“By the gods,” Nikolina said, springing up from her seat as he convulsed, plummeting to the floor.
“What’s wrong? Are you all right? Gods, please, are you all right? Do you need the healer?”
The thrumming of his heart drowned out her words. The venom cascaded through his body, scorching with the heat of an unquenchable fire. He wanted to yell out, but no sound would come forth. He could only flail on the floor, fighting against the excruciating agony of the poison.
Crouching next to him, Nikolina grinned, stroking his face. When he tried to speak again, she pressed a finger to her pursed lips, and then rose, locking the door and pulling the coverings completely over the windows.
Once she’d removed her clothing, she walked back to his side, nudging him with her foot. Danimore’s eyes eased open and then widened, staring up at the beautiful, naked woman. She clutched his arms, dragging him into the center of the room.
Nikolina leaned over him, unclasping his tunic and untying his laces. He tried to protest, but his limbs were useless, ignoring the pleas of his mind. For the first time, he understood. It was evocative of the effects caused by the serpent’s venom that the Nazilians used in battle. He couldn’t defend himself or his honor.
“No!” he screamed, but the protest was inaudible.
“I’ve always wondered what your body would look like on our bonding night,” she purred, while kissing up his chest. “I’m pleased that you haven’t disappointed me.”
“No.” He heard himself manage in barely a whisper.
“No? But you can’t refuse me now, my love,” she said, placing her lips over his.
He felt an odd sensation as she continued to explore his body. Everywhere her hands or mouth touched, tingled beneath his flesh. He’d lost none of his sensation: it was enhanced by the deadly venom coursing through his veins.
Feeling a warm sensation on his hand. he peered down as far as his eyes would allow. His fingers tingled intensely, as Nikolina guided them where she wanted them to be. When he heard a continuous moan, he closed his eyes, but reopened them again, as she forced his saturated fingers in his mouth.
“Is my taste more pleasing than that of your wife? You’re the first to taste of me, Danimore, and I shall taste of you as well.”
An intense, persisting tingle brought panic to his heart. An enhanced pleasure like none he’d ever known ignited every nerve in his body.
“Get up! Get up!” his thoughts urged.
Nikolina emerged moments later, wearing that beautiful smile. She stared into the eyes of her beloved, merging them as one. The fervent sensation of their joining was amplified by an enrapturing, tingling heat. He watched in horrified disbelief as she received pleasure from him, and cursed himself for being overwhelmed by the tremendous satisfaction.
Every part of his body tensed while the wave of pleasure consumed his very being. He felt as if he shuddered at the force of the release, yet he didn’t move.
Danimore’s breaths became shorter, trying to recover from the still pulsing sensation. A tear trickled down his face as the reality of his situation was realized.
She moaned, clutching his shoulders before collapsing on top of him. Tenderly stroking his sweat-soaked hair and face, she kissed him passionately. “This is how it should always be,” she said breathlessly, sliding next to him. “I’ve always loved you, and if the gods are good, we’ll be blessed with a child.”
Danimore closed his eyes and wept. His wife’s warnings repeated in his mind and he felt like a fool to have not listened. Now, he’d betrayed his wife and the love she held for him.
His thoughts were interrupted when the tingle returned. His eyes blinked open in time to see Nikolina straddle him.
“No!” he cried as loud as his voice would carry. It was for naught. More times than he chose to count, he was violated. She used him until his body would no longer respond to her intimate commands.
It wasn’t until he heard liquid being poured did he dare open his eyes again. He watched in disgust as she knelt at his side, gliding a warm cloth over his body. She’s cleaning me, he thought. Washing away the stain of her betrayal.
Nikolina took great care, cleansing every inch of him before doing the same to herself. After getting them both dressed, she strained, dragging him back over to the divan before unlatching the door.
“You must think me evil,” she said, taking a seat across from him.
