Captive Mail (8 page)

She attacked him again and he pivoted his weight onto his back foot and spun away. Heat blossomed in her cheeks and her eyes narrowed. Inwardly, Harlan smiled.

Losing your temper in a fight was never a good thing to do.

He swiftly brought the tip of his sword up to engage hers, saw her shudder as the strength of his lunge traveled up her arm. He’d show her just how strong he was.

She withdrew and parried again, tried to get through his guard to strike his chest, but he was having none of it. He was vaguely aware that more women had crowded into the training room along with several guards and that they were al wil ing their princess to win. He’d let her win—eventual y —after he’d taken her through her paces and established just how good she was.

Her breathing became labored and she shoved at his shoulder, losing her balance, al owing him to kick the dagger out of her hand and send it skittering over the stone floor. Stil she came at him and he had to admire both her courage and her resilience. He eyed her sword. He could probably disarm her now, but should he? She backed away, her chest heaving, and in one quick motion, he broke through her wavering guard and brought the tip of his blade to rest over her heart.

He raised his eyebrows, but before he could speak, his feet were swept from under him by one of the crowd and he fel to the ground, banging his elbow and shoulder as he scrabbled to keep hold of his sword. In an instant, Inga was on top of him, her dagger miraculously restored to her hand and pressed to his throat.

“Do you surrender to me, male?”

He held her gaze. “It seems I have no choice. I am outnumbered.”

The women surrounding them cheered and clapped their appreciation.

“You shouldn’t rush at me,” Harlan said quietly. “You fight very wel , but you need to be more patient. If you al ow any male to get too close, he wil beat you down from sheer size and strength.”

“I beat you.”

“With a little help.”

“I know.” She sighed and removed her dagger from his throat. “You could’ve taken me easily.”

“Not that easily. As I said, you fight with great skil and courage.”

“But stil .”

He relaxed his grip on his sword. “I could teach you what you need to know.”

“Without kil ing me?”

“I could have kil ed you just now, but I didn’t. I don’t want to do that. I want…” Harlan hesitated. What did he want?

Was he about to ignore his previous vows and pledge his life to a woman who would treat him like a favorite stud? “I don’t want to hurt you.” Her mouth quivered and he frowned.

“Who hurt you? What are you so afraid of?”

She scrambled off him and glanced up at the guards.

“We wil continue the training another day.”

He didn’t say anything to stop her running away from him.

Al he could hope was that each time they met, he convinced her that he was worthy of her, worthy to be loved and mated as an equal, not as a slave.

*

Inga almost ran back to her apartments. He’d done it again, taken an opportunity meant to show him at his savage worst and turned it into something else. She’d struck him, for goddess’ sake, and he’d done nothing more than stand there and refuse to fight back. She dashed a tear from her eye. And it wasn’t because he was a coward or an incompetent warrior. He’d shown her that when she’d chal enged him to a more equal fight. He’d played with her, exploited her weaknesses and could have driven his sword right through her heart.

But he hadn’t. It was al so perplexing. She went into her suite, changed out of her fighting garb and went to shower.

Her nipples were tight and aching, and between her legs, her clit throbbed with need for him. She caressed her swol en bud until she climaxed, reminding herself that she didn’t need a male to be satisfied, that there were many ways for a woman to reach sexual satisfaction without the complication of adding a man. But she wanted him, wanted that big cock she’d handled thrusting between her thighs, taking her higher, fil ing her.

With a curse, she shut off the shower and walked out naked into her bedchamber. Her mother was sitting in a chair by her bed.

“Good afternoon, my dear. Why are you scowling?”

“Why do you think?” Inga grabbed a towel and dried herself vigorously.

“Is it your male?”

“Of course it is.” Inga wrapped the cloth around her and tucked in the top. “He…confuses me.”

“As I’ve been trying to tel you for years, Inga, men are like that.”

“But I assumed that you meant they were always underhanded and devious. He is different.”

“Inga, you
assume
al males are dangerous because it has been your misfortune to meet only a handful of men under the most difficult of circumstances.”

“What do you mean?” Inga sat on the side of her bed and rubbed at her hair. “I met my father and the first three males we considered as mates for me.” She shivered. “None of the younger males were very nice, were they?”

“How would you feel if you were tied up and made to perform sexual y whether you liked it or not?”

Inga raised her chin. “You mean like most Valhal an women?”

“I understand that, but I’m talking about you personal y.”

“I would hate it, but isn’t that why we’re here in the mountains? To prevent ourselves being used by men?”

Sigrun looked thoughtful. “Perhaps you have been protected too wel . I fear your grandmother and I neglected to tel you that men can be more than their seed.”

Inga stood up. “Why are you saying this now?”

“Perhaps because you are final y ready to listen to me?”

“I’ve always listened to you! You told me that men were nothing!”

“No, dear,” Sigrun said gently. “You decided that for yourself after your father left us.”

Inga turned away from her mother and walked across to the window that looked down into the temple. “Why are you defending him? He broke your heart!”

“Yes, he did, but that was better than me breaking his. I couldn’t bear to keep him captive any longer when he yearned for his family and his homeland.”

“
We
were his family. If he loved you, he would have stayed.”

Inga flinched as Sigrun touched her shoulder and made her look at her. “He wanted to stay. I was the one who made him leave. I didn’t have the courage to defy your grandmother and treat him as my equal.”

“
What
?” Inga whispered. “You lie. I remember exactly what he said to me on the day he left. He swore that he no longer loved you and that he’d never wanted a child.”

Sigrun brought her hand to her mouth. “He said that to you? I didn’t think he would go through with it. Why didn’t you ever tel me?”

