Wicked Beloved

by Susanne Saville

  Ropes wrapped her entire body, twisting and knotting in intricate designs from her throat to her ankles, leaving her sitting with her legs bound together in front of her and her arms behind her back. Gingerly, she tried twisting her neck to see to what her wrists were attached. A metal pole? Something like that. In the center of this dim stone room.

  Someone had gone to great lengths to package her like this. She had the sick feeling she knew who’d done it, too. Knotwork had been one of Senator Wrall’s passions.

  When the giant uniformed man stormed into her cabin and started dragging her out, she’d fought as hard as she could, but he’d managed to stab her with something that knocked her cold. This was just not her day to stay conscious, apparently.

  A uniformed lackey also indicated senator Wrall’s involvement. He’d had a bunch of those. He’d also had a bunch of cells in different dungeons, but she didn’t recall this one. It was larger, warmer, and emptier than those she remembered. No benches, no tools on the walls. Maybe he’d only recently bought this, to make Dzer-Jin’s tracing her more difficult.

  Not that Dzer-Jin would be looking for her. He didn’t want her anymore. And even if he did, he thought she was safely on her way to Earth.

  She was doomed.

  At the sound of muffled footsteps, her pulse quickened. A door opened somewhere behind her, and shut again just as quickly. She waited. And started to sweat in the unbearable silence.

  A laugh she had hoped never to hear again broke the quiet. She shivered. “You never would beg to just anyone,” Wrall said. “Glad to see he didn’t beat all the willfulness out of you.”

  The footsteps sounded again and then he appeared in her line of sight, a confident swagger in his gait. He stopped directly in front of her feet. “No word of greeting?”

  Just the sight of him standing there, the smug grin on his face and the gloating expression that grew as he cast his eyes over her, was enough to make her sick. She hated her own weakness. “Hey, Wrall. Drop dead.”

  He chuckled. “I shall enjoy conquering you, now that I know it can be done.”

  Panic clawed at her throat. Not again. Not all this again. She’d survived it once. She shouldn’t have to do it repeatedly. It wasn’t fair. She took a steadying breath. “You’ll get no enjoyment here.”

  “Yes. I will. Dzer-Jin Vonn broke you. I can break you, too.”

  She snorted. “Shows how much you know. Dzer-Jin never even tried.”

  Wrall’s eyes narrowed slightly. She recognized it as one of the signs his temper was slipping and chalked a point up to herself.

  “I’m your master now—” he began.

  Her heart beat a heated staccato but she cut him off anyway. “No you’re not.”

  “Whore—”

  “Okay, y’know what? The word you’re looking for is slut. Whores get paid. You never paid me. You want to demean me, get your fucking vocabulary right. Otherwise it’s just irritating.”

  A long pause followed. He stared down at her, the grin gone, his lips pursed together. “What say I leave you to marinate. Just like this. You won’t be so feisty when your immobilized muscles ache, you’re lying in your own filth, and you have to depend on me for a sip of water.”

  She didn’t like that image at all. “What say you release me and we pretend this whole thing never happened.”

  “Why would I wish to do that?”

  “Because you touch me and my master will kill you.”

  “I’m your master now.”

  She shook her head. “Dzer-Jin is my only master. I obey him. I’ll never obey you.”

  Wrall marched to her side. Squatting down, he took hold of her bruised chin—the grip of his fingers exacerbating soreness that lingered from Dzer-Jin’s punch—and wrenched her head around to face him. “He’ll never give you orders again. You do realize this? He protects you no longer.” His thumb rubbed harshly across her lips, pressing them into her teeth. “You want the comfort of domination, you come to me. Vonn abandoned you.”

  She jerked her chin away. “He did not. He actually freed me. And he’ll be furious you interfered.” She sounded much more confident than she felt. Wrall was right. Dzer-Jin had abandoned her. Because he wanted her to return to her home world. Her safer, saner home world.

  She was pretty messed up that she wanted to stay with him.

  Wrall stood. “The Assassin’s Guild would never allow him to harm me. Not over a slave.”

  Her heart sank, though she hoped she was hiding her despair. What he said was probably true. Slaves didn’t count as people.

  “Oh, he’s pretty resourceful.” Empty words, but they sounded cocky. Tone of voice was all that mattered at this point. She gave him a matching smirk. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  * * *

  The shock of ice-cold liquid sheeting across her skin was her first indication she had somehow managed to fall asleep. Or pass out. Sputtering and gasping, her slowly focusing eyes found the source of the deluge—a metal bucket in the hand of her tormentor.

  Wrall set the empty bucket on the stone floor, and the clang of contact echoed around them.

  “Do you have anything to say to me?”

  “Thanks…for the drink.” She licked her cracked lips, attempting to catch any stray beads of water.

  He shook his head, a smile on his face. Then he stepped forward and her scalp screamed as he pulled her head up by the hair. “Now…who’s your master?”

  Throat dry and voice hoarse from shouting, she struggled to form words, coughed, attempted to swallow, and coughed again. Her raspy efforts were the only sounds in the room as he waited for her response.

