bedeviled & beyond 04 - bedeviled & belittled (17 page)

Nerul’s scent wafted toward me, drawing me into his sensual sphere. I shook my head and started to turn away in a panic.

But, sensing my withdrawal, Nerul quickly changed tactics. “I recognize that Second has the upper hand, on both his father and me. So I am willing to play along for now. You can be sure I will help him hold his throne against his father’s lust for power. It is in my best interests to do so. For now.”

I frowned. I believed him. As long as he thought it benefited him to aid us he would. But I also knew that he would be a constant threat to Dialle’s power. One moment of weakness would be all it took. Nerul would be watching and waiting, ready to grasp control.

That was a problem for another day.

Satisfied that the issue of Nerul’s intentions had been adequately addressed, I turned my attention to the other issue on my mind. “Where is Dialle the First holding my sister?”

My question seemed to catch Nerul by surprise. His black eyes flared briefly with smug satisfaction. I realized in that moment that Nerul knew exactly where my sister was being kept. More importantly, he knew he had something I wanted, giving him power over me.

He would help me find her, but I wasn’t sure I could afford the cost. I barely suppressed a shudder at his expression. “Tell me where she is, Nerul.”

He spread his legs and his robe fell open, exposing the impossible length and thickness of his shaft.

I licked my lips.

He dropped a large hand over his erection and stroked it slowly, sensually. “What would be in it for me, lovely Astra?”

Transfixed, I watched a bead of pre-cum rise to the fat, purple head.

My Settling roared to life and I was moving toward him before I knew what I was doing. In the beat of a heart my temperature had spiked and my skin became almost painfully sensitized, so that the soft slide of my clothing over it made my sexual core clench.

But I was only aware of these things residually, at a deeper layer of consciousness, almost beyond my grasp. Lust had taken over my mind and was a rabid creature, consuming all thought, every scruple, leaving me an exposed nerve, a raw wound.

All I saw was that beautiful shaft, sparkling with moisture on its fat tip. I was suddenly frantic to touch it...desperate to taste it...anxious to draw it between my lips.

I dropped to my knees and leaned forward.

Nerul’s musky scent enveloped me. My nostrils flared and I moaned deep in my throat, mindless with an almost unquenchable hunger.

From deep within the fog of my lust, I could hear Nerul’s hypnotic voice, urging me forward, giving me words of encouragement and promise.

My body throbbed and softened toward him. I found myself unwilling to pull away. Unable to resist.

But something deep within my mind rebelled. I opened my mouth and screamed, lifting a hand toward the door. Power surged through me but I didn’t have the presence of mind to focus it, I let it shoot away from my fingertips, unfocused and wild.

There was an explosion. At the very edges of my consciousness, beyond the fog of lust enveloping me, I heard heavy footsteps thundering toward me.

Something large and heavy hit me and I was thrown sideways just before my lips closed over Nerul’s offering.

I cried out, desperate with lust, and tried to shove whatever had flattened me to the ground away. I started to pull my power forward to blast the dense weight away from my chest but lost my focus when something thick and heavy slammed against my cheek.

Blinking, I came to awareness and looked up into the wide, worried red face of Frick. My guard.

He gave a sigh of relief when my vision cleared and I recognized him. “Come. We must leave quickly.”

I nodded, allowing him to pull me to my feet, and avoided looking at Nerul as Frick and Frack ushered me out, safely buffered between their large bodies.

The smell of smoke tickled my nose and I looked up to find a huge hole in the place where the door had been. We stepped over the mangled bodies of several of Nerul’s guard.

That was quite a summons I’d performed.

“We will finish this discussion later, Astra. Do not doubt it.” Nerul’s voice rose above the sound of groaning from his fallen soldiers.

I shivered and picked up my pace, horrified by what I’d almost done. I was nearly running by the time we reached the end of the hallway and turned out of sight. Although I’d regained my sense mentally, physically my body still screamed and wept for release.

I needed to find release, and quickly, or I could still embarrass myself. I stopped, my chest heaving, and reached out to him telepathically.
Dialle!

