by Sarah Bale
“I can tell by the tightening of your mouth that you’re remembering the last time we saw each other,” Miki breathed into his ear. Her breasts pressed against his chest and he tried to pull away. “No, don’t turn from me. I often think back on that moment and wonder what if. What if I had said yes? What if the queen had not seen us together? What if—”
“Enough.”
Miki nipped his ear and said, “Don’t worry. Your secret is still safe with me. Not even my sisters know what happened that day.” She paused. “Tell me, do you ever wonder what if?”
“It does no good to live in the past.” He turned toward her voice as he spoke. “The past is over.”
She grabbed onto his face and held it still. “What would everyone say if they knew the truth? If they knew that it is truly your fault the queen died? Do you think the king would understand? What about Lexi? Do you think she would want to lie next to a murderer?”
He had never meant for anyone to get hurt. Now the thought of Lexi finding out his sins made him want to be sick.
“Stop,” he moaned. “Stop it.”
“My dear Ian. I let you go all those years ago and now that I have you, you are mine. Do you understand? No one will take you from me. I made a mistake then but I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
She stood and pulled the blindfold from his eyes. He blinked, trying to see, but everything was fuzzy.
“It’s a side effect from the drugs you inhaled.” Miki said as she strolled toward the door. “Another effect you might notice is a hard-on that won’t go away. When you can take it no more, call for me. I’ll gladly help you out.”
She laughed as she left him alone in the room. He tried to sit up but chains bound both hands. How had he not noticed it before? He moved his feet and found they, too, were bound.
“Great, just great,” he said to the empty room.
He blinked his eyes repeatedly until finally he could see. He was not in a prison cell, thankfully, but in a bedroom. The room was dark but he could make out a table in the corner of the room with potion bottles on it. Miki was the only one of the three Witches who used potions. So, she had brought him to her room?
The shackles holding him down were fastened to the wall and the foot of the bed. He could see that the bedspread was dark green velvet. The only light in the room came from the fireplace, which glowed green. An enchanted fire, no doubt, so Miki could keep an eye on him.
He shifted and gasped as his pants scraped over his erection. Angry curses left his lips. He moved again and bit down on his tongue so he wouldn’t moan aloud. Each movement sent shock waves of pleasure throughout his body. It was bad enough that he wanted to pump his hips and let the friction of his pants get him off.
He took in a deep breath. He needed to focus on finding a way to get out of Miki’s room. But first, he needed to find a way out of the shackles. He worked his arm, careful not to move too much and discovered that one of the chains in the wall was not secured.
It would take one hard pull and then his arm would be free. He glanced down at his cock, tented against his pants. Even breathing was becoming difficult now. Would it be worth the risk?
The fire blinked and danced, sending sparks out. It was some kind of warning, he was sure of it. He didn’t want Miki or one of the other Witches to find out about the weak shackle. He closed his eyes and tried to prepare himself. Wrapping what little of the chain he could around his hand, he counted to ten.
With all the strength he could muster, he sat forward and pulled the chain at the same time. His body shook in pleasure and he knew he was about to come. He pulled harder on the chain, thrilled when he heard the chain breaking from the wall.
His free hand fell next to him at the same time his cock erupted, squirting his seed in his pants. He fell back against the mattress as the orgasm seemed to go on forever. His free hand fisted into the blanket and he moaned softly.
When the tremors finally stopped, he looked down and cursed.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
His cock still stood hard and his pants were now damp from his release. He used his free hand and wiped the sweat from his face. His body shook again as he moved. It suddenly hit him what was going on. The fucking juice from the flowers was still in his system and until it was gone, he wouldn’t be able to find release.
Sure, he could get off, but his erection would come right back. He thought back to a raid done at the Enchanted Fields. One of the men they had taken into custody claimed that he had been hard for two weeks and begged to be put out of his misery. He wished he had followed up on the man to see what had happened to him.
“Shit,” he said as the severity of the situation hit him.
That man had been on the outskirts of the fields, not in it like Ian had. He covered his eyes with his hands. There was no way he could fight Miki and her sisters when every fiber in his body would be screaming for him to fuck them.
No, he would just have to wait until the effects of the flowers wore off. He just hoped he could survive that long.
* * * * *
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Lexi stared across the river in horror, not even wanting to know what made the water so dark.
“How is it possible that their palace is so close to Sapphire City and yet not one has been able to take them down?” she asked Andrew.
The Witches’ palace sat just on the other side of the river, surrounded by a black fence with jagged spikes everywhere. She squinted and saw that several of the spikes had heads stuck on them. The palace itself stood tall and menacing behind the fence.
Carved out of black marble, it looked like an empty seashell. Only the green smoke rising from the chimneys gave the Witches’ presence away. There weren’t even guards moving around.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Andrew asked her again.
She nodded. “Stop asking me. I told you I was going in with or without you and I haven’t changed my mind.”
