Hers to Claim (Verdantia Book 4)

by Patricia A. Knight

  Nia yowled and jerked her hips in time to four more rapidly delivered strikes of the paddle. Her breaths came in heavy pants. “Ohhh, Goddess, I need to come,” she groaned.

  Hel grunted and threw the paddle down next to her head. Poor girl. She sounds desperate. After the day’s earlier events, combined with what he knew was to come, it would be cruel to provoke her further. It was the work of moments to unhook her gown to her waist and un-cuff her ankles and wrists. He pulled her lithe form into his arms for a punishing kiss then murmured against Nia’s lips, “Fly up those stairs. Get rid of the dress and lie on your back on the dais.”

  “Where will you be?”

  “Right behind you. And, Nia…you don’t want me to catch you.”

  With wild eyes and a chirrup of alarm, Nia gathered her skirts and fled, taking the stairs two at a time before disappearing into the Chambre Cristalle. Hel pulled the Libre de Diamantorre from its cupboard and held it under one arm while he closed and locked the ‘game room’ door. With a snarl of desire, he loosed the predator that always lurked just beneath his veneer of domestication and vaulted up the steps after Nia.

  She was climbing onto the dais as he prowled through the door, her dress a puddle of color on the chamber floor. “Fasten those corner cuffs around your ankles then lay back.” He watched her as he laid the diaman crystals in the grooves around the center slab. She hissed when her brightly colored buttocks contacted the cold rock, but otherwise she obeyed him exactly. He stripped his clothes off rapidly, leaving them in an untidy pile and strode to the head of the dais.

  “Your cock and balls are blue.” The brown eyes examining him widened further. “You’ve, ah, gained in…girth.”

  Hel barely restrained a snort of laughter. “Yes, and your pussy is hot pink and undulating. Like you, this gods-be-damned creature has had me semi-aroused all day. Are you beginning to understand why the miku amar are called companions in love?” She nodded silently. “Stretch your arms above your head, Beauty.”

  He cuffed one wrist to each corner of the dais and pulled the ties taut. The bindings allowed Nia little movement. With a satisfied grunt, he moved to kneel between her outstretched legs. The hard stone bit into his knees but he welcomed the distraction from his over-eager cock. The ill-behaved organ jerked and wept in anticipation of plumbing Nia’s moist inner core. “Now, your first formal lesson, the fourth level rite for kinetic power. Repeat after me….”

  Adonia found concentrating on the words shaped by his delicious lips impossible. Perhaps the wild light in his storm-gray eyes promising forbidden wickedness shattered her focus—or the throbbing of her buttocks spread-eagled on the dais. Always, his sculptured body fascinated her. But, all of those faded into nothingness when the plush head of his heavy cock began a slow repetitive stroke from her clit to the entrance of her wet sheath—and then the real torture began. The pink miku amar elongated impossibly and slid between the cheeks of her ass. Its gentle probe of her anus morphed into full penetration from a rubbery, pulsing tentacle. Several more crept into her moist channel, creating an insidious tickle.

  “Hel, I can’t hold on. It’s too extreme.”

  “Concentrate, Beauty. I promise whatever you feel now only intensifies as we delve into the more complex rites. Master your body. Control your arousal. And, Nia…don’t climax without permission.”

  Adonia shuddered at the expression on Hel’s face. She’d seen the same on great hunting cats as they closed on their victim. She’d become prey. Gathering the shattered pieces of her self-control, Adonia choked out the phrases Hel snarled into her face for what seemed an eternity. She managed to keep her climax at bay—until he penetrated her.

  The sear of her over-full sheath stretching to receive his miku-enhanced cock knocked her arousal down just enough to prevent instant climax. The tissue of her inner channel throbbed in protest to his invasion. Hilted inside her, Hel stilled, his face mere inches above hers. His eyes, framed by a thick fall of almost black hair, burned with demonic light. Regular explosions of his breath washed her face with his hoarse enunciations of the rite.

  Then, the miku amar made her presence known. Within Adonia’s sheath and back passage the creature’s rhythmic pulsations intensified. A tsunami of sexual sensation swamped her, a combination of both hers and Hel’s. Suddenly, every nerve in her pussy, clit and anus quivered with electric excitement. If Hel moved—at all—she was gone. With a vicious growl ripped from his gut, Hel withdrew and slammed home—and she lost it.

