by Kirra Pierce
Cassandra merely raised her eyebrows and waited for the other coin to drop.
“The king is pleased to have the marriage not take place since it would give me even more visible power, and my power makes him worry already. However, he did pointedly note that the Lady Melisande, who is visiting here, would make an excellent match for someone.
“Melisande! He wants you to marry her?” She felt a sudden, violent hatred of the woman. Cyn made a placating “wait-a-moment” gesture. Ty rubbed her arms, and she calmed enough to listen.
“Being outside the court gossip, you may not know the history of this, Cassandra. Melisande is actually the current king’s half-sister, the old king’s bastard reminder of a night of drinking excess. He arranged for her adoption by the childless Lord and Lady Tybolt. Her true heritage is well known at court but not spoken of, since the current king is also fond of her.” Cassandra felt cold fingers of dread within her. Cyn always had plans within plans. Surely he had a plan to deal with this? She reached up to touch one of Ty’s hands and forced herself to listen.
“If I marry Melisande, the king will have an ear in my household ‑‑ which will not do at all. Instead, I had my agents plant the suggestion that if I marry even an illegitimate heir to the throne, it would give me a greater claim on it than my distant relationship to the king already does. The king enjoys openly wielding his power and thus suspects everyone else would want that as well.” Cyn smiled mockingly. “He decided he did not like the idea of my being closer to throne in any way after all.”
Ahhhh. Cassandra almost smiled at Cyn’s machinations, but had an uneasy feeling that this was leading up to something more.
“This has cleared the path to what I really want, and with these recent ideas that I arranged to plant in his mind, it will make the king happy because it will not gain me any visible power.”
Cyn put down his glass and clasped Cassandra’s shoulders. “Cassandra, I want to marry you.”
Her mouth dropped open. She had no noble blood. She was not even from a family of wealth or power! “Cyn, are you joking? If you are, this is in poor taste. At the keep, everyone calls me Lady because they know I am yours and Ty’s, but the court will not recognize that. No one will accept it!”
“You are wrong. All the royal messengers you have seen traveling back and forth? I have been working for this since you joined with Ty and me. I know you thought that my urgings to learn all the details of my trade agreements, to know how this place is run, that it was only a ploy to keep you busy so you wouldn’t miss traveling as a trader. It was much more. I wanted you to see all that you could do here and still have the bargaining that you love. I want you here as my duchess. My beast will accept no other mate but you, now. Think on it.”
“And I want this as well, Cassandra.” Ty’s voice was a seduction in her ear. “You are already acknowledged as my chosen. Because he must keep his nature secret, Cyn cannot call you his chosen openly, but it is his duty to marry someday. If you will marry him, we can continue to all be together openly, with no continuous parade of potential brides passing through here.”
Cyn snorted. “Or worse yet, the contriving young ladies who try to get me alone so they can be ‘compromised.’ Those who have tried it learned not to play such games with me, but still there are new schemes each year.”
Shock ran through Cassandra’s body. She knew Cyn would never give her up totally, but she had braced herself to accept the necessity of his marriage. To be a duchess! She could almost feel the shackles of responsibility along with the touch of their hands. Her feelings ran hot and cold throughout her body, and then one thought coalesced out of the tangle. He has been planning this all along, and he had not told me. Neither of them did!
Cassandra let the fury take her. It was easier and less frightening than really considering Cyn’s proposal. “Damn you both! How could you keep this secret from me? You would marry me so you both can call me mate to the world? I am NOT interested in a political marriage. Do you think you have only to snap your fingers, and I will agree? How dare you!” She was prepared to go on until she saw the sudden pain in Cyn’s face as he dropped his hands from her shoulders while Ty’s hands tightened and his agonized “No!” gasped in her ear.
Anger, seduction, manipulation, threats ‑‑ she could handle all of these. But not their pain. She remembered Cyn earlier, on the bed, his deeply ingrained fear that she would never accept his true self, the man born with an inner beast. Her anger crumbled. She thought of Ty’s intensely honorable nature and knew he would not have been deliberately unfair to her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm herself.
“I am sorry I let my temper rule. What were you two thinking to not tell me what you planned?” She placed a hand on the cheek of each of her men, needing to touch, to reconnect.
“This is as much my fault as Cyn’s.”
Surprised, Cassandra’s head snapped back to see Ty’s face.
“I challenged Cyn to find a way to make you happy with us. I excel in battle plans. Cyn is much better at other sorts of operations. We both thought this was already such a huge change that we wanted to give you a chance to learn something of the life here, a chance to see where your background and skills would fit, and let you be comfortable before we suggested additional ties. I was afraid too much more at once would send you running. Was I wrong?” He rubbed cheek gently against her cradling palm.
“Seven hells! For someone who claims to not be so good at ‘these operations,’ you do it very well. As you well know, telling me you fear something may be too much for me makes me want to prove the opposite is true.” She reached down to hold his chin and give his head a little shake in frustration. “You have been studying manipulation with Cyn.”
“That’s not all, Cassandra. Although I thought I could arrange things so his majesty would bless a match between us, I could not be sure. I just got the final word this morning. We have the king’s blessing. Will you marry me? Be mine in the eyes of the world.”
