“You are mine now. Remember, Kayla. You belong to me!” his deep, demanding voice rasped in her ear.
“Yes, always, my love,” she whispered. Kayla raised lids heavy with passion to gaze into the eyes of her lover and was startled to see, for just a moment, something different, something cold and cruel, looking at her from their dark depths, bringing forth her memory of his strange aura. But the look was gone as suddenly as it had appeared, and she was again staring into eyes filled only with love.
Confused, she searched the dark depths of Garth’s eyes for any glimmer of the soul he kept so well hidden. A slight movement of his right hand drew her attention, and she saw a flicker of firelight reflect off the face of a large signet ring and the image of a lightning bolt burning through the heart of a pentagram glowed white-hot against the darkness of the room.
Whatever curiosity Kayla might have had about the ring was quickly driven from her mind as Garth increased his pace and her full attention was claimed by the rhythm of his loving. Her body arched and twisted beneath this new assault on her senses, unable to scream even so intense was the agony of the all-consuming lust that burned within her.
The boundaries between passion and torment were lost as she thrilled to the strength and pure masculinity of Garth’s body. He touched the part of her that was deep and primeval, and she knew that her soul was lost beyond redemption.
Through the mists of passion and lust that filled her mind, she heard distantly, his husky declaration, “I love you, Kayla. You belong to me. Always!” And the walls of the room reverberated with Kayla’s screams again and again!
The searing pain burning into the very bones of her left hip ripped away the mists of passion clouding her mind and consuming her! Kayla struggled madly to free herself from Garth’s immobilizing grip and escape the agony of pain caused by the contact of the blazing signet ring with her tender flesh, but she was unable to match his physical strength or resist the sheer mass of his large body.
Desperate to free herself of the pain, her mind unconsciously called upon another weapon. Her body instantly began radiating enough heat to ignite the bedding beneath them, enveloping the pair in an inferno of blue flames.
Some small, conscious part of Kayla’s mind that had remained separate from her struggle noted that it was as she had theorized. She was impervious to the flames of her own weapon, and so was Garth. Not only was he unharmed, he had not loosened his hold on her either.
“Let me go!” she screamed when he finally removed the ring from her hip. But Garth did not release her. Instead, he tightened his arms around her and continued to thrust roughly into her. This was no longer lovemaking, it was pure dominance, and Kayla was suddenly angry beyond belief. She felt a distinctive snap within her mind as, without concern for the consequences, she permitted her rage to pour from her.
Reaching with shaking hands, Kayla managed to get a grip on Garth’s thick forearms. She struggled for several moments to make eye contact with him in the hopes of breaking the trance he was lost in only to find her own gaze captured in his dark, glazed stare. Their eyes and minds locked in a contest of wills that she could not break. She felt the force of Garth’s will crashing through her mind, assaulting the barriers protecting her inner self, trying to gain control of her mind and soul in the manner that her body was already possessed. She sensed his surprise when she did not retreat but attacked.
With a vengeance born of the fear she harbored of losing control of her own mind and life as well as her unrealized fear of losing Garth’s love, Kayla reached for his soul and found it! Plunging toward the heat of his soul’s passion, she tore past the warlock’s guards even as he desperately tried to throw up new barriers to keep her out.
Busy defending his own soul, Garth ceased his attack, but Kayla’s anger would not let her retreat now. Relentlessly, she forced her mind to reach through the flames and wrestled with the slimy, clinging blackness that adhered to the outer edges of Garth’s soul, fending off the fingers of darkness that reached for her as if trying to contaminate her own soul with its evil until, finally, she was beyond that evil shell and able to touch the glowing brightness that was the hidden core of his being. And now Kayla let flow from her, not the anger that had been driving her, but the love that had grown in her heart for this man and for the man she knew he could be.
The explosion of psychic energy created by this touching of souls was more erotic than either she or Garth was able to bear. Dimly, she was aware of his roaring scream joining with her own as he absorbed the energy she poured into the very depths of his soul.
Kayla felt his climax deep inside her, and her own response, making her lose her hold on his mind as she writhed beneath him, eagerly accepting him as their souls merged, becoming for those endless seconds, one.
MySoultoKeep
Chapter Six
The warmth of the morning sunlight on her face lured Kayla from the depths of sleep and, with consciousness, she became aware of the minor discomforts of the lumpy cushions of the sofa under her and the coarse weave of the blanket against skin raw with sensitivity.
Struggling to a sitting position, she took a deep breath and gagged on the sharp, bitter odor of burnt cloth. The last of the fog filling her mind was driven away when her eyes snapped open.
One look around the destroyed room told her that she had not dreamt last night.
Kayla’s stomach churned, sending her running for the bath where she dropped to her knees and clutched the base of the commode while she emptied her stomach. When she was finally able to control her fluttering insides and quaking knees, she made her way to the side of the tub where she turned on the water faucets.
She was most definitely not ready to deal with whatever had happened last night, she decided, and turned her attention to mindlessly watching the water flow into the tub.
