[The Onic Empire 03] - Sinful Harvest (22 page)

“You don’t have to say it, Ariss. I feel the same way.”

Her sigh of relief said everything.

Entwined, his hand pressed protectively over her belly; they fell asleep with many things known but entirely unspoken.

Tavarus came early in the morning. He came with a swaggering arrogance and a mocking laugh that wrenched Kerrick from his pleasant dream. He and Ariss lived in the forest, not as humans, but as fluffy creatures that knew nothing of politics or power plays. They spent their time foraging for food and fornicating with lusty abandon. Leaving behind that blissful fantasy almost brought tears to Kerrick’s eyes. More than anything, he wanted to give Ariss her heart’s desire. Damn Tavarus for not even allowing him the briefest moment of success.

Never before had Kerrick felt Tavarus arrive. Instantly on guard, Kerrick realized Tavarus wanted him to know he’d come. When Kerrick felt him, he wanted to get himself away from Ariss as fast as he could, but his body was locked. In a moment of utter horror, he realized why Tavarus let him keep his awareness.

In his mind’s eye, Tavarus appeared as a tall muscular man, draped in a black loincloth, with a straight nose, thin lips, bald head, and eyes of indiscernible color. Every part of his features was in perfect proportion. Deeply bronzed skin glowed with ethereal light. Around the upper portion of his right arm, a black band of sharp angles against a parallel line encircled his entire bicep.

Kerrick faced this god in his mind without any way to defend
himself. In his vision, he stood as he was, nude, his blond hair gleaming, his green eyes positively glowing, a bronze collar around his neck, but Tavarus manifested multiple weapons in his hands with the snap of his fingers. When Tavarus tossed them to Kerrick, he dropped them as if oil coated his fingers. Tavarus laughed and laughed.

“I don’t need weapons to defeat you.” Tavarus made the blades disappear, then shoved him as he strode past.

Kerrick landed hard on his butt, humiliated, glaring up at the god who commanded his body.

Tavarus forced one of Kerrick’s eyes open.

Mercilessly, he peered down at Ariss.

Sometime during the night, she had rolled over and now faced toward him, her features soft with sleep. Her eyelids fluttered and Kerrick realized she was dreaming. Her mouth curved in a soft smile, telling him her dream was a pleasant one, hopefully one like his.

His heart took a sickening lurch in his chest.

Ariss lay utterly vulnerable.

Cold, sharp fear infiltrated every muscle in his body, twisting him as tightly as a coiled spring.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Tavarus asked, forcing Kerrick’s hand out to stroke her cheek. Her skin gave below the gentle pressure. “So soft, so sweet. But what’s this? Dried tears?” Smoothing his fingertip over the tracks of sorrow on her face, his raucous laughter filled Kerrick’s head. “Did you make her cry with your big, thick cock?”

Snarling, Kerrick verbally lashed out, but Tavarus silenced him with a flick of his finger. Kerrick didn’t see his hand gesture so much as he felt the movement in his mind. He felt the promise of Tavarus’ finger pressing against his lips. A frightening impotence made him hot with fury. How could he fight an enemy who had utter control over his body?

Worse, how could he protect the woman he loved?

Tavarus felt his conflict and chuckled. “Silence, you simple fool. You are lucky I let you have her uninterrupted last night.” Tavarus forced Kerrick’s hand to cup her breast, eliciting a soft moan from between her parted lips. “It pleased me to let you have that moment to waylay her into thinking I was bored with her. To convince her I had departed for good.”

Disappointed with her show of pleasure, Tavarus pinched Kerrick’s fingers to her nipple until Ariss whimpered. He let go before she woke. “How could I ever become bored with such a lovely, responsive creature?”

Kerrick tried to yank his hand away, but Tavarus only laughed, and forced his hand lower.

“I think with proper training, she will grow to welcome pain.”

