by D
Book II: The Wizard Twins
The Reluctant Consort
By: Lora Leigh
Prologue
Marina Sellane observed the small group of human males as they carted off the wagonload of food stores that they had taken from the small house by force. There were six of them; great hulking males whose cruelty had earned them her undying hatred.
Inside the small house she could hear the wails of the mother, but there was now silence from the daughter of the house. The father was yet lying in the dust of the yard. He breathed, but the bloody wound to his head would need attending.
Marina watched the wagon disappear around the bend in the road and rose hesitantly from her hidden position behind the thick, concealing foliage of a Peron bush. Its flaming red and blue tinted leaves had hidden her from the assailants to the home as she came upon it.
She arrived too late to help. But she had memorized the faces of those who had committed the crime. A crime on Covenani land this time. Her eyes narrowed in fury. Her mother would have each man in that wagon beheaded for this crime.
As she started to move around the bush, she was caught suddenly from behind. The smell of an unwashed body, the feel of brute strength had terror washing over her. Once again, memory and nightmare seared her brain. Two, so much larger, frightening, hurting.
Her heart was thundering in her chest, strangling her as she fought the hard hands holding her to the large male bodies. Not again, she prayed to the Unit of Grace. Please, in the name of mercy not again.
“What have we here?” a coarse voice laughed, and she heard the chuckles of several others.
Marina screamed out in fury. Her body bucked against the hold as her fingers formed claws and she fought to rake the hands holding her imprisoned. Within seconds another joined the first. Hard hands held her, laughing voices jeered at her struggles.
She kicked out at them, twisting furiously, desperately, but she could do nothing to keep them from stripping first her large shirt from her body and then her boots and pants.
“Hell, we have us a Sorceress. An unclaimed bitch to boot.” Dirty, his face and hair matted with filth, the lumbering male laughed down at her furious face when he spied the birthmark that marred her thigh.
Marina trembled with terror. Her power was still dormant and she had few defenses against the men who now held her. Fighting to concentrate for strength, she sent out a mental call for help. It would be her only chance. Perhaps if there were Covenani near, then they could reach her before the rape she knew the males intended. It had been all that had saved her before. But her sisters were not near this time. There was no one she could depend on to come to her aid.
“Queen Amoria will see you put to death for your crimes here,” she screamed out as cruel fingers pinched her nipples and another pulled at the small curls that covered her cunt.
“She’ll have to catch us first, bitch,” the bearded one sneered. “But you can bet you won’t be the one to tell. The three of us will fuck the life out of you before we ever leave here.”
“No!” Her scream was torn from her as two of them pushed her to the ground, holding her there as the third began to release his breeches.
She struggled desperately against their hold as she fought for the power to increase the range of her call. Gods, someone had to hear her soon. Surely there was someone near.
She was so intent on a psychic scream for help that at first she was unaware that the sudden screaming around her was not her own cries for help. As she tore herself from suddenly slack hands, she rolled to her feet, jerking her shirt from the ground with every intention of running to the forest for cover.
An agonized male scream behind her had her turning. There, locked in the swirls of gold and pale blue energy, the three humans writhed in fury and pain as they fought the paralyzing force of the magick containing them.
Breathing hard, stunned by shock, Marina fought to drag her shirt over her body. The buttons eluded her, though. She clutched the front closed, watching as two Wizard Twins strode casually from the forest line.
They were dressed in leather breeches and snug tunics, with dagger and sword strapped to their hips, though neither had been unsheathed. Their dark faces were brooding, savagely cast and arrogant. They watched her with narrowed eyes, rather than watching the humans they had ensnared with their magick.
“Princess Marina, are you unharmed?” Dark and sensual, the voice wrapped around her, making her breasts tingle, her womb to clench.
“I am unharmed.” She nodded. “They are with those who attacked the family here and stole their stores of supplies. My mother will wish to question them.” They appeared to be slowly suffocating from the force of magick enclosing them.
One of the Wizards glanced at the three. Heaving a sigh, he waved his hand. Immediately, bands of energy enclosed only the wrists and ankles of her attackers, holding them firm but allowing no escape. Then the Wizards both began a slow progression toward Marina.
Breathing hard, she watched the two warily. As they crossed her boots and breeches, the articles were lifted by an unseen force and placed within their hands. Their gazes were intense, heated. Marina’s nipples hardened, her pussy flamed. She didn’t consider this a good thing. She backed up a step.
A small grin quirked their lips, heated arousal licked at their expressions.
“Come, Princess. Dress and we will talk.” The articles were handed to her.
“Definitely, we will talk,” the other sighed, his eyes going over her bare legs. “You had no business being here. Why are you not at the castle?”
Marina dressed quickly, or as quickly as her shaking hands would allow. She watched the Twins warily. They were the Sashtains, and seemed to be shadowing her every step. Sneaking out of the castle was becoming next to impossible. Leading her small force of Sorceresses in gaining the information she needed about the advancement of Seculars was growing harder by the day. Serena would be less than pleased by this development. And should her mother learn of her daughter’s activities, then there would be no peace within the castle for years to come.