Inga realized she was crying. “Why would I tel you something so horrible? I already knew you were devastated.”

“But he did it for a reason.” Sigrun met her gaze, her blue eyes steady. “He did it so that you wouldn’t know I’d sent him away. He wanted you to keep loving me instead of him.”

Inga spun away. “That’s a lie! Al men lie! You know that!”

She marched toward her closet. “I want to go ahead with the mating ceremony tonight. I want the male to belong to me completely.”

“Inga…”

She ignored her mother and considered what she would wear for the ceremony.

Harlan knew that something was in the air when Frytha returned with al her assistants and shaved him again.

Warm oil was massaged into his skin and then he was chained to the wal . When Frytha advanced upon him with a set of clamps and silver cock rings, he bared his teeth at her. Held as he was against the unforgiving stone, there was nothing he could do to stop her adorning his body however she wanted. His breath hissed out as she twisted his nipples and clamped them. The rings felt cold against his bal s and cock as she stuffed his half-erect flesh through the silver.

“Drink the potion, male.”

One of the guards shoved the liquid into his mouth and held Harlan’s nose and mouth closed until he had no choice but to swal ow. His cock responded immediately, growing and thickening against the constriction of the silver bands.

“We’re not finished yet,” Frytha said. She produced a thin silver chain that she clipped to the metal col ar around his throat, threaded through the nipple clamps and attached the other end to the central cock ring. “That is perfect.”

To Harlan’s surprise, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him.

“You wil do very wel for the princess. She is a lucky woman.” She beckoned to one of the guards. “Now turn him around to face the wal .”

Harlan was pressed against the wal , making both his nipples and his cock ache. He felt lubed fingers rim his asshole and a thick leather dildo was pushed deep in his ass, making his cock feel twice as long. He breathed deep as some kind of harness was attached around his hips, keeping the dildo in place.

“Now you are ready to face the Princess and the Goddess on earth.”

Harlan didn’t feel ready at al . He was so hard his cock was already dripping with pre-cum. Every time he took a breath, he felt the dildo shift, stirring something dark and wanting deep inside him.

“This way, male.”

He was unchained and led outside his cel . There was no sign of any of the handmaidens and the place was unnatural y quiet. The guards led him toward the temple and he found himself stiffening even more. Was it time for him to meet the princess alone? Had he successful y passed his initiation in the handmaidens’ quarters? They led him through the now silent square and up the steps into the temple itself. Blinding lights made him blink hard and he inhaled the scent of incense and other magical scents.

The guards led him to a stone plinth in the center of the temple and made him kneel upright. His knees sank into the smooth, carved grooves as if they had been made for him. His hands were tied behind him and then he was left alone, feeling his heartbeat through the pulse of his cock.

Soft music started playing and drums beat a sultry rhythm that stirred his blood even more. He looked toward the temple sanctuary and saw the two masked figures cloaked in gold descending the stairs. Princess Inga stood slightly behind the shorter woman, who raised her arms in the air, displaying a quantity of gold bracelets that jingled.

“Oh Goddess Freya, we offer this male to you for your pleasure.”

“Aye!” Al the women in the temple answered her.

“Oh Goddess, may he use his seed wisely for the good of his female.”

“Aye!”

She came toward him and studied him careful y. He noticed her eyes were kind through the holes of her elaborate gold mask.

“Do you agree to serve the princess, male?”

“What if I have taken other vows?” Harlan murmured. “Are they considered worthless?”

“Are these vows to the Goddess Freya?”

“No.”

She put her fingers under his chin so that he could not look away from her. “Then they have no meaning here. The rest of your life wil be spent under the rule of the goddess.”

She lowered her voice so that only Harlan could hear her.

“Do you not want my daughter, male? Did you not come here to fulfil a prophecy of your own?”

“What wil happen to me if I refuse?”

“That is up to the princess. She can sentence you to serve out your life in the handmaidens’ quarters, pleasuring the women and never attaining your own release. Or she can slit your throat and offer you up to our goddess.”

Harlan swal owed hard as he considered her words. If he agreed to this mating, would he regret it more than death?

Having come to know the complexities of the princess, he didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to stay and help her change her mind about him. Queen Douglass had always wanted him to find his own female. Mental y apologizing to his queen and praying she would understand, Harlan cleared his throat.

“I agree to serve Princess Inga.”

The priestess smiled and raised her voice. “He wil make his vows!” She pressed her hand down on the top of Harlan’s head. “You wil serve the Princess Inga for the whole of the life she al ows you. You wil give your seed to no other woman but her and you wil lay down your life for her.”

“Aye,” Harlan said quietly.

Power coursed down through the priestess’s palm, making him achingly aware of his own heartbeat, his lungs taking in air and the heavy need in his cock and bal s. He
would
give his life for the princess, and if they did have children… His heart stuttered at the thought of Inga carrying his child. He would never al ow anything or anybody to harm them.

Heat licked through the tattoos down his arms and shoulder, making them glow brightly, and he cried out.

When he opened his eyes, the priestess had released her hold on his head and Inga stood in front of him, her eyes solemn and her mouth a soft, tremulous line. She drew her cloak back and he realized she was naked beneath it. His gaze fastened on the tight red tips of her breasts and he inhaled the musky smel of her sex. He realized he couldn’t speak, could barely draw breath.

She moved even closer, her hand fisting around his thrusting cock, making him even wetter and harder. He groaned her name and she bent to lick his pre-cum from the crown of his cock, curling her tongue around his slit, making him push his hips toward the warm delight of her mouth. He was aware of the women al around him, but he only saw Inga, only wanted her and what she could give him.