Every Good Boy Deserves Favor

by Treva Harte

  Seven shades of hell! Mio almost laughed out loud before he remembered his own immediate danger.

  He knew the exit. He knew the alarm was broken. He was the only one with both pieces of the puzzle and he knew what he--what any man--would do with such information. He even had a noble reason to go.

  Mio pinched himself and winced. No, this hadn’t been a dream. This was another one of his adolescent fantasies come true. All he had to do was outwait the enemy and then enter the castle. He had no other choice.

  * * * * *

  “We need to talk.” Maryam walked toward the bedroom window, staring out toward the trees.

  “Fine. About what?” Ara frowned a little.

  “The future.”

  “What future?”

  “I could see the look on the stranger’s fa--I mean, Jewel’s face--when we told her the last time I’d given birth. It’s time to face facts, just the way you said before.”

  Maryam tapped one finger against the sill.

  “You mean because there aren’t very many of us?”

  “Because we’re failing the keep.”

  “I’m trying to do my duty!” Ara gulped.

  “Not just you. All of us. Even if every one of us gave birth to one girl in our lifetime--and that is very rare--there would end up being even fewer females in the next generation to hold the keep.” Maryam sighed. “You were right. We should have faced facts before this.”

  “What do we do about it?” Ara found herself staring at her fingernails yet again. Goddess, telling people they were wrong was one thing. Having them agree was another.

  “I see only two possible solutions. The first is that we get more women to come here.”

  “What woman is going to leave her castle to risk coming here?” Ara gaped at Maryam’s calm tone. “This Jewel only arrived because it was an emergency. Getting more than one woman here for longer than an emergency is impossible. What’s the other solution?”

  “Or we abandon the castle.”

  “We leave Bloomingdell’s walls?” Ara gasped. “Are you mad?”

  “Can you think of a third solution?”

  Ara blinked. She hadn’t gotten that far during her earlier rebellious thoughts. Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to.

  “Not immediately,” Ara admitted. “But--but are you suggesting we leave with Jewel? Or kidnap her and force her to stay here?”

  “I don’t know what I’m suggesting. But we need to talk to Jewel. Now. Before Jewel goes to bed. And apart from the Eldress and the others. They--they don’t always see things as clearly as they could.”

  And Maryam thought she did? Ara didn’t know whether to be flattered or terrified. At that moment Ara could think of only one thing that might comfort her.

  “I need to drink some more tea.”

  Ara grabbed for her lukewarm mug before she followed Maryam out the door.

  Chapter 8

  The bedroom was unfamiliar. The women of Bloomingdell had done their best to make her comfortable. She’d had a lovely warm bath. The room had potpourri to scent it and soft, well-washed sheets over the straw-filled mattress, just the way it was done at home.

  But it wasn’t home. The potpourri wasn’t the same type as M’Cee mixed. The sheets weren’t the same pattern. Jewel sniffed and looked, trying to decide if the not quite strange smells and sights were exciting or bewildering. Or both.

  Her life of adventure had more shocks than even she’d expected. She’d been prepared for big changes, but little ones like an unfamiliar bed threw her.

  “Jewel?”

  That voice was familiar. Except that it couldn’t be. Jewel whirled toward the door. Before she pulled it open, he entered.

  “We have to talk.” Mio leaned against the door.

  “How did you…” Jewel tried again. “You’ll be killed if anyone finds you here.”

  Mio put a hand over her mouth and shook his head.

  “They best not, then. I came to warn you all.” Mio wasn’t smiling. “I’m not the only one planning to enter the castle. The others aren’t arriving with my good intentions. Worse yet, they’re not even one of our own. It’s the enemy.”

  Enemy? But no one invaded their land. The men might go elsewhere to raid, but no one dared. Well, no one had dared for a long time.

  He was telling her the worst nightmare any castled female could hear. It hadn’t happened to them in two or three generations. But the threat of invasion was always in the back of everyone’s mind.

  She needed to tell the others.

