The Barbarian's Captive (Warlords 0f Farian Book 4)

by Bailey Dark

  I put forth, into the most accessible avenues of my thought, the idea of reaching out to her, of pulling her up from the blankets, taking her into my arms, feeling her hips in my hands, reaching around and grabbing her ass… I imagined licking my lips and I imagined her smiling and playing with my hair, teasing her hands through it and leaning down to kiss me. I imagined her pulling at my hand and entwining her fingers in mine. I imagined her telling me to smack her ass, and I reached back and smacked her soundly, imagining her giggling with delight and me crooning with desire as I pulled her up to straddle my lap.

  All the while, I watched her expression. It swept quickly from eager curiosity as she stared at me to a heated glare, jaw clenched, chest heaving, staring daggers at me.

  As I imagined burying my head in her breasts and her supreme delight at my tongue finding her nipples, she jumped up, the towels and cloak falling to the floor. She swung her finger at me, other hand on her popped out hip.

  “You stop that right now!”

  I chortled a laugh and dropped the chair forward to all fours, rising up and standing before her. She stumbled back against the wall, chest still heaving, anger flashing in those beautiful eyes.

  “You’ve been reading my mind, you little minx.”

  “I… I… I don’t know…” She reached behind her for the poker, hand frantic, afraid to look away from me to find it. I leaned over and picked it up, so close her breasts brushed my coat. I plucked the iron tool from its holder.

  “What are you going to do with this?” I held the handle out to her.

  “I don’t know… I just… Are you angry…?”

  I furrowed my brow at her, frowning, trying not to let my true smile betray me. Then I laughed again and dropped the poker back into its place. “No, I’m not mad, Zaya. I think it’s amazing! Let’s see if you really can telepath. I’ll teach you. Go on, sit back in your pile of towels. You must be freezing.”

  I turned away from her and pulled my chair closer. I sat down and gestured from her to the towels. She took a deep breath and piled herself into her warming garments again.

  “Why aren’t you angry?”

  “I think it’s clever. You realized you might have a power and you wanted to explore it. But, truly, you should have told me. Trying to teach you would have helped pass the time in this blasted storm a bit better. Now we have something in common that we can do!” I leaned forward, my hands clasped in front of me. I was pleased that she didn’t jerk back, but instead leaned forward, too. A little tentative, perhaps, but trusting.

  I did wonder how much she had read of my mind in the last few hours of her being more cogent, and I slid up some more secure compartments immediately, especially any thoughts of Blatson, my mission, and the fact that I was worried she might have some connection to Blatson, too. I knew, for the sake of the mission, that I needed to ask her about it. I was just strangely reluctant to smash apart this little bubble we had… Even though the bubble was mainly awkward silence. At least teaching her to telepath, if that was even possible, would give us something to do. This was exciting!

  “How did you realize you could read my mind?”

  She shrugged, her brown cheeks blushing a little, which surprised me. She didn’t seem like a woman who would find much to be embarrassed about. Perhaps it was because she had been so angry about me finding ways to keep her captive mentally, taking advantage of her vulnerability? Then, once she found she had some of that power, she had leapt at it. That would be enough to have someone question their identity, for sure.

  “At one point, I just wondered what you were thinking, and it was like your thoughts were inside me. Not really words, just an impression of what those words meant. I guess that’s similar to the way I understand you with the translator. I can hear you saying words in another language, but the impression appears in my mind of what you mean through your translator. It was kind of like that, but even more clear… It was strange… Electrifying…”

  I laughed in delight at the shine in her eyes. “Electrifying, so you wanted more? So, the past few hours you’ve just been trying to read my mind any chance you get?”

  “Yes, but… It doesn’t work all the time. So, I have been trying to refine it, see the consistencies of when it does work.”

  “And what have you read?”

  She looked down at the blankets and smoothed them across her lap. “You seem really concerned about the storm and having enough firewood. You seem really concerned about keeping me safe… Which I don’t understand.”

  I shrugged as she looked at me. “I made you a promise. I will keep you safe, as long as you help me, too. And I have to go north, first.”

  “Yes, to speak with a man.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Which man?”

  My eyes danced laughter at her. “Which man are you running from?”

  Her eyes danced laughter right back. “Okay, okay. We will keep some secrets for now…”

  My heart was racing, because, I found I was truly afraid that she would answer my flippant question and reveal that it was indeed Blatson that she was running from… But, that just couldn’t be true. That was too much of a coincidence. She had latched onto that name in my mind when we were mentally connected and it had blurred into her subconscious and come out in her delirium. That was the simplest explanation. That had to be the truth.

  “Ok.” I clapped my hands together. “Now, when you are trying to reach out to someone telepathically, it is a mutual agreement. Which might be why you struggled some of the time. You have to also be giving of yourself. You have to be willing to be read by that person, if they so Will it. It’s why the telepaths who deal with espionage are so highly trained in blocks and walls and compartments.” I saw her confusion. “Typically, you wouldn’t have been able to read anything from me, I don’t think. But, I have been lax with my blocks and walls and compartments. There is a bit of Will, of mental and emotional energy, that is always expended by a telepath, to make sure their mind is protected. Sometimes, it needs to be more intensely guarded than others, like during an attack or subterfuge. But, I haven’t been worried about running into any telepaths here, so I have dropped my walls. I gave you access, without even realizing it.”

