Dark Harvest

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  Harvest-colored hair tumbled down her back to her midcalf like a cape. Her clinging outfit of black outlined a body that was the exact opposite of Kasmiri’s lush frame. This woman barely had breasts or hips, but still Chur wrapped his arm about her as if she were the most prized possession in the entire Onic Empire.

  Kasmiri wanted to shave her bald, then rip her eyes out.

  Chur nodded in her direction and her heart swelled with hope, but when he saw Sterlave, his face split into the most genuine smile she had ever witnessed grace his face. She had never glimpsed Chur joyful, but he was elated to see Sterlave. Another surge of jealousy stiffened her spine, and she fought the grimace that wanted to commandeer her countenance. Not once in her life had anyone ever been that happy to see her. Not even her mother had been that radiantly joyful when she embraced her prior to the bonding ceremony. Somehow, Sterlave had managed that reaction twice in one day.

  “Sterlave!” Chur rushed forward and embraced her consort in an expansive hug. Wicked thoughts of her servant Rown, as a stand-in for Chur, filled her mind. Kasmiri longed to see Chur embrace Sterlave but on his knees, sucking his cock as her servant Rown had done. If she couldn’t have him, she wanted to punish him, to force him to do her bidding as her servant. A thousand erotic tortures flashed through her mind of what she would do to Chur, if she only had the chance.

  As she considered these wicked thoughts, she noticed that Chur wasn’t the same at all. His facial scar was gone and his skin glowed with golden light. He wore the customary Harvester uniform but without a red slash to expose his most fearsome chest scar. He had transformed, not with cosmetics as she had, but something deeper, more profound. She sensed the change as soon as he drew near. Power fairly crackled from him.

  Indisputably thrilled, Sterlave let go of her hand to embrace Chur. “You didn’t kill me after all.”

  “No.” Chur stepped back. “I didn’t want to.” With a touch to Sterlave’s shoulder, Chur’s smiled broadened. “I knew you would make a fine Harvester.” Chur turned his intense blue gaze to Kasmiri. She had an overwhelming urge to fling herself to her knees before him. “You have selected a fine bondmate.”

  Kasmiri blushed and lowered her head. She found it impossible to maintain eye contact with Chur. When she looked down, her gaze fell to his crotch, where his semihard penis created an interesting bulge. A wave of longing tightened her nipples and her sex. Had the fates been kind, she would now know the taste and feel of him, but she’d been denied. She fought against rubbing her thighs together or licking her lips. When Sterlave’s hand wrapped around hers, she was finally able to look up, but only at Sterlave.

  “I worried that you had stolen her away from me, but I see you have chosen well yourself.” Sterlave looked right at the Harvest-haired nymph with a lifted brow of interest.

  Kasmiri bristled. Did he mean to say that given a choice he would have selected this other woman himself? How dare he denigrate her right before her face! Before she could respond, Chur wrapped his arm around the woman and pulled her to his side.

  “My bondmate, Enovese.”

  Kasmiri rolled her eyes. Even the woman’s name was melodious and delicate. On closer inspection, she discovered her eyes were light jade with a deep indigo starburst, and her nose tilted up at the end just like Arianda’s. Desperate to find some imperfection, Kasmiri realized she scrutinized the woman like dubious marketplace goods.

  “I am pleased to meet you, Kasmiri.” Enovese bowed with the grace of a servant.

  Kasmiri’s smile was genuine this time. Enovese was dazzling, but her manners were decidedly lower class. “I believe I know your mother, Arianda Rostvaika.” Kasmiri executed a modified bow with her face high; however, her snub was lost on this woman.

  Pride beamed from her when she acknowledged that Arianda was, indeed, her mother.

  “How is that possible?” Kasmiri asked pointedly. When they’d been playing a dangerous game with Clathia, Arianda had often bemoaned her childless state, so where had this creature come from?

  Chur placed a kiss to Enovese’s cheek. “That is a long story best left for another day. We are here to celebrate your bonding.”

  Thwarted by Chur’s diplomatic charm, Kasmiri had no choice but to drop the subject. However, when Chur pulled Sterlave away to talk privately, Kasmiri found herself alone with Enovese. Once her protector was out of earshot, Kasmiri sidled close and began probing Enovese in earnest.

