But, he had told her—shrugging away such foolish thoughts—he had been born to serve the men of the Conclave and serving them was what he must do. There was no more escape for him than there would be for her.
And the longer Jameela was with Dagan, the more her feelings grew for the handsome warrior.
Her anger at what had been forced upon him grew as well. The sheer horror of his compulsory mutilation in order to serve the needs of the Brothers brought tears to her eyes and vengeance to her heart.
Lying awake in her lonely bed each night, she envisioned his arms around her, her head upon his shoulder, their fingers entwined. Her dreams were of him and her waking thoughts filled with his soft voice and beautiful male eyes. When he entered the room where he instructed her in the arts of lovemaking, her world brightened even if the day was cold and gray with rain.
“You take to training like a fish to water,” he had once said, the closest thing to a compliment he had ever given.
“Perhaps that is because I ache to belong to someone,” she had responded. “Can you understand that?”
The warrior had nodded sagely. “Aye, Wench. I understand it all too well.”
His words had melted her heart for she could hear the great sadness that he tried so hard to hide, to keep at bay. She wanted nothing more than to be with him and to ease that ache she sensed in his troubled soul.
But if it was the Master who had won her!
Jameela sat up slowly, sensing she was now in the Chamber alone. There were no more shuffling feet, no sounds at all save the slow drip of water somewhere within the Chamber. Reaching up, she tugged the blindfold from her eyes, not in the least surprised that the room around her was dark as pitch.
“Qutaybah, you bastard,” Jameela swore beneath her breath and swung her legs from the table. She slid her feet to the floor—gasping with the chill of the stone against her bare soles—and cautiously made her way to her right, feeling ahead of her with outstretched hands.
“Over here, Wench,” she heard Dagan call out and turned toward the sound of his voice.
Surprised, Jameela had gasped, her heart pounding but then she was relieved Dagan had come to her. “I am afraid,” she said, unsure of which way to walk.
“There is nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “Come this way.”
“Keep talking,” she pleaded with him.
“Do you want me to come over there?” he asked in an exasperated tone.
“Aye,” she replied and heard the loud expulsion of his breath.
“Sometimes,” he said, his voice getting closer, “I believe you are more trouble than you will ever be worth.”
“Only sometimes?” she asked as she felt his hand touch her shoulder.
“Most times,” he replied as his hand moved down her arm to grasp her fingers. She felt him tense when she gripped his hand with her free one.
“Thank you,” she said as he began walking with her.
“For what?”
“For coming to get me.”
“Someone had to,” he said and she could feel his shrug even if she could not see it. “You’d have been here all night otherwise.”
“I would have found the door eventually,” she said, her chin up.
“Wouldn’t have done you any good if you had since it was locked from the outside,” he said.
“I believe I despise Brother Qutaybah,” she said through clenched teeth.
“You aren’t the only one,” he mumbled.
Jameela shielded her eyes as the door swung open and they were met with the harsh light from the torch in the corridor.
“Who told you to remove your blindfold?” he asked.
“I told me,” she snapped and instantly regretted her petulant tone for he stiffened and turned to glare at her.
Dagan studied her upturned face for a moment then let out a long sigh. “You’ve a mind of your own, haven’t you, Wench?”
She stared into his tawny eyes, losing herself in the shimmering depths, aching to reach up and smooth away the stray curl that touched his high forehead. “Would you have me any other way?” she whispered.
A faint twitching of his lips might well have become a smile had Dagan not made a conscious effort to keep the telltale humor from his expression. Instead, he shook his head.
“I suppose not,” he answered and jerked gently on her hand, pulling her behind him down the narrow corridor.
Jameela smiled behind his back for her hand was tucked possessively in his.
Chapter Two
Sleep was a long time in coming for Jameela. She lay in her tiny cubicle and stared at the stygian ceiling, aching in parts of her body she had discovered for the first time this night. Turning to her side, she drew her knees up, hugged her pillow to her chest and let her mind drift back to the wondrous things that had been done to her.
Whomever the Brother was who had taken her into womanhood crossed her thoughts as she lay there. His expertise as he had copulated with her gave evidence that he was no stranger to the sexual act; he had known what he was about. The weight of his body, the feel of his smooth skin, the sleekness of his hair told her he was no more than middle age. There had been no deep lines on his face or rubbery feel to his muscles as she had held him. He did not smell old to her, either.
“But will you be a good master to me?” she asked aloud, sighing.
Shifting on the narrow cot, she flung the pillow atop her and clutched it tightly.
“If only it were you I held, my champion,” she said.
“And what champion would that be, Wench?”
Jameela gasped, sitting up to stare into the semidarkness. Her heart was racing for she had thought herself alone in the cubicle. “Dagan?” she asked.
“Quiet, Wench!” Dagan warned as he came to the cot. His hard hip nudged hers as he took a seat beside her. “Do you want to alert the Watch?”
Jameela tossed the pillow aside and reached for him. “What are you doing here?” she whispered. Her fingers clutched the silk of his shirt.
