by Wild, Callie
Then why are you punishing her with your foul temper?
Aaron snatched the pan they’d used to warm their dinner and stalked off toward the river, choosing a different path than the one taken by his companion.
Even if Calliope had spelled him, which he still didn’t know for certain, there was a chance she hadn’t done it on purpose. She seemed as infatuated with him as he was with her—or she had until he’d spent the afternoon pushing her away—and surely she wouldn’t have deliberately spelled herself. He supposed there was a chance she was like some of the other besotted young women of his realm, who idolized him with an obsession usually reserved for musicians and movie stars, but it didn’t seem likely.
She hadn’t even ventured to his castle of her own free will. She had been kidnapped and held prisoner there. And if her magic had been under her control, why wouldn’t she have melted the prison bars and walked free? Why allow herself to be treated so vilely?
Examining the facts, it seemed Aaron had likely been punishing Calliope for nothing, or at the very worst, a magical misfire.
After all, what would the fairy have to gain from making him fall in love with her? The title of Queen and access to the wealth of the kingdom, yes, but so did every other woman who came to his bed. He’d stopped worrying about that being the sole motivation for a woman to love him a long time ago. Aaron trusted his instincts to let him know when he was being played false.
And even if a woman managed to trick him, she would pay the greatest price for her treachery. What sadder existence could there be than to marry another person for any reason other than love? No treasury, regardless of size, would ever be able to make up for such poverty of the heart.
“Seems you’ve answered your own question,” Aaron mumbled as he knelt beside the swiftly flowing river.
He had just decided that he had to speak honestly with Calliope about his suspicions—after a heartfelt apology, of course—when her voice sounded from behind him.
“Don’t turn around, and don’t say a word. This is the simplest of spells, but I still can’t guarantee your safety if you disobey my command.” Her voice was cool, but her words sent a wave of heat surging to his groin. She could be getting ready to kill him, for all he knew, but the idea of being at her command still made his traitorous body react.
“Calliope, I—”
“I will tell you once more to be quiet, Aaron. After that, you take your life in your hands with your disobedience.”
He sucked in a deep breath, but forced himself to hold his peace as she began to chant behind him. She really was casting, damn it, and despite Dr. Whethers assurances, Aaron didn’t have enough faith in Calliope’s magical skill to risk shaking her concentration.
“Still and mum is what I would, magic hear and do as you should.” The air near the river shivered and went strangely silent, seeming empty without her words to fill it.
Aaron was about to say something to that effect, when a stinging sensation shivered across the back of his neck. Warmth spread throughout his body, relaxing his muscles for one blissful second before his arms were forced up and over his head and bound together by invisible wire.
“What the—” His words ended in a shout as he was pulled across the ground by some unseen force, coming to an abrupt stop against a tree. His head hit the bark, hard, and his vision swam for a moment before everything—including Calliope’s concerned face—faded to black.
He feared he was losing consciousness, but his thoughts remained sharp as his vision blackened.
“It’s okay, Aaron. You’re all right.” Calliope’s voice was soft and placating, but it did nothing to stem the panic rushing through him
He was blind. She had blinded him!
“What have you done?” he snapped. “Release me immediately! I swear by the—”
“Quiet now, you’ll hurt yourself. The spell won’t last long.” Her hand smoothed down his stomach and over the slight bulge in his pants—which, despite his fear, became a larger bulge under her exploring fingers. “So if you want to enjoy this, I suggest you hold still.”
And here he’d thought she was a relative innocent.
“If you wanted to play games, you should have told me in advance,” he said, still angry, but intrigued in spite of himself. “It’s customary to receive the consent of the one who will be bound,”
“I’m sorry. I was afraid you wouldn’t give consent in your present mood, and there is a pressing question I must have answered.” Her lips touched softly upon his neck, making his pulse leap. “Trust me, Aaron. I would never hurt you.”
“Even though I treated you terribly the entire day?” he asked, his heart beating faster as her fingers begin to work the buttons on his shirt.
“Not the entire day. I seem to remember some time spent under a tree that was quite pleasant.” He felt the gentle puff of her breath against his cheek and turned to catch her lips, but she was too fast. “Let me guide the course this time, Aaron. Just try to enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll try,” he said in his most beleaguered voice.
Her laughter was accompanied by a slight rustling and when she pressed back against him, her warm skin warmed his bare chest. He groaned.
“You’re a good sport.” She kissed his cheek, his neck, before dragging her teeth slowly over his jaw, taking his breath away. “But I’ll ask you one favor—when I ask you a question, please answer me honestly.”
“I always attempt to be honest,” he said, swallowing hard as she tugged at the close of his pants. “Unless honesty does more harm than good.”
“Don’t worry about that now. Even if you think that an honest answer will hurt my feelings, I still want the truth.” Her words were muffled as she kissed her way down his chest, but he gathered her meaning.
Now if he could only figure out what she was trying to prove with this strange game.
“Do you like it when I kiss you here?” she asked, her lips brushing lightly across the tip of his cock.