  His thighs pressed against hers, hard and close, trapping her against him. Curse it, she was already melting at the smell and feel of him. Jewel pushed his hand from her mouth. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  Jewel couldn’t help herself. She shouldn’t. She should be running to give the alarm immediately. Instead she leaned closer, whispering her words against his ear. She knew how sensitive his ear was. “I mean, are you sure your intentions are totally good?”

  He stared in the direction of her purple-black hair as it trailed over her shoulder. He swallowed. His lips parted. Jewel waited.

  “No.”

  “No?” Jewel blinked.

  “Woman, this is important! You mustn’t try to distract me. Your life is in danger.”

  “You think they’d kill us?” Jewel blinked again. “I thought they would just rape us.”

  “Who knows what the enemy would do? You have to tell the others!”

  “How am I supposed to know about this? Say that the male who guided me here traipsed in and let me know--”

  “You’re clever! You can come up with something! Jewel, why are you doing this?” Mio actually took her by the shoulders and shook her. “I can’t stay here to argue with you, and you know that.”

  “I suppose I do.” With her words, Mio’s fingers stopped digging into her shoulders and turned to a more gentle touch against her skin. “I--I just am so happy to see you. And I don’t want to believe what you’re saying.”

  “I’m telling the truth!”

  “I know. But I don’t like it.”

  “Jewel?”

  “Yes, Mio?”

  “I’m happy to see you, too.” He bent and kissed her shoulder this time. “But you have to go and tell everyone.” She had to throw off this stupidity, stop pretending he was there just to see her.

  “Y--”

  “Jewel?” Once again a voice outside her door made her jump.

  “Um--Maryam?” Jewel remembered the name just in time. “Just a moment.”

  Mio dived under the bed as Jewel walked as slowly as she dared toward the door.

  “Yes?” Jewel opened the door, a little stunned to see two of the women of Bloomingdell there.

  At least these seemed to be the most sensible of the lot. But they were the ones who would ask the most questions, too.

  “I have something--” Jewel began.

  “We have something to discuss with you.” Maryam walked in, followed by Ara, who looked much less eager to talk.

  * * * * *

  He didn’t want to find the exit. Curse him for a fool. A sickening, shivering fool who was letting his illness interfere with his judgment. A fool who thought about a frightened Ara seeing who her captor was and the look in her eyes--

  Stop. He had to stop running the flickering, nightmarish images in his mind of what might happen. What if she did feel betrayed? He was here to betray her. For his people. His men.

  He needed to concentrate on his men instead of the woman. Gor, his second-in-command, who always stood at his back to defend him. He had begun showing the first symptoms of the fever that racked Quinn now. Soon Gor wouldn’t be able to back Quinn in the competent way he’d always managed. He’d be off, puking his guts out and praying for death to come soon.

  Jary. He seemed well enough for now. But Jary was the youngest, the mascot, who would never know enough to make his way home without them. Kirt, who stayed silent and watchful, who did what was n
eeded and asked for no favors. Who knew how long before the fever took him, too?

  All of them. The ones he still had left, who hadn’t died one way or other on this insane mission he had concocted a year or more back. The ones who had agreed to help him before he died.

  Before they all died.

  “Have you found it yet?” He raised his head, tried to make his voice steady and strong. The men needed him to lead for as long as he was capable.

  They were close. All he needed to do was lead a little while longer.

  “No, Captain.” Jary ran up. “But it can’t take much longer. It’s just difficult to do in the dark.”

  “If we tried to do this in daylight, we’d be destroyed.” Quinn let the irritation show.

  Jary didn’t wince away in fear, as he might have at the start of their expedition. Instead he came closer, his face concerned.

  “Do you need more medicine, sir?”

  Even Jary knew how ill he was growing. Jary’s hand supported his back. There was a time when the boy wouldn’t have been able to--wouldn’t have dared. Was Jary so much stronger now or was Quinn weaker? Quinn shook him away, refusing to acknowledge his state before his youngest follower.

  “No.” Quinn hated the medicine. Sometimes it made him dizzier and more nauseous than the disease. “Not yet. The keep is a small one. Even if we have to test each stone, it won’t take us that long. We’ll find the way in.”

