Rituals of Passion (9 page)

After they’d gone, Dane got to his feet and wandered outside. He needed a distraction of some sort to calm his cock  further, enough that he could sleep, for tomorrow was the all-important day.

As if Ares wanted to punctuate the thought,  the first sight to meet his eyes as  he leftthe tent was the fortress in the distance, lit by  torches. Enrick’s castle. The glowing fort of stone and wood seemed to say he was even closer than he’d realized—closer to claiming everything he wanted.

* * * * *

“Take off your clothes,” Lavonia said.

Glancing to the bathing tub—one of her  mother’s most treasured and valuable  artifacts—which had been brought into her  room earlier, Maven stripped off her silken  sleeping gown.

Lavonia emptied another ewer of steaming hot water into the tub,  saying, “There— a lovely bath for the bride-to-be.” Maven tossed her pale  pink gown  to  the  fur-covered  bed and walked toward the tub, only to hear  Lavonia say, “Tut, tut, tut—not yet.”

Maven looked at her maid from where she stood naked, poised to climb in the tub.  “Why not?”

Lavonia held up a receptacle made of ancient and oh-so-expensive glass.

Maven saw a blue paste of some sort inside. “What is it?”

“Come here,” Lavonia said, taking a seat in  the same  chair she’d occupied for the previous Orientation sessions.

As Maven  approached, her maid  unscrewed the receptacle’s lid and dipped her fingers inside. She reached out to smear the paste on Maven’s thigh without warning.

“
What is it
?” Maven asked again, flinching.

“Nothing to be afraid of.” Lavonia reached in for more paste and continued

smearing it evenly over the length of Maven’s leg. “It will remove your body hair.”

Maven had never heard of such a thing and she frowned. “Wh-why?”

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“Men like smooth skin,” Lavonia said, spreading the paste around Maven’s ankle,  then lifting her gaze. “Don’t look so sour—you’re honored  to have this special concoction.  It’s very expensive and only the  very wealthy can afford it. Until recently, only the royal used it, but I suspect a man as rich as your Dane will buy a supply of it for you as well. It’s certainly a luxury
 
I
 
have never known.”

Dane—ugh! Why did everyone have to keep  reminding her of him? All day today, everywhere she’d gone, her sisters, her mother, even the servants, had been saying
 
Dane  this, Dane that
—the man’s name seemed to be on everyone’s lips. And, well, she
 
knew
 
why, of course—tomorrow the ruffian would take her away to Rawley—but as the time for the Giving Ceremony grew near, it seemed  more and more like a long nightmare.  She only hoped she would wake from it soon.

She let out a heavy sigh, uncertain, while her maid  began applying the thick  substance to her other leg, covering the whole area with a thin layer. “How does  it  work?”

“In a few minutes, we will wipe it off with  a wet cloth and you shall be smooth as a

baby’s bottom.”

For Dane.
 
Her stomach wrenched.

“Lift your arms,” Lavonia said when she’d finished covering Maven’s legs.

Maven complied, watching as the maid smeared the goo over her armpits. “Here

too?”

“Here, too,” Lavonia replied. “And not only that,” she said, finishing the two small  areas and dipping her fingers back into the  paste, “but here as well.” With that, she swiped the blue cream between Maven’s legs, making her balk again. “Hold still,” she  said, the same as if she were fitting Maven for a dress and she’d squirmed.

Maven pulled in her breath and tried not to  fidget as her maid wiped another swath  of blue paste over the top of her cunt, covering all the hair. She bit her lip, looking  down. “He’ll want my pussy smooth, too?”

Lavonia lifted her gaze. “He’ll wish to look  at it, and this will give him a much

clearer view.”

Her chest tightened, although she couldn’t  quite determine if she was repulsed or

aroused.

Repulsed
, she decided.
 
Definitely
. This was not Donnell they were talking about, afterall. If it were, she suspected it would be
 
excitement
 
running through her  veins.  But when she thought of Dane of Rawley, it was all she could do not to grimace.

