by Nalini Singh
Damned if he'd give them any.
He could scream, of course. If he were lucky, someone might even come running.
But would that serve his king? If Raniero died now, whatever plot Korban had in mind would suffer a major setback. When no word came from Raniero, King Ferran would consider his suspicions confirmed. He'd likely give the situation his personal attention--with an army at his back.
With luck, Korban's plot would be foiled, and the kingdom saved. Perhaps.
All Raniero had to do was die without making enough noise to alert rescuers. Not exactly the act of heroism he'd prefer, but he seemed short of options . . .
Claws scraped his belly, slowly, cutting just deep enough to bleed him.
"He thinks he is brave." Blue Stripe licked his teeth with a pointed black tongue.
"That will not last, my kevil." His partner laid talons against Raniero's bunched thigh, drew them slowly down. "He is git'fe. He will soon fill the air with his squeals."
"Go fuck yourselves," Raniero gritted, throwing all his strength against his chains, only to feel his power drain away in the spell.
Hissing laughter, the raiders reached for him again.
Raniero sensed the flare of magic just before the door blew open with the groaning screech of shattering bolts and breaking wood.
"Get away from him!"
The Blood Rose stormed through the door, a thin glowing dagger in her hand. She lifted it and snarled, "He is not food, lizards. Get yourselves gone, or die."
Oh, Red God's Balls, Raniero thought in horror as the Varil whirled to face her. They'll rip her apart.
SIX
The two brawny Varil towered over the slender Rose, yet there was no fear at all on her delicate face as she faced them. Her dagger glowed like a torch, sending the reptiles' shadows dancing like demons on the stone walls.
"Look, my kevil," Blue Stripe hissed, "a little treat before the feast."
"All you will eat is my blade if you do not get yourselves gone," Amaris snapped, brandishing her blazing knife.
It might as well have been a glowing toothpick against the raiders' power and size. Raniero could take no more. "Get out, Amaris! Summon help!"
Too late. Blue Stripe lunged at her, massive arms extended. She spun aside like a bull dancer, and the glowing blade flashed.
A splatter of green droplets rained through the air as the Varil howled in startled pain. "She cut me, Cari'f! The little git'fe cut me!"
But she had already made Cari'f her target, darting in with that ridiculous blade to slash the raider's fanged muzzle. He yowled and swiped a massive hand at her face. The blow would have taken her head if it had landed, but she spun aside. Bloody claws caught only one silken curl.
Raniero ground his teeth in frustration. Amaris was much faster than the Varil, but all they had to do was land one blow and she was finished. He threw himself against his chains with all his vampire strength, simultaneously knifing his magic into the draining spell. He had to get free before they killed her.
His magic died as the chains held firm. He cursed and gathered himself to try again.
Amaris buried her blade in Blue Stripe's thigh, then barely managed to yank it out again and dive aside before he could knock her into the nearest wall.
"What goes here?" a human voice bellowed.
Wizard Lord Korban stalked past the splintered door, half a dozen guards at his heels. "Cease!" he roared, flinging a spell globe at Blue Stripe. Just in time. The creature had finally succeeded in grabbing Amaris, and was about to rake her face open with his claws. The globe hit him in a splash of red light, and he yowled, releasing Amaris to paw at his burned shoulder.
"They were attempting to eat your captive, Korban," Amaris said.
"Nay!" Cari'f hissed. "It was . . . her! She tried to free him. We but stopped her."
"Which is, I suppose, why he is still chained and covered in the marks of your claws," Korban snarled. "Do not try to play me for a fool, reptile. You have not the wit for it. Get out of my sight before I slay you on the spot." A red glow gathered around his lifted hands.
"Have a care, wizard," Blue Stripe growled. "Our masters--"
"--Will be most displeased if I tell them the Great Barrier will not fall because you two got hungry." The glow blazed up in warning, bright as firelight. "Get you gone!"
Snarling, the two Varil limped out, hissing insults at the guards who brandished swords to speed them on their way.
