The Ruby Fortress (Kingdoms Of Oz Book 1)

by Carrie Whitethorne

  Torre broke the few moments of silence that followed with a request for a demonstration. Sayer obliged him, and the room was suddenly illuminated by several of the orbs he’d used to light our way through the narrow passage beneath Glinda’s lands. We finished the meal listening to the children, answering their questions, and watching Sayer produce different spectacles for their entertainment. Fires. Stars. He even conjured a small bird that sang and flitted around the room.

  When we were finished eating, I helped Orla clear the table and wash the dishes in her small sink. Then it was time for the children to go to bed.

  “Is Jack’s place still empty?” Sayer inquired when the children were settled.

  “Yes, no one felt comfortable taking it. Feel free to spend the night and be here for breakfast before you set out again.”

  Sayer promised her, I thanked her, and then he ushered me outside and led me four houses down.

  “This place has been empty for years,” he said, pushing open the door. “Orla keeps it clean and tidy, but it probably won’t be lived in for a while yet.”

  I stepped inside, not asking who Jack was or why he didn’t live there anymore—I’d rather not know—and Sayer followed, closing the door behind us. I heard the bag hit the floor and felt his arm around my waist, pulling me back into him.

  “And now I have you to myself,” he teased.

  I smiled and dropped my head, and relaxed back into his embrace, and all thoughts of the previous tenant were discarded when Sayer began to kiss my exposed neck. “You’ve had me to yourself all day.”

  “Hmmm, but not like this,” he murmured, his hands brushing my hips, finding the hem of my shirt, and then sliding beneath the fabric and up my stomach.

  The room was so dark I couldn’t see a thing, putting me entirely at Sayer’s mercy. The thought sent a thrill through me, and my skin prickled with excitement. He felt my goosebumps and kept one hand around my waist while the other roamed higher, seeking out the lace of my bra.

  My nipples were already peaked when he reached them, brushing one and then the other with his right thumb. Then he turned me around, guiding me backward into the room by my hips, until I felt what I assumed to be a table level with my ass.

  His kiss was hungry. Forceful. His mouth claimed mine. I fought back, our tongues dueling, lips crushing, and I entwined my arms around his neck as he lifted me onto the table. His hands were creeping back up my shirt and around my back to unfasten my bra, and then sliding to cup and pinch at my breasts. I tried so hard not to moan as pleasure and frustration barreled through me. I wanted him. I needed him. It had been so long since I’d had anyone, and I’d been fine, but there was something about Sayer that I couldn’t get enough of. When he touched me, I needed all of him, my body ached for him.

  He pushed me back using his lips, leaving enough distance between us so he could tug my top over my head. I had no idea where he dropped it, but he was there in an instant for my bra. Naked to the waist and still in the pitch-black darkness of the room, the sensation of his mouth trailing down my chest while his hands found the waistband of my pants was amplified. I could hardly breathe, the aching need for him growing as he moved over my body. He kissed straight down between my breasts, slid his fingers into the waistband of my pants, and pulled. They slid off with little effort, and I couldn’t tell if he’d used magic or the pants were just a perfect fit. He left them at my calves, not touching my shoes, and ordered, “Lie back. The table will hold you.”

  It was so dark I had to feel behind me before I could do as he said, but he was right, the table was right there, and I lowered myself gently back as he resumed his oral path down. A trail of fire ignited where he touched me, burning lower and lower until he found what he was looking for. Hands splayed over my hips, he licked the length of my wet slit, his tongue tracing up toward my clit. But he stopped before he touched it, instead pulling his head back and waiting until he could feel me squirm beneath his hands. Then he did it again.

  “Sayer.”

  My pathetic whimper went ignored, and he ran his tongue over my pussy again.

  I balled my hands into fists, trying to contain my frustration, but it didn’t help. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, my mind screaming at him to make me come. Then the very tip of his tongue nudged at the sensitive cluster. Not enough to offer any kind of release, only enough to send a spike of desperate need through my core.

