Chains of Revenge (4 page)

‘That you consider not destroying Horvald. We have rich wheat fields and a settled town. The people work hard and have good lives. Don’t destroy that,’ she said, her voice breaking. She sank to her knees in front of him. ‘I’m begging you. Don’t destroy everything they’ve worked so hard for over the years. You could be their new king. Kill me but don’t kill them.’

Gone was her calm stillness as she stared up at him with fierce passion and yearning in her face.

This was his fantasy come true. Princess Lissa on her knees begging him. This was the moment he’d waited for through all the long years. So why did he want to howl with rage and frustration, weep with tears of grief and snatch her up to his chest where he could hold and comfort her?

She was clever, this princess, much more clever than he’d realised. In one fell swoop she’d thought to undercut the pleasure of his revenge. She wouldn’t get away with it.

‘What makes you think I want to kill you? Oh, no, My Princess, your punishment will not be so easy.’ He pulled her to her feet. ‘Get up. Your tears of concern for the people of Horvald are wasted on me. But I have another use for you, one you once enjoyed. Maybe you won’t enjoy it so much now.’

He pulled out a pouch of fine, smooth, red leather and held it up in front of her.

‘This is my present to you, My Lady. You will wear it as a reminder of who you are.’

‘And who is that, Lord Death? Who do you want me to be?’

‘My slave,’ he said as he opened the pouch and tipped its contents into his hand.

Lissa gasped and stepped back. Gold links flowed over his hand and dangled down, shimmering in the light. It was a finely wrought chain, many lengths long.

‘Remove your clothes,’ he ordered.

She pressed her hands to her mouth and shook her head. Her heart pounded in terror. This was the moment. He would rape and kill her.

He narrowed his eyes and considered her.

‘I’ll make a bargain with you. You become my slave and I’ll save your people.’

‘What? What do you mean?’

‘If you do as I say, make yourself available to me at all times and without question, I’ll spare you and your people. After all, I am the representative of the Janiver, High King in Tisvo.’

Her heart sank. Not because Horvald was now part of the Empire of Tisvo, but because of her father’s foolish determination to hold out against the inevitability of annexation. She’d tried to convince him to welcome becoming part of the Empire, knowing such a move would result not only in greater trading and prosperity for Horvald but in peace as well. He hadn’t listened to her, couldn’t listen to her. His life was war.

The Warlord Death laughed, a sound bleak and terrifying. ‘The High King thought I’d have to burn you to the ground. But if you swear fealty to him I’ll let you all live. I’ve never thought of myself as a king. Maybe that’s what I’ll become. Instead of destroying this place, I’ll rule it instead of your father. You’ll become my Slave Queen, my Consort in Chains.’ He held up the gold chains. ‘You’ll look beautiful in my creation, Lissa. I had it made by the goldsmiths of Arvo just for you.’

Turmoil and fear twisted in Lissa’s belly. He hated her. The fury in his eyes seared her soul. Bad enough that he’d conquered Horvald, but to realise the man she’d yearned for over the last ten years felt such hatred and contempt for her sent a shaft of agonising pain into her heart.

There was something else in his eyes as well as hatred, making her want to weep. Despair. The same despair he’d fallen into when she’d tried to show him her love all those years ago.

He held out the chains.

‘Do you submit? Will you wear my chains?’

She licked her dry lips and met his consuming gaze.

‘If you want to become King of Horvald, you’ll need to keep the fields and the farms safe and productive. I can help you with that, but I need to be out among the people. We don’t have the luxury of sitting around being waited on. Everyone is needed.’

His eyebrows shot up in astonishment. ‘No luxury? No slaves to do all the work?’

She shook her head. ‘There was a Great Storm not long after you left. Horvald was almost destroyed. We freed all the slaves and bargained with them. They could stay as citizens and help rebuild or they had to go. We couldn’t feed them if they didn’t work. Most stayed.’ She frowned with impatience. ‘I can’t be available to you all the time. I have to work.’

‘You’ll be available when I say you are.’ He paused and softened his tone. ‘But I’m a reasonable man. And I’m curious to see how you cope without slaves cleaning up after you. Or whether they are, as you claim, willing to throw in their lot with the people who once owned them. I doubt I would’ve done the same.’ He played with the chain, letting the links flow through his hands.