What is it, Astra? Are you all right?

No! I need you, now. Please!

Silence met my plea and I closed my eyes, leaning against the cool wall at my back.
Please, Dialle!

The air beside us shimmered and Dialle was suddenly there. I threw myself into his arms and dragged him into a desperate kiss. I consumed his lips with mine, sucking his soft bottom lip into my mouth and chewing it hungrily, pulling none too gently on the sweet flesh.

Dialle placed his hands on my buttocks and lifted me, dragging me over the hard flesh beneath the tight, black leather pants he wore. He groaned as my hands sifted through his silken hair, holding him as my mouth worked his lips and dragged starving nips and kisses over his face and down his throat.

The world stopped, sound stilled, and then returned in a rush as we landed in his quarters and Dialle pressed me backward onto his bed. His hands dragged at my sweater, ripping it away and severing the delicate lace at the vee of my bra. He dipped his head to suck on a rigid nipple.

My head went back on a long, hungry growl of need. “Yes, oh god, Dialle, yes!”

He sucked harder on my nipple and then released it with a soft pop, turning his avid attention to the other nipple. As he nurtured my starving flesh, his hard, hot hands slid down my ribs, over my waistline and over my hips, tucking under my buttocks and drawing me upward, to grind against his erection.

My skin felt as if it were on fire. Heat spread through me, setting my blood to boil and making every touch feel raw and tender.

A fine sheen of sweat broke out all over our bodies, so that, when we moved against one another, our skin pressed in a sensual glide that created an almost painful friction.

We were both naked, Dialle having taken care of the final, frail obstructions to our lust. I spread my legs and reached for him, fully intending to impale myself on his ready flesh.

Our musk rose up between us, making my stomach clench with desire.

Dialle grabbed my hand. “What, Astra? Tell me what you want.”

I shuddered with incapacitating need. “I want you, Dialle. I want your hands, your lips, your body.”

He slid a hand between us and rubbed the nub of my clitoris, sending me ever closer to the delightful culmination building within me. “Only me, Astra?”

“Oh god, yes. Only you. No one else.”

He slipped the first inch of his shaft inside me. I panted, waiting for the rest. “You are my queen, Astra, my heart, my power, I need your loyalty above all else. Tell me, do you only want my body? Or do you give me your heart?”

My head was shaking before he finished the words. Swamped by the needs of my body, throbbing under the physical demands of my Settling, I finally realized what my pride and my independence had kept me from realizing since Dialle and I had begun our emotional dance together. I realized that I’d already given him my heart. He’d taken my body long ago, and I’d easily and willingly given it to him. But I’d thought I was withholding my heart from him, keeping my emotions under tight control. I realized in that bright, sparkling moment that I was wrong. I’d been fooling myself.

All of the recent close calls. I’d thought I’d escaped them through sheer chance and lucky happenstance, but I finally realized I’d stopped myself. Each and every time.

Even drugged by my Settling. Even drenched in lust. I had chosen Dialle.

Chosen what he offered me.

Chosen what we were when we were together.

The realization made me even more needy, created even more fire between us. Like a flash fire, the silken sheets beneath our bodies erupted into multi-hued pillars of fire, dancing to the beat of a song only Dialle and I could hear.

“You have my heart, Dialle. Only you.” I murmured against his lips.

He plunged deep and I screamed with delight.

The fire framed our writhing bodies, bathed us in harmless heat and color. We barely noticed as we reached toward the bright culmination dancing just out of reach, strained toward it.

Until, with a primal scream of sheer joy, we fell over.

Our bodies pulsed and clenched. Bright lights erupted around us, stars danced before my eyes, and my toes curled happily as the last, wondrous waves of bliss swamped me.

When we softened into the gentle aftershocks of pleasure, as the flames died down to a wisp of smoke, I said his name and captured his incredible lips in a reverent kiss.

“Finally,” he panted against my mouth. “Our bond is complete. You have given yourself to me.”

My tongue swept the fragrant seam of his mouth and I moaned at his exquisite taste. “It’s your fault,” I told him with a crooked smile, “I was waiting for you to decide.”

