by Lora Leigh
“No,” she cried out, fighting against his hold. “Please, Lasan, don’t let him do it. I will do anything. Please.”
Lasan stilled, he felt Drago stop just outside the Queen’s chambers.
“What would you do, Bri?” Lasan asked her, his voice soft. “Would you agree to be our Consort? Willingly?”
He hated the little whimper of fear that came from her throat. Why did she fear the alliance so deeply? Lasan could make no sense of the impressions of foreboding that escaped her.
He felt Drago waiting. His brother, for all his impatience, was filled with the same confusion, the same need to understand her denial of her needs as well as theirs.
Maidenly fears? Drago wondered. Lasan didn’t think so.
“I can’t.” Her own words were filled with inexpressible sorrow. “I will escape you, Lasan. You and Drago. No matter the cost. I will not agree to this alliance.”
Chapter Eleven
It was no surprise to Brianna when the guards entered the gardens to escort her to her room with the message that her mother would call for her when she was needed. She looked back at Lasan, seeing his closed expression, his bright emerald green eyes and wanted to rage at him. He had promised she would not be harmed, but Brianna knew better. She knew what Drago and Lasan would do. They would demand the Joining now, and her mother would have no choice but to force Brianna into it.
The law was an old one. A strict one. Due to the passions and sometimes volatile natures of certain halves of Wizard Twins, it was forbidden for any female, other than their own Consorts, to strike any blow to them. A female, even a Sorceress, could be severely punished for such a crime. A public spanking was one of the older practices. Brianna knew her punishment, though. Lasan and Drago now had what they wanted. An excuse to push her mother into forcing her into the alliance with them.
As she was escorted through the long hall that led to her room, she saw Drago waiting, propped casually against the wall, his dark blue eyes brooding, filled with lust as he watched her. She felt her body trembling, a shudder working up her back, heat filling her stomach, pooling in her cunt. He affected her as easily as Lasan did, despite her fear of him.
As the door to her room opened, the guards stepped aside, allowing her and then Drago as well, to enter.
“I do not want him here.” She turned on the guards, her fists clenching at their closed expressions. “This is still my room. I am still the daughter of your Queen. You will have him removed immediately.”
They stepped back, the door closing firmly behind them as Brianna stared at the thick portal in surprise. Shock vibrated through her system. She was aware of Drago watching her silently, his big body much too close, much too dangerous.
They were taking her over. She could feel it, sense it in the deepest part of her soul. They would have their way, despite her hesitation.
“You have destroyed my life, Drago Veraga,” she whispered painfully. “Even my own guards no longer heed my words, but yours instead.”
He watched her broodingly, his blue eyes brilliant behind the partially lowered shield of the thick, black lashes. She could actually feel his lust. It shimmered on the air around him.
“You broke the law, not I,” he reminded her, though she could have well done without the reminder.
“Such bold, strong Wizards are you and your brother,” she sneered to keep her tears from falling. “What a grave offense I offered you. To dare to strike the mockery from his face in retaliation of his insult.”
She wished she had a dagger. She had little else to lose and nothing to gain if she could find the courage to cut his heart from his chest. Her luck, only a cold stone was lodged there.
“You sound as though we would have you beheaded,” Drago scoffed, his dark voice husky, filled with his lust despite the seriousness of the situation. “Did Lasan not tell you that you would come to no harm?”
“You intend to use this incident to force our Joining,” she accused him. “Aye, I consider this worse than death, you black-hearted Wizard. Had I wished the alliance then I would have agreed when first you made the offer.”
She turned on him in her fury. All she saw was the cold, hard glint in his blue eyes, the savage cast of his features. For all his resemblance to Lasan, he appeared cruel, like a dark demon come to steal her soul.
“I am sorry you see it as such,” he said slowly, watching her carefully. “I would have you at least find a measure of happiness in the alliance.”
“Happiness,” she scoffed, blinking back the tears that would fall from her eyes. “What happiness could there be? Shared among men who know no love, no tenderness? Subjected to the touch of not just one, but two, who would see to the theft of my very pride and decency?”
Fear coursed through her body.
“Where do you come up with such asinine ideas, Brianna?” He had the nerve to laugh at her. “We are not demons, merely men. And it is not your pride and decency, my dear, that I have a need to possess.”
Heat struck her body. It curled around her breasts, burrowed into her womb and struck her cunt with a force that left her nearly gasping. Why did he and Lasan affect her this way? Why had the gods so punished her?
She stood shaking, trembling as he approached her. He was much taller than she. His shoulders were broad, covered in the silken material of his shirt, which tucked into snug breeches. The broad length of his cock was clearly outlined beneath the material. It was thick and long, and the impression of it sent fear racing through her once again.
He stopped just shy of pressing against her heaving breasts. His hand raised, his fingers brushing over her bare shoulders. Energy crackled along her skin, making her weak in the wake of pleasure that flooded her system. His other hand gripped her waist, and slowly drew her with him as he backed gracefully to the edge of her bed.
“I do not wish this,” she whispered faintly as he sat down on the end of her bed and drew her slowly between his spread thighs.
