by Lora Leigh
MENAGE A MAGICK
An Ellora’s Cave publication written by
LORA LEIGH
Warning:
The following material contains strong sexual content meant for mature readers. MENAGE A MAGICK has been rated NC-17, erotic, by three individual reviewers. We strongly suggest storing this electronic file in a place where young readers not meant to view this ebook are unlikely to happen upon it. That said, enjoy…
To the League Of Needy Readers (LONR):
May you forever have a warm fire, hot chocolate and plenty of your favorite books for your heart’s desire.
Warmest regards, Lora Leigh
Chapter One
The soft glow from the aura of magick that surrounded the twin moons of Sentmar was slowly dissipating. The twin rings were thinner than they had been in the entire written history of the planet. Once, thick luminous rings surrounded the moons, like pillowy circles of thick, rich cream. They were now wispy, and more transparent than ever before.
The magick of the land was growing weaker by the year now, instead of by the decade. They would have to move quickly, or it would be too late. The humans would once again rule the land and they would have no mercy for their magick counterparts.
Lasan stood on the upper balcony of the Veraga castle and stared into the night sky, frowning as he observed the phenomena. All that was Sentmar and magick was now threatened. All that had balanced justice and peace within their world was at stake.
“We must move quickly.” Drago, his twin, stood behind him, staring at the moons as well, his voice soft, concerned. “She will not see reason, Lasan. Not until after the Joining. We can no longer afford to hesitate.”
He was growing impatient. Lasan could feel it beating at his brain, his twin’s impatience. It saddened him, concerned him. Drago, for all his stubborn disposition and determination, was rarely impatient. Lasan’s natural patience had always served to stem the stubborn streak that ran through his brother.
He pushed his fingers wearily through his hair, then clasped the balustrade with an iron grip.
“We will contact Queen Amoria on the morrow,” he decided. “As you say, we can wait no longer.”
Queen Amoria, ruler of the house of Sellane, the ruling family of the Covenani, the sect of sorceresses that had separated themselves hundreds of years ago from the Wizards destined to complete them. Without her aid, they would be unable to approach the Princess Brianna in any manner.
Lasan had never completely understood the separation. Time had hidden the answers to his questions, and the Wizard Sentinels were silent when he came to them with his need for answers. All he and Drago knew was that they were to fix the separation. It was now their destiny, the responsibility of their world rested on their shoulders alone.
To preserve all they held dear, the woman they would have wooed to their hearts would have to be forced to their bed. It was a bitter thought to swallow. The one woman created to complete them, to bind them forever within a ring of magick, pleasure and satisfaction, had denied them.
Contemptuously, sneeringly, she had thrown their offer of Joining back in their faces, denying any link they could have shared. She was their natural Consort, and yet she ran from them at every chance.
But wasn’t that what the Covenani were good at, Drago snapped within his mind. They ran from our ancestors as this one now runs from us. Mocking the bonds between us, and her own needs.
And this was so. They could feel the arousal that pulsed in her body when last they had touched her. Holding her between them, the heat of her body, the magick rising inside her, tormenting them with a level of lust they had never known before.
As Lasan had caressed her soft lips, Drago had smoothed his lips over her satin shoulders, exploring the softness of her flesh, warming her between them, allowing her to feel the pleasure that rose from each touch.
She had shivered in their arms, whimpered as her mouth opened, accepting a deeper kiss, a firmer caress. They had been inflamed by her response, the magick soaring through their bodies, rising, building to an aura that would have encompassed them all, forging the bond to come.
It had been then that Brianna had broken away from them. Gasping for air, shock rounding her violet eyes, her own power glittering in the dark orbs as she faced them furiously.
“Dwell on this no longer,” Drago bit out from behind him. “She will come to us, Lasan. We will give her no other choice.”
Lasan sighed deeply. “But perhaps it is a choice she needs to make,” he murmured. “For all our future happiness.”
“It is the Joining that is required, not her happiness,” his brother growled.
