by Randi Darren
“Release me from my oaths,” Sylvia asked.
“I release you from all your oaths, Sylvia,” Alex said immediately.
There was no crack of oaths breaking in his ears this time. He wondered about that and decided it would be best to ask Leah about it later.
He didn’t want her attention right now.
Sylvia huffed and scratched at her shoulder.
“Call me Four,” she said.
“Sure thing, Four,” Alex said.
“Mm. Sounds better to my ears. Three said something similar. The idea of even being called by my old name feels wrong,” she said. Then she got up, walked over to his desk, and picked up the key there. After walking to the door, she locked it and came back over to him. “Undress for me, Alex.”
Ok. Somewhat… interesting.
Alex got up and undressed, letting his clothes pile up nearby. Then he sat himself right back down in his chair.
“Good. Okay… uhm… hm. Alex… do you love me?” Sylvia asked, picking up his shirt from the ground.
“I do,” Alex said, smiling at her.
“And that’s why you let me go. To see how I felt about it all,” Sylvia said.
“Yes,” Alex said.
“To see if I’d stay or go,” Sylvia said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Alex agreed.
With a nod of her head, Sylvia walked over to him and pulled his discarded shirt down over his head, blocking out his view of everything. Her hands came behind his head and seemed to tighten it around his face.
“No peeking,” she said.
There was a soft rustle of clothes, and Alex felt a warm, wet sensation envelop his manhood.
He knew without seeing that she’d gotten down in front of him and now had his length in her mouth.
He felt Sylvia’s tongue languidly wrap around him as her mouth slid down and back up.
It was slow, sensual, and he couldn’t see a damn thing. All he knew was Sylvia was kneeling in front of him and seemed to be playing with him.
Her lips tightened as she slid her head back and came off his tip.
“You like it when I use my mouth,” Sylvia said against his shaft. “Tell me why?”
“It’s… ah… it feels really good, and the idea of a beautiful woman like yourself giving me head is a hit to the ego,” Alex said, wondering why she was asking.
“Oh, that’s a fun answer,” Sylvia said, and then her mouth took him up once again. She was sucking tenderly on him, her lips tight on his flesh as her head bobbed up and down slowly.
Then she came off him again, and he heard her dress rustling around.
Is she standing up?
“Do you want me to get pregnant?” she asked, her voice much closer to his ear now. Her hands took his wrists and pulled them behind his chair. He felt something being looped around them, tying them together behind his back.
Alex thought quickly on her question. He was already due for a number of children. Did he want even more?
“Yes. But… not yet,” Alex said. “Going to have too many as it is.”
“Mm. Pregnant,” Sylvia murmured. He felt her thighs settle down over the top of his. She also managed to navigate his tip right up into her slit without using her hands. “I could give you a child, I think. Though only one. Is that enough?”
Groaning as Sylvia sank herself down along his length, Alex wanted desperately to just throw her down and ravage her.
“No,” he said.
“No? Goodness, and how many am I supposed to give you?” Sylvia said, moving back up. She was riding him slowly, grinding him into the chair itself.
“As many as you can,” Alex said. He had no idea where these answers were coming from now. “You’re a beautiful woman. Watching you get big with a child of mine is… it’s another boost to the ego.”
“Another fun answer,” Sylvia whispered against his ear, her hips rocking back and forth against him.
She let out a slow, sibilant breath as she started to bounce up and down on his lap, driving him deep into her.
With short, clipped moans, she impaled herself over and over on him.
“I love you,” she said huskily against his ear. “And I swear myself back to you in every way, Alex of Brit. I also pledge my soul to you. Take care that we keep our game, or I’ll make your life hell everywhere we go.”
Sylvia bit into his neck and smashed her rear down on his lap. Moaning deeply, she ground her hips as if to get him as deep as she could manage.
After her orgasm passed, Sylvia let out a happy little chuckle.
