“And did you?” Jaden leaned forward. “Find someone to lift the curse?”
“There are powerful magicians in Acheron, as you know, but to them I was unimportant. Not one of them had any interest in helping me. My life was worthless to them.”
“Most people’s lives are of little worth in Acheron.”
“Quite so,” Chang agreed. “In time, I parted company with Niska and wandered this mysterious land. I saw many wonderful, strange and terrifying things. Eventually, when I realized I would never achieve my heart’s desire, I decided to return to the Western Kingdoms. En route I stopped here in Usaka to purchase supplies. Lord Naga does not welcome strangers, and his men captured and interrogated me. Once he discovered I could somehow see into men’s minds, he offered me a position here in his castle. He wanted me to help him by probing the minds of those who served him, in order to find out if any of them intended to betray him. He promised that if I serve him well, he would eventually lift my curse.”
“So did he?”
“No.” Chang plucked some of the petals from the flower and rubbed them between his fingers. “He was unable to do so. Most of the magic he possesses has been stolen from others. He has few powers of his own. You suspected that, did you not?”
“Yes.” It was dangerous to even admit that to Chang. Despite what he said, he might still work for Lord Naga. If that were the case, the ground beneath his feet was shaky enough right now, so what did it matter? “If Lord Naga could not do as he promised, why do you stay?”
“I had every intention of slipping away when the time was right. Then Prince Brion was brought to the citadel. I feared for his safety. Lord Naga planned to place Brion into the care of Lady Senshu. She’s not a woman I would trust to look after a child. I offered to take on the task, and Lord Naga agreed.” Chang smiled. “Caring for Brion has become my deliverance. I found that, despite my curse, I’m still capable of bearing affection for another. I feel as much for Brion as I would a son of my loins. I would gladly give my life to keep him safe.”
Jaden believed Chang. “I’m sure his father would be pleased to know that,” he replied. “Despite the fact Brion no longer remembers his parents.”
“The spell is quite weak and only temporary. Lord Naga does not have the power to keep it in place for much longer.”
“And would you—”
“—do anything it took to ensure Brion’s safety?” Chang finished for him. “Yes, I would. Just as I will swear on my life that I will not betray you or the secrets you carry within you, Dai’Shi-en.”
Jaden lay on his back stark naked, arms behind his head, relaxing on Senshu’s bed. He couldn’t ignore the woman crouching over his legs. Her large breasts hung downward, her nipples brushing his thighs as she caressed his sex. Leaning closer, she took one of his balls into her mouth and lapped at it teasingly with her tongue. He’d come to her chamber a number of times to have sex with her, not because he particularly wanted to, but because he knew how much she desired him. He intended to use that desire for his own ends. This was a task he had to perform, nothing more. Although he had to admit, copulating with her wasn’t exactly a chore. And he found a perverse kind of delight in making her a slave to his erotic demands.
Jaden needed to learn much more about the mage, and the only person who might have the answers to his questions was Senshu.
“Is something amiss?” She appeared troubled, his keitan frightened her and she probably feared she wasn’t pleasing him enough.
“Get on with it, Senshu! Take my cock in your mouth. Later—if you please me enough—I’ll fuck you.”
Senshu was highly skilled and knew more than most whores. The greedy, sensual bitch enjoyed him being brutal with her. One thing was certain: when he was with her, he was a Dai’Shi-en, never himself.
“Yes, Dai’Shi-en.” She tenderly lapped at the head of his penis while milking the shaft with her hand. Her fingers stroked his balls, squeezing them gently. When she raked her nails over the sensitive skin of his perineum, Jaden’s lust surfaced at last.
“Not bad.” He grabbed a handful of her blonde hair. “But you could do better.” He pressed her head down toward his groin, forcing her to take more of his shaft into the warm, moist recesses of her mouth.
