He followed her into her room, and she stood at the foot of the bed, unsure what he was going to do. Part of her hoped for something more intimate than simply peeing into a bottle and handing it to him, while another part of her worried what might be in store. If their previous flirtations became an obstacle, could she stop herself from getting turned on by him? Did she even want to? As much as she adored Nathanial, she saw no point in promising herself to him alone.
“I won’t bite,” Jon said with a grin. “Unless you ask me to…and even then, I still won’t.”
“Ha. My last thorough examination by a doctor left a lot to be desired. I’m a little nervous.”
“Then I shall be on my best behaviour and employ my very best bedside manner.”
He began with her head and neck, asking all sorts of questions about her teeth and gums that she couldn’t fathom how the information was relevant. Next, he pulled out a stethoscope and had her sit on the end of the bed to listen to her heart. Her hands shook a little when he asked her to pull her dress top down enough to place the stethoscope on her chest. He didn’t waver, not even to take a sneaky peek down at her breasts.
“I need to check your breasts for any unusual lumps,” he said without even a quiver in his voice.
“All right.” She pulled open the short row of buttons on her dress which ran down her bust and pulled the fabric apart, skin erupting in goosebumps the moment her flesh met with the cool bedroom air. His fingers gently brushed over her breasts with expert attention, the tips pushing in at regular intervals. It felt similar to Averys’ version of foreplay in that there was nothing even vaguely sexual or arousing about it at all. Then he pinched at her nipples. Breath caught in her throat.
“Good,” he said when he was finished.
“I thought you said it wouldn’t take much to entice you?” She made a point of not hurrying to do up the buttons.
“I’m a professional. Do you have any swelling in your arms or legs?”
“None of which I’m aware.”
“I will need to perform a pelvic examination to check for any abnormalities or infections. It may be a little uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t hurt.”
“All right.”
“Please lay on the bed. Make yourself comfortable.”
She did as directed, leaving her legs dangling off the end. If he was going to be a model doctor, she could be a model patient. He disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a pillow for her head. She lifted her legs, planting her feet against the mattress, still a little queasy about the idea of presenting herself so fully to yet another man—even if it was one as charming as the Colonel. He made a humming noise as he found her sans underwear. She couldn’t decide if it was a noise of approval or disapproval. His head dipped down out of her vision, and a moment later his fingers carefully probed her entrance. She held her breath, wondering if there was any way he might know she had been sexually active recently? Could doctors tell such things? She was clean, at least.
It took only a few minutes of gentle prodding and poking before his head reappeared and he excused himself to go wash his hands. She sat up, feeling a little light-headed. Did nothing about her turn him on?
“I believe everything is as it should be. Do you feel well in yourself?”
“Generally speaking.”
“Good, then you should be well enough to travel when the Emperor wants you to come home.”
“Will you travel with me again?”
“I will.”
“And were you not tempted by me, not even a little?”
That charming grin returned to his face, spreading from ear-to-ear. “More than a little.”
“Well, that will suffice to keep my ego from feeling damaged.”
“Goodnight, Lenora. Rest well.”
She lay back against the pillow once more, resigned to the fact that she could not seduce him. Perhaps it was for the best. After passing out during her last full-on encounter with Nathanial, she decided it was probably a good idea to steer clear of any overly exciting sexual encounters for a while.
Her thoughts turned to Averys. Had he been spending the last few weeks enjoying the company of Stevens? Barentyn had been dealing with the threat, so at least he wouldn’t have been spending time with him. Would he want to sleep with her again when she returned? Her backside clenched at the memory of him driving into her, painfully forcing her apart. It was enough to set her off again, the growing need for satisfaction creating a hot mess of juice which bubbled between her legs.
She scooted up the bed and slithered out of her dress, feeling the tickling sensation of the furs on bare skin. It was almost like being touched. Spreading her legs wide, she rolled her toes into the sheets and reached behind her head to grip one of the wrought-iron posts. She lay there for a moment, concentrating on her breathing, looking down at the rise and fall of her breasts, savouring the idea of being utterly exposed, imagining fingers tracing over her clit—her own, Nathanial’s, Jon’s, even Averys’. Her eyes fluttered closed, and faces flashed through her mind with the thought of more hands joining, touching, rubbing, all working in harmony to bring her to the edge. Still, her hands hadn’t moved from above her head.
She writhed on the bed, hips moving to a rhythm imagined. Her mind treated her with images of Nathanial pinned to the bed beneath her, his cock slid all the way inside; Averys perched on his knees at her back, cock slid deep in her ass; and Jon knelt above Nathanial, his cock tipping forwards into her mouth. She gasped into the cool bedroom air as she came, the orgasm much softer and subtle than usual but no less intense. Her head rocked back against the pillow and she restrained her hands from reaching down to actually touch, marvelling at the ability to come just by pure imagination.
When the sensation died down and she opened her eyes, sparkling dots danced in her vision. She frowned up at the ceiling. Suspended above her, perched in the beams, was a figure dressed entirely in black. She smiled and propped herself up on her elbows. If Nathanial had been watching again, that was quite all right with her. Perhaps he could help topple her into a second orgasm with his deft fingers.
