Faster and faster she went, licking, sucking, nibbling, flicking her tongue under a foreskin here, rolling balls there, until both cocks were huge and hard.
She laid down flat on their legs pushing their outer hips up into the air so their inner hips were aligned, then held a cock in each hand and sucked hard, tipping her head back to take as much as possible down her throat. Again she moved from Alistair to Devon, Devon to Alistair, sucking deep and hard, then licking the stalk or taking the balls into her mouth. Both men were groaning now, lifting their hips up to her mouth, as she worked them faster and harder.
It was Devon who came first, his essence shooting into the air as she sucked his balls. She pushed her tongue down inside Alistair’s foreskin, and he broke then, his seed spurting to join Devon’s, coating them both with a mixture of their own seed and each other’s.
* * * *
Before dawn, the guards rode out in pairs to visit the various hamlets, but most merely ended up escorting the people to the stronghold, having met them upon the road. The guards found themselves leading their horses as the elderly and bags of grain took their place on the animals’ backs.
One pair of guards were certain they’d seen light glinting off metal in the distance, so they herded the people tightly together, ordering the stragglers to walk faster, but there was no sign of soldiers or attack. Nonetheless, they reported their suspicions to Lord Rhys, who already had freemen and children as lookouts on the battlements to replace the missing soldiers.
Mitchell arrived carrying his grandmother, Mary, the oldest person in the entire valley, on his back. He, too, announced he’d seen signs of soldiers, plants broken as if people had been waiting in hiding, and utter silence instead of birdsong from the trees.
Lord Rhys paced up and down the battlements, eager for all his men to return. But instead, there were shouts from the rear of the castle, and he saw fleeing people having dropped their burdens, running full tilt for the river.
Half a dozen of the guard ran for their horses, and Hammond lined up all the bowmen on the castle walls, ordering the children to keep watch to the front in case this was a trap.
“I hate using the children like this, but they’re safer watching from the wall than down on the ground,” he said to Wade.
Lord Rhys and his men rode out into the field, heading full-speed for the river, but the few enemy soldiers who’d been chasing the people had turned aside as soon as they saw the horses appear. They hadn’t even stopped to steal the bags and bundles the fleeing villagers had dropped.
All was chaos and confusion, but every person was safe, although once again, several homes had been burned to the ground, and some people had lost all their winter food supplies and their animals.
“What is the purpose of this harassment? Lord Jeffrey wins no advantage by this behavior. A few chickens, a bag of grain, they are worth nothing to him,” said Lord Rhys in exasperation.
Lady Elinor spoke slowly. “Most of your servants, and all your men and their families came here with you, did they not?”
Lord Rhys nodded.
Alistair stared at them both and wondered what Lady Elinor was thinking now. She was a very clever woman, a fitting lady for the stronghold.
“Few soldiers would be skilled at preserving meat and storing grain and fruits to last through the winter.”
“So you think that as well as not going hunting soon enough to catch many large animals, and not sending the peasants into the forest to gather nuts and berries, what was collected and caught may not have been preserved properly, so he’s decided stealing other people’s grain is an easier option?” suggested Lord Rhys.
“Exactly.”
“Do you think he wanted to marry Rhyannon to supervise the storing and preparation of food, instead of to find a way to take the stronghold?” asked Lord Rhys.
“Not necessarily instead of, but perhaps, as well as,” replied Lady Elinor.
That made sense to Alistair. There were all sorts of strange conventions about how much salt to add to meat and how to protect grain from insects and rats. He liked eating food and could cook well enough over a battlefield campfire, but preserving foods was a woman’s skill and demanded knowledge of spices and suchlike that most men had little knowledge of, especially soldiers. It seemed to him that Lady Elinor may well be absolutely correct and Lord Jeffrey’s people may indeed be hungry by midwinter.
Alistair hated the thought of the peasants starving. That was what usually happened in such a situation. The lord took the grain and stock from the peasants as was his right, and it was the poor who suffered.