A rough hand smoothed her hair, the calloused flesh snagging lightly in the silken strands. “I could not sleep,” he told her. “My thoughts were of you and the beauty of your body that was revealed to me this eve.”
She laid her head against his shoulder as he continued to stroke her hair. “My thoughts were of you, as well,” she said.
Dagan snorted. “Liar,” he accused. “You were thinking of the Brother who claimed your maidenhead.”
Jameela slid her arms around him. “My body might have been remembering his touch but my heart replaced his body with yours.”
The warrior enclosed her in his strong embrace. “Truly?” he asked.
“You need not ask,” she said in a petulant tone. “I think you know my feelings.”
“All I know is what I sense in your words, Wench,” he responded.
She pushed back from him and looked up, seeking his face in the darkness. “That being what?” she inquired. Jameela felt him shrug.
“That you like what you see when you look at me,” he answered. “And that having me make love to you—if I could—wouldn’t be so bad.”
“And that’s all?”
“Well that and the way you drool when you think I’m not looking,” he said with a chuckle.
“You think entirely too highly of yourself,” she said and would have wiggled out of his grasp but his embrace tightened.
“Do you know who claimed you this eve past?” he asked, refusing to allow her to break free.
“Someone of importance I suspect,” she replied, settling down. She sighed then snuggled against his broad chest, reveling in the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek.
“’Twas the Master,” he informed her.
“I thought as much,” she stated flatly.
Dagan was quiet for a moment then commenced to stroke her hair once more. “And what are your feelings about it?” he asked.
Jameela cocked one shoulder. “Better than a sharp
poke in the eye if what you say is true about him,” she answered.
“What did I say?”
“You said that should I be lucky enough to be won by him that no other man would be allowed to touch me.”
“Such is the way with the Master,” Dagan agreed. “He will not share his Lady with another.” He dropped a light kiss on her head. “That should please you, Wench.”
“Except it doesn’t,” she said through clenched teeth.
Dagan flinched. “Why not?”
“Because I want you!” she said.
“Jameela,” he said on a long breath. “You know…”
“I know I have fallen in love with you!” she declared. She waited for him to reply to her brash statement and when he did not, she felt like crying.
When at last he spoke, his voice was low and full of tension.
“Jameela, the Master is an exacting man. He would slice in twain any man who dared to lay hands to you now that he has claimed you as his own.”
“How can you serve such monsters?” she asked.
“It was my destiny to be whom I am, where I am,” he answered. “I had no choice.”
“How is it you are allowed beyond the portals of this wicked place? Are all the Trainers given such freedom?”
“There is but one trainer at Lalssu Keep,” he replied. “I was given permission to seek out the woman who would be the Master’s Consort and that is how I came to be at Sahar Colony.”
Jameela stiffened. “You were sent to fetch…”
“You ask too many questions, Wench,” he interrupted her. “Let’s see if I can’t help you find rest this night for tomorrow will begin a more stringent instruction on how you are to satisfy your Master.”
“I don’t want to…” she began but drew in a harsh breath as Dagan’s hand enveloped her breast. The heat of his flesh made her moan with pleasure.
“You like that?” he asked, his lips in her hair.
“Aye,” she agreed.
He cupped the weight of her breast in his hand then ran the pad of his thumb over the nipple, stroking the soft bud until it became a hard nub. Gently, he plucked at the turgid point, making Jameela whimper.
“Let me pleasure you,” he offered.
“Um,” was all she could reply as he released her and slid from the bed. She could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness as he bid her turn over. Not daring to ask why, she obediently did as he commanded.
The cot dipped beneath his weight as he climbed upon it, straddling her body as he sat on her upturned rump. His hands were firm as he placed them on her shoulders and began to knead the tense muscles.
“Ah,” she sighed on a long breath.
“You need to relax, milady,” he said.
“I love having your hands on me,” she told him.
Dagan grunted. “You liked his hands on you, too.”
Jameela frowned. She did not want to think about the man who now owned her, the man whose right it was to touch her whenever and however he chose. “Please don’t remind me,” she asked.
The strong hands massaging her shoulders ceased their delightful movements. “You could have done much worse than having the Master win you,” he said.
“I could have done much better if it had been the man I wanted instead,” she countered.
Dagan’s fingers tensed on her flesh. “And what man is that?” he snapped.
Jameela smiled, recognizing jealousy when she heard it. “The one whose hands are on me even as we speak,” she replied. She felt his fingers relax and had to bite her lower lip to keep from giggling.
“You are a brazen piece of baggage, Jameela Anthus,” he growled as his hands moved down her back.
She gave herself up to his firm manipulation. He was very adept at massage, knowing where to concentrate the pressure, for how long and to what depth. His fingers plied her as a sculptor his clay.
“Where did you learn to do that?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” he returned. He pushed himself up and moved to the foot of the cot, seating himself between her parted legs as his fingers plied the muscles in her rump.
“I was just…”
“Be quiet and just enjoy me while you can,” he interrupted.