In one move, the body swung from the beams and dropped onto the end of the bed, barely disturbing the mattress with his movements. She froze in place, legs still spread, fingertips gripping onto the bedsheets. From the shape of the body alone she could tell it was not Nathanial.
Breath caught in her throat. Inside her head, she screamed, but something between her brain and her mouth had detached, and no noise came out. The figure at the end of the bed shifted and brought a hand up to remove the mask, revealing the gaunt and horrifically familiar face beneath, covered in mottled burns, the skin down one side gone completely.
Lusk.
“Well,” he crooned, licking his lips as he crouched at her feet. “This is a pleasant welcome.”
“What are you doing?” she whispered, breathless, head spinning. He was supposed to be dead, not stalking her bedroom, and she was supposed to be screaming, though she wasn’t sure anyone would hear. If her guards were gone, or if he’d already disposed of anyone who might be nearby, no one would hear her anyways. Her body—her utterly naked body—trembled.
“I expect you thought you’d gotten rid of me. You are a more challenging prey then I’d first assumed. Most entertaining.” Without warning, he gripped her ankle and yanked hard, dragging her towards him. She yelped and reached out for something to grip onto, finding nothing but bedsheets.
His hands moved up her leg, fingers digging painfully into skin, leaving instant bruises. When he reached her hips, he flipped her onto her stomach in one move. She lashed out, kicking her legs, connecting with his thighs, hoping to kick him in the crotch. He bent forwards, pinning her to the bed with his weight, holding her wrists down. He was a trained assassin, the man who had spent the last few years training Nathanial and others, and she stilled in his grip, knowing she was no match for him.
She buried her face into the bed, silently praying that
he would get on with it and be finished quickly. She could feel his body squashing down on top of hers, the bulge of his penis digging into her ass. He wriggled his hips, gaining pleasure from rubbing himself against her flesh.
“Where to put it first,” he said as he reached down with one hand to unbutton his trousers and remove his cock. “Pussy, ass, or mouth?”
“Stick it up your own ass, you filthy bastard,” she spat back.
He responded, grabbing a handful of her hair, and yanked her head back so hard she thought her neck would snap. With his weight on her backside, he stretched her out and up to the point of pain, her arms flailing uselessly as she tried to stop him.
“I’m going to fuck you all night long,” he said through gritted teeth, words spat into her ear as a low growl. “And it will hurt. I’m here for my pleasure, not yours, you filthy little whore.”
She felt the bed move, a weight dropping onto the mattress behind. Lusk grunted, crashing forwards, pushing her back into the bed, and a moment later he was ripped away, his body falling over the edge and leaving her in place. In the confusion, she rolled to the opposite side and dipped off the edge of the bed, scooting backwards along the floor on her heels, heart pounding in her ears.
Two men this time popped up from the other side of the bed. Lusk flailed about, arms and legs fighting off his attacker. The bodies spun a pirouette, and she finally saw who had come to the rescue. Nathaniel had a knife in his hand, the long, thick blade glistening in the light. She recognised it as the one from his bedroom that first night they’d been together. It was most likely his favourite. A thin line of dark red blood oozed from the blade and dripped off the edge.
Lusk escaped Nathanial’s grasp by landing a heavy punch to his face and stumbled backwards, gripping the knife wound at his side. Nathanial lunged forwards with the knife again, and the two men engaged in battle, the master and his apprentice. Nathanial was the fitter and stronger of the two, but for every one of his surges forward, Lusk managed to dodge or block him at every turn.
Lenora stood dumbstruck, bracing herself against the wall. She wanted to leap in and help but knew she would probably do more harm than good and didn’t want to make herself a target. Never being trained in combat, lacking in strength, and utterly nude didn’t seem like a wise combination of traits for a fight.
She moved towards the door, hoping to fling it open and scream out into the corridor for anyone who might still be there to hear. Surely the Colonel would help at the least, and Lusk was unlikely to win if the odds were two against one. But as she made towards the door, something blurred across her vision. A throwing knife stuck in the wall, inches from her breast.
She looked back at the two men, who had now huddled into a ball, arms and legs kicking, punching and biting as they wrestled one another. Growls and grunts echoed around the room through their exertion. It frightened her to think that Lusk had managed to throw a knife at her as a warning in the middle of a fight to the death.
She pulled on the knife, hoping to arm herself. It took a few hard tugs before it came free from the wall. She scanned the room, eyes darting around and looking for something, anything to use to help. Her eyes landed upon the large chandelier above.
The two men parted briefly; blood poured from Nathanial’s nose and he had a cut on his neck. Lusk looked even worse, his already burned skin scratched off further still, a limp layer of it hanging from his cheek. Lenora felt bile rise in her throat.
Lusk took two steps back and unsheathed a knife from the belt around his waist. “You won’t win, boy. I know your strengths, and I know your weaknesses.” He took another step backwards as Nathanial moved toward him. Nathanial’s eyes flicked toward her for the briefest of moments, and then moved toward the thick rope attached to the wall which held the chandelier. He’d had the same thought as she. She nodded once, indicating that she knew the plan.
