by Georgia Fox
* * * *
When Sebastien saw the jagged pottery sticking out of the dead man's bloody neck he knew at once that Aelfa was not the killer. She would have used the knife he gave her, not resorted to using any old broken pot that came to hand. He looked at the sullen-faced young man, Edwyn, who claimed to have found his father lying there, bound and stabbed. He must have changed into a clean tunic before he ran for help, but the fool had not the sense to remember his boots where blood spatters yet remained—spatters, not drips that might have got there when he found the body and tried to move it, but dark specs of sprayed blood that now dried on the cowhide he wore laced to his calves.
Sebastien tuned to the Baron. "Leave Aelfa to me. If I find her, she's mine."
Irritated at being roused from his bed in the dead of night, the Baron agreed without qualm, his eyes barely open.
The potter's son instantly complained that Aelfa must be hanged to avenge his father's death.
Sebastien smirked. "I'll see to it that just deserts are served."
"You're just a filthy bastard who came here and fucked the whorespawn in front of my father!"
"Really? How do you know that?"
The young man turned a sickly shade of sour milk.
"You did not come to your father's aid," he persisted, eyes narrowed. "So how do you know I was here?"
"He told me what you did," the boy exclaimed hurriedly. "I didn't see it. He told me."
"You said he was dead when you found him"
"With his last breath he told me!"
"With his throat sliced open, his vocal chords cut?"
The ignorant boy backed away, his fisted hands at his sides, his lips trembling with indignation. He glanced down at the corpse again, befuddled, wanting to argue but not knowing how. Evidently he knew nothing about vocal chords. How would he? It was probably his first kill.
Sebastien nodded slowly. "I suggest you stay here and pray over your father's carcass. Leave Aelfa to me and I'll forget what you just told me."
He walked out of that stinking, hot shack and swung up into the saddle of his warhorse. "Come, Alonso," he shouted to his brother. "We're off to get a bride."
* * * *
Dropping down into the cold water, she swam across the lake as quietly as possible. The dogs were closer by the minute and now she heard men too, cursing and shouting as the branches swiped them without mercy. Of course they did not know the forest as she did and in the dark they were lost, running into trees that knocked their helmets off or barred their way on horseback. Aelfa took a deep breath and ducked down, hiding under the surface where it was peaceful, calm. Now all she heard was her heart drumming a steady, regular beat. She was very good at holding her breath and could swim the length of this lake underwater if need be. But her idea was to remain here, out of sight and scent until the dogs and men had passed. They would expect her to keep running, so she would outsmart them.
She swam to an underwater ledge and waited, imagining the hooves pounding by above. If she was very still she could feel the vibrations shaking the earth.
* * * *
Sebastien sent the Baron's men onward through the forest, but signaled for Alonso to hang back with him. He had a very strong suspicion he knew where she'd gone. His fox was too sly and cunning just to run. And she was familiar with this forest, as he already knew.
He led his brother through the trees and down the slope to that silent lake where, only hours ago, he had swum and bathed. This was where he first saw Aelfa and she first saw him. Something told him she would go back there and hide. She had more sense than many women and she was not the sort to be afraid of dark depths. Perhaps it was that which drew him to her. Couldn't get much darker depths than the heart and soul of a d'Anzeray, but she did not fear him.
At the lakeside the brothers dismounted and tied up their horses. Moonlight shimmered across the still surface and kissed the shelter of leaves overhead with a touch of silver. It reminded him of that bed canopy in the chamber where he'd lain waiting for her to be brought to him. While she was making good on her escape! Wench! She thought to run from him?
Alonso looked around and gestured silently with arms out, a question in his eyes. Sebastien replied with a finger to the lips and pointed down into the water. When he began stripping off his clothes, Alonso grinned, finally understanding.
The air was much cooler now, but the water still held all that warmth from the sunlight so a light mist had formed over the water. He had to slip through that layer very carefully so as not to disturb the surface and then he took a breath and slid all the way down into the darkness. He might not be able to see her under the water, but she would not see him either. She would have no warning of his proximity as he swam like a fish through the weeds, feeling his way along the side of the lake. Meanwhile, if she made a break for the surface, Alonso would be there to trap her.