Kerrick struggled against him, but Tavarus easily bypassed his paltry resistance. Throughout his experiences, Kerrick had encountered those who found a curious pleasure within pain, but Ariss was not of that breed. She enjoyed the tease, the delay of gratification, but only by the darkest perversity would someone turn her into a woman who welcomed pain. Given enough time, and the manipulations of a powerful god, Tavarus could mold her to such a being. Just the thought destroyed a part of Kerrick’s soul. Ariss was beautifully crafted for pleasure. The simplest touch, the most mild of erotic game, gave her tremendous satisfaction. Kerrick would rather die than be a part of perverting her innate response into something against her nature.

Slipping his finger between her thighs, Tavarus exclaimed, “Wonderful! She’s still wet from last night.” Rubbing his finger along her slick lips, Tavarus coated his digit with her juice, then lifted his hand to Kerrick’s mouth. He forced him to taste her before sliding his finger back between her widely parted legs.

“Look. Don’t you see how much she wants me?”

What Kerrick saw was her longing for him, not Tavarus. The
touches she felt she believed to be from him, not the wanton god who had hurt her so badly. Tavarus only touched her gently now to trick her into further submission. He wanted Ariss writhing and willing and then, and only then, would he wake her with the knowledge that he was going to hurt her. Kerrick could feel how much Tavarus longed for the moment when her face would change from welcoming enjoyment to frightened pain.

Knowing what pleasure Tavarus took in inflicting pain killed something in Kerrick. All his life Kerrick had sought out women to bed, but never with the thought of force. Each woman came to him willing, wanton, her needs meshing with his. Mutual shared bliss was what he sought. Tavarus wanted kneeling supplicants. He wanted Ariss terrified. He wanted her to part her legs in appeasement because of dread, not passion. The darkest emotions aroused Tavarus more than willing participation ever could. If Ariss wanted him, if she actively sought him out, he would not want her in return. If Tavarus succeeded in turning her into a woman who actually reveled in his abuse, he would leave her. How Tavarus had become a god Kerrick didn’t know, but he wasn’t a god of sex. Of war, perhaps, but not sex. Not when he used sex as a weapon.

Ariss moaned and spread her legs farther, giving him greater access. Her response was automatic as she anticipated more pleasure. To his horror, Ariss had no idea a maniacal bastard now ruled Kerrick’s body. If he could have warned her, he would have, but Tavarus commanded him, forcing him to keep his lips pressed while he fingered her sleepy, defenseless body.

Slick, hot, and slippery with need, Ariss’ body accepted his thrusting finger. When Tavarus jammed his digit into her passage, Ariss moaned and rocked her hips, accepting the forceful penetration, moving her body in time with his plunges.

Tavarus forced his other hand to his cock, stroking the flaccid flesh rapidly until he hardened. “Having her ready will
make this so much easier. And see? She wants me. She feels my presence and willingly parts her thighs.” Roughly, he thrust his middle finger deep inside her. Ariss bucked, riding his hand. “Willing little
yondie.
” Another coarse laughed echoed in Ker-rick’s head. “I suppose I can’t call her a
yondie
as I don’t have to pay.”

Forcefully rolling Ariss away, Tavarus settled himself behind her, angling his cock against the split of her thighs.

Ariss mumbled, then reached back, feeling along his hip, sighing as she nestled herself against him.

“Fast or slow?” Tavarus asked, holding himself at her entrance.

Kerrick begged him not to hurt her. Perversely, he felt her heat, and he wanted to press himself into that slick channel, but not with pain.

“Let us go slow and then, when she is on the verge of climax, I will roll her over and show her the truth.” With that, Tavarus guided Kerrick’s cock into Ariss.

She moaned, pressing her bottom against his hips, welcoming him within. Her hand came back, settling on his body, her fingertips pressing encouragement.

Kerrick hoped she didn’t turn to look, because she would know Tavarus was inside him by the change in his eyes.

“Have you ever felt anything so tight and hot in your life?” Tavarus asked, rolling Kerrick’s hips, swiveling his cock within her passage. Ariss groaned and curled a bit forward so that he would be free to make greater movements. “Even Varnatha doesn’t possess such a greedy little cunt.”

