Love and the Stubborn

by Xenia Melzer

  Exhausted, they lay between the cushions, still connected, panting and sated.

  When his breathing finally slowed, Casto gave a soft groan. As Renaldo came back to himself, he retreated from Casto’s body, and his heart constricted with guilt when he assessed the damage he’d caused. Casto was covered in sweat. Even though Noemi had sped the healing along, the wound from the branding had turned a deep, angry red in reaction to their salty fluids and the chafing of the sheets. The bite wound was swollen and a thin trickle of blood ran down Casto’s shoulders; the skin on the inside of his thighs was covered with Renaldo’s semen. Renaldo hastened to open the cuffs and turn Casto around.

  Tears stained Casto’s eyelashes, and Renaldo was close to beating himself up for what he’d done.

  “Casto, my own, my precious, I’m so sorry! I lost control. Is everything all right?”

  Casto cocked an eyebrow. He was always hard to read, and right then he didn’t seem to know what he should think himself. “I feel a little sore. I have to admit, I’m overwhelmed. You’ve never taken me like that before.”

  “And for good reason. I’m sorry for pushing you so far.”

  A puckish smile was the answer to that. “It’s fine. I hardly felt any pain since I was busy having the greatest orgasms of my life.”

  Renaldo didn’t seem to hear him. “That’s the first time I ever subjected somebody to my full power. I simply don’t know what to say. I’ve never lost control like that before.”

  Much to Renaldo’s surprise, Casto seemed satisfied with that answer. “Good. I wouldn’t like it if you had any means of comparison for what we just did.”

  “You’re not angry? I thought you’d lose it completely.”

  “Why should I? It was my idea. I explicitly asked for it. Besides, I was curious what it would be like when you could do whatever you want. I’m surprised how much I liked it.”

  Overwhelmed, Renaldo pressed a gentle kiss on his lover’s temple. “When will you stop surprising me?”

  “Never, I hope. I don’t want you to get too comfortable.”

  Renaldo furrowed his brows. There it was again, the slight discomfort he felt whenever Casto challenged him, even when it was hidden in a joke. Since Renaldo had no intention of ruining his wedding night by provoking a fight, he made his own words sound lighthearted.

  “You’ve just been subjected to your god’s full power and yet you dare be cheeky again? I can’t fight the impression that you want to be punished.”

  Casto undulated alluringly, but his tone was dismissive. “I’ve been wondering when you’d realize it. Even though you’re supposedly a god, you’re not the sharpest dagger in the rack.”

  A growl escaped Renaldo’s throat. Then he bent over his daring husband and kissed him.

  Until the first rays of the sun tinted the sky a glorious shade of red, Casto got no more chance to defy his husband.

  THE NEXT night, Casto woke because the bedroom was lit by a flickering light as if a candle were burning in the wind. Next to him, the Barbarian slept soundly, sated by their lover’s games.

  Just when Casto had decided to wake Renaldo, he glimpsed movement in the corner of his eye. A tall, beautiful woman emerged from the dancing shadows. Her white hair moved softly, like cobwebs caught in a breeze. Her equally white dress hugged her body like a living thing, and it was impossible to tell where the cloth ended and the hair began. Black eyes dominated her pale face, and her bloodred lips parted in a friendly smile. Her voice, when she spoke, was a melodic whisper, like the autumn wind when it caressed the trees.

  “It is not necessary to wake my son, Casto.” She eyed the sleeping Renaldo, her gaze full of love. “He is very tired.”

  Casto got up from the bed. “You’re Ana-Isara, the Empress of the Dead.” He bowed respectfully.

  The goddess smiled again. “I am, Prince Castolus of Ummana, and I’m glad we can finally meet. It has taken us some time.”

  Involuntarily, Casto lowered his gaze. He had never met a goddess before, but he learned quickly that her presence did not allow any pretense. “I know. I was quite stubborn.”

  An amused laugh was the answer to that. “You were as stubborn as a mule and as defiant as a three-year-old child. In other words, you are my son’s heart.”

  “Is that really true?” All of Casto’s fear and all the hope he had nurtured were bared in that one crucial question.

  Ana-Isara looked at him, rather surprised. “Don’t you feel it, Casto?”

  “I’m wishing for it so desperately I can’t tell whether it’s true.”

  “What would you do if I told you your doubts were justified, that you are not my son’s heart?”

  The pain reflecting in Casto’s eyes moved the goddess, but it was the graceful dignity of his answer that made her bow to him.

  “I would die.”

  Ana-Isara caressed his cheeks with her cold fingers. “You are my son’s heart, there can be no doubt about that. And you are a worthy member of the Pack. I did not want to hurt you, Casto, but you had to find out certain things on your own. You know now that you can trust Renaldo, that you love him, and that you are able to obey him. Of course, first and foremost he is your lover, but he is also your god, and you owe him obedience.”

  Casto nodded. As much as he resented it, he could not deny the truth in Ana-Isara’s words. “I know.”

  “This does not mean you cannot criticize him. On the contrary, it is your duty, or he would become too conceited. But once he has made a decision, you have to bow to his will.”

  Again, Casto nodded, slightly hesitantly. About that matter, the last word had not been spoken yet. “Yes.”

  The goddess flashed a radiant smile. “Come to me. I want to welcome you into my family.”

  She opened her white arms.

  Casto approached her slowly. Cool like the grave was the embrace of the Empress of the Dead, but not uncomfortable. Casto felt safe and pampered, as if the world’s challenges lay far behind him. Ana-Isara mumbled close to his ear, “Death is nothing to fear. It is the door to another truth. Those walking in my footsteps do not have to fear getting lost. In the end, every pain we endure is only an illusion on our way to ourselves.”