She thought a look of command rather than trepidation sat much better on Cyn. She found herself wanting to say yes to ease the fear of rejection he tried so hard to hide, but she just couldn’t see herself as a duchess. “Cyn, Ty, think. I know nothing of court politics and have little patience for the niceties of ladylike behavior. Do you truly see me this way?”
Cyn brightened at this. “Consider for a moment, Cassandra. You deal with the leaders of small and large towns all throughout your trade routes. If there is any courtier more prickly aware of his own self-importance than some of that group, I do not know him. You have experience with a variety of people that most diplomats would envy.
“You can still travel and oversee all the dukedom’s trade deals, and as duchess, you will have many more resources to investigate possible medicines than you ever had before.
“But most of all, I hope you want me as well as Ty, just the three of us exclusively. If you reject me, it will be a constant battle to keep away those who want to be joined to the dukedom for money, for power, for prestige ‑‑ those who do not care for us as individuals.
“What will you sentence us to, Cassandra? Even if it means a war with another noble or my king, I will have no bride but you.” Cyn grabbed her hand and pulled it to his cheek. “Will you have me?”
* * * * *
In another part of the keep, a lady quietly worked at her correspondence. The letters in her note detailing the duke’s hospitality were formed with exquisite elegance. The note’s contents were full of light bits of gossip that could only amuse the reader. The border around the note was detailed with lovely hand-drawn trailing vines and flowers, as was the custom of the best-trained daughters of the best houses. If there was a surprisingly geometric form to some of the spaces between the leaves and petals, it only showed how very well trained this particular daughter was. That is all that showed unless you were one of the two people who knew the code of those geometric shapes. The true letter contained within the border sa
id much more than the light gossip in the written body:
“Dearest Brother, he has a weakness. His bond brother can be driven mad if their woman goes missing. He will be distracted and vulnerable. He has rejected me, so we cannot take over the dukedom through him. But, my other dear brother will likely push him to offer troops to make up for his rejection of the Birne connection. If we take their woman, his men will stumble, Birne will fall, and we can take over.
“All my love, dearest. Melisande.”
She sealed the letter, addressed to her old nanny, Pelia, who lived in the country of Birne, and put it with the rest of the mail. Those who read the outgoing mail from the duke’s keep would see nothing to take exception to in the contents. It would be carefully resealed and sent out, but never reach old Pelia. Melisande might be a bastard half-sister to one king, but she was determined to be remembered as more than that before she died. Her other brother, the one no one knew of, would help make sure of that.
Chapter Six
Who can know the heart of a beast?
-- Common saying when dealing with the brethren
Present time
Miranda’s Cottage
Raphael lay quietly, his arms and legs wrapped protectively around Miranda. He shifted to his human form, thinking it would be less alarming for her to wake to it rather than his half-beast. He had managed to sleep for a while, deeply weary after months of resting with one ear cocked for the sound of approaching raver footsteps. His body relaxed on the bed, but inside him, his beast was insistent in its needs: sex, or chase and kill. Only partially appeased by the earlier feast, the beast demanded more, and he would have this need met one way or another.
Raphael’s human side gave a quick prayer of thanks to Luna and Lana, the twin goddesses who threw out their nets of stars and guided all hunters of the night. Miranda not only fit his basic need for a woman, but her manner and the books around her cottage spoke of a lively mind. She was brave, beautiful, and her scent… He buried his face in her hair once more. It made him think of sex and homecoming and something wild. Her scent was incredible. He sighed against her neck. He knew he must complete his mission, report on the raver activity, but he would return here to her. He had to convince her to see him, the man, not just a creature driven by the harsh needs of the beast’s hunger. He refused to consider what this meant to him. He only acknowledged the need.
He let his hands run over her body, enjoying the silken texture of her skin and hair. Now. He cupped her mound with one hand and slipped the other under her body to reach around and gently squeeze a nipple. His beast scent spilled from his body. He eased his throbbing cock between the round globes of her ass. His breath had already switched to a harsh panting. He was still closer to the edge than was safe.
Miranda moved restlessly against him. She is waking. His hand was filled with the wet proof her body had heard his call. She made small moaning sounds and twisted in his arms.
Fever clouded his mind. He closed his mouth over the skin of her neck and fought not to bite down. Hunger swelled into one long ache throughout his body. Desperately, he lifted her leg, opening her to him, pulled back his hips just enough to position himself and thrust. He gasped. The relief the wet, hot clasp her body provided was so great it was almost painful, but the hunger drove him on. He couldn’t stop thrusting.
A feminine gasp sounded, and her body jerked in his arms. Miranda had awakened. Reflexively he tightened his hold. The beast wouldn’t allow his female to escape, but she didn’t struggle, she reached up, grabbed his hair, and pulled his lips to her neck. Relief and joy filled the man and beast. She still accepted him!
He moved his hand from her leg back to her mound, delving between the wet folds to stroke her in time with his thrusts, pushing her pelvis back onto his cock at the same time as he pumped forward. He felt her stiffen again, and then she let out a long cry. Her body clenched fiercely around him, demanding what he would freely give. His balls tightened, the need wrapping around his gut until the blazing agony broke free, and he surrendered his release to her, howling with rapture and relief.
