Taken By The Passion (The Academy Series)

by Mansfield, Maxine

  He watched her intently, loving the way her gaze locked with his. Never wavering, not blinking. An equal partner in every way in what they were doing. Equal and full of determination.

  He thrust forward fast and hard, and Lizbeth’s eyes widened. He did it again, and she grinned. She ran her nails up and down his back, and he gasped. She nipped at a nipple, and he groaned, though not from pain.

  Sweat soaked their bodies as the fevered pitch of their lovemaking took both their breaths away. Over and over, they strove to get closer than their undulations could bring them, trying frantically to meld one into another. Each knowing once their climax was reached, and the moment was over, they’d have no choice but to part, perhaps forever.

  But this wasn’t that moment, not yet anyway.

  In a single motion, Adan flipped them over until Lizbeth straddled him. She didn’t miss a beat as she slowly rose the full length of his shaft then quickly slid back down, imbedding his shaft inside her. Sparks of light exploded behind his eyes while lightning-fast pleasure shot down his cock, through his spine, and all the way from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. She gave him that little smirk, that look all women gave when they knew they had their man at their mercy.

  Adan laughed from the depths of his soul. It was the first genuine sound of joy he’d allowed himself to express for days.

  “Like that, did you?” she purred.

  All he could manage was a nod.

  She tossed her long toffee-colored hair and grinned. “Hmm, would you say I learned at least a little something of value in those Adan Hammerstrike classes after all?” She winked. “Want more?”

  His response was more of a growl than an actual word as he slid his hand between them until he found her moist, hard clit. For every upward movement she made, he gave her nub a downward stroke.

  Lizbeth’s eyes widened, and her nostrils flared. Her skin glistened with a golden peach sheen, and her lips fell open in a silent oh, as she began riding him in earnest. He tried to concentrate on pleasuring her first, but just when he thought he was gaining a grain of control, she varied either the speed of her stroke or the depth and he was lost again. Finally, he gave up or gave in, he wasn’t sure which, and simply lay back to enjoy the ride.

  Adan heard her cry of joy no more than a second before her legs clamped tight about him, and she shuddered. A moment later, his own world exploded with such sweet delight his eyes crossed, his mind went blank, and his thighs quivered.

  Slowly, he came back to himself. His breathing calmed, and his heart no longer pounded as if it were a drum. He opened his eyes, and the sight of his well-loved wife with tears shining in her eyes brought moisture to his own. He pulled her into his embrace and held her tight, not wanting her to see his weakness.

  “I don’t want you to go.” She sobbed.

  He rocked her gently. “We both know I don’t have a choice.”

  Snuggling her in close to his heart, Adan couldn’t help but think it would be easier for both of them without the trauma of actually saying goodbye. So, he held her until her sobs subsided, her breathing evened, and she fell asleep.

  He watched her for long minutes, just staring at her face in peaceful slumber and relishing the feel of her in his arms, unable to stop listening to the gentle cadence of the tiny puffs of air she exhaled.

  He missed her already.

  Sighing, he counted the steady drumming of the pulse at the base of her throat, knowing it matched exactly the rate the grains of sand were sifting through the hourglass. He needed to go. He should already have left. He didn’t want to.

  As carefully as possible, so as to not wake her, Adan slid his arm out from beneath Lizbeth, stood, and dressed. She didn’t stir, and for a moment, he wished she would. It was wrong to leave without saying more. So much between them was still unsettled.

  Adan shook his head. What was left to say? He couldn’t very well drop to his knees and declare his love and beg her for hers. After all he’d said earlier, it wouldn’t be fair. He turned to leave, took two steps toward the door then turned back. It didn’t matter if she could never love him, he needed to at least say something. It might be his last chance.

  Kneeling at the bedside, he leaned over and with feather softness brushed her lips with his own. “Goodbye, Lizard. I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”

  Again, he stood then hesitated once more. With something akin to awe, Adan leaned over, placed a quick kiss on her tummy, and whispered, “Your father loves you, little one. Take care of your mother while I’m away. She means the world to me. You’re the man of the keep till I get home.”