  He was killing me. Pinned to the table and almost entirely naked, trying so damn hard not to gasp and moan, I thought I was going to die from the tension, the need for release was so intense. His tongue flicked again. I tried to lift my hips, just enough to keep him there a moment longer, just enough to take a little bit more, but he held me firmly and moved away.

  I was about to say his name, to beg him, to bargain with him, to offer my life for one tiny orgasm, when his mouth closed over my clit and he sucked. As he sucked, he reached for my nipples with both hands and squeezed. I came undone, right there on the table, right there on his face. For a second I stopped breathing and thinking and moving, as the orgasm I’d been chasing tore through my body like a tidal wave. He rode it until it ebbed, then pulled forth another right behind it.

  My lungs felt like they were going to burst, and I sucked in a breath as the next orgasm rolled through me. I hadn’t noticed his hands had left my breasts, until his mouth broke from my pussy and his hands tugged me down the table. The wood was rough on my back, but the scratching felt like nails on my skin and the sensation pushed me further. His hands slid down my legs, removing my pants, then he guided my legs over his shoulder, and raised my ass from the surface. He thrust his cock into me with so much force, I cried out. God, that was what I needed. Him. All of him.

  His thumb found by clit and moved in rough circles as he pounded into me. The feel of his toned stomach against the backs of my thighs, of his hips against my ass as he drove every inch of his cock inside me, all worked to push me into another orgasm. He came hard and fast, his tight grip on my hips almost painful as he slammed into me one final time. As my climax ebbed away, he pulled out and a very dim light appeared in the next room, just enough to see by.

  Lowering his head, he kissed the sensitive skin around my navel then helped me sit up. I rested my head on his shoulder and laughed quietly, trying to steady my breathing.

  “Sorry. I’d hoped to make it to the bedroom.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Table sex is amazing.”

  He lifted my chin with a finger, tilting back my head. “You’re amazing. I’m so lucky to have found you.”

  His kiss was so gentle, nothing like the ones before, and then he took a step back, smiled, and helped me find my clothes before showing me to the bathroom. After I’d cleaned up, I found him in the bedroom sprawled on his back, fully clothed, and asleep. I watched him for a few minutes, studying his face. We were almost at the fortress and Glinda wanted him back. I wasn’t sure I wanted to give him back, and that was probably bad.

  Chapter 12

  We woke late and spent far too long saying good morning, and then at some point Orla brought breakfast to us, leaving it on the table in the kitchen. I broke out in a fit of snorting laughter when we emerged from the bedroom and saw it lain out beautifully in the very spot he’d had dessert the night before.

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard you really laugh,” he said, taking a golden bread roll, and spreading it with preserved fruit.

  I chose what looked like brioche and a piece of fruit that looked like an apple and perched on the table corner. “It happens sometimes. I’m not always moody and difficult. Only when pink pom-poms have me kidnapped by handsome men in formal suits.”

  He moved around the table and teased, “Really? I’ll work on keeping handsome men in suits well away from you if that’s the case.”

  I couldn’t say anything, I still had a mouthful of sweet bread, but he positioned himself between my legs and kissed me regardless. Then he rested his forehead on mine and sigh
ed.

  “In an ideal world we could just stay here.”

  “In an ideal would I wouldn’t be expected to steal two castles and fight a war,” I countered.

  I saw sadness in his eyes. “It won’t come to that.”

  I didn’t like the concern in his tone. I didn’t want him to worry, so I smiled and kissed his cheek. “If it does, it’ll be for the right reasons. I can’t just leave Orla and her family to live like this. I have to get those chimps under some sort of control. If they came back here and hurt those kids…”

  There was something in his expression I couldn’t quite identify. The look in his eyes was so… intense. I wondered if he was going to kiss me or yell at me. When he did neither and turned away, and reached for the bag that had been moved to the other side of the room, I wrapped my arms around myself and watched him.

