Metal Mage 11

by Eric Vall

  “Temin,” I cut in for the sake of sparing his breath. “Does she look upset?”

  The Baroness smirked as the king glanced up and squinted hard.

  “She’s not upset,” I clarified.

  “Yes, don’t mind me,” Nulena chuckled. “It is, after all, your castle.”

  “You’re a gracious woman,” Temin slurred. “Is there anything I can offer you? Anything at all?”

  “A drink,” Nulena replied, and when she turned toward me, I immediately shot to my feet and headed for the barrel of Rosh.

  Halfway there, I realized the king probably would have sent a servant, but I had a decent buzz, and the look in Nulena’s eyes shot straight through me. So, I got her a goblet myself, and when I returned to the table, the Baroness had taken a seat directly beside mine.

  She was calmly listening to the king explain Haragh’s good news and the reason for our celebration, but I could tell the secretive woman knew all of this already.

  Then Temin offered his deepest condolences for the violence Rajeen had suffered, and I eyed Nulena to see if she would respond as coarsely as she’d done when me and my women brought it up.

  “You’re very kind to be so concerned,” the Baroness murmured as she bowed her head to the king. “The losses have been great, and those who have survived fear another attack may claim their own lives.”

  “This will not happen,” Temin assured her. “Mason, tell her. We are not going to allow that to happen, are we?”

  Nulena glanced my way, and I did my best to look at her eyes and not her lips.

  “We’re not going to let that happen,” I assured her.

  The Baroness’ cheeks shimmered the moment the words left my mouth, and she abruptly looked away before she hid her grin behind her goblet.

  The king did his best to keep the conversation as professional as possible from there on, but it wasn’t long before he had his chin propped on his palm again, and he mumbled through a large bite of chicken wing while Nulena grinned in amusement.

  “That rumor,” Temin mused as he narrowed his eyes. “The one about you being murdered … I’ve always wondered about that.”

  I raised my brows as I looked at the Baroness, but she just shrugged.

  “I find most people will say anything for the sake of making a scene,” Nulena replied. “But tell me, do I look dead to you?”

  “No, you look remarkably alive,” Temin chuckled. “Not dead in the slightest, my lady. In fact, you are more radiant than ever, if I might be so bold. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look as lovely. Have you done something different?”

  Haragh choked on a chunk of chicken as we exchanged a glance, and I was a little surprised the Baroness didn’t have any smooth remarks to make this time. She smiled and drank some more, and the king chuckled at her aversion.

  “I don’t know if you two are aware,” Temin muttered as he looked conspiratorially between me and Haragh, “but Baroness Batanova has a reputation amongst the nobility of Illaria. She’s infamous, and there isn’t a single member of my court who wouldn’t do her bidding if she asked them.”

  “Is that so?” I asked with a smirk.

  “It’s true,” Temin assured me. “Ask her anything, and she’ll know the answer. She knows what everyone does, who they consort with, what they strive for. And more than that, she has a clever little way of accomplishing anything. I once asked her to help me with a pesky issue I was having with two lords. For days, I heard from no one. Then, out of the blue, I’m informed the lords have portioned out their land to their nephews, all disputes have been resolved, and I never had the displeasure of hearing from either of them since!”

  I couldn’t help eyeing Nulena as the king and Haragh chuckled heartily, and it only took a single glance from the woman for me to realize these lords were definitely dead now.

  “Damn,” I muttered. “That is impressive.”

  “Isn’t it?” the king laughed. “You could ask her anything, and she’ll know the answer. Watch. Baroness, who is the wealthiest amongst the nobles at this very moment?”

  “Lord Allen,” the Baroness chuckled.

  “And who is the most well connected?” Temin asked with a drunken grin.

  “Myself, of course,” she replied.

  “What about the most likely to be killed?” the king chuckled, but the Baroness looked less amused.

  “Mason Flynt.”

  Everyone sobered a little as they looked my way, but I couldn’t help laughing.

  “Damn straight. How about the most likely to be killed by me?”

  The Baroness calmly sipped her Rosh, but after a moment, she eyed me with a smirk.

  “That is a question I cannot answer,” she admitted. “Your actions are difficult to predict.”

  “Are they, though?” I asked with a roguish grin. “I thought I was sooo predictable. I have this annoying habit of protecting civilians at all costs.”

  Temin snorted through his chicken wing, and the Baroness blushed under my gaze.

  “True,” she allowed, “but your morals are famously partial. Your dedication to protecting others ceases where any danger to the ones you love begins. This complicates matters exceedingly.”

  I furrowed my brow as Nulena looked away and finished her drink, but I had too much Rosh in me to try and reason my way through her statement.

  “That’s because he’s valiant,” Temin drunkenly informed her, and both him and Haragh burst out laughing.

  After that, the king continued asking the Baroness every question that popped into his head, including whether or not he would die soon, whether any of Wyresus’ kin noticed he was M.I.A., and if she could tell him what happened to an old friend of his from when he was ten.