  “I can’t…coming! I’m coming!” In her extremis, her back arched and strained against her bindings, lifting both their bodies from the surface of the dais, holding them suspended for untold minutes. She barely recognized when Hel’s guttural cries combined with hers. Pleasure unlike any she had known, raped her mind of conscious thought and she blacked out.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Nia?” Warm lips pressed to hers. Hel. “Nia? Come back to me, Beauty.”

  Disoriented, she fluttered her eyelids. Bright light flashed through. She kept her eyes closed, unwilling to abandon the maternal cocoon enfolding her mind. The motherly presence slipped away as awareness infiltrated her senses. “Mmm-hmm.”

  Adonia lay in Hel’s lap, his arms wrapped about her. The fine material of his clothes caressed her bare skin. I am nude. She didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his torso and snuggled into the velvety softness of his tunic. He’s become my shelter from the storm. The thought wandered into her mind as she lay against his hard body, her own rising and falling with his breaths. I would willingly spend a lifetime with this man. The deep thrum of his throaty laugh tickled the ear she pressed to his chest.

  “I know your connection with our Mother is unusually strong; so, I tell myself, each time, to expect the extraordinary. Even so, the results of our pairing continue to astonish me,” Hel stated on a laugh.

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Hel’s arms tightened around her as she burrowed deeper into his hold. Again, his chest rumbled in her ear with low amusement, and he shifted her in his arms. “Get up, Healer, or I’ll dump you on the unforgiving stone floor currently wearing a hole in my ass.”

  His words penetrated her comfortable haze. “Better yours than mine,” Adonia mumbled under her breath and opened her eyes. She blinked, and then shielded them with one hand until she could adjust to the radiant light. Everything in the Chambre Cristalle glowed—the dais, the floors, the walls and the chunks of diaman crystal—especially the chunks of diaman crystal.

  “Is this lightshow typical?”

  In an effortless show of strength, Hel picked her off his lap and deposited her butt onto the shimmering floor. Her tender flesh objected, and she struggled to rise. In one fluid movement, Hel stood and held a hand down to assist Adonia to her feet. “No. Nothing associated with you is normal.”

  I’m abnormal? Maybe trained magistrae didn’t pass out every time they performed a rite. Maybe they weren’t as…enthusiastic, or as loud? She didn’t know. The Libre de Diamantorre gave only the words to the rites. It didn’t go into behavior during them. Embarrassment colored her face, and Adonia suddenly felt her nudity where she hadn’t a moment before. Well…nude, if you didn’t count the miku amar nested between her legs like a vibrant pink thong.

  “Hey.” Hel gathered her into his arms and raised her face to his. He pressed a warm kiss on her. “Unusual in the best possible way.” Interspersed with nibbles on her lips, he murmured against her mouth, “You are a gift from our Mother, and you could not have arrived at a better time.”

  Adonia sighed inwardly at his reassurance and melted into his hold. “I am glad I please you.”

  “You do please me, but…” His low growl burst her bubble of contentment. “You disobeyed me. You came without permission. Don’t think it escaped my notice.”

  “I couldn’t hold on any longer.”

  “Then I need to motivate you to try harder.”

  Nia clamped her mouth closed on the retort that flesh could only be
ar so much. She couldn’t do any better, no matter the motivation. Hel picked up her folded dress and held it open for her. She placed a hand on his shoulder for balance and gracefully stepped into the full skirt. When Hel had seated the gown on her shoulders, he gathered her hair and draped it forward over one shoulder before beginning to close the fastenings. She tipped her head slightly to catch his eyes. “What sort of motivation?” she asked cautiously, thinking of the many foreign instruments in the chamber just below.

  Hel must have recognized where her thoughts led her. His arms wrapped her, and he pulled her close to him. His teeth nipped at the hollow where her neck met her shoulders, then his tongue and lips soothed the bite. “Shall I tie you to the X-frame and see how many orgasms I can give you before your legs collapse? Perhaps then it will be easier for you to endure the arousal that accompanies the rites.”

  Adonia gasped. “I’m not…I don’t think…” His nips and kisses around her shoulders and neck sent chills down her spine and she could feel her nipples harden. “I can’t possibly come again this soon.”