Once she’d pulled as much of it into her mouth as she could, Jaden leaned back and watched her fellate him. He didn’t have much time to get her to tell him all he wanted to know. Lord Naga had sent for him on a number of occasions over the last few days in order to show him the pathetic subjects he’d been experimenting upon. Two had turned dangerously insane, another two had totally lost their minds, turning into gibbering wrecks, but others were closer to what he wanted to achieve. To Jaden’s consternation, today Naga had managed to produce two subjects who appeared quite normal, but who dutifully obeyed his every command.
Lord Naga had worn himself out with all his research. He’d told Jaden he needed twenty-four hours to recover before he worked his magic on Tarn and Sarin. Tomorrow night, he intended to carry out the special ceremony, and he expected Jaden to be present to witness the auspicious event. Jaden had, of course, suggested it might be wiser for him to take a little more time to recover, but Naga had insisted he would be well enough to carry out the transformation tomorrow, as planned.
He was letting his mind wander and not concentrating on Senshu, who was still sucking his cock. This evening he didn’t find her arousing enough, this situation was becoming a chore for him. He wanted to be in bed with Nerya, not Senshu.
“Am I not pleasing you?” Senshu asked as she glanced at the keitan he’d placed on her bedside table.
“Do you want its kiss?” He touched the gold-engraved handle. The last couple of times he had used it on her, he’d set it on mild pain mixed with pleasure. She’d found that intoxicating, but also frightening. She’d admitted to him she’d never believed she could ever gain pleasure from pain, but it appeared that, in his hands, she was capable of almost any perversion.
“No. Please, can we not use that again?” she begged. “At least not yet.”
“That depends entirely on you, Senshu.” He brushed his fingers against her denuded sex. Last night, he’d told her he preferred his women hairless. Not that he cared either way. It’d just been a test to see if she would remove her hair to please him. On his arrival, he’d been delighted to see her naked pussy. He just hoped she’d be as willing to accede to his other demands.
Sitting up, he grabbed her and pulled her forward. “Do you want me to fuck you?”
“Yes, Dai’Shi-en.” Glancing down at his erection, she licked her thin lips. “You know I do.”
Jaden gritted his teeth, wanting this to be over as quickly as possible as she crouched above him, her eyes half closed, her lips curved in a sultry smile. Lifting onto her knees, she guided his manhood into the opening of her sex. Her hungry flesh swallowed him up as his cock slid inside her as smoothly as a sword fit its scabbard.
“That’s so good.” She pushed her pelvis downwards, grinding her open sex against his groin. “You’re so big.”
“Bigger than the mage?”
“At least three times his size. His organ is so pathetic I can barely feel it inside me.” As he’d made no move to touch her, she stroked her own breasts, roughly squeezing them before pulling and pinching her large nipples.
Still touching herself, she began to rock her hips, gently at first, then increasing her pace. Senshu was a whore. She knew how to satisfy a man. Her internal muscles tightened around his cock, milking it with smooth precision. Jaden’s arousal increased as she lifted her hips and slammed her body down again. Closing his eyes, he focused entirely on his own pleasure and tried to ignore that it was Senshu fucking him. It worked. His lust multiplied. In no time at all he no longer cared it was Senshu as the blood surged like liquid fire through his veins.
The first time he’d coupled with her, Jaden had wondered if it might be easier for him if he thought of Nerya. He’d found he couldn�
��t. It would have denigrated his feelings for her. He made love to Nerya. He copulated with Senshu. Picking up his keitan, he trailed the tip across Senshu’s belly, allowing the faintest whisper of pleasure to flow into her flesh. She gasped, moving her hips even faster, pulling at her nipples until they became more swollen and turned dark red.
“Please,” she begged. “Touch me there. Right now.”
Jaden eased the tip of the keitan between their two straining bodies and slid it into the slit of her sex. As she thrust down hard against him, it jammed against her clitoris. He let a powerful surge of pleasure flow out of the keitan and into Senshu. The same thrilling sensation leaped into his belly and slithered seductively through his cock and balls. The swirling tide of pleasure surprised him. It should have been nigh on impossible for him to savor the magic as well. The intensity of it almost overcame his stoic control.