Korban turned to Amaris, who was breathing hard, the bloody knife in her hand. Her thin gown was splashed with blood, both green and red.
Raniero tensed. She was hurt.
"It appears you saved my captive." Korban eyed her up and down, gaze lingering on the shadows of her nipples, visible through the thin fabric. "My thanks."
She curled a lip, her hand tightening on her knife until her knuckles went white. "I didn't save him for you. I would not see anyone helpless before those beasts."
He shrugged. "As you will." Turning to look down at Raniero, he studied the wounds that raked across his chest and arms. "You are fortunate she summoned me and came to your aid. Otherwise your injuries would have been far worse."
Raniero let his cold rage show in his eyes. He wouldn't have been helpless before those monsters if it hadn't been for Korban's plotting. "I am well aware of what I owe you both."
"Where were his guards?" Amaris demanded, a frown on her pretty face. "There were four human guards watching his door when I went downstairs, but they were gone when I returned. Yet their watch was not over."
The chill smile vanished from Korban's face, and his eyes narrowed. "That is a very good point. I believe I'll have a word with the guard captain." He turned, but before he stepped into the corridor, he looked back at Amaris. "Heal the vampire. He won't be able to take care of those injuries himself in those bespelled chains. And I'd as soon he doesn't die of blood-fever." Korban stalked out, the hem of his robe vanishing after him with a swish like a cat's tail.
His servants and hangers-on slipped out in his wake, leaving Raniero alone with the Rose. He eyed her in the firelight, frowning. "Why?"
She closed the door behind the last of the mob before turning to look at him. "Why what?"
"Why did you risk your life? You could have run for the guard."
Amaris shrugged as she crossed the room with a Rose's habitual floating grace. "I didn't think you had the time. I feared they'd rip you apart before I could bring help."
"Instead they might well have ripped us both apart."
Her green eyes sparked, magic flashing clear and blue in the depths of her pupils. "I am not so easy to kill."
"Still, you took a great risk." He studied her lovely face. "Thank you."
Amaris bent to examine the wounds raking across his chest. "As I told Korban, I would not see anyone at the mercy of those monsters." She touched delicate fingertips to his chest over a particularly deep set of claw marks.
Raniero caught his breath as her magic danced across his skin, delicate as butterfly wings at first, building to a rapid burn as she forced torn flesh to heal.
Amaris met his gaze, and desire shivered between them, lush and impossibly tempting.
The Blood Rose had saved him at risk of her own life. It made no sense. Roses schemed, lied, led a man around by his dick.
Look at his stepmother. Thanks to her lies, her son was now heir to the fief that should have been Raniero's.
Yet this Rose had put herself at hazard for one who could do her no good.
Raniero watched her, struggling with the mystery of it as her delicate fingers floated over his bloody flesh, healing his wounds with dancing waves of magic. His temples began to throb, a deep and sullen pulse.
Finishing at last, Amaris started to rise. And hesitated, her gaze on his face. She frowned. "Does your head ache?"
Raniero stirred in his bonds, gazing up at her warily. "Aye."
She made as if to go again, then stopped and sighed, as if yielding to
a weakness. Cool fingers touched him between his gathered brows, and the pain drained away like water.
And that act, he knew, could have no other motive than simple kindness.
Again, the Rose turned to go.
"May I offer you pleasure in payment?"
Her lips twisted with such cynicism; it occurred to him that he was not the only one who doubted the motives of the other. "I need no payment."
"Then perhaps pleasure for its own sake?" When she started to speak again, he added, "I would offer you my mouth."
He could not have known.
Orel had been a selfish lover, though she hadn't the experience to realize it at the time. Cunnilingus was a pleasure he'd never offered her, though she'd heard much of it from the other Roses.
Her Garden mates had often rhapsodized about the sensation, comparing the tongue talents of this lover or that, until Amaris had been wild with curiosity.
No, Raniero could not have known. But once he'd made the offer, a dozen Varil raiders could not have dragged her from the room.
