yearn to despoil women, but she doesn’t believe me.”

“If you didn’t fal upon my mother and the council, how did you find your way here?” Inga demanded.

“We fol owed your spying party home, my lady. It wasn’t that difficult,” Sven answered. “Now, we won’t keep you. I’m sure your mother wil be back shortly.” He bowed.

“Goodbye, Princess, and I apologize if I frightened any of your womenfolk. Come along, Harlan.”

Harlan automatical y took a step after Sven and then stopped to look back at Inga.

“I can’t leave her.”

“What?” Sven swung around to scowl at Harlan. “Are you bewitched?”

Harlan kept his gaze fixed on Inga. “I made vows to the princess. She owns my soul.”

“What about Queen Douglass? Didn’t you make vows to her?”

“The queen al owed us to break those vows if we meet the right woman. You yourself are mated, Sven.”

“Not to a female who chained me in a dungeon, stripped me and branded me!”

“Some of that isn’t true, Sven. I seem to remember you stripped and in a cel .”

Heat grew on Sven’s cheeks. “That was different,” he said gruffly. “Thea did it for love. This woman
took
you against your wil and
forced
vows on you.”

“She did not. I made them wil ingly.” Harlan met Sven’s incredulous gaze. “Please return without me and give the king and queen my apologies.”

Sven turned to the other men who had now gathered in the courtyard and were silently watching the exchange. He glanced at the princess and then again at Harlan.

“I’m sorry, Harlan, but you’l have to make your apologies to the king and queen yourself.” His men closed in around Harlan and the princess. “If you can’t leave her, we’l just have to bring the female as wel .”

Inga slowly came back to consciousness and realized she was in bed and that someone was mopping her brow with a soft cloth.

“It’s al right, Princess,” a soothing male voice murmured.

“We’l take care of you.”

She opened her eyes and found a strange male looking down at her, a smile in his soft brown eyes. “I’m Thoran.”

“Where am I?” Inga struggled to sit up and Thoran immediately assisted her.

“You are at the king’s summer palace.” Thoran patted her arm. “I understand that you were reluctant to leave your temple. Sven decided it was easier to knock you out rather than have you injure yourself in a fight.”

“How dare he!” Inga croaked.

Thoran shrugged and Inga noticed that his muscled chest was bare and two gold rings around his biceps were his only adornment. “It’s true that Sven isn’t the most patient of men. But he considered it his primary duty to bring you to the palace and keep you safe.”

Inga pushed Thoran’s hand away. “I want to see my mother immediately!”

“I believe she is in private session with the king in his council chamber.” Thoran sat back. “Would you like to bathe first and then we can go and see if they have finished their discussions?”

“I’m supposed to be there with her,” Inga snapped.

Again his smile disarmed her. “I’l send and ask. But would you not like to bathe?”

Inga dropped her gaze to her soiled tunic. “Al right, I wil , then.”

Thoran stood up and Inga realized he was both tal and broad shouldered. “Let me cal a servant to let your mother know that you are awake and then I’l prepare your bath.”

“I don’t need you to…” Inga’s querulous reply faded as Thoran simply bowed and walked away from her toward the large door where another man waited. Both men wore simple white silk loincloths that did little to hide their taut buttocks or the heavy bulges of their cocks.

“I see you are awake, Princess. Harlan wil be relieved.”

Inga turned to see the blond man who had accompanied Sven on the raid rising from a chair by the window. Had he been there while she slept? She’d been exposed to more men in the last few hours than in the whole of the rest of her life.

“Who are you?”

He bowed. “I’m Bron, my lady. One of the queen’s servers, like Harlan.”

Inga raised her chin at him. “Who is Harlan?”

Bron frowned. “You’ve chosen him as your mate and branded him with your name and yet you don’t know his?”

“I choose his name, male. When, and if, he pleases me enough.”

“He has a name. It is Harlan and it suits him wel .”

“That is not your concern.” She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Where is he?”

“Who?”

“My male.”

“
Harlan
is currently locked in a cel awaiting the judgment of the king and queen.”

Dread coalesced in Inga’s stomach. Was he in trouble because he had chosen to stay with her? She stil couldn’t believe that he had done such a thing. She’d never expected any man to stand by her.

“He belongs to me.”

Bron’s smile disappeared. “So he says, but I don’t understand why he would be content with a female who won’t even give him the dignity of a name.”

“You do not understand our ways, male.”

“Obviously.” Bron looked past her to the other man. “Is the bath ready, Thoran?”

“It is.”

Inga turned toward Thoran. “Thank you.”

He bowed and gestured to another door within the suite from which sweet-smel ing steam was beginning to emerge. Inga went through the door and breathed in the scented air. The bath was large and set in the ground. With a sigh, she discarded her tattered gown and walked down the steps into the warm water. How was she going to get her male out of his prison? She couldn’t leave him there after he’d said he wanted to stay with her.

Inga swal owed hard. After al she’d done to him, he’d stil remained loyal. She felt as if she was the one who had betrayed him.

A splash behind her made her turn around and press her hands to her breasts. Thoran and Bron were advancing toward her through the water.

“What are you doing in my bath?”

Both men halted and looked puzzled. “Bathing you, my lady.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that!”

Bron shrugged. “We always bathe our female guests. It is an honor for us to tend to you. Didn’t Harlan mention it?”

Inga took another step backward. Her male had mentioned several times that he and his companions had been trained to serve women, but she hadn’t believed that either.

“Please, my lady. Let us tend to your needs.” Bron reached forward, took her hand and kissed it. “We only wish to make you feel better.”

Inga let her hand remain in his. What harm could it do?

She could at least be gracious in this. It wasn’t as if the men were going to do anything more than her female bathing companions did to her.

Thoran came up behind her, a soft cloth in one hand and a bar of soap in the other. He soaped the cloth and rubbed it between her shoulder blades.

“Ah…” Inga sighed as she realized how tense she was and closed her eyes. As Thoran continued to wash her back, she al owed herself to float against his broad frame.

He dropped a kiss in the curve of her neck and shoulder and her eyes flew open. Before she could move away, Bron was right in front of her, his soapy hands circling her breasts, his thumbs passing over her nipples, making her shiver. She grabbed his wrists and he stopped moving his fingers.

“My lady?”

She glared at him. “You don’t have to do
that
.”

“What, my lady?” He bent his head and licked her nipple.

“But I wish to give you pleasure.”

Inga gasped as he drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard on it. Behind her, Thoran made an approving sound and his hand slid between her legs to cup her mound.

“She is beautiful, Bron, is she not?”

“Aye.” Bron released her breast, but only so he could lick her other nipple. “Al females are beautiful when they are being given pleasure.”

He bent his head and sucked on her again just as Thoran slid a long finger up inside her and then another. She was trapped between the two men, their hands and mouths al over her, their thick cocks gliding against her stomach and ass. By the goddess, she shouldn’t be enjoying this, but it was exquisite. She’d never realized how it might feel to be touched by two men at once. How did the queen stand three of them?

She pul ed hard on Bron’s blond hair until he looked up at her with a lazy smile.

“Didn’t you say that you served the queen?”