“I’m trusting you to honor your word.”
The insistence in her tone sent an odd combination of anger and amusement surging through him. “Why are you so afraid of sex? I know you enjoyed the way I touched you in the crystal chamber.”
He placed her on her knees in the middle of the bed. “I’m not afraid of sex.” As if to illustrate her claim, she tugged off the tunic and scrunched it into a ball. “I resent being kidnapped and held hostage. You intend to use me like a broodmare and throw me away when I’ve delivered your son. Surely you can understand why I’m not anxious for those events to begin.” She threw the balled-up tunic at his face.
Batting the garment to the floor, he tugged off his boots and shed his own tunic, dropping it on top of hers. “I understand being held hostage far better than you might think. We are each prisoners to the past.”
“Then let’s escape together.” She licked her lips and crawled to the edge of the bed, her eyes narrowed with speculation. “If you help me…”
He unfastened his pants and pushed them past his hips, his gaze boring into hers. “I can’t help you, Echo. But you can help me. You can give me a son strong enough to end this tyranny.”
“There are other ways to fight oppression, more direct, faster ways.”
Never shifting his gaze from her flushed face, he braced his legs far apart and closed his fingers around his shaft. “Have you ever watched a man come? Did any of your bodyguards let you touch them?” Like metal drawn by a powerful magnet, her gaze lowered to his cock. Her eyes widened, then narrowed to passion-bright slits. “Touch me,” he whispered.
She extended her hand then snatched it back. “I won’t give in to you.”
“This isn’t giving in.” He caught her wrist and guided her hand to his erection. “We’re just playing.”
Her eyes closed as her fingers encircled his shaft. “You’re a wicked, wicked man.” Pressing his fingers over hers, he moved her hand up and down his length. Her eyelids fluttered, and he realized she was watching the slide of their hands from beneath her long lashes. Aroused as much by her curiosity as by the press of her fingers, he rocked his hips and reveled in her touch.
A bead of moisture formed at the tip. She kept up the firm, steady slide with one hand, while she gathered the drop with the index finger of her other. Taste it. Raise your finger to your mouth and know my taste. She looked up when her finger reached her lips, and he nearly lost control. He wasn’t sure if he’d sent a compulsion or simply encouraged her with his thoughts. It didn’t matter. She sucked on her finger, and his balls drew up tight, his shaft bucking against her grasp, and he groaned.
“Do it,” she urged in a throaty purr. “I want to watch you come.”
The sensual command was more than his over-stimulated senses could stand. He threw back his head and roared as his seed spurted out. Over and over he shuddered, jetting until his balls had nothing left to give.
Her fingers relaxed, and she touched her stomach, fascinated by the milky fluid.
“Rub it in,” he urged. “I want to fall sleep with my scent on your skin.”
“That’s disgusting.” Pushing him backward, she snatched his tunic off the floor and wiped up the mess they’d made.
He growled, feeling savage, desperate to take her, to imprint her with his shape as well as his scent. Cupping her breasts, he inhaled deeply and felt his cock begin to rise. He’d just spilled his seed. How could he harden again so quickly?
Her pert little nipples beaded beneath his thumbs and a flush spread across her chest. “Invite me inside. We both want this, Echo. Speak the words.”
“This isn’t right.” She tossed the tunic aside, her gaze filled with uncertainty. “I can’t—want you.”
“But you do.” He rubbed her nipples, and she trembled, turning her face away. “You want me inside you as badly as I want to be there. Why deny us both?”
“I must.” Her tone was thick, filled with meaning his passion-muddled brain wouldn’t absorb. “I can’t give in to you.”
Before Echo realized what he intended, Varrik bent and lifted her to his shoulder. She gasped and scissored her legs. He wrapped his arm around her thighs and smacked her bottom. Spiraling heat followed the sting, and she went still against his shoulder. What was he doing to her? Every touch, every glance increased the pressure building between her thighs. She had never felt this wanton, this needful.
