by Diana Steele
“The war was coming sooner or later, Malcom, and you know that as well as I do,” Meredith said as she finally exhaled for what seemed like the first time since the conversation began. She wandered over to the chair beside him and spilled down into it.
“Yes, yes it was. But we could have been better prepared,” he said as his rubbed his palm across her cheek. “But now your daughter is behind in her training. Your niece is married to none other than Fiona's own daughter. And the balance is all but destroyed. The stage is set, my darling daughter, for a blood bath, and everyone you love will be at the center of it. And when they find out how they all arrived where they are, do you really think you will walk away clean?”
“None of us are clean, Father,” she said as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. “And none us are ever going to escape this curse, are we?”
“No, my dear,” he said as he stroked her hair in what was almost a loving manner. “None of us will, especially those of us who know the truth.”
“Where is my husband?” Meredith said as she shrugged off his hand and rose to her feet. “I need some relief.”
“Do you mean your husband?” Malcom said as he watched her rise and march towards the door. “Or do you mean Fiona's?” A thin smile crept across his face as he watched her eyes widen.
“You know damn well who I mean,” she cast back, coldly staring back down her father's accusing glare. “William's dead. You, of all people, should know that.”
“Patrick is in his old room again. I assume that's how you managed to get inside the Keep undetected, after all,” Malcom said casting his hand in the direction of the hallway. “But when you have settled yourself, you might want to consider what you are going to say if Anna catches sight of you here. Or have you not figured that part out yet, my dear?”
Meredith opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out as it simply hung open for a moment. Then she turned her back to him and left down the dark hallway.
“That's what I thought,” Malcom said to himself as he leaned back in his chair and considered the unfolding events. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see his daughter again after all these years. But the return of the gull to shore was never a sign of good weather to come. He had to make sure the pieces were all in place, and he had to do it soon.
*****
Dark Protector:
Legacy of the Goddess
Book 4
Destiny of Choice
Morgana Patrick
Meredith's body was dripping with sweat as she tossed her head back and screamed.
“Oh yes! Fuck me!” she cried as she pushed her hips back towards Patrick. “Fuck me! Damn, it's been too long!” Meredith's body was bent over the edge of a stone altar. Her hands were bound in thick leather restraints. Her back was arched up in a curve that made her ass look like an offering to the man behind her. Her legs were spread wide. Her bare feet arching up as she stood on her tiptoes on the stone floor. Her body rippled with passion as a bright blue light swarmed around her like butterflies. Meredith's legs were tight under the strain of forcing herself up to meet his thrusts. With each hard slap of his hips against her ass, Meredith's breasts swayed across the red velvet causing her swollen nipples to ache. Her arms pulled at the straps as she cried out in loud grunts and groans each time Patrick's cock shoved its way deep into her body from behind. His hands held her hips so tightly that his fingers dug into her skin. His legs were slightly bent to give him the power he needed to slam upward and into her in a steady motion that caused the sound of their flesh meeting to echo off the stone walls. She felt his balls slapping against her clit as he fucked her harder.
“Take it,” Patrick cried out. “Take my cock, Meredith. I love being inside you again,” he grunted as his legs flexed and drove his body up hard, shoving Meredith against the altar. He could feel her around his throbbing shaft, her muscles tightening as he worked deep into her. He watched her back bend upward and her ass move as he took her. It was still a beautiful and intoxicating site after all these years. He reached up and wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her head up so he could see her face. The way her mouth hung open, her eyes tightly clamped down, and her lips quivering always drove him mad. Seeing her arms stretched out before her as he pulled her body back with a strong grip on her hip and his hand in her hair was almost more than he could take. He was close, and he knew it. He released her hair and grabbed at her hips again and started bucking wildly at her yielding body.
“God, yes!” Meredith cried out. Laying her head down on the stone altar she surrendered herself as she had done so many years before in that very room. On that very hard cock as well. “Fuck me harder, damn it. I need it!” she cried as she felt his hips pounding into her. His cock drew back until his head nearly slipped out, before it drove back in deep with each of his thrusts. As she opened her eyes and looked around the room, she remembered that night very well.
*****
Meredith had to surrender before the council. The Handmaids had stripped her bare and led her to the altar. She was on her back, her arms stretched out beside her. Her legs were spread wide and bound, so her body was totally exposed. She had been waiting for this moment. Her dreams, her aching need had almost been more than she could bear. She had been yearning, even before the dreams had started. If there was a secret nook or hiding place in the Keep suitable for masturbation, Meredith knew exactly where it was. Though it was forbidden for the Heirs to engage in sexual activities of any kind prior to their wedding night, Meredith knew her way around the rules. She and Patrick had done their share of exploration. The young men on campus had helped a bit as well. When he hovered over her, she felt her heart pounding in her chest with fear and excitement.
After her wedding night, she and her new husband were inseparable.