  “But, people of Vailstor are not telepaths. Why have I been able to read it?”

  “I think it’s because of the mental connection I created when I mind controlled you. So, I don’t honestly know if your skills will last, or if they will wane as the control I had on you completely disappears. I also don’t know if you will be able to read anyone but me.”

  “Interesting…” She bit her lip and hugged herself. “Have you put up blocks now that you know I can read your mind?” I laughed.

  “Yes, I have.”

  “Trust is hard to earn.”

  “Yes… And the fact that I forced trust into you during the mind control, makes me think it will be harder to earn your real trust, and harder for me to trust that it is genuine, and not just the fleeting whim remnants of my Will.”

  “Hmm…” Her eyes lasered into me and I smiled.

  “Welcome to my mind. It’s warm and cozy, except where it’s filled with monsters. Let me teach you.”

  She looked at me with a smile. “How do I say something back?”

  “Open up your mind to me. It’s like giving a bit of your emotion to me. You push it toward me, you Will it toward me. You will literally feel your brain stretching to allow it to happen.”

  Zaya furrowed her brow and strained to mimic my words. She looked at me expectantly. “Did you hear anything?”

  “No.” I held out my hands to her. “It it a dance of vulnerability and strength. Here, hold onto my hands. I will let you feel what it’s like in my mind.” She pulled back a little. “Don’t worry. I won’t compel you to do anything. I will just let you feel what I feel when I open myself to someone, so you can reflect it.”

  The leather gloves were smooth and firm around her slender hands and I grippe
d them tightly. I squeezed her hands and winked at her reassuringly. Then I looked straight in her eyes and pushed some of my Will to her, so she could feel the echo of openness, of trust, of mutual respect that I felt for her.

  Tears sprang to her eyes and her hands curled in mine.

  “That’s so beautiful…” She whispered, eyes wide and hungry for more.

  “Now you try.” She wiped her tears on her sleeve awkwardly and cleared her throat. She gripped my hands still, strongly, then pulsed her Will into me.

  It nearly threw me back into the chair, it was so strong and sweet and swift. My head swam and I had to close my eyes, shaking my head. I pulled my hands out of hers to sever at least that intimate connection, lights exploding in my mind, the cabin’s dim red light swimming. I took a deep breath and steadied myself against the chair. Her Will swam in my head and I pushed it gently to the side, compartmentalizing it and trying to overcome its insistent curiosity. It was so filled with emotion… So many emotions… Hope that this would work, the quest for new knowledge, a warring Will to trust and fear me, hurt… So much hurt… From somewhere else. Pain that she hadn’t meant to let slip into her Will, but was so present in her mind that it couldn’t resist infiltrating her powerful surge of Will.

  I blinked rapidly to look at her where she was waiting.

  “Did it work?”

  “Well…” I cleared my throat and tried to shake the feeling of nausea. The mental connection to her was strong… So strong… Was it the leftover mental commands? Or something else? “Yes and no. I felt your Will, but you didn’t have any focus. It just overwhelmed my mind. Flooded me. I also could tell you didn’t focus your Will on just one emotion, you put all your emotions into it. But that’s okay. That’s my fault for not explaining more… So… Let’s start from the beginning. A little more slowly, but one thing I can tell you, Zaya, that I already knew is that… You’re very strong… Very, very strong. That mental connection… It was just…” I shook my head, breathless. She grinned smugly at me.

  “Let’s keep going.”

  It was getting darker and darker in the cabin as night settled in outside and as the weak, wet wood, desperately tried to give us some heat. But, we were both eager to interact now, in a new way, and I helped instruct her, a little bit slower, recalling my early telepathic training. She took to it quickly, but I also hastily made sure she learned how to compartmentalize. I didn’t want to sneakily learn something more than she wanted me to know…

  That’s stupid. I should be interrogating her. Not training her.

  Maybe she will tell me more easily if she trusts me.

  Maybe Blatson’s men are out searching for us in the snow and will kill me on sight.

  I need to know…

  Arguing with myself was getting me nowhere, and training this vixen was charming me incessantly. The way her turquoise eyes flared and her sweet tongue darted across her lips to lick them when she realized she had learned a new tactic… I wanted to feel it touching my skin.

  I shook myself and focused on her question as the storm raked its blizzard against our little fortress.

  “You have to remember to keep the blocks up, even as you accept my Will. It’s important--” I stopped as Zaya hugged herself closer to the dim fire. She yawned and as the yawn finished, I realized her teeth were chattering.

  It was completely dark outside.

  “Shit, it’s freezing in here.” I looked around the sparse cabin. I tore apart the sides of the baskets. They flared to life in the fireplace, giving a momentary brilliance of warmth, but they wouldn’t last long. They were basically kindling.

  I turned to the chair I had been using. “Cover your eyes.”

  I quickly and efficiently broke apart the legs and back and shoved a few pieces into the fire. There were two side tables that I broke up next.

  There really was nothing else…

  “Will we make it?”