  His low laugh did nothing to reassure her. “Did I say it would be soon? You have something to look forward to tomorrow…or the day after…or the day after that.”

  Adonia didn’t respond. What could she say? She acknowledged silently that her heart and body belonged to Hel to do with as he wished. She didn’t mind. The uncertain future now offered her a place, and someone to whom she might finally belong.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Adonia took the glowing lantern Hel handed her as they left the Chambre Cristalle and stepped into velvet darkness. The chamber’s radiance had obscured the fact that night had fallen.

  “I have a favor to ask.” Hel’s deep voice reverberated off the diaman walls.

  “You must know I’ll do whatever you ask of me.” She offered him a shy smile with her soft reply.

  “And that knowledge makes me weigh my every request.” His eyes studied her and then his arm surrounded her waist to hug her to him. She felt his rib-cage expand and contract in a long sigh, and he rested his chin on the top of her head. “Goddess knows you’ve done enough today, but I need your help in searching the upper levels of the tower for those engraved words A’rken referred to. I cannot waste a single day.”

  Adonia pulled back enough to see his face. “Of course, but it would seem the more eyes the better.”

  “Hmm, yes. Bernard and several townsmen and women are searching the lower levels again and more yet search the walls outside, but the Chambre Cristalle and the three floors below have always been off-limits to all but family. I would prefer it remain that way. There is enough coarse speculation about what goes on up here without revealing certain…ah…” Hel grimaced.

  Adonia swallowed a sputter of laughter. “Yes. I understand. The room. Certainly, I will help you. I’m glad you consider me family.”

  Hel snorted softly. “With reservations. I don’t feel at all brotherly toward you.”

  At his wry comment, she threw a glance at him. His infectious grin captured her and flooded her with warmth—not the heat of arousal or the physical warmth from his large body—rather, an inner glow of shared camaraderie and friendship the like of which she hadn’t felt since her days with the Oshtesh. She felt included and necessary and, oh, valued. Yes, she’d use that word. Her mind shied from the term love. He feels something for me. I know he does...but what?

  “Follow me, Nia, and mind the stairs. They are worn here.”

  She and Hel descended six long flights of steps separated by spacious landings. Human voices and activity on the lower floors of Torre Bianca filtered up faintly from the central gallery separated by the railing that surrounded the landing. Hel set his lantern down on the stone floor before another huge, wood-paneled door set into the stone on heavy metal hinges, the door a match of the two above. Turning an ornate key into the heavy lock, tumblers clicked and he swung it open. Impermeable blackness met her eyes.

  “Wait a moment. Let me see about some light,” murmured Hel.

  Before her eyes, a mammoth library gradually revealed itself from out of the blackness as Hel placed glowing diaman crystals into translucent, cream-colored wall sconces engraved with fantastical creatures from eons ago. Adonia identified dragons, wyverns and a phoenix rising from ashes. She recognized the rearing stallion from the DeHelios standard. Other mystical beasts, she could put no name to.

  The fixtures cast pools of soft light upon myriads of thick books in priceless bindings and collections of haphazardly bound papers. The dusty tomes leaned in disordered stacks on shelves that spiraled upward on a cluster of pillars rising two stories in the center of the room. It was as if a forest of books sprang from the middle of the noble chamber. On the perimeter walls, groups of couches and upholstered chairs arrayed themselves around low tables. On one table, a book lay open, its pages gray with dust. A discolored ribbon carefully marked the place where some long ago reader had abandoned it—obviously with every intention to return. I wonder what happened to prevent it.

  “It’s nothing when compared in size to the great library at the High Enclave, but the Initium, the chronicles of our peoples’ first interactions with Verdantia, are here as well as the collected wisdom of past ages. The Haarb destroyed much of Nyth Uchel, but in their ignorance they left one of her greatest treasures intact.” Hel spoke from Adonia’s right where he placed a radiant diaman crystal in the final wall sconce. “I hope, someday, to set this archive of our first beginnings as a race to rights. If you wish to explore all that is House DeHelios and early Verdantia, spend some time here.”

  “I love libraries like this,” Adonia murmured. “It is as if the learned voices of all those who have passed come alive again and unveil their secrets to you.”

  “Yes. Unfortunately, we must save that exploration for another day. This evening we need to concentrate on the walls and floors of the room.” His eyes followed one of the columns of books to the ceiling high above. “If you will concentrate on the lower floor, I’ll work on the second level. It’s all up and down stepladders and catwalks.”