Lasan was well aware that Drago regretted this as much as he did. They had given her every opportunity to make the choice for herself. They had all but gone to their knees in supplication. It rankled at their pride.
“Begin preparations,” Lasan sighed.
They would need several sets of Wizard Twins to accompany them, as well as the Sentinel Guards, the magickal warriors who kept a tight rein on the darkness that would have invaded their lands.
“She is ours, Lasan,” Drago growled. “I do not completely understand your hesitancy in this. She will come to accept us.”
Lasan turned and stared at his brother. The night breeze whipped the long black hair back from his face, revealing the strong, determined lines of his expression. His eyes were a dark, emerald green, piercing and brilliant. His cheekbones high, his jaw squared and tight with his anger.
Lasan shook his head. Self-mockery filled him. He knew well that Drago’s anger stemmed from his own reluctance to force this alliance. His anger that she had denied them, despite her needs, despite the knowledge that filled her, that she did indeed desire them.
Despite their powers, the advanced degree of magick that filled them, they could not break through her reserve, they could not ease whatever fears filled her enough to allow her to accept them.
“The Seculars are gaining in strength, and the dark force propelling them is gaining ground. We cannot afford even the time we have allowed her thus far,” Drago reminded him. “I have called the Sashtain Twins, as well as the Alessi. They must begin to press their suits quickly if this is to succeed.”
Lasan nodded firmly. “We will begin preparations to leave then. The Covenani Ball begins in two moon cycles. Ensure a fair number of Twin sets are in attendance. Cauldaran and Covenani can be separated no longer.”
A millennia apart, and still the female sect of magick keepers had not returned to their male counterparts, nor expressed a desire in reaching concessions. Queen Amoria would have to see the dangers in this, whether she wanted to or not.
He knew the woman to be a good ruler, a woman said to have her people’s welfare at heart. As a Queen, she was more respected than any of her predecessors. But she was still a Sorceress, and possibly determined to continue the separation out of pride and fear of the unknown.
Lasan cursed silently as he turned and stared back at the brilliant glow of the moons. The peace that the land had enjoyed for so many thousands of years could now come to an end if they did not move quickly. He closed his eyes, thinking of Brianna, her warmth, her passion. He sent his touch out to her, a most difficult maneuver considering the distance that separated them. He felt Drago’s power join with his, despite the other duties he carried out.
A smile tipped Lasan’s lips as he felt her sleepy response, heard her moan of passion. Enjoy, he whispered silently. We come for you soon, Brianna, soon beloved, and you will know our touch in truth, as well as in dreams.
*
“…you will know our touch in truth, as well as in dreams…” Brianna heard the whispered words as hands traveled sensually over her nude body.
; Her nipples beaded as she moaned against the feel of a heated mouth enveloping them, a ghostly lick had her arching closer to the touch. Her hands clenched into the blankets, her thighs tightening, pressing together as she felt a peculiar caress between them. Gods. She tossed restlessly as phantom hands parted the lips of her sex, and a moist, liquid swipe of a patient tongue ran through the heated slit, then circled the throbbing, aching bud of her clit. Sensation gathered within her, pulling at her, drawing her deeper into pleasure, closer to paradise.
She was awash in heated need. She pressed her breasts closer to the warmth of male hands, knowing the danger, knowing even in sleep that it was Drago’s lips feeding voraciously at her nipples, and Lasan’s tongue, patient and sure, that lapped at the slick moisture between her thighs.
Even in sleep, beneath the spell of their magick touch, she knew the differences. Knew who touched where, whose magick warmed her breasts, and whose lips suckled at her throbbing clit. Whose fingers were sliding tentatively, gently into…
“Wake up! Wake up, Princess! Their evil is infecting you. Sly, merciless bastards. Wake up now, I say!” A vicious pinch on her tender arm and the coarse, fearful voice of her old nurse had Brianna jerking awake.