Lissa looked at them and shuddered, not only from fear. The chains were beautiful and smooth and she knew the gold would be warm against her skin. Gold was a luxury Horvald had long since dispensed with. Most of her jewels had been sold in neighbouring lands to buy everything needed to repair Horvald after the storm. She wasn’t even sure where all her fine clothes were. Used and reused to patch others’ clothes most likely.

But however much she feared becoming the Warlord Death’s plaything, she knew herself well enough to recognise the wisp of excitement curling in her belly. He had, after all, been her first and only lover, the man who’d introduced her to sex and passion. In his arms she came to realise she liked hard, vigorous sex, where each partner could take what they wanted, however they wanted. She’d loved fucking her slave in chains but she’d liked even more the way he’d demanded his own rights and used her body for his own gratification.

‘So what is it, My Lady? Do you agree to be my Slave Consort?’

‘It would seem I have no choice,’ she said, not sure she wanted one.

‘Then, I repeat, take off your clothes.’

Her heart pounded furiously as she pulled at her gown. He watched, unblinking, as she lifted it over her head and dropped it on the ground.

His gaze raked her from head to foot, searing her skin. When he stepped forward, she closed her eyes and prayed for control, prayed to the gods to help her. But she couldn’t shut out the feel of his hands on her breasts, holding them, kneading them, flicking his thumbs against her nipples. She wanted to scream, to beg him to do anything he wanted to her. When his hands moved down the length of her body, tracing her belly and hips, sliding around to cup her buttocks, she gasped for breath.

‘You’ve lost some curves,’ he said in a voice of ice.

She pulled away from him, wanting to grab the dress and cover herself. She knew she was no longer the buxom young princess of ten years ago. Work honed her body to lean muscle. But she liked her body. It was strong and healthy and did what she demanded of it. Anger bloomed inside her and she felt herself blush.

‘If you don’t like it, perhaps this slave arrangement could be dispensed with.’

‘I didn’t say I don’t like it,’ he said, leering at her. He held up the chains. ‘Come, I’ll put them on.’

She stepped toward him and cursed her peaking nipples. He smiled as he gazed at her breasts, making her struggle for breath.

The chains were made in the shape of a harness. A circle of links sat around her neck and a central chain rested between her breasts. Linked to that were chains running under her breasts and up her back to link to the circle around her neck. But what made her blood sizzle and her pussy throb were the gold links that connected the chain under her breasts to the chain around her neck. The fine gold fitted to the curve of her breasts, pulling them up.

Devadas fitted the harness, purposely brushing her breasts with his rough hands. Her nipples were painful now, aching to be sucked. He tied the chain together at her neck with a piece of leather. She realised he intended her to wear her golden harness permanently.

‘I can’t wear this all the time,’ she said, with panic in her voice. ‘Other people will see it.’

‘That’s the whole idea,’ he said with satisfaction. ‘I want everyone to see I own you. When they look at you in your rough woollen dress, they’ll see the glint of gold at your neck and know you wear the chains of your master. That’s what I want.’ He still held a length of gold chain in his hands.

Lissa watched in horror as he fastened it to the circle around her neck.

‘And this is your lead. When you’re with me, you’ll wear it all the time. I want my slave at arm’s reach.’

She closed her eyes, filled with anguish. He would ensure her total humiliation. She stood swaying, the gold warming against her skin and sliding against the side of her breasts. It was not uncomfortable, but she knew she’d always be aware of the smooth metal. She hated the lead.

Even through her shame and fury, desire pounded, building like a volcano in her belly, slow and insistent in her cunt. He wanted to punish her and all she could think of was how much she’d enjoy it. Hadn’t he held her over his knee ten years ago and paddled her bottom while she’d writhed and moaned, not from pain so much as the desperate need for him to fill her? When he’d pulled her up and impaled her on his cock, her stinging buttocks had inflamed the raw need in her cunt. She’d met his every thrust until the blinding rapture of release claimed her. The Warlord Death knew all too well what she liked.

Her eyes flew open when something scraped against her tight, aching nipples. Devadas brushed the gold lead back and forth over her, first one breast then the other. She fought back a moan, fought back the scream in her throat to beg him to touch them with his fingers, to pull on them then bend his head and suck.

‘You like that don’t you?’ he whispered, pinning her with his gaze like a spider gloating over a butterfly caught in his web. She shook her head but couldn’t hold back a moan when he slid a broad finger into the moist crevasse of her pussy lips.

‘Your body betrays you,’ he said, still whispering. ‘You’re wet. Sopping wet.’ He pushed two fingers into her while she stood on wobbling legs. Back and forth the chain scrapped against her nipples in time to the in-out thrust of his fingers. When he found her clit and rubbed, she couldn’t help throwing up her arms to balance herself against him as wave after wave of orgasm ripped through her. He thrust his fingers back into her.

‘Your cunt remembers me. It clutches at me as it used to.’

She fell against him with a sob in her voice. ‘Don’t make me do this,’ she begged. ‘Please. I’ll do what you want but don’t make me wear this in front of my people.’

His arms surrounded her, holding her while he nuzzled the side of her head. Lissa smelled the long forgotten scent of him, masculine and sweaty with physical exertion. In the past his scent inflamed her with desire. Now desire battled with fear. Her blood surged through her veins, a pounding pulse of war in her brain as she wanted to both hold him and push him away. His muscles were rock hard. In another world or another time, she would have craved the safety of his arms. But now dread filled her and she knew safety was nowhere to be found.

‘I’m sorry, Lissa, but you have no choice. Come,’ he said. ‘Put on your dress and let’s face our people.’ There was an edge of steel in his voice. ‘Or would you like to go naked?’

She pulled away from him in a fury. ‘I hope your hatred eats you up at night. I hope you have nightmares full of all your twisted fantasies. You deserve no peace.’

His smile was more a rictus of pain. ‘Your hopes are already fulfilled, My Lady. More than fulfilled.’ He bent to pick up her dress. ‘Come. Let’s survey our domain.’

Devadas stepped out of the Great Hall with Lissa a few steps behind. He held the chain loosely, not wanting to hurt her. Not yet. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden light. Flanking the doors to the Great Hall were two of his guards. He glanced at them. They were more than guards, Luc and Alain; more like brothers. They were always there, always ready to back him up, sharing the good times and the bad. Truth be told, over the years they’d had quite a bit of fun. Both men were convinced the best way to heal the horrors of war was to bed as many women as possible. With their contrasting good looks, Luc dark and mysterious, and Alain a blond free spirit, they’d never been short of willing candidates for their beds. They’d shared everything, especially their women. At the sight of Lissa, they raised their eyes in enquiry but, as Devadas walked out to the town square with her, they fell in behind. More of his men lined the edges of the square.

A crowd of town’s people gathered in the centre of a square which drew a moan of distress from Lissa. The crowd eyed the troops warily. When they saw Lissa, a murmur of relief swept through them.

The group moved forward then stopped, letting one who seemed to be the leader approach. He looked familiar to Devadas. Ah, yes.

It was the guard with the fascinating sex life, although his revelations seemed hardly remarkable to Devadas now. Not after years as a mercenary, finding sex where he could. Not only was he no longer a young, honourable warrior of his people, his sexual experience was equal to none. Year after year he’d tried to lose himself in the bodies of other women, looking for more and better extremes. Nothing worked to banish the memory of the woman beside him, but that hadn’t stopped him. Now he could show Lissa all he’d learned.

The man stopped a few paces from Devadas and looked worriedly at Lissa.

‘My Lady? Are you all right?’

Devadas pulled her forward. ‘She’s fine.’

The man paled and stepped back a pace and a collective moan of distress swept through the crowd. An older, matronly woman broke away and ran toward Lissa.

‘My Lady!’ She stopped when the man caught her and pulled her next to him. Devadas felt Lissa moan.

‘Ris. I told you to go.’ There was agony in Lissa’s voice he didn’t like the sound of. ‘You could’ve escaped.’

‘I couldn’t leave you and I was right not to.’ The woman drew herself up to her full height which only came up to Devadas’s chest, and glared at him. ‘What sort of man are you to chain another human like that? She’s not a dog to be led around at your will. She’s our princess and deserves your respect.’