  Without another word, he straightened, turned, walked from the room, and closed the door behind him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Adan sighed. “Don’t you think being saddled with Ray is bad enough? He’s going to throw a fit when he learns we’re going after the Blade of Gin. We can’t be adding kidnapping to our crimes.”

  Leeky Shortz rolled his eyes and extended his brown leather-clad hand straight out. “Ya might as well talk ta the digits.”

  Adan shook his head. “Under the circumstances, I can see where you’d think O.T.T. would be useful with his background in historical artifacts and all, but he hasn’t done field work in a very long time. He gives lectures and sits behind a desk all day, for God Draka’s sake. It’s much too dangerous. Not to mention, I’d like to ride back out of Karza with the same body parts I had when I rode in. If you have need of a companion, Leeky, bring along Miss Bunny. She’d be a lot less trouble.”

  He tried to keep his expression stern as he stared at the little bald-headed man with the wire-rimmed glasses and pencil-thin mustache who was trussed up like a holiday bird across the rump of Leeky Shortz’s steed. Adan had the feeling he was failing horribly.

  “What the oozing canker sores on the bottom lip of a street-walking ogress deep-throating a dwarf for a platt and change are ya thinking, lad? Of course, we’re taking O.T.T. with us.” The gnome smiled widely. “Not only is he Albrath’s leading expert on historical artifacts like the Blade of Gin, but he knows the newly elected troll magistrate intimately. Who better ta sweet-talk Karla than the man who once won her heart?”

  Leeky’s smile disappeared. “Anyway, Laycee wouldn’t let me out the door with Miss Bunny this time around. Says she needs her ta help with the packing for the trip ta Castle Kuropkat. Can ya believe that? If ya ask me, I think she’s developing a mean jealous streak.”

  O.T.T. slurred his words, and even though Leeky’s horse was upwind, the strong smell of mead accosted Adan.

  “It’s not pronounced gin like the drink, ya daft, panty-stealing gnome. It’s ga...gin, like begin or hen or fin but with a hard g. And my sister’s never been jealous a day…hic…day in her life. And as for you, Adan Hammerstrike, don’t ya be looking at me like ya smelled…hic…something bad. This wasn’t my idea. I didn’t tie myself ta this horse, ya know. I’m the assistant ta the assistant of Gnome/Ogre Affairs, and I’ll be missed. Heads will roll…hic…I tell ya. I don’t wanna go searchin’ for the Blade of Gin with ya.”

  O.T.T. giggled, but instead of sounding funny, it resonated hysteria. “Anyway, Karla told me ta never come back ta Karza, and I take everything that woman says very seriously. I’ve only got one testicle left, ya know. Don’t mean ta put that one in danger.”

  Leeky cackled. “As if ya need ta worry about your saggy old testicle. No woman’s gonna give ya a second look anyway, so ya don’t need it. And don’t ya be thinking ya can correct my pronunciation. I’ll call it blade of gin or ale or mead or whatever I want.”

  Adan tried unsuccessfully to rub the ache out from between his eyes. The throbbing pain had begun the moment he’d closed the door on Lizbeth, and had only gotten worse as he’d descended the stairs, walked out into the gray skies of morning, mounted his horse, and ridden into the bailey to meet his friends. “I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to get your girlfriend’
s brother drunk and kidnap him, Leeky. Untie him and let him go.”

  The gnome shook his head. “Not gonna do it. You’ll thank me later.”

  Ray rode up that moment, overhearing Adan’s statement. He flipped through a shiny, new-looking leather notebook and made an entry. “I’m positive you’d be breaking at least one law, if not a few, by attempting to take an inebriated gnome along with us on a quest. And, if you are, it’s my duty to report it. As far as that stupid knife, you should be spending your time thinking about how we’re going to capture our prize, not kill it.”

  Leeky glared.

  The sky darkened, matching Adan’s mood. Fat, cold drops of rain began pelting the ground, some finding their way down the neck of his tunic, making him even more miserable than he’d already been.