  * * * * *

  “We need to ask you a question, Jewel.” Maryam paced. Ara had never seen quiet, dignified Maryam pace before. It wasn’t a reassuring sight.

  “Of course you can, but…” Jewel paused, looking as nervous as Ara felt.

  Ara stayed silent. Right now Maryam needed to talk to the stranger. That was best. Ara wasn’t even sure what to say.

  Maryam held up her hand. “This keep won’t stand much longer. We know that.”

  “You do?” Jewel sounded stunned. “How…”

  “We need to know if it’s possible to get us out.”

  “Or to bring more women in!” Ara broke in hastily, forgetting her vow to stay mute. She couldn’t ignore that other possibility.

  “Bring more in? But the keep is about to be invaded!” Jewel stared at her.

  “What?” Maryam and Ara chorused.

  “You didn’t know, then.” Jewel looked as if she wanted to hold her head in her hands. Instead she straightened her shoulders. She carefully spaced out her next words. “The enemy has disabled the alarms and plans to attack us.”

  “The enemy? Here?” Ara gulped.

  “Let’s go see the alarms. Now.” Maryam stopped pacing, her eyes narrowed. “How did you find this out, Jewel?”

  “I--while I was outside, I heard. Things. All kinds of things.”

  “How could the enemy manage such to do this?” Ara fumbled at opening the door, the news too enormous to completely comprehend.

  “I don’t know that, I just--” Jewel stopped. Sniffed. “What kind of tea are you drinking?”

  Ara knew her mouth dropped open. What kind of question was that? Did the stranger-woman propose to stop and drink tea after announcing such dire tidings?

  “Sage, of course. But--”

  “Sage!” Jewel gasped. “You’re not serious!”

  Ara backed away a trifle. Perhaps the long trip had unhinged the woman’s reason.

  “You don’t care for sage tea? Neither does Maryam. She refuses to drink it, though the rest of us find it delicious.”

  “But--but--” Jewel shook her head. “You don’t understand. This is important. I may have discovered the source of your infertility.”

  She pointed to Ara’s mug. Ara stared down, her fingers starting to shake.

  “Our healer said it was a wonderful tea,” Ara whispered. “We’ve all drunk it for…for years… Oh, dear.”

  “Raspberry tea used to be an excellent remedy to keep a woman’s time regular. There are many treatises that I’ve read from the old days on the subject. But that was before the Great Explosion.” Jewel took the mug from Ara. “Careful. You look like you’re going to drop that.”

  “What happened to raspberries then?”

  “Well, some herbs and roots and berries retained their healing properties. Others mutated. The way our skin has--the way something in our genetic code has so that we make more boys than girls. Raspberry leaves are one of the things that changed. Now it is a source of contraception in some areas, a source of fertility in others. Let’s hope Maryam drinks the type that helps fertility. Sage, on the other hand, has always been a source of contraception.”

  “Why did she tell us--” Ara stopped. Shook her head. “Our healer was sick for a while. Perhaps she forgot. Or just didn’t know.”

  “Well, the good news is that it’s not irreversible.” Jewel patted her on the hand. “A few months and everything will be fine.”

  “Months?”

  “Ladies, in the meantime we have an alarm system to fix.” Maryam pulled the door open, brushing aside the two of them. “That problem is a bit more immediate.”

  * * * * *

  Jewel opened the door to her assigned room. Goddess, had it been just a few hours ago when she had the luxury of feeling odd because her sheets hadn’t made her feel quite at home? Right now all she wanted to do was crawl into a bed, any bed, and sleep.

  She stumbled toward the bed in the pitch dark, fumbling with her jersey.

  “Is the alarm fixed then?”

  Jewel stopped in the middle of the floor, trying not to rub her eyes. Trying not to feel the sudden singing warmth in her body. In her heart.

  “You’re still here?” Jewel got to the bed, sat down heavily. “I thought you’d escape in all the scramble.”