“Joined at the hip,” Meredith would say with a giggle. Growing up in the Keep was a different life than that on the outside, she knew. But Meredith was always very proud. Her betrothed had been one of her best friends from childhood, and now there was no barrier between them to stop from fully enjoying one another. Her training wasn't why she worked so hard to please. Meredith simply loved sex in a way few people really did. But it did make her father proud when he saw the control she had developed over her power. Meredith was the second born to her parents. Her sister had been married to the Queen's grandson and had proven to be a powerful heir to the aging monarch. There was competition between them, of course, but unlike many siblings, they were very close. You didn't have a lot of options for friends growing up in a secret society. So Drew and Meredith were always together as children. There were always children in the Keep. Breeding was very important to the clan. They had their little circle. Drew was the leader, always so strong and confident, while Meredith was good at mischief. Patrick was their back-up, always ready to follow whatever trouble Drew and Meredith managed to concoct. And then there was Fiona, the comic relief of the group. The flaming redhead was always a bright spot when you were down or needed cheering up. She made the dark corners of the Keep seem less dreary. The four of them were famous for sneaking into the “adults only” areas of the Keep or out into the campus above. More than one occasion found them bowing their heads before the Queen while Drew and Meredith's father reprimanded them. The incident where someone had taken a 50 gallon drum of gelatin powder from the college cafeteria and poured it into the swimming pool had never been proven to be their doing. Despite the lack of evidence, no one really ever looked for another culprit.
Now they were grown, officially women of the Keep, Heirs. The only one yet to marry was Fiona, who was a year younger and had not yet come into time. The Queen's illness had become serious. The throne was in danger and the whole Keep knew it. Soon the Hunters would make their move, and a battle for the Throne would begin. There had not been an outright battle since before the girls were born. With only minor skirmishes, the loss of life had been small. However, the feeling growing in the Keep was dampening, and the elders seem
ed to think something very different was coming. It was a battle that didn't concern Meredith much. All she really cared about was having sex with Patrick as much as possible. Under the guise of training, they were like rabbits around the whole Keep. The Queen had been heard saying that Meredith may not be the most powerful, but she damn well was the most diligent student she had seen in the Keep in years.
Drew, on the other hand, had matured much faster and was focusing on what was to be her role in the coming battle. The only true way to protect the throne from the Hunters, was to see it passed to an Heir of the Guardians. And the throne was only handed down through blood. The knowledge that Drew would have to take the life of the Queen weighed on her. She had grown up admiring her, looking to her for guidance and advice. The Queen had been a caring confidant, despite her regal behavior before the rest of the Keep. After the severe lecture that Malcom had laid out after the jello incident, the Queen had whispered to Drew that it was actually much funnier than Malcom would admit. And soon Drew would be the one to take the Queen's life. It was a burden she wasn't sure she was ready for. But she knew she wasn't ready to let the throne fall to the Hunters. The whispers had been growing since the news was out regarding the Queen's condition. Soon the Council would recommended that action be taken to preserve the throne, and that the Ceremony of Sacrifice be prepared. The Queen knew Drew well enough. She had pulled her aside to comfort her concerns and explain to her the honor and importance of this burden. But, it still was something Drew was not sure she was ready for.
Drew had become far too serious for Fiona's tastes these days, while Meredith was far too horny. With her best friends now moving on without her, she was left bored and alone. The other young members of the Keep had long since been prejudiced against her because of a multitude of practical jokes and trouble the four had caused over the years, so she had nowhere to turn for company. She had started slipping out of the Keep and going to the school for amusement. She looked a bit older than she was, so she managed to blend in well. No one knew she wasn't actually a student. They accepted her readily, even though never actually seeing her in any classes and despite her vague responses to what dorm she was in or what her major was. She loved going to football games, the movie nights on the drill field, and even to a few of the frat parties.
It was at one of those movie nights that Fiona met William. The movie was awful, Ishtar, as she recalled years later. The lanky young man had been sitting on a blanket alone, away from the general crowd. He looked so alone, a feeling Fiona herself could easily relate to the days. She made a choice to help them both and simply sat down on his blanket, took his beer bottle right from his hands, and that was that. From that moment on, the two were together as much as Fiona could manage. Despite having to hide her secret life from him, she felt a closeness she had been aching for since her friends had moved on without her. Her dreams were in full swing now, and soon her life would be taken out of her control. The knowledge infuriated her. However, with William, those secrets didn't seem to matter. The future would take care of itself, and she refused to give in to being overly concerned about it. What Fiona didn't realize was that William had more than one secret of his own.