* * * *
Her reserve of air was almost drained. She would have to pop up soon and hope for the best. Weeds drifted against her arms and legs with a silky caress that was quite soothing despite the urgency of her situation. Pity she couldn't stay under for longer. She rather thought she would like to live in the water, like a sea witch.
One of those weeds was quite insistent, wrapping itself around her, tugging on her gown. Aelfa reached down to pull herself free again, but the weed clung on and suddenly lunged for her breast. Alarmed she thought it might be some sort of tentacled creature. In a panic, she pushed herself for the surface, but the creature had its tentacles everywhere it seemed. She made the mistake of kicking out, only to feel something push between her thighs and then a mouth clamped to her pussy. Mercy! The creature had teeth and a slippery tongue.
Aelfa made one last desperate thrust upward.
The creature came with her, and they burst into the air at the same time.
He was laughing, his arms around her waist as she thumped on his shoulders, trying to get free. "Thought you could run from me, little fox? Did you not learn your lesson once already?"
"Let me go," she gasped, inhaling a great gulp of air and moonlit mist. "Why are you following me?"
"Why?" He squinted, perplexed. "Because you belong to us, of course."
"To you? Are you mad?"
"We are d'Anzeray," he said simply. "Mad is one thing we've been called."
She stared at him—or what little she could see of his expression in the dim light.
"Where were you going?" he asked, his voice deep, rumbling through his body and into hers where he held her clamped so tightly to his chest.
"As far as I could," she muttered.
"And then what?"
Aelfa decided there was no cause to lie. Nothing now to be ashamed of, so she said, "I will be a whore like my mother. I know now it doesn't have to be unpleasant and disgusting. I will earn my own coin as she did."
She saw his teeth gleam white as he smiled. "I'm sure you'd make a fortune, Aelfa."
So now he knew her name. How strange it sounded on his lips. Different. She'd seldom heard it uttered without anger or disdain. She nodded. "Let me go then."
"I can't. I told you. You belong to us now."
Frustrated, she sighed. "I have a husband, and I am not going back to him. Ever!"
"Your husband is dead, Aelfa. You're a widow."
A gasp shot out of her. "What? You killed him?"
"Not I. Someone else had done the job for me." Again he grinned, even broader. "Now you're coming home with me."
"But I don't—"
"You're going to marry me," he said firmly. "And have my babes. It is what you were made for."
Her stomach felt hollow suddenly. He was naked she realized, as his erection pressed hard against her under the water. Naked and lusty again. Perhaps this was why he did not think straight. "But I am a whorespawn," she whispered. "I have no bride purse, nothing." Surely he was a mercenary soldier whose first desire was coin.
"I care not," he replied calmly. "You have other things I ne
ed." He lifted her in the water until she wrapped her legs around his waist and then he filled her pussy with cock. It was an even tighter fit this time. Bobbing in the water she had no control over the forceful impaling. He had one arm under her buttocks, the other around her waist. "I will bring you home to my brothers, Aelfa, and you will never be hungry, or tired again. No one will ever lay a hand to you in anger. You will be loved as you've never been."
She didn't fully understand what he was telling her. But she thought now of the babes he'd mentioned. Until that day she'd never considered herself as a woman who deserved to have children. She'd certainly had no fondness for the potter's boys, nor they for her. The little ones poked her with sharp sticks and threw hot food at her all the time. If she ever tried to be motherly and comfort them, they pulled her hair and spat at her.
But this handsome soldier wanted to put his own babes in her belly.
He touched her body as if he worshipped it.