“God, yes,” he answered, wondering if all of her questions were to be so easily answered.
Her tongue swept experimentally across the head of his arousal, drawing a grown from his lips. “And that as well?”
“Yes,” he gasped, answering her questions with the same word, again and again, as she tormented him.
She drew him into her wet mouth and suckled, then drew him deeper and sucked harder. She spun her tongue around his tip, then scraped her teeth lightly over the place where his shaft met the head of his cock. She fisted the base of him in her fingers as her head bobbed up and down, quickly driving him wild with need.
And after every wicked act, she asked if he was pleased until he didn’t know if he was giving affirmation or begging for more.
“And now the last question.” She raked her nails across his swollen sac as her fist continued to slide up and down.
“Yes, anything,” he growled low in his throat, resisting the urge to thrust his hips forward and speed the friction of her hand on his cock. He was trying to play his part and let her lead, for he would demand the same submission when it was her turn to be bound to the tree.
And it would be her turn, whether she realized it or not.
“Do the things I’ve done make you feel the same way you did before? In your heart?” Her words crashed through him, shattering his expectations and taking the edge off his arousal.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, kissing the head of his cock. “Just tell me the truth.”
“No,” he said, his throat tight. “No, it isn’t the same.”
And it wasn’t. He still cared for her, enjoyed her, but that wild freedom, that feeling of being head over heels in love with Calliope wasn’t there. What he couldn’t understand, however, was why that should feel like it was breaking his heart.
“Thank you,” she said, sounding like she meant it.
She set back to work, suckling, stroking, claiming him until even the sadness swelling in his chest couldn’t keep him
from tumbling over the edge.
“I’m going to come, Calliope. I’m so close.”
She moaned her encouragement around his throbbing flesh and that was all it took. He cried out as he lost himself in her mouth. Almost immediately the black began to fade from his vision, clearing in time for him to look down and see her—eyes closed, bare breasts framing his cock as she swallowed him down.
It was a beautiful sight to behold, but for some reason he still felt…empty.
If this was what it felt like to be released from Calliope’s power, it was no wonder that Rosamund still slept. Maybe, on some level, the princess knew nothing could be as wonderful as the dreams Calliope’s magic had given her. Maybe she’d decided she didn’t want to wake up, no matter what prince came to save her.
He supposed they would find out tomorrow, likely the last day they would spend together.
“It’s for the best,” she said, looking up at him from where she knelt on the grass. “I can see you clearly now, too. I swear, I didn’t mean to make you love me. It must have been a side effect from the spell I cast, hoping to free myself from the dungeon. But, it’s broken now, so…”
“I believe you.” Aaron swallowed hard and stretched his arms and legs, newly released from their confinement. “Now, will you answer me one question?”
“Of course.”
“Do you regret the things we’ve done? Now that we see each other clearly?”
“No,” she said, heat in her blue eyes. “I don’t regret any of the pleasure we’ve given each other. Do you?”
“Of course not. And I’m glad you feel that way, because now it’s your turn.” Without another word, he lifted her from the ground and carried her back to the camp.
It might not be love between them, but it was excellent sex and he wasn’t going to waste his last night with Calliope nursing a broken enchantment.
Or a broken heart.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Calliope
They reached the edge of the Beauvielle lands by mid-morning, but it wasn’t soon enough for Calliope. She was ready for this journey to be over, to rescue Aaron’s brother and be on her way back to her farm. Life in her cottage might be monotonous and lonely at times, but at least she was spared this tumult of emotion.
Every time she looked at Aaron or caught him looking at her, she felt as if she would break in two. She felt outside herself, but at the same time more miserable in her skin than she could ever remember being—even when her mother’s abuse had been at its zenith.
That’s what comes of lying.
“I didn’t lie,” Calliope muttered, lest Aaron hear her from where he rode ahead. “I simply didn’t tell the entire truth.”
A lie of omission is still a lie, and now you’ll pay the price.
How it will cut your heart to hear of his marriage, for he will be married soon, no doubt about that. A king his age can’t remain unmarried for long.
Perhaps he’ll see the young Rosamund, be captivated by her beauty, and propose on the spot.
Calliope frowned. “She’s much too young for him. And he wouldn’t marry anyone who didn’t touch his heart.”
As if you know anything of his heart. His affection for you was a product of the affliction, a lie only a fool would believe.
“I am not a fool, I was under the spell as well.”
Only a fool is caught in her own magical web.
Besides…you’re not under a spell now. Are you? Yet still, you love him.
“Oh, shut up!” Calliope shouted.
“Are you all right?” Aaron shifted in his saddle to cast a concerned look over his shoulder. “We can rest before we approach the castle.”
“No, I’m fine, just practicing a few spells,” Calliope fibbed, grateful when he nodded and turned back around.
Another lie. You’re getting so adept at them. Perhaps you should—
“I am finished with you,” Calliope whispered, shutting out the sound of the “other” voice with no small degree of effort.