  “I don’t recall seeing you at the Festival of Temptation.” Kasmiri plucked a glass of red wine from a passing tray.

  “I did not attend.” Enovese declined the servant’s offer with a shake of her head, a pathetic lower class gesture. A woman of stature would have waved her hand in dismissal. Why would Chur, with so many elite ladies at his disposal, have chosen a woman of such low birth? Truly, the man was an enigma.

  “Oh? Couldn’t your mother afford to clothe you for the event?” Kasmiri arched her brows as she sipped her wine, but the snide comment had no effect.

  “She did not know of my existence.” If anything, Enovese seemed amused by her rancor.

  How could a mother not know she had a child? Kasmiri wondered. “Surely she knew when she gave birth to you?”

  “She did not give birth to me.”

  Furious at being treated like a fool, Kasmiri grasped Enovese’s upper arm but immediately let go when a surge of power rumbled through her fingertips. Yanking her hand away, Kasmiri demanded, “What are you?”

  Lifting her nose with more righteous indignation than the empress, Enovese considered her for a moment. Her eyes darkened, but the indigo starburst blazed with terrifying authority. Kasmiri felt trapped by her gaze. She wanted to grab hold of something, anything, to prevent herself from falling into the abyss.

  “I am someone you should not touch again.” With that, Enovese released her from her gripping gaze and swirled away, her hair swinging with her steps as she moved toward Chur.

  Kasmiri’s hand trembled as she cupped her drink. Never in her life had anyone truly frightened her, but that woman had. She was dangerous. Like Chur, there was a strange power emanating from her, something immeasurable and unexplainable, but it was there nonetheless. Kasmiri finished her drink and grabbed another. She didn’t even notice what she’d selected until she drank the cup dry. Too late, she realized she had just downed illias, a sparkling aphrodisiac. The elixir was meant to be sipped not tossed back in one swallow.

  Within moments, her body warmed and her breathing grew unsteady. All her perverse thoughts of Chur and Sterlave swirled in her mind’s eye with vivid clarity. She wanted to lift her skirt and stroke her fingers through her damp curls. She wanted every man in the room to line up while she sat upon her throne so one by one they could drop to their knees and drink from her gushing sex. Then she wanted to take Enovese and splay her upon a table so each man could find satisfaction in her tawny slit.

  Kasmiri smiled when she thought of two strong men holding Enovese’s arms and two stronger men parting her thighs. Somewhere in all the bonding gifts was a smooth phallus. Kasmiri imagined it wrapped around her hips so that she could be the first to fuck Chur’s pretty, little mate. Kasmiri wouldn’t rush; she would take her time and cause the woman to thrash in need and frustration, thus showing Chur what a yondie she was. When Kasmiri finished, she would insert the phallus deep into Enovese’s bottom so that when each man took his turn, they would force it deeper within. After a thousand men took their fill, perhaps Chur would not want her after all. For if he’d selected her during the Harvest, no man but he had ever known her.

  Clutching the glass so hard she feared it would break, Kasmiri placed it on a passing tray while her gaze desperately sought Sterlave. If she didn’t have him soon, her sex would burst into flames. When she found him engrossed in conversation with Chur and Enovese, she didn’t hesitate to stride forward, grasp his hand, and pull him to one of the side rooms.

  “What’s wrong with—”

  She pressed him agai
nst the wall and plastered her mouth to his before he could finish. Breathless, she pulled back, and said, “I need you.”

  Sterlave considered the well-appointed basin room with a frown. “Here?”

  She locked the door but didn’t care if guests could hear. Let them know how much she wanted her consort. That would put any rumors that sprung up to rest. This party was to celebrate her bonding so she had a right to a more private, and fulfilling, commemoration.

  Struggling to peel away Sterlave’s tight pants, she met with only further frustration when the echalle blocked her access to his hardening cock. Just the scent of him drove her into madness.

  “It won’t come off unless I take my pants off.”

  Cursing the designer, she didn’t think she could wait that long. Once Sterlave realized the frantic nature of her need, he picked her up and placed her on one of the low-slung couches.

