Lava unleashed. Molten.
II
He awoke in his own bed, with the memory of his night in the stone room as raw as his skin. His hands moved to touch the sheathed blade that had betrayed him so spectacularly, and he tensed again at the remembrance. Blissful agony.
“I will call you,” the wise woman had said, her gaze hidden behind the tangle of dark hair as she led him up the stairs and left him to find his way through rooms that passed in a blur to the night outside.
He understood. One night only was not enough for the enchantment. It demanded he abandon every shred of self, every trace of pride, all pretense of control.
Curled among cool sheets with his arms about a pillow of softest goose feathers encased in the finest Egyptian cotton, he knew at last what he feared.
When he returned to the room of stone, the giant bound a cloth of black over his eyes and cuffed his hands and his throat. The giant and the wise woman snapped teeth of steel into his flesh: his nipples, the skin of his balls. He gasped, and they forced a ball of rubber between his lips before they took him, blind and bare, up the stairs and away, some far distance that he could neither see nor measure, and into the heat of a crowded place.
Here, exclamations of surprise and delight greeted him. Hands pulled at him, pinched and tugged and twisted until his flesh hurt in a hundred places. The ball was taken from his mouth and unseen mouths kissed his, laughing. Invisible hands slapped his bare ass, jiggled the cruel clips in his flesh.
They made him kneel and his mouth served them: men and women, hard as stone, soft as silk.
Oh. What a lovely toy.
Wherever did you find him?
They whipped him again and broke his skin with their nails, but he suffered it all with not a word, until his stiff, aching body could scarcely move. Without thinking, he followed the lead of the hand that guided him to the depths of a soft bed. Through blurry, throbbing eyes he saw the face of the wise woman as she lifted the cloth from his eyes.
Exhausted, he slept the dreamless sleep of the used.
He did not return to his home when he woke again. The wise woman came to find him and once more he stared in surprise, for though the spectacles perched on her nose, her hair fell in a long, soft twist over one shoulder and where light shone through the pure, white linen of her clothing he saw the naked curves of her body.
“Rise and bathe,” she ordered him, and he did as she said, in her bath of pale, green marble. He went to her afterward with his wet hair still dripping on his naked shoulders, and she smiled with approval.
She asked a silent question with her eyes that reminded him of storm clouds. He nodded in reply.
For the third time he let her bind his hands above his head as he lay with his face in yielding pillows that smelled of her: like rain and summer. He closed his eyes, and she parted his legs, and he thought, I cannot bear this.
For he could feel lines like spider silk weaving themselves about his heart as her fingers toyed with his flesh. She opened him with her touch and then her kiss, and he shuddered as her tongue slid into him, moved inside him.
The muscles of his stomach quivered, jellylike, as if they might turn to liquid. His hips moved involuntarily, but she stilled him with a touch.
She whispered words he did not hear. He understood all the same.
Her hair fell loose across his back, and her hands gripped his shoulders. Beneath her he held his breath, and her sword, one of rubber and of leather, pierced him. Heat ran through his body, set him shivering. Still sore and bruised, maddened by this new pleasure that masqueraded as pain, he gripped the sheets in his fist and resisted her. Fought her. And found it brought him ever more delight.
She laughed and flung her slender arms about his shoulders, rested her cheek on his back while her hips moved against his ass. She ravished him. Broke him.
Thus she cast her spell.
III
After that, James belonged to the wise woman, his enchantress in disguise. With her smile and her hair like night, and her eyes the color of smoke and cloud, she had bewitched him utterly.
She kept his heart fast, bound with brambles that made him bleed and sigh. In turn he brought his sword to serve her better and more skillfully than ever he’d served anyone in his life. From time to time, she took him to some grand place hung with chandeliers and curtains of gold where she might offer him up as a toy. Or she brought him back to the stone room where the giant was always pleased to see him.
But ever and always, James knew he was hers, and it made his joy complete.
Nor did he seek any more adventures, for indeed, much more might have killed him. And what need had he of adventure when he had found bliss?
So James and the enchantress lived happily ever after, in contentment of a strange and wonderful kind, for all the rest of their days.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JANINE ASHBLESS (janineashbless.blogspot.com) has two collections of erotic fairy, fantasy and paranormal stories, Cruel Enchantment and Dark Enchantment. She was Jade magazine’s Erotic Fiction Writer of the Year 2009. Her short stories have appeared in several Cleis anthologies including Best Women’s Erotica 2009.
MICHELLE AUGELLO-PAGE is a writer living in New York. She received an MFA from Adelphi University and is a teacher in an alternative elementary school. Recent poetry has been published in The Mom Egg, Mannequin Envy and Copper Nickel; recent fiction has been published in Tales from the Moonlit Path.
ANDREA DALE’s (cyvarwydd.com) stories have appeared in Alison’s Wonderland, The Sweetest Kiss and Lesbian Cowboys, among many others. With coauthors, she has sold two novels to Virgin Books. She loves all things fantastical and believes fairy tales should be for grown-ups.
