by Sarah Hawke
“I hope he has exceptional endurance,” Darkstone said. His breaths had become increasingly labored as I stroked him. “She’ll demand his company all evening. As for you…”
He gestured with his chin, and I knew exactly what he wanted. Releasing my grip on his cock, I shifted in his lap until I could properly straddle him. I guided his manhood to my quim and slowly eased him inside me.
“Take me, my lord,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in close. “I am yours.”
He gripped my slender waist and took full control of my movements. He clearly wasn’t in any hurry; he struck a slow, methodical rhythm and seemed to savor each and every thrust. I was surprised at the strength of his hands, especially for a man of his age and modest build, and I wondered how long he would attempt to hold out. But when his eyes finally rolled back in delight, I knew I had him. It was finally time to get to work.
Taking a deep breath, I reached out and channeled the Aether. Its familiar warmth coursed through me, and I could suddenly feel the ebb and flow of emotions throughout the room. The longing, the ecstasy, the release…all of it washed over me like a tidal wave, and I struggled to retain my bearings and focus upon the man in front of me. His mind was disciplined; I immediately knew that piercing his defenses would prove difficult.
And then, just as I started to press into his thoughts, his eyes abruptly reopened and fastened upon me. For a terrifying second I thought he might have detected my intrusion, but then I realized it was something else.
“Now that we’re better acquainted, my dear,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm despite his rapid breathing, “I wonder if there’s something else you could do for me.”
I forced a smile despite my confusion. “Anything, my lord.”
“You’ve spent years in Glorinfel and then Sanctum with Duke Kristoff,” Darkstone said. “I’m sure you know a great deal about him. I want you to show me everything.”
He lifted his hands and placed them on my cheeks…and I suddenly felt the Aether stir and ripple through him. He had just summoned his own magic, and how he was trying to pierce through my defenses and peer into my thoughts.
My breath caught in my throat. Master Kristoff had warned me that Duke Darkstone was a Bound channeler despite his cool relationship with the Covenant. I had expected him to pose a unique challenge for my abilities, and I had explicitly waited to channel until this moment for fear that he might discover my true identity. But it had never once occurred to me that he might be interested in reading the mind of a mere slave…
The turnabout was equal parts ironic and horrifying. I was caught completely off-balance, and Darkstone nearly penetrated my mind before I even realized what was going on. I knew I couldn’t defend against his intrusions overtly, lest he realize I was Unbound…but I also couldn’t allow him to freely rummage through my mind and learn the truth that way, either. Ultimately, I had only one real option: I had to trick him into believing he’d gotten what he wanted. And that meant allowing him inside.
Intentionally or not, his mental thrusts were almost perfectly synchronized with his physical exertions, and I mock gasped in pleasure as he began to probe my memories. Instead of blocking him out, however, I guided him down a pre-determined path. I concocted a completely fictitious history between myself and Master Kristoff and allowed Darkstone to touch and sample the memories as if they were the real thing.
I had no idea if the ruse would even work, and if it didn’t I knew there was a good chance I would end up with my neck in a noose. But I also knew I didn’t have a choice. I continued writing my mental story as quickly as he could consume it, praying all the while that he would lose interest once he realized I didn’t know anything…
And he did. After another minute of probing, he released his grip on the Aether and withdrew from my mind. I didn’t dare press into his at this point—it was obviously far too risky. Instead I thrust my breasts into his face and concentrated on giving him as much physical pleasure as he could handle.
His cock erupted inside me mere moments later, and I arched my back and played along as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Apparently my illusion worked—he didn’t attempt to probe me a second time, and as his cock wilted he seemed to lose interest in me entirely.
“Thank you, my lord,” I breathed into his ear. “Please, allow me to serve you again…”
“That won’t be necessary, my dear,” Darkstone said, smiling tiredly and holding my chin in his hands. “I’m an old man these days.”