The name sounded eerily familiar to Kerrick, but he couldn’t focus on that when every move Tavarus made raced amplified gratification through Kerrick’s body.

“One of the perks of being a god is I can increase what you feel to mimic what I feel.” Another jolt of liquid pleasure surged, causing Kerrick to scream emptily into his own mind.
Tavarus intended to make him the victim of the longest, strongest, most painful orgasm any man had ever endured. “Now you have a taste of what it is to be a god.”

Tormented by his longings, because Ariss did feel good and he wanted to be within her, but not with a cruel god flinging rude insults, Kerrick struggled to keep his sanity. Every bit of pleasure Kerrick took, Tavarus managed to corrupt and turn ugly. After a lifetime of this, Kerrick knew he would become like Tavarus: aroused by vulgarity and force. He couldn’t bear to become like the repulsive monster in his mind. Yet still, he lay passive, unable to do anything but what the god commanded.

Ariss rocked her body against him, uttering breathy sighs and growls. Tavarus forced Kerrick’s hand between her legs and swirled his fingertips over her clit.

“That’s what she likes; a strong, steady beat.” Tavarus chuckled. “The look in her eyes last night when you lost the rhythm! I have never seen such a beautiful look of panic. How difficult it is for a woman to get back to that moment when her orgasm is inevitable.” He forced his hand to make jerky motions that caused Ariss to fidget. “Let us see how long she will allow this fumbling.”

Ariss squirmed restlessly against him, then placed her hand over his, guiding his movements, showing him how she wished to be touched. Tavarus complied, because when he hit the right beat, her cunt spasmed around Kerrick’s cock. Each perfect set of strikes drew him deeper into her, snuggling the walls of her passage tighter.

In his mind, Kerrick saw Tavarus throw back his head and open his mouth, growling like a great beast as he made Kerrick rock forward in one mighty thrust.

Softly, Ariss whispered encouragement, angling her bottom to him, lifting her top leg so she could press his hand, still covered by hers, harder against her clit.

“It won’t take much to make her a slave to pain.” Winking lewdly at him, Tavarus forced Kerrick’s body to thrust into her at a dizzying pace, but at least what he was doing wasn’t hurting her. If anything, she enjoyed the rough, animal nature of their coupling.

“That’s it, that’s it,” Tavarus encouraged, “make her come, make her cream all over our cock.”

Kerrick struggled against Tavarus because it wasn’t their cock, it was his cock, and he didn’t want Tavarus to feel any pleasure. His struggles only amused him and compelled him to unleash another dose of concentrated pleasure. Lost in the grip of the most powerful orgasm ever, Kerrick was barely aware when Ariss climaxed, her legs clamping together, trapping their hands as her sweet sex did the same around his shaft. So tightly did she grip him he was unable to thrust. He simply held on to her as he rode out his mind-shattering release.

Panting, Tavarus stood in Kerrick’s mind. He gave his semi-hard and glistening cock a quick shake. “Now you see why I will never, ever give her up.”

S
haken by the strength of her orgasm, Ariss was unable to move for a long time. Behind her, Kerrick pressed against her back, his breath blowing like a bellows across her skin. His frantic lovemaking was in such sharp contrast to the gentle love they’d made last night, that Ariss shivered. Kerrick had handled her roughly, his passion so deep he took what he needed. If she hadn’t guided his hand, he might have forgotten about her entirely. The thought gave her pause. Kerrick had never lost sight of her pleasure before. She closed her eyes against the truth. It wasn’t Kerrick who’d shoved himself into her with brutal need, but Tavarus.

Afraid to move, lest he try something else, Ariss lay passive, gathering her thoughts, letting her heartbeat return to normal. Something was different about this time, because he usually delighted in tormenting her. Not once had Tavarus come without letting her know. Not just informing her, but rubbing his possession of Kerrick in her face. Her thoughts immediately turned to Kerrick. He would be devastated if he found out. Trapped between the desire to roll over and confirm her suspicions,
and her longing to roll away to the safety of the basin room, Ariss stayed immobile, listening to Kerrick’s breathing.

