Carnal Sacrifice (21 page)

“Words cannot describe what you’ve put me through these past weeks, Daughter,”  Enrick said, his voice softer than usual, but still wrought with power.

She considered replying, but refrained, sensing he had
 
much
 
more to say.

“Worry. Fear. Humiliation. Shame. I’ve had to watch your mother weep—something you know she doesn’t do often—and your sisters worry. It was all their husbands could do to convince them to leave for their homes—otherwise, they’d have waited here forever wondering what became of you.

“You made a fool of me in front of Ogran, a man whose protection is vital to  Caralon. You made a fool of
 
him
 
before this entire fortress and
 
his
 
entire entourage.

“Indeed, your childish actions have reached far and wide, Daughter—so far and so wide that we may not know the ramifications for years to come.” He stopped to let out a long sigh. “Have you anything—anything at all—to say for yourself?”

“I am truly sorry, Father. But I simply could not face marrying a man so old.  Besides repulsing me, he…frightened me.”

She could have sworn a hint of sympathy leaked from her father’s eyes, but his voice remained cold as steel. “You are a young girl. Such fears and worries over marriage are normal. That’s why there is Orientation.”

“It didn’t help,” she said shortly.

Her father’s nostrils flared slightly in dismay and any concern she’d seen in his eyes fled to leave them as cold as his speech. “I have sent a rider to the mountains to summon Ogran, to let him know his bride has been returned. Until his arrival, you are not to leave this chamber.”

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Carnal Sacrifice

It felt as if all the air had just been sucked from her lungs. Still? Still, he would marry her to that mean old ogre? And he would hold her captive here in her room until then?

Her back went rigid as she lowered her chin in defiance. She reached out, grabbing onto a lock of the long, loose hair that fell over her shoulder, and spoke forcefully. “Will he still want me once he finds out I no longer possess my bride price?”

Her father’s eyes flew wide at the confession. But he kept his response short and sharp. “We will rebraid it. He is old. We can only hope he will not notice.”

Laela let out a heavy breath of disgust and disbelief. She wasn’t giving up—she was ready to challenge her father head-on. “Maybe I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him before we even leave here and he won’t want me anymore.”

“I would tread carefully, Daughter, were I you.” His eyes narrowed.

“Or what? What’s the worst you can do to me? Give me to Ogran? You’re planning on that anyway, so as I see it, I have nothing to lose.”

“How could you surrender your bride price?” he stormed then, raising his arms above his head in outrage. “How in Ares’ name did this happen, Daughter? Who did this to you?”

She felt almost as if she physically shrank beneath his ire. She wanted to be brave and fearless, but she’d forgotten how frightening her father could be in his own right.  “What does it matter?” she finally said, although she wished the words had come out stronger.

Her father studied her in the stark silence of the room’s stone walls, and she knew—Ares forbid—that somehow he’d just seen in her expression that it
 
did
 
matter who had taken her bride price. She’d let it leak out through her eyes, or maybe her voice.

His words came quiet but stern. “If I find out who took your virginity, Laela, I will make the man pay.”

Now it was she who let
 
her
 
eyes narrow on
 
him
, with hate. She wanted desperately to wound him. “Who says it was only one man?”

Her father gasped, his eyes filled with disappointment.

“Don’t act so surprised, Father. You know the way of our world. Only for a royal girl would such an admission earn contempt. I only wish to be normal, to lead a normal life.”

But Enrick ignored her pleas, simply replying, “Someone was the first, someone took your bride price, Daughter. And I promise you this. Whether or not the culprit knew who you were and what he was taking—defy me again and I will find him and I will make him very sorry.
 
You
, on the other hand, will be Ogran’s to punish.”

With that, he turned and stalked from the room, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him. Laela’s heart seemed to pound through her chest, even through her head, it beat so violently. Her stomach shriveled inside her.

97

Lacey Alexander

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
 
As a girl, she’d been the weepiest female she’d ever known, shedding tears at the tiniest event. But now she was a woman, and she would not let silly tears rule her any longer.

Even so, holding them back was difficult when she thought of Garon. Oh, if only she could be back with him in the tavern. Night was falling now, he was likely opening for business. She wanted to be there, serving up ale, giving him hugs and kisses in between passing out goblets to the thirsty men. She wanted to be thrilling him, fucking him. Mostly, she just wanted to
 
be
 
with him, in any way she could.

“I hate this place,” she murmured to Midnight, tucked cozily at her side. She ran her palm lovingly over the black cat’s back. “The only good thing about being back here is you.” With that, she hugged the cat tight to her and, listening to him purr, lay wondering what horrors her future held.

* * * * *

Garon’s heart beat wildly against his ribs as he eased into a darkened corridor in  Enrick’s fortress. Part of him couldn’t believe he was actually doing this—he’d never embarked on anything so dangerous in his life and he had no death wish. Yet…how could he not? It hadn’t even been a question in his mind. She’d been taken, and he’d had to come for her.

There was no denying it any longer—he cared for her. He cared for her just the way he’d sworn not to do. He’d told himself he didn’t want to care because she was trouble

and caring would only make it worse, but he knew now that from the first time he’d  seen her, he’d felt something, some attraction that went beyond the physical. He’d been  fighting with himself and denying it, trying to make it go away ever since—yet he  finally had to face the facts—he cared for the girl. More than that. He loved her.

The young man he’d spoken to outside had said to follow the stone corridor until it  curved to the left and that the first door would be hers. Again the thought struck him  that he must be out of his mind to be sneaking around Enrick’s fortress in the middle of  the night—yet the moment he found her door, knowing she was behind it, nothing else  mattered but getting to her.