“What of Lord Coll? Did anyone see his men this day?” asked Alistair. He was the biggest worry to Alistair and Devon as he threatened the Lady Rhyannon.
But it seemed the sharp-eyed children had been on the battlements, and the people from the hamlets had been in such a hurry they’d paid no attention to horses and banners but had simply fled to the stronghold and could tell Lord Rhys nothing more.
Chapter Five
Garnet, a young woman whose husband had been killed in the battle when Lord Jeffrey took over Lord Rhys’s demesne, was one of the sewing women. For more than an hour, she sat in front of Rhyannon’s Court dress, her fingers moving just above the fabric as she sketched designs in the air.
Rhyannon desperately wanted to ask Garnet what she was thinking but didn’t want to interrupt her in case it spoiled her vision for the gown. Rhyannon was determined to save the dress if she possibly could. She’d been thrilled when Alistair and Devon had promised to buy her a new one, but realistically, the cost was enormous, and the likelihood of them going to Court more than once or twice in their lifetimes was not high. She supposed they’d go to Court when Devon eventually received lands, but apart from that, she couldn’t imagine them making the journey unless it was to force her Cousin Coll to return her jewels. Jewels that were still safely locked in the storage chest in Lady Elinor’s solar. No man would enter that solar as he knew his life would be forfeit at the end of Lord Rhys’s blade. Or if not Lord Rhys’s, Hammond’s.
“It’s a tree,” announced Garnet.
All the sewing ladies gathered around, but it was Aunt Heloise who demanded, “Explain, please, Garnet.”
“The tear is rough and uneven here, so this is the broadest part of the tree trunk. We embroider the two pieces together in several different shades of brown, as a tree is never a solid color. Then up here, where this other slash joins in, is a branch. It reaches almost to the pink flowers, so we add leaves and a few more flowers onto the branch, so the join is seamless.”
Garnet paused and looked around. All the women were nodding as they gazed at Garnet’s fingers flying in the air above the gown as she drew the design.
“On this side, we need to add a branch or perhaps two, to balance the picture, and lower down, below the wide, damaged part of the dress, we add in some grass and have a few tree roots exposed. So the brown thread unites the design,” she finished triumphantly.
Rhyannon was breathless. Garnet’s image was brilliant, amazing, perfect! The two parts of the dress would be joined together with every fault covered by embroidery and a pattern, yet the whole linked to the existing pink flowers and blended well with the pale-green silk of the base fabric.
One group of women laid out all the different colors of sewing silks, deciding which would be best blended into the trunk, or the branches, or the grasses.
Rhyannon collected a pail of ash from the fire, spread it on a bench, and sat beside Garnet as they drew the design over and over, until they were sure where every line would go. Only then did they pin the torn pieces of fabric together and draw the design onto the silk itself.
Even with four or five women all sewing together, the embroidery would take many weeks to complete. Rhyannon no longer worried. She knew it would be stunningly beautiful when it was finished, and that she truly would be the envy of the other ladies at Court when next she wore the dress there.
* *
* *
Devon and Alistair followed the habit of Lord Rhys and Hammond. Only one of them left the stronghold at a time, so the other was always present to protect his lady. It was a silent, non-verbal way they expressed their love and care for her, in their actions. With so many extra people in the stronghold, some of whom had lost all their stored food for winter, hunting and gathering parties left the castle most days.
Many of the peasants were better at gathering food than the castle servants as they had the reality of starvation sharpening their eyes and their wits. They found mounds of nuts squirrels and other small animals had collected and gathered them into buckets. Sometimes they found edible grasses or berries, mostly hard now, but good enough to eat once they were cooked.
Hunting was more difficult, too. Many of the animals were under shelter already for winter, but most days, the men found something, a rabbit, perhaps, or a few birds. But nothing large enough to feed a family, much less a stronghold.
Devon also saw many signs others were out searching, too. He had to guess that Lord Jeffrey’s people had either convinced him to build up his food stores or were looking for themselves. But when he saw a small tree cut down and all the soft inner bark harvested, he began to worry. That was famine food, not what people ate before winter had really begun to bite.
