Shattered Soul

by Angela Verdenius

  Overlord’s Fortress

  Pain filled him, not of the flesh but of the soul.

  What he’d done had been necessary, there had been no other choice. Standing before the fire, he tasted the bitterness of both his own downfall and success. If one could call it a downfall or success.

  His heart, if he still had one, ached. Yes, it appeared he still had a heart. Power burned deep inside him but he wasn’t sure what he could wield safely. He felt unstable.

  Holding out his hands, he saw the dryness of the skin, the way his fingers trembled. He wanted to cry. Could he even cry anymore? Did he dare try?

  ::Don’t..::

  His head jerked up, his eyes narrowing as he glanced around the shadowed room.

  ::Don’t cry. Don’t ever let them see you cry.::

  There was no one there. A wave of his hand and the fire flared high, filling the room with light, but no one stood in the previously shadowed corners.

  ::Don’t ever show weakness.::

  The voice was in his head. He touched his temples with his fingertips, frowning. Was he going insane?

  ::Never doubt yourself. Forge onwards.::

  The voice was distant, light but angry, and definitely there. Closing his eyes, he focused inwards, pulling in, drawing up, moving through black layers, moving onwards into grey, pushing onwards... but he couldn’t go higher, couldn’t enter the white, wispy fog that drifted so far above him.

  Denied to him.

  ::Never give them control.::

  The words shifted, beside him one second, a warm breath in his ear, but when he whirled around there was only grey fog, such dreary, dreary fog.

  ::Who are you? How dare you invade my sanctuary?::

  There was silence before the hesitant reply ::I felt your sadness.::

  ::Who are you?::

  ::A... friend?:: The voice was unsure.

  The speaker, whoever it was, sounded young. Male? Female? He didn’t know. Calmer, he sought any threat. Yes, there was something. He stiffened.

  ::I’m not going to cause trouble. Please, can I stay here, just for a little while?::

  ::And do what?::

  ::Talk. Just talk. And maybe just... rest?::

  He frowned. ::To what purpose?::

  The answer was so long in coming, he’d have thought the intruder would have left, except he could feel that he wasn’t alone in his own personal sanctuary.

  ::I want a friend.::

  ::You don’t choose wisely, little one.:: His slightly sardonic answer almost surprised him, mainly because he’d come to realize that the intruder was young. That piqued his curiosity hugely.

  ::It’s hard to know what is wise, sometimes.:: A sensation of sadness tinged with anger slid through the grey, foggy wisps. ::Nothing and no one is always what they seem. Are they?::

  :No, little one, they’re not.:: Relaxing a little more, he sought to find the owner of the young voice. ::Show yourself to me.::

  ::No.::

  ::You are in my sanctuary. Uninvited, I might add. It would be polite to reveal yourself.::

  ::I can’t.:: Anger tinged the voice. ::Can’t you just let me stay awhile? Why does everyone want something from me? Why?::

  There was a sharp pull at his psyche and he wheeled around, sending out tendrils of black ethereal strands, seeking for the intruder. A ripping sensation had him reeling in spiritual pain, and something - someone - was suddenly gone. He felt the departure as a swift withdrawal.

  ::Hello?:: Idiotically, he called out, even as he knew no one [e komeone was there to answer him.

  He was again alone in his dreary sanctuary.

  Opening his eyes, he took a deep breath, hearing the wind whistle through drying vocal cords.

  Someone with power had invaded his sanctuary, but now they were gone, and he felt... he didn’t quite know. A little alarmed, a hell of a lot curious, and yet oddly not quite so much alone. Someone out there had merged with him, had slipped into his sanctuary and as easily slipped out.

  Someone angry and powerful. Someone young.

  Someone Veknor vowed to find, if not soon, then one day, even if it took his lifetime, which could very well be... well, Hell only knew.

  Or maybe The Overlord.

  ~ * ~

  Lying on her side with her head pillowed on Fredrico’s chest, his arm under her shoulder and his hand trailing lazily up and down her arm, Rani marvelled that she had finally found a little peace in the hellhole of The Overlord’s fortress.