  After having spoken that riddle, the goddess pressed a kiss on Casto’s forehead. It was unexpectedly warm, almost searing.

  “Don’t worry, my son. My sister and I are with you. From today, you will never be alone again.”

  The light flickered and winked out. The goddess’s hair flew up like a flock of birds in a storm and then settled like a coat around her.

  When she stepped away, the pain set in.

  RENALDO WOKE when he heard Casto scream as he had never screamed before. His gaze darted wildly through the room and stopped at the sight of his mother, who was just about to leave.

  “Why are you doing this to him? Hasn’t he endured enough yet?”

  Ana-Isara’s features hardened. “Indeed he has, and it has made him strong. Strong enough for you. This will make him even harder, more unbending. He is what you need, what your brother needs.”

  “But it’s not fair.”

  “It’s never fair, my son. You should know that better than anybody else. Take care of him. He needs you now.”

  Renaldo turned away from his mother and slung his arms around his screaming lover.

  Long after the sun had risen, Casto’s wails finally subsided. Panting, he lay in Renaldo’s arms. Shudders ran through his body in a desperate reaction to a pain he’d never even imagined before.

  Renaldo stroked his sweat-soaked back soothingly. “Shh, shh, my own. Everything’s fine again. It’s over.”

  Casto snuggled closer, still overwhelmed by what he had just gone through. “I’m sorry, Barbarian. I thought I was stronger.”

  “You stubborn idiot. You’ve been touched by a goddess. That’s no triviality. You’ve done well.”

  “If you think so.”

  “I do. And now get up. I wish to see how you were brand
ed.”

  Groaning in protest, Casto got up. He just wanted to sleep, but he could sense how important it was to Renaldo to find out what Ana-Isara had done to him.

  With his fingertips, Renaldo traced the two black runes carved into Casto’s flesh, right above his heart. “The sign of the Mothers and the rune for a rider. How fitting.”

  Gently he turned Casto around so that he could see himself in the mirror. Gingerly, Casto touched the two dark symbols. Pride and resentment fought for dominance while he studied the signs that were proof of another person’s will, not his own. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “No. Being branded is brutal, but once it’s done, the pain quickly becomes a fading memory. Look at your back.”

  Casto turned and stared at his back reflected in the mirror. The branding from the wedding was healed, the skin smooth and flawless again. Now the design glowed from within in the same color as the runes above his heart. Starting at the end of the R, a rune was engraved over every vertebra of his spine, telling the world that he was Renaldo’s possession, his beloved heart.

  Casto shuddered. This was too much to be pondered in his current state of mind.

  Renaldo embraced and kissed him lovingly. “My precious heart. I am truly happy.”

  Sighing, Casto snuggled up to his mate and god. If, half a year ago, somebody would have told him that one day he would be branded like an ox, visible for all the world to see that he was the Barbarian’s property, he would have thought the person insane. Yet here he was, bearing the marks of a barbarian god from the North, and he was not unhappy about it.

  Casto fought this disturbing, atypical thought and tried to concentrate on the lust Renaldo was stoking in him anew. Strictly speaking, he was too tired to be in the mood, but all he wanted was to be with Renaldo again without wasting time on things too complex to consider after a night like that.

  More from Xenia Melzer

  Gods of War: Book I

  All is fair in love and war. Renaldo has lived happily by that proverb his entire life. But he has finally met his match, and he’s about to discover how unfair love and war can be.

  When demigod and warlord Lord Renaldo takes a beautiful stranger captive during an ambush, he is delighted to have found a distraction that will keep him entertained during the upcoming siege. Little does he know, Casto is keeping more than just one secret from him. Slowly, Renaldo gets sucked into a turbulent roller-coaster relationship with his mysterious prisoner, one that begins with hatred and soon spirals into a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. And when it seems that things can get no worse, an old enemy stirs right in the heart of his home.

  Determined to keep Casto by his side, Renaldo has to find a balance between the capricious young man and his own destiny as a ruler and god to his people.

  XENIA MELZER was born and raised in a small village in the South of Bavaria. As one of nature’s true chocoholics, she’s always in search of the perfect chocolate experience. So far, she’s had about a dozen truly remarkable ones. Despite having been in close proximity to the mountains all her life, she has never understood why so many people think snow sports are fun. There are neither chocolate nor horses involved and it’s cold by definition, so where’s the sense? She does not like beer either and has never been to the Oktoberfest—no quality chocolate there.

  Even though her mind is preoccupied with various stories most of the time, Xenia has managed to get through school and university with surprisingly good grades. Right after school she met her one true love who showed her that reality is capable of producing some truly amazing love stories itself.

  While she was having her two children, she started writing down the most persistent stories in her head as a way of relieving mommy-related stress symptoms. As it turned out, the stress relief has now become a source of the same, albeit a positive one.

  When she’s not writing, she teaches English at school, enjoys riding and running, spending time with her kids, and dancing with her husband.

  Website: www.xeniamelzer.com

  E-mail: info@xeniamelzer.com

  By Xenia Melzer

  GODS OF WAR

  Casto

  Love and the Stubborn

  Published by DSP PUBLICATIONS

  www.dsppublications.com

  Published by

  DSP PUBLICATIONS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dsppublications.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Love and the Stubborn

  © 2016 Xenia Melzer

  Cover Art

  © 2016 Aaron Anderson.

  aaronbydesign55@gmail.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  Map © 2016 Xenia Melzer

  Author Photo © 2016 Photographer: Andreas Eirainer, bildwerk; Make up: Kathrin Fuchsenthaler.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact DSP Publications, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dsppublications.com.

  ISBN: 978-1-63477-189-4

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-190-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911392

  Published December 2016

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America