“What’s wrong?” She cut her glare to the two women who had followed her into the chamber. “Why can’t he talk? Why can’t he move?”
“Do not worry,” Secka said as she reached down, taking Kara by the arm and pulling her to her feet. “It is only a temporary paralysis.”
Kara tried to jerk away from Secka, but Daar rested her hand on the hilt of her sword and Kara stilled. Her heart pounded as her thoughts raced, wondering how she and Adan would escape this crazy mess. Who were these women? What did they want from her and Adan?
The crystal—for some reason they wanted her crystal. But why did they take Adan captive?
Unable to do anything but follow their instructions, Kara was forced against a wall. Her hands were manacled over her head by white fur-lined cuffs and a white linked chain that connected to a loop attached to the wall above her. A loop much like the one Adan was chained to. She struggled against the bonds, but she couldn’t move.
“Echna comes.” Secka backed away, as did Daar. They stood with their hands behind their backs, in a military stance.
Kara felt a blast of cold air over her naked body as it started to snow in the room. Only it was snowing in one spot. The flakes spun, and then Echna appeared, a glittering form at first, but then solid and whole.
She was holding Adan’s sword.
The beautiful woman glanced to Adan, who stirred and pushed himself to a sitting position. His movements were slow, jerky, as if fighting off the drug. Kara felt relief that he could move, yet anger that he was tethered and unable to stand. She struggled again against her own bonds, her arms aching from being held over her head for so long. She’d never felt so vulnerable as she did being strapped to the cold wall with absolutely nothing on.
Not to mention the knives. She couldn’t forget the knives.
Echna turned her gaze on Kara. Or actually to her breasts. Well, the pendant between her breasts. “Give me the crystal of your own free will,” the woman said softly as her eyes met Kara’s, “and I will release both you and your lover.”
Free will. My own free will. That’s why she hasn’t taken it.
“No!” Adan yanked against his collar, fury searing his body and driving away the chill. “Do not give it to her.” The ice-ghosts appeared on either side of him and held their blades to his neck. He ignored them. “They cannot take it from you, it must be given. Do not!”
“Damn you.” Kara cut her furious glare from the women to Echna. “You touch him and you’ll never get the crystal.”
Echna held one hand up in a gesture obviously meant to stop Daar and Secka from taking any action against Adan. “You will both be my permanent guests until the crystal is turned over to me.”
“Why do you want it so bad?” Kara tugged against her cuffs out of sheer frustration. “What’s so important about this stupid pendant?”
The woman gave her a long and appraising look as she brushed a strand of snow-blonde hair over her shoulder. “Has he not told you?”
Kara frowned. “Told me what?”
“That you hold the key we have both been searching for.” She glanced to Adan and then turned back to Kara. “With it he intends to destroy my people.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Kara shook her head. “It’s just a pendant that my parents gave me before they abandoned me. He didn’t know anything about it.”
“So that is what you believe.” Echna gave a soft laugh and ran her fingers along the edge of the blade of Adan’s sword. “Clan Leader Valnez did not tell you that he has been searching for the crystal for himself.”
The woman’s face blurred as Kara’s thoughts whirled and her cheeks burned. Her knees felt weak, and only her bonds forced her to keep standing.
Adan had only wanted the crystal? He had used her?
She fixed her gaze on him. “Is that true, Adan?”
The bastard sighed. “In a way—”
“I don’t want to hear any more.” It suddenly made sense—that’s why he came to her. He was trying to find the crystal. That and a good fuck.
Well at least he was that—a good fuck. A great fuck, even. It wasn’t like he meant anything more to her.
“Kara,” Adan said sternly. “The witch only wants the crystal. Do not listen to her.”
She swallowed and raised her chin, focusing on Echna and refusing to look at Adan. “What do you intend to do with it?” Kara asked.
“Protect my people.” Echna clenched her fist and her jaw tightened. “The Clans wish to destroy our way of life.”