His laughter warmed my quickly cooling body, and sent us into the dance again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Back to Wonderland

The sister still remains aloof, her destination vague,

But auntie waits upon our miss, in the dungeons of the rogue.

While my personal life was happily back on track, Settling and all, I still had a shitload of problems to address. Tops on that list was rescuing Darma from Dialle the First’s evil clutches.

I lay in a tangled pile of damp and smoldering sheets and watched Dialle. He was going through Court business on his televisual, occasionally glancing in my direction as if making sure I was still there.

I gave him a little finger wave each time, making him smile. My inactivity was unusual and unexpected, for both of us. I wanted to take action, had been trying to do just that for days, but until I knew where Darma was being kept I couldn’t exactly go get her. It was frustrating to say the least. However, my mind was busily working through my options as I lay there.

I kept coming up against a dead end because I couldn’t figure out how to get what I wanted without Dialle’s help. And I was pretty sure he was too involved in saving his crown to mess with saving my cranky sister.

Maybe Torre could help me... I blinked,
Torre
! I sat up. “Dialle?”

“Hmmm?”

“Where’s Torre?”

He looked up, his dark gaze swirling with emotion in the form of bright specs of color. “He is at Father’s court, searching for your sister.”

I blinked. “Really?” I hadn’t seen that one coming.

Dialle nodded. “I could not stop him. He vowed to kill father if he touches her.”

My eyes widened in surprise. Torre was not exactly warrior material. “And?”

Dialle’s sexy lips spread in a smile. “He has not found her. But he’s learned that father has not had any success bringing her under his control. Apparently, the few times First has tried to press his attentions on your sister he’s ended up fleeing the room a hair in front of a power arrow or deadly flying objects.”

I laughed. “That’s my girl.” I murmured. When push came to shove, apparently Darma was willing to use what the Big Guy had given her. “I’m glad to hear she’s protecting herself at least.”

“Yes.” Dialle tapped a button on the televisual and stood, frowning slightly. “Unfortunately, father has taken steps to contain her and cut off her use of power. Torre has reported that this night will be their official mating ritual.”

I leapt from the bed. “We have to stop him!”

Dialle strode closer, he was wearing his usual uniform of tight, black leather pants and a voluminous, white shirt that framed his golden chest and muscular biceps perfectly. I licked my lips against a surge of lust and forced it back.

I had things I needed to do before succumbing to Dialle’s charms again.

He reached me, grabbing my hand and pulling me into a searing kiss. When he released me I was dazed, my blood boiling with longing. “That is exactly what we must do, my love. If father succeeds in bonding with your sister his power will be more than doubled. I cannot allow that to occur.”

I licked my lips and nodded. “Yeah.” My skin prickled with awareness. I fought to kick start my brain into functioning again. “Um...so what now?”

He touched my lips with his finger and trailed it down my chin, tracing his lips over the areas he’d warmed with the finger. I pulled him closer, wrapping myself around his long, lean body. Sparks flew from our bodies wherever we touched. Dialle pulled away, chuckling, and dropped his forehead to mine. “This Settling is going to be the death of me.”

I sucked in supercharged air and pressed my knees together. “You think it’s hard on you.” But I grinned, happy we were good again.

Dialle turned away with a look of regret in his dark eyes. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Wait! Where are you going?”

He didn’t turn or slow. The door to his chambers opened as he approached, showing me Gerch and several other members of his guard waiting for him outside. “I’m going to torture and dismember Nerul. And then, just before he gasps his last breath, I’m going to make him tell me where your sister is being held.”

I laughed. “Funny guy.” Then I frowned. “You
are
joking right?” When he just continued walking I thought it prudent to remind him, “We may need him, you know.”

That time I got a wave.

I sighed. “Much as I’d like to help dismember him,” I murmured. A quick, painful memory of how he’d played with me, using my Settling against me, only an hour previous brought anger, bright and sharp, to the forefront of my emotions. “Damnable devil.”

My mental drawers shifted and my sister’s strident, accusatory voice intruded on my thoughts.
Astra
!