Rituals of Passion (3 page)

Maven’s heart sank. Her mother was wrong. Her father had not paired her with a man he thought well-suited to her, or someone likely to treat her with reverence. Hehad paired her with an utter beast,  whose  exploits both in war and women were known throughout the domain. Her father was trading her to a heartless fiend to ensure he’d never lose his power.

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Tears welled in her eyes, although she fought to hold them back. “Father, how could you? How could you give  me to such a merciless brute?”

She’d hoped to see a hint of compassion in her father’s usually loving gaze, but today it seemed Enrick the Ruler had once again become Enrick the Attacker, a man who let nothing stand in his way—even his  daughter’s heart—when it came to keepingcontrol over  the land. “You know there are  threats from Virgland to the north. Dane demands entrance into the royal family in trade for his protection. If Caralon is to stayintact, there is no other choice.”

Maven tried to calm her breathing and  think rationally. Although  she’d been raised with every luxury, she’d also been taught that her first loyalty was to Caralon, a region which, before her birth, had been fraught  with corrupt rulers and sporadic wars for hundreds of years. Enrick had brought peace and prosperity to the people  of Caralon and that  was important—yes. But it was impossible for Maven to believe the only way to keep the  domain unbroken was to trade her to a madman.

“I’ll never forgive you,” she sobbed, finally  giving release to her tears. With that, she turned and fled the hall.

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Rituals of Passion

Chapter Two

Dane extracted his cock from his brown leather pants.  He ran a loose fist up anddown his erection as he switched his gaze  between the two servant girls who generally cooked and delivered his meals. Today their job was one he knew they’d find much more pleasurable. The women in his employ all eagerly awaited their turn pleasing him, and for the current task  he’d chosen Rafia, a plump girl  with  large, round  breasts,along with Calla, a petite blonde-haired vixen with lovely, pouty lips he’d alwaysthought looked made for sucking.

They rode in a grand four-wheeled cart,  covered by an  expensive weave of leather and silk. He sat in a plush, feather-stuffed  chair, his erection jolting as the left wheels dragged through a rut on the road.

“Is your mouth as skilled as it looks, Calla?” he asked, casting a wicked grin.

Both girls knelt before him on the floor of  the cart, naked, waiting for direction.  Calla smiled lecherously. “Would  you like me to show you, master?”

“Yes, but don’t take me in your mouth just  yet. Lick, up and down.” He shifted his eyes to the other girl. “You too, Rafia. Help Calla lick my cock.”

He cupped his balls as the two girls moved in on his erection, releasing the sac when the  females had his rod  well under control. Their tongues were like trails of fire that made him moan as he watched them work.

Calla smiled up at him as she dragged her  able tongue along his hard length, while Rafia closed her eyes,  looking deeply absorbed in her assignment. Dane wrapped hishands, gentle but firm, about their napes, urging them  to move in closer against him. The heat of their lush bodies warmed  his legs through the thin leather.

When Calla boldly reached up to begin kneading his balls, he let out a soft groan at the added stimulation. “Ares help me,” he  muttered, wondering how much more he could stand. And this was only the first day of travel, with two more to go. He’d thought it would take more than the light  ministrations of two young girls to get him this excited, but at least it ensured he would be more than ready by the time he tookpossession of his virgin bride.

“Now,” he said, watching the serving girls, “suck me, Calla. Show me how well youcan use your pretty mouth.”

The girl looked exhilarated at the demand, and Rafia ceased her affections, letting  Calla take full authority over the column of  stone jutting from between his thighs. The blonde servant kept her eyes on his as she licked a drop of fluid from the tip of his cock, then eased her lips over the thick head.

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“Mmm,” he groaned,  filled with undeniable  lust as she kept going, taking him deeper and deeper—six inches, seven, then  more. She’d not managed to swallow all of him, but what woman could have a throat so deep? He was well pleased to feel the  head of his cock pushing there, against her wet  throat, as she gazed hungrily up at him.