“Do it again,” she pleaded.
“No,” he grated, his climax far too close for comfort.
Tossing the keitan aside, he pulled her toward him. In one smooth movement, he rolled Senshu onto her back. With a hungry laugh, she twined her legs around his hips, pressing her heels into his buttocks. Jaden lifted himself onto his arms, plundering her body so hard it felt as if he would split her in two with the violent movements of his hips.
He much preferred being in control. He moved faster, buffeting her body with the dark fires of his lust. The bitch suddenly tensed her sheath around his cock, cradling it so tightly it became an almost unbearable torment. At the same time, she reached up, pinching and twisting his left nipple. Pain and pleasure combined, tipping Jaden over the edge, sending him spiraling down into the deep dark vault of bliss.
It was the first time he’d climaxed inside her. If he had his way it would also be the last. Panting for breath, he rolled onto his side, pulling her with him. “You please me, Senshu.” His tone was less harsh than he usually employed with her.
“And you please me so much, Dai’Shi-en. You always do.”
“Does your new slave, Tarn, please you also?” She stiffened in his embrace. “I’m aware you had him moved from the dungeons and keep him confined somewhere close by. You’re a sensual woman. No doubt you have needs that have to be fulfilled when I’m not around.”
Any normal woman would keep her desires under control, but not Senshu. She lived a sybaritic lifestyle—pleasure was all that interested her, apart from causing pain to others. He’d learned that when she wasn’t pandering to Lord Naga’s perverse demands, she sometimes went to the dungeons to practice her cruel talents on any male prisoner who attracted her interest.
“I have needs,” she admitted. “As you do, Dai’Shi-en.”
“We only have to satisfy the most basic physical demands of our bodies to ensure our wellbeing.”
“So do the Dai’Shi-en have no emotional feelings for others at all?”
“We exist only to serve our master, or, in my case, mistress. Emotions such as love and affection or thoughts for the welfare of others would only be a distraction. Our indoctrination ensures that we put aside such inherently human failings.”
“It must be strange to be so different.”
“It’s normal to me.”
“Do you ever think back to what you once were?” she asked.
“Sometimes it is necessary. The empress sent me back to Marquab to resume my old life only a couple of years after I became a Dai’Shi-en. I had to hide what I’d become from those who knew me well. So she released some of her control on me, and I was permitted to remember and draw upon my past experiences. I could not have carried out the charade if I did not.”
Releasing her, Jaden pulled himself into a sitting position and relaxed back against the pillows.
“It must be strange to be forced to surrender all that you are.” A flicker of compassion in Senshu’s eyes surprised him. “I’ve heard how brutal the indoctrination can be.”
No sane person knew how brutal it actually was. Even allowing himself to remember caused him acute distress. Most of the time he managed to lock those memories away in the recesses of his mind. Jaden pulled his thoughts back from the terrors of the past. This conversation was getting him nowhere. He had to concentrate on the task on hand. “It’s necessary.” Threading his hand in her hair, he pulled her toward him. “Our indoctrination does not destroy our curiosity. How fares the former king of Kabra?”
“He performs the tasks I give him well, and he takes the punishments I give him stoically, without complaining.” She shrugged. “It would be even more enjoyable if he pleaded and begged, but he’s too stubborn to do that. Nevertheless, in time…”
“Time you do not have.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lord Naga has achieved what he wanted. He told me he intends to carry out the ceremony tomorrow night. He believes he can control the magic enough now to remove both Tarn and Sarin’s self will, but allow them to appear unchanged to those around them. Soon both rulers will be his to command.”
“Tomorrow night!” she exclaimed. “He’d not told me it would be so soon.”
“Yes, tomorrow. He showed me some of the poor creatures he’d practiced on. Once he had finished with Tarn and Sarin, he’s certain they’ll appear perfectly normal to their friends and family, but they will, of course, obediently follow his orders.”