“Oooh, thank you Alex. That’ll tide me over for years,” she said. “You play our game wonderfully, because I know you’re playing it for my own mental health and needs. Thank you. I love you.
“I’ll… have Seven come finish you off and make sure you’re satisfied. See you later, lover.”
Sylvia patted him on the shoulder, kissed him, slid off his length, and left him there.
Waiting for someone else to come take care of him.
Chapter 16
There was a light tap on the door.
“Enter,” Alex said, looking up from his paperwork. He had been waiting up for Carla. He needed to hear from her before he went to bed.
The door opened and William Brush stepped into the room.
“Sire, I wanted to check in to see if there was anything you needed before I retire for the evening,” said the man.
Alex grinned and shook his head. He’d found that Master Brush had been everything he’d needed in a chamberlain and then some.
“No. How’s the special project in the basement coming along?” Alex asked. “And the loan contracts for the farms?”
“Very good, sire. Everything you ordered was delivered and is waiting to be assembled. We’ve hired special engineers, smiths, and scientists in the backgrounds you listed,” William said. “They’re slowly going through all the notes you left, and work has begun several projects. They’re all sworn to Leah, of course, along with the pre-oath questions and security measures.
“The loan interviews and contracts are just starting. We’ll have at least two hundred ready to go in a month or so. Your target will be met in six months, I would expect.”
Alex nodded. “Good. That’s all then.”
“Of course, sire,” William said, bowing his head and moving back out of the room.
Well. That’s the printing press, papermaking, and an assembly line.
We’ll start with reading primers and our codex of laws.
Hello.
Alex froze in place. The voice he heard in his head was distinctly divine, but it wasn’t Leah’s.
“Rike?” Alex asked after a pause.
Yes, it’s Rike.
“Oh. Hello. How are you? Would you care to join me?” Alex asked.
“Thank you, and I’m quite well,” said a smooth, lovely voice.
Turning toward the speaker, Alex found a woman sitting in a chair next to the small table he kept close by.
She was amazingly beautiful. More so than any woman he’d ever met in his life.
She had dazzling sapphire-blue eyes, delicate blond eyebrows, and long eyelashes. Her lips were full and pink. She had a beautiful shy smile on that lovely mouth.
Golden hair spilled down across her shoulders. She was wearing a blue dress that emphasized her figure and made Alex fight not to stare at her.
She was artistry made real.
“Goodness,” Alex said aloud.
“I know,” Rike said, looking down at herself. “I’m afraid this is how I was created. I can’t really change it. It’s almost embarrassing at times when I meet with mortals.”
“I’ll just consider myself fortunate then,” Alex said, leaning onto his desk. And he did. He couldn’t deny he was incredibly attracted to her physically. “Leah said you wanted to meet me?”
Rike clicked her tongue, looking annoyed even though she was wearing a smile.
“She said you wanted t
o meet with me,” Rike said. “My sister is… she’s such a… such a…”
“Conniving bitch?” Alex said, grinning. “I love your sister. She’s my goddess. I pray to her regularly. I wish she would visit me more often, as I value our talks. But she’s still a conniving bitch. Aren’t you, Leah?”
Looking up as he said the last, he got the distinct impression that Leah was somewhere giggling her ass off and nodding her head.
“She’s always been like this as long as I’ve known her,” Rike said with a sigh. “Well. Uhm. Tell me about yourself? It took a bit to get here; I’d rather not squander the opportunity just because my sister was being herself.”
Alex grinned at that. He liked this goddess already. There was something to be said for making the best of any situation.
“I’m not from this world. I was destined for a bad end, I guess you could say. Leah scooped me up, swept me off, and dumped me here as her champion, or broker or… something,” Alex said. “And I’ve been here ever since.”
“Oh. That’s rather… oh. Alright. I can definitely identify,” Rike said, giving him another heart-melting smile. “I too was heading for a bad end. My brother-in-law… he broke me off that path and gave me to my sisters. They helped me come back to myself. It was a struggle, but… I overcame it. And now I’m better for the whole experience. Both what I was and what I am now.”