He was heat and steely hardness. His fingers gripped her arms, his thighs, powerful and heavily muscled, encased hers. He was breathing heavily, his eyes darkening, the thick black lashes shadowing them with a sultry effect.
“Your body says differently, Brianna.” His hands ran up her arms, his eyes never straying from the hardened tips of her breasts.
Brianna felt the pervasive weakness that overcame her body each time Drago or Lasan touched her. It infuriated her. It terrified her. Never had she known such a reaction to a man, and she couldn’t bear the thought that her body would betray her in such a manner with this one.
“Do not,” she whispered as he leaned forward.
His lips hovered at her breast. His face was flushed, his lips heavy with sensuality.
“I would only taste you,” he groaned. “Upon my oath, neither I nor Lasan will take you until our Joining night. But I must taste you, Brianna. I beg you to allow that much.”
“I cannot,” she cried out, but her breasts were heavy, her breathing so harsh that her tender nipples, covered by the thin material of her dress, suddenly raked his lips.
Her legs weakened. She would have fallen had he not caught her against him, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her to him as his head buried between the swollen mounds. He lifted her, pulling her thighs around him as she cried out in surprise, forcing them to encase his hard hips. Her gown slid along her upper legs as he sat her upon his thighs.
His cock was wedged between her thighs now, pressing heatedly through his breeches to burn the soft lips of her cunt. Brianna’s hands clenched his shoulders, her nails pressing deep as she fought to hold onto her sanity. Her vagina pulsed, spilling the slick warmth of her body over the heated length of his erection.
“What are you doing to me? You are bewitching me. You and Lasan will destroy me,” she cried out, her head falling back as she felt his lips on her bare shoulder, then moving with a sensation of fire over her chest.
“I am pleasuring you,” he denied her charge, his voice da
rk and throbbing with his sexuality. “I am showing you, Brianna, why we cannot allow you to deny this alliance. I will show you why we can no longer stay away from you.”
The ties at her shoulders were released, allowing the fabric to spill to her waist as Brianna gasped out in mingled fear and sharp desire. Her swollen breasts were tipped with hard, pink nipples. The elongated erection of the tips mortified her, but seemed to fascinate Drago.
She shook with a fever of conflicting emotions as his head lowered to her. Then she was arching over the support of his arm at her back, her wail one of sharp, painful pleasure as his lips covered a needy nipple.
He was greedy, voracious in his hunger. He suckled at her with hard, deep pulls of his mouth, making lightning arc from her breast to her cunt as he pressed his cock harder against her. His tongue flayed the tender flesh, then curled around it, stroked it. Brianna cried out, her fingers going to the overly long strands of his black hair as she gripped his head, fighting for her sanity amidst a wash of sensations so intense she felt consumed by them.
She no longer had control of her own body. Her hips bucked against the length of his cock as it pressed into her clit. She rubbed against it, her thighs clenching at the pleasure ripping through her body.
“I could live the rest of my days and never know again such pleasure as your body brings me,” Drago groaned as he dragged his lips away from her nipple, the arm at her back bringing her closer as his head raised to allow his lips to caress her cheek. “Feel how hard I am for you, Brianna. How much I need you.”
“You will destroy me,” she cried out, though her body now had a will of its own, and begged for more of the heated touches.
“We will pleasure you, Brianna,” he tempted her. “It has been a millennia since the Covenani has allowed an alliance between our two races. They have had a thousand years in which to forget the pleasure their women found in the arms of our Wizards. A millennia of hopelessness and searching for our race. I will not allow it to be taken from Lasan and me as well.”
Brianna trembled as his lips brushed hers, staring up at him in dazed fascination as heat seared her lips, making her shudder and reach for his kiss.
“I do not wish to be shared.” She was frightened of the Joining. The vast unknown and rumors of pain and anguish terrified her.
“Your fears are unfounded, Brianna,” he sighed against her lips. She gasped as he stroked his tongue over them with a slow, moist sweep. “We are two parts of a whole, Lasan and I. We will bring you nothing but pleasure.”
He gave her no time to deny his claim. His tongue parted her lips and swept into the moist confines of her mouth in a strong, bold move. Brianna stiffened in shocked ecstasy. His kiss was hot, carnal, sweeping aside all thought as her nipples brushed the fine material of his shirt and he taught her a way of kissing she had never known.
He teased her tongue into mating with his, stroking it, tempting her to shyly imitate him until he taught her with gentle pulls of his mouth how to suck at the sensitive extension. She followed his lead, now mindless with the pleasure. One hand cupped her breast, his fingers tweaking at her nipple, rasping it, making her arch closer and beg for more.
“Enough,” he suddenly groaned as he broke away from her. “I cannot take you now. It is not time, Brianna.”
He stared down at her, his eyes glittering with lust as he held her hips and pressed his cock harder against her. Brianna felt her labia swell and moisture gush from her clenched vagina.
Brianna fought for breath. There seemed to not be enough air in the confines of the room as she struggled for her sanity.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why can you not take me now?”
His eyes flared at the thought.
“I cannot, Brianna, without Lasan present as well. Our first Joining must be together. You are the heart we have gone without all the years of our lives—”
Reality splashed over her like a rush of cold water.