She hesitated, eying him. "But you are bound. How would you . . . ?"
Dark brows lifted. "You need only lower yourself over my head."
Oh, she saw how he could accomplish it now. And what a wicked idea. Unable to resist, Amaris plucked her blood-stained gown over her head and kicked off her slippers. Only to hesitate, suddenly flustered. "I am bloody."
He gave her a very male smile. "I care not."
Come to think of it, neither did she.
There was a moment's awkwardness as Amaris dealt with the problem of arranging her legs to accommodate his broad shoulders and bound arms. Then she settled down over his face, her own heating in self-consciousness.
Which she promptly forgot with the first molten flick of his tongue.
The sensation was startling in its intensity. Wet, hot, and piercingly sweet. Amaris settled down a little lower to give him better access, then raised up quickly, biting her lip. "Can you breathe?"
"Very well. Come back here." There was laughter in his voice.
She eased down again and was rewarded with a long, incredibly skillful lap that sent exotic sensations shooting up her spine.
And that was only the start of the delicious pleasure.
Sometimes he traced exotic runes over her jutting clit with the very tip of his tongue. Sometimes he lapped between her folds, or thrust deep into her sex in a maddening tease, or suckled her until the muscles of her thighs danced and quivered.
Amaris had thought herself experienced in the ways of passion, but Raniero taught her differently. He seemed to know her body far better than she did.
And he used that knowledge to whip her into an orgasm that rolled over her and drowned her in sweet fire.
Gods, what lush pleasure. The scent of the Rose flooded Raniero's head as her taste flowed over his tongue, astringent yet impossibly delicious, reminding him of a juicily ripe persimmon. Warm thighs clasped his head as slender fingers fisted in his hair, demanding and begging by turns.
Driving him mad with frustration.
He ached to touch her, to jerk free from his bonds and tumble her down and thrust his cock deep in that luscious peach of a cunt. But he was helpless.
Yet he'd never felt more powerful. Bound, he explored the power he could wield with only his tongue, his teeth, his lips. Nibbling, sucking, licking, he listened to her helpless cries of pleasure as his balls tightened into burning knots and his aching cock stretched up the length of his belly.
She'd fought for him. She was half his weight and a fraction of his strength, but she'd gone against those towering reptilian monsters to save his life.
Yet he was the one who was supposed to do the saving.
And now her delicate body quivered and jumped against his mouth, right there against his face--so frustratingly far from where he most wanted her.
She came again, her voice lifting in high, helpless cries of pleasure.
He dragged his chin up until he could gaze along the length of her beautiful body. "Fuck me," Raniero growled at last, unable to take anymore. "Red God's balls, fuck me."
She looked down at him with dazed eyes. And then she rose from his face.
For a moment he was afraid she'd leave him like this--aching, furious, his cock hard as a sword hilt.
But then she moved down over his hips and freed his sex from his breeches. He almost moaned in relief. Grabbing the thick shaft of his cock, Amaris impaled herself, sliding the length of him in one deliciously tight swoop. Raniero shivered at the sensation--tight as a cream-slick fist, hot and dazzling.
He threw back his head and ground upward, desperate for the climax that was just inches out of reach.
So damned close.
SEVEN
Raniero stuffed her with mind-blowing sensations, his cock a searing length buried halfway to her throat. Amaris tossed back her head and began to work her thighs, thrusting, grinding, driven by a burning whip of need.
Bracing her hands on his rock-hard belly, she gazed down at him as she rode. His face was drawn tight and stark with hunger, black eyes wild, fangs bared. His long hair tumbled around his bare and brawny shoulders. Sweat and streaks of blood marked his skin, muscles flexing in hard relief with each powerful driving thrust.
She wanted to free him. Wanted to experience all that feral passion, to know exactly what those black eyes promised. To feel his bite, his kiss, his hands on her breasts.
He shouldn't be any man's captive. Especially not Korban's.
Give him your blood, temptation whispered.
She imagined what it would be like--the stinging pain of penetration, the magical connection binding them together in drugging pleasure as he drank.