He pulled down the bedding and dumped her onto the mattress. She rolled to her knees and scrambled for the other side. His strong fingers closed around her ankle. She kicked out at him as he dragged her legs out from under her.
“I can’t do this,” she cried, more afraid of her own desire than any demand he might make on her. Was she really so weak, so lustful that she would succumb in less than a day?
His hand came down on her ass again, and Echo moaned. Her nipples rasped against the sheet and her core ached. No one had ever made her do anything. She was protected and cosseted, indulged and admired. His aggression should terrify her, repulse her, certainly not turn her on!
Without saying a word, he wrestled her arms into the wrist cuffs and tightened the chain, stretching her out on her stomach in the middle of the bed. He grasped her panties with both hands and rent the lace-trimmed fabric.
“I thought your breasts were perfect until I saw your ass.”
It was such a ridiculous excuse for a compliment, Echo grinned into the mattress. Would he take her now? Pull her up to her knees and “mount” her? Her inner muscles rippled, and her clit twitched. This was so perverse. How could she feel anything but fear?
He stroked her legs from ankle to ass, over and over. Lulled by the caress of his warm fingers, she didn’t realize he was spreading her legs until his fingers brushed her folds. She whimpered and tried to close her thighs, but he knelt between her legs.
“You’re so wet, your inner thighs are slick.” He slid his fingers across her skin to illustrate. “Are you still going to claim you don’t want me?”
“It’s not a matter of desire.” She panted. “My body is responding predictably to specific stimulation.” He didn’t need to know similar stimulation had never resulted in this profound of a response. She ached. She burned. She trembled.
He traced her slit, teasing her opening without breaking his word. Tingles skittered up her spine. “May I please come inside you?” He whispered the question against the small of her back, his moist breath wafting across her skin.
“I will not ask to be defiled,” she said with more conviction. “I won’t ease your guilt by inviting my own degradation.”
The bed shifted as he moved to her side. “You’re right. This isn’t fair.”
Shocked by his acquiescence, she turned her head and looked at him. His gaze still burned with desire and beads of sweat dotted his brow. Lean and lethal, his body had yet to accept the new strategy. He’d felt thick and hard sliding between her fingers. How much better would it feel to have him thrusting into her again and again? With stubborn resolve, she dragged her gaze back to his face, but the memory lingered. Did his Rodyte heritage account for his size, or had Kiel been unusually small?
“Release me from my vow.” He trailed his fingers from her armpit to the outer curve of her breast.
“What?” She thought he’d finished toying with her.
“I accept full responsibility for what we’re about to do. Now release me from my vow.”
“No!” She rolled onto her side, presenting him with her back, arms still extended overhead. “You swore you wouldn’t… I have no intention of releasing you from your vow.”
“Fine.” He lay down and pressed himself against her back. His body heat sank into her flesh and his breath stirred her hair. Starting with her upraised arms, he caressed her entire body. He stroked her skin, squeezed her curves, and stimulated her nerve endings with a combination of sensations. He rubbed until she relaxed, then suddenly used his nails.
“Stop…touching me.” She tried to
twist away, but he followed.
“I like touching you, and you need to grow accustomed to my touch.” He cupped one breast and then the other, his thumb circling her nipples. “Relax. You won this round.”
She tried to remain stiff and unresponsive. Her mind cooperated. Her body had other ideas. Her breasts swelled, her nipples tight and tingly. He splayed his fingers low on her belly, then pulled his hips back. What was he doing? She glanced over her shoulder, and he grinned.
“You’re so hot and wet. We’ll finish like this.” He pushed between her thighs, parting her folds with his thick shaft. She clasped the chains attached to her cuffs and waited for his length to fill her. He slipped his other hand under her body and adjusted the angle of her hips. “Squeeze your thighs together. Make it nice and tight.”
With one hand on her abdomen and the other on her hip, he moved between her thighs, short, shallow thrusts that bumped against her clit. She pushed back against him, unable to ignore the pleasure yet yearning for more. Each time he rubbed against her clit, a ripple of sensation gripped her. She pressed her lips together to keep from crying out. Pleasure burst in staccato pulses, radiating through her entire body.
