Tested by the Night (39 page)
He should stop this. He should open his mouth first and simply say he’d changed his mind. That he’d think about a regular marriage, but there could be no claiming. There would still be pain, but not as much, and it would be over fast. Instead of letting all these people wound her to the core, over and over and over.
But before he could speak, the strangest thing happened. It started as a quiet chant, then grew into a mighty roar. “Claim him, claim him, claim him.”
Talon couldn’t believe it. Could it be true? Could he really be accepted for the man he was as opposed to the spawn of a traitor he’d always been? His heart soared.
Once more, Mia raised her hand. “Since there doesn’t seem to be any objections, I have one last thing to say. Talon once told me he could not sit idly by my side as I ruled. He’d go mad from boredom. And he could not take my name like a wife. Or simply be an ornament upon my arm, and I don’t blame him, and that’s not what I want in a mate.”
She looked at Talon. “So if I do claim him, it will be with the understanding that, when the time comes, he will rule by my side equally, king to my queen. And from this day forward, we’ll combine our names and form a brand new dynasty. Together, we’ll be known as Talon and Mia Starkhammer, the heir apparents to the barbarian throne of Alaria.”
The crowd roared once more as they stomped their feet so hard the ground shook with it. “Claim him, claim him, claim him, claim him,” they chanted over and over.
Turning back to the crowd, Mia raised her hand yet again, but it was the voice of Leeky Shortz that Talon heard next as the crowd quieted.
“What the crusty buggers dried on the fingertips of a dark-elf nose picker doing the hoochy-coochy on a pickle barrel are ya going on and on about. We get it already. Ya mean ta claim Talon as ya mate. So get on with the show, lass, my popcorn’s getting cold.”
Show? What show? He knew there was more to a claiming than simply stating your intentions. But as to the particulars, he was ignorant.
Slowly, Mia gazed down at him with a gleam in her eye and a saucy smile on her lips, and suddenly he was more leery and unsure of what was about to happen than he’d ever been while in the Bane Bear’s camp or the ogre village or even Vile. Leery, yes, but certainly not unwilling.
Talon smiled back.
****
So this was it, the moment she’d been waiting her entire life for.
Mia beckoned for her mother and her aunts Briar and Lark to join her on the arena floor, and they came barring the instruments she’d need to complete the ritual—four candles, a few matches, and a knife.
She didn’t look at Talon. She simply couldn’t, especially not while they were setting the stage for what was about to take place. But the palms of her hands sweated while shivers of nervousness raced unimpeded along her spine, leaving chill bumps in its wake. She swiped them along the bare skin of her thighs. She could do this. She could, she really could. She must.
They each took a candle, and Mia placed hers above Talon’s head while her mother put hers on the ground below his feet. Aunts Briar and Lark both placed theirs on either side of his outstretched arms. And then they all four lit the candles.
The moment the flames flickered to life, the lights of the arena went out, and the entire space was doused in darkness save for the candlelight.
Mia’s mother and aunts returned to their seats, and she herself, faced the crowd. Or at least where she knew the crowd still to be. She could no longer see them, but she could hear their breathing, almost hear every beat of their hearts. But then again, with the darkness, it was as if she and Talon had been magically transported to another world where they were now blessedly alone.
She knew, however, they were not. So she took a deep breath in order to raise her voice loud enough to make sure even those in the very back of the arena would hear every single word she had to say.
Then she raised the knife and swiftly cut Talon’s bonds at the same moment she began to chant. “Night test me, and I’ll prove to be true. Night test me as I claim only you. Night test me, and I’ll show you the way. Night test me, for with you alone I shall stay.”
She quickly straddled the man she loved, ran her fingers up and down his torso, and grabbed his cock with both her hands. He was like silk, he was like steel, and she stroked, caressed, and teased until Talon was panting.
Mia smiled as his cock hardened to near bursting as she knew it would. And while gazing into his eyes, with a single motion, she lifted her hips, positioned her pussy, and claimed him with a single thrust downward, quickly sliding along his length until he was seated fully inside her. She rose and fell, over and over, giving, taking, completing.