Sebastien moved closer to the bank side until his feet must have touched the bottom. Then he climbed out of the water, still holding her on his throbbing cock, making sure she felt the tremor of every step he took. He leaned back against a tree and suddenly there were other hands on her waist, reaching around from behind. His brother, Alonso, was there too and once he'd removed her gown over her head, he began lifting her up and down on Sebastien's shaft. Slowly. Letting her be filled and emptied until she wanted to scream with delicious agony. But she couldn't make a sound of course, for fear the other soldiers would hear and turn back.
Aelfa lifted her face up toward the sweeping, bowing canopy of shadowy leaves, through which slender, delicate tears of moonlight trickled. It was so beautiful and yet eerie too in that unquiet forest. She felt as if she was indeed a creature of the water, a mermaid caught in the nets of these two fine fisherman and now their sport, their plaything.
Sebastien kissed her deeply and she wound her arms around his shoulders, clinging on, overwhelmed by gladness that he'd chased her through the forest that day and found her.
Behind her, his brother also had his cock out and now, as she was lifted off Sebastien's she was lowered onto Alonso's. They shared her pussy, back and forth, until at last they came inside her, both of them, one after the other.
Then, finally, they set her feet apart in the bracken and they knelt—one at her pussy and one behind—so they could study their semen slipping down her inner thighs, shimmering in the moonlight. When they could bear it no longer they both leaned in, licking and sucking the cum out of her, their tongues battling playfully to see who could harvest the most from her cunt.
His brothers, she thought dreamily. There were more at home like these two?
Chapter Seven
Sebastien sent no word to his brothers, so when he rode through the gates of his father's fortress they were all surprised to see him with a woman. No doubt they thought he would be among the last to find a bride. They certainly would have expected Alonso to find one before he did, since those two had traveled so often together and "Lon" was the more forward brother.
The eldest son, Salvador, stepped forward to greet the new woman. He had his own castellany now, just twenty miles west of their father's, but he divided his time between the two now that their father was sick again and claimed to be "not long for this world."
"Welcome to Castle d'Anzeray." He bowed to Aelfa and kissed her hand. Always very good at playing the gentleman was Salvador, mused Sebastien.
"This is Aelfa. My wife."
Sal's dark eyes widened and then narrowed as he assessed her shape with evident approval. "I see. You like to surprise us, Seb." He looked around. "Where's Lon?"
"He decided to stay and work for the Baron Louvet."
Sebastien was not shocked by his brother's decision to stay behind, for the Baron clearly had coin to waste and, as Alonso said, better it end up in their coffers than in someone else's since he was so eager to give it away.
Sal nodded and led the way inside the great hall.
"How is father?"
"The same as ever. A little happier perhaps now he will soon welcome his first grandchild. He is very fond of his daughter-in-law already and prefers for her to take him his food each day."
"He is still abed?"
"Of course." Salvador rolled his eyes. "He likes to be waited on. I feel sure he is truly as strong as you or I."
Sebastien looked over at the wide stone steps leading to his father's chamber and then squeezed his new bride's hand. "Later I will take you to be introduced to our father, Aelfa, but first I'm sure my brothers will be enough for you to take in."
She was absorbing everything in the hall with those wide, shining green eyes, a little bewildered perhaps by the size of the place, which was very different to the potter's shack. "I am eager to meet your brothers," she said softly.
Oh, he knew she was! That sly little fox. On their journey to his father's castellany he'd told her all about his brothers and how they shared. Everything. She had drunk it in carefully and asked very few questions. But it was soon apparent that the idea of seven brothers all making love to her had aroused his new bride very much.
She was just learning that the act of coupling could be enjoyed without guilt, and she was a fast, eager pupil.
When she'd noticed that small mark of a rampant lion on his groin, Sebastien had also told her about the d'Anzeray tradition of branding. This was a less appealing idea to her still, but he was certain she would come around to it when she realized how slight the pain would be and how it would mark her forever as theirs—their property, their woman, theirs to love and protect. Always.
* * * *
At supper she met all the other brothers and her sister-in-law, Princesa, who was heavy with child.
"Welcome to the family, Aelfa." The pregnant woman embraced her with difficulty as her large bump got in the way. "I am so glad to have another young woman here for company. All these men to oneself can get so very tiresome."