As she began sliding those luscious lips up and down, he lifted his eyes to Rafia.  “Come. Bring your breasts to my mouth.”

He soon wrapped his  arm around her soft, fleshy waist as he closed his lips over  one prominent pink nipple. Rafia moaned as  he drew on her, letting her arms fall about his bare shoulders. He suckled roughly, making her cry out in pleasure as her nipple grew harder on his tongue.

Below, Calla worked vigorously on his  cock, raising his pleasure with each stroke.  “Mmm, yes, skilled indeed,” he  murmured against the soft flesh of Rafia’s breast. He  blew on her nipple even as he watched Calla suck him from the corner of his eye.

How much more? he wondered. How much could he stand?

Calla plunged down over his length, this time nearly taking the full ten inches. He groaned and thought,
 
I can’t take much more at all.
 
What a shame. In any other circumstance, he could let these two wantons pleasure him all day.

“Mmm, yes, Calla, suck your master’s  cock,” he growled. “Keep sucking.”

Just a little  longer. Just a few more blessed  seconds of intense delight. He kissed Rafia’s nipple again as he watched the lovely  blonde whose mouth didn’t seem to tire.

“Stop,” he said suddenly.

Rafia flinched in his grasp as Calla went still,  looking up  at him, half his rod  in hermouth. Clearly seeing the command in his  eyes, she slowly withdrew until his cocksprang back against his abdomen.

“Shall I fuck you now, master?” Calla asked.

Ares, but she was eager. It was agonizing to answer. “No, Calla. No.” He’d reached his threshold.

For the first time, Rafia spoke, her voice deep with passion. “Shall I? My cunt issoaked with desire and would take your cock with ease.”

He released the larger  girl from his grasp.  “No, Rafia. I won’t be fucking either of you. But you may lie down on my bed,” he said, pointing to the soft mattress a few feet away, “and lick each other’s pussies.”

The girls looked disappointed but accepting. And why shouldn’t they? he thought as they moved into position. They, at least, would reach climax. He, on the other hand, would sit here torturing himself by watching them.

Rafia lay on her back as Calla straddled her face with a cunt as pink and pouty as her mouth. She wasted no time in bending  over and using her hands to part Rafia’s plump, curl-ensconced pussy and sinking her  tongue into the glistening flesh there. Rafia let out a deep moan, but it was muffled when Calla lowered her own slit over  Rafia’s lips.

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Together the two servant girls moved as  one, panting and moaning, the soundsaccompanied by that  of wet, lapping licks. Dane allowed himself to slide his handlightly up and down his erection, still moist from Calla’s bottomless mouth—but nomore. Every time he reached a certain brink,  he knew he had to release his rod—once he even had to look away. He was a man with great control over his  cock, but the coming days would put him to the test.

When both girls launched into orgasm, shrieking and thrusting  their cunts at each other’s tongues, Dane feared he would explode, but instead he found himself just where he’d intended to be—on the sharp edge of  climax, yet still hanging on to a precious shred of control.

By the time he got his bride from Enrick,  his cock would be filled with blood and

lust like never before.

* * * * *

Maven cried into her pillow as Jalal stroked her hair. “Crying will not change it,daughter. You must  summon that very  strength we discussed earlier, for your  Orientation is to commence tonight.”

Oh Ares! Her Orientation! Already? If her father had named any other man for her bridegroom besides Dane the Dreadful, she  would be ready and eager for the training she would  receive before his arrival. But  at the moment, she couldn’t even enjoy

knowing she would soon begin to learn the  secrets she’d wondered about for so long.

“Mother, how could he? Dane of Rawley? It’s…unthinkable.”

She looked  up in time  to see Jalal purse her lips uncertainly.  “I will agree, I was shocked at your father’s selection. But you  must abide  by his choice—there is no other  option.”

Maven rolled to her side and sniffed back  tears. “He is selling me in order to  keep  his power.”

