Challenges

by Sharon Green

  But that wasn’t quite enough. It made a marvelous basis for what had to happen next, but in and of itself it was largely innocuous. Rigos was beaten down but not totally crushed, and that’s what he had to be: totally crushed. Delin’s father had pointed Rigos out too often as the better man for Delin to be satisfied with anything less. As though having secured an appointment really made Rigos the better man. Delin would show them, he’d show them all…

  “Oh, my dear!” Relana moaned, and Delin returned to an awareness of her to discover that his fingers had clamped tight to her nipple. His right hand also pinched her tender womanflesh, and surprisingly her response was faster and stronger than usual. Relana, it seemed, enjoyed being given pain, a key to her inner being which had eluded him until now. She’d enjoyed lying with him, but tended to enjoy each of her lovers right up until the time she told them not to bother coming back.

  “I think you’ve been something of a naughty girl,” Delin murmured, doing nothing to ease his grip on her. “For that reason we’re going to have to punish you, to teach you not to be so much of a tramp. And you are a tramp, aren’t you?”

  “Ohhh, yes,” she moaned, her eyes now closed as her body shuddered faintly with delight. “And I do need to be punished, so that I’ll learn to be a good girl.”

  “That decision is mine, not yours,” Delin told her softly but coldly, overriding the urge to tighten his grip. “You will be punished in the manner I choose, with what level of severity I decide on. Go now and fetch a leather strap, as well as a cloth to stuff in your mouth. It would be a pity if we were interrupted because you made too much noise.”

  She nodded jerkily but without hesitation, and all but jumped to her feet when he released her. She rushed over to a beautifully made cabinet, opened it and rummaged inside, then stumbled back to the couch with a length of cloth in one hand and a broad razor strop in the other.

  “No, don’t sit down again,” Delin ordered easily. “Give me the strop, put the cloth in your mouth, and then remove that wrap.”

  She wasted no time doing as he’d said, not even when it came to removing her wrap. She’d never let him see her naked body before, and it was no wonder. Her figure was still quite good under clothing, but once bared it was obvious that she’d borne children and was no longer a young woman. She whimpered as he examined every inch of her body with his gaze, turned to let him see the back of her when he gestured for her to do so, then tried to gasp when he grabbed her without warning and pulled her across his lap.

  “You’ll find this lesson rather painful, but it’s for your own good,” Delin said as he put one hand in the middle of her back and raised the strop in the other. “When the punishment is done you will serve me with your body, and I expect to hear nothing about how tender you are. If I do, you’ll become even more tender. Do you understand me?”

  She nodded spasmodically, then jumped at the first stroke of the strop. The heavy leather left a beautiful band of red behind it, and after another four strokes the red band had covered her entire bottom. That was when she really began to squirm and tried to protect herself with her right hand, but Delin captured the hand in his own left and continued with the punishment. In point of truth it should have been her back that he strapped, giving her what all women deserved, but first he needed to establish his dominance over her. Once he had he would find it possible to do anything he pleased to her, just as he did with the sluts in the pleasure parlors.

  The woman writhed and whimpered and squirmed every time the strop cracked across her blazing red bottom, a clear signal of just how deeply in need she was. If he entered her now she would explode like a volcano, Delin knew, but that wasn’t going to be happening yet. He had something else to do once he left Relana, but that appointment was hours away. He would stay there and amuse himself with a slut until it was time to leave, a stroke of luck he hadn’t been counting on. Relana usually eased him out the door once he had satisfied her…

  Delin chuckled to himself as he applied yet another “stroke of luck,” enjoying himself quite a bit. But not as much as he would enjoy himself later, after he left the woman. Yes, that was what he really looked forward to, the ultimate delight which would settle his problems with Rigos permanently…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Delin’s horse tried to turn in the direction of the residence when he mounted, and Delin was almost sorry that he had to disappoint the beast. He told the horse softly that his next stop would be a much shorter one, and then they would go straight home. He himself needed to be up early in the morning, so the additional stop couldn’t be anything but short.

