by Witch Fire
Odo gave a thin smile. “As we spun around in madness, I drank of the elixir of life – Angelet’s legacy to the world. I’ll live on while the rest of you die.”
Leuric said nothing but Kerrich thought he saw hostility flash in his eyes before he adeptly hid it. “Chain him and take him away,” he ordered the guards. “This time you won’t get away. And I’ll still get Celestine all to myself.”
Kerrich struggled madly as the guards jammed an old rag into his mouth and dragged him in the opposite direction Celestine had stomped off in. He couldn’t shout and alert her to flee until he could find a way out of his dungeon cell to help them both. The thought that he could do nothing to help her, maddened him.
Celestine kept running but soon her energy flagged and she stopped and collapsed onto a cut tree trunk. Her chest fell and rose with her rapid breathing and her mind churned in turmoil. Kerrich had been forced to make love to her. He hadn’t enjoyed one moment with her. The pain of that knowledge made her lean her elbows onto her knees, cover her face and cry.
She had told him the truth in the hayloft – that she had fallen in love with him. Not only with his gentle kindness towards her but the tender way he stroked her body into responding to his.
Armor clanking forced her to look up. The shiny silver metal interweaved among the trees. Bewildered, she watched as Leuric, surrounded by his guards, strode up to her with a grim, satisfied smile. How had he escaped the guards who should have taken him to the dungeon?
“You’ll have the courtesy of coming with me. You have a date to keep,” he said, his voice as slippery as butter.
“Where is Kerrich?” she demanded.
Odo intruded with, “He’s shackled in irons in the castle’s dungeon.”
Celestine looked from one man to the other. What was going on? Had Kerrich told Leuric how he had slept with her and soiled her reputation? Nay, she had been the one to do that, by listening to the hypocritical Angelet. She said nothing as she allowed Leuric to take her arm and lead her back to the castle. She was on her own now. She could expect no help from anyone but herself.
***
Cecily bathed her and brushed out Celestine’s long, tangled hair. Late morning sunshine flooded the chambers. The castle’s interior was much busier than it normally was. Leuric must have found more guards to secure against her escape. She allowed the tears to stream freely down her cheeks. She had no choice but to ride naked through the streets of Coventry. Leuric had allowed her one concession – that her knee-length hair be allowed to cover her breasts. Then he had rubbed his hands in anticipation.
“Is she ready yet?” Leuric called from the doorway.
“In a minute, my lord,” Cecily called out.
Celestine said nothing as she finished brushing out the knots. When Cecily patted her arm, she rose from her seat gracefully, not caring anymore who saw her naked. Leuric could feast his eyes on her all he wanted but if he did anything against her will, she would fight him tooth and nail.
Cecily whispered, “Be proud, lady. You’re more beautiful than the flowers in the field. Be proud of what you have.”
Celestine gave her a weak smile, realizing the woman was right. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She held her head higher and brushed aside a stray strand of hair from her left breast. She was bare to all eyes. Straightening her shoulders, she assumed a dignified posture as she swept past Leuric and out of her chambers.
To her amazement, the guards and courtiers, instead of ogling her, averted their eyes. In the courtyard, even the pageboy hastened to look somewhere else. She mounted the horse, feeling a cool breeze waft across her nipples. The sun warmed her newly bathed skin. Cecily mounted a horse too and rode some distance behind her on her right. Mounted guards prepared the way before her. More guards on horseback and foot marched along behind her.
She held her head high as the horse moved forward and kept at a steady pace. When she turned to look at the few villagers lining the streets, they weren’t watching her but Cecily. In the crowded marketplace, a hush fell as she rode by but no one dared look directly at her.
A young girl ran out of a small house with a posy and reached up towards her. “God bless you, lady,” she whispered staring at the horse’s flanks.
Celestine thanked her. No one gazed upon her as the ride came to an end. A pageboy helped her to dismount. Leuric strolled up to her, leering at her breasts. Then his gaze slipped lower to the thick patch of hair at the apex of her thighs. An appreciative smile curved his lips. She made eye contact with Odo who made a small kissing motion with his lips.
Mustering all her dignity, she marched past him with her small retinue. In her chambers, Cecily helped her dress. Celestine sank onto the bed and lay down, shading her eyes with her forearm. What would she do now? Would she try to escape Leuric’s clutches? It was very obvious he wanted her. She wondered what had happened to the proxy wedding to Lord Guermont. Uneasiness settled into her mind. Could Leuric possibly be thinking she would consent to becoming his wife? The appalling thought made her bolt into a sitting position. She would never allow that to happen. Not ever.
Chapter Sixteen
As night approached, cries of agonized alarm rang through the castle. Cecily clapped a hand over her mouth and her eyes became as round as copper coins.
“What’s going on?” Celestine asked, shuddering. Cecily shook her head. A man cursed and screamed.
The guards had abandoned their posts at her door so she ran along the corridor towards the great hall, the direction from which the terrified cries were coming from. She ran down the stairs and found the source. Leuric was lurching around the trestle table, knocking goblets and food trays off. Watching with keen interest, Odo stood to one side of the great hall, his arms folded across his chest. A small smile curved his mouth.
“I can’t see,” Leuric screeched. “I can’t see!”
Frowning, Celestine began to approach him to try to calm him down and figure out why he couldn’t see but Cecily drew her back out of the flailing Leuric’s way. “Don’t go near him. Methinks, he’s possessed by the devil.”
“He needs help,” Celestine persisted, watching him grope about for whatever might be in his way.
The next moment, Odo stood beside her. “Now lady, please come with me. No harm will come to you.”
Celestine’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Don’t you see Leuric needs our help?”
He shrugged. “He’s no concern of mine. He got what he deserved.”
“Deserved? For what?”