Aelfa smiled but did not really believe these handsome, lusty fellows could ever be tiresome. Perhaps her sister-in-law had never known men like the potter and Edwyn, she mused. With a name like Princesa she must be nobly born. Indeed she had refined looks and shining golden hair, just the way Aelfa had always imagined a Princess.
After supper, the dishes were cleared from the long trestle table and Princesa took some food on a tray for the grand patriarch in his sick bed, leaving the brothers and Aelfa alone.
There was an air of expectancy in the hall, and she felt every eye observing her through the candlelight with keen readiness. She knew what was coming. Sebastien had warned her how it was in his family and so she'd tried to prepare herself for it. Tried to imagine what it would be like.
"Well," she said, standing from her bench and untying her long hair. "I suppose you all want to fuck me now and make this official."
For a moment all was silent and then the biggest of the brothers burst out laughing. He banged his fist on the table and exclaimed, "Looks like she's primed, young Seb. I hope she knows what she's taking on."
"She knows," Sebastien replied proudly. "And I hope you all know what you're taking on. This is no ordinary woman." He laid a hand on her head and stroked her hair from crown to tip. The gentleness of his touch made her smile at him, and she felt love in her heart for this strong man who had made her know herself for the first time. She bent her head, for he was still seated, and kissed him tenderly.
All around them she heard the flutter of clothing being removed and the clang of weapons being laid aside. Excitement flipped and fluttered in her belly, and the heaviness of lust already made itself felt.
Sebastian urged her sit on the table before him and lift up her gown, while he spread her legs wide. His brothers gathered around, some bringing the candles closer. For a long time they merely looked at her and then the eldest whispered to Sebastien, who stood and lifted her gown over her head, leaving her completely naked before them all.
A sigh
swept the great hall and the men closed in. Aelfa lay on her back across the table and Sebastien took his place between her legs. "I will go in here first," he said, lifting her ankles to his shoulders. Meanwhile the giant whose name she'd learned was Dominigo had walked to the other side and presented an enormous cock for her mouth. Although not sure if she was allowed to do as she pleased without instruction, Aelfa could not resist opening her lips wide, grabbing that thick, rigid prick, and taking it down at once, even before her new husband had penetrated her pussy.
The other five men present applauded as if surprised by her eagerness. But why should they be? They were six beautiful, stunning men. And they were all hers at that moment.
She felt powerful, wanted, womanly.
Dominigo put his hands on her breasts and fondled them roughly. Then he called to Raul and Nino to come suck her nipples. Sebastian had begun a slow, hard fucking, but soon handed each of her ankles off to another brother and they held her legs wide apart while he quickened his pace to a wild, savage thrusting that brought her to a peak just as Domingo spent deep into her throat. She was still swallowing all that cream when the eldest, Salvador, took his place in her mouth and Sebastien pulled out to make way for the youngest, Ram, who had pleaded to go next in her pussy.
"I know you're the babe," said Sebastien, grinning, "but I'm feeling generous today. Go to it, young Ramon. I think I left her quivering for you. Here...I'll take her ankle. You sure you know where the hole is, boy?"
"Oh, I know, Seb! And I bet I pleasure her better than you did."
As Aelfa sucked contentedly at the eldest brother's long cock, letting it slip up and down her relaxed throat, she felt young Ram fingering her twat with surprising dexterity for one who could not be as experienced as his brothers. Perhaps they had taught him. In any case, he brought her to a series of shuddering orgasms, then quickly thrust inside her, his breath rasping excitedly. Although he was the youngest brother he was older than Aelfa by two years. She knew that Nino was close to him in age, then there was Sebastien, followed by Alonso, Raul, Dominigo and Salvador. They were all much alike in looks, tall men with bodies hewn in battle and the tournaments of the tiltyard. Their features might seem hard at first, unforgiving, untrusting, but there was a curious light of tenderness in all their eyes when they kissed her, held her and stroked her long hair.