“Lord Rhys, look,” he said pointing.
Several freemen came and stood beside him, all shaking their heads. “Who among us in the valley is starving already?” asked Lord Rhys.
“Someone who has had their supplies stolen by Lord Jeffrey and Lord Coll,” said Albin with a harsh tone in his voice. “Someone who will be dead of starvation in one moon’s time, possibly less.”
“We can only hope they have the good sense to leave the valley now, before it begins to snow, and go stay with family somewhere else,” said one of the freemen, Mitchell.
“Not everyone has family who can feed them, and if they leave, they forfeit the rights to their own land. It’s a very difficult decision to make,” replied Devon.
“Standing here will not feed the stronghold. Tomorrow, we’ll go much farther, right into the heart of the forestland, and see if we can hunt some game. The animals must be hiding deeper in the forest where the trees offer more warmth and protection,” said Lord Rhys, moving them back to their horses and cart.
But even though they penetrated farther than ever before into the woods, there was no game to catch and plenty of signs people had been before them looking for food.
That day, two of the old men came to Lord Rhys. “It will snow within a week, lord,” one said. The other nodded.
Devon knew that meant no more expeditions. They couldn’t risk being far from home if a blizzard struck. If they didn’t have enough food stored already, it was too late. They would just have to ration what was there. They’d collected a lot, more than he would have expected. But with so many people to feed, it was hard for him to tell if it was enough. He hoped Byram, the steward, and Lady Elinor knew. He had to trust their judgment in this. But whatever happened, his food would go to Rhyannon if necessary. She would not go hungry while he lived.
* * * *
Rhys and Hammond lay on either side of a naked Elinor, each with a hand on her growing belly.
Hammond grinned. “I felt the babe kick. He’s going to be a mighty fine warrior one day.”
“Half of all babes are girls,” warned Elinor.
“Having seen young Nerida in action, a warrior daughter would be no bad thing,” said Rhys. “We shall be the strictest fathers in the valley though, when it comes time to choose a husband for her.”
Elinor laughed and moved to grasp a cock. “I want you both to bathe the child in your seed so she knows who her fathers are. I want you to fill me full to bursting so she feels my joy when you both take me.”
Elinor sucked Hammond’s cock deep into her mouth then let him go and sucked Rhys’s.
Hammond had his hands on her breasts. “I love how big your breasts are now, the globes still as soft as ever, but the nipples so very hard and hot.” He rolled her around a little to suck a nipple into his mouth, his other hand playing with the opposite breast.
“Suck me some more,” asked Rhys, holding his cock to her mouth. Happily, she complied, tilting her head right back to take him deep, the way she knew both men loved, before letting him out and playing with his foreskin. She peeled it down as if it was the shell of a nut and she was plucking out the meat. Then she licked all around the sensitive head, pressing the tip of her tongue into the eye and sucking his essence from him.
She smiled as fingers dug into her cunt, pulling out her cream and rubbing it around the entry to her ass. It seemed they would fuck her together tonight. She loved being wrapped between the two of them. She felt so wanted and loved when that happened.
She was also glad there were two of them right now with the trouble with Lord Jeffrey and Lord Coll. The future was ever uncertain, but now that she was expecting a child, the knowledge that two men cared about her made her feel safer than had she been with only one man.
Hammond pulled her onto her side, sliding behind her and lifting her upper leg high so he could drive his cock deep into her ass. As soon as he was fully inside her, he pressed his hips against her ass and rested his hands on her breasts, once again tweaking and rolling her nipples while he waited for Rhys to claim her cunt.
With her belly getting bigger, this position allowed Rhys to push his leg along hers, angling his cock deep into her cunt. Elinor wiggled in delight as his cock filled her, stretching tissues that were already stretched by the cock in her ass, making her feel so full, and totally claimed, and possessed by her men.