* * * * *
Miranda’s breath came in short gasps, her body still trembling with aftershocks. She had awakened to the warmth of his touch, to the intoxication of both his scent and the carnal memories of last night. “Traveler, what is your name?”
His chuckle shook his body down to the cock still buried within her. “Raphael, like one of the old god’s angels. Miranda, thank you for taking me. I am used to working alone, to being without the resources or comfort of regular companions, but I pushed too far this time. My beast was wild for release…he still hungers.”
He moved within her again and then slipped free and quickly rolled her on her back. He covered her body with his own, holding his weight on his knees, resting inside her thighs and on his forearms, bracketing her head. Her momentary shock at the sudden move turned to pleasure and anticipation when she saw the teasing glint the early morning light revealed in his eyes.
He leaned down to trace her lips with the wet, delicate touch of the tip of his tongue and then lightly nip and suck at the tender flesh. “Your guest still hungers, Lady. Will you feed him?”
Smiling against his mouth, she fought to form words and join in the game. “Ah, yes, um, as a good hostess, I would see my guest’s hunger satisfied.”
He moved his head away from her mouth’s reach. “Good.” With that single word he quickly trailed a kiss down her body to settle between her legs. His strong arms pinned her legs wide and he settled his mouth over her mound with a happy hum. He lapped and sucked at that tender flesh with the apparent joy of a gourmand at a feast.
Too long. It had been too long since she had a lover. Oh! Sweet delight cut through her body. Never had she a lover like this. More, take more, she silently urged.
He swirled his tongue around her clit and then all the way down to the circle of her anus. He teased and stabbed the tight rose, and she yelped in surprised delight. He moved again and slipped two fingers into her vagina, pulsing them against her inner walls while his mouth formed a seal over her clit, and he sucked it fiercely.
She grabbed handfuls of his hair, pulling him closer even while her body arched up. A growl came from his throat at her movement away. She moaned in loss when he moved his wet fingers from her body only to feel a slight burn while he inserted them into her anus. He renewed his sucking on her clitoris. She wound tighter, afraid to surrender to the passion, but the sucking continued with the new sensation of him stroking and stretching her ass.
He raised his head and replaced his mouth with the strong fingers of his other hand stroking and circling her clit. “Miranda.” His voice demanded her attention. She cocked up her neck and focused her dazed eyes on him. “Come for me now,” he ordered and squeezed the slippery nub of her clitoris.
She shattered under the hard waves of pleasure crashing through her and then melted in his hands. His mouth covered her mound again as he resumed lapping the cream of her body while she shook with mindless delight.
He looked up with a wicked smile that, dear Lady, was still hungry. Disbelief must have shown on her face because his smile gentled, if only slightly. “Your body is ready. Can you take just a little bit more? Once more, here.” He gave her a stroke with the fingers still buried in her ass. “My beast, he wants to have you here as well. Will you trust this last bit more to me?” His touch, the honest need in his eyes, seduced her again, and she found herself nodding.
His fingers slipped free of her body and then gently turned her over and pushed a pillow under her hips. He pulled her back up on her knees, ass in the air. A callused hand urged her head down onto the bed again when she pushed up on her hands. His rich voice whispered. “Rest. Just trust yourself to me.” A touch as soft as a mother’s stroked down her back and over her hips.
Lubricant? “Raphael, I, we need, I mean I have some oil that would work if…”
“Shh, there’s no need. My body can take care of thi
s. A partial shift will coat my cock in the change oil. Trust me.” She felt a wave of heat coming from him, then a blunt nudging. “Relax. Let me in.” Hot, wet, and oh, so large, he pushed in. For a moment there was pain, then that sensation disappeared under the sweet, forbidden pleasure. She breathed deeply, and just before the lust took her mind, his musky scent saturated the air.
A loud cry of need roared from her throat. She tried to move, to thrust back, but an iron grip on her hips prevented all movement. “Hold still, Miranda. I don’t want to be too rough. Dear gods, the grip of your body is so…” His voice trailed off on a groan, and she felt him move. Small forays at first, that built in depth and force. She signaled her appreciation with soft keens. Orgasm hovered on the edge of awareness, so close. Her body stretched tight in need, reaching for just a bit more.
His hand cupped her and stroked her clitoris in time with his thrusts. Tighter, her nerves stretched until they could hold no more. She screamed and fell into the pleasure while he pumped furiously to join her, and then the liquid heat of his release filled her while his joyous shout filled her ears.
Raphael collapsed. The solid weight of his body draped over her back. He tightened his arms and cuddled her close. Greedy kisses covered her neck and shoulders while she shook with the aftermath. Gently he pulled free of her body and stroked her sides and back again, as if to quiet a skittish animal.
“Beauty, my beauty. Let me care for you. Where are the water and cloths for washing?”
His voice was hypnotic, soft, yet deeply masculine. She felt the vibration of his words down to her well-used core. She found herself answering without thought. “Beyond the second door behind us is a bathing room with all you will need.”
