Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (16 page)

“I came to see if you needed any help, but I can see the interrogation is going well
.
”
Bran
leered at them and laughed
.

“Get the fuck out of here, Bran.”
Drest glared at him until he popped out of the room.

The unwanted interruption startled the female and he sensed her agitation and nervousness.
Her attention diverted
from their lovemaking, she began to scan the room.
“
Where exactly are we?
This isn’t your lodge.”

“No, it’s not.”
He didn’t wish to tell her anything more, as she was starting to become alarmed.
While resuming movement, h
e looked into her eyes and
attempted to mentally
impel her to relax.
He wanted to distract her to prevent her from thinking about her surroundings.
“You feel to
o good to me right now.
I want to be in no other place but inside you.”
After a few masterful strokes, he heard her moans of pleasure
and he felt her convulse around him.
He stilled and collapsed against her.

She rested her hands in his hair.
“You didn’t answer my question.
Why are we not in your lodge?”

He looked at her in confusion, not able to understand her persistence in the matter.
“Why do you want to go there so badly?”

Sounds of
panic
were evident in her voice.
“Why would I not?
Where are we?”

He sighed.
“It’s an interrogation room for prisoners of war.”

“Why would you bring me to an interrogation room, Drest?”

He looked at her directly.
“It’s where we bring prisoners of war.
You are a prisoner.”

She
exploded with a
rush of anger.
“You promised to protect me!
You acted like you cared about me.
You said you were fond of me.”

He looked at her in confusion.
“I don’t know you.
I promised you nothing.”

“You lying bastard!”
She hit him with her fist.
“If you didn’t want me, then why have sex with me?”

He backed away from her and knew she was past the point of
calming.
He didn’t understand her anger, but he sensed it was legitimate.
She seemed to really believe they had a previous relationship, which was perplexing.
He had thought that she was deliberately choosing to surrender to a stranger for some unknown reason
, possibly for protection or for some nefarious purpose
.
“
I should not have done that.
I wanted you and I thought you were willing.”

Her eyes
filled
with tears and she
appeared
emotionally
defeated.
“How can you say you don’t know me?
You took me from Avenal and gave me your mark.
Do you really not remember that?
”

“You’re mistaken.
I never met you.
I never saw you at Avenal.
I certainly didn’t take you or any other from Avenal and I have never bitten any female or given anyone a mark.”

“Find Brennus.
Your friend would know me.”

He looked at her with suspicion, as he did not know how she could possibly know he had a friend named Brennus.
He wondered if she was a spy or a telepath.
Brennus was too far away to provide any clarification of the situation.
“Brennus isn’t available.”

“Oh, that’s just fucking perfect,” she muttered.
“You could at least try to verify that I’m telling you the truth.
Just have him pop in like the others.”

Unfortunately, Brennus was not accessible at the moment.
“That’s not possible.”

She looked at him with hurt in her eyes and she spoke with a flat, lifeless tone.
“
Then take me back to Avenal.”

“That’s not an option.”
He knew that the
King
would not agree to let her go, not when she had knowledge of them.
How much she knew, he couldn’t tell, but she seemed to know way too much about him.
Who knew what else she may know?

“What do you mean, it’s not an option?
I came here for you, and you don’t want me, so I’ll just go back where I’m wanted.”

If she was a spy, he couldn’t figure out what she would gain by living with him as his lover.
He was a bard; he was close to the
King
, but there were others who were closer.
Being the
King
’s lover would be a more advantageous position for her if she hoped to gain political knowledge.
“What do you want from me?”

“You obviously can’t give me what I want, so just take me back to Avenal.”

He shook his head at her and pulled up his trousers.
He felt guilty, even though he knew that he wasn’t responsible for her feelings of disappointment.
He didn’t know her and he had never promised her
anything.
She looked so dejected and pitiful that it made him feel absolutely terrible.
He wondered if her feelings were genuine, and if so, why did she believe they had a relationship?
It was possible some other person had implanted false memories inside her brain or had used some other form of mental manipulation to get her to believe she was his woman, but he didn’t know what the other person would gain from this.
If she was a spy, she could be very dangerous.
It was also possible that Nefertiti had sent her for some nefarious reason, knowing that the girl’s beauty could
cause them to act without any caution or reason.
He transported back to the main hall, leaving Eden alone in the interrogation room.

“Did you learn anything?” Belenos asked.

“Not very much,” Drest said.

“He learned much about the insides of her vagina,” Bran sneered.
“I’d say it wasn’t a total loss.”

Drest didn’t like the way he was talking about Eden.
“Fuck off, Bran.”

“Tell us what you did learn,” Belenos said.

Drest paced the room, not knowing why he felt uncomfortable discussing their new prisoner.
“She claims to know me.
She seems to have some knowledge of me.”
He cringed when Bran started to chuckle.
“She talked about Brennus and she kept trying to get me to take her to my lodge.”

Belenos pondered this information.
“What do you think she’s up to?
Do you think she’s planning any kind of action against Asstrumnia?”

“She seems to genuinely believe we have a relationship,” Drest replied.
“I don’t think she’s planning anything, but I cannot say for sure that she isn’t a spy.
She could be playing us all for fools; it may be possible that some other person or
group of people are
manipulating her for some unknown purpose.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Belenos asked.

Drest thought about it for a minute.
“I’d like to keep her under close observation.
I’ll take
responsibility for her and keep her in a secure location.
We could have some of the druids assess her as well.”

“I’m sure your bed will be a very secure location for her,” Bran giggled.

Drest glared at Bran until he stopped giggling.
“I’m not taking her for ravishment.
I’ll determine what she knows
and what she is planning.”

“Agreed,” Belenos said.
“I’ll let the
King
know.
You can
go ahead and
take possession of the prisoner.”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Drest transported back to the interrogation room
.
Eden was trembling and was ineffectively trying to protect herself from the cold with her arms.
She shot him an accusatory glare.
He approached her carefully, knowing she was in an agitated state.
“I’m moving you to another location.”
He pulled her up tightly against him and transported them to his lodge
.
She seemed to calm and he sensed she recognized the place, which had him befuddled.
He steered her to a guest room that contained a bed as the only piece of furniture.
He gestured for her to sit there and he returned a few
minutes later with a tunic.
“Put this on.”

Eden
accepted the tunic and she
slipped
it
o
ver
her body
while he
watched
.
“What’s going to happen to me?”

“You’re going to stay here for the time being,” he said.
“You will not be allowed to leave the house.
There will be guards watching the entrances at all times.
You will answer our questions and tell us what we wish to know.
If you are caught trying to harm one of my people, you will be killed.
If you attempt to murder me in my house, you will be killed.
Do you understand?”

She nodded.
“If I answer all of your questions, will I be allowed to go home?”

“You are a prisoner.
You cannot go home.”

Her expression revealed her shock and dismay.
“I cannot go home ever?
What will you do with me after I answer all of your questions?”

He didn’t want to answer that question.
Their people usually didn’t keep prisoners of war, but when they did, they were usually kept as slaves.
She would likely not react well to that knowledge.
“Your fate has not been decided.”

He could tell that his words were
hardly comforting.
She
looked at him as if he had just announced he was
going to have her killed.
Her irate expression soon conveyed her anger.
“Well, fuck you.”

He looked at her sharply.
“I already did that.”
He had to duck when she threw some object at his head.
He didn’t look forward to living in his house with a
furious
female.

“I sure hope you enjoyed it, because there will not be a next time,” she spat.

He had no intention of starting a sexual relationship with her.
It would only complicate matters
and make it more difficult for him to remain logical and unbiased regarding her
.
“I didn’t bring you here for sex.
There will be no more
intimate relations
between us.”

She looked at him suspiciously.
“
You have some other female?
Was I gone so long that you felt the need to have me r
eplaced by another
?
Did you give
some other female
your mark?”

He was again baffled by her.
“Replaced?
What are you talking about?”

Her features were marked with anger.
“Your new lover, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Her fit of jealousy had caught him by surprise.
“I have no other lover.”
She stared at him with hurtful, suspicious eyes.
He realized then that he had told her he had no other lover, which kind of implied that she was his current lover.
If she continued to play
this game, he may forget that they didn’t have a relationship.
“I have no lover.
I don’t need a lover.”

She
narrowed her eyes at him
.
“
Of course you have someone.
There must be a person
who sees to your needs when
you’re wanting
sex
.
”

He was much too disciplined for that and he was hardly a slave to carnal needs, at least, not usually.
“No.
I don’t need that.
I don’t get that needy.”

“Right.
I’m supposed to believe that one.
You sure did a good job of being needy before.
I guess it was just the bite.
It’s good to know you’re back to being asexual.
You did tell me back then that you were affected by that bite and you tried to warn me not
to get emotional.
I should have listened.
If I had just listened to you
and accepted what you were trying to tell me, I would never have tried to come back here.
I would have stayed in Avenal.
I would have gone to that Roman and taken him as a mate.
I wouldn’t have been such an idiot.”