  That she’d found it with the very man who had helped drag her from the welcoming arms of death and brought her to this hellhole was ironic. But if there was one thing Rani had discovered in life, it was that irony existed everywhere.

  Shifting her head slightly on his chest, she felt him stir and, thinking he was going to get up, she stiffened. When he simply rested again, she relaxed.

  The silence between them was comforting and she was more than content to lie in his bed, in his arms, and listen to the wind and rain outside. She wasn’t so content to listen to the distant screams, but it was a part of her life now. The thought brought a sigh from her lips.

  “Are you all right, Rani?” Fredrico’s hand came up to caress her hair.

  “Yes.” She gazed unseeingly across the room at the window. “You?”

  When the silence stretched out, she angled her head back to gaze up at him to find him studying her with heavy-lidded eyes.

  Fredrico smiled. “Very much all right.”

  “You had me worried there for a minute.”

  “I have no regrets. You?”

  “None at all.” She snuggled closer.

  His eyes, normally so ruthless, regarded her warmly. “Good.”

  Returning to her original position, she relaxed again against his harder frame. She was so comfortable. Closing her eyes, she slid into sleep with Fredrico lazily stroking her arm.

  ~*~

  Rani could feel his gaze on her as she polished the dagger. That steady regard had been on her for a while, ever since Fredrico had strode into her room, sat down in the chair on the other side of the table, and watched her polish the daggers. All without saying one word.

  The silence between them this time wasn’t so comfortable. There was an intense awareness between them. She wondered who should break the silence first. Herself? Maybe with a ‘Thanks for the roll in the sack, you’re a great lover’?

  Lover. Now that was a word she wasn’t sure fitted the situation. Keeping her head down, she glanced up through her eyelashes and yep, Fredrico was leaning back in the chair, his elbow on the armrest and his thumb brushing lazily across his bottom lip as he studied her thoughtfully.

  [y.

  The man had a mouth to make a hot-blooded woman cry. Full for a man, sensuous, yet unmistakably male. She’d never noticed that until he’d used that mouth on her. His kisses could make a proud woman sit up and beg. His hot mouth made her nipples peak for another touch of that molten heat and that magical tongue. She wondered what that tongue and mouth would feel like in other places.

  Liquid heat threatened to pool in her loins and she refocused on the dagger. Dragging Fredrico to the floor and ravishing him probably wasn’t a good idea. At least, not until she knew where his thoughts lay.

  Another quick glance up through her lashes showed that his thoughts were definitely on her, it was just that his handsome face was so damned unreadable she had no clue if his thoughts were good or bad.

  “You left my bed.” The tone of Fredrico’s voice was low and calm , giving no indication as to his mood.

  “Yes.” She polished the dagger blade carefully.

  “You didn’t wake me.”

  “You were asleep. Didn’t seem any point.”

  “You didn’t think I might want to take up where we left off?”

  The damned blade slipped, nearly slicing her finger. Pursing her lips, Rani readjusted her hold on the handle and resumed polishing diligently. “I can’t say the thought crossed my mind.” But
the thought was enough to make that intimate heat threaten to reappear.

  “It crossed mine.”

  “Really?” Placing the dagger down on the table, she picked up the second one and looked at the blade. She couldn’t say the satisfaction that slid through her was a mistake. “Been awhile for you, has it?”

  “Been awhile since I lusted after a woman, yes.”

  “Ah.” She fought the smile, but she didn’t bother to fight the recklessness that was making an appearance in her attitude. In fact, she welcomed it. “That explains it, then.”

  “You like that?” He didn’t move an inch.

  “It’s... interesting.” She flicked a glance up at him, and damned if she didn’t nearly let the blade slip once more.

  Those ruthless blue eyes were bright with an almost unholy light. Lust practically seeped from his body. She could feel it, a sudden hot wash of pure, unbridled rapacity. It had her running her tongue over her bottom lip before she could control the impulse.

  Fredrico, damn him, didn’t move an inch. His gaze was steady, his body still. Only his thumb moved against his bottom lip, drawing her gaze like a beacon.

  God, that mouth of his...

  “Having naughty thoughts, warrior?” His voice was like silk.

  She cleared her throat and resumed polishing the blade. “Not at all.”

  “Liar.”

  Arching one brow, she met his gaze coolly, though she felt anything but inside. The lust in his eyes, the fact that he wanted her, raised a dark, reckless desire in her. He wanted her, and she... well, damn, she wanted him, too, but not easily. Hell, no. She wanted to bait him, felt the need to push him, to see how far he’d go before he snapped. So while a surge of heat swept through her, she kept her expression cool.

  “Why, Fredrico, you hurt my feelings.”

  “Why, Rani, does the truth hu [ thh="rt?”

  Tossing the dagger and polishing cloth onto the table, she lounged back in the chair and rested her elbows on the armrests. Eyeing him from beneath lowered lashes, she smiled slightly. “I do believe you’re feeling a little... carnal, Fredrico.”

  “I do believe you’re right.” A dark shadow crossed his face, picking out harsh lines and planes. “And I do believe you reciprocate it.”

  “Oh, you do, do you?”

  “Not only do I believe it.” Fredrico stood slowly, his gaze on hers, and he moved around the table with a slow deliberateness. “I know it.” Gripping the arms of her chair, he jerked it around with a strength that was almost impossible. “I can scent your arousal, Rani.” Placing his hands on her thighs, he pulled them apart easily and dropped to his knees between them. Closing his eyes, he breathed deep. “Ah, such sweet, dark, hot, arousal.” His eyes snapped open and the craving light in them was almost scorching. “You can’t hide it from me. You can never hide it from me.” Leaning forward a little, he took another lungful of her scent in an erotic intake of breath. “Ahhhh... such sweet juices of desire.”

  There was no denying the liquid heat now. It pooled in her loins, deep in the secret woman’s place between her thighs. It pooled hot and heady, ready to spill at the hedonistic pull of Fredrico’s bidding.

  The harsh need on his face, the rasp of his voice, and the darkness that filtered through his eyes touched the darkness inside her, sparking the prurience of her own lust. Recklessness, a dark touch of cruelty that snaked through her in an orange thread, the need to push him, to draw on his darkest desires, rose inside her, and Rani rested her head against the backrest of the chair and smiled down at him almost tauntingly. “You think those juices are for you, space pirate?”

  His hands clamped down on her thighs, his eyes glittering a warning. “Don’t think you can pull my strings, Rani. When I want you, I’ll take you.”

  She laughed softly, mockingly.

  “Any time, any place.” She could see the darkness around him, a pulsing, living yet ethereal thing. It was even in his voice when he finished, “I’ll take you in any position I want, and you’ll scream my name, beg me to take you, to fill you, to never pull my shaft from your quaking sheath.” His hands slid around so that his thumbs were on the inside of her thighs and exerting a slight outward pressure.

  “You talk a lot,” she drawled. “I have yet to see any action to match the words.”

  The smile that pulled those sensuous lips up held a touch of cruelty, his eyes glittered with hotness. “A challenge, warrior? I’ll take it up, I’ll win, and you’ll pay the price.”

  “So sure of yourself.”

  “So sure you’ll be sucking me deep inside that hot mouth and swallowing every last drop of my seed.” Spoken so plainly, so harshly, so damned darkly, it curled fingers of shivering desire deep inside her womb.

  His teeth flashed white, his eyes glittered hot blue, and Rani sucked in a deep breath of air. She swore she could feel it, his carnal lust beating in the air between them, and God, she wanted it all.

  Every bit of it.

  Every bit of him.

  Every lick, touch, and finally pounding hardness.

  Every dark desire he had, she wanted done to her.

  < ha"+0">The dark ardour stamped on his face, the dark demon that invaded their bodies and brought forth their personal, private, hidden desires, welled up in her. The very awareness of him, of his body, of his demand for dominance, it was concupiscence personified.

  She wanted it all…but not without a fight. Resistance made it all the sweeter. So darkly sweeter. Relaxing back in the chair, Rani smiled slightly. “You want me, space pirate, you’ll have to prove you’re worthy of me.”