“No.” She shook her head desperately. “You must take me separately, Drago. I will not object to the Joining. I will enter into it peacefully if you will swear it to me. You will not take me together.”
Fear was a demon inside her. It curled throughout her body, chilling the passion that had raged through it seconds before.
Drago stared at her in surprise.
“Is this the reason you have denied our claim these past three years?” he asked her harshly.
“You will harm me. You know you will,” she bit out, fighting to remove herself from his arms. “Do you think I have not heard the rumors, that I do not know of the women you have torn asunder?”
He let her go, but Brianna saw the shock and the edge of anger that filled his expression. She hastily fixed her clothes, watching him warily as he stared at her.
“So rather than come to Lasan or me about your fears, you have instead listened to rumor?” he asked her carefully.
“The Covenani separated from your men because of the pain and torture of the mating. All Covenani know this,” she bit out. “I have no desire to be a sacrifice to your unnatural desires.”
His eyes narrowed and his body stiffened with his fury. Brianna knew her fears pushed her now, not her desires, but she had no control over the images of savagery and violence that she had heard of for years.
Drago watched her intently, his blue eyes darkening, his face cold, angry.
“You would tempt a man to violence, woman,” he growled. “I would suspect it was not the Covenani who ended associations after all, but the Couldaran who grew tired of the irrational, cutting words that fell from the honeyed lips of the women of your race.”
“See, already you threaten me with harm,” she charged him heatedly. “You have no rights to me when you would take me with anger.”
“Take you with anger?” he bit out furiously. “When my cock is slamming into that tight little pussy of yours, then you may accuse me of such, my little sorceress. Until then, I would suggest you keep your accusations and your silly female fears to yourself. You may well find what a fool you have been if you do not do just that.”
He didn’t give her time to speak in retaliation. He stomped to the door and slammed out of the room with such irate male dignity that Brianna would have laughed had she not been so angry.
Chapter Twelve
As the door slammed closed behind Drago, Brianna stomped her foot furiously against the hard stone floor. She winced at the pain that shot into her ankle and snarled silently.
She could not control the anger, fears and desires welling inside her now. Each time they touched her, each kiss, each inferno of sensation only pushed her and the burgeoning surges of energy higher. The muscles of her vagina clenched tightly, reinforcing its greedy demand to be filled. The remembered feel of Lasan’s finger pushing inside that heated recess inflamed her desires.
She was fevered. Torn between the conflicting desires of her body and her fears.
As she paced to the far end of her room, a scraping along the other wall had her turning in surprise. A hidden door wedged open, admitting her nurse, Elspeth. Brianna frowned at the old woman over bright eyes, her pale, wrinkled features and the tight, pinched line of her once smiling lips. How long had it been, she wondered, since she had seen Elspeth smile?
“What are you doing here?” Brianna pushed her fingers through her hair as she watched the woman in concern. “Mother said you weren’t to return for a while, Elspeth.”
Elspeth’s lips tightened further, her eyes narrowing in anger.
“Queen Amoria fears my love for you, child,” she said darkly. “She knows I would lead you from this darkness she is sending you to.”
Brianna could only shake her head. As she watched the dark, fanatic look on her old friend’s face, she wondered if her mother and sister were right. Had Elspeth somehow lost her sanity with the loss of her child?
“Elspeth, you should be home resting,” she sighed sadly. So many changes, so much that she must now accustom herself to. “I think
perhaps you are ill, dear. I would like to send the healer to you.”
Elspeth’s head jerked up, her eyes narrowing further as her face flushed with anger.
“Their lies are corroding your mind,” she sneered as spittle dribbled along her chin.
Brianna stepped back from her, suddenly, unaccountably wary of the old woman.
“I believe no lies about you, Elspeth,” she promised her gently as she gauged the distance to the door.
She needed to alert her mother of the nurse’s visit, and the locks that must have been broken to the old tunnels. How had she made the mental link with Drago before, Brianna wondered, frowning. Could she do it with her mother as well?
“I see it in your eyes,” Elspeth kept her voice low, though hatred roughened the once kind tone. “They have infected you, those Wizard demons. Stealing you from me as surely as they did my child. I promised you, precious, I would protect you from them, did I not? You should not have run from those I sent after you in the gardens. You should have given yourself to them, allowed the merciful release they would have granted you.”
Shock, horror spread through her. Calculation gleamed in Elspeth’s eyes, and knowledge. She knew the blow she had just aimed and struck at Brianna’s heart.
Brianna felt her knees weakening as pain tore through her heart. This was not Elspeth, the beloved nurse who had rocked her after her father’s death, the gentle friend who had guided her through her youth.
“You are Secular,” she whispered, the pain so intense now she could barely breathe. “The same who killed my father, our friends through the years. You have joined them.”
She could not believe it, and yet she had to. She could only shake her head, staring at the woman she had loved so dearly for so many years. Desperately, certain she could escape the aging woman, Brianna sprinted for the door as she called out to her guards. Then she screamed in terror. From the hidden passageway, several men jumped for her as others rushed into the room. Elspeth was crackling gleefully, the guards were rushing into the room only to meet the swords of her attackers.
