Demons & Dragons

by Gina Kincade

  Edmund had no idea what he stomped into, but this had small consequence on his actions. Several men jumped him when he flew through the door, but only a man who shared his eyes and his chiseled jaw stopped him. The sight of his own looks, mirrored and aged, lent its way to an immediate bond. He took a second’s heed to remind himself he need be weary of the man. This moment already not as he had predicted it would be, the urge to move into his father’s embrace the men holding him restrained.

  “Please release my son. He is desperate to see his love, I am sure. I will save our proper meeting until after you have seen her for yourself. This way, Edmund.” Aelfin turned without touching him. As Edmund followed the man’s quick steps up a wide wooden staircase, the man remarked without looking at him, “If I had had the luck to have happened upon you in the street, I would have known immediately you were of my flesh and blood.”

  Edmund quickly moved beyond his father into the room after the door opened.

  “What the hell is this? You said she was unharmed!” Edmund yelled as if to the entire world when his father moved immediately to untie Aubrey’s wrists. Their coming had obviously awoken her. She blinked sleepily at Edmund with her head still against the bedpost. He pushed his father to the side with a force stronger than needed, sending the great man against the wall. Although, he did at least think to keep his eye on the man as he went to work with the ropes. If not for the thought of hurting her, he would have yanked them off with one tug. He only wanted to hold her and absorb her into his person.

  “Edmund.” She said his name in obvious disbelief to find him before her. The look in her eyes suggested she saw him as a possible apparition.

  “I am here. I am truly here. Please forgive me for letting this happen to you.” Once he released her, he pulled her into him, cradling her entire form to his torso. She fell into him limply, but with a gasp of pain.

  “Are you all right, my love?” he asked of her, turning to his father. To his amazement, the man simply stood there watching the reunion from the wall he had been pushed into. “I will kill you, father or not, if you have harmed her!”

  “I am not hurt, just aching from being a long time sitting here.”

  “Dash it, you are indecent! Did anyone touch you?” He yelled loudly enough to pierce his own ears when his hand, which had found its way under her blankets, found her wearing only a man’s light linen shirt.

  “No, no one touched me in the manner you speak of. I have had every need met. They covered me immediately, and left me like this to not embarrass me further, I am sure.”

  He waited for her to have more to say. Until they could speak more freely, he tried to keep some semblance of peace.

  “I love you, My Lord. Never leave me alone again.”

  She started to sob lightly, and he found himself barely able to resist joining in with her as her presence with him sunk in. He turned to his father with his rage worn blatantly on his face.

  “You have little time, I fear, to start explaining this.”

  “Son, almost immediately upon finding out about you, I came to understand the state of Aubrey’s emergency at your mother’s scheming. I acted quickly to ensure her safety for you. My men had been unaware she rested indecent in her bed. One gave her his shirt, and I have called upon a seamstress to be here in the morning to fashion her clothes. She was tied because I could not convince her to willingly stay. I knew, as I said, the dire state she was in. I even know of the man your mother hired. She has quite a few friends in the darker parts of London. I have men out searching for him now. If she'd overcome my men, walked out of here, she would have ended up dead. I had to ensure her safety and had not come upon a better means as yet. She's a feisty one, not to be trifled with.”

  “Why did you kidnap her? Why did you not call upon me? There was no need to frighten her or hurt her so.”

  He restrained his need to attack someone, anyone. One, he refused to let go of Aubrey. Two, he figured it not the best course of action to ensure their safety with this magical father of his.

  “Please, forgive me. I had no idea as to your location at the time.”

  “Impossible lie.”

  “I dispatched men to find you only after my men had inquired into your whereabouts.”

  “I was in the same house, as you should have known if you could so easily find Aubrey. Or, even if you hadn't, you could have alerted the Lord Sanderly, if that is true, instead of taking her.”

  “No, I do not know to the character of Lord Sanderly other than to know he disapproves of my own ways of living. At the coin your mother was willing to pay to have Aubrey disappear, I had to ensure her safety for you first, and find you second. And, they would not have been above hurting Lord and Lady Sanderly and any other servant who got in their way. The ropes remained for her protection. Ask Aubrey, we have had some time for talking.”

  "If you knew of me through feeling my magic, how could you not have known my location?"

  "I felt you at first, didn't quite know what it was. But, by the time I was told of you I could no longer feel you."

  "That was my fault, Edmund," Aubrey added. "I hid your magic one night while you slept, shielded you from him until you were ready to meet him yourself. He found out about you through gossip within the magic community."

  Edmund nodded at her his understanding before turning back to his father. “You have an answer for everything, it seems. I pray you are telling me the truth.”

  “Please, Edmund, I did this all for you. Please, believe that, my son. I want to give you every happiness. Your obvious love for Aubrey, I wish to nurture. As I have already told Aubrey, you two are to be married here in less than a day’s time. I am arranging everything. You will live…”

  Edmund cut him off with a raise of his hand. “I wish to be alone with Aubrey now. Please, pardon my saying so. If it is all as you say, then I extend to you my deepest thanks for keeping Aubrey safe and putting her back into my arms. I wish it could have been by better means, but right now having her with me is all that matters. If it would not be too rude of me, can we resume our conversation in a few hours?”