Jalal shook her head. “Selling you, maybe.  But not for power. For peace. Peace for  all of Caralon.”

Maven raised a woeful gaze to her mother  as she wiped moisture from  her eyes. “I’ve heard Dane of Rawley is wicked and…forceful. I’ve heard he forces women to do his bidding.” She didn’t even know exactly what that meant, what he forced women to do, but it sounded all too ominous.

Jalal let out a long sigh and looked away, her expression sad. “I, too, have heard the rumors about Dane.” Then she returned her gaze to Maven. “But I must have faith inyour father. I must believe he’s made a good choice for you.”

“A good choice for Caralon, perhaps, but for me—no.”

Her mother gently squeezed her hand, then  changed  the subject. “You must dry your eyes and prepare  to learn, daughter. Your Orienter will be here soon.”

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Maven felt forsaken—her mother was accepting this, not even fighting her father on it? “You aren’t going to help me?”

“There’s nothing I can do to change it. You must trust in Ares. He brings together those who should be together, both in battle and in marriage. You must trust in your father as well.”

As far as Maven could see, though, her marriage would
 
be
 
a battle—a battle with the ruthless Dane of Rawley—and there was nothing she could do to keep  that battlefrom commencing.

* * * * *

Lavonia whisked into Maven’s chamber wearing a wide smile. “Don’t fret, sweet

Maven, all will be well, starting now.”

Maven had  done as her mother instructed—dried her eyes and sat upright on her bed, trying to be strong—yet she still felt nothing but despair. “How? Has Dane of  Rawley met some terrible demise? Or has my father come to his senses?”

Lavonia kept her happy expression in place. “Dane may not be the sort of man youexpected, but I hear he’s most pleasant to look at, and that does count for something.”

He wasn’t an ogre, as Maven had feared?  Well, even so, that made him no more kind, or  giving, or  loving. She  repeated her thought from earlier. “He’s a beast. He’ll probably flay me alive.”

“Not if you learn to please him,” Lavonia imparted with a mischievous smile.  “Which is why I’m here.”

“What do you mean?”

The voluptuous woman stood up a bit straighter, looking proud. “I’ve been chosen to be your Orienter, Maven.”

Maven gasped only slightly—for  though  she’d not thought much  before about whomight be selected, Lavonia was a natural choice. A bride’s Orienter was always a woman, always someone the royal bride knew well, and it was a sizable honor. “Well, that is pleasant news,” she admitted. Having known Lavonia so long, she was very at ease with the older woman, so who better to teach her the ways of the marriage bed? “But it makes the outcome no less awful.”

Lavonia gave another knowing smile. “You  may decide differently after you see what I have  to show you.”

Maven sighed, her curiosity piquing  only slightly. “When do we begin?”

“Now.” Lavonia looked utterly pleased.

Maven drew  in her breath. “Has it always been like this?” she asked, feeling lost, desperate for answers. “Have royal girls  always  been treated this  way? Was it like thisin the Before Times?”

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Lavonia gave her head a chiding shake.  “Why are you girls so obsessed with the  Before Times? You’d do well to concentrate on
 
now
, Maven.”

“How can we not be? The artifacts are so beautiful. The glass. The shining metals.  They must  have led lavish lives—lives, I suspect, where women were not treatedpoorly, especially royal ones.”

“Lavish, maybe, but they all died. Their whole culture perished. How wonderful could it have been?”

Maven bit her lip and asked a question she’d always wondered about. “How did ithappen? How did they die?” Certain things  about the Before Times were discussed only in the most intimate of  circumstances—and  Maven thought this was intimate  enough toqualify.

Lavonia lowered her chin, clearly taken aback. But then she answered, speaking softly. “Only the island city in Yorkland to  the north bore the signs of ancient attack. The other cities seem to  have crumbled from  decay, neglect. So it’s believed  they were killed by disease.”

“That could happen in
 
any
 
society,” Maven argued, anxious not to have  her fantasies of the Before Times quashed.