“I promise I can make you feel young,” I teased, sliding my hands down to his waist. “I can—”
“No,” he told me, gripping my wrists. His entire disposition had changed now that he’d failed to learn anything useful from me. A minute ago, I had been potential leverage against one of his political rivals. Now I was just another slave in his already vast collection.
“What does my lord require?” I asked.
“You’ve already satisfied me, but I’m sure Gabriel would want you to earn your keep.” He flashed me an empty smile and gestured with his left hand. I glanced back over my shoulder and marveled at the sprawling orgy covering virtually the entire room. Larric and Duchess Cassandra, meanwhile, had shifted from the table to the floor for their second bout. His muscular back dripped with sweat as he mounted her from behind.
Lord Varyl, by contrast, was almost eerily silent. He stood and watched the proceedings from a few yards away, and his eyes smoldered with rage as he glared down at Larric. One of the painted slaves was busy fellating him from her knees, but he seemed completely disinterested.
“Varyl,” Darkstone beckoned. “I’m finished with her—take her if you wish.”
“Finally,” the young man muttered. He pushed the slave off of him and waved over one of the guards. “Put her in my room with the other one. I’ll be along shortly.”
Before I could reply, the guard grabbed my leash and pulled me off the Grand Duke’s lap. I frowned in protest but realized resistance was pointless—Darkstone clearly had no more interest in me. Had he planned to hand me over to his son the whole time?
Not that it made a difference. Darkstone probably thought I was terrified, but I wasn’t. For all the young man’s bluster, Varyl wasn’t a channeler. He represented my best chance to learn this family’s dirty secrets. And once we were in private, there was nothing he could do to stop me.
***
Baron Ornosa’s slave, Isela, was already tied to Lord Varyl’s bed when I arrived. Her wrists and ankles were bound to the bedposts, leaving her spread-eagled across the crimson sheets. She glanced up when the guards pushed me inside, though she didn’t seem particularly surprised that Varyl had brought in another slave. Considering how many decades she had been serving the nobles of Korvale, she had probably seen almost everything at this point.
The guard pushed me down to my knees and tied my leash to one of the posts, then abruptly left and returned to the dining hall. He was probably expecting some kind of reward for watching over the ongoing orgy, or perhaps he figured he’d be allowed to participate at some point. Either way, I didn’t want to think about it. Right now I just needed to focus on the Aether and prepare a surprise for the youngest Darkstone…
Varyl barged inside a few minutes later, and he smiled at each of us in turn as he finished his liquor and set the glass down on his desk. “Old memories, hmm?” he sneered as he sauntered in front of his bed and studied Isela. “Unless Ornosa was lying about his younger years.”
Isela stared up at him but remained silent. Eventually Varyl snorted and began unbuckling his trousers.
“Well, was he?” the young man demanded. “Is this how he fucked you the first time?”
“Y-yes, my lord,” she managed.
“Three decades shoving your cock into the same old cunt. I can’t believe he didn’t sell you off at the first opportunity. I’ve only taken you once and I’m almost tired of you already.” Varyl snickered as he stepped out of
his trousers and pulled off his tunic. Despite his scorn—or maybe because of it—his cock was rock hard. “You’re not even that pretty, to be honest. Kristoff’s little slut here is much more beautiful. I’m surprised Ornosa was willing to breed you.”
He knelt down onto the bed and pushed Isela’s thighs even farther apart. “I see you’ve already rejected the present I gave you earlier,” he said, commenting on the wet spot on the bedding where his seed had leaked out of her. “It’s not polite to refuse a gift from the Grand Duke’s son, you know. I suppose this time I’ll have to leave it somewhere else. Think you can keep it inside that ass of yours?” He snickered and crawled up over her chest until his manhood was dangling over his lips. “Maybe I’ll just make you wear it tonight. Send you back to your master with a real man’s seed on your face…”
“My lord,” I interrupted. “Please…allow me to satisfy you.”