“Normal?” Her lip curled in disgust. “Without that strong spark of self-awareness, Tarn will be no use to me anymore. That’s not what I want.”
“So you have no desire for this to go ahead?”
“No wish at all.” Pulling away from Jaden, she slapped her hand against a pillow. “Naga, damn the bastard. I can’t stop him, not if he’s intent on doing this.”
Jaden took hold of her face, staring deep into her eyes. “You need to listen to me, Senshu. Lord Naga’s plans will not sit well with the empress, and certainly not her husband. The Dark Lord does not like the other Dragon Lords, let alone his own subjects, doing anything of importance that he hasn’t personally authorized. If Lord Naga manages to do what he plans and ends up controlling both monarchs, then he becomes much too powerful for the Dark Lord’s peace of mind.”
“So what might the emperor do, if Lord Naga does as he intends?” Senshu asked.
“He’ll send more Dai’Shi-en and soldiers, maybe even one of the Dragon Lords, to Usaka to capture Lord Naga. He’ll be tortured into submission and forced to give up the control he holds over both Tarn and Sarin, then he’ll be killed. Believe me, the emperor’s wrath is terrifying to behold.”
“And me?”
Jaden shook his head and sighed. “If the emperor orders it, then there’s nothing I can do to help you, Senshu. You will die. As will all the occupants of the citadel.”
“Then how do we prevent this from happening?” She paled. With her face screwed up in fear, she looked almost ugly for a moment. “I’ve no wish to suffer the wrath of the Dark Lord for something I do not even want to happen.”
For once, Jaden was being entirely truthful with her. He knew how angry the emperor would be if Lord Naga ended up being the only man in Acheron able to control two of the most important monarchs in the Western Kingdoms. That would make him far too powerful for his own good, and the emperor would destroy him. Jaden had seen what the Dark Lord’s minions could do if anyone angered him. Usaka would be razed to the ground as if it had never existed, and those of any importance in the citadel would be subjected to endless months of suffering before they were eventually allowed the blessed peace of death.
“With your help, Senshu, it’s possible we can prevent Lord Naga from carrying out his plans.”
“And if we can deliver Lord Naga’s captives alive and well into the Dark Lord’s hands, he will be grateful, no doubt?” She clutched at a portion of the silk sheet, crumpling it into a ball. “Do you think I might be allowed to keep Tarn for myself? He would still be a hostage, would he not?”
“If we succeed, Senshu, then I promise you when I stand be
fore the empress again, she shall hear of your bravery from my own lips. She’s extremely generous to those who serve her and her husband well. She’ll offer you anything you desire. Tarn will be yours for as long as you wish it. However, first you need to tell me exactly how Lord Naga’s magic works when he draws out souls.”
Chapter Fourteen
Senshu’s fingers shook as she slipped on a scarlet gown and tied a darker red sash around her waist. Jaden knew she was scared, just as he hoped she would be. It hadn’t taken much to frighten her into agreeing to help him; just a few well-chosen stories about the terrible things the emperor had done to those who’d dared to cross him. For once, he’d been able to put the brutality of the Dragon Lords to good use, and now he had an ally in his efforts to prevent Naga from carrying out his terrible magic on Tarn and Sarin.
Senshu had told him all she knew about Naga. In his youth, he’d been apprenticed to a wizard of great strength. Somehow, after gaining his trust, Naga had managed to kill the man and steal his magical artifacts. What gave Naga most of his power was the stone he wore around his neck. Naga called it The Stealer of Souls. Jaden had a distant memory of someone in Acheron mentioning the stone was a powerful artifact, but it was believed to have been lost centuries ago. When uncharged, the stone was clear like a diamond, but at present it was deep blue. Eventually it would turn blacker than night. Inside the stone were trapped the countless souls of the helpless people Naga had preyed upon. The power of the stone enabled Naga to perform his magic. Doubtless, without it he was as vulnerable as any man.
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