“That is a lie.” Adan growled and yanked at his chain. “It is this witch’s desire to destroy the Clans.”
Kara glared at them both. “Stop!”
A shadow passed over Echna’s perfect features. In the next instant the woman seemed to grow, from a pale beauty to a dark witch looming above Kara, as if to eat her whole. Kara almost screamed with the terror that consumed her.
But then the darkness faded away, and Kara’s heart began to beat again. Emotions flickered across Echna’s features, as if she was battling herself.
The Ice-Witch gave a light shrug and examined Adan’s sword. The symbols upon it were all but black beneath her touch, not gold like when Adan held it. “Very well,” she said. “Perhaps you merely need time to think upon your circumstances.” She turned to Secka and Daar, and handed Secka Adan’s sword. “Guard them well and see that their every need is taken care of. And see to it that his sword is put away safely, in the vault.”
When the Ice-Witch vanished in a swirl of snowflakes, Secka laid the sword against the far wall, in obvious defiance of Echna’s orders. “Perhaps this will remind the man of his position. Of what he can and cannot have.”
Daar moved closer to Kara who tried to draw away, but was too tightly bound. “Echna instructed that we see to their every need. I can think of many needs they surely have,” the ice-ghost murmured.
Secka approached Kara, then looked from her to Adan with an obvious hunger in her pale eyes. “First, let us see to their supper.”
Adan watched the fury in Kara’s green gaze as she said, “I’m not hungry.”
“You need your strength,” he spoke in a low tone, his words intended to be an order.
Kara flung him a look that could easily have melted all the snow in Crystal Valley. “Fuck you.”
The two ice-ghosts laughed as they exited through the wall-bubble, leaving Adan and Kara alone for the first time since coming to the ice palace. He glanced to his sword that mocked him from where it lay, and he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
His gaze returned to Kara and for a moment Adan could only look at his beautiful woman. With her arms bound above her head, her breasts jutted out, her nipples hard rosy peaks against her fair skin. Her trim waist led down to slender hips and his gaze rested on the soft blonde curls of her mound. He could scent her from across the room. If only he could taste her. If only they were in his home. He would take her to his bed and drive his cock into her, fucking her many times over.
“You used me.” Kara’s words held a hard, bitter edge to them.
He raised his eyes to meet her furious gaze. “I was searching for the crystal, truth. But I did not know you had it.”
Her brows narrowed. “That first night, if you had found it in my home, you would have taken it.”
Adan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, trying to choose his words carefully. When he dropped his hand away and opened his eyes he sighed. There was nothing to tell her but the truth. “Aye.”
A furious expression flashed across Kara’s face. “And you would have left and never come back.”
“Aye,” he repeated quietly.
Her gaze was still angry, but he saw hurt there, too. “Bastard.”
“But once I came to you the second night,” Adan said, pulling against his chain as he tried to get closer to her, “I could not have stayed away for any reason. Even if I had found the crystal I would have done every
thing in my power to see you again.”
Kara looked up at the skylight in the ceiling. “But you would have taken it. Without asking me.”
When her gaze returned to him, Adan shook his head. “I do not know.”
Her features changed and she adopted an indifferent attitude. “Whatever the case, it was fun fucking you while it lasted.”
A low growl rumbled up from Adan’s chest, and he could barely contain himself from telling her that it would never end. She was his, forever.
And then it occurred to him what the Cwen had said…the powercrystal had been hidden on Earth with another priceless treasure…and that he would need his heart and soul to find both.
Truth struck him as hard and cold as any ice wall.
Kara.
Kara was the priceless treasure of his heart.
“Why are we here?” Kara’s voice cut into his realization and he turned his attention back to her. “Can you explain to me what in the hell is going on?”
“The crystal can be used as a weapon.” Adan yanked at his chain as he spoke, his muscles bulging with the effort. “We must keep it from Echna.”
“So that you can destroy her?”
“No.” Adan released the chain and the links clattered against the cold floor. “We can only use it to change our destinies, not to make war with it.”