Varyl turned and glared down at me. “I never gave you permission to speak. This is why cunts should always be gagged.”
“I know, my lord, but…” I looked up at him longingly. “The night we arrived you promised you would take me. Please…please let me taste you.”
An older or wiser man might have at least been suspicious of my intentions despite the fact I was shackled and ostensibly helpless. But a young male like Varyl, consumed as he was by his own ego and power, never paused for a second to wonder if I was telling the truth. Like the Covenant, he undoubtedly viewed my people as naturally obsequious. He believed the gods had designed us to take satisfaction in servitude, so my sudden desire to please him didn’t seem strange in the least.
“My father didn’t wear you out, then?” he asked with a snort. “I can’t believe the old codger was even able to get hard.”
He slid off the bed and stepped over to me until his cock was nearly touching my lips. I remained still and awaited permission even as I reached out to the Aether and allowed its power to course through me…
“Open those pretty lips,” Varyl ordered. “I’ll give you want you want.”
I smiled and leaned forward. My tongue caressed the tip, and I slowly took him inside me—
At which point I summoned the Aether and pierced his mind.
His defenses were fragile, even for a non-channeler. After just a few seconds I could read his thoughts, and after a few more I could control them completely. His memories flooded over me, and by the time his cock touched the back of my throat I knew everything he did.
He knew more than I expected but less than I hoped. Duke Darkstone kept his plans reasonably private, but Varyl knew the basic truth: all his father really wanted was power. Darkstone was the eldest and wealthist Grand Duke, and he believed he could leverage an Imperial civil war into an opportunity to become Emperor. Kristoff’s crippling defeat in Glorinfel was an unexpected boon; Darkstone believed it would make his rival desperate. He wasn’t wrong, of course, and I still wasn’t sure what, if anything, Kristoff could do to stop him.
Just as importantly, Varyl didn’t know anything about the Emperor’s true identity as an Unbound, nor did he have any particularly interesting insights about the vaeyn. He was exactly what he seemed: a sadistic young man with too much power and too little vision. All he really wanted was to fuck his slaves and occasionally his stepmother.
I decided to grant his wish. Instead of implanting a subtle suggestion in the back of his mind—a technique I used to great effect with many of the nobles in the Imperial Court—I tested the limits of my powers and took full control of his mind. I convinced him that he was savagely mouth-fucking me even as I pulled away and spit out his cock. He continued thrusting in mid-air, his hands clasping at nothing as his eyes rolled back into his head.
I smiled in satisfaction when his seed splattered against the wall instead of my throat, and as his exhausted body crumpled over on the floor I implanted an entire evening of illusory delights in his consciousness. When he woke in the morning, he would believe he’d fucked both of us multiple times. In reality, he was about to spend the entire night cuddled into a half-comatose ball.
“My lord?” Isela asked, leaning upwards as far as her restraints would allow. “Merciful Triad!”
I closed my eyes and swore under my breath. As usual, once I’d started channeling I had grown overconfident and all but ignored my surroundings. Varyl wouldn’t remember any of this, but Isela would—and that could prove every bit as dangerous.
“It’s all right,” I soothed, swallowing heavily and stretching out through the Aether. “He’ll be fine. Just relax…”
Sensory manipulation was much easier when making physical contact, which was precisely why I’d so desperately wanted Varyl to touch me first. I could still read and influence thoughts from a distance, but overt changes to memories were much more difficult. Considering I was still tied up, however—and considering the guards would expect to find me that way in the morning—I didn’t have any other choice.
Thankfully, Isela’s mind was nearly as malleable as Varyl’s, and it didn’t take long to convince her that he’d decided to spend all night playing with the younger avenari instead. She leaned back and relaxed, pleased to be freed from her other domestic duties for the evening, and eventually she even fell asleep.