“She doesn’t want you, Lusk. No woman does. Not even any men want you. You’re the only man in the whole palace the Emperor hasn’t slept with. If you think that means you can force yourself on someone, you’re gravely mistaken.”
“You just wait until I tell the Emperor what the two of you have been up to. When he finds out you impregnated his wife, he will order me to lock you both in the dungeons. I might even put you in a cell together, strung up in chains, so you can each watch as I torture the other.”
A chill ran down Lenora’s spine as her mind treated her to a selection of nasty images at his threat. She’d rather die here and now than live through something like that. As Lusk took another step back, unwittingly placing his body beneath the chandelier, she took a step along the wall, putting her back to the rope and slipping the knife around behind her. She found it with her fingers and slipped the blade along the fine, tight strands of hemp.
“I’ll kill you before then,” Nathanial said. She knew he was stalling, buying time rather than simply attacking, and she raced with her hands, sweat pouring down her face and arms. Her hands slipped with the knife and nicked her finger, but she didn’t stop drawing the blade over and over until finally she heard the rope creak.
It snapped, letting go of the weight, and the entire chandelier came crashing down onto Lusk’s head. He collapsed into a heap beneath the weight of the wrought-iron arms, and the lit candles toppled from their nozzles and rolled around the floor. Lenora rushed forwards, patting the flames out before they could catch light to anything and burn the entire lodge down. Nathanial stepped up to examine Lusk.
“Is he…”
“He has been impaled,” Nathanial said, sheathing his knife as he crouched down beside the tangled mess. The chandelier finial was a perfect spike, something she hadn’t noticed until now, and had pierced directly through the top of Lusk’s head.
Lenora stood on shaking legs, blood dripping from her cut finger and tears leaking from her eyes. Nathanial stood, concern washing over his face as he walked forward to catch her before she fell to her knees.
“It is over,” he whispered. She nodded into his shoulder in silent response. “I am sorry I was not here sooner. He triggered one of my traps in the forest, and I’d left to investigate. I was not expecting it to be someone who knew the location so well. Forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive.” She grasped at the shirt on his back, wanting to pull him close and never let go. “You saved my life. In so many ways. Thank you.”
The muscles of his back stiffened, and he pushed her away. “Someone is coming,” he said as he stood up abruptly. He grabbed one of the furs from the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders not two seconds before the door flung open. The Colonel appeared in the doorway, weapon drawn, and a handful of soldiers stood behind him.
“What the hell is going on?” he barked.
“I was attacked,” Lenora said, cutting off Nathanial’s attempt at explanation. She wanted to stand up and deal with the situation with a modicum of dignity, but her legs had turned to jelly and refused to regain strength. “Thankfully, Nathanial was aware of the attack. His alarms had been triggered.”
“By whom? Oh.” The Colonel paused once he’d come around to see the face of the man buried beneath the chandelier. “Lusk. I thought the threat had been dealt with. I guess he was working with the enemy.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s it.” Lenora and Nathanial exchanged glances for a moment. If that was the conclusion people were going to draw, so be it. She wasn’t going to make any attempt to correct them.
“Are you hurt, Ma’am?” The Colonel knelt at her side and looked her over. His eyes immediately found the dark bruises on her bare legs.
“I’ll live.” She gave him a weak smile.
“I’m so sorry for this mess, Ma’am. It is my fault. I should have ordered the guards to remain on watch. I just thought you might have preferred some privacy for a while after the threat had gone. This attack was my error.”
“Please don’t blame yourself. Everything has worked out well in the end. I just need some res
t, though I think I might like to sleep elsewhere tonight.”
“Of course.”
The Colonel walked her carefully to a spare bedroom at the opposite end of the lodge. He ordered men to stand watch beneath the window outside and two more to stay at the door, though it seemed a little excessive and certainly too late to be so cautious. Lenora appreciated it anyway. Nathanial had given her a long look before the door closed. It seemed as though he wanted to come in and comfort her, to snuggle up together and be safe and protective, but he was ushered away to have his wounds tended, and she was left alone.
Despite feeling incredibly tired, she did not sleep.
XIX - Home
The next day, she had been called back to the palace as expected. The journey home took the same method as the journey out in the steam-powered vehicle, but it seemed to last half the time. Every part of her body ached, and she wanted nothing more than to soak in a nice hot bath once she’d returned.
It was late afternoon by the time they arrived back, and the Spring sun still warmed the air. The smell of the nearby ocean filled her soul with happiness as soon as the carriage doors opened. She almost forgot that the palace was a dangerous home to have.
She found Averys standing on the gravel path at the bottom of the steps leading to the palace entrance. He wore long, beige trousers and a pressed, light-blue shirt. He looked older than she remembered him merely weeks ago. Whereas any other woman might run up to her husband and proffer a public display of affection, she simply stood in front and bent her leg behind, dipping her head in a curtsey. The action was performed in a rather ungainly fashion with her rapidly growing belly. His eyes softened as he returned the gesture with a slight nod, and he turned slightly, extending his arm to escort her up the steps.
Desire and Duty (The Consort's Chronicles Book 1) Page 16