“Oh, really.” Skepticism laced her words and her chain rattled as she jerked against it. “You’re a man. Men make war instead of solving their differences by compromise and treaty.”
He scowled. “Kara—” he started just as a bubble bowed the wall outward.
Daar and Secka reappeared, carrying flagons along with trays of what appeared to be slabs of black bread, white cheese, chunks of meat, and pieces of a gray root. Warm smells filled the room, like a hot meal of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and fresh baked bread.
Kara’s stomach growled and her mouth watered.
Daar set one tray down and, with the point of her curved sword, pushed the tray and a flagon toward Adan, just close enough that he could reach the items but not her or the sword.
Secka brought the other tray up to Kara and smiled. Kara thought about refusing to eat, but it smelled so good. The bastard was right, she did need to keep her strength up.
“Are you going to let me down?” Kara pulled against her bonds. “I can’t eat like this and my arms are going numb.”
The woman plucked a chunk of bread from the tray and held it to Kara’s lips. “Eat.”
Ignoring Adan, Kara opened her mouth and took the piece of bread. Her eyes watered and her mouth puckered at the intensely sour and spicy taste. It was like eating a tequila lime tortilla chip with extra chili on it. The more she ate, though, the more she became used to the taste. The other items were just as weird—meat that tasted like peanuts, a spongy-cheesy substance that tasted like brie, and the gray root tasted of coffee. But all in all the meal was satisfying, if peculiar.
While she fed Kara, Secka would lightly brush Kara’s nipples with the sleeve of her tunic, as if unintentional. Between the never-ending erotic heat of the pendant, and Secka’s touches, Kara ached with need. Adan watched her eat as he devoured the food on his own tray. She ignored him as best as possible, but she couldn’t help but want him, need him so badly she could just about scream.
“We were instructed to see to their every need.” Daar said with a wicked smile when they finally finished eating and drinking from the flagons of bitter apple-flavored wine. “I know what they need now.” And with a lingering look at Adan’s naked body, she said to Secka, “Summon Eridon.”
Chapter Seven
Daar said something else to Secka, who nodded and pressed the side of the box at her throat, and again spoke in the strange language that came from her lips instead of the box.
When Secka finished speaking, Daar’s gaze traveled over Kara’s body in a sensual perusal. “She is exquisite,” the woman said. She licked her lips and glanced at Adan with a sly look. “I wonder how she tastes.”
Adan growled as if in warning and his chain rattled.
Secka removed a white fur-lined scarf from around her throat. “Indeed,” she said as she brought it close to Kara and gently brushed the fur over her nipples.
Kara gasped and tried to draw back, but with the way she was manacled there was nowhere to move. Despite herself, her pussy grew damp from the sensuous caress.
Daar glanced at Adan again, whose gaze held a mixture of heat and fury. His cock was rigid and thrusting up, proving his need for Kara and his arousal at the scene before him. Daar turned back and blew icy breath across Kara’s skin. The chilly air traveled from her nipples all the way down to her pussy.
She nearly groaned. Her nipples tightened even harder and despite the fact that she was being held captive by these women, she was aroused. They hadn’t even touched her with more than breath and the soft caress of fur.
At the same time the pendant grew warmer between her breasts, chasing the chill away with slow heat and yet again amplifying her sexual desires.
She startled as the wall beside her suddenly bowed. The crystal bubble appeared, and through it strode a gorgeous blond man. The bubble closed behind him, leaving again what appeared to be a solid wall. The man had hair, brows, and eyes as pale as the women, but he wore a crimson robe that stood out vividly against the white walls.
“My ladies,” the man said through the box at his throat, giving a slight bow of his head and shoulders before straightening.
Daar moved to the man and pushed open his red robe, revealing a smooth, hairless, and powerful chest. His fair skin shone as though rubbed with oils, and Kara caught the light scent of musk.
“My lovely Eridon,” Daar purred as she pushed the robe from his shoulders and down his arms. “You are such a good pet to come so quickly.”
