by Lora Leigh
Lasan and Drago looked up at her, sensuality and carnal pleasure filled their expressions.
“No.” She stumbled back, fighting against the weakness that suddenly filled her, the overriding need to step forward, to plead for mercy.
Confused, distraught with her lack of control, she felt tears fill her eyes as she struggled for control, for strength to get away from them.
“Princess, be at ease,” Lasan whispered gently, compassion filling his voice. “Allow your power…”
“No!” Brianna cried out as his voice seemed to intensify the coursing pleasure that thundered through her blood.
Her eyes went to her mother, as fear flamed as high as desire.
Queen Amoria watched with anger and confusion. As though in slow motion Brianna watched her mother step to her, then stop, fury flashing across her face as though some unseen force had halted her movements.
She could feel her juices trickling along her female nether lips and need spiraling once again in her body. She would be screaming out for ease again in seconds. The fear of that seared her brain. Calling on every incantation she had ever been taught she fought to break the magick that wrapped around her with velvet bands of pleasure.
“Do not touch her.” Drago turned suddenly from her, his eyes glowing with a mixture of sexual pleasure and fury as Marina and Serena moved to her side.
As his attention splintered, Brianna broke from the hold. Shaking, her body on fire with mingled terror and lust, she gazed at them in horrified confusion.
“You are demons,” she cried out frantically, stumbling back, barely catching herself on the dragon that had suddenly materialized behind her. “Garron.” She gripped his sturdy leg, using his broad body to find a sense of balance. “Please,” she whispered, knowing his power, beseeching him now as fear filled her. “Please, Garron, help me.”
Before she could blink, it was over. She had never shadowtraveled in her life, but within seconds the curious, intent faces of those in the Receiving Hall had disappeared, and she was standing unsteadily in her room, gripping the dragon’s leg as she fought for her control.
“I warned you,” Garron said in exasperation. “You do not heed my words, and you do not listen to my advice. This, Princess, is what happens when you ignore me.”
She vaguely remembered a lecture on her first meeting with the Wizards.
“Sorceresses,” Garron bit out with such a tone of male frustration that she winced.
He paced away from her, his talons making a soft, comforting scrape against the stone floor.
“What did they do to me?” She twisted her hands together nervously.
“They did nothing,” he growled. “Your power did this, and had you just listened to me…” His voice rose with his male anger. “No one listens to me. I am a dragon. Ageless. Knowing secrets you cannot imagine.” If he had hair, Brianna was certain he would be pulling it out. “Yet you and that stubborn mother of yours never listen. You never heed my advice. Never pay attention.” He snarled in anger.
“My power has never done such things,” she argued furiously. “Why would it do so now?”
“Because, woman—” he growled, but was interrupted when the door flew open.
“Dragon, you are needed.” Drago, Lasan, and Queen Amoria stood in the doorway. “The Princess’s mother can comfort her. We require you at this moment.”
Garron’s eyes narrowed and his scales seemed to hiss with impatience.
“You require me?” he asked silkily.
Brianna blinked at the insolence in his tone. There was a challenge in his voice that none could mistake.
Drago frowned. “Aye, Dragon, I require your presence now.”
The Twins turned and left the room, arrogance seething around them. Brianna’s gaze went to the dragon. He glanced at her, his eyes still narrowed.
“I now remember why I sleep for such long periods,” he grunted. “ Wizard Twins are more unsettling than Matriarch Sorceresses. Damned prideful males.”
In a blink he disappeared. Brianna turned to her mother, crossed her arms over her chest and announced with all the determination she could muster, “I refuse to Consort with demons. I deny their suit.” Such intensity of emotion and heights of reaction within a woman’s body could not be good. Could it?
Amoria sighed.
Chapter Five
The yearly Covenani Ball was in full swing. The royal palace was filled, all three ballrooms were in use, and the belle of the year was none other than Brianna Sellane, third daughter to the throne of the Covenan. Not that Brianna had any designs on said throne. She would have preferred to give up her chair at the Coven Council, but some things one did not do. Giving away her heritage being the first, her mother had informed her.
The annual ball for unmarried Covenani females was another. This was Brianna’s third year, an almost unheard of total. It was also the first year in over a millennia that the Wizards of Cauldaran were in attendance. Brianna cursed that particular decision. Twin Wizards now roamed the halls and the ballrooms. Brooding in looks, sexy and powerful, they completely overshadowed their human male counterparts. They would have stolen the attention of the unattached females were it not for the fact that Covenani females had no desire to lose their power and their independence in the face of such males.
This night, the Veraga Twins were at the ball as well. Their eyes followed her, watched her. Brianna was uncomfortably aware of the arousal in her body from that knowledge. Her cunt pulsed, her clit ached, remembered pulses of tormenting pleasure pounded through her blood. What had they done to her upon their arrival?
She had avoided them in the past three days, since that humiliating meeting at the Receiving Hall. Had stayed far away, and fought the needs that churned inside her. Vague dreams flitted through her mind, visions of sexual excesses that both terrified and aroused her.