The pleasure of his touch was lessened as the meaning of his words sank into her consciousness. No doubt the Master would not allow Dagan to be with her after the training was finished and the thought of not being able to see the handsome warrior, speak with him, cast a pall over the delight she was feeling. Despite the delicious sensations invading her body, her thoughts were dark and brooding.
“Turn over.”
She obeyed automatically, her mind no longer as thrilled with his touch as her body. Even as his fingers roamed her breasts, the thought of the time when she would no longer have him near her brought misery to her heart.
“Stop thinking and just enjoy, Wench,” he commanded.
“How are you able to do that?’ she asked, staring into the darkness.
“What?” he inquired.
“You seem able to read my thoughts.”
“A talent I have never used before now. It was something I was taught by the Master Who Has Passed,” he replied.
“He was the Master before the one who is now?”
“Aye. He has passed from this realm to the next, Wench,” Dagan explained.
“Will the Grand Master want me to bear him children?” she asked.
“Does that concern you?”
“Not especially,” she answered. “Will he?”
“He will need a son to carry on after he decides to leave this realm so, aye, he will give you a child when the time comes.”
Jameela thought of having a child of her own and sighed. If it were Dagan’s son she was going to bear, she knew it would be a wonderful experience but with the Master, it would be obligation.
“It is best not to speculate how things will be with you and he before you have had a chance to get to know him, Wench,” Dagan advised.
She shrugged and closed her eyes as his fingers worked the muscles of her ribcage then smoothed over her belly. She smiled as he grazed the top of her public hair, wondering if he would touch her where she ached to have him.
“Stop thinking such prurient thoughts,” he chuckled.
“Can you not pleasure me as he did?” she boldly asked, holding her breath for his reply.
He was silent a moment then she felt his fingers caressing her upper thighs. “I could but I should also tell you what would happen to a Trainer who dared do such a thing to the Master’s Consort. I’ll let you decide, then, if it would be worth the risk.”
“Risk?” she echoed, opening her eyes and looking down at his dark outline.
“Should the Master find out a Trainer has stepped over the bounds of doing what I am doing at this moment—massaging you in a most chaste manner—it is well within his rights to have the Trainer punished.”
Jameela reached down to grasp his hands. “Punished how?” she asked.
“He would be executed,” Dagan replied, “and his death would not be an easy one, I can assure you.”
Fearful of anything happening to Dagan, Jameela pushed his hands away. “Then don’t tempt me, warrior,” she said. “Leave me.” She drew her legs up and moved so that she was no longer in contact with him.
“No one would need know,” he said huskily and placed his hand on her leg.
“I will not take that chance!” she said, jerking her leg from his reach.
“Do you fear for my safety, Wench?”
“You need ask?” she countered, tears in her voice. “Go away and don’t touch me again!”
“But you want me to touch you, don’t you?” he asked.
“What I want doesn’t matter,” she snapped and pulled on the covers, flinging them over her nakedness.
Dagan climbed off the cot. He stood there staring down at her for what seemed an unnaturally long time then she heard him sigh. “I want nothing more than
to lie beside you and taste the delight between those luscious thighs of yours but if you do not want me to…”
“I don’t!” she hissed.
“So be it,” he said. “I will leave you to wonder what it would have been like.”
She flung herself over on the cot and glared at him through the darkness. “If you have no care for your life, I do, Dagan Kiel. Through no fault of mine will I ever allow harm to befall you!”
“Even if I am willing to take the chance?” he queried.
“Go away!” she commanded.
She saw him raise his hands in surrender then turn away. The door to her cell opened and he slipped through the opening as quietly as he had entered. When he was gone, she threw herself down and wailed as though her heart would break.
* * * * *
Dagan stood outside her cell and listened to the heartbreaking sobs coming from behind the heavy oak door. He laid his forehead on the panel and ran his fingers along the wood as though he were stroking Jameela’s silken flesh. His soul ached with the need to hold her, to be with her. Only the thought that she held his safety more important than her physical pleasure gave him any comfort at all.
All his life he had known great sadness, the terrible burden of the destiny that had claimed him. His loneliness had grown with each passing year and had now festered to a suppurating wound that leeched poison into his heart. He was as alone at Lalssu Keep as a man could be.
Clenching his fists, he lightly pummeled the door, frustration and disappointment prickling his soul like cockleburs. With one last sigh, he pushed away from the portal and started down the corridor.
Chapter Three
Jameela dressed slowly the next morning. She had awakened earlier than was usual but had lain there long past the peel of the first bells as they began chiming the new day. Listlessly, she had thrown aside the covers and without hurry completed her morning toilet. She felt numb inside, immune to the slight chill that always made her dress hurriedly each day. As though she was walking underwater she moved about the cell, making the bed, doing what needed to be done before she could leave the small room.
Even as she stood outside her door and waited for Brother Qutaybah to escort her to the training room, she was lost in a world that seemed to hold only bleakness for her. There was no longer any expectant joy in being turned over to Dagan for the daily training, in being allowed to see his wondrously handsome face and hear his seductive voice. Now, she only feared she would be the cause of something terrible happening to him and that she could not stand.
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