When the big tub was finally full, Kayla lowered her aching body into the hot, soothing bubbles to rid it of the musky scent of last night’s lovemaking.
Finished with her bath, Kayla was feeling much steadier as she dried off with one of the large towels, that is until she turned her hip to the full-length mirror lining one wall.
Gasping, she let the towel fall to the floor and stepped closer to better examine the slightly raised edges of the pentagram with the lightning bolt striking through its center, and her anger exploded as she saw for the first time in the reflected image, the brand that Garth had had the audacity to place on her!
Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned to find Garth standing in the open doorway with an armful of clothing. Without hesitation, Kayla swung her arm and delivered a resounding slap to his grinning face.
“How dare you! You had no right to maim me like this! I’m not some cow to be branded!” she shouted as she pushed his hulking form from the doorway he was blocking. Furious, she stormed about the wrecked bedroom, rummaging through the debris in search of her clothing, impatiently dumping the contents of her saddlebags in a heap in the middle of the soot-stained carpet in her fruitless search.
“What have you done with my clothes!” she demanded. Hands on her bare hips, Kayla stamped her foot in frustration, only to yelp in pain when it came down on the sharp edge of a broken vase.
The sight of Kayla, naked, dashing frantically about, throwing things around the room in her fit of temper with her tangled hair writhing like a mass of snakes trying to escape the chaos was almost too much. But now, the sight of her hopping around on one foot, swearing vividly, was more than Garth could take. He burst into gales of laughter, nearly forgetting to duck when she threw a scorched pillow at him.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me, you…you, Big Meat Head!” she raged at him. Throwing her small body at him, she brought the two of them tumbling to the floor.
Kayla’s shrieks of anger were soon turned to shrieks of laughter and giggles as he retaliated by tickling her.
“Stop! Please stop. I give up,” she pleaded between hiccupping peels of laughter.
“Now, will you listen to me?” he asked as she fixed wide, watery blue eyes filled with pain and betrayal on him.
“I did have the right. No, listen to me first,” Garth insisted before she could erupt in another fit of anger. “You pledged yourself to me, of your own free will you gave yourself to me, just as I gave my pledge to you. Among the witch-kind an oath of this sort holds more power than any ordinary marriage vows. There can be no annulment or divorce from a bonding of souls. You belong to me, Kayla McAddams, and I will never release you from that pledge,” he told her solemnly.
Kayla looked at him through her tears and answered in a soft but firm voice, “As you are mine, for all time.”
Garth released her hands and let her sit up.
“But why did you brand me? You didn’t even ask!”
“Because, for the ritual to be binding, it had to be done during the passion of the oath, and because I cannot take you before the Emperor unbound. He would immediately claim you for his own and I would not be able to prevent him.”
“Caleis knows nothing about your world’s women’s liberation,” he teased her gently. “He is convinced that a woman, especially one such as you, has only one place and that is in his harem.” He saw her now-familiar look of rebellion replaced by one of revulsion as she thought of the Emperor.
“Don’t worry,” he assured her, “he would not dare to touch a woman bound by ritual to me as you now are.” Now that she calmed down considerably, he began collecting the pile of clothing he had arrived with from the floor. “Here, these are for you,” he said as he tossed them into her lap.
Curious, Kayla got to her feet and began sorting through the clothing. She was pleased to find her leather riding pants and spare silk blouse that was still in possession of its sleeves, both cleaned and ready to wear as well as the rest of her missing clothing. She also found a fleece-lined vest had now been added to her wardrobe.
“Wear the long-sleeved blouse and the vest today, little one, the weather will be cooler in the pass than it’s been on the plains,” he answered her look of query.
Garth threw open the big doors and stepped out on the balcony to stare out the window at the mountains while Kayla was dressing.
Dressed and in the process of packing the rest of her things into the saddlebags, she called, “What about Starr,” referring to the little witchling by the name she had unconsciously given her.
Returning to the room, Garth answered, “She’s fine, all fed and ready for the trip.” He kissed her cheek as he reached for her saddlebags. Throwing them over one shoulder, he led the way from the room toward the narrow back staircase.
Together they bounded down the stairs, their booted feet clattering noisily over the uncarpeted steps. Halfway down, Garth stumbled and caught himself against the banister, but he continued without comment and beat her to the kitchen door.
Marie looked up from her baking as they burst through the door and greeted them cheerily. “Good mornin’ to ya’, Master, Mistress.” She smiled and ducked her head shyly. “I’ve packed everything I expect you’ll be needin’ for the babe. It should be enough ‘til you get to the city, Mistress.” She pointed at a bundle of supplies stacked on the edge of a worn wooden table but Kayla noticed that the woman deliberately avoided making eye contact with her.
Dismissing it with a shrug, Kayla fetched the babe from a basket set beside the huge hearth for warmth and hugged the sleepy infant to her while Garth made his way across the room and collected an odd-looking harness hanging from a hook on the wall.
“Here, this will make it easier for you to handle her. It’s a carrier like the ones the peasant women use for their babes when they work in the fields, it’ll free your hands for riding.”