Her nurse had described such sex acts as painful. Horrendous. Capable of tearing a woman in two when their cocks invaded her simultaneously. And though the thought of that possession filled her with fear, it also filled her with lust.
“The Veraga Twins are still watching you, Bri,” her sister Serena said with amused concern.
“I am aware of that,” Brianna sighed. She could feel their gazes on her, stroking her with heated looks.
She fought to ignore what this did to her body. Fought to ignore the ache of need that had not completely abated since they had knelt at her feet days before.
She glanced at her older, beautiful sister and wished she possessed a tenth of Serena’s bearing and poise. She could have easily handled the Wizard Twins and sent them scurrying out of sight. That is, if anyone could. It would have been hard for even the most self-possessed woman to send the leaders of the vast Wizard sect running. The Veraga Wizards were immovable objects when they decided on something. And they had decided on Brianna months before.
“Mother is very much for this alliance, Bri,” Serena told her quietly. “I cannot understand why, but she thinks it would be in the best interests of the Covenani to consider it.”
Brianna flinched. She was very well aware of her mother’s opinion of this. Just as her mother should be well aware of hers by now. Even Garron had finally given up, and merely frowned at her in disapproval now. A dragon’s frown was not the most comfortable sight.
She glanced at the Veraga Twins once again. They were so broad, so handsome and muscular it made her teeth clench in fury. The human females flitted around them like birds to nectar, and set her nerves on edge. Demons that those two were, they were likely teasing the silly twits with whatever power they had used on her.
“I will not submit to those two,” Brianna hissed furiously. “I have heard the tales of their unnatural desires, as have you. Why would mother wish to send me to such a hellish existence?”
The question had plagued her for days now, ever since her mother’s first words giving her blessing to the alliance should Brianna consider it. Queen Amoria had only scoffed at the ta
les Brianna recounted to her, but finally admitted she knew only that the Veraga Wizards had sworn on their oath that Brianna would come to no harm. They did not deny, though, that she would sleep in a bed that both males would share with her. Together.
And yet, neither could Brianna control the flare of lust that sang through her body each time they were near. Either separately or apart, it made no difference. Her body hungered for them.
“They have assured Mother of your future happiness and security, Brianna, you can ask no more of them than that,” her sister told her.
“I do not wish to hear this.” Brianna shook her head in denial. “I have told Mother and now I will tell you. I will not be a Consort to ones such as the Veraga Twins. I do not know why the two of you will not drop this.”
A delicate frown creased Serena’s pale brow. Her lavender colored eyes darkened a bit with her worry. Serena was the most beautiful of the ruling house of Sellane. With her long auburn curls, milk-white skin and unusual eyes, she drew both male and female looks of approval. She was a wonderful sister as well, until she found a subject worthy of her stubbornness. As she had now.
“Brianna, perhaps it would be worth considering,” Serena said worriedly. “Mother is certain the rumors of any pain are unfounded, and we are being threatened by the humans outside our own province. The Seculars in particular are arming for battle. We could use the strength—”
“The Seculars have armed before.” Brianna shrugged, though this news worried her as well. “Say no more of this, Serena. My heart is not in this alliance you and Mother would wish. I will not give in to your pleas.”
Chapter Six
Brianna turned away from her sister and headed for the silence and hopefully the privacy of the gardens. She had lied to her sister, and she knew this well. Her heart beat faster when in the presence of the Wizards, her body heated and longed for them in the darkness of night, but she could not imagine giving herself heart and soul, as Cauldaran males demanded.
She slipped into the velvety shadows of the night, the gardens welcoming her, the scents of blooming night flowers and the sultry heat of the darkness embracing her with tendrils of sensuality.
The thin fabric of her gown seemed confining as it stretched across her breasts and brushed over her abdomen and thighs. Her flesh demanded that she release the ties at her shoulders and allow the silken fabric to fall to her feet, but she refrained from such a move. Roaming naked through the gardens was all well and good, but only when there were no Veraga Wizards around to take advantage of such a move. Not, she figured, that clothes would do her much good against their determination.
*
Drago and Lasan watched Brianna leave the ballroom, following her every move until she was out of sight with a sense of hunger that burned in their loins. The pure white of her gown skimmed from her full breasts to her dainty toes, outlining the curvaceous, tempting body it covered. Her power was nearing its full strength. Soon, she would come into a phase where it would be all or nothing. Were they not there to share in the surge of white-hot energy and magick absorption, then they would never forge the bond with her that was imperative between Cauldaran and Covenani Consorts. Wizards and Sorceress must come together at the exact time, during the peak of her energy level. That time was nearing. It showed in the glitter of her violet eyes, the restlessness of her walk and the peak hardness of her nipples whenever they neared her.
But most surprising of all had been the flare of corresponding power that had surged from her to both Drago and Lasan when they had knelt before her. Observing the old rules of Binding, Drago and Lasan had knelt before the one the Wizard Sentinels had assured them was their true Consort. Shock, and a pleasure unlike anything they had known had immediately surged through them.
By placing themselves beneath her, and centering their power on her, it had allowed the matching female center of her magick to flare outward, connecting and centering within their own male force. The reaction had nearly been climactic. Lasan well understood why such practices were observed in only the strictest settings before the separation of the Covenani and Cauldaran.