  Which was a real shame, Delin thought with regret as he moved through the stillness of the night. It would have been pleasant to take as much time as he had with Relana, but morning was only a few hours away. He had to be asleep in his bed at the residence before then, and yet he also needed to do a good, thorough job. Pleasure was the only thing available to be sacrificed, at least extended pleasure was. Just seeing to the chore would be pleasant in itself, that and a consideration of the results which would obtain.

  The stillness all around worked to remind Delin not to whistle, and the height of his good mood needed that reminder. Relana was well on the way to being entirely under his control, his worst enemy would soon be in a position from which no one would be able to save him, and his group had already managed to Blend. Life had changed from a living nightmare to a living dream, and he didn’t even mind having had to be careful not to cause Relana any lasting damage. There had to be a way to keep things working well, and if so, he meant to find it.

  It was a fairly long ride to his destination, but once again his previous preparation stood him in good stead. He’d made it his business to learn where every powerful man in the government lived, and Ollon Kapmar was certainly no exception. With Lord Ollon being as deeply involved in the competitions as he was, his house was one of the first Delin had learned about. The man was more involved with the peasants than with anyone of decent social standing, but oddly enough that seemed to increase his importance rather than lessen it.

  Or had increased his importance until now. Delin smiled as he thought about the only thing that would increase Lord Ollon’s importance after today: the fact that he would be Rigos’s second victim, directly after his unfortunate sister. The scene Relana had described in such glorious detail was even better than what Delin had hoped for when he’d sent that anonymous note to Lord Ollon about the party. Rigos now had every reason in the world to kill Lord Ollon, and with Delin’s help he would do just that.

  Lord Ollon’s house looked as dark as any other from a distance, but once Delin had reached it he was able to see lamplight coming from one of the side windows. It was actually a terrace door which spilled faint light out into the inky darkness, with what looked to be a private garden surrounding it on the outside. Deep shadow suggested a hedge separating it from the area at the front of the house, and Delin realized that it could well be Lord Ollon’s study.

  Moving silently to the terrace door gave Delin the opportunity to review his plan. He could see it all now, just exactly as it would be. He would step up to the door, look inside to be certain that Lord Ollon was alone, and then he would open the door and enter.

  “Who are you?” Lord Ollon would demand as he looked around from his chair, his eyes smudged darkly from lack of sleep and heavy drinking. “What do you mean by simply walking into my house?”

  “I’ve come to help you with your search, Lord Ollon,” Delin would say with a smile as he closed the door behind him. “You’ve been looking for your sister’s murderer, and you believe you’ve found him in Rigos. I’m here to tell you that Rigos is entirely innocent.”

  “Be damned if he is,” Lord Ollon would mutter, refusing to turn loose of what he considered his prey. “And how would you know anyway? No one could know that for certain unless—”

  “Exactly,” Delin would beam as Lord Ollon guessed the truth. “No one would know that for cer
tain unless he were the real murderer. Which I am.”

  Lord Ollon’s obsession would then send him into a rage, and he would rise and throw himself at Delin in attack. But Delin would be expecting that, of course, and would paralyze the man in mid-motion. Then he would stroll behind the helplessly raging fool, slip the knotted cord he’d brought along around the man’s neck, and strangle him to death. Just at the end he would release the man from paralysis so that he might be properly positioned near his desk. With Rigos being as small as he was, it would have to seem that he caught Lord Ollon unawares from behind. Then he would remove all traces of himself from the room and substitute traces of Rigos, and the thing would be done.

  Delin blinked back to awareness to realize that he’d reached the terrace doors, and now simply stood staring. He really had to do something about these episodes he kept going through, these times of blacking out without realizing it. Once he and the others had won the Throne, he’d have to find a physician strong enough to do him some good. But as for right now, an important chore was waiting.