After a long time, his heavy panting slowed, but he remained still, as if he were stunned. Sweat covered his skin. With the covers tossed back, the sheen of moisture rapidly cooled, giving him a clammy feel against her flesh.

Shivering, Ariss clenched her teeth together for as long as she could, but in the end, she reached out and pulled the cover over her. Still, Kerrick didn’t move. Worried now, she went against her better judgment, and called, “Kerrick?”

No answer.

Her belly twisted. Petrified that Tavarus had permanently damaged Kerrick’s mind, she rolled over, dreading what she would see.

On his back, his eyes open and staring sightlessly up at the ceiling, Kerrick lay immobile. His pulse held steady, the vein at his neck throbbing slowly while his chest rose and fell with his breath. Against his hip, his semihard cock lay twitching, as if his orgasm continued long after he’d pulled away.

“Kerrick?”

One eyelid flickered weakly, but other than that, he was motionless. His eyes were beautifully green with a normal-sized pupil, so if Tavarus had been here, he’d since departed. All along she thought that Tavarus would never do anything to hurt her or the baby, but she didn’t realize what he was doing might hurt Kerrick. He’d always been disoriented after one of Tavarus’ visits, but not like this. Kerrick sprawled on the bed as if someone had beaten him repeatedly in the head.

Last night had been so beautiful. Tender and sweet, he’d loved her the way she’d always wanted her mate to love her. He’d soothed all her fears about what would happen to her when she grew large with child. Kerrick didn’t tell her she would always be beautiful, he showed her. She’d wanted to tell him she loved him, but didn’t because she feared Tavarus would
come and ruin their perfect moment. They had left the words unsaid but no less clear. She knew Kerrick felt the same toward her. Sadly, it seemed Tavarus had waited and punished Kerrick for what they’d done.

Ariss wanted to rail at him, to scream out all her fury, but Tavarus wasn’t here anymore, and even if he were, he wouldn’t listen. He would laugh and depart once he’d sated his lust. For a god, he certainly behaved like a spoiled child. But why was it different this time? Why hadn’t he announced himself, and what had he done to Kerrick?

“Kerrick?” She leaned over, cupping his face, peering intently into his eyes. His lids fluttered and she held her breath. As he blinked in slow waves, life returned to his gaze. Relieved, she pressed her lips to his, then pulled away. “Wake up, Ker-rick. Please come back to me.”

“Ariss …” he breathed her name between his parted lips.

“I’m here, I’m here.” She pulled back so that he could see her.

Kerrick struggled to focus. His eyes crossed and his lids bounced up and down in confusion, almost as if he were re-learning how to control his own body.

“Did he hurt you?” She hurriedly wiped her tears away before he saw them.

Kerrick shook his head slightly side to side. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine.” She didn’t want him to remember any of it if he didn’t have to. What caused her great shame was that she had enjoyed what they’d done. Somehow, Tavarus had tricked her into thinking Kerrick was responsible. Rough and wild, exiting, but not brutal as Tavarus usually was. What they’d done was mostly a picking up of where they’d left off in Kerrick’s room two cycles ago. It wasn’t much wonder she didn’t realize until afterward that Tavarus had been present. Perhaps the purpose was to teach her that he could be sly. He could come and
use her, and she would never know the difference, not unless he
wanted
her to know. “What did Tavarus do to you?”

Kerrick blinked several times. Wavering, he lifted his head to glance down at his body. Ariss followed his gaze to his still-twitching cock. Peering closer, she realized he was ejaculating in small dribs and drabs.

“It just won’t stop,” he said in gasping bursts. “I can’t stop coming.” His voice was as tortured as the look on his face.

She’d told him that he’d always looked surprised when he climaxed, but now he looked tormented. Worse, she had no idea what to do.

“Stop thinking about sex. Think about killing things.” It wasn’t much, but her suggestion was all she could come up with on short notice. Turning his attention away from pleasure might stop the torture from consuming him.