Warmth flooded her heart and soul as a sense of pure rightfulness saturated every cell of her being. “I, Mia, claim thee, Talon, as my lawfully wedded husband,” she shouted for all to hear. “To have and to hold, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forever and ever amen.”
Before her next heartbeat was nothing more than a distant memory, Talon had her flipped over and flat on her back. Then he filled her, completely, as if they’d never been two to begin with, but only always one. He stared deep into her eyes, and Mia saw their love reflected back as he began to chant. “Night test me, and I’ll prove to be true. Night test me as I claim only you. Night test me, and I’ll show you the way. Night test me, for with you alone I shall stay.”
She wanted to take a moment to glory in the fact he’d recited the ritual back to her, but Talon quickened the pace of their lovemaking, and Mia lost track of even where they were.
Faster and faster he pumped.
The muscles of her thighs quivered as tiny shockwaves of pure pleasure began building deep within her core. She knew what that meant, and she tried to stave off the inevitable, trying unsuccessfully to prolong the moment, to make it last. But she couldn’t. It was too good, and suddenly wave after wave of mind-blowing spasms crashed down upon her, leaving her breathless.
A moment later, he shouted his own release with such wondrously sweet words. “I Talon, claim thee, Mia, as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forever and ever amen.”
The crowd stomped, and the crowd cheered, but neither Mia nor Talon heard. They were both too busy enjoying the afterglow.
About the Author
Hi, my name is Maxine Mansfield and I write fantasy, erotic romances. I live in the far northern state of Alaska where the summer days are long and the winter nights even longer. I have one very special man, his three equally special children, and our six delightful grandchildren in my life. Not to mention a very bossy African Grey parrot named Gabriel. Oh, and gnomes! Many, many gnomes!
Visit Maxine at
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Also Available
Tamed by the Fire
The Academy
Book Four
by
Maxine Mansfield
Kitrina Dragonheart is a hunted woman, but the last thing the savvy rogue wants is to partner in a quest with the arrogant but oh-so-sexy prince who deflowered her. But when the threat extends to her legacy and her loved ones, she has no choice but to accept his skills as an extraordinary warrior. Now if she can just get past the distraction of his touch.
Barbarian Zander Hammerstrike vowed to protect Kit with his life. But who's going to protect Zander from the sensually sassy human? She's playing havoc on his sanity—as well as his libido—and she's on the verge of stealing his heart...again. He can't let that happen. As future ruler of Alaria, Zander must take a barbarian wife to keep the bloodline pure, and Kit being human...
Destined from birth to follow different paths, their love seems impossible, but does the Dragon Heart Opal have other plans in store for the pair?
The Dragon Heart Opal
Hark unto thee both far and wide. A pact has been made, a trust to confide. For dragon hearts are pure as gold. And paladin hearts beat both worthy and bold. They’ve formed a bond, they’ve given a token. A promise in gemstone, never to be broken. An opal of brilliance, an opal of trust. Worn by one whose soul is found just.
Prologue
Zander cringed. “You want me to what?”
Barbarian Prince, Alex Zander Collin Hammerstrike, clamped his mouth shut in shock. He must’ve heard wrong. They surely hadn’t just asked what he thought they had. After spending the last half turn of the hourglass at Castle Kuropkat listening to the speech from Sir Uthiel Dragonheart and his pretty wife, Lady Briarlarn, about the task they wished him to perform, he needed a few moments to let the impact of their request seep into his soul. Could he actually consider doing such a deed?
“Why me?” He shuddered. “There must be any number of men vastly more qualified for this particular job. Matter of fact, many make their living doing precisely this sort of thing.”
The determined look Uthiel Dragonheart, leader of the human Paladins of Albrath, Protector of the Dragons, and Master of Castle Kuropkat bestowed on him didn’t do a thing to alleviate Zander’s tension. “The lass insists it be you.”