She could almost see his big body surging with the power of her blood, snapping the chains. The guards would have no chance against him. He'd free her and Marin, and they'd flee together.
Red God, she wanted to trust him. And every instinct she had swore he'd never play her false.
He surged upward so hard he lifted her clear of the bed, his body bending into a bow until only shoulders and heels touched the pallet.
Her climax hit like a ball of fire, blazing its way up her spine, detonating in her skull. She screamed, dimly aware of his roar of pleasure as he found his own peak.
Until she collapsed over him, both of them gasping, sweating skin to skin in a dazed heap.
Raniero had known Blood Roses--too well, in fact. His stepmother had only been the first. They might be beautiful and seductive, might even seem kind if it suited the moment's purposes. Yet their focus was always on their own advancement. Any vampire who forgot that was a fool who'd soon find himself paying the price for his gullibility who'd soon find himself paying the price for his gullibility.
As he had.
But none of those women would have risked their lives as she'd done.
Still, that left him with one nagging question. He asked it as they lay together, panting in the limp aftermath of passion. "Why do you work with Korban? Especially considering he seems to have formed some kind of alliance with the Varil."
She lifted her head off his chest and met his gaze, her sensual lips pulling tight. "He seeks a way to breach the Great Barrier. He's at work on the spell now. He believes his allies will make him ruler of Ourania after the conquest." Amaris snorted, a surprisingly indelicate sound. "More like he'll find himself king of rotting corpses."
"So why in the name of all the gods do you aid him? Even if King Ferran manages to drive the Varil back and repair the breech, hundreds will die. And without those peasants to work the fields, there'll be famine. Death will pile on death."
"I know." She rested her hands on his chest and propped her chin on them, her expression brooding.
"Then free me." Raniero lifted his head to meet her eyes in urgency. "At least let me taste your blood that I might free myself. I can alert the king and stop Korban before he destroys us all."
She considered his pro
posal for a long moment before she finally shook her head. "It's not so simple."
"But it is." He searched her face. She looked torn, as though she struggled with herself. "If you fear his threats, I can protect you. I have power, and the skill to use it. I would not be the king's investigator otherwise. I can get you away from that madman and his plots."
"It's not myself I fear for."
"Then who?" When her eyes slid away from his, he felt an inexplicable surge of jealousy. "A lover?"
Amaris blinked at that, and a quick, ironic smile flashed across her face. "Hardly." She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself to trust him. "It's my sister. She is but three years old, an innocent, yet she has great potential power. That's why Korban sent my father to kidnap her. Tannaz murdered my mother and stepfather and forced us to accompany him."
Suddenly too much became far too clear. "Breaching the Great Barrier will require vast magical resources. He means to sacrifice the child for the power it will give him."
She nodded tightly. "The Varil gave him a magical object called the Blood Orb, so called because it requires a death to trigger it. Fortunately, there's some part of the spell he still hasn't mastered. Once he does . . ."
"The child is dead." He flexed his fists restlessly. "Amaris, surely you see that I am the only chance you and your sister have. But we must act now, before . . ."
She bit her lip.
He ground his teeth. "You don't trust me."
"If you had my father, you would know why." She grimaced. "And my lover once tried to rape me. So no, I do not find trust an easy thing."
Raniero stared at her, appalled, unable to fathom a vampire who could so abuse any Rose, much less Amaris.
It was little wonder she was skittish.
Unfortunately, they couldn't afford her doubts. He met her eyes, willing her to believe. "Amaris, I swear to you on my honor--I will free you and your sister, or I will die in the attempt. I will not allow Korban to sacrifice that child, not to power his spell, not for any reason. I will not fail you."
Raniero's gaze was dark and utterly steady. He believed what he was saying. And she found herself believing him, despite the times she'd been betrayed.
He was no betrayer.
They had barely known each other a day, yet that didn't matter. She sensed his bedrock decency with a certainty that went beyond logic, beyond experience. It was a truth that rang in the soul.