William was sitting under the trees on the edge of the drill field as couples around him cuddled on blankets and watched the film playing out on the screen, but he couldn't take his eyes off the scrap of paper in his hands. William wasn't a student at the university, not that anyone seemed to notice. The campus was his escape from life on the farm at the edge of town. His father had planned his whole life out for him, even the woman he would marry. It was tradition for his family as a House of the Hunter clan. Tradition seemed like another way of saying control to William. So he slipped through the forest at night to escape into a world where people didn't know magic existed, a world where people weren't afraid of death or concerned with battles between good and evil. A place, best of all, where he wasn't trapped with the idea of being married to someone he didn't even like. He loved talking to other people about music and books, anything but magic and duty. He loved the films out in the open night air on the large grassy drill field, and that is where he met her. The woman he fell in love with had walked up to him right at this very spot just a few months ago. Growing up in a world where sexuality mattered, he had been with women before, but she was very special. There was something powerful about her, and her passion was overwhelming. He struggled with how he would tell her the truth about himself, about his life, until he decided to just show her his world. Tonight was going to be the night. He looked down at the scrap of paper holding back tears as the message blurred with his heartbreak.
“I'm sorry, William. I care about you so much, but there are things you just don't know about me. I can't see you anymore. I'm sorry.”
The note was left for him in their spot below the trees. The envelope was laid carefully against the tree trunk where they used to lean and hold each other. The letter seemed so funny to him. “There are things you don't know about me,” he thought to himself. The irony was anything but laughable. He sat there in the dark aching, wondering if he could even return home and face his family, his coming wedding, and the loss of the woman he loved. Suddenly, someone grabbed his beer from his hands. William jumped, startled that he hadn't even noticed her before. She was sitting right beside him. The beautiful young girl, her long red hair flowing aimlessly around her, simply dropped down beside him, took the bottle from his hands, and made herself at home. She was funny and care free, and her laughter pushed the tears from his eyes with ease. William crumpled the scrap of paper in his hands and left it by the tree trunk. He didn't care what the future held for him anymore. He just knew he was tired of hurting. This girl made him smile, despite the shadows looming over him.
The Keep was buzzing with whispers of rumors about Fiona when Meredith burst into the throne room to find her father sitting next to the Queen, Drew standing there beside them as well.
“Where the hell is she?” Meredith demanded as she stormed into the room.
“Meredith, hold on,” Drew said, moving to intercept Meredith's course directly towards their father.
“Hold on, my ass. Where is she, damn it?” Meredith held her hand out towards Drew, and her palm lit up bright blue as tiny flames rose from her fingertips.
“Meredith,” the Queen said in a low and gentle tone. “Calm yourself. What's happened is no one here's doing,” the Queen said. Meredith marched right up to her father. Malcom did not rise to meet her. He simply sat, as he had been, in the chair as she approached.
“Where is she, father?” Meredith asked again, her hand still raised and flickering with the cool flames.
“Fiona has been taken by the Hunters,” Malcom said flatly. “She is gone, Meredith.” Meredith's hands both burned brightly now as her clenched fists throbbed in anger. “Control yourself, now. There is nothing to be done.”
“Nothing to be done,” Meredith scoffed as her bitter tone practically drooled from her lips. “Nothing to be done? How could you let this happen? How could you let them?”
“That's enough, Meredith,” the Queen snapped with more force than her frail body seemed capable of. “Fiona went of her own free will. She is wed, and it cannot be undone.” Meredith's ears were on the Queen's words, but her eyes never left her father's. Her hands were still tightly closed as the lapping strands of light wiggled around them.
“Someone showed Fiona the back passages to the outside,” Malcom said returning his daughter's gaze. “She's been sneaking out at night to the campus. That is where she met this man. That is why she was unprotected.” The truth of his words bit at her, and guilt rose up from Meredith's stomach like a sickness. She had shown her. She had been the one who told Fiona to go outside.
“Who?” Meredith asked. “Who took her? Who is her new husband?”
“Rumor has it that he is the son of Michael, of the House of Feidhelm,” said the Queen as she fell back into her chair, once more showing her weakness.
“A tall, gangly boy called William.” Meredith's eye shot towards the Queen. The flames that burned brightly around her fists vanished in an instant as her mouth hung slightly open. “I see you have heard of the House of Feidhelm,” the Queen said.
“Uh yes, yes I have,” Meredith's words had suddenly lost their spark and croaked out of her dry mouth as if she would choke on them. “The House of Feidhelm, I've heard of, yes.”
“So you see now, why there is nothing to be done. Retribution would be costly at a time when much hangs in the balance of our choices. What has been done cannot be undone anyway,” the Queen continued. “We must accept that Fiona is gone. That is the way of things between the clans. We do not have time to morn. A change is coming, and change is always risky business.”
“Meredith?” Drew spoke again from just behind her sister as she laid a hand on her shoulder. “Meredith, come on now. Let’s go.” Drew pulled gently at her sister. She knew well enough when to move slowly with her. As the two girls left the chamber, Malcom kept his eye on Meredith. She had more power but was far less stable than her older sister. Something was going on behind her mask of frivolousness, Malcom was sure, but that would be a mystery to be solved another day. He and the Queen had business.