She pulled her internal muscles tight, gripping both cocks, knowing it drove the men mad with desire. As always, they began to power into her, working the push-pull system they both enjoyed, Hammond driving in as Rhys withdrew, then changing over to Rhys claiming her as Hammond’s cock slid out.
But Elinor wasn’t in the mood for a slow and gentle fuck this night. She wanted them hard and fast as they possessed her, so she clenched her muscles again on their cocks, released them, then before they could get their strokes going again, grabbed the cocks vigorously.
“God’s blood, woman, you’ll be the death of me,” gasped Rhys, slamming his cock into her cunt.
“My prick will break if you do that again,” warned Hammond.
The men held her hips tightly so she couldn’t move and began to drive into her again, one pushing in as the other withdrew, but faster, harder, more urgently, their bodies already sweaty and their male musk filling her nostrils, making her want them even more.
Again and again, they pounded into Elinor as pleasure rose higher and harder inside her. When the pleasure burst, filling her with joy, the men released their seed, flooding her ass and her cunt with their essence until it mingled with her own cream and dripped over their intertwined thighs.
Elinor sank back onto the mattress panting. Fucking with these men was so good. She could never get enough of them. They brought her endless pleasure in the bedroom and protected and cared for her outside it. She loved them with all her heart.
* * * *
The day it began to snow, Father Augustus was sitting with Rhyannon and his two other students, teaching them the correct reply to a business letter. All of them knew enough basic Latin to write a simple letter now, as long as they didn’t need to use too many unusual or abstract words. They had a competent grasp of all the most common terms. One day, both Devon and Alistair had taken time from their chores to watch her practice her writing on parchment scraps, and she knew they were proud of her growing skills.
A child came running to Father Augustus, telling him a messenger was here with letters for him.
Rhyannon was interested. Letters were always exciting, especially now when sometimes she was allowed to read parts of them. But who could have been writing to the stronghold now, and in regard to what?
The letter was a fat rol
l of parchment, tied with a ribbon, a little squashed and dirty from having been carried inside the messenger’s clothes all the way from Court.
Rhyannon sat silently and still, trying to remain invisible as Father Augustus read the long letter. When he looked up, he nodded to one of the boys and said, “Please tell Lord Rhys, Lady Elinor, and Lord Devon that I’ve received a letter from Father Joseph.” He nodded to the other child. “You may go now.”
The child pouted but scurried away with his friend. Rhyannon remained still. Since Devon had been summoned, that meant the letter had something to do with her, too, or perhaps with Cousin Coll. But who was Father Joseph? She thought hard but couldn’t remember hearing about him. That was not the name of the person Father Augustus wrote to most regularly. She did know that.
Cousin Rhys, Lady Elinor, and Devon all arrived quite soon, followed immediately by Byram with mugs of watered wine. He nodded to Father Augustus and said, “The messenger is eating now, and a place for him to rest is being prepared.”
“Thank you.”
As Byram left, Father Augustus said, “When I received no useful news of Lord Jeffrey’s long stay at Court, I remembered Father Joseph. He was at Court for about six months, three years ago. There was a problem to be solved to do with the lands of the monastery where he serves, and it took six months to sort out the details. It occurred to me that would have been while Lord Jeffrey was there. I had little hope he’d know of Lord Coll as well, but I asked about him as well, just in case.”
“And you have some news for us at last. That’s a very long letter,” said Cousin Rhys.
“Much of it isn’t relevant to the question I asked. Joseph talks of mutual friends and suchlike. But he did say Lord Jeffrey’s father was the reason the lord stayed at Court. When the father was knighted, he was angry with his firstborn son. It was Lord Jeffrey who’d fought at his side, and it was Lord Jeffrey he spent time with. It seems the older man promised Lord Jeffrey he would be his heir, but the King saw no reason to change the law in this case. The older son had committed no wrongdoing. Just because a father prefers one child over another is not a reason to upset the standard patterns of life.”
Defending Rhyannon's Inheritance [Elinor's Stronghold 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 6