He clasped her to him and rolled her nearly on top of him as he shook against her back. His seed splashed her thighs and his hands cupped her breasts. For a long time they lay there panting in the dim light. Echo eased her hold on the chains, relaxed yet confounded. How could she respond so readily to her enemy?
After the last tingle receded, he reached down and scooped his seed off her thighs. He smoothed it over her mound and gently coated her folds, mocking her stubbornness.
“You might have won this battle, Princess,” he whispered into her ear, “but our war has just begun.”
* * * * *
Echo woke up alone. Varrik had loosened the tether and covered her with a sheet, but her wrists were still restrained. Glancing around the bedchamber, she searched for a clock or some way to judge the passage of time. Had she slept for a few minutes or a few hours? After whispering his taunt, he’d continued his sensual assault. His fingers had explored every inch of her body, venturing places she never dreamed a man would want to touch. She’d lost count of the times he’d brought her to orgasm and the times he’d made her wait. She’d screamed in frustration as often as she cried out in pleasure.
Through it all, he denied himself release. She didn’t understand the sacrifice, but she wasn’t about to argue. Many hours elapsed before she surrendered to exhaustion and fell asleep surrounded by his warmth—and his scent.
Shoving aside the disquieting memories, Echo reached for E’Lanna, keeping her telepathic touch light and unobtrusive. If her sister was sleeping, she didn’t want to disturb her.
I didn’t think he was ever going to leave, E’Lanna transmitted. You’ve been shielded for hours.
Echo tucked the sheet beneath her arms and sat up. Do you know what time it is?
Late morning. Aila brought me food awhile ago.
Why are we still here? What is taking Father so long?
He tried to track my signal again, but it was just like the Seeker Circle. Some sort of shield distorted my strand. I’m beginning to think it surrounds the entire maze. That might be another reason no one has ever been able to find it.
Echo’s heart sank like a rock. How was she going to survive another night like the one just past? Rescue was her only hope. Her body had already surrendered, and Varrik wasn’t foolish enough to make another vow. We have to escape on our own. There has to be something we can do, someone we can bribe. What about Aila?
Are you all right? Did he hurt you? I mean—needlessly?
Erotic images swam through her mind. The only pain she’d felt was when he’d built the tension to a bittersweet peak and left her aching for… This is all insane. I will not be a broodmare for a madman.
Echo, you remember what Mistress Gowan taught us, don’t you?
Of course. And say no more. Varrik might not be the only one who can—
Varrik? His name is Varrik? What else have you learned of him? I’ll pass it on to Father.
Unwanted guilt bubbled to the surface as she quickly related what she’d learned. He couldn’t expect her to keep his secrets when he treated her like— He’d treated her with his own twisted sort of honor. He’d stayed true to his vow even as desire consumed him.
You can sense Mystic compulsions. Has he attempted to manipulate your mind?
Echo would love to blame her wanton behavior on some Mystic compulsion, but she hadn’t sensed an uninvited presence in her mind. If he has, I didn’t sense a thing.
A long pause followed. Echo was about to shield her mind when E’Lanna asked, Should I tell Father what’s happened to you? He doesn’t realize you’ve been abused.
Now there was a loaded question. Only at the very beginning had she felt Varrik was forcing himself on her and her terror had been enough to make him stop. A heated shiver danced along her nerve endings as she thought about last night. He’d used carnality with ruthless skill, but she’d chosen to get into bed with him.
I don’t see the point in telling Father, she finally answered E’Lanna’s question. It sounds like we’re on our own anyway, unless we can figure out where we are. Unlike E’Lanna, Echo couldn’t filter her emotions. She either transmitted or she shut down. I need a few minutes alone. She slammed her shield into place before E’Lanna could sense the confusion seething inside her.