  “No.” Just that word, but it made her want to weep with joy. Then again she was tired. Terribly tired. Tired enough to feel weak and foolish.

  Mio’s hand reached out, touched her arm. Its callused palm gripped her, strong and comforting.

  “How do you expect to get out then?” Jewel fought a yawn. “I’m not going back to disable the blasted alarm after spending this long to put it back to rights.”

  “I guess I’ll have to stay here then.” Mio didn’t sound too distressed. “Live in your bed for the rest of my life.”

  “Mio--” The rest of what she had to say was stopped by his mouth, urgent and needy, on hers. She was a fool. She didn’t try to stop him. Instead she reached her arms around his naked back and guided him down.

  The bed wouldn’t seem so lonely with Mio here. Nothing could be bad now that Mio was here. Jewel ran her hands down the length of Mio’s spine, finally resting on that tight butt. Ahhh, he was a wonderfully built male. She wanted to tell him so.

  “You should have left while you had the chance,” she told him instead.

  “Leave your bed without having you? I think not.” Mio sounded amused and breathless and sexy and wanting, all at the same time.

  The same way she felt right now.

  “Besides, silly, the only way I could leave would be to pass right by the alarm you all were working on.”

  She bit his shoulder for that response. He grunted, running his hands under her half-opened jersey. Jewel shivered, all notions of sleep gone, as he began to circle upward, past her rib cage, tickling under her breast, trailing upward to rest one hand on each nipple. He paused, delicately pulling each tip for a moment.

  Jewel half raised her body, wanting more. Little prickles of electricity crackled through her now, generated by the light brushing Mio gave to each breast.

  Suddenly he fastened his fingers hard on each nipple, pinching and then tweaking them.

  Jewel yelped. The sharp pain was followed by a warmer ache in her pussy.

  “Bite me, will you?” He whispered it in her ear. “Ungrateful…female.”

  Jewel’s legs began to climb, trying to fasten onto Mio’s hips. She bit his other shoulder.

  “Are you daring me?” she asked.

  Maybe he’d
“punish” her again. Goddess, she hoped so.

  “I’m just wanting you, Jewel. Always wanting you.” His voice had dropped down low--serious and sexy. “How could you ask me to leave without being inside you? I’d rather die.”

  He might die, if he were caught here. Jewel couldn’t bear to remind him of what they both knew. Instead she raised herself a little higher, searching--searching. When she found his cock, ready for her, she sighed.

  “Then have me.” Her voice was husky, too. “Mio, hurry and have me now.”

  “I don’t want to hurry.” He covered her, and she kissed him. Hard. Hard as she wanted him inside her.

  He slid inside and she jerked upward, already primed to have him, almost halfway ready to climax at that first touch. She’d missed his cock, his urgent thrusts inside her, his soft moans against her breast. She’d missed him. So much.

  Mio knew her body. It was as if they’d been together forever, he knew her so well. He knew what friction to apply to the most sensitive spots on her clitoris, he knew how to rub his penis slowly and thoroughly, using his hips to grind into her securely despite her sudden, eager need to writhe.

  “Go ahead and come,” he whispered in her ear. “No need to hold back for me. There’s more waiting for you.”

  She wanted to swat him for his ego. Instead she flung her head back and let out a low, satisfied groan as her body caught fire. She shuddered, holding back tears as completion hummed through her. Mio nipped at her neck and Jewel sucked in her breath. More awaited her. Good as this first orgasm was, she was in for much more. Mio could hold back his own climax until she was completely limp from a series of teeth-rattling orgasms.

  “Jewel? We need to settle whether we can go…”

  The door opened before Jewel could register the sudden, less welcome intrusion in her room.

  “Goddess!” Jewel threw her arm over Mio in a ridiculous attempt to--hide him? Protect him? She didn’t even know.

  “Goddess!” Maryam sounded just as shocked.

  The three of them stared at each other. Jewel slowly eased her arm away. Her dagger was across the room, tucked in her boots. She couldn’t use it on Maryam anyhow. But what could she do? What could she say?