  He glanced up toward the window of his room, and the silhouette of Lizbeth with her face pressed against the glass could plainly be seen. He sighed. Having grown up with a sister who was a Spiritmaster, he had no doubt his son was now the one responsible for the day’s foul weather. He wanted to go to Lizbeth right now and hold her and the baby both, but he couldn’t. He had to get going. There was a nogard to deal with.

  Adan was just about to climb down from his horse and untie Laycee’s brother himself, when Sarco leaned over and whispered, “You know, it might not be such a bad idea if we did take O.T.T. with us. Though I do think we should probably sober him a bit before trying to convince him to come along. Kidnapping a diplomat, even a gnome diplomatic assistant, might get us in more trouble than we can afford.”

  O.T.T. chose that moment to show them just how inebriated he was. Loud, high pitched, and not in key by any stretch of the imagination, he broke out in song.

  “Listen ta the story of the Blade of Gin…hic… the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin. Listen ta the story of the Blade of Gin, as so the humans say.

  “It came from far away, the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin. It came from far away, the Blade of Gin, so as the humans say.

  “They killed the nogards with the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin. They killed the nogards with the Blade of Gin…hic…so as the humans say.

  “Cut right through their scales with the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin. Cut right through their scales with the Blade of Gin, so as the humans say.

  “The dragons bow down ta the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin, the Blade of Gin. The dragons bow down ta the Blade of Gin, so as the humans say…hic.”

  Adan nodded toward O.T.T. as he whispered back to Sarco, “We can’t wait for him to sober up to get under way. I have no idea how much mead Leeky poured down him, but I’d wager it was enough to keep him inebriated for at least the remainder of this day and probably well into tomorrow.”

  Sarco rubbed his chin. “How much are you willing to bet I can get him sober and not only ready, but anxious to go with us?”

  Adan laughed. “Oh, no, my friend. I know better than to bet with you. I always lose. But if you wish to try, have at it.”

  He wasn’t the least bit surprised as Sarco hopped down from his horse, walked over to the nearby well, filled a bucket with water, and doused the trussed gnome.

  O.T.T. coughed, sputtered, and squealed as cold water sluiced down his back and dripped to the ground below.

  Adan didn’t dismount as he sidled beside Leeky’s horse, pulled his knife, cut the gnome’s bonds, and helped O.T.T. into a sitting position. As soon as Laycee’s brother had a leg securely against both sides of the horse, he turned and shook his fist at Sarco.

  “The daft rain wasn’t bad enough? Ya can try ta drown me if ya want, but I still ain’t going ta Karza and ya can’t make me.”

  Adan leaned back in his saddle and relaxed, secure in his elf friend’s powers of persuasion. He didn’t have long to wait before Sarco said, “You misunderstand. I’m on your side, O.T.T. I don’t blame you for not wanting to come with us. I wouldn’t want the responsibility of being declared a national hero either, if I could get out of it. Because that’s exactly what you’d be if you somehow managed to talk the trolls into letting us use that knife for a few days. People like you and me prefer not to be in the limelight. We don’t need frivolous praise and riches heaped on our heads to make us happy.”

  O.T.T.’s eyes lit, and Adan couldn’t manage anything but a smile and a shake of his head as he listened to Sarco’s manipulation speech.

  “And you’re probably right. It’s much too dangerous for a scrawny little old gnome like yourself. Best to leave dangerous quests to the younger generation. Not to be disrespectful, but I doubt you still have the finesse to pull it off anyway, especially with Karla. Even if she did fancy you once, that was long ago, and it would take more of a gnome than you are to convince her. Leave the finessing to me. I have a way with women.”

  Sarco winked at O.T.T. “You still remember what I’m talking about, don’t you? The power to have a female want to do your bidding? Yeah, best you stay here with your sister where it’s safe. We’ll tell you all about our adventure when we get back. Now, hop down off that horse so the rest of us can be on our way. We’re wasting daylight.”

  Adan smiled at his brother-in-law’s antics.

  O.T.T. puffed out his chest. “Too dangerous? I’ll have ya know I’ve stared down dangers so real they’d make your hair turn white and have ya jumping for cover. And scrawny?” The gnome pulled up his sleeve, exposing a thin little arm, and flexed it repeatedly. “Does this look scrawny ta ya? Bah, ya don’t know scrawny from tightly defined. And if ya think for a minute I’m too old for a tussle, then come a little closer and I’ll demonstrate how old I’m not, on the top of your pointy-eared elf head.”