Hurrying to reach her, he discovered the door was barred and latched shut from the  outside, which meant her father must fear she’d escape again if he didn’t lock her in.  Quietly removing the barriers, he pushed the wooden door open just enough that he  could slip inside.

The room was bathed in darkness other than the patch of moonlight that fell across  the foot of the bed. But it was enough to allow him to see her—his princess—sleeping  gently.

The sight froze him in place. He’d never seen her like this before—looking so soft  and fresh, a delicate blue gown covering her, her ripe breasts thrusting softly through  the fabric, her chestnut locks pulled back in a feminine chignon. Ares, she was beautiful.

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Carnal Sacrifice

He knelt beside her, studied her shut eyelids, her soft lips, listened to her gentle breathing. Then he whispered, “Princess. Princess, wake up.” He lowered a tender touch to her shoulder, hoping not to frighten her.

Her eyes opened, then grew round and wide on him. She bolted upright, throwing her arms around his neck. “Garon! What in Ares’ name are you doing here?”

Ah, but it felt good to hold her, sending a burst of warmth radiating through his body from head to toe. Finally, he pulled back to look at her. “I had to find you, Laela.”

She shook her head, appearing baffled. “But how…?”

“Once you mentioned to me a boy, a guard named Donnell—do you remember?”

She nodded.

“You said he was a good sort, that he’d let you leave on the night you ran away, so I  figured he was my best chance. I found him and explained that you had been with me  since you left the fortress. He let me pass without making the other guards aware and  he told me how to find you.”

“But…why? Why did you come?”

“I brought you this,” he said, ignoring her question for the moment to reach in a  pocket on his leather vest and pull out her cat pendant.

She gasped softly when she saw it, then lifted her gaze to his. “Thank you, Garon.”

“I know you cherish it.”

“Yes,” she said, taking it from his hand and clutching it close to her heart. Only then  she peered back up at him, her eyes worried. “But…you didn’t risk your life to bring  this to me. So…why?”

“I’ve come to steal you away,” he replied, then tried for a grin. “You are my slave,  after all. I’m only taking back what’s mine.”

She didn’t return the smile. “No,” she said, “I cannot go with you. If we were  caught, you would be killed.”

Somehow, that threat had never quite been enough to keep him away from Laela.  And, oddly, now that the threat was more imminent, it mattered less than ever. “I don’t  care.”

She pursed her lips, her expression adamant. “I won’t go with you, Garon. I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“
 
You
 
may not care if you die, but
 
I
 
do.” Her hazel eyes went soft, sad, more  vulnerable than he’d ever seen them, just before she lowered them to his chest. “I…I  love you.”

The words were like a balm to a wound he’d never before realized he possessed.  They covered him like a protective blanket—and made him fearless. Fearless of Enrick,  and fearless of his
 
own
 
emotions, too. “I love you, too, princess. Why else would I be  here?”

99

Lacey Alexander

Laela felt faint beneath the weight of his unexpected words. Had he really just told her he loved her—the same as she loved him? It seemed like an impossible dream come true.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to his blue, blue eyes, and in that moment, she knew they

were
 
hers
. That everything inside him was
 
hers
. To love. To cherish. To own forever.

Unable to help herself, she wrapped her arms around him and relished the warmth  of his hard body pressed close against her curves. She’d thought she’d never have this  again and her breasts ached with need, her pussy wept with want of him.

She knew she wasn’t alone in her desire when his strong hand rose to her breast,  first just cupping the side, then molding her, reshaping her in his palm to send a hot  blast of desire exploding through her like a shooting star in the night sky.

“I need you,” she said low in his ear.

He crushed her breast more tightly in his hand and she felt the wrenching need  moving through him, as well.

“I must have you,” she breathed, then reached to press her palm over his shaft. It  stretched long and thick and hard against her touch, making her cunt throb with the  emptiness of not having him inside her. “Fill me,” she whispered, drawing him onto the  bed with her.

A small growl left him as his eyes fell half shut with a steamy lust she wanted to slake. She worked at the lacings of his pants as he reached for the long hem of her sleeping gown, sliding his hand up her inner thigh and directly onto her swollen mound. His fingers dipped into her moisture on contact, rapidly stroking, stroking, making her pant with the quick waves of pleasure now washing over her.

“So wet for me, princess. Your pussy is always so wet.”

At that moment, she finished her struggle with his pants and his handsome, hungry cock burst free. “Oh!” she said at the very sight of it. It had only been last night that she’d last seen it, but having thought it was gone from her…she’d never witnessed a lovelier sight. “Fuck me, Garon,” she pleaded. “Fuck me hard.”

His eyes darkened at her command as his fingers pushed up inside her cunt, now pulsing for him. He thrust them deep, hard, and she drank in the promise they made.  “Yes, yes,” she said in a low rasp, meeting his dangerous gaze, hoping he saw how very much she wanted him to command her, control her, take her.

His fingers plunged, plunged, and she stroked his length in the same rhythm until they were both breathing heavy, eyes locked, bodies primed for more. “Don’t make me wait, Garon. I long for your cock. I must have it deep inside me or I’ll die.”

At that, he braced his hands on her shoulders and pushed down on the bed, pinning her there, hovering over her, his eyes still issuing the most delicious threat.  Wild with want, she parted her legs as wide as possible, opening herself to everything he had to give. He glanced down at her open folds in the moonlit room, let out a low, hot groan, then thrust himself deep inside, to the hilt, making them both let out deep cries of satisfaction.