Fear washed over her. Brilliant blue and green coils of magick wrapped around her body. They were beautiful. So velvety soft as they caressed her, filled her with warmth and desire. She felt adored…
“Trickery. Evil is what they beget,” Elspeth snarled as she pinched Brianna again, her expression filled with terror. “Block them, Princess. Stop them now before they tear you apart with their magick alone.”
As the nurse ranted, she felt a warmth probing with soft insistence at her vagina. She shuddered in pleasure, her body wracked by heat and need. She could feel a pressure building, an uncontrollable surge of such sensation she nearly cried aloud. Her eyes widening, Brianna fought the blankets that twisted around her body as well. She cried out in fear as she felt that warmth, a magick caress, a tender probing at the tightly closed bud of her anus.
She fought desperately for the words that would block the Wizards so daring as to send their touch across the distance that separated her. Her hands reached out to draw the magick that lived in the very air she breathed. She called on the Sorceress Matriarch, on the divinely female goddess who would protect her. As weak as even her fledgling power was, it was enough to allow her to break free of their hold and to jump from the bed.
She watched, almost with regret, as the magick coils slowly dissipated, then disappeared, once again a part of the land and the air around her.
“They are strong.” She trembled, turning to Elspeth as she twisted her hands together worriedly. “They weren’t cruel, Elspeth…”
“Do you think I lie?” Elspeth’s voice was harsh, furious. Her expression was drawn into pinched lines of hatred as she faced Brianna. “Would I lie about my own child? How I held her, broken and bleeding to her death, a victim of their foul magick?”
Brianna shook her head desperately. She remembered Elspeth’s daughter, once a playmate to herself and her sisters. The small, shy girl had possessed an endearing grin, but a shadow of fear always darkened her eyes. She seemed wary around her mother, though Elspeth has always been kind and gentle to Brianna and her sisters. The girl’s death had been terribly upsetting to Brianna and the house of Sellane. The brutal rape was laid at the door of Wizard Twins, though there was no proof to be found that any had traveled to the lands of the Covenani.
“No, Elspeth, you wouldn’t lie,” she whispered, but she wondered. A small warning ember of suspicion flared inside her. “I will go sleep with Marina tonight,” she continued, breathing harshly. “They cannot find me there, that close to Mother.”
Elspeth took a deep, hard breath. Her wrinkled features were slowly easing, the fanatic, hard gleam in her eyes softening. She nodded her graying head firmly.
“You will do this. Go to your mother, tell her that the bastards assault you in your own bed,” Elspeth ordered. “The monsters think to force an alliance with you. To destroy your innocent body. I will protect you from this, my Princess. No matter the cost, I will protect you.”
Brianna backed away from the sudden flame of fury that flared once again in the aging woman’s pale eyes. Elspeth watched her slyly, carefully. Brianna grabbed her robe and, leaving her slippers, rushed from the bedroom.
Her body still hummed with arousal, and she could still feel the faint touch of the Twins’ magick even now, despite the spell of protection. The Sorceress Matriarch was pledged to protect her from dark evil. She was Covenani. If the Veraga Twins were such monsters, why did she still feel their touch, soothing now, comforting?
She could feel their bodies like a phantom presence, tall, broad and muscular, pressed against her. They were truly gifted with a physique that would turn any woman’s eye. They stood shoulders and head above her, their large frames nearly dwarfing her. Wide shoulders and taut abdomens, strong, powerful legs. The thought of their legs had her shivering with arousal and fear. She remembered well the thick growth between those legs last year, during her mother’s visit to the Cauldaran lands.
They had pressed against her, their cocks so hard, so hot, they seared her skin through the clothing that separated them. Her breathing escalated further. Gods, they should not excite her so. They were monsters. Creatures without caring. And now they invaded her dreams, her sleep, using her body, her female needs against her. They would destroy her, just as they had destroyed Elspeth’s daughter.
She shuddered in fear and rushed for the safety of her mother’s rooms. As Queen, her powers were much stronger, her protective shields thicker. Surely her mother would heed her pleas now, and no longer allow the courtship the Veraga Twins were pressing. Surely now, her mother would see the dangers. She had to.
Chapter Two
“I have given the Veraga Twins official leave to declare their suit for Consortship with you, Brianna. They will arrive soon, to allow you time to better come to know them, before the declaration is presented.”
The next afternoon, Brianna stood disbelieving before her mother and her oldest sister, Serena, within the sitting room of the Queen. Not just her mother. When you were called to the official sitting room, you faced Queen Amoria, not Mother.
“You can’t mean this,” she whispered faintly, feeling an alarming weakness that nearly brought her to her knees. “Mother, please. They assaulted me. How can you reward them in such a way?”
She was nearing hysteria. She had never imagined that confiding to her mother the night before would bring such consequences. How could this be happening? All she had asked for was protection against their harassment, their touch when she was asleep and vulnerable to their magick. Was this too much to ask of her Queen, who was also her mother?
“Brianna, I am not ordering you into this Joining,” Queen Amoria said softly. Not Mother. Mother would never do such a thing, Brianna agonized. “I am merely giving them my consent to court you. The decision ultimately rests with you.”
Brianna shook her head. Her mother’s expression was concerned, her golden eyes dark with worry. How could she make such a decision?
“I do not understand this.” She clasped her hands before her to still their shaking as she gazed at the Queen, imploring. “I have told you numerous times, I will not accept their deviant suit. This is not what I wish.”
Queen Amoria took a deep, controlled breath.
“This castle, Brianna, is not without its safeguards. Never is it undefended from unwanted magick. I do not know what your conscious mind believes, but the Veraga Wizards could not have reached out to you, within your own bed, beneath my protection, did you not somehow trust in them.” Her voice was crisp, firm.
Brianna trembled beneath her steady regard as she shook her head desperately.
“It is trickery,” she whispered. “You know the tales…”
“Unfounded gossip, Brianna. I have told you this often,” Queen Amoria chastised her. �
��The Wizards are many things, but rapists and destroyers of children, they are not.
“I deny their suit.” Brianna refused to address the Queen’s words. She stared at the wall over the dark auburn head of her Queen mother, fighting the fury and the fear rising inside her.
Silence ascended the sitting room for long moments. Into the tense atmosphere came a soft, mocking sound of leathery hands clapping.
“Wonderful performance, Princess,” Garron, her instructor, and known to be the last surviving dragon of magick, materialized within the room.
He wasn’t a massive dragon, perhaps eight feet in height, his large wings folded precisely on his back, his head tilted arrogantly as Brianna met his mocking gaze furiously. She flushed, remembering her last lesson under his tutelage, where he had caught her going through the pictures in the Forbidden books. Books on sexuality, intimacies that even now filled her with heated curiosity.
“As you well know,” he continued, using his best ‘instructor’s’ voice. “You may not deny the suit until as such time they address the Queen formally, within your presence. A Request to Court is no more than a form of respect, extended to your Queen, and Lady Mother, from the ruling sect of Wizard Twins. You cannot accept or deny. Only your dear mother,” he bowed to Queen Amoria with a surprisingly graceful move, “has this right.”
He tilted his head to look at her once again. Brianna frowned darkly at the arrogance in his voice, his stance. The sharp features, leathery and appearing wrinkled as he spoke, gave an impression of superiority, of wisdom. Brianna, in the course of her studies with the dragon, Garron, had often wondered if he hadn’t stood before a mirror often to perfect just that certain haughty expression.
“It makes no difference, Dragon,” she bit out. “I will not be forced into this alliance, or their perverted desires. What woman would wish this? To be shared? It is not natural.”
“Ah, but here many would disagree with you,” he instructed, his tone smoothly cultured and grating excessively on her nerves as his thin arms rose, his fingers linking together as he regarded her with an expression of superiority. “It is often debated that the unnatural, for those of the magick sect, is how it stands today. From the creation of the first Wizard Twins they have known but one Sorceress between them. And so it was from the dawn of creation upon this planet, to the time of separation, barely a millennia ago.”