  “Yes, my son. Take all the time you need. Sleep, if you need to. I can wait to speak with you once you have rested from your ordeal. I am truly sorry for my part in it. I am a satisfied man just to look upon you now. If I had met you on the street, as I said, I would have known you were mine. The resemblance is truly remarkable, is it not, Aubrey?” He did not glance at her although he had addressed her. Instead, he babbled, “Leave it all to me and rest now safely in each other’s embrace.”

  Edmund reached out to shake the hand that had been extended to him. He felt the same tingle of energy when his father’s hand met his as he had with Aubrey on the island. Howbeit, this shock reacted differently within him, more enveloping than exciting or exhilarating. It had more of an undercurrent of familiarity, as if he'd touched a part of himself.

  “Our magic?” Edmund said the words so quietly he couldn't be sure the words had even come out.

  “I am sure we share a great many things. Rest well, my children. Know how grateful I am you are here.”

  His weariness plagued his overly emotional mind. Nevertheless, he remembered his manners as well as the premise his other father had taught him to keep friends close, but to keep enemies closer. He had not yet determined which his father was, so he spoke to him before he closed the door.

  “If all you say is the truth, then I thank you once again for protecting my Aubrey. She means more than my life to me. You will do well to always remember that. Nothing else in life matters to me if I can not have her.”

  His father nodded with a smile upon his face as if he were his twin. A shiver went down his spine as the door shut.

  Edmund whispered into her hair, “Your wrists look so sore. I am so sorry it came to this.”

  “Pay no mind. They are not that bad. My fault for being a feisty woman.”

  “None of this is your fault!” He roared the words as q
uietly as he could. “You don’t trust the man, and nor do I.”

  “That is true, but for now we should play along until we can ascertain more information about him and his motives as to the danger we may very well be in.”

  “Does anything else hurt?”

  “No. Stop fussing so. Everything is as close to fine as it is going to get with you here.”

  He ran a checklist of her body with another inquiry of questions until he satisfied with her state physically and mentally. Then, he rolled to lie on the bed, keeping her cradled against him. He could not hold her tight enough, but he did not wish to hurt her either.

  “Get comfortable. Do you think it is safe to sleep here?” he asked through his yawn.

  “I cannot say with any certainty, but I did. Nothing outside of my kidnapping has happened that I would think us physically unsafe.” Her giggle with that statement proved the greatest sound he daresay he had ever heard. “We are too weary to fight now. Let us rest, then we will continue with this. We should be safe as long as he thinks we are following his plans.”

  “I agree, we will go along with whatever he wants until we can surmise our positions here and come up with a formidable plan of our own to escape if need be.”

  Only his current state of weariness underscored his body’s reaction to hers. They assured each other of their love seconds before falling asleep. Relishing the comfort of each other’s arms was all they had right now, but after the last night it was more than enough.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Waking up in Edmund’s arms changed so much for her in the perilous situation she found herself. The smell of his sweat and aristocratic pomp brought excitement. The warmth of his touch placated her while the deep tone of his voice made her spirits soar. She resigned herself to a moment of comfort despite the foreboding future. Rolling to face him, inch by glorious inch, she met with the full reality of him.

  “I think it is wise to let him marry us,” Aubrey blurted when Edmund’s eyes opened. “As I see it, we need time to judge the true lengths of our predicament. In that time, we might as well be married. I have never cared when or how or in what dress, I have only desired to be your wife. I want to be free, left to love you out in the open. He can give us that if we allow him to give us nothing else. I want to be your wife, Edmund. I no longer care if I have to ask the devil to marry us.”

  “I see your point, but cannot at this moment revel in your humor.” He smiled at her regardless. “In spite of what we want, will it be a real wedding or a false one based upon whatever he believes?”

  “He said we could have a say. He spoke of a handfasting, which is a ceremony that unites witches. Only, I wish to be married in the eyes of the people also, which was not a possibility before him. He owes us, as I see it. We just need to make sure that a member of the clergy performs the ceremony. Surely your father could have no objections. Aelfin seems a man to easily gain what he desires to. We must remember that his only goal is to have his son in his life, although to what end worries upon me still. On both ends of that, I fear, I can not imagine morality in any vein would interfere with something he wanted. So, we trod cautiously as we said before. With the wedding so close in his plans, we may not have a choice there anyway, so why not find the silver lining?”

  “Then let us see about your dress.”

  “Could you see if he has real clothes I can wear before we go down?”

  “Anything for you, but I have to have you first. I must kiss you. I have need of possessing you, and a desire to never become detached from you again.”

  “As you wish, My Lord.”

  “I have never cared much about that title. Yet, when you address me as such, it allows me the wondrous delusion of being Lord over you.” His hands, possessive, gripped each side of her hips.

  “No delusion. You are truly My Lord. I plan on serving you fully and fulfilling your every desire.” She batted her eyes, wantonly forcing herself to ignore their whereabouts and get lost in his voice and his touch.