“I’m not, Dani. The only evil is what you’ve done to me. You asked for my pledge, to be my husband, and then you betrayed me for a whore. Your uncle told us about her luring hundreds of Nazilian soldiers to her bed. This diseased whore you chose over me? I was maiden and I loved you…I yet love you, though you won’t believe. It was your closeness that I desired, intimacy, since your heart is lost to me. Now some things are as they should be. Your seed is within me, and soon, we’ll have a child…the first true child of your seed.”
“Why?” Danimore managed in a weak and breathy voice, wincing as some sensation returned to his limbs. It felt as if one thousand searing needles were jabbing him all at once.
“Why?” she said. “Because I could have you no other way.”
She leaned in for a final kiss, observing more of his body regain motion.
Danimore strained, finally able to pull himself up onto the divan, and then grimaced as life returned to his body.
“You didn’t have to do this, Nikolina. I never meant to hurt you. Why would you do this? You’ve ruined us both.”
“Ruined? No, we aren’t ruined. No one else ever has to know about the passion we shared. I feel no ruin or regret, my love, only satisfaction.”
“There was no passion. It would’ve been the same had you bound and gagged me! You took me without my consent, and I shall never forget it,” he slurred, as slaver ran from the corners of his mouth.
“Then, we’ll both have pain at the memory of each other. Mine will never leave my heart, Dani. If you’d like to strike me or throw me in irons, I give little care. I love you still. That is my torment; always I will love you.”
“What you’ve done isn’t love, it’s a violation.”
“No, it was desperation…desperation that you caused. I’ve given my maidenhead to you. That’s one claim that your whore wife could never make.”
With that slight, Danimore summoned all of his strength, lunging forward, and landing a hard slap on her face before plummeting to the floor.
“You don’t know the meaning of love,” he sneered, struggling to his knees and reorienting himself to the feel of his limbs. He staggered into the corridor, clutching the furnishings and walls for support.
“Sir Benoist! By the gods! Are you all right?” Allister asked, steadying Danimore’s stance.
Danimore snatched away, nearly collapsing to the floor from the effort. “Did you know?” he asked with narrowing eyes.
“Know? Know what?”
Danimore only shook his head, crumpling on the couch. The awful bite of the poison had caused his head to throb and soured his stomach. With a lurch forward, he spewed the contents of his stomach onto the floor.
Allister’s face paled. “Sir Benoist! Should I fetch the healer?”
“Fetch my driver, now!”
Allister rushed from the room, returning with Thoamus.
“Nakshij!” Thoamus said, reaching for Danimore. “What happened?”
“I—I—I,” Allister stammered, visibly shaken.
“Just take me from this place, Thoamus,” Danimore said. “Take me to my home.”
Allister held open the door, standing beneath the arch in disbelief.
“You aren’t returning to the citadel?” Thoamus asked, positioning Danimore on the cushions.
“No. Take me to my home. After, return to the citadel and bring my brother, bring Pentanimir. No one else must know. Bring only Pentanimir.”
“As you say, my lord.”
Thoamus sped away with Danimore moaning, as the grooves in the road caused the
carriage to bounce. He clutched his stomach, fighting the urge to retch. When they finally stopped, Thoamus helped him from the carriage.
“I have to try and walk on my own,” he muttered, his face glistening with sweat. “No one must think me ill.”
Thoamus nodded, following closely behind. When they entered his home, Danimore nearly swooned.
He gestured down the corridor and Thoamus managed to get him to his bed. Immediately, Danimore lurched forward, retching again.
“My brother…bring…Pentanimir.”
Thoamus didn’t argue. Swiftly, he left, returning with the Zaxson.
“Dani!” Pentanimir shouted, running through the door. When he heard no response, he continued to Danimore’s chambers and found him unmoving on the bed.
“Brother!”
Danimore’s eyes and teeth were clenched while his body curled with the passing wave of pain.
“Gods, what happened?” Pentanimir asked. He placed his hands on his brother’s sweat-soaked face. “I must send Symeon to retrieve Nzuri. He must tend you, Dani, immediately.”
He shook his head, fighting against a piercing cramp.
“Please, Dani. Tell me what’s wrong, what happened?”
“Ze—Zeta was right to fear. I shouldn’t have gone.”
Instantly, Pentanimir’s fear turned to rage. “What has she done? Surely she isn’t mad enough to harm the Nakshij of Nazil!”
“I’ll recover. Already the worst has passed. I—I couldn’t return to the citadel as I was. She—she is mad, Brother. Nikolina is mad.”
“Tell me what she’s done?”
“The poison. It must be. The poison used on the tips of our arrows.”
“The serpent’s venom?” His face scrunched with confusion. “Impossible. How, Dani, how?”
“The wine, in my wine, I’m certain. I couldn’t move. My body wouldn’t respond to my mind. Never have I felt so helpless. I could only watch. My body wouldn’t respond. I could do nothing.”
“To what end? What could she gain by having you lifeless before her?”
Danimore’s eyes rolled up and closed. “My seed,” was all he could mumble before his body began to shake with copious emotion.
“No! She did not. Nikolina is a maid with no pledge. Surely, she wouldn’t risk becoming with child to use you in this manner. No.”
“Don’t you understand? This is exactly what she wants. She made that plain. Nikolina is maiden no longer. She used me well, many times. I only pray that my seed didn’t find her womb. I couldn’t stop it. I tried to fight, to resist. I tried to call out, and no sound would come. She barred the door and removed my clothing. I couldn’t resist. I felt the seed leave my body. She’s taken everything from me.”
“I—I’m sorry. What are we to do? Should we take her and her father? For this offense, what are we to do? You’re the Nakshij of Nazil. No one can be allowed to treat any of our family like this. They’ll pay for this treachery.”
“No. We can’t and Nikolina knows as much. Zeta mustn’t know about this, Pentanimir. She begged me to stay clear of her. Zeta warned that she put a fear into her that couldn’t be explained. If she learned of this—,” Danimore turned his head toward the wall. “I’m a fool.”
“You’re no fool, Brother. No one could think such a thing possible. What she’s done must be punished. If it’s true that she desired your seed, Zeta will surely be told. Do you think that this wretch would carry your child and not tell of it? No, Dani. We mustn’t allow this violation to go unanswered.”
He took a sobering breath. “You speak true. She wouldn’t keep this to herself. As her womb swelled, she would tell of it. Everyone knows about her desire for me and the dissolution of the pledge. They would think I gave myself to her willingly.”
“The maiden’s tears,” Pentanimir said.” We could force her to drink them and your seed couldn’t take hold.”
“I cannot kill a babe, not even one conceived in such a manner. Forever it would haunt me.”
“Then, we won’t allow her to keep it. Your seed was stolen, Dani, and if it takes root in her womb, the babe would belong to you. It was theft that created it…a violation of the foulest kind. You must speak to Zeta and soon. She won’t be pleased, but we must be ready. Nikolina won’t be allowed that which she covets. The babe will be with us.”
“Do you hear what you speak? Zeta won’t want someone else’s babe. She’s pregnant with our child. I’ve betrayed my wife and may soon have a bastard in the city.”
“Are you to say Zeta cannot do for you as you’ve done for her?”
“What do you mean?” Danimore asked, straining to rise.
“Raithym. You accepted him as your own because of your love for his mother. Are you to say that her love for you isn’t equal to that in your own heart?”
“It isn’t the same! There’s no parity here. Zeta didn’t want to be used like she was. She became with child against her will. It isn’t fair for you to say this.”
“By what you’ve told me, isn’t it the same? Did you willingly give your seed to Nikolina?”
“No,” he relented.
“Brother, Zeta is a sister to me as Raithym is my nephew. I don’t want to harm either of them. However, you must realize the truth before you. Zeta’s love for you is unending. She’ll be wounded when she learns about this, but I’m certain that she’ll accept this babe as you’ve accepted Raithym. We must tell her. She must hear it from you. If Nikolina is given the opportunity, she’ll be most cruel. Please, if you insist upon not punishing this violation, at least consider what I’ve said.”
