She swallowed at his harsh tone. "I never said I should be immune to anything. I want only to know why this is happening. Where am I?"
"You are in Camelot."
She looked around at the cold, sinister walls that bore no resemblance to the place of legend. Camelot was said to be a jewel, a warm place with gold walls and brilliant tapestries. There was none of that here. "Camelot?"
"Aye," he said. "Can you not see the beauty of it? The magic? Here is where Arthur united a kingdom and saw his whole world crumble before his own nephew brutally killed him at Camlann."
She knew the famed legend well, but she'd never imagined Camelot looking like this. "Are you one of his knights of the Round Table?"
He laughed coldly at that. "Do I look like such? Nay, woman, I am their scourge. You ran from your blessed knights of the Round Table in town when they would have saved you."
"Saved me from what?"
"Me."
Seren bolted from the bed and ran for the door. Before she could reach it, the knight was before her, blocking her way. "There is no way out of here, little mouse."
"Please," she begged, terrified of what was happening to her. "Please, let me go. I am just a peasant. I am nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. I want only to go home and become a journeywoman."
A faraway look came into his cold eyes. "And I, too, was once just a peasant. A liar and a thief, I spent my entire youth running from those who would beat me. Now I am king of Camelot. The wheel of fate is ever on the move. Today you are a simple apprentice without prospects, but in the days to come your destiny was to marry and breed with one of Arthur's famed knights."
But that didn't make sense to her. It wasn't possible. "I don't understand. I cannot marry a knight. I am a peasant."
His eyes flashed red as he skimmed his evil gaze over her body.
Kerrigan felt himself growing hard as he watched her standing so courageously before him. She was terrified, he could smell it, and yet she continued to fight even though she knew it was hopeless.
She wasn't anything special and yet…
His body reacted to her nearness in a way it had never reacted to anyone before. He found himself curious over why Damé Fortune had chosen this meek little mouse to birth one of the greatest powers on earth. What a strange vessel to nurture and breed a Merlin.
"Have you ever taken a man into your body, little mouse?"
Her face flushed instantly as she sputtered.
"So you are a virgin."
His little mouse straightened her spine as she stared defiantly at him. "And I intend to stay one until the day I marry."
One corner of his mouth turned up at her challenge. "You could hardly stop me if I decided to take you."
And still she gave him no fear, only an unfounded courage met his taunts. "There is no satisfaction in stealing someone's property, my lord. True value only lies when you earn it or the owner gives it to you of her own free will."
Her bold words gave him pause as he considered them. "I know nothing of gifts."
"Then that is a shame. Perhaps if you were to ask instead of take, then you might have knowledge of them."
She was a quick little mouse. Surprisingly intelligent, point of fact, and he found himself intrigued by her argument. "Would you give me your virginity if I asked it?"
"Nay!"
"Then what is the point of asking when the only way to have something is to take it?"
"Then take it if you must," she said bravely, her eyes flashing a vivid shade of green. "but know that by doing so, you are stealing away the only thing I have that is truly mine alone to give. I hope it gives you great satisfaction to leave me with absolutely nothing." She lifted her chin as if readying herself to take his blow.
Take her.
The voice in his head was overwhelming, and normally when it issued a command, he followed it regardless of consequence, and yet he couldn't quite muster the desire to do so now. There was a rare fire in her green eyes that burned away the coldness inside him.
It was her dignity, he realized.
He remembered a time once when he had held such. But those days were past him. His dignity, like his humanity, had been stripped from him, layer by layer, until it left him a hollow, angry shell.
Before he could think better of it, he lifted his hand up to touch her soft, delicate cheek. Her skin was warm, soothing. Sweet.
He lowered his gaze down to her small breasts that would barely fill his palm, then lower to the rest of her body. She was a scrawny woman in need of food and care. He could snap her neck with barely more than a thought.
Even if she tried to fight him, she would have no strength for it. And still he was amazingly curious over her.
"What is your name, girl?"
She hesitated before she answered. "Seren."
Seren. In his language that had meant star. "And what would you give me, Seren, to preserve your virginity?"
"I don't understand."
He let his hand fall from her face while he watched her curiously as she shivered from his nearness. "You speak of gifts that are so valuable. Show me one that is more special than the gratification I can have with your body, and I shall sate my desire with another."
She cast her gaze around the room as if seeking something to give him. Her eyes widened as her gaze fell to the bed where her red cloth rested. "All I have is my scarlet cloth."
He sneered at that. "I have no need of fabric."
He saw the panic on her face, and for once he felt no satisfaction from having caused it.
"I have nothing else," she said.
"Then give me a kiss."
Her eyes widened as if he shocked her. "A kiss?"
"Aye," he said, enjoying this strange game of teasing her without malice. "Let me see the benefit of having something that is freely given and not taken. Kiss me, Seren, and let me judge the value of your gift."
Seren swallowed at his words, petrified and yet oddly intrigued. There was something about the knight that appealed to her even though he scared her beyond reason.
Why would he be pacified by a single kiss?
"I have never kissed a man before."
He scowled at her. "You've never kissed. Never tasted a man's body? How old are you?"
"A score and four."