  Stepping closer to the door let him peer inside, and immediate disappointment stabbed at him. Lord Ollon wasn’t seated at his desk, although it was the lamp on the desk which was lit. Had the man gone to bed after having forgotten to turn down the lamp, or had he simply gone to relieve a call of nature? It made a big difference in what Delin himself would do, so he had to—

  All thoughts and plans ended abruptly when Delin noticed what he really should have seen immediately: the dark, unmoving, lumpish pile of something on the floor beside the desk. An instant’s staring told Delin exactly what it was: Lord Ollon’s body, precisely where he had meant to leave it. That little daydream he’d just had; could that have been reality instead, distorted by another episode?

  Extreme disgust filled Delin as he realized that that was precisely what it must be. He hadn’t daydreamed the exchange with Lord Ollon, it had really happened. His initial confusion lay in believing he hadn’t yet done the deed, but obviously he had. He was even able to see the ends of the knotted cord now, dangling down the back of the corpse. And corpse it was, something he could tell even from where he stood.

  “Which means I won’t go back in and ruin my previous work,” Delin muttered, a decision he would be firm on despite his really wanting to get closer to his handiwork. Better to simply leave now, and practice looking surprised when someone eventually told him about the murder. And about Rigos’s arrest, of course. This time even Rigos’s father would be helpless to do anything to save his son.

  But as Delin made his way back to his horse, he became even more determined to do something about his problem. After all, how many people did one have to murder before one was allowed the pleasure of actually experiencing the act…?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Rion answered the knock at his door to find Jovvi and Vallant standing there. His surprise must have been rather evident, as Jovvi smiled just a bit as she shook her head.

  “No, we haven’t moved up the time we’ll be Blending,” she told him softly. “We seem to have a different problem, and although it doesn’t involve you directly, you really should be there while we discuss it. As one of us, you—”

  “Why doesn’t the problem involve him directly?” Vallant interrupted to ask, looking at Jovvi with the same puzzlement Rion himself felt. “The same thing would go for him, wouldn’t it?”

  “What same thing?” Rion asked, trying to make sense of the scene. “And what problem are we discussing?”

  “Please!” Jovvi temporized, holding up both hands. “This isn’t the place to discuss the matter. Let’s just go to Lorand’s bedchamber, and then all your questions can be answered.”

  Although Rion’s curiosity was beginning to grow somewhat intense, he agreed that that wasn’t the place to discuss anything at all. One or more of the servants could appear at any moment, which did make it wisest for them to retire to Lorand’s bedchamber. Rion therefore stepped out of his own and closed the door, then followed the others to Lorand’s door.

  A single knock brought Lorand, who added his own surprised expression as the three of them entered. Tamrissa was already there, and although she seemed momentarily startled to see them all, another, more difficult to define, expression dominated her visible emotions.

  “I think we’ve both run up against the same brick wall,” Jovvi said to Tamrissa, who raised her brows before nodding. “Yes, I can see that Vallant was right, so we all need to talk.”

  “May I ask now what we’re to talk about?” Rion put in, trying not to allow annoyance to take him over. “I was unaware of any problem involving a brick wall, and would like to know why I, among the rest of you, am uninvolved.”

  “You’re uninvolved because you seem to be more reasonable than Lorand and Vallant,” Jovvi said dryly after exchanging a glance with Tamrissa. “Tamma and I have discovered that during Blending, we have a stronger bond with any man we’ve lain with. Because of that we decided we needed to lie with all you men, but Lorand and Vallant have been … reluctant to cooperate. It seems there’s some sort of code of honor involved…”

  Lorand and Vallant both began to speak at once then, a combination of protest over unfair accusation and a defense of a perfectly reasonable stance. Rion, however, had the sudden impression that he might have made a large social faux pas, and not having realized it at the time was possibly not enough of an excuse. For that reason he quietly went to a chair and sat, leaving the others to sort the matter out among themselves.