She tugged against the cuffs then looked for a manual release. There had to be a safety mechanism. What happened if Varrik never returned to open them? She needed a shower. She needed to pee. No, she needed to find a way out of the Shadow Maze! She’d enjoyed her stay of execution. He wouldn’t grant her another.
It didn’t matter that he saw this as a noble quest. She would not be the sacrificial lamb needed to secure his future.
A perfunctory tap drew her attention to the privacy panel a moment before a blonde woman entered. She balanced a tray on one hip and had a bundle tucked under her other arm. Her neck and the left side of her face were marred by a faded burn. A similar scar crawled from her right cheek to her temple.
“I’m Aila.” She set her burden down on the table and returned to secure the door.
Echo held the sheet against her breasts, a heady mixture of hope and distress speeding her pulse. There was no reason for Aila to lock the panel unless she intended to release Echo from the cuffs. Tall and curvy, Aila’s body would appeal to most men. Still, Echo couldn’t help wondering how much of her skin had been ruined by the fire.
As a pleasure giver, Aila could easily imagine all the things Varrik had done and all the things he intended to do. Shame curled around Echo, heating her cheeks and tightening her belly. She took a deep breath and rejected the humiliation. The situation was beyond her control.
“E’Lanna said you’ve been kind to her,” Echo began. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness. If there’s anything we can do to repay your kindness, please let me know.”
Aila smiled, her blue eyes sparkling. “You’re going to have to get some of the royal starch out of your collar if you hope to survive down here. You are both disgustingly polite.” She motioned toward the table. “I brought food, but I suspect you’d like to shower first.”
Refusing to think about what led Aila to that conclusion, Echo held up her cuffed wrists. “Can you free me?”
“I can deactivate the cuffs if the door is locked, but the door only unlocks if you’re in the cuffs. So don’t bother knocking me out. You’ll just piss off Varrik.”
“I understand.”
Aila crossed to the wall against which the bed sat and flipped over a small control panel. “Manual release,” she said and a scanner beam passed over her eye. The wrist cuffs deactivated, and Echo tossed them aside. “The utilities are automated once I scan open the door.”
Dragging the sheet with her, Echo followed Aila across the room. Aila picked up the bundle as they passed the table and hande
d it to Echo.
“Thank you,” she said automatically.
“There you go again.” Aila shook her head.
“You didn’t kidnap me. Why should I be rude to you?”
Aila shrugged and scanned open the door. “I’m not used to your level of courtesy.”
Echo didn’t comment. E’Lanna said Aila was here of her own free will. Why would she remain in this—place if she was mistreated?
Aila remained in the outer room, offering Echo privacy she hadn’t expected. The bundle consisted of a simple, nearly shapeless dress and wool slippers. Towels were neatly stacked on a shelf near the shower stall, as well as assorted combs and disposable teeth strips.
Dropping the sheet, she used the toilet, then stepped into the shower. After a short pause, a fine mist coated her body and dampened her hair. She rubbed her skin, creating fragrant foam. The hot blast of water would have been welcome, but the multipurpose mist worked even better. It would clean and condition her hair, and deodorize her body in a matter of seconds.
As the foam evaporated on her skin, she worked it through her hair with a wide-toothed comb. Last, she wrapped a strip around her index finger and vigorously scrubbed her teeth. She dropped the strip to the floor of the shower, where the mist residue dissolved it.
She was nearly dry by the time she stepped from the shower. The towel absorbed what little remained of the mist, and she slipped the dress on over her head. Running the comb through her hair one last time, she turned toward the privacy panel with a sigh.
Aila was seated at the table where she’d placed the tray, legs crossed, foot gently bobbing. She looked bored and a bit curious. Echo focused on her eyes, trying to see beyond her scars. “What’s on the menu?”
“Nothing fancy. Bread, cheese, fruit, and water.”
The bread had already been sliced and the fruit cut into bite-size pieces. They weren’t taking any chances. “How do you get fresh fruit if the complex is underground?” The level of technology in the Shadow Maze had surprised Echo as well. One question at a time.
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