I did not. I stayed awake through the night, carefully monitoring Lord Varyl’s thoughts and making sure my illusions stuck. By the time the guards retrieved us in the morning, he was so thoroughly enamored with my skills I was surprised he didn’t demand to follow us back to Sanctum. I also implanted a lingering suggestion that other avenari would never truly satisfy him again, and that he would only find real pleasure in the arms of Duchess Cassandra…
I smiled as the guards escorted me back to my room. Varyl might not have known as much as I’d hoped, and there was still the unresolved matter of Larric and Emperor’s secret identities. But for one moment, at least, I felt completely in control. I was a slave, yet I was more liberated than nearly any other channeler. I was an elf, yet I was more powerful than nearly any human.
I was Unbound. And no one, not even the Covenant, would ever be able to take that away from me.
Chapter Six: The Duke’s Present
I spent the first hour of morning relaxing inside the warm tub in my room. By the time I finally decided to dry myself off, Larric had begun preparations for our return to Sanctum. He stepped into my room right after I’d dressed and eyed me up and down.
“Did Varyl harm you?” he asked, his expression neutral.
“No, my lord,” I said. “He was…agreeable.”
Larric studied me for a moment before he inched closer. “Ornosa’s avenari also appeared uninjured. I overheard her saying that Varyl focused his attentions almost exclusively upon you.”
“He did.”
“Then you should be in a great deal of pain right now,” Larric said. “And I should be demanding that Duke Darkstone compensate Kristoff for damages to his property.”
I stared up at him but remained silent. I wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this, exactly, though I could detect a trace of concern behind his otherwise cool tone.
“You used your magic,” he reasoned, lowering his voice. “Didn’t you?”
I considered denying it but ultimately decided there was nothing to gain. “I did, yes,” I admitted. “But the young lord woke satisfied. Nothing else should matter.”
“Unless you were discovered, of course. Then we’d both be dead.” He paced over towards the window and sighed. “I’m not blaming you. I never would have allowed him to take you if I didn’t believe you could defend yourself.”
My eyebrows lifted. He sounded downright compassionate again, just like he had before the Duke’s gala. Perhaps this would become a habit…and perhaps I should have just told him what I knew about him and Karethys. But I didn’t.
“Hopefully you learned something useful from him,” Larric went on, “though I doubt Darkstone shares many of his secrets with his son. He certainly doesn’t with his w
ife.”
“I hope you enjoyed your evening with Duchess Cassandra.”
He grunted and turned back around, and I swore I caught a hint of a smile on his lips. “She was satisfied, which is all that is really important. I’m just thankful we’re getting out of here.” He glanced over to the door and nodded. “We’ll be leaving shortly, but I’m supposed to attend another breakfast first. It’s probably best if you remain here.”
“I understand, my lord,” I replied, resisting the urge to smile back. “I will await your return.”
No one bothered me while he was gone, and just over an hour later we were standing outside the palace with our caravan and guards prepared for the journey. Larric kept me close at his side as he exchanged final pleasantries and goodbyes.
“Before you leave, there is one more thing,” Duke Darkstone said, a coy smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I haven’t seen Gabriel in a long time, not since his father died years ago. I wondered if you’d be willing to deliver a special gift for me.”
Larric nodded. “Of course.”
“Wonderful.” Darkstone turned and signaled to his guards. Two of them stepped into one of the nearby watchtowers, and they emerged a few seconds later carrying a prisoner between them. Her head was covered by a sack, and she was wrapped in a formless brown tunic that made it nearly impossible to distinguish her features. Her arms and legs were obviously shackled, however, given how awkwardly she stumbled forward. I could feel her terror without even trying.
“Your Excellency?” Larric asked.
“My men caught her lurking around the Salt Peaks several weeks ago,” Darkstone said, his smile widening. “I was tempted to trade her back to the vaeyn, but I didn’t want to risk Lady Karethys overreacting. I also considered presenting her at the gala last night, but…” He chuckled. “Well, I have a feeling that Gabriel will better enjoy an unspoiled prize.”