  “I am pleasured to hear of it.”

  He rolled her onto her stomach and placed his body upon hers. With his arms around her, he moved his hands under the flimsy shirt. He buried his nose into the hair which had fallen from her braids. Caressing her mons, he pulled her up against him. He separated her lips to run his fingers through her moistness. With very little time, he franticly touched her, leaving no spot unattended to. The varying amounts of pressure against her swollen skin made it ache with the want of more. Her stomach contracted with small pulses of gratification at his much-desired invasion.

  She maneuvered herself upward and leaned her back against the smooth muscles of his chest. Moving one hand behind her, she struggled to get to him.

  Straining a bit to force contact, she undid his pants as best she could. Small jerks of his body helped her to at least uncover his bottom half completely. She pushed up against his staff in order to reach her hands around to his backside. His muscles clenched and rippled under her touch as his cock lengthened between her thighs.

  Moving his wet hands upward, he cupped her breasts. Ecstasy was being completely subject to him. His legs surrounded hers, his cock grew as if reaching toward her opening as the muscles of his abdomen pushed into her back. Then, when her head rose, their cheeks touched.

  Sliding his hands down over her stomach, he grasped her thighs with thick, strong fingers, spreading them apart. A small, seemingly effortless lift of her hips had the tip of him at her entrance. She enclosed his girth within her. Her body stretched and adapted to the enormity of his need. His hands grasping her hips moved her up and down, stroking him with her inner walls as she met each of his frenzied thrusts with one of her own. Her wetness flowed freely over him. Her contractions gripped his erection, hoping to pull his bliss from him as well.

  Bracing their bodies with his feet and pushing against her with his thighs, he made small gyrations with his pelvis. He moved his hardness gently against the spot that made her stomach tighten and her breath catch. His arms tightened around her, pushing on the portion of her stomach which shook with the threat of self-indulgent satisfaction. Then, in a swift but fluid movement, he brought them both to the heated ripple on the edge of climax.

  “Come with me, my Aubrey. I shall never be apart from you again.”

  The next push of his hips began the feverish clutching spasms of orgasm. She bit her lip to stifle her cries as her neck somewhat stifled his. His warm seed filled her with the security she had so internally wept for without him.

  They fell forward together, and she gripped him with her inner walls to trap him inside of her, not quite ready to let him go. Her body continued to shudder with the aftershocks of her achievement until her muscles relaxed into a satiated moment of exhaustion. She never wanted to be out from under him. She wished merely to languish away the rest of her days physically caught in the tangle of their limbs.

  After, he stayed true to his word, never leaving her. In fact, he yelled out the door to demand a gown be brought up. She laid exposed upon the bed. Pulling herself up to sitting, she thrust her breasts out toward him while letting her legs fall open only to be hit with the shirt he had removed from her earlier while listening to him groan.

  “Put it on before the lady comes up and finds us in a very compromising position.” Watching him manhandle himself into his trousers brought forth her own groan and his laugh. It warmed her throughout her entire being to hear such a sound from him again.

  When the seamstress, who must have waited a moment, came up the stairs with a soured face, he took the dress and abruptly excused her again by shutting the door. He even accompanied Aubrey into the water closet. The man turned gentlemanly when needed, helped her wash and dress when he could.

  “You look stunning, My Lady.”

  “Why, thank you, My Lord.” His smile swelled her courage. She spun around in the dress as she spoke.

  “Are we ready to face our future? I just wish for once we had more say in it. My m
other may have threatened us before, but this time we are in the binds of evil.”

  “May we hope the love for you, which shown true in his eyes, ends up our salvation. He does honestly love you as much as a man like him can. It consumes him even, I fear. We must tread lightly upon this one potential weakness. However, he is easy to anger as well. The trembling he caused in this room went beyond that which you provoked at the island. He is most powerful, truly skilled and, very used to getting his way.”

  “I get ill thinking of how this whole event must have scared you. I want to flee to a place hidden away from them all forever.” Edmund’s face griped as tight as his vocal cords, deepening his strained voice.

  “You must keep reign over such thoughts and over your anger. It will not profit us to enrage him. At least in this situation, while we may not like it, we are together. Did you not say we could overcome or endure anything if we were only together?”

  “I did,” he consented.

  “Do you believe it to still be so, then?”

  “I do.”

  “Then we must hold fast to that. Let us go face him now. No sense in putting it off any longer.”

  “First.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her until her lips felt swollen and bruised.

  “How telling my lips shall be of our impropriety.” She put a hand to her tingling flesh.

  “I don’t care.” He dropped his mouth to hers again in another crushing caress. “I love you, Aubrey. Nothing else matters but your response to that.”

  “I love you, too, Edmund. And, I will love you forever.”

  Hand in hand, they walked down the stairs, their shoulders squared like prisoners of war marching to their deaths. Never failing to keep hope alive, they went to gather the first information as to the fix they were in. They had to ascertain the best way to come through this safely. Only, the notion of becoming Edmund’s wife preoccupied most of Aubrey's thoughts.