  I looked down at her as the first chair leg spiked up into flame. It was a hollow leg, wood that would burn quickly.

  “Of course. We just need to stay warm enough through the night. This wood,” I kicked the other semi-wet pieces, “will be dry by morning and we will be all right, then.”

  I took a step back, completely startled, as she raised her arm and opened the swathe of blankets and cloak to me.

  “Do you want to huddle in here to keep warmer?”

  Yes… Oh, gods, yes…

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  “I will wake up every so often to put the other chair legs on.”

  “That’s okay.” She moved in closer to the fireplace and I pulled up on the outside of the blankets to snuggle in behind her. I tucked the towels and cloak in as best I could around us and then gently laid my arm across her body, wondering if she could feel how quickly my heart was racing. She pulled it in tighter, positioning it so that my arm went up in between her breasts and she laid my hand against her face. Her face was so smooth and warm... My other arm went around behind her head and I tucked my legs up behind hers.

  I was immediately warmer, for more than one reason, as she wiggled her ass into me, fitting perfectly against me.

  “Good night…” She Willed into me.

  “Good night…” I marveled at how intense the mental connection was when I touched her, that same sensation of lights going off flashing through my mind. I hugged her close, her hair still smelling like lavender and peppermint. We gradually drifted to sleep, as the storm beat down and the first leg of the chair crackled to keep us warm.

  Eleven

  Zaya

  It was as dark inside as it was outside when I awoke, teeth chattering, hearing the charzbos cursing and moving about the cabin. I could hear him tearing apart pages of a book. I wasn’t sure where he had found that. Then he bustled back to the fireplace and worked on relighting it.

  I reached out telepathically to see if I could read his mind, but was greeted by a wall. My time of sneaking into his consciousness was over.

  The fire fought him, but gradually the side table legs caught as the kindling pages burned brightly.

  As he tucked himself back in behind me, I turned around, the firelight illuminating half of his face. His pale green eye looked at me curiously as I placed my gloved hand on his cheek.

  My heart was beating fast. I licked my lips and smiled to watch his eyes trace that motion hungrily. I found his hands and pulled one around to place his fingers on my ass. His eyes lit with a smile that matched his gorgeous mouth, and then he squeezed. I giggled and brought his other hand around to my face, letting him brush his glove across my cheek, down my jawline, then I brought his hand to rest on my throat. He brushed it tenderly, knowing how fragile it was, how quickly his strength could crush me.

  I leaned into him and whispered my lips against his. I pulled him into me, my fingers kneading into his back, slipping beneath his heavy coat. He moaned into my mouth and pressed his lips fully down on mine, devouring my mouth.

  His tongue was quick and mine matched him, twisting around and flicking. Then he sucked my tongue into his mouth and I squealed. He pressed his hand down on my throat, choking me, releasing my tongue, but holding my mouth with his mouth, kissing me ravenously, my mind exploding, my body needing air as my hips ground into his, my fingertips clawing down his back. His hand was gripping my ass and at the last moment, as I started to feel truly faint, he let go of both my mouth and my throat.

  I gasped for air and smiled at him, laughing through the gasps. “I trust you…”

  The look in his eyes was warm and happy, with a fleeting moment of sadness, maybe, but then he was leaning back into me to kiss me again.

  “Let’s go to sleep…” His thought reverberated through my mind. “Sweat will be dangerous right now, once it evaporates, it might create a freezing layer in our clothes. As much as I’ve enjoyed this.” He didn’t stop kissing me while he Willed his thoughts into me, and he squeezed my ass.

  “You might be
the only man who has ever said no to me.” I couldn’t help but Will a touch of sadness to him, playful though it might be. I also knew he was right.

  “Don’t mark me a noble gentleman just yet,” he said and bit down on my lip teasingly. “I just want us to make it through the night alive so we can enjoy each other even more in the future.”

  I pushed back from his kiss and then kissed his nose. I spun around so he was holding me from behind again, holding his arm close between my breasts and his hand against my cheek. He thrust gently into my ass and I bit down onto his thumb as I laughed.

  “None of that, just yet, charzbos…”

  “I’ll get you to call me Cartari sometime soon.”

  “Maybe. It’s hard to forget you’re a barbarian who held me captive.”

  “Are you no longer captivated by me?”

  I laughed. “That’s different.”

  He nuzzled into my neck and kissed it. “Good night, Zaya.”

  “Good night…” Cartari… I said it mentally, but couldn’t say it aloud, just yet. I looked into the orange, red, and yellow flames and was lost in their glow. After all, what I said was true. I really didn’t know him, and while I was trusting him, to an extent, what was to stop him from leaving me, or controlling, or crushing me with his mind? I should make sure I didn’t forget that he had powers I couldn’t even dream of. Not just telepathy, but telekinesis, too.

  I hugged him tighter and closed my eyes. For now, he was keeping me safe. For now, I would let him.

  Twelve

  Cartari

  I listened to her breathing even out as she fell asleep, clutching my arm and laying against my hand. I could still taste her lips on mine. Well, that had been a pleasant surprise. It had taken a lot for me to stop it, but my concerns had been three-fold: