Rituals of Passion (21 page)

Lacey Alexander

was that she enjoyed fucking
 
him
—he thought he was special to her. It was an

accusation.

“A lapse after the titillation of last night’s rituals, I assure you. It won’t happen

again.”

He quirked a doubtful, superior grin. “Is that so?”

She nodded. “That’s so.”

But he was
 
still
 
inside  her, even now, and she couldn’t bear such a physical link with him for even a second longer, so she took the opportunity to lift herself off him, praying the instant loss she felt  didn’t show on her face as  she dashed across the room.  She barely knew what she was  doing, what  her plan was, but she was getting away from him—now. “I can’t stand to be near  you for another moment,” she spat at him,

looking around for clothing—clothing that  wasn’t in this room yet, she realized with a  groan.

Desperate,  she snatched up the silken  bed cover and wrapped it around herself again, then  bolted toward the door.

“Leaving already?”

It was the amusement in his voice that drew her  gaze. And oh, but  he was  magnificent sitting there, relaxed, naked,  his muscles shimmering  with the light sheen  of perspiration from their sex. As usual, he cast an annoying smile.

“Yes!” she snapped.

He tilted his head. “You’re not clothed, you  know,” he  said casually, as if perhaps  she’d just forgotten this small fact.

Rather than  summon a reply, she simply  let out a light growl  of disgust, then  ripped open the wooden door and barreled  through it without a care who saw her  parading about in a bedcover.

102

Rituals of Passion

Chapter Thirteen

After leaving Dane, Maven made her way down the wide stairs and sneaked backinto the room she’d inhabited up until yesterday—all without being seen by anyone.  There she found her trunk, from which she  dug a silk nightgown. Dropping the lush coverlet from the upstairs bedchamber to  the floor, she donned the familiar gown, thencrawled into bed for more sleep.

Maybe by the time she woke up, she’d have  recovered from the  insanity that had overtaken her these last twenty-four hours. It  was still difficult to fathom all that hadhappened, and the many pleasures she’d indulged in. Not to mention that she wasmarried now. To Dane. And that fucking him had been…well,
 
extraordinary
, to say the least. She’d never dreamed of the unadulterated joy and satisfaction that had coursed through her veins when his big cock had been inside her, thrusting so deep.

Not that she could let that happen again.  She simply couldn’t let herself succumb tohis sexual charms. But as she’d  told him, it was surely just the reaction to the  Rituals of  Passion, to the many men who had pleasured her last night before  Dane had taken hervirginity. Ares above, how could
 
any
 
woman not yearn for a man’s shaft after what she’d endured following the game  of Maran tiles?

But when I  next awaken
, she promised herself,
 
all that lust for him will be gone, vanished.
 
She would not give herself to him again,  would not be the possession he seemeddetermined to make her—even if, much as  she was loathe  to admit it—the sense of being possessed when  he fucked her so hard  was, in some sense, not so horrible.

She drew in her breath at the very notion. Thoughts like that were surely what had kept women in a position of subservience for all these eons.

Sleep
, she commanded herself.
 
Sleep, and wake up your old self again!

* * * * *

Mid-morning found Dane walking through a vast green field behind the  fort,talking with Kaelen, whom he’d summoned. The pretty girl, with whom he’d sharedsome pleasure on a few previous occasions,  was one of his most trusted and respected servants.

“You did an admirable job of readying Maven yesterday,” he said.

She beamed up at him, clearly pleased with his praise. “I enjoyed the assignment,  and forgive  me for being bold, but I think Maven took a liking to me.”

He flashed a slight grin down at  her before looking back ahead. “And the kissing  lesson? I trust that went well, given that she seems to have caught on quite  admirably now.”

103

Lacey Alexander

Kaelen nodded. “Yes, she was an apt pupil.”

“I wish for you to be her personal maid, Kaelen.”

Kaelen gasped and peered up at him,  clearly honored by being given such a position. “It will be my pleasure to serve her in every way, Dane.”

He smiled kindly on her. “I’m glad to  hear that. And I wish you to start
 
now
, thisvery minute. She stormed from our chamber  this morning in nothing but a  bedcover and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Stormed?” Clearly, Kaelen could not understand  how a woman in Maven’s

position could be unhappy. If only Maven were so agreeable.

“She’s a rebellious creature. The activities  in our bed entertained  her well, but she

refuses to be civil to me when we’re not fucking.”

Kaelen’s expression of surprise was appreciated. How in Ares’ name had he ended up with such a complicated woman for a wife?

“Go find her and help her dress. Try to put her at ease.” Then he quirked a small,  self-indulgent smile in her direction. “And perhaps mention to her that I’m not such  a  fiend.”

Kaelen returned the grin. “Certainly, master,” she said, then turned to walk back through the field toward the fort.

Dane, however, walked on, glad to be alone now, trying to clear his head. His littlebride had worn him out, physically and— to some degree—mentally, too. She was a handful, that was without doubt.

So it would not be a love match. Despite whatever kind words Kaelen might say about him, he already knew Maven too well to think mere words could sway her.

But as he’d told her, it seemed they connected in the bedroom amicably enough—
more
 
than just amicably—so that would have to  do. His cock perked to life in his pants even now, just remembering the fire they’d  shared. And, as he’d vowed to himself before marrying her, now that he saw how well  they fit together in  sex, he had no plansto take any other woman to his bed from this point forward.

Although, strangely, that came as more  of a compulsion than a decision.

Hell if he knew why, but he wanted to make the girl  happy. What had a week ago been primarily about rising to a  position of even greater power someday had—without his quite knowing when—started being about something else as well.

Likely he’d just been wishing for the  sort of marriage his parents had shared.  They’d died young, but they’d lived a happy  life together up until the time of the attack. Dane supposed  he’d harbored the notion  somewhere in the back of his head that perhaps someday he, too, would experience the sort of bond he’d seen between them, the genuine affection for one another he’d witnessed in their eyes.

A foolish expectation,  though. And an impossible one, now that  he’d seen exactly how headstrong his young wife was.

104

Rituals of Passion

Well, she might hate  him, but he  knew her  decree of having no more sex with himwould not stand. Hate aside, her body burned  for his  just as his sizzled for hers. Theymay share nothing else  a normal husband and wife would, but she couldn’t hide her desire. Her pussy had been drenched for him by the time he’d stroked his fingers through it this morning. He let a small smile  take him, knowing she would be unable to keep her word when it came to fucking him.

Just then, he caught sight of a rider heading his way.  Squinting,  he saw the blackleather garb that identified the man as a soldier in his army. He walked in the direction of the approaching horse until they met.

The young man’s eyes looked frantic.  “Master, Kells summons your presence immediately.”

“What’s wrong?”

“There are reports of a threat against the border some miles distance from here.”

A threat against the border, eh? Every now and then  such a concern reached him, but it had been a while. Damn Virgs—they  never seemed to give up. Fortunately, aslong as such threats were taken care of efficiently, they  seldom became real problems.

He glanced back toward the fortress and the stables behind, which housed his personal and very valuable mounts. “I must commandeer your horse, soldier, as my own are too far away.”

The young  man nodded obediently and dismounted with speed, passing the reinsto Dane.

* * * * *

“Maven? Are you asleep?”

The feminine voice wafted vaguely into her slumber. “Hmm?”

“Maven? It’s me, Kaelen.”

The voice grew nearer, until she felt a hand  on her  hip,  squeezing slightly,  warmly,  through her gown.

“Maven, your husband sent me to check on  you, to see that you’re all right.”

Her husband. She opened her eyes, remembering…
everything
.

Rolling to her back, she found Kaelen sitting  on the bed beside her, today wearing a  short leather dress of pale brown which hugged her shape, accentuating what Maven  knew to be lovely breasts. Again, she was struck by the other girl’s beauty. “Kaelen,”  she said with a gentle smile.

The dark-haired girl returned the grin, peering down at her. “I’ve just learned I am to be your personal maid, Maven. I hope that pleases you as much as it pleases me.”

“Indeed,” she said, sitting up slightly, her  mood brightening. “I’d like nothing better. In fact, I believe it is the first news to lift my spirits since I arrived here.”

105

Lacey Alexander

Kaelen rose and moved to a table where a wooden tray now sat. “I’ve brought yousome breakfast breads and some fried pork.”

After the workout she’d had  last night and this  morning,  she  was famished. “Good,  I’m starving.”

Kaelen brought the tray to the bed, then  went about the room straightening things,all the while looking very merry. After Maven finished eating, Kaelen drew back the covers and took her hand, helping her out of bed.

Lifting the blue silk gown over Maven’s head, Kaelen then gave  her a sponge bath and helped her dress in a fitted fur vest with hook fasteners up the front, and a short brown leather skirt.

“Now I shall brush your hair,” Kaelen announced, motioning for Maven to sit down at a dressing table, complete with a lovely viewing glass, its jagged pieces fitted within an equally expensive metal frame.  Dear Ares, how many  viewing glasses did Dane own? Sometimes the man’s wealth astonished her.

“At least,” she murmured, “I shall not want for material things.”

“Hmm?” Kaelen asked, taking up  a thickly  bristled brush and beginning to draw it down through Maven’s locks.

Maven shook her head shortly. “ Nothing,  I was just…” She sighed. “I was thinking  that even though I’m trapped in a marriage I don’t want, I shall at least not have to  worry about having plenty  of possessions.” Ironic
,
 
she thought.
 
A possession
 
having
 
possessions
.

Behind her  in the crackled viewing glass, Kaelen gave her head a thoughtful tilt.  “You don’t wish to be married to Dane?”

Again, Maven shook her head, more vehemently this  time. “Surely everyone here

knows it was an arranged marriage.”

“Yes, but…” Kaelen looked truly astonished.

“But what?”

“Well, every woman I know,  including myself, would do practically anything to  have Dane even notice  them, let alone to have  the honor  of being his wife.”

Maven raised her eyebrows. “Really?” Then she remembered, everyone here liked  to think of him as their
 
master
, too. They were clearly all warped.

In the viewing glass, she saw a  light blush climb the maid’s cheeks. “Surely you don’t deny  that he’s beyond handsome and most desirable? Not to mention that his  cock is a marvelous sight to behold.”

She wished she could deny all that. “No.  But it takes more than those things tomake a happy marriage.” It was then that she  looked at herself in  the glass and, for thefirst time since waking, remembered the black choker  still around her neck. Odd, astight as it had been last night, she no longer even felt it. Yet even so… “Can you untie the choker, please? I no longer wish to wear it.”

106

Rituals of Passion

Kaelen looked troubled by the request— clearly she knew the piece had been her marriage gift from Dane. Still, she carefully  swept Maven’s loose hair over one shoulderand reached down to the cord that held it together in back.

A moment  later, however, she announced, “I  can’t get it off. It’s knotted very

tightly.”

Maven swallowed. “There’s no way to remove it?”

“Not unless it is cut with a blade. But that would ruin it.”