Alex nodded. He could see himself in her words. He’d done a lot wrong in his old life that he’d worked to rectify as quickly as possible in this one.
And just a lot that he hadn’t done at all. Like have a family and children.
“I definitely feel you there. Definitely. It gives you a better appreciation of everything when you already failed once,” Alex said. “Right up there with youth being wasted on the young.”
Rike grinned, her eyes crinkling, and she chuckled softly. “Right? If only everyone could die and get a second go-round. It’d certainly provide for far better people in the world.”
There was a light double knock on his door.
Alex looked askance at the lovely deity.
“Oh. Go ahead and answer that; they won’t see me. Only you can see or hear me,” Rike said, waving a hand at him. “There’s no rush. I’m here for a day or two.”
Turning back to the door, Alex cleared his throat. “Enter.”
The door opened, and Carla walked into the study.
Smiling, Alex hopped up out of his seat and went over to her quickly. He snatched her up in a hug just after she closed the door and pulled her in close to him.
“Oh Two,” Alex said, squeezing her tight. “I’m so glad to see you. I believe in your ability and your talent, but I was still worried.”
Carla hugged him back just as tightly, pressing her cheek to his temple.
“Love you,” Alex said, his hands sliding up and down her back.
“Uhm… yes. I love you too… Alex,” Carla said, still sounding rather unsure of herself. “You waited up for me.”
“Of course I did, you big stupid bandit.” Alex leaned back from her and looking up into her face. Then he reached up and tenderly cupped it, his thumb immediately starting to trace the scar there. “How could I ever go to sleep when my bad girl hasn’t gotten home yet?”
Carla grinned at that, her hands resting on his hips.
“You were right. Amy was the spy, the leak, and the problem,” Carla said. “We were in, out, and gone in a flash. They didn’t even notice she was missing for quite a while, from what I heard.”
“I knew you could do it,” Alex said, smiling up at her. “Anything I need to know?”
“Some. She admitted quickly to the spying and everything else. It wasn’t until I’d cut the third finger off that she started talking about why, though.” Carla shook her head. “She was sending all the information to Gaelis, of course, but she seemed to think there was someone else behind him. That it was a much larger issue than we’ve been thinking.”
“Oh? Hm. I’ll have to talk to Regina about that. We’ve all been working under the belief that this started because two old men wanted to have an honor war,” Alex said.
“She didn’t have anything else to say, even after I took her toes,” Carla said with a shrug. “There were no other spies, either. Three had been bound to Amy since the very beginning. Amy was also who sent the assassins after you.
“Stupid, if you ask me. If I were her, I would have laid low after you killed my family. Tried to work my way into your bed and just be a baroness.”
“If she’d been as beautiful as you are, she might have had a chance in my bed,” Alex said, drawing Carla’s head down and kissing her. After holding her there for several seconds, he finally drew away. “Good job, Two. You’re my bad girl, and without you I’d be in a lot of trouble.”
Carla smiled stupidly at him, her cheeks a faint red.
“Uhm. I’m going to go take a bath real quick. One had it ready for me before I even got in the keep,” Carla said. “After that, could… could we get in bed together? Maybe… maybe you could use your mouth again? I really liked it last time, and I think I deserve a reward. After that… make love to me?”
Alex laughed at that. “Of course. Go enjoy your bath. I’ll be here waiting for you.”
“Thanks, Alex. I’ll be right back. Don’t go to sleep.” Carla leaned in to kiss him quickly, then darted away. She was gone in seconds.
“Sorry about that, Rike,” Alex said, moving back to his desk and looking at the goddess. “That’s one of my Numbered, and—”
Stopping mid-sentence, Alex didn’t know what to say.
Rike was staring at him with bright, glowing blue eyes. They were wide, and her pupils looked like infinitesimally small pinpricks.