A few minutes later, Lavonia instructed her  to step into a knee-deep wooden tub of water. Using a warm cloth, she began to wipe  the blue paste from Maven’s legs, rinsing the cloth in the shallow tub below.  She could see that her legs were indeed bare and, when she reached down, smooth to the touch.

Lavonia continued removing the  paste—from  under Maven’s arms and finally from her cunt. When she walked to  the viewing glass and looked  down at her bare mound,

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she felt like a shorn sheep. “Ares
,
” she murmured, stunned by the appearance of her  naked pussy and the sensations now swirling within it.

“Lovely,” Lavonia said with a smile, approaching from behind to place her hands  on Maven’s shoulders. “Dane will be pleased. Now into the bathing tub with you, before the water cools.”

Still feeling more naked than ever in her  life, she strode to the antique tub and stepped carefully in, sinking into the warm  water that steamed with the scent of mint leaves, which Lavonia  had dropped in the bottom before filling.

She waited as Lavonia unbound her long, heavy braid, leaning her hair back in thewater to wet it, and tried to relax as her maid began to wash her tresses.

“Now,” Lavonia said, her voice uncharacteristically soft, “tell me  what questions you have about the things you’ve learned these past two nights.”

Maven barely knew where to begin, but she started by inquiring about the strangewhite fluid that had shot from  the boys’  cocks. “You said you’d tell me why that happened.”

Lavonia chuckled kindly. “So I did, and I will.”

From there, Lavonia explained in  more detail about babies and the methods women used to keep from getting with child when they fucked. “But as I told you before, as amarried woman, you won’t need to concern yourself with that, at least not for a while.  Now, what other questions plague you, dear?  You must tell me, for this is  your last chance to ask.”

Over the hour that followed, they discussed the woman’s orgasm, and the man’s,the various methods by which a woman could  suck  a cock, things a woman could do to entice a man—“like touching your breasts, a man loves to watch a woman caress her own breasts,” Lavonia said—and how she might use all these skills to best advantage for gaining things she wanted from her husband.

That was a new idea to  her—and quite worth  study. If she wanted to be given thesame respect and power her mother was granted from her father, perhaps she could use sex to attain  it.

The only question Lavonia  still wouldn’t answer was  about the  Maran tiles. She only laughed when Maven asked. “For the last time, my dear, you’ll learn the secret of the tiles on  your wedding night.” Then Lavonia leaned around to look into Maven’s eyes, lifting her chin with one  bent finger. “But trust me, Maven, it’s nothing to fear. In fact, it may well be the most thrilling event  you will ever experience. So when the timecomes, don’t be shocked. Instead, take my advice and savor it.”

After Maven had left the tub, putting her pink sleeping gown back on, Lavonia sat behind her  on the bed, rebraiding her hair.  “For the last time,” Lavonia reminded her.  “As you know, on your  wedding night, your  hair will be  unbound, declaring you are no longer a virgin, for all to see.”

To her surprise, that held appeal as well.  She would no longer be the innocent royal daughter whose bound hair reminded everyone  she didn’t know the ways of sex. Even

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though she  would know no one  at Rawley, at least her unbound hair might help her fit  in with the other women there, a comfort she and her sisters had never known in their guarded world.

As Lavonia finished the braid, she squeezed  Maven’s shoulders. “I shall miss you, dear girl.”

Oh Ares—everything had occurred so quickly that Maven hadn’t even had a chance to consider  the fact that she’d be leaving Lavonia behind. She turned to face her maid, her Orienter, her friend. “I don’t know  what I’ll do without you, Lavonia.”

Although she looked sad, the older woman managed  a smile. “I suspect you shall do quite well. I only hope you’ll feel I did  a satisfactory job with your Orientation.”

Maven nodded. “Oh yes, I’m sure I will. I’m certain you did.” Then she sighed, her

eyes still locked on the  maid’s. “What will you do now that I’ll be  gone?”