DELILAH DEVLIN (DelilahDevlin.com) is an author of erotic romance with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters, whether creating dark, erotically charged paranormal worlds or richly descriptive westerns that ring with authenticity.
JEREMY EDWARDS (jeremyedwardserotica.com) is the author of the erotocomedic novel Rock My Socks Off. His short stories have appeared in over forty anthologies, including three volumes in the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica series.
JUSTINE ELYOT’s short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, as well as in her single-author collection, On Demand. She lives in the United Kingdom, by the sea.
AURELIA T. EVANS ([email protected]) graduated from Trinity University in May 2008. She now works as a communications assistant by day and writer by night. Her short story “In Circles” was published in the queer erotic horror anthology Kiss of the Spider Woman.
A. D. R. FORTE (adrforte.blogspot.com) is the author of erotic short fiction that appears in numerous anthologies, including the acclaimed Best Women’s Erotica. Her tales of erotic fantasy can be found in collections from Cleis Press and Circlet Press.
SHANNA GERMAIN (shannagermain.com) is careful to keep her hem dry and her hands away from blocks of salted cream. Her work has appeared in places like Best American Erotica, Best Gay Bondage, Best Gay Romance, Best Lesbian Erotica, Please, Sir and more.
LOUISA HARTE (louisaharte.com) loves crafting erotic and romantic fiction. Her work features in the anthology Best Women’s Erotica 2010. Currently living in New Zealand, she finds inspiration from many places, including her thoughts, dreams and fantasies.
CAROL HASSLER ([email protected]) is a mild-mannered librarian by day and a caffeine-fueled writer by night. Fairy tales often inspire her work, which ranges from fantasy to science fiction (with a little horror thrown in the mix). Carol enjoys baking but has never actually made a live man.
ANGELA KNIGHT (angelasknights.com) is the New York Times bestselling author of Guardian and other novels. Besides her fiction work, Angela’s publishing career includes a stint as a comic book writer and ten years as a newspaper reporter. Several of her stories won South Carolina Press Association awards under her real name. Angela’s newest novel is Master of
Fire.
CRAIG SORENSEN (just-craig.blogspot.com) believes in the happily ever afterlife. His stories have appeared in numerous print anthologies and magazines as well as online.
CHARLOTTE STEIN (themightycharlottestein.blogspot.com) has published a number of stories in various erotic anthologies, including Sexy Little Numbers. She is also the author of the short-story collection The Things That Make Me Give In and a novella, Waiting In Vain.
ALEGRA VERDE ([email protected]) lives in the Midwest where she tries to find time to finish her first novel while teaching literature at the local college. Her most recent erotic fiction can be found in the anthologies Misbehavior and The Affair.
When ALANA NOËL VOTH isn’t working a day job or taking care of her kiddo, she’s writing. Her work has appeared in Best Women’s Erotica, Best Gay Erotica and The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. Her story “Genuflection” was selected for Best American Erotica 2005.
SASKIA WALKER (saskiawalker.co.uk) is a British author whose short fiction appears in numerous anthologies. Her erotic novels include Along for the Ride, Double Dare, Reckless, Rampant and Inescapable. Saskia lives in the north of England close to the windswept Yorkshire moors, where she happily spends her days spinning yarns.
ALLISON WONDERLAND (aisforallison.blogspot.com) has been writing erotica since 2007. She’s contributed to Coming Together, Best Lesbian Erotica 2010 and Alison’s Wonderland, among others. Aside from erotica, Allison’s indulgences include cotton candy, kitten heels and Old Hollywood glamour.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
KRISTINA WRIGHT (kristinawright.com) is an author, editor and college instructor. Her erotica and erotic romance fiction have appeared in over seventy-five print anthologies, including Bedding Down: A Collection of Winter Erotica; Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women; Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples; three editions of Best Women’s Erotica; four editions of Best Lesbian Erotica; five editions of the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica and the erotic romance collections Seduction, Liaisons and Sexy Little Numbers. She received the Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense from Romance Writers of America for her first novel Dangerous Curves, which was published by Silhouette Books. Her work has also been featured in the nonfiction guide The Many Joys of Sex Toys and magazines and e-zines such as Clean Sheets, Good Vibes Magazine, Libida, The Fiction Writer, The Literary Times, Scarlet Letters, The Sun and The Quill. Her essay “The Last Letter” is included in the epistolary anthology P.S. What I Didn’t Say: Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends and her articles, interviews and book reviews have appeared in numerous publications, both print and online. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Passionate Ink and the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. She holds degrees in English and humanities and teaches English composition and world mythology at the community college level. Originally from South Florida, Kristina has lived up and down the East Coast with her husband, Jay, a naval officer. They now call Virginia home and recently welcomed the addition of their son Patrick, born in December 2009.
Copyright © 2010 by Kristina Wright. Foreword © 2010 by Angela Knight.
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by Cleis Press Inc.,
2246 Sixth Street, Berkeley, California 94710.
eISBN : 978-1-573-44548-1
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