He laughed, then winced as he jostled his penis. “I’ll try.” Kerrick clenched his eyes closed and his brows drew together sharply as he concentrated.

To get his mind further away from sex, she hastily covered up with her discarded shift. In a burst of inspiration, she retrieved a small towel from the basin, soaked it in cool water, and then handed the cloth to him.

Gingerly, Kerrick placed the towel over his genitals, groaning out in pain until he had the fabric settled. After a while, the twitching finally abated.

Kerrick wiped himself carefully, then tossed the towel on the floor. Ariss frowned, scooped it up off the cream-colored carpet, and placed it in the basin room.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She shook her head, a bit embarrassed that she was worried about damage to the carpet when a god had abused him. “What did he do to you?”

Kerrick let out a long sigh as he placed his forearm over his
forehead. “He filled me up with this liquid pleasure to show me what it was like to climax as a god.”

Ariss winced. “Why would he do that?”

“To punish me for being with you last night.”

She felt horrible. All of this was her fault.

“He made me watch, too.”

Swallowing hard, Ariss settled beside him, slipping his hand into hers. He squeezed gently, then lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her palm. Tormented eyes met hers. For such a large man, he seemed suddenly, painfully vulnerable. His bewilderment broke her heart. Only by biting the edge of her tongue was she able to hold her tears at bay. In that moment, she would have given anything to go back to Tavarus’ brutal bouts of vicious sex. If Kerrick remained oblivious to them, she would do whatever Tavarus demanded. She would suffer anything to take this burden from Kerrick’s soul.

In halting bursts, Kerrick explained how Tavarus forced him to awareness but wouldn’t let him move of his own volition. “I tried to fight him, but he just laughed. And then he kept hitting me with these massive doses of pleasure.”

Ariss couldn’t imagine being held captive within her own body, forced to do the bidding of a self-indulgent god, who, in turn, made her enjoy it. Also, she knew that this was Tavarus’ warning; if she ever pulled Kerrick into her bed again, Tavarus would rape her while Kerrick watched. Tavarus would hold Kerrick impotent within his own body while he used that body to inflict pain upon her. Nothing would be more horrifying to Kerrick than watching Tavarus abuse her with his body while he was forced to take pleasure in the act. Ariss couldn’t imagine anything more disgusting.

“I was terrified that at any moment he would roll you over, make you aware he was here, and then hurt you while I watched.” Kerrick shivered. He clenched his teeth and then closed his
eyes as if to block the images. “Repeatedly he threatened to do so.”

The thought alone nauseated her. Her mind raced in a hundred different directions seeking a solution. How could she stop Tavarus from possessing Kerrick? She couldn’t spend a lifetime with Kerrick and know him only when Tavarus decided to possess his body. She’d never be able to keep her hands off Kerrick, and she doubted he could do the same with her. Moreover, she had no desire to sate her lust with another.

Ariss wanted Kerrick. She loved him. More than her next breath, she loved the man by her side. Her heart curled in pain that she couldn’t tell him. She knew he knew, but a part of her broke that she could not speak the words to tell him what lay deep in her heart. She knew Kerrick loved her, too. He couldn’t say the words, either, not with a vengeful god over his shoulder. Just like her, he felt so much more than he could say.

Ariss wanted Kerrick as her bondmate, not her slave, and not as a convenient body for Tavarus to fill. If she couldn’t have Kerrick, fully and utterly, she didn’t want anyone. With great regret, she realized she might have to abstain from sex in order to keep Kerrick in her life. The perversity of that thought infuriated her; all her life she’d be taught to refrain from pleasure until she’d reached the bonding bed. Now that she’d found her ultimate bondmate, she couldn’t have him without inflicting untold trauma on each of them. The gods had a most cruel sense of irony.

“He said that he would make you a slave to pain.” Kerrick rolled his head back, pressing into the bed, covering his face with one massive hand. “He wants to make you addicted to pleasure-pain so that you will welcome his abuse.”