  Yanking her dress up, she couldn’t get the clinging fabric much past her knees. A howl of frustration escaped her lips.

  Sterlave rolled the fabric up, ripped off her panties, and exposed her to a rush of cool air. Parting her legs, he lowered his face and teased his tongue between swollen lips.

  Kasmiri grasped his head, forcing him into firmer contact.

  He pulled back and suspiciously asked, “What has turned you so desperate?”

  She couldn’t formulate an answer even though she knew he thought Chur responsible for her state. Frantic for release, she lowered her hand to vigorously rub her straining clit.

  Sterlave’s brows drew up as he watched her frenzied motions. His trapped penis strained against silky fabric as he riveted his gaze upon her.

  She didn’t care that he watched. In fact, his presence only fueled her lust.

  He pushed her hands away, using his much thicker fingers to plunge into her depths as his lips sucked her clit into his mouth. As his tongue swirled around and around, Kasmiri lost her breath. Every touch felt amplified until her world spun sideways. Pleasure rose up and up until she lost all coherent thought.

  Still, Sterlave plunged his fingers to her. “That’s it, Kasmiri, again and again.” He pulled down the bodice of her dress, exposing her breasts to his gaze and her nipples to his questing mouth. A smear of crimson paint transferred from her lips to his now stained her breasts. She didn’t care.

  Waves of sweet release wracked her body, yet he continued to plunge his hand and suckle her breasts. Still she needed more. Wriggling her hips up, she placed her hand over his, pointing his fingers toward her ass.

  Slick with her lust, his fingers slid easily inside. No pain assaulted her, only a sweet filling bliss. Sterlave lessened his pace until she demanded more. Pushing her legs farther apart, he settled himself between so he could plunge one hand to her sex, the other to her bottom. When she looked down, his entire head was covered with sweat as his arms bunched and flexed to give her relief.

  Consumed with drink-induced desire, she ordered him to remove his pants. It seemed to take forever for him to yank off his boots, the belt and sword, the clinging trousers, and then the hated echalle. He struggled with the straps until she rose up and helped him. Once free, she drew him to her mouth, sucking him so forcefully he bit back a groan. He tasted of light sweat, salty yet sweet, and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to drink him or thrust him between her thighs.

  He took the decision from her when he pulled out of her mouth and flipped her to her belly.

  Placing his cock against her clenching sex, he asked, “You want me very badly right now, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she begged.

  “Puts me at a distinct advantage.”

  “What do you want?” At this moment, she’d promise him anything.

  “Nothing now, but remember, you owe me a favor. A big one.”

  When she agreed, he stroked his bulbous head along her slit, then plunged deep without warning. Her cry was a strangled gasp of shock and pleasure. Writhing below him, she begged him to thrust hard, fast, deep, but he kept to a slow pace that drove her out of her mind.

  “We aren’t even close to being done yet.”

  Sterlave slid two fingers deep into her ass, working them at the same pace as his hips. Over and over he plunged into her, wringing louder grunts of animalistic pleasure from her burning lungs. She had wanted to reduce Enovese to a caterwauling yondie but found she had only done so to herself.

  “That’s it, Kasmiri. Let everyone out there, especially your precious Chur, know what an insatiable yondie you are. I want him to hear you. I want him to fuck his quiet little bondmate tonight and try to wrench these same sounds from her.”

  Picturing Chur pounding his cock into such a slender creature while she scratched his back and growled in heat pushed Kasmiri over the edge. Her orgasm clamped her body around Sterlave’s, capturing him, squeezing him so hard he withdrew with a gasp of pain.

  Spent, they lay in a tangle until her heartbeat returned to normal.

  “What came over you?” Sterlave rolled to his back and propped himself up on one bent arm. She noticed his cock was still hard and shiny with her juice. She had climaxed, he had not.

  “Illias.”

  “There’s another man I have to worry about?”

  Exhausted and in no mood to face a room full of people who simply had to have heard what just happened, she yanked her skirt down. “It’s a drink, you fool. Don’t you know anything but how to fight and fuck?” Now that her needs had been met, she sought to distance herself from him. She untangled herself and moved to the mirror. What a disaster!