  “But this whole thing is ridiculous,” Tamrissa was in the midst of protesting since the men had run down a bit. “How can anyone feel hurt because of a necessity? Even if you don’t happen to like the need, that doesn’t stop it from being necessary.”

  “And it really isn’t a personal matter,” Jovvi added, clearly working to sound calm and reasonable. “Being intimate with someone isn’t a betrayal of someone else, not when the someone else is aware of what’s happening and is cooperating with a like necessity. You do see that, don’t you?”

  “I’m not seein’ much of anythin’ beyond the picture of another man lyin’ with the woman who means so much to me,” Vallant put in, his expression disturbed. “Not to mention me doin’ the same with a woman who means that much to another man. It just isn’t right to do that to a friend, and Lorand is a good deal more than a friend.”

  “As is Vallant to me,” Lorand agreed with a nod while the ladies seemed to be fighting expressions of exasperation. “I can’t imagine ever betraying him like that, even if betrayal isn’t the proper word under the circumstances. I—wait a minute. Why are we just talking about Vallant and me? Shouldn’t we be including Rion?”

  “That’s a good question,” Vallant agreed with brows high. “As soon as Lorand said it, I wondered again why Rion was told that this doesn’t concern him. I can’t see how it doesn’t concern him.”

  The questions were mostly being put to Jovvi, who had exchanged another glance with Tamrissa before beginning to show an extremely neutral expression. Tamrissa immediately adopted the same expression, which left Rion as the last to decide on his appearance. This turned out to be rather difficult for Rion, as he had no true idea about how he should feel. Had he betrayed Lorand and Vallant? If so, he would not be terribly pleased with himself. Jovvi began to speak, but Lorand interrupted before she produced the first word.

  “And now that I think about it, there’s another question that hasn’t been asked,” Lorand said, dividing his stare between Jovvi and Tamrissa. “How did you two discover this … closer bond between you and men you had lain with? As far as I know, the only ones in this group who have lain together are Jovvi and myself.”

  By then Vallant had added his own divided stare, which was also directed at the women. Tamrissa now looked more uncomfortable and faintly distressed than expressionless, and she studied her hands where they twisted together a bit at her waist. Jovvi’s calm seemed to have thinned somewhat, and for the most part
her gaze avoided Lorand’s. Rion would have enjoyed staying out of the situation, but doing that at Tamrissa and Jovvi’s expense was simply beyond him.

  “I’m … afraid I’m to blame,” Rion said, breaking that very awkward silence. “I really had no idea that anyone would object, so I—”

  “No, it wasn’t your fault,” Jovvi interrupted at once, speaking to Rion first and then giving Lorand a defiant look. “The whole thing was my idea, which was completely within my rights. No one else had any interest in me, so—”

  “And it was also my idea,” Tamrissa rushed to add, the blush on her cheeks weakening the firmness of her tone. “I asked Rion a favor, and he was good enough to—”

  “You actually went so far as to take advantage of Rion?” Lorand demanded of Jovvi in apparent outrage. “A man with such a small amount of life experience is worse than a fish in a barrel, but you speared him anyway. I never thought I’d say this, Jovvi, but I’m really disappointed in you.”

  “You leave her alone!” Tamrissa said, clearly trying for a snap in her voice but achieving a trembling instead as she put an arm about Jovvi’s shoulders. “She isn’t the only one who did it, and she wasn’t even first. And not only isn’t Rion as innocent as you seem to think, he also doesn’t have all these … ridiculous objections that you two do. He makes a woman feel appreciated, not unreasonably intrusive.”

  Jovvi hadn’t seemed prepared to defend herself, and Tamrissa’s defense came as something of a surprise. Lorand and Vallant exchanged a glance before each of them looked briefly toward Rion, and once again Rion had no idea how to respond. It had been shocking enough that the ladies had been blamed for the incidents rather than himself; now, with comparisons being made…