  He arched one brow slightly, an acknowledgement of her challenge, and then without saying a word, he dropped his gaze to her the juncture of her thighs as though he could see beyond the material of her clothes. His short nails scraped up her thighs in not-quite-painful trails. Coming up onto his knees, he leaned in closer, using his body to widen the space between her thighs, forcing her submission in that pose.

  Silently he reached out and picked one of the daggers up off the table. Testing the blade with his thumb, he studied the glinting silver before calmly placing the tip of the blade against the neckline of her sleeveless bodice. Deliberately he raked the sharp tip lightly against her skin, indenting the flesh without breaking the surface.

  Amused, Rani watched him.

  Fredrico’s gaze lifted to unerringly lock with hers as he placed the tip against the rawhide lacing that fastened the bodice. With a deliberate flick of the blade, he effortlessly sliced through the lacing. The top of the bodice gaped just a little.

  Another flick of his wrist and the lacing cut again.

  Not once did his hot gaze leave hers as he continued to slowly and deliberately slice through the rawhide lacing.

  The cool air brushed her skin as the bodice dropped away and she took a deep breath in, her own gaze glittering with satisfaction at the raw light in his eyes as he looked down at her breasts.

  She’d never been ashamed of her body. It wasn’t perfect, but she had curves in all the right places and her strength had gotten her through many fights. And it was more than clear that Fredrico found her desirable.

  “Like what you see?” Leaning her head on one hand, she arched an eyebrow.

  “So sure of yourself.” Fredrico traced the tip of the blade around one nipple and watched it peak. “But not unaffected.”

  “Never said I wasn’t.”

  “You’re amused, warrior, but not for long.”

  “All talk, Fredrico, but not much action.”

  His smile was all teeth. “Trust me, my sweet, you’re going to get all the action you’re asking for.”

  “Sorry I interrupted. Please, by all means, do get on with your master piece.”

  The dagger tip was placed against the side of her split skirt. “I mean to.” He returned his attention to her skirt and with a flick of his wrist the leather parted down the seam. The tip grazed the side of her hip, but not once did it break the skin. />
  Fredrico, it appeared, was a bit of an expert when it came to a dagger.

  He traced the blade across her stomach to the other side of her body, then another flick and the seam parted. The sides fell away from her and the front of the split skirt slid down to pool in the juncture of her thighs.

  Using the tip of the blade, he flipped the material down so that it rested between her thighs on th [ thonte seat.

  Without hesitation, he placed the tip of the blade against the material of her scrap of underwear and traced down the centre of her labia.

  Prickling heat flickered through her, and Rani’s breath caught.

  Once more those ruthless eyes locked onto her and the expression within was merciless.

  The danger beat in the air around them. Danger and lust in a hedonistic mix.

  Rani licked her lips but continued to lean back against the chair, outwardly a picture of relaxation, inwardly a tightening bundle of nerves and desire.

  Fredrico’s eyes burned with a cold fire, hotness mixed with remorseless. “No mercy, Rani.”

  Before she could answer, he’d slashed the blade down twice, once each side of her, and the lace of the underwear was sliced cleanly through. It happened so fast she didn’t even realize what he’d done until the cold blade was laid flat against her now-naked mound.

  Leaning forward, he curled his hand around her nape to pull her forward, catching her lips in a pitiless kiss, hard and almost cruel, but with a covetousness that spoke of his hunger for her, held in tight control.

  Her heart thudded, heat spiralling through her as his tongue swept into her mouth to ravish the depths without a hint of remorse.

  From the corner of her eye she saw his hand drive downwards, ramming the blade deep into the wood of the table, then his free hand was wrenching the tie from her braid, his fingers combing through the lush locks with dexterity.

  Releasing her mouth, he gave her lips one carnal lick before dropping his gaze to her nakedness.

  A slow smile curved his full, masculine lips, and he sat back on his heels to gaze at her secrets.

  The hedonism of the whole scene was enough to make her breathing hitch, and there was no way she could stop the cream that slid from deep inside her. But hell if she was going to allow him to see how hot she was, how much her body yearned to just throw itself on top of him.