He helped her slip the harness on and carefully secured the babe in the carrier on her back.
“Thanks.” Kayla was busy adjusting the weight of the babe and settling the shoulder straps for comfort when she caught a glitter of gold out of the corner of her eye as Garth pressed several coins into Marie’s chubby hand.
They left by the kitchen door and had turned the corner of the inn into the front courtyard, heading for the stables. It was there that Kayla spotted Bart, anxiously pacing to and fro before the front entrance, his hands waving in agitation as he supervised a small group of workers in their inept attempts to remove the shattered remains of the thick wooden entry doors.
Curious, Kayla approached the group of men. “What happened here?” she asked in alarm. She looked from one to another of the men who each studiously avoided looking her in the eyes and back to Garth. “It looks like a tank hit that door!” Before anyone could answer, she moved closer to inspect the damaged wood and stepped into the churned mess of dirt and loose cobblestones before the entry.
Kayla bent to examine the trampled ground. “No ordinary horse made these prints,” she said as she looked up at the nervous faces surrounding her. “Hawk did this? I didn’t even hear him. Is he all right?” Not waiting for an answer, Kayla started at a dead run for the stables, leaving behind the innkeeper and his helpers to stare after her retreating figure in frightened awe.
They held their silence until the warlock was out of hearing range before they dared turn to each other to compare their impressions of the beautiful young sorceress that the gossips were saying had slept the night through in a bed of flames to guard her virtue from the romantic advances of the Lord High Warlock and to whose defense the great Ral’i stallion had tried to come.
If not for the warlock’s timely intervention, the angry beast would surely have entered the building to guard his mistress. It was being said that even the powerful warlock had suffered a severe wound when the stallion had lashed out with his flint-hard hooves before he could be brought under control and returned to the stable.
Racing across the uneven paving of the courtyard and around the side of the rambling stable, Kayla found Hawk and Star Dancer contentedly grazing on the thick, green grass carpeting a small orchard. Hawk lifted his head and whinnied eagerly as he trotted to her.
Nuzzling her shirt, he snorted an inquisitive breath against her neck.
“It’s okay now,” she assured him in a low voice. She rubbed his silky ears and hugged his neck. For a long moment, Kayla buried her face in the locks of his heavy mane and inhaled the warm horsy scent of him, and she wished that she could be sure that things really were okay.
“Well, you don’t seem to be hurt or anything,” she said after a while. Wiping her eyes on her shirtsleeve, Kayla reached a hand under Hawk’s chin and led him toward the paddock, turning her head once to be sure that Star Dancer followed.
Kayla was still distracted, crooning softly to the stallion when she approached Garth and Troll at the corral. The two men seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion but all talk immediately ceased at her arrival.
“Please, Mistress, let me do that. I believe the Ral’i will permit me,” Troll said as he jumped from his perch on the top rail and took the saddle blanket she was reaching for. Quickly and efficiently, he arranged the saddle pad on Hawk’s tall back before swinging the saddle up and cinching it. The stallion shifted restlessly, but otherwise did not seem to object to the young man’s attentions.
“He does seem to like you better than most people,” she said in mild surprise, as he secured her saddlebags to the back of the saddle.
Seeing that things were well in hand, Garth led Star Dancer off to be saddled and gave Kayla the first chance she’d had to speak privately with someone besides him since she’d come to this world.
“You’re different from the others I’ve encountered at the inn and in the village where they… Well, in that village,” she told him and a grimace of distaste crossed her face at the mere thought of those cruel, heartless people.
“Of that I am thankful,” answered Troll with a smile.
Embarrassed that he might have misunderstood her comment, Kayla blushed. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” she stammered.
“It’s okay, I understood what you meant,” he said. “And please, don’t let my ‘differences’ worry you, Mistress. I consider myself lucky, for there are those much worse off than me. At least I’m able to get around on my own and make a life for myself.”
Kayla looked into the gentle, mismatched eyes and wondered at the accident of birth that had cursed this fine man so cruelly. Curbing her curiosity with great effort, she only nodded her head as he helped her climb into the saddle without disturbing the babe asleep in her backpack.
When she was settled, Troll hobbled off in the direction of the barn, and she turned Hawk into the center of the stable yard to wait while Garth finished securing his pack to the mare’s saddle. An unexpected clatter of hooves drew her attention back to the stable door where she saw Troll emerging at the head of a tall, gaunt mare already saddled and carrying a small pack.
Garth responded to her questioning look by saying, gruffly, “Troll has asked if he might travel to the city with us. He feels he might be able to get more lucrative employment there.”
“With your permission of course, Lady, the pass is not always safe for a man such as me to travel alone.”
Kayla nodded and looked back at Garth, a little puzzled by the hint of annoyance she had caught in his voice. With a shrug of her shoulders, she touched her heels to Hawk’s sides, urging him to follow Star Dancer. Perhaps Garth was just a little jealous of their time together and resented the intrusion of a third party.
It was mid-morning before the pale tangerine sun above finally defeated the dew-heavy mists lying in the pass.
MySoultoKeep Page 9