It had, unfortunately, embarrassed and frightened their Consort, though. Which was making the courtship proceed at a ridiculously slow pace. She had refused to so much as be in the same room with them since that day.
She was their natural Consort. Created for them alone by the gods. They had feared it would be impossible to gauge the time of her magick fertility so well. But even so, she was wary and frightened, knowing little of their ways, and it was forbidden that they should explain it to her.
The magick of their planet, Sentmar, was steeped in mystery to most. Only a certain handful of the Wizard Twins were given the knowledge to gauge the wondrous gifts that the planet could bestow upon them. It was the energy of the gods. It flowed from the very ground they stood upon, lingered in the air, filled every cavern and flowed through every drop of water. But only a few were deemed deserving to know the secret of drawing it forth. Lasan and Drago were two of those that the all-powerful Wizard Sentinels had come to, to tutor in the ways of Sentmar magick.
One of those lessons had been the bond that tied Wizard Twins and Covenani Sorceress. Each was separate parts of the same magick. The Wizard Sentinels directed male magick, the Sorceress Matriarchs directed the female sect. If the two remained separated, then the magick that filled their planet would slowly weaken. For one was ineffective without the other. A thousand years of separation had allowed the humans in the far provinces to gain ground already. They could allow this to go on no longer.
To reunite the two, the Wizard Sentinels had informed Lasan and Drago of the one Sorceress created to be their other half. A gift from the Sorceress Matriarch to the Wizard sect. That woman was Brianna, the most wary and stubborn of the ruling house of Sellane.
“She’s frightened,” Lasan murmured to his twin as he watched Brianna stalk from the crowded room.
“But receptive.” There was a trace of satisfaction in Drago’s voice. He burned for her, just as Lasan did. The fire threatened, on more than one occasion, to consume them and to rush the completion of their mating with her.
The fear she displayed concerned them. They marked it down, though, to fear of the unknown.
“Receptive is not always enough,” Lasan warned him with an edge of worry. Drago’s inclination to rush her could be their downfall if they were not extremely careful.
He could feel his brother’s impatience beating at him, feeding his own. It was their curse; Wizard twins were receptive to each other in ways that most others could never understand. They were two halves of a whole, in strengths as well as weaknesses. They knew each other’s hungers, dreams and desires, shared them and fought for them. And they knew the same sexual needs. Those needs had focused on Brianna Sellane.
“She hungers for us as well, Lasan,” Drago murmured in lustful satisfaction as he glanced over at him. “I can feel her heat whenever we are near her.”
And she did burn. They were more than aware of the heat and hunger she was not yet experienced enough to hide.
“Will you go to her, or should I?” Drago asked, though they both knew the answer. They could ill afford to push her into a reckless course of action right now.
Taking a deep, control-fortifying breath, Lasan followed her. They knew that for this night, Drago’s forceful personality would only frighten her further. His body was hard, his cock pounding, the blood thrumming through his veins at the thought of catching her alone in the gardens. A chance to touch her silken skin, to inhale the sweet scent that was hers alone. Perhaps to taste her, hear her throaty moans of pleasure. He had been unable to do that but once in the past year that they had sought to court her. Not that Lasan was better off, but his natural patience made him the less volatile of the two.
Brianna Sellane was a most difficult female to court. She had outright refused them after their first overture during a Covenani visit to the Wizards’ lands. Her decision had not chan
ged, despite repeated journeys by them to the Covenani Palace and the Queen’s acceptance of their attentions to her daughter. The woman ran from them at every chance. She sneered at their desire for her and ridiculed their proposal. The time would come and soon, were she not careful, when she would not be in a position of such easy denial.
Lasan found her alone as he had hoped. Wrapped in the night, her flame red hair falling down her back, caressing her hips. Her back was to him as she stared up at the twin moons of their world. Lasan could feel the sadness of her thoughts, but not the reason for them. That sadness pricked at him and he knew Drago felt it as well. They would have her filled with happiness and laughter, not gazing into the stars as she sought answers to questions that disturbed her.
“They say it is the twin moons that decide the births of the Wizards,” Lasan reflected as he moved up behind her. “Displease the gods of the moons and no twins will be born of your Consort’s womb.”
He watched her stiffen, felt the air shimmer with her nervousness. She turned slowly, staring up at him, then beside him, then peeking around him. In confusion, Lasan glanced back, but saw nothing to explain her actions.
“Where’s your shadow?” she finally asked him, her voice filled with ire.
Lasan’s lips quirked in amusement as he felt Drago’s snort of disgust at her words. “Drago is still entertaining the various human women your mother and sister have thrown at us since our arrival. Would you like me to call him to us? I am certain he would be more than pleased—”
“No.” She shook her head quickly. “Why don’t you join him? I’m sure there’s enough women surrounding him for the both of you.”
She spoke with insulting ease of them going to others for their satisfaction, yet Lasan saw the flare of anger in the crystalline depths of her violet eyes.
She may speak easily of it, but he knew she had no desire to see either of them falling for the attention of any of the human females who watched them with lustful, greedy gazes.