  Adonia nodded with a genuine smile. “Thank you for giving me the easy part.”

  Hel returned her smile. “Let’s get started.”

  Adonia began on the walls of the great chamber and then moved to her hands and knees to examine the floors. She pulled her long skirts between her legs and tucked the hem into her belt, all the while silently muttering to herself about impractical dresses. When she had scoured the last inch of stone, she gingerly transferred her weight from her aching knees to her tender hind end and leaned back against a column of books, legs akimbo. Her sore bottom protested her position but physical exhaustion muted its complaint. A well-stuffed shelf provided a headrest and Adonia’s eyelids grew heavy and then closed. With a gurgling complaint, her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She couldn’t bring herself to care. All she wanted was a bed. Hel collapsed beside her sometime later, rousing her to awareness.

  “Any success?” she murmured, never opening her eyes.

  “None. And you?”

  “Nothing.”

  She felt him wrap her hand in his. “You’ve been wonderful today, Healer.”

  She felt his warm lips press a kiss on her knuckles. For years, she’d been proud to be called “healer”. Now she’d give anything if the word never again passed Hel’s lips. She wanted to be more, mean more, to him. With a soft sigh, she opened her eyes.

  “You’re welcome. You’ve been wonderful, too. Thank you for your help in the sickroom this morning.” Shudders vibrated through her at the memory. Her gaze fell to her slender hand enveloped in his and she straightened. “I would like to return as early as possible tomorrow and try again. I don’t think I can do it without you. Will you help me?”

  Hel stood and assisted her to her feet. Again, she felt the warm press of his lips against the back of her hand. Sober gray eyes held hers. “For you, Nia—anything.”

  ~~~


  Adonia dreamt a roiling cloud of hideous desolation sought to swallow her alive in a gaping orifice of death. As it slithered its inexorable way toward her, she could not move, each limb frozen to the ground. It was upon her! The horrible pain as it sucked her into nothingness shattered her soul. She awoke screaming.

  “Nia, by the Goddess, you are freezing. Get under the covers, Beauty.”

  Hel’s strong arms wrapped her and pulled her into him, covering her with his warm body. With a cry of inexpressible gladness, she burrowed into him, pathetic sobs still escaping her lips. The soft gleam from a single small diaman crystal dimly lit his bedroom and cast a false sense of normalcy.

  “Did you dream of the blackness?” he murmured.

  “Yes.” Her whispered response cracked on a shuddering inhale. “Do you have such nightmares?”

  The hand stroking her paused then resumed. “Yes.”

  “Hel, what do we do if we cannot figure out the puzzle A’rken gave us? Even if we do…what I came face-to-face with today? I drove it from one person. I didn’t begin to defeat it. How can I treat all those in need if it takes me this long with just one?”

  “We will solve the puzzle, Nia, and it may be that we will not win. I believe our Mother has given us the weapons to oppose this enemy; and I will not surrender to the fear of the encroaching dark. I will fight until my soul is physically ripped from me.”

  In the quiet that surrounded them, turbulent emotions swirled through Adonia and she lay awake for a long time sorting them into some semblance of order. She examined the residual terror from her nightmare and fought to control her lingering panic. Part of her said to dismiss A’rken’s ravings and flee Nyth Uchel. Return to the relative safety of Sylvan Mintoth. Leave the psychic combat to those more experienced.

  No. In spite of the almost overwhelming attraction of fleeing for safety, that option was closed. The strange interaction with the entity she thought was Isolde DeCorvus hinted at powerful assistance and truth behind the mystic’s ramblings. Maybe Adonia could make a difference. But underlying all of these considerations, no matter how much she quailed in abject terror at the thought of the looming confrontation, she couldn’t live with the idea she’d diminish herself in Hel’s eyes by leaving. Adonia wanted to believe she would battle the corruption to restore Nyth Uchel to its former majesty or to save her sentient planet, but, after the confrontation this morning, self-doubt consumed her. She was not that self-sacrificing, not that…noble. But, because this man asked it of her, she would screw every smidgen of backbone she possessed to the sticking point. She’d stand before the black void defiantly even as it ate her soul—for it surely would. She would face the terror of the dark void for him.