Despite the herbs, the voice of criticism had returned this morning. She remembered the healer at the castle saying stress would make the voices worse and she was nothing if not stressed.
Another reason for her to hurry back to her farm, where there was no Aaron to sweet-talk her into using her magic or to make love to her into the wee hours as if he still cared. There had been no whispered words of love, but every stroke of his hand, every movement of his body inside hers had been as beautiful as ever.
“But he doesn’t feel the same way.” Calliope squeezed her eyes shut against the pain the words caused.
She was no longer under her own spell—the haze had left her eyes the moment it had left Aaron’s—but she couldn’t lie to herself. She still loved him. She still ached to be in his arms, to have him smile just for her, to know the warmth of his kindness and even the harsh prick of his temper.
She wanted to be a part of his life, someone who mattered to him beyond what magic she would work to save his brother.
What magic you will work! Goddess protect the man and his brother.
“The spell last night went off as planned,” Calliope said, satisfied to be able to point that out to her mother.
“But darling, that isn’t really your mother.” Another familiar voice, one she didn’t hear nearly as often as she would like, vibrated through the air around her. “It is a cruel thing with no body of its own. But I am real. And I’m here to help you, though I know I don’t get the chance to speak as—”
Get out of my daughter’s head, Melinda. She’ll never be the fairy that I was or even you were. Best if she goes back to her farm and shovels manure.
“Heliotrope, you always were more witch than Fae.” Her fairy godmother’s ghost was as tough and opinionated as the woman herself had been in life. “I should have stolen Calliope away from you on her christening day and never looked back.”
“Please, Melinda, I appreciate your help,” Calliope said, grateful to hear from Melinda after months of silence. “But I need to have my wits about me. The fewer voices at the moment, the better.”
“Of course, dear,” Melinda said. “But know that I believe in you. The magic has always been strong within you. Believe in your power, the way you did last night. Aaron will help. His love for you is strong.”
His lust for her is more like it.
“He loves you, Calliope,” Melinda insisted. “Have faith, and by the end of this day you may be very pleasantly surprised.”
Or dead. We’ll find out soon enough.
Her mother’s voice was right. The tall spires of the Beauvielle castle were in sight. It wouldn’t be long before they would be able to feel the heat of the lava that filled the moat, and hear the roar of the creature that guarded the entrance to Rosamund’s chamber.
“Goddess, be with me.” Calliope closed her eyes and reached out to the Goddess. “Aid me in this, that I may protect Aaron and his brother and free Rosamund from her long sleep. Guide my hand and my power.”
The voices in her mind were quiet then. Calliope took it as a sign that the Goddess was indeed with her. And it was a good thing too.
She was going to need all the help she could get.
CHAPTER NINE
Aaron
“I’ve changed my mind.” Aaron lay in the grass as Calliope finished her lunch—no sense going to face an enchanted castle without a last meal. “I want you to stay here with the horses. If anything happens to me, or if I don’t come out within a few days, you can follow the river back to the city.”
“No, I’m going with you. You’re right, you’ll need magical help to free Johann.” She stood, tossing the last of her bread into the brush for the animals before beginning to plait her long hair into a single braid.
Aaron watched, mesmerized. She was even more beautiful this morning, if that were possible. Her snug riding trousers and white shirt clung to every luscious curve and her feet were encased in tiny suede boots. The clothing was practical, ch
osen for the battle they would fight today, but made his body respond in a way even her gauzy dresses hadn’t.
It had been hell this morning, resisting the urge to haul her back into their tent and strip them both naked once more, but he’d promised himself last night would be the last time he indulged his carnal appetites with Calliope.
The relationship was too confusing to be allowed to continue. The memory of the way he’d loved her haunted him, making his heart ache even as the rest of his body relished the most exquisite lovemaking he’d ever known.
Sex. Not lovemaking. Sex. Keep it straight, man.
“No, I don’t want you in danger.” And he didn’t. He might not love her, but he respected her and cared for her enough not to want her to risk her life. “It was my brother’s choice to come here and seek out danger in the first place and I—”
“But it was I who created the danger for him to seek out.” She smiled, a sad twist of her lips that didn’t reach her eyes. She finished with her hair, and tossed the long braid back over her shoulder. “Besides, it is past time for me to right this wrong. Or at least try to set Rosamund free.”
“All right then,” he said, seeing there was no point in arguing with her. There was something stronger about Calliope today, as if she believed in her magic more than usual. “You didn’t blind me last night, at least.”
“That’s right.” She smiled again and this time real humor danced in her eyes. “Look on the bright side.”
God, he wanted to kiss her when she smiled like that. He still craved the warmth of her smile, her touch, even now that he was in his right mind.
“Then let’s discuss our strategy,” he said, turning to face the castle.
It was better not to look at her too much. If he did, he would lose the strength to bring her with him. The thought of Calliope walking into the keep beside him frightened him far more than if he were going in alone.
But fear had never kept him from a battle before and there was no turning back now.