She was radiating pure, unadulterated sexual need and a giddiness that made Alex’s heart race and his body respond instantly.
“You redeemed her completely,” Rike said, her voice tight like a bowstring.
“Ah… I suppose so,” Alex said.
“You said she was one of your Numbered? You have more like her?” Rike asked.
“One of seven, yes,” Alex said as neutrally as he could manage. The amount of lust and need boiling off Rike was overwhelming him, and he was doing his best to curb his thoughts about it.
“I want you to show me them all. Show me your redeemed, Alex of Brit,” Rike crooned at him. The way she said his name made his skin prickle.
“Uhm, I’m going to be slightly busy, but—”
“Show me them now,” Rike said. “I will make sure your Two doesn’t know you weren’t here immediately. No one will remember you leaving the study.”
Standing up, the deity walked over to him and gazed at him in a way that made him feel like a pork cutlet.
“Show me your redeemed,” Rike begged him.
Alex couldn’t resist her, so he did what she wanted.
An hour later, Alex walked into his own bedroom with Rike in tow. She hadn’t said anything to him the entire time. He’d quietly walked from room to room, finding all his Numbered and letting the goddess see them.
During this entire ordeal, it was as if they couldn’t see Alex. As if he weren’t there at all.
Closing the door, Alex found that Carla wasn’t there.
“She’s still cleaning up,” Rike said, walking past him and sitting down in a chair. “Alex… they’re all so… so… fixed. You redeemed them.
“Completely. Especially the one you call Five. She was so… broken. And wrong. She’s nowhere near that now.”
Alex shrugged, not really sure what to say. Today had been a strange day so far.
“I’m going… I’m going to go for now, Alex,” Rike said. Lifting her head up, she met his eyes and gave him a brilliant smile. “I’m going to leave, much sooner than I had planned, but I’ll be back. We need to talk. Again. Soon.”
“I see,” Alex said, not really sure how to respond to that.
“I need to first speak to my brother-in-law, and Leah.
See what I need to barter with her to obtain you as my champion and husband.
“I need to plan how to steal you away and wed you if she disagrees,” Rike said, nodding her head twice. “After having met you, I can’t just ignore you. I’ll have you as mine, Alex. You should head north soon. Tomorrow even. The duchess will need you by then, and if you do it this way, the duke will break his word to you, freeing you from your oath. Consider that an early gift to show you my intention.”
Rike winked out of existence, leaving Alex alone in the room to contemplate what the hell had just happened.
Then the door opened, and a very clean, fresh-looking Carla walked in. With a warm, sultry smile, she locked the door and slid out of her robe, letting it hit the floor.
She was naked and beautiful.
“Come, my love… show me how much you need your bad girl,” Carla said.
Alex let out a slow breath and then smiled. He could honestly use the distraction right now, and he did need his bad girl.
***
Alex rolled into Regina’s forward base camp.
Rike hadn’t been wrong. The fact of the matter was she’d been so right, Alex’s soldiers had arrived at just the right time to repel a flank attack on Regina.
It had happened in such a way that his soldiers were attacked before they’d even realized they were defending the flank for Regina.
Alex’s soldiers had been attacked first.
He opened the carriage door, and Carla, Nannie, and Eleanor all got out.
Letting out a breath, Alex felt better. He’d been crammed in a carriage with those three women, Riley, and Rebekah. The last of whom had practically sat in his lap the entire way here.
Sylvia, Valeria, Quinn, Alanna, and Katherine had all gotten in the next carriage.
“Mm, I think we’ll need to set up a rotation, One,” Rebekah said to the head-maid. “Or some type of expectation. Two and Five both seemed as if they were going to fight right then and there for Alex.”
“They’ve been a bit more… eager… as of late,” Riley said with a sigh. “I can usually talk them down. I’ll start working on them soon.”
“Good work, hon. You’re a blessing,” Rebekah said, leaning over to kiss Riley on the cheek.