“For eyeing your naked loveliness without being wedded to you.”
Cecily groaned before she said, “He means no good to you, milady.”
Leuric continued to scream and grope about.
Odo seized her wrist. His fingers pinched into her tender skin. “But there won’t be anything stopping me from looking upon you and teaching you the pleasures of a real man,” he gloated.
Celestine reached out to scratch at his face but he caught her hand. “Don’t be so hasty.”
“And I wouldn’t be so hasty either,” came a husky voice from behind her.
Celestine’s head spun. It couldn’t be Kerrich. Wasn’t he chained away in the lower castle’s reaches? She tilted her head to look. Kerrich’s eyes were unyielding rock. “Let her go, Odo.”
“How did you get out?”
Celestine caught the exchange of brief glances between Kerrich and Cecily. She backed into the safety of his body. It didn’t matter that he had been forced to make love to her. She knew in her heart she had told him the truth, that she had fallen in love with him.
Leuric’s screaming went on and on. Odo took a step closer to her but Kerrich grabbed his wrist. “You’ve lost your power, haven’t you?” he asked, his voice as cold as a snow crystal.
“I drank of the elixir,” Odo said. “I’ll live on with the lady here while you will all die.”
“What if Angelet didn’t give you the right vial?” Kerrich asked.
Celestine had no idea where he was headed with his train of thought but she noticed no blue line around Odo’s body.
Momentarily, Odo looked confused before he straightened to his full height, a few inches above Celestine but eye to eye with Kerrich. “The bitch wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Why not?” Kerrich demanded. “Didn’t she do that to Leuric?”
Odo’s shoulders raised a half inch. “Leuric didn’t deserve the elixir.”
“And what makes you think you do?”
The Master of the Guard released Celestine’s hand and rubbed his knuckles against his eyes. “Because I’m worthy. I’m not a killer like he was.”
“Is there something wrong with his eyes?” Celestine asked Kerrich, hoping Odo wouldn’t hear her whispered words.
“You’re not any more deserving of an elixir. Besides, if Angelet couldn’t save herself from death, what makes you think she had an elixir to give you?”
Odo knuckled his eyes, removed his hands and squinted as if his vision was becoming blurry. “She told me.”
“But you stole it from Leuric’s room last night, didn’t you?”
Odo didn’t seem to hear him. “What’s going on? I can’t see,” he muttered.
“Do you think it’s possible that you might be suffering from the same malady Leuric is?” Kerrich asked.
“And what would that be?” Odo asked pointedly.
“That you both looked on the lady Celestine when she was naked with covetous eyes.”
“I did no such thing.” This time Odo rubbed at his closed eyelids. When he opened them, a shocked expression washed over his face. “I can’t see,” he whispered.
Celestine had had enough. She waved the next most senior guard after Odo to her. “Lock them both up,” she ordered.
“Yes, milady,” the man said deferentially before he gave her a deep bow.
The hall quieted after the two men were taken down to the dungeon. She gathered her skirts about her and started towards her chambers, intent on assuming the responsibility of running the castle and the surrounding lands, as had been her right after her mother had been murdered by Leuric.
“Milady?” Kerrich inquired.
She turned and smiled. There was plenty of time for taking on the castle duties later. “Yes?”
Kerrich knelt in front of her one knee. “Am I pardoned?”
“Rise, Sir Kerrich.” She touched his arm as he rose gracefully. “I believe you and I have some unfinished business.” Then she led him to her chambers where she stripped naked for his eyes only.
Also Available:
Ravishing Sara
Historical/Western
You always get what you’re not searching for.
When Cade McAvey finds an orphan in need, he knows he can only do one thing at a time. Can he keep his hands off her while he helps her?
When Sara Parkman discovers Cade, she is unable to refuse his assistance. He’s all man, and she craves him with all her being. When an unexpected letter arrives, it throws her into turmoil. Will she make the right choice or will it cost her?
Excerpt:
Cade McAvey glanced around the bright-as-day ballroom for a likely candidate. Skulking, prescient shadows reached with invisible tentacles about him, threatening to cut off his air. Guilt ate away at him, turning his stomach into twisted knots. He knew his search for protection against the lurking evil would be ridiculed, but he didn’t much care at this point if he was found out.
He stood near the open doors to allow the night air to waft around him, to cool his body and his growing irritation. The women were dressed as brilliantly as peacocks and the men in their dark suits were much like vultures hovering and waiting, ready to hone in on them as soon as they separated from the main group. Here, there were no suitable woman for him, no unknowing candidate. The women were gaudy, their heads filled with nothing more than fripperies.
He stood back from the swirling, ever changing dancers. The music with evident discords, grated on his ears. The crème de la crème of society was in this room, hobnobbing with each other, and he couldn’t find one female that even remotely interested him.
Inevitably, his thoughts returned to his miserable past, and the mistakes he’d made. In his pockets, hidden from view, he curled his hands into tight fists. If he could change his gaffes, he would, but time was a relentless taskmaster, and neither his memories nor the passage of years, would allow him to forget.
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More Books By Aurora Rose Lynn:
Series:
Order In the Court:
Court was never more fun!
Challenging Tessa
Exploring Ana
Judging Charlie
Defending Celeste
Ride Shotgun:
(Historical/Western)
Shotgun Bride
Lady Sheriff
Contemporary:
Sinfully Decadent
Foreplay with the Sheriff
Pirate’s Captive
Very Naughty
Ties that Bind (also available in print)
Naked Wanting
Historical Western:
Ravishing Sara
Historical Medieval:
My Lady’s Passion
Paranormal:
Run Baby, Run
Festival of the Night Lord
Light of the Wicked
Cowboy Karma
Vampire’s Bride
Mistress of the Damned
Soul Dancer
Witch Fire