“I was visiting families on Covenani land.” She finally shrugged as she buttoned her blouse and fought the fear that still held her breathless. “I did not expect to come upon Secular attackers.”
Caise and Kai’el watched her broodingly. They were in no way fooled by her nervous smile.
As the male lying in the dirt groaned, their attention turned from her.
“I will call the Sentinel Guards and Sorceress troops to this place,” Kai’el sighed. “You will return to the castle immediately, Princess, your mother would be most distressed by your activities this day.”
Marina drew herself carefully erect.
“I do not obey orders of Wizard Twins,” she bit out furiously. “There are two females in that home that require…”
“You have no place in that home,” Caise growled, his golden eyes furious now. “You will return to the castle and allow the healers with your mother’s troops to care for those women.”
“This is not your call.” But she backed away as Caise stepped forward, his face suddenly taut with his anger.
“Princess, you do not wish to test me on this matter,” he growled.
Immediately, energy crackled in the air around her. Soft as velvet, yet strong as steel, coils of gold and pale blue energy circled the air around her.
“This magick is for your protection, and our assurance you do as ordered,” Caise told her with a smug smile. “Return now or I may have to check more deeply into this penchant you have to be where you should not venture.”
“You ha
ve no right to order me. Neither of you do. This is Covenani land, not Cauldaran.” Fury blazed inside her. Like a conflagration she had no power to control, it ripped through her body and mind.
“Do not test us on this, Princess,” Kai’el turned to her, his pale blue eyes filled with desire, and something more. Something she refused to delve further into.
Immediately the power that circled her protectively became warmer, more caressing, gentle in its demeanor. Her eyes widened. Her sister Brianna had told her how the Verago Wizards used such power to prepare her for their heated love play.
“You will not.” Fear, as deep and blinding as before tore through her. She could not imagine allowing such a touch, giving leave for the pain that she knew Brianna would surely lie to her about. Her sister was protective of her, she would never allow her to know the true depth of the sacrifice she had made for her people.
“Do as I said,” Caise snapped. “Return now, Princess, before I lose my patience and show you what I do indeed dare to do.”
For a brief second their eyes met. Power swirled inside her, blinding, intense. A surge of intensity she had never known, that terrified her to the soles of her feet. Before he could step closer, she ran for the woods and the large golden unicorn that had carried her through her forest. Escape was her only thought. That, and a terrible fear that she would never truly be free of the Sashtain Wizard Twins.
Chapter
“Have you lost your minds!” The dragon Garron was awaiting them as they stepped into the chateau that Queen Amoria had given them for their use while they were on Covenani lands. It wasn’t nearly as opulent as the castle left to them by their father’s, but well enough for the time being.
Thankfully, the receiving room was large enough to hold a dragon that stood head and shoulders above even the tallest Wizard known to be born. An irate, tail twitching, brows lowered, black eyes snapping, Sentinel Dragon.
Caise turned and glanced at his brother, Kai’el questioningly.
“Did you notice your mind missing brother?” He asked with innate mockery. “I myself seem to be intact.”
Kai’el breathed in with rough impatience. “Perhaps Marina stole it with her insane actions earlier this day. It was enough to make a man question not just her sanity, but his own for the decision to align himself with her.”
Kai’el’s patience had been strained to its limits in the past months with the spread of the Secular’s, the human sect that had decided that all magick of Sentmar must be destroyed. They had begun with their attacks on Covenani lands, but it was now spreading Cauldaron.
Unfortunately, they were gaining in strength, and not by non-magick means.
The dragon snarled. A curling of his hard, scaly upper lip that had both brother’s watching him warily.
“Your attempts to intimidate the Princess Marina will not succeed,” he informed them derisively. “What made you imagine that approaching her in such a manner would do you one wit of good?”
“Perhaps we imagined saving her was the wisest course of action,” Caise grunted as he moved across the room to the small bar and poured a healthy measure of Covenani wine. It was by far weaker than what they were used to, but the supplies they had ordered delivered from his own castle had yet to make it to Sellane land.
“You forget brother, the Covenani Princess must be handled with kids gloves, right up to the Joining moment and her delicate sensibilities not offended by our crass lusts,” Ka’el reminded him, his voice just as mocking as he faced the Dragon.
“Save your sarcasm for a situation where it may be effective,” Garron advised coldly. “I have come to discuss this matter of Joining with the Princess Marina. I did not come to witness your weak male pride in the face of her rejection of you.”
Caise clenched his teeth together, feeling not just his own rising fury at the dragon’s insulting tone, but also his brother’s.
It was becoming a less than comfortable situation. Princess Marina’s pinnacle of power could be assessed one of two ways. They could wait until her natural pinnacle arrived, or they could force it free. From all indications she had suppressed it herself for years now, the woman’s strength of will was incredible. Very few sorceresses had ever been able to delay the pinnacle, the fact that she had didn’t bode well for them as her mates.