He tsked. "A woman full-grown. How is it you have remained so chaste in a world of hungry men?"
"By choice, my lord. By my choice."
He snorted at that. "And now I give you another choice, little mouse. A kiss or your body. So what's it to be?"
Seren shivered as she wondered if a kiss would truly sate this powerful man. "And what if I don't kiss you correctly? Will my actions be for naught?"
His gaze was blank, cold. "You ask a liar for the truth? Are you that trusting or that foolish?"
"Then how do I know you won't take my body after my kiss?"
"You don't."
Seren breathed deeply at his dispassionate words. At least he was being honest. But then she had no real choice in this situation. No matter how much she hated the thought of it, she was at his utter mercy and they both knew it. "Then I shall trust you to be a man of your word. I pray you, don't disappoint me, my lord. I have had quite enough of disappointments this day."
Before Kerrigan could ask her anything more, she laid a chaste kiss to his lips. His body fired at the innocence he tasted, at the knowledge that no other man had ever tread upon this mouth before him.
His heart pounding, he nudged her lips apart with his and swept his tongue deep inside her sweet, decadent mouth to taste the first innocent kiss he'd ever known. It washed over him in waves of desire, making his groin hard and aching. Aye, she was much more than she'd seemed at first. An odd surprise of innocent hunger.
Seren moaned at the taste of her dark knight. His skin was cold as ice, as his tongue danced through her mouth, licking and teasing her. She'd never experienced anything like it before.
He pulled her roughly into h
is arms and held her close as he deepened his kiss even more. She felt him bulging against her hip and knew exactly how much he wanted to take her.
He left her mouth to trail his kisses over her cheek, then down to her neck where he buried his cold lips against her throat. Her breasts tightened as desire pooled itself to the center of her body. Chills swept the full length of her body.
She'd never known desire before, but she felt the heat of it stinging her now. A foreign, frightening part of her wouldn't even mind if he pressed her for more…
"Aye, Seren," he breathed against her ear in a ragged tone that sent chills the length of her body. "A kiss freely given is most sweet indeed."
Seren felt his hand against her back lift the hem of her gown. She went ramrod stiff in fear of what he was about to do.
Kerrigan's body was molten. All he could think of was tasting more of her virgin flesh. Of spreading her creamy thighs wide and driving himself deep inside her wet heat over and over again until he was fully spent.
But she had trusted him.
No one had ever given him trust before. No one.
And she had kissed him of her own free will.
His body screaming out in protest, he let loose her dress and forced himself to step away from her. Even so, his cold lips still burned from the taste of hers.
And he wanted more. He craved it with a ferocity that stunned him.
Seren watched him carefully, half afraid that he would rape her after all.
He didn't. But there was something painful in his eyes. Something so deeply tormented that it made her chest ache for him, and she didn't understand why.
He cleared his throat. "Are you hungry, little mouse?"
She nodded.
"I shall have food prepared for you." He paused at the door and looked back at her.
"Aye," he said quietly as he swept her from head to toe with his gaze. "That's much better. I could never abide a woman in rags."
It wasn't until after he left that she realized her tattered dress was no longer on her body. Instead she wore a shimmering gown of pale blue samite with a gold girdle and soft leather shoes that matched it.
Seren's legs went weak. It was all she could do to keep standing. Surely this was all a vivid dream. How could it be real?
"Wake up, Seren." But it wasn't a dream. Somehow this place was real.
The black knight was real. And something inside her warned that if she didn't find a way to escape this place, she would be doomed and damned here forever.
Chapter 3
"So you're the Penmerlin's mother."
Seren turned away from the window where she'd been watching an angry black sea crash upon the castle's stones far below, to see an old crone entering her room. The crone was dressed in black, which seemed to be the color du jour here in the castle, with her gray hair pulled back into a gnarled braid. "I am no one's mother."
"But you will be, God willing."
There was something in the old woman's hopeful tone that gave Seren pause. A slither of instinct that begged her to listen to it.
The old woman drew close to her and looked about nervously as if afraid someone might be able to overhear them. When she spoke, her tone was barely more than a whisper. "There isn't much time, child. You have to leave here before it's too late."
"Too late for what?"
"To save you. Right now the Kerrigan is focused on using you to barter with Merlin, but once that fails, he will take your head and drink your blood."
That was something Seren would most definitely like to avoid. "Then how do I escape this place?"
The old woman sighed as if the answer troubled her greatly. "Unfortunately, you have only one choice."
Seren waited expectantly, but the woman appeared to lose her train of thought as she trudged about the room, examining the stones. "And that is?" she prompted.
The crone stopped and looked at her. "The Kerrigan."
Seren frowned at the unfamiliar name the crone kept using. "The Kerrigan?"
"The black knight who captured you and brought you here. You have to seduce him so that he will drop his guard and let you escape this damned place."
How easy the crone made it sound to drag a man to her bed, but it wasn't easy and she knew it. Not to mention the small matter that she was a virgin who rather liked her innocent state. The last thing she wanted was to barter her maidenhead to a professed demon in exchange for a freedom she was certain would be only temporary. If she were to run, the black knight would most likely come after her, and then what would she have to barter with?