  O.T.T. slid his sleeve down and thrust a spindly finger toward Sarco. “Ya think I have a lack of finesse? I’ll have ya ta know, I was sealing diplomatic deals when ya were still at yer mama’s tit. And not gnome enough? I’ll show ya, I’ll show all of ya.”

  O.T.T. shook a fist in Sarco’s direction. “If ya think for a moment the lot of ya are going anywhere near my Karla or Karza without me, ya better think again. I’m the one who’ll have Karla eatin’ outta my hand again in no time, and that whatever-ya-wanna-call-it blade will be in Prince Adan’s possession before ya know it.”

  Adan smiled his first genuine smile of the day as the gnome continued.

  “Don’t ya be worried about me, ya whipper-snapper of an elf. I still have one good testicle, and I’ll guarantee it’s better than both of yours put tagether. Now, quit gawking at me and let’s get ta riding.”

  Ray flipped his notebook open once more. “This is highly irregular, and it’s going in my report.”

  Adan turned his horse toward the gate. “Looks like that settles it then. We’d best be on our way. It’s still the better part of a turn of the hourglass to the portal, then a long hot ride across the desert. We need to make it to the outskirts of Karza by nightfall to have any chance of meeting with magistrate Karla tomorrow.”

  O.T.T. didn’t sound quite so brave when he opened his mouth a moment later. “Ta…ta…tomorrow? No need ta be in such a hurry, ya know. I happen ta know a nice scenic route we can take. All green and pretty, woods and flowers. Not near as hot and dusty as the desert. There’s even a nice fishing hole we could stop at and catch our dinner. Yum, nothing like swamp trout ta hit the spot after a long day’s ride. Trust me, Karla’ll still be in Karza when we get there. She ain’t going nowhere.”

  Adan didn’t look back or slow his pace even a beat as the gates opened and he rode through them. “We’ll take the fastest route possible. You can bet the nogard isn’t wasting any time getting where he’s headed. If we have any hope of catching him before he reaches Castle Kuropkat and the dragons, then neither can we. I just thank God Draka nogards never figured out how to use portals.”

  ****

  Lizbeth bit her lip, said a prayer, and held her breath as she carefully sprinkled a pinch of coriander seeds into the mixture of motherwort and dill, and q
uickly ground them together. Then, she added the chunk of myrrh resin, and finally, four drops of essence of dragon. The mixture began to bubble in the mortar.

  Carefully, she stirred the concoction and let the liquid dribble onto the square of leather lying on the table before her. As she recited the incantation, she couldn’t resist the urge to look down and check and recheck her work from the book lying open before her.

  Just as in her three previous attempts, there was nothing she was saying or doing different than she had for the last turn of the hourglass. This time, though, she spoke the words very slowly and made sure her articulation was precise.

  “Protect my body, protect my soul.

  Let not harm take a toll.

  Protect what’s hidden, protect what’s loved.

  Let no danger come from above.”

  Suddenly, with a loud poof, just like her three previous tries, the liquid simply vaporized, and all that was left was an empty container, a soggy piece of leather, and a disappointed enchantress.

  As if every last speck of energy had drained from her along with the vapor of her spell, Lizbeth sat down heavily. Sobs racked her frame as she finally gave in to the tears she’d been holding at bay since the moment Adan had kissed her and their unborn child goodbye.

  What was she going to do? How was she ever going to prove to her husband that her enchanter training could be of value if she couldn’t even make a simple talisman of protection?

  She stroked the worn pages of Goelz’s Book of Enchantments. “It’s not your fault. Sorry I let you down, old friend. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to be an enchantress, after all. I suppose I’ll have to settle for the daily simple protection spell and be happy with it, for now.”

  Gently, she closed the books leather bindings and held it close to her heart. “I’ll unlock your secrets some day, you just wait and see. But until then, it’ll be a cold day in VoT before I’ll sit idly by and watch someone else I love ride off into danger without me.”