This time the maid’s smile shone bolder.  “Your father  has offered me a position  overseeing all the fortress’s maids.”

Her answer heartened Maven. “I’m so glad. And I know you shall do well at it.”

“As you will do well as the mistress of Dane’s estate.” Lavonia blinked, looking  both wistful and wise. “Tomorrow your new life begins, Maven. Tomorrow you will be  given to Dane of Rawley.”

Maven shuddered with fear. And maybe also a hint of unbidden anticipation.

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Chapter Six

The next day dawned clear and bright,  the sun beaming through the high,  thin,open-air windows of the fortress. Even so, Maven’s heart brimmed with darkness and dread as she sullenly made her way toward the great hall.

Lavonia had dressed her in the finest silken  frock she’d ever owned. Made just for this occasion, it was the color of the sky in  spring and draped her curves in a way that struck her as both elegant and provocative. Her bound hair  was twisted with ashimmery ribbon of the same hue.  She felt beautiful…and doomed.

When she entered the hall, only her mother and father awaited her, for unlike the wedding celebration she would have with Dane after they reached Rawley, the Giving  Ceremony was a private affair,  an ancient tradition practiced by  the royal and other upper-class families who had something to  gain by arranging their daughters’ marriages.

Her father looked as majestic as ever seated  on his throne, and her mother appeared equally as regal, adorned in a dress of gray so  pale it seemed almost silver. Before them on the floor lay a large white silk pillow,  which she knew was to be her place until summoned during the  ceremony, but she didn’t  settle upon it just yet. She had one lastplea to make.

She had never begged for anything in her life—and she detested being lowered to do it now, but it was her last hope. She dropped to her knees before her father’s throne and looked up at him.

“Father, I beg of you, do not do this! Do not give me to that man!”

Her father tilted his head and she could  have sworn she saw sympathy in his gaze, but he only said, “It is done, daughter.”

Maven’s eyes fell shut in despair, but then  she opened them wide, beseeching himonce more. “Please! Please don’t make me  go! I’m…” Oh Ares, she hated to admit this, but… “I’m
 
afraid
 
of him.”

Above her, Enrick let out an enormous sigh. “Your mother has expressed to meyour worries, Maven.” So her mother
 
hadn’t
 
forsaken her as she’d thought. “But my decision stands. For the good of you, and for the good of our land, you will marry Dane of Rawley, and that’s final.”

Final, was it? Well, perhaps so, and there  was nothing she could do about it, but she wouldn’t go without letting her father know what she thought. “For the good of
 
you
, you mean. To make sure you never lose power over Caralon. You’ve traded me like a slab of meat at market just to ensure you’ll always be ruler.”

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Her father’s eyes darkened and she waited  for him to lash out at her, but instead hetook a deep breath and spoke calmly. “I love  you, Maven, so I forgive you for what youjust accused me of. Now I suggest you take your seat and be silent.” He pointed a long, commanding finger toward the white  pillow below her mother’s throne.

Maven’s heart hardened even more than it already had. If he loved her, he had an odd way of  showing it. Even now, knowing  she was afraid, and after she’d stooped to begging him, he was still going to give her to  the beast of the north. She lowered herself onto the pillow and stared at the floor, unwilling to look at her father any longer.

Just then, the large wooden door at the  back of the hall opened  and one  of her father’s serving men stepped inside. “Dane of Rawley has arrived, Your Rulership.”

Maven’s skin prickled.

“Show him in,” her father said.

Maven’s heart felt as if it would leap  from her chest as her soon-to-be husband entered the room. She didn’t look up, suddenly deciding to feign disinterest altogether,but she could feel  his enormous presence the moment he came  in. Each step he took toward them seemed to reverberate through the large space. From the corner of her eye, she could see he was a large, muscular man—frighteningly so, just as she’d expected.  His hair looked dark, longish.