“What is there to discuss, dragon?” Kai’el paced to one of the long, wide windows that looked out upon the Lake of Dreams. A clear, perfectly blue body of water that stretched for miles and entered into the endless mists of the Magick Forest. “We are here to petition for the Joining, just as agreed. We will stay here until as such time we can leave with our consort.”
“There is much to discuss.” The dragon’s voice was rough with impatience as he turned to face the two men, his black eyes liquid and far too intelligent.
There were few dragons left, that the Wizards knew of. Garron was one of the strongest, and the most powerful in regards to his favor with the Sentinel Wizards.
“Then discuss a way to keep her ass in the castle and away from those rabid sorceresses pretending to be warriors,” Kai’el ordered him with chilling politeness. “You ordered us to watch over and protect her, and I tell you now dragon, that female is becoming a source of great frustration in that area.”
“She is not an animal, Wizard,” he growled. “She is a determined young woman. There is a difference.”
“A woman determined to drive us insane,” Caise, snorted as Kai’el smothered his laughter. The sudden amusement on his brother’s part did nothing to dampen Caise’s temper.
“Her mother believes her to be so delicate, so fearful of male advances,” the Dragon said slyly then. “Would it not surprise many to know it wasn’t fear that held back the Princess’s desires, but rather her own determination to succeed in her own goals, rather than those of any male she would be paired with?”
Caise stilled.
“You yourself warned us of her attack years before,” he snapped. “I clearly remember the warning Dragon, of what would happen prized portions of our anatomy should she be offended sexually.”
A dragony brow lifted in mockery. “I?” he asked imperiously. “Surely you were mistaken, Wizard. I never resort to threats. Only to promises.”
A smart assed dragon. Caise shook his head at the decided downhill swing he and his brother’s lives were taking at the moment.
“So you are saying it’s not fear that drives her, but rather her own female goals?” Kai’el asked then.
“Give the boy a ribbon,” the Dragon drawled as he gave Caise a sarcastic look. “He can be very bright at times, can’t he?”
Caise winced as Kai’el turned from the windows and watched the creature with icy eyes.
“So why give us this information?” Kai’el ignored the offense, for once.
The dragon’s shoulders shrugged negligently.
“I always have my reasons,” he said, the knife sharp mockery still in place. “The question is; how would this change your own situation?”
Caise glanced over at Kai’el, recognizing the dangerous stillness that had come over his brother.
“Dragon, this venture into sorceress idiocy is testing my patience,” Kai’el snapped. “We will decide how best we should proceed ourselves, but you can rest assured, the Princess Marina and her stubbornness has met their match.”
***
Marina rose from the bathing pools beneath the castle, water cascading along her naked body as the steam that drifted around her caressed her sensitive flesh. At her side, her sisters Selena and Brianna watched her curiously as she lifted one of the thick bath sheets from the stone shelf and wrapped around her snugly.
She kept her back to them as she covered her body, not wanting them to see the swollen state of her breasts, or the erect points of her nipples. They had been aroused since the power of the Sashtain Twins had wrapped around her, caressing her, slight though it had been.
Between her thighs, the soft triangle of curls that shielded
her pussy was damp with more than the warmth of the waters she had been submerged within. There was also a soft slickness there, a mysterious ache that refused to go away. Part pleasure, part pain, the ache had her clit throbbing, her pussy hot and building with a hunger she didn’t understand as well as she knew she should.
“Are you certain you weren’t harmed this morning, Marina?” Selena questioned her gently. “The Sashtain Twins were quite concerned when they brought the report of the attack to mother.”
Marina snorted as she rolled her eyes mockingly.
“I’m certain they were quite concerned,” she said with false sweetness as she thought of the two arrogant Wizards. “Sentinel’s forbid that I should be truly raped and relieved of my virginity. What use would I be to them then?”
She turned back to face her sisters as she sat on the stone bench at the edge of the shallow pool Serena and Brianna relaxed within.
“Your power is not all they seek, Marina,” Brianna sighed. “The joining is much more than the physical. The release of your power to them, brings you more than you could ever believe you are losing. It is returned ten-fold with that they give in return.”
Marina crossed her arms and leaned forward, bracing them on her knees. It wasn’t the first time Brianna had claimed that her joining with the Verago Twins was more than satisfactory and pleasing. But this time, there was a lazy assurance, a confidence in Brianna’s tone that she hadn’t heard before.
“They intend to petition for The Joining, don’t they?” She asked her sister warily. “They are not here to discuss the treaty between Covenani and Cauldaran as they claimed. They are here for me.”
In the weeks that the Sashtain Twins had been at the castle with Brianna and the Verago Twins, Marina had no faced her sister with her suspicions. She had allowed Brianna to skip around the true meaning of this little diplomatic visit, as best she could. Marina hadn’t wanted to face what she knew was coming, but she was aware that hiding from it wasn’t going to help now.
Brianna glanced at Serena, and the look they shared was more of an answer than Marina wanted. Concern etched both sisters faces as they finally turned back to her.