“I don’t disagree, but I wouldn’t place this burden upon Zeta without cause. It’s my prayer that my seed won’t find Nikolina’s womb. Until it’s proven otherwise, I’ll keep Zeta ignorant of my treatment.”
“Are you certain? It would take time, but Zeta will understand. She loves you and knows Nikolina’s heart even more than both you and me.”
“I’m certain. We must return to the citadel.”
“Are you well enough, Dani?” he asked, taking his arm.
“I am. I’ll have Nzuri tend me when we arrive.” He winced. “Then, I need the arms of my wife about me.”
Spero
“Liam said that you wished to speak with me, Caretaker,” Amare said, standing beneath the arched doorway of the solar.
Hosdaq sat alone near the conference table, contemplating the future for both Spero and his family. He pushed some fallen hair from his face, standing to address him.
“Yes, Sir Yeondi, please, join me. Would you like refreshment?”
“No, thank you, Caretaker.”
“Well, then I won’t hinder you for long. There’re many opportunities that I have for you to consider. After I’ve presented them, I’ll release you to your duties.”
“I appreciate that. Sir Wesfain and I were making our rounds. It isn’t a task easily completed by one.”
Hosdaq smiled at the ever-serious sentry. Amare’s dedication to duty is one of the reasons he truly respected and appreciated him.
“Of course,” Hosdaq said, taking his seat and gesturing for Amare to do the same. “Sir Yeondi, I’ve known and respected your brother for many years. No doubt, he’s mentioned me to you as well.”
“He did, many times. Yonas speaks highly of you and others of Bandari.”
“It pleases me to know so. Yonas was an asset to Bandari, and now to Kaleo. Speaking of, when we arrived to extricate the Nazilians, I was impressed with your handling of not only the guards, but the situation as well. I spoke with your brother at length regarding the same.”
“Thank you. I’m honored,” Amare said.
“As you know, several of the Nazilians have decided to make Spero their home. Sir Wesfain is one of them. This is very much appreciated and needed at this time of reclamation.”
“Indeed.”
“Sir Yeondi, Spero is a fledgling city. When the Zaxson was Caretaker here, he was only beginning to populate not on
ly the city proper, but also the temple and citadel. Sir Benoist had merely fifty guards assigned to the city. Of those, less than twenty returned from the battle in Cazaal. The guards we now have are all honorable and capable men of Nazil. Yet, there isn’t one among them that I’d grant the title of First Chosen. It’ll take time and training for these men to become worthy of such an honor. I don’t doubt for an instant that each and every one will exceed the expectations of not only myself, but of Sir Benoist as well.”
“I’ve met your guard,” Amare said. “Some are young, but they train well and will be ready to protect the city and its citizens. Nurul works them hard and forces them to reach beyond their self-imposed limitations.”
“Nurul is a fine swordsman, and he assisted with our guard’s training in Bandari. Even his son, Antenah is as such, and will make an exceptional Chosen. However, this isn’t where Nurul’s strength lies. For now, he’s able to teach the guard what they need to know. But his knowledge is limited on fine and enhanced training. His skills are basic by his own admission. I’m in need of a seasoned guard to assist.”
“What would you have of me, Caretaker?”
“I’m asking for you to remain, Sir Yeondi. Your brother has given me his permission to ask, but leaves the decision to you. In addition, I would ask if there are any other human sentries that you feel able to join you here in Spero.”
“My brother has given his permission?”
“He has. Yonas was quite pleased with my assessment of your skill. Kaleo has a lead sentry, and a second and third as well. The opportunity to rise within the village won’t come for many years, if at all. Here, there’s no such hindrance. It isn’t the lack of skill and discipline that won’t allow you to elevate; it’s merely circumstance. I have a need for you, Sir Yeondi. If you have the desire, Spero will be your home.
“Though, I won’t come false. It pleases me that you’re human. Spero was meant to be a Nazilian city. I don’t want it to remain that way. There must be unity among the peoples of the lands. This cannot be so if everyone who lives here besides my family is Nazilian.”
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