Kara’s eyes widened as the fur-lined robe fell away, revealing his naked form. The only clothes Eridon wore were white bands around each of his biceps, and black fur-lined boots upon his large feet. Pale, wiry curls surrounded the base of his hardening erection.
Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good. Kara swallowed. The women didn’t intend to force her to have sex with this man, did they?
Eridon maintained his stance, but his cock continued rising to its full thickness. “What may I do for you, lady?”
Kara narrowed her eyes. Why was the man acting subservient to these women? He was obviously more powerful than them, yet he acted as if he were a slave, or a servant. By his expression, Eridon appeared to like being their pet. And it was obvious, too, that they cared for him. Not like an animal, but as a person they cherished.
“Come my darling concubine, let us show our guests the pleasures to be had in the ice palace.” She glanced at Kara with a wicked look in her pale eyes. “Perhaps they would like to join us.”
“Like hell,” Kara yanked at her chains and fought against the nervousness filling her belly like bees captured in a jar. They wouldn’t… Oh, shit.
“It is my duty and my pleasure to serve you in any way.” Eridon gave another bow and then pulled each of his boots off and tossed them aside.
“I feel much too warm.” Daar slipped out of her fur-lined cape and flung it on top of the boots. “Remove my clothing.”
Slowly and sensually, Eridon took off each piece of Daar’s clothing while Secka performed a striptease of her own. Secka’s eyes moved from Adan to Kara. She unzipped her snowsuit to her mound, then opened it wide enough for her breasts to spill out. She grabbed her breasts and kneaded them before grasping her nipples and pulling at them until the pale pink buds turned darker, engorged with blood.
She smiled and kicked off her boots, then began stripping off her snowsuit. Her snow-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders and muscles worked at her tight belly as she pushed the suit down to her knees, revealing the white curls of her mound. She paused long enough to slip her fingers into her slit and then bring them to her mouth as she licked her juices away. Kara could even sme
ll the crushed mint scent of the woman.
At the same time Secka performed her sensual striptease, Eridon opened the front of Daar’s snowsuit, nibbling a path between her pale breasts and down to her navel. Kara relaxed a bit as she watched the trio’s sexual play, feeling more confident that they didn’t intend to involve her—other than torturing her, making her totally hot by performing in front of her and Adan.
The man opened Daar’s suit all the way to the pale curls of her mound, and Kara bit her lip to quench her growing arousal. It didn’t help.
After Eridon helped Daar out of her boots, he pushed her snowsuit from her arms, nibbling, licking, and sucking a path down her body. When her suit reached the floor, Eridon took her hand and helped the pale beauty step out of it.
Kara’s desire for Adan grew as she remained riveted to the sexual play, and the sight of their perfect naked bodies. She tried to fight it, but she couldn’t help the tingle in her pussy, the ache in her breasts, the tightening of her nipples.
She tore her gaze from the trio to meet Adan’s eyes and the hunger there that she knew was for her. His cock was hard and rising up against his belly. No doubt he wanted her now as badly as she wanted him.
But damn it, he had used her to get to the crystal.
A moan of pleasure cut her attention back to Daar, whose silvery-white hair shielded her pale eyes while she bent forward, her hands in Eridon’s pale hair. He was now on his knees, gripping her buttocks tightly as his mouth pressed against her pussy.
“Yes, pet.” Daar’s voice trembled. “More, give me more.” The man groaned and pressed his face tighter to her folds.
The curls at both of Daar’s and Secka’s mounds were angel-hair white, and their folds a light shade of rose. Secka had moved beside the couple. Her tongue laved one of Daar’s carnation pink nipples while her fingers pinched and pulled at the other one, and Daar moaned.
Kara almost moaned, too.
This is crazy. I’m out of my mind.
She twisted against her manacles, even though she knew it was useless. She wouldn’t be able to escape even if she did manage to free herself. Hell, maybe she’d join them just to piss off Adan.
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