  “Dzer…Jin.” She tried to grin nastily at him and hoped the sentiment at least reached her eyes.

  He slapped her so hard her head spun and she spit blood. “He won’t want you, not after I’m done. You will be so defiled he’ll never wish to touch you again.”

  She swallowed the warm liquid that had to be her own blood trickling down the back of her throat. At least it would help her voice.

  “Maybe. But he’ll still eat your liver with fava beans.” Whatever they are. She couldn’t think up her own threats anymore. Her body hurt too much.

  He grabbed her face and jerked her head up so her eyes met his. “You are going to beg for my cock before we’re through here.” His voice had calmed and he spoke with quiet, cold clarity. “You will be my obedient little whore. I’ll order you to suck me off in front of Vonn and not only will you do it, you’ll thank me for it.”

  “Die…first.”

  “They always think that, but they always break in the end. I just didn’t realize you need comforting as well as pain. That was my mistake. Once I condition you to seek me for solace you will revel in my touch. You will beg me to mark you with my seed. Vonn’ll watch you relishing every warm drop as it drizzles down your face and stains your skin and be sick with jealousy.”

  “You…talk…too…much.”

  “Get used to it. Mine will be the last voice you hear at night. The first voice you hear come morning. The only voice you will obey for the rest of your life.”

  A metallic bang startled her. Wrall jumped, too. It took a moment for her to recognize it must have been the door to the room getting kicked in. Wrall backed away from her, his eyes widening as he stared at the newcomer she could not yet see.

  “Vonn!” While emphatic, the word left Wrall’s lips as no more than a shocked whisper.

  She twisted, trying to see him, hope fluttering inside her chest.

  Dzer-Jin sauntered into her field of view, all of his focus intent on Wrall. His clothes were disarrayed and tattered, his sleeves no more than ribbons. His hands and arms up to his elbows were coated with blood. Another slash of blood vividly smeared a wide swath across one cheek, from his fiercely scowling brow to his chin.

  With his lip curled in a snarl, he prowled closer to Wrall, his angry movements fluid, swift, and uninjured. She realized he carried no wounds. None of that
blood was his.

  “Not over a slave.” Wrall gasped.

  “No. Not over a slave,” Dzer-Jin replied, voice flat and dark. “Are those to be your last words?”

  “Where are my guards?”

  “All dead.”

  “I see. You are as talented as is said.”

  “A realization from which no one ever recovers.” He leapt at Wrall.

  The scuffle was brief, Dzer-Jin seeming most concerned with leading Wrall out of her line of sight. Once they were behind her she guessed why. The unholy sounds that followed were not to be watched. In the middle of a scream, Wrall suddenly fell silent.

  Soft footfalls heralded Dzer-Jin’s approach. She watched him stride back around the pole, returning to her.

  All that blood on him, the vicious cast to his countenance and the wicked gleam in his eyes should have terrified her. Instead, weak as she felt, she flushed with warmth and her spirits soared. He may have been scraped and scuffed and smeared with blood and dirt, but he was still the most handsome man she had ever seen.

  “How’d you find me?”

  “It was not difficult once I knew you were missing. I should have checked on you sooner.” He crouched down at her side. His knife appeared in his hand as if it had suddenly grown there, so natural did it seem, and he began sawing her free of the ropes. “The captain of the Oracle now realizes he should have contacted me the moment you were detained. It was a painful lesson for him. No, do not worry, he lives to put his new knowledge to good use. Unlike Wrall’s guards, none of whom survive to learn from their mistake.”

  The ropes fell away. She was free, if only she could get her numb limbs to function.

  He began gently chafing her arms, the enemy blood still staining his long fingers leaving streaks of red up and down her skin as he urged her circulation to return.

  Even like this, he was gorgeous. And she was…An embarrassed horror overcame her. How could he bear to be near her, let alone come in contact with her?

  “Don’t touch me,” she mumbled. “Please don’t touch me. I’m disgusting.”

  “No you’re not. The conditions here are appalling. But they do not taint you.”

  She would have sobbed, if she had the strength. He didn’t know. In the dungeon’s dim light, he obviously couldn’t see her, or he didn’t realize the stench all about them was coming from her as well, or something like that.

  If only he didn’t have to know. She couldn’t bear to see disgust in his eyes.

  Leaning as far away from him as she could, she tried again. “Just leave me. You won’t want…”

  He shifted to chafe her near leg, which was already stinging mercilessly as it awoke. “I already do want. Trust me.”

  “You can’t…I’m all…defiled.” It was the only word she could think of. In her mind, Wrall’s voice taunted her with it repeatedly. Defiled. She wanted to sink through the flagstone floor and hide beneath it forever.

  Suddenly she was in his arms. She struggled to get away, afraid of getting filth all over him, but his embrace only tightened. At her continued resistance, he nipped her throat and growled a warning. She stilled.

  “You’re mine, Ahno’ee,” he whispered against her ear, the play of his breath against her skin sending shivers up her spine. “Always mine. Nothing will change that. I have no peace without you.”