"I can't do that. I know nothing of seducing men."
"You have no choice, child," the crone insisted in that low, commanding tone. "There are only two people who can come and go freely in and out of this realm. Morgen, who, no offense, will never help you, and the Kerrigan."
Still, she refused to believe it. "There has to be another way to escape."
"There isn't. Trust me, men are susceptible to their lust. He is already attracted to you. Use his lust to gain your freedom."
Seren rebelled at that idea. "'Tis wrong to use people in such a manner."
The old woman snorted. "It is wrong to kill them as well, and they will kill you. Do you not understand me, chit? The Kerrigan is evil to the marrow of his bones."
"He has been kind to me."
She scoffed at that. "He knows nothing of kindness. Trust me. I have seen him cut the throat of his own men for nothing more than looking askance at him. He feels for no one, and it is by his own hand you will be slain when the time comes for it."
Seren's heart pounded at her dire prediction. "And why should I trust you?"
"Because I am the only hope you have. I have been here since the time when Arthur was king. I was here when this mighty castle fell to Morgen and I was here when they brought the Kerrigan in. Barely more than a boy, he had a good soul in the beginning and they destroyed it, piece by piece, until he learned to be one of them. And they will destroy yours, too. Mark my words. I tried to warn him as I am warning you, and he failed to listen. He allowed Morgen to seduce him to her cause, and now he is eternally damned." Her gaze was sad and frail until she looked back at Seren. "Please, don't be so foolish. I beg you."
Seren nodded in agreement. She didn't want to lose her soul or her life. Honestly, she was attached to both with equal amounts of fervor. "Very well then. What do I do?"
"Be nice to him. Seduce him so that you can take the star amulet from around his neck. It bears the sign of a dragon. Take it from him and run for the bailey, toward the drawbridge. If you cross the drawbridge with it, you will arrive in the world of man at the same place and time where he whisked you away from it."
"And if I leave without the amulet?"
"You will be lost forever in the Val Sans Retour."
Seren's eyes widened. The Valley of No Return. "That is the valley where Morgen banishes her lovers who cease to please her," she breathed.
"You know of it?"
She nodded. Over the years, she had heard many bards and minstrels tell tales of Morgen le Fey and her evil Val Sans Retour. It was said to be the most horrible place in existence. Worse than even hell itself.
If that was a real place, it made her wonder what else might be true.
"Do you have a name?" she asked the old woman.
"Magda."
"Tell me, Magda, how many of the stories I know of Arthur and Camelot are true and how many are false?"
Magda patted her hand comfortingly. "There's not enough time for all that, child. But know this. Camelot has fallen into evil hands, and the evil that lives here wants nothing more than to make the world a copy of it. In this terre derrière le voile there are two great powers. Morgen, who is queen of the fey people, and the Kerrigan, who is king of Camelot. On the side of good are the Lords of Avalon. They are the knights who survived the fall of Camelot. With the help of the Penmerlin's successor, they retreated after the battle of Camlann to Avalon, where they continue
to fight for all that is good. We must get you to them so that they can protect you. You are far too important in this battle to stay here."
"But why was I chosen? I am only a peasant."
"Why is the sky above us…well, here it is always gray or black, never blue, and I actually know why. However, the fact is this, you were chosen by Damé Fortune to be an instrument of good. Accept your fate, child." Her eyes flared with a life that belied her years as she held her hands up in fists to illustrate her impassioned words. "Embrace it."
Magda patted her on her arm as she lowered her voice to scarce more than a whisper. "There are thirteen Merlins who are important to Avalon. But the most important of all is the Penmerlin—the one who rules them all. The Penmerlin is the most powerful instrument for good. For two hundred years, the Penmerlin watches over and guides the Lords of Avalon. Then he or she is allowed to retire and to live out his or her life in peace and comfort. The child you are to bear will be the next Penmerlin. Because of her dark magic, Morgen knows this, and it is why she will ultimately kill you after Kerrigan gets what he wants. If you die, there will be no replacement, and when the current Merlin's reign ends, the Lords of Avalon will be without leadership."
Her eyes narrowed on Seren. "You hold in your hands the future of all that is good and decent. You and your child are the only ones who stand between Morgen and the Kerrigan, and the world of man."
Seren still didn't understand why she was chosen for this. She wasn't up to such a challenge. She was only a young woman of insignificant birth. "I only want to have my own loom. My own shop. I don't want to live in a fabled place and be broodmare to some man I have yet to meet."
Magda gave her a sympathetic pat. "Life is seldom what we want it to be, child. But think of it this way. The mother of the Penmerlin lives in a place of honor at Avalon. Your husband won't be a peasant or merchant, he will be a noble knight who adores you. You will have a life of unimaginable riches and happiness. You'll never again know want or hunger."
It was too good to be true. Seren looked down at her work-worn hands. There were places on her fingers that were broken open from using the comb on her loom. Her nails were ragged and unkempt, her skin raw and chafed. There had seldom been a night in her life when she hadn't collapsed on her small pallet on the floor from sheer exhaustion, her hands throbbing and bleeding, her back and shoulders aching.
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