“I wasn’t sure what you would think when you actually saw it,” Andrew admitted.
He set the map on a rock and used smaller ones to hold it down. Lexi took the time to look around. The wind seemed to be cold and angry so near the Witches’ palace. So much so that she shivered in her cape. The trees along the river appeared as if carved of stone and she wondered if they were alive. Even the grass looked dead.
“Is there nothing in this area other than the Witches?”
Andrew replied without looking up. “No. Anything that could get away did and the rest slowly turned to stone. Even the sun hides from this area.” He patted the empty rock next to him. “I think I found a path for us to use but I want to go over it with you. If we make one mistake, we’re dead. One more thing. Do not speak of the path we’re going to take. You never know who might be listening.”
“Of course.”
She sat down and looked the map over. Andrew pointed to one of the secret entrances that Timothy found. It appeared to be an underground tunnel that came out near the river.
“Where will this take us?”
Andrew was silent as he took her hand into his own. He used her finger and traced the path. It would take them right into the dungeon where Timothy had been kept.
“Understand? We go from there.”
She nodded and stood. Out of instinct, she scanned the horizon and saw nothing had changed.
“This is it, isn’t it? They know we’re coming.”
“Yes,” was his reply. “But they’re going to have a hell of a fight on their hands.”
She closed her eyes and saw the faces of her Mom and Grace and was filled with courage.
“For Ian,” she whispered.
“For Ian,” Andrew agreed.
She took a deep breath and blew it out then began to run down the jagged path in the rocks. She knew Andrew was right behind her and it gave her comfort. They reached the dark river and just as he said, she saw the stones that made a makeshift trail across the po
isonous waters.
Leaping, she made it to the first one, which was also the hardest one to make. The rest were a breeze as she stepped from one stone to the next. Risking a glance down, she was horrified to see that some of the stones were really skulls. Had the Witches really killed so many people that their skulls reached the top of the river?
She reached the other side of the bank and, just as Timothy’s map promised, she could see a slight opening in the rocks. She was about to take her first step when Andrew stopped her.
“Don’t move.”
Something about his tone sent shivers down her spine.
“We’ve been spotted,” he said in a low voice.
Blood roared in her ears and she thought she was going to pass out for a moment. How had they already been spotted? They had just crossed the river.
“About twenty feet above us.”
She lifted her eyes and saw something moving among the rocks. It blended it so much that she wondered how Andrew had seen it and then its weapon gleamed in the light.
“Is that a spear?”
He nodded. “And it’s not the only one pointed our way.”
They were so close to the secret entrance that she knew she couldn’t give up. A crazy idea sprung in her mind and she licked her lips.
“Think they would be thrown off by boobs?”
“What?” She knew the moment he realized what she was thinking because his eyes grew wide. “No, Lexi.”
“If I distract them, you can get in and then pull me in. It’s the only way for us to save Ian.”
Conflict danced across his face.
Finally he said, “As soon as I tell you to follow me, do it. You might be able to shock them for a moment but don’t count on it lasting a long time.”
No, she wouldn’t count on anything at this point. She was flying on blind faith now.
“On my count. One. Two. Three.”
He ran past her and the men above her suddenly appeared. They wore metal armor and helmets that looked like monkey heads. Their spears lifted, aiming right for Andrew and she knew she had to act.
“Hello up there.”
She wasn’t even sure if they were going to respond. They might not speak her language.
Finally, the one nearest to her, who was also apparently the leader, said in a deep voice, “Move or die.”
Okay, so they understood her.
She took a step closer to them, which also allowed Andrew to be blocked by her body.
“Where I’m from we greet our neighbor with a friendly hello. Hello. How are you gentlemen?”
The guards looked back and forth to one another. They had obviously never greeted anyone but they hadn’t killed her either.
The leader spoke again, “We’re not gentlemen. I suggest you stop whatever game you’re playing, lady.”
“Lady? See, you do have manners, sir.” She smiled, trying to appear friendly and seductive at the same time.
Some of the guards farthest from her began to murmur and the leader yelled for them to be silent. She took a chance to glance over her shoulder and found that Andrew was almost inside the secret entrance. He was bleeding and she realized the rocks were cutting him.
Turning her attention back to the guards, she took another step toward them.
“We also have another way of saying hello to our neighbors. Would you like to see it?”
The leader hesitated and she felt like cheering. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was intrigued.
“Well?”
He nodded and she smiled again before pushing her cape over her shoulders. She thrust her chest forward making sure all the guards were watching. The corset she wore would limit how much of a show she could give them but she was going to make the most of it.
Slowly, she pulled one of her breasts into the open. The air was chilly so close to the water and it caused her nipple to bud. The leader made a sound in the back of his throat and stepped forward. Taking it as a sign he wasn’t going to kill her on the spot, she freed the other one as well.
The leader said something in another language to the man nearest to him and jumped from the rocks, landing right in front of her. Her heart pounded, not knowing what he was going to do.