  Rather than flare to anger at her comment, Sterlave flashed a lazy, sexy grin. “You didn’t seem to mind a moment ago.”

  “However, I’m done now.” She wiped the crimson paint off her breasts, pulled up her dress, and did her best to repair what little makeup remained on her lips.

  Beside her, Sterlave washed his hands, and said, “Maybe I’m not.”

  Putting her dress to rights, she ignored him, but when she glanced up, Sterlave stood blocking the door. “Move aside. We have hundreds of guests and we’ve been away long enough.”

  His chuckle was low, vibrating along her nerves. “You mean all those people who just heard you? I don’t think they will care if we spend a few more moments in here.”

  Exasperated, she put her hands on her hips. “What do you want?”

  He looked at the plush carpet before his feet, then touched the edge of her mouth.

  Quickly surmising his intent, she withdrew. “No.”

  He mimicked her pout, which caused her to giggle.

  “Come on, Kasmiri, I gave you what you wanted. Can’t you give me something in return?” Dark eyes considered her, gauging her reaction.

  Lifting her face in contemplation, she finally smiled. “Fine, but I no longer owe you a favor.”

  Playfully, he scowled his face into a look of deep concentration. “Well, I hate to lose that so quickly, but if you insist.”

  As gracefully as she could, she lowered herself to her knees before him. When she looked up, his gaze was bright as he watched her lift his cock to her lips. Tasting herself on him revitalized the lust she thought spent. Their combined scents excited her all over again. Following Rown’s careful instructions, she traced her tongue along his shaft, then pulled the swollen head into her mouth. Her gaze flew to his when he growled and cupped the back of her head.

  She wanted to remind him not to mess up her hair, but what did it matter now? Everyone already knew and so what? She had heard far more outrageous tales about her grandmother. If her mother had any complaints, Kasmiri could think of a nice tight place for her to put her concerns.

  Rocking his hips with easy grace, Sterlave kept his gaze pinned to hers as he worked the buttons of his shirt open. He slid the fabric off his shoulders so that he now leaned against the door nude. Sweat glistened along every muscle in his chest, beads caught in the line of stubble that fell to his belly button.

  As she took him deeper into her mouth,
he trailed his hands along his chest, then twisted his nipples hard when she took him all the way to the back of her throat. His growl filled the tiny room, bouncing off the basins, surging another thrill from her lips to her clit. His satisfaction aroused her more than she’d ever thought possible. Why she cared, she couldn’t fathom, but his pleasure was the most intoxicating substance she had ever known.

  Pulsing and thick, his cock became too much for her to take so deeply. Kasmiri used her hands to mimic the feel of her throat just as Rown had instructed.

  “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined you on your knees sucking my cock?”

  Kasmiri pulled back, nipped the tip, and then slid her lips down. She could picture him in his training room cell, under a threadbare blanket, surrounded by other recruits as he quietly masturbated while thinking of her. When she imagined all the recruits stroking their cocks while picturing her sucking them, her clit quivered, demanding attention.

  She tried to get her hand under her dress but the skirt was far too tight and she couldn’t maneuver while on her knees.

  When she glanced up, Sterlave smiled. “Are you all sticky and hot again?”

  Unable to answer with his prick in her mouth, she glared at him.

  His laugh aroused and annoyed her simultaneously. One way or another, she vowed to make him pay. All the erotic gifts scrolled through her mind. Something in there would suffice for her plans. Perhaps she would use the smooth phallus on him, since she doubted she would get the chance to use it on Enovese.

  “I would have you stop, but you are far too talented. With your lush, full lips and your flashing eyes, I’m not sure what’s hotter—watching you or feeling you suck my cock.” He leaned back on the door, cupping her chin and tracing her lips. “Such fire in your gaze. You’re thinking of all the ways you can punish me, aren’t you?”

  She managed a nod by sliding him in and out of her mouth.

  “Oh,” he groaned, “do that again.”

  She did but added a light scrape of her teeth along the shaft, which elicited a deeper and longer “Oh” of pleasure.