  He seemed oblivious to how his rejection had made me feel. “We should thank Orla and get moving. It’s approaching lunch time, and ideally we need to reach the fortress before dark.”

  I hopped off the table and asked, “Why?”

  He looked over his shoulder before lifting the pack he’d brought with us and swinging it onto his back. “Because Fallon isn’t guaranteed to open the doors after dark, and we could find ourselves locked out and attacked by the same legion that likes to smash Pumpkinheads.”

  I bristled at the bitterness in his tone, but didn’t say anything. If he noticed my shoes changing from sneakers to mid-calf length Doc Martens, he didn’t say anything as he reached for his unfinished roll and walked toward the door.

  I followed, wondering what had gotten into him.

  We didn’t hang around, just stopping to say thank you and goodbye to Orla and her children, before heading north out of the town. Sayer walked slightly ahead, and I let him for what I figured to be a couple of miles before I snapped, “All right, what’s wrong?”

  He slowed but didn’t stop walking. I assumed to let me catch up.

  “Well?”

  “I didn’t want this, Ella.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What? I don’t recall either of us proposing marriage, Sayer. Shit.”

  He took my hand. I hadn’t been expecting it and was surprised, both by the gesture and the feeling that erupted in my stomach and flowed up into my chest. “Not this. You are perfect. You are… You should never have been forced into this and I hate myself for my part in it. I’m sorry if I made you feel that this was in any way your fault, but what you said about the village, that you couldn’t let… Well, it made me angry, and I can’t afford to allow myself to become angry. Not if I’m to keep you safe while you’re here.”

  That told me absolutely nothing.

  “Whoa, back up. You’re keeping me safe? I’m being forced? What the hell does that mean, Sayer?”

  He looked at me and shook his head and I realized then, for the first time, that he couldn’t say what he wanted to. That whatever truth he held would never come out.

  “Glinda has you gagged?”

  “It’s not like that. There are certain things I cannot repeat because of the vow I made as steward.”

  “You tried to get past it at the truth pond, didn’t you?”

  He nodded. “I tried and it just didn’t work. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to do.”

  I clenched my teeth. I knew exactly what to do, and it wouldn’t involve him. I tugged him toward me, stopping him mid-step, and kissed him. “You don’t need to do anything. This is my burden, my inheritance. You do what you were sent to do, and I’ll take it from there. Okay?”

  He didn’t look convinced.

  “Sayer?” I pressed. “I need you to help me do this right. I need you to get me to the fortress and I need you to make sure this Fallon guy is on my side.”

  He nodded and I kissed him again.

  “I trust you. I need you to trust me,” I told him, making sure my sincerity was in my tone.

  His eyes searched mine and his brows were pulled in so tightly a small line formed between them, then he replied, “What do you propose?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I know I have to get to that fortress. I need to be the one who holds the power here. Not the Weird Sisters.”

  He didn’t look convinced.

  “Look,” I started taking his other hand and holding them in front of me. “My great grandma turned up here and killed two of them purely by accident, and I’m starting to think she was a victim in all of this too. She was twelve years old, a child. I’m twice her age with more life experience. I’ve dealt with Glindas my whole life. I’ve probably known more than a few Tatis too. Trust me, I’ve got this. I just need some backup.”

  “Tatiana,” he corrected, with a sigh. “The other one is called Tatiana.”

  “Well, I’ll handle her too. As long as you have my back and Fallon is on my side.”

  He nodded.

  I kissed his cheek. “Okay then. Can we drop the bad mood? I mean, we’ve had a halfway decent few days together up to this point. No use spoiling it now, is there?”

  He glanced down at my feet, dropped my left hand, and smiled before turning and walking again. I was back in sneakers. Relaxed. Relieved. Happy.

  We walked north, his plan being to loop around the north side of the fortress and approach from there. I didn’t fully understand what he meant until a rocky mountain range appeared in the distance. It looked wrong in the middle of the yellow and orange landscape, a black smudge in the middle of the lovely colors. A stain. It was like the sun didn’t want to shine on it, not wanting to look down on the miserable collection of rocks.