“Hello,” he greeted her.
She realized he was playing by her rules so she responded, “Hello. May I see your face?”
The man hesitated for a moment before removing his helmet. A very attractive man with green eyes stared back at her. The only flaw on his almost perfect face was a scar that ran along his cheekbone. Without thinking, she reached out and traced it. The man actually flinched for a moment before sighing and shutting his eyes.
“It has been so long since a woman has touched me,” he almost whispered.
“Are there no other women here?”
“No. The mistresses do not want our eyes to stray.”
His eyes moved to her chest as he finished speaking. Oh boy. Here she was, standing bare-chested in front of fifty-or-so men who hadn’t seen another female in a very long time. Maybe the boob thing hadn’t been the best idea. She started to cover herself with her arms when he spoke.
“Why are you here, my lady?”
“I’m here to save the man I love.”
The guard sighed. “It’s a lost cause. If he’s in the castle then he will never be the same. I am sorry for your loss but you should go now before it is too late.”
“I can’t do that. Without him I am nothing.”
The guard replied, “We were told to kill you the moment you crossed the river. Does this not tell you something?”
“That they know I’m planning to rescue him.”
She had known the Witches would probably figure out her plan but she didn’t care.
“Then that means they’re a step ahead of you. Did you really think you could use a map from a man who escaped to get back inside? Didn’t it cross your mind that they knew he had kept his map made of blood?”
Oh shit.
She must have voiced the thought because the guard sadly smiled. “Indeed. I find that I like you, my lady. Please go back across the river and we won’t hurt you. As for your friend inside…well, he is lost. And your other friend is about to find a similar fate.”
Andrew. She turned to make sure he was still there. Their eyes met a moment before he disappeared, screaming in agony. She started to go after him but was grabbed by her arm, stopping her from moving.
“As I said, you should go back across the river.”
The guards above her all but disappeared back into the rocks as if they had never even been there. The man in front of her let go of her arm and took a step back.
“The rocks that got you here should get you back. Please do not try to rescue either of your friends. I do not want to hurt you, my lady.”
With those words, he left her standing there. The wind howled and she shivered, reminding her that she was still bare-chested. She knew the guard had been telling the truth. If she tried to go in the secret entrance after Andrew, they would be waiting for her.
A plan formed in her mind. Closing her eyes, she tried to summon Andrew as she had done at the brothel. A sharp, blinding pain in her temples caused her to cry out and open her eyes. The Witches must have some kind of mental shield that prevented her from summoning Andrew.
Sighing, she put herself back in the corset. It was time to come up with a new plan. And the king was going to help her whether he wanted to or not.
Chapter Eleven
Lexi made her way back to Sapphire City. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she knew she was being watched. When she reached the gates, they opened silently, inviting her in, but she wasn’t fooled. They didn’t want her there. In fact, several guards waited with scowls on their faces.
“We are to escort you to King Loren. He is expecting you.”
“Do I have a choice?” When no one answered she said, “Didn’t think so.”
The guards formed a circle around her and l
ed her through the streets. People watched from their windows and she noticed that several homes had blue smoke coming from their chimneys.
“What makes their smoke that color?”
The guard nearest to her replied in curt tone, “They burn vinca to honor the dead. Since there have been two deaths that affect Sinoda the fires have been fed extra.”
“Two deaths?” she echoed.
He met her eyes. “Yes. Ian and Andrew.”
“They aren’t dead.”
“They are all but dead and that’s all that matters.”
She was silent as they walked the rest of the way. How could they give up on Ian and Andrew so easily? Was their loyalty so little for the men who led them? They reached the palace and she saw King Loren waiting for her with his arms crossed across his chest.
She was about to speak when he lifted his hand and struck her face. White pain exploded across her cheek and she held back a cry.
“You stupid girl. Not only have you caused me to lose two of my best guards but now you bring trouble to my palace. How dare you.”
Hot tears filled her eyes and she tried in vain to blink them away.
“You are a monster. I can’t believe you’re going to leave Ian and Andrew there to die.”
“You will leave my palace immediately and pray that the Witches will be swift in killing you.”
Lexi shook her head. “I won’t leave. If you want me gone then you’ll have to remove me.”
King Loren snapped his finger and two of the guards who had led her through the palace grabbed her by her upper arms.
“Take her away and make sure she isn’t let back into the city. Kill her if she manages to sneak in. And make sure no one helps her.”
Lexi tried to fight but the guards held her tightly as they dragged her from the palace. The windows were empty as they made their way through the city. No one would be able to help her even if she wanted them to. At the gate of Sapphire City, the guards let her fall to the ground.
“If you try to come back we will kill you.”
She wanted to laugh at the irony. For the second time that day, a guard threatened her life. She stood and turned her back on the city. If she couldn’t find help there, then she would retrace her steps until she found someone who would help her.