Zander shook his head. He didn’t wish to hurt their feelings. They were important people, after all, and close friends of his parents, but at the same time, the thought was terrifying. No, terrifying wasn’t precisely the word he was looking for. It was downright exciting and titillating, but at the same time, not possible. Was it?
“Why on Albrath would she even consider me of all people to deflower her?” He didn’t hear their response if they made one. Zander’s mind raced with image after image of Lord and Lady Dragonheart’s oldest daughter.
Kitrina, who from the very first moment she’d been placed in his arms as an infant, he had loved. And when she’d stared up into his five-year-old face with those trusting, stormy blue eyes and smiled at him, even though he hadn’t understood what was happening, he’d been filled with such awe of her, it had rocked his very soul. She could never truly be his, but she was his heart’s secret desire and always had been.
Kitrina, who he’d purposefully not laid eyes on for two years now. He had tried unsuccessfully to excise her from his mind and heart. Gone would be the innocent young lady of sixteen who drove him to distraction with her quick wit and sharp tongue, replaced by a woman of eighteen. Where had the time gone? Did she look much the same? Were her lips still as full, pouty, irresistible, and meant to be kissed? And did she still possess a body whose only purpose on Albrath was to drive a man insane?
He hardened and sat quickly at a nearby table as somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled. He tamped down his normally in-control spiritmaster tendencies. He prided himself on keeping his ability to manipulate the weather according to his mood and to sense danger when near well in check.
The last thing twenty-three year old Zander Hammerstrike needed at this moment was for Uthiel and Briar to realize what they were suggesting was the stuff that both his dreams and nightmares were made of.
Would they be so quick to offer up their daughter if they were aware that, instead of the routine, ceremonial breaking of a hymen, then withdrawal they expected, they would get the exact opposite? Zander had no doubt if he penetrated her once, even if his life depended upon it, he wouldn’t be able to pull out and stop himself until he’d branded her upon his heart and soul forever.
A young black cat that had been playfully circling his feet since the moment he stepped through the doorway stopped, looked up at him, and jumped into his lap. Immediately, his spiritmaster sensibilities kicked in, and even though he knew without a doubt the cat posed no threat, still, there was something…odd about it. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
The cat circled his lap once and began making itself comfortable right on top of his erection. As gently as possible, Zander slid it to the floor, took a deep breath, and hoped a lightning bolt wouldn’t strike him dead as he looked Kitrina’s parents straight in the eye and bald-faced lied.
“We are talking about Kit, aren’t we? Scrawny, giggly, hair-hanging-down-in-her-eyes, stuttering Kitrina? The same young lass who was forever in the company of my sister, Mia? My God Draka, I didn’t realize she was even old enough for such a thing. I suppose I should’ve though, as she and Mia are about the same age. I’m flattered you would trust such an important occasion to me. Are you sure you wouldn’t want to consider someone older and more experienced?”
Thunder crashed right overhead, and Zander gulped.
The kitten suddenly dug its claws deep into the tender flesh of Zander’s ankle. With an “ouch,” he jumped up and hopped away from the offending ball of fur. A flash of lightning illuminated the room. So much for the fur-covered hairball not being dangerous.
The light lilt of Briar’s voice as she bent and quickly scooped up the cat was pleasant, but it didn’t do much to calm the escalating tension in the room. Instead, she sounded forced, nervous, and strained. “I assure you, Zander, our daughter is well past the age for the ceremony. As a matter of fact, three years past. She’s now eighteen, and as you probably know, most girls have their ceremonies at fifteen, sixteen at the latest.”
Briar’s smile faded. “For a while, we were afraid Kitrina wasn’t even interested in such things. But it’s mandatory for admission into The Academy of Magical Arts, and it’s all she’s talked about for a full phase of the second moon now. I’m sure you realize how important a Coming-into-Womanhood ceremony is to a young girl. After all, your sister, Mia had hers just a few seasons back. It’s the night all young girls dream of.”
She stroked the top of the furious cat’s head as she continued. “You yourself must remember how excited you were for your own Seduction-into-Manhood ceremony. Don’t you?”