  “It’s an extinct volcano,” Sayer explained as we walked. “The north side crumbled away and a gate was put in. The fortress sits inside. It was sculpted out of the formations left behind. There were never many rubies in there, the name is more representative of the color of the volcanic rock, but there were a few.” He glanced down at my feet and smiled. “And Garnets, not as precious a stone but just as red with their own properties. Like those. Every single one of them imbued with the power of the fortress.”

  “I thought the Witch of the East was wearing them?” I said, still looking ahead to the looming fortress.

  “She was. They were a gift. A symbol of their allegiance against their other sisters. In exchange Evanora received a clear quartz ball cut from the foundations of the tower that gave her the ability to see what was happening in various locations around Oz. It gave her quite an advantage over Glinda, back before your grandmother dealt with her.”

  “Seems like a bit of a crappy exchange,” I muttered, looking down at my feet. “These things aren’t all that useful.”

  “They can grant any wish, Ella. I’d say they’re very useful.”

  I thought for a few moments. “I really should learn how to use them. Any tips?”

  “You already know how to use them. You can change your shoes. You managed a shield of sorts. It’s just a case of practicing.”

  “That reminds me,” I said with a grin. “You seem to have downplayed your own abilities.”

  He shrugged and glanced at me with a small smirk. “It wouldn’t do for me to let people know all my secrets. Only a select few, trusted friends know what I’m truly capable of.”

  “But why? Why do you have to be so secretive?”

  “The way things have gone over recent years, it’s safer to keep things like that to yourself. I wouldn’t want to be considered a threat and eliminated. Or worse, recruited.”

  “Like she’s tried to recruit me, you mean?”

  He stopped walking and turned me to face him, one hand cupping my cheek. “I promise you, I’m doing all I can to protect you. My mind was made up before we left the passage beneath the palace. No one is using you as a pawn. I should never have brought you here. I should never have—”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” I interrupted, kissing him softly. “This is the fault of whoever brought my great grandma here, not you. This all started back then. I don’t kno
w exactly what I’m going to do about it yet, but I’ve decided it’s ending with me.” I suspected I knew who brought her, and he hadn’t said anything to contradict the theory so far, so I filed that away for later.

  His eyes searched mine and I smiled. “I’ll need your help though.”

  He nodded then kissed me fiercely, saying everything he couldn’t put into words. Yes, we’d end it. Yes, we’d do it together. But he was asking too. Asking me to let him help. Asking me to trust him. And I did. I had no reason not to. He’d been as honest as he could be. He’d introduced me to his friends and was risking something he considered to be worse than death to keep me safe. To help me become what I needed to be, to do what I had to do.

  It was me who broke the kiss. Pressing my hand against his chest and stepping back. “We need to keep moving. Glinda expects you back in a certain amount of time and we have to get into that place by dark,” I warned, with a nod toward the rocky expanse marring the landscape ahead of us.

  He nodded and swallowed hard before turning and walking on, taking my right hand in his left. I focused on the volcano housing the fortress, my fortress, and realized that the darkness that hung over the area weren’t clouds, as I’d assumed before. It was a constantly moving mass, blotting out the sun. A living, watching assembly that we somehow had to get past if we wanted to make it through the gates.

  “How do we make it in with that horde watching from above?” I asked, as the ground beneath our feet grew less grassy and sloped up, becoming rocky.

  “I hadn’t figured that out yet.”

  “Well, that’s reassuring. I haven’t made it past two choices. Storm the gates on the fly, or sneak by and hope the airborne chimps don’t notice.”

  “The second one,” he said, scanning the sky. “I don’t expect them to take too kindly to intruders, but I think we should make it most of the way to the gate before they notice us. The commotion should alert Fallon, and he can subdue them long enough for us to get inside. I think.”