  A pained honesty ground through his husky voice. She wanted nothing more than to relax into his arms, but this had to be a hallucination. Or she was dead and in heaven. It was just too good to be true. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to hear more.

  “Really?” she prompted.

  “Yes. If you had died, I would have lain in the dirt above your decomposing remains and plunged my blade through my heart so that my deliquescing flesh could mingle with yours.”

  “Okay. Big words. I’m guessing it sounds poetic in your language. Is that love on this planet? ‘Cause that’s…sorta disturbing.”

  He chuckled. “If I were a good person, I would load you right back on a ship to Earth—and ride along with you this time to make certain you arrive safely at your destination.”

  Rejection slashed through her heart and she tried to shove him away. “So you don’t want me, then? Don’t put me through this. I can’t handle it right now.” She whimpered.

  He sighed and his arms tightened around her. “I said if I were good. I am not. And in my selfishness, I want you to stay. You are too nice to survive here and yet I want you to stay. You should hate me and leave, even if it renders me….”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” He touched the side of her chin and she flinched at the pain. “I caused that. You ought not to forgive.”

  Gingerly she felt along her jaw. “If you were from Earth I wouldn’t. But this place…I get that it’s different here. And I think I figured out your intent. So I’m willing to give you one more chance.”

  “That is all I shall need.” He helped her to her feet. “You once said you wanted to spit on Wrall’s corpse. Still interested?” He indicated the direction of the body with a nod of his head.

  “Uh, no thanks.” Fear spiked her innards at a sudden thought. “Hey, you won’t get in trouble for…y’know…killing him? And all this? Will you? Over a slave?”

  He shook his head. “I registered my intent with the Guild. And it was not over a slave.” It was a flat statement, as if his terse words explained everything.

  She leaned against him, only partially walking, letting him half-carry her to the door. “So that made it okay?”

  “Indeed. I imagine Wrall’s political opponents are quite satisfied with this complimentary removal.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re joking or serious.” She weakly braced a foot against the doorjamb. “Tell me the truth. I’m not moving until you do.” It wasn’t much of a threat. He could lug her out of there any time he chose. But she had to know she hadn’t ruined his life.

  He muttered what sounded like oaths under his breath while staring at the floor. “If you must know, the Guildmaster is not best pleased with me. Apparently there were contracts in various stages of negotiation but, as I refused to delay, I lost us that coin.” She made a dismayed sound which he cut off. “It is nothing. I shall pay their fine and submit to any punishment required. They can do but little. I adhered to the rules of blood feud.”

  “Blood feud?”

  “Yes.” He glanced up at her. What with his voice hard as usual, the affectionate expression in his eyes surprised her. His long fingers gently brushed her hair back from her face, then caressed her cheek. “I declared you my consort before the Guildmaster and two witnesses. Wrall had stolen you. I was within my rights to fetch you back. And kill any who opposed me.”

  She blinked. Tried to swallow. “C-consort?”

  He gave a curt nod and carried her through the doorway. “I meant to surprise you with the news you were no longer a slave later, in more congenial surroundings.”

  She let him help her down the hall past the twisted bodies of dead guards, the air close, hot and foul as ever, but she barely noticed these things. “Does consort mean what I think it means?”

  “It means I recognize you alone as the female through which my official bloodline shall descend. I pledge responsibility for your upkeep and that of all offspring born of you. For your part, as you have made no similar declaration regarding me, you are not required to remain faithful, though it is considered an honor to me if you do so.”

  She swallowed and fought down the urge to laugh with joy. “I can’t think of the right words to thank you.”

  “Those are enough.”

  They emerged from the building, blinking in the bright daylight, to be caressed by a fresh, cool breeze.

  “So how do we get home?” She glanced up at him and narrowly caught an unguarded sadness cross his features. “Your home,” she quickly clarified. “Not Earth. I’m staying with you. I want to be your faithful consort.”

  “Truly? No. Wait. You’re giddy. T
hink on this decision once you are fully well.”

  “No need. I knew I wanted to stay even before…this.” She looked down at herself. The glaring light did her no favors. “But if you’re having second thoughts, or if the consort-thing was just a ruse, you’d better admit it now.”

  They stood in silence for a moment before he relented. “All right.”

  Despair flooded her.

  Taking her hand, he pressed it first to his mouth, then to his bowed forehead. “I admit I desire you. I admit my lif—apartment is empty without you in it.”

  And just like that her distress ebbed. “Ah, yes, me and the furniture. Has that line ever worked for you?”

  He ignored her playful jibe. “I thought I was content before you. Now I cannot feel content without you.” The words were low and left his lips reluctantly. “I find my happiness stems from yours.”

  She smiled, a blissful peace filling her heart. “I love you, too.”

  He gave her a gruff nod. “Now take my arm. My transport is this way. You shall return to…to our home for a shower and healing.”

  She giggled. “I seem to remember doing that before.”

  “Perhaps this time we will end up in the same bed.” A rare hint of humor laced his tone.

  Holding tight to his sinewy arm, she sighed with happiness. “Now that I am certain I can arrange.”

  THE END