Her eyes went wide as she considered what Kerrick said. There hadn’t been pain involved in what they’d done, not really. Some of his hard thrusts had bordered on the verge of pain, but hadn’t quite managed, not like what Tavarus normally
did. Before, Tavarus has rammed into her so hard he hurt her passage and her cervix with his bashing. Clearly, Tavarus meant to increase everything until the pleasure turned to pain, and then he would make her welcome that. Her belly roiled as a new and far more terrifying thought occurred to her: What would he teach to her son?

“I would kill myself before that,” Kerrick swore.

“Gods, no!” Ariss forced him to look at her. “I won’t hear of that kind of talk.”

“I won’t rape you for him. I can’t.” He bolted up as if ready for a fight, but there was none there to grapple with.

“He won’t let you.” Ariss knew that for a fact. Tavarus would never let Kerrick kill himself. “He wouldn’t let you because he uses your body to manifest himself physically.”

Kerrick’s shoulders slumped. “Then you will have to kill me.”

The usual morning nausea she experienced turned worse. No matter what happened, she couldn’t kill Kerrick. “He wouldn’t let me do that, either.”

Bloodshot eyes turned her way. “He has no control over you.”

With a hand to her belly, she murmured, “He does through my child.” She explained about the balcony and her thoughts of tossing herself over, and how her belly had hurt until she returned inside. “I can no longer set foot on the balcony. If I even go close to the glass door, my stomach begins to twinge.”

Kerrick nodded resolutely. “Then I will find a way to fight him.” He straightened his back, squared his shoulders, and lifted his head. His expression was that of the fiercest warrior she had ever seen.

A part of her wanted to caution him that such was folly, but he seemed so determined, so driven, that she didn’t have the heart to warn him. All she could do was place her hand on his back, marveling at the heat of his skin.

Quietly, she said, “I believe in you.”

“Do you?” He glanced over his shoulder.

“I do,” she confirmed. “If anyone can solve this mess, I would put my faith in you.”

Resolved, Kerrick stood, searching the floor for his clothing.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to find a way to fix this.”

“Right now?” She thought she would have more time with him.

“Yes now.” He yanked on his pants. “When do you propose I start? After he actually rapes you while I watch?”

Ariss recoiled from his vicious tone.

“I’m sorry.” Kerrick released a tense breath and sat down beside her on the bed. He swept her hand into his, kissed her palm, and let go. “I’m not angry with you, but with him, and myself.”

“None of this is your fault.”

“I know.” He nodded. “But you don’t understand. He made me enjoy it.” His voice fell to a whisper. “He made me want to roll you over and take pleasure in your terror.” Kerrick took such a deep breath his chest expanded greatly. “Don’t you see? He’s going to turn me into him.” Sheer determination overcame the revulsion on his face. “I’m not going to become Tavarus. I’d rather die.”

Within moments, her staff of servants would arrive. Today was tribute day in the temple, which meant hours of preparation for her. When she reminded Kerrick, he nodded absently.

“You have to come,” she reminded.

“I’ll be there.” He smiled ruefully. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to climax after what happened this morning, but I’ll certainly try.” Moving over to the couch, he grabbed his shirt and belt off the floor and slipped them on. “Do you want me to call Donlan?”

She nodded. Donlan was the guard who had fallen to his
knees when she prayed, the one who resolutely held to his tribute for over a season. Out of all the guards, Kerrick and she trusted Donlan the most.

Once Donlan entered, Kerrick left, and Ariss gave herself over to her servants. They washed, anointed, powdered, perfumed, and then slathered cosmetics over her face until she became almost a caricature of herself. They spent all morning and most of the afternoon preparing her to receive tribute.

Donlan kept his gaze moving. He watched everything the servants did, yet kept an ear on the door. His duty was to protect her from any harm while Kerrick was gone. Donlan took his duty seriously. He was ever vigilant. However, she noticed his eyes would linger a bit more on her once they fitted her into the elaborate gown that covered the front of her legs, brushed the edge of her bottom, and exposed her breasts. Donlan’s pupils dilated slightly and his cock hardened when he saw her in her black ceremonial gown.