  Nulena was surprisingly patient with the king while she answered to the best of her knowledge, and I had a feeling she wouldn’t have been so obliging if I wasn’t there. She probably would have rolled her eyes and left shortly after arriving, but here she was, sipping her Rosh and sending me amused smirks for the rest of the evening.

  Haragh thought it was a hilarious game and started asking his own questions, too, and I couldn’t believe Nulena even knew the secrets of the ogres. She had dirt on Grot and most of Haragh’s family members, but when the half-ogre nervously inquired about Taru, I was worried the fun might have ended.

  The Baroness assured the man that Taru had no secrets to keep, though, and she calmly listed off the name of every ogre she’d mauled in the last year. It was a very, very long list, but this seemed to make Haragh love his woman all the more.

  Unfortunately, the drunken knights were so far gone by this point that they were on the verge of an all-out battle in the great hall, and the king ordered them to take it out to the courtyard when it got too loud for any of us to think.

  I chuckled as several of them groped around for a few more wings before they left, but then a shitfaced knight noticed Nulena’s breasts, and I recognized his lewd grin. He was just opening his mouth to say something to her when he caught the warning look on my face, and as I shook my head, two of his buddies promptly grabbed him by the arms and hauled him off.

  So far, I’d done my best to pace myself on the Rosh because it was still early in our relationship, and I didn’t think Nulena needed to see me bombed out of my mind and rebuilding everything in sight just yet. Temin and Haragh didn’t bother, though, so they ended up at full throttle. They argued over the emancipation with Jagruel until they were red in the face, and a few minutes later, they cried together about their mothers and decided they were best friends for life.

  It only took a subtle hint from me to get Haragh knighted right then and there, but when the two servant girls came in to clear away a few platters, Temin’s attention derailed.

  Part of me felt like someone should advise the king against sleeping with his servants, but it wasn’t really my place to tell him what to do. So, we all just chuckled as Temin tarried off with a woman on each arm, and even though he might regret it i
n the morning, I knew he desperately needed to cut loose.

  Haragh ended up passing out shortly after with a fistful of chicken wings clutched against his chest, and as his snores grated loudly in the great hall, I propped my elbow on the table and turned to Nulena. She had a funny smirk on her face as she eyed the crown still perched upon my head, but instead of taking it off, I tilted it a bit to the side to make her chuckle.

  “So,” I led, “I had no idea you were this upset about the attack in Rajeen. I mean, coming all the way to Temin’s castle so late and unannounced … you must be frantic.”

  “You don’t have to taunt me,” the Baroness chuckled. “You know very well I only came here to be with you.”

  I grinned. “Missed you, too.”

  The Baroness blushed at my words, but then her expression shifted.

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier,” Nulena admitted in a soft tone. “How you worry about the women you care for. I was miserable after I saw you fall from the battlement, and I don’t want to make you worry like that for me.”

  I nodded while I tried to figure out where she was going with this, and I eyed the wisp of shadows she was nervously twirling between her fingertips.

  “I thought perhaps, if you wanted me to, I could find a means of letting you know I’m alright,” the Baroness mumbled. “Just… something discreet so you would know I was safe, and then you don’t have to be worried. If not, it’s fine, I only thought--”

  “I’d appreciate that,” I told her as I took her hand, and her eyes betrayed how relieved she was to hear it. “I honestly wouldn’t be able to keep my head on straight if I never knew whether you were alright or not. I can respect we have different lifestyles, and I don’t want you to change anything for me, but knowing you’re okay in situations like that would help.”

  “Understood.” Nulena smiled, and she thought for a moment while she bit her lip. “How about this?”

  The Baroness waved her hand over the tablecloth, and a tuft of furling shadows appeared. It looked like a tendril of smoke when a candle goes out, but it was a soft black that undulated in place without fading at all. When I ran my finger through it, I lost feeling where the shadows touched my skin, but the fact that half my finger disappeared from view made me grin in disbelief.

  “You can send this anywhere?” I clarified. “Even if you’re far away?”

  “Yes,” she said with a nod.

  “So, you know how to send your magic outside yourself,” I realized. “I just learned how to do that.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Nulena chuckled. “You seem to learn rather quickly, but I am impressed. Very few mages can accomplish this.”

  “How long did you study at the Order before you learned?” I asked.

  Nulena shrugged and sipped her Rosh. “I didn’t. I taught myself.”

  “Wait, everything? No one gave you instructions?”

  Nulena nodded, but then she rose to her feet as she finished her drink, and she came closer to trail her fingers along my jaw. I turned in my seat so I could slip my hands between the folds of her dress, and as my palms worked their way up the woman’s thighs, her two-toned gaze made my blood burn almost as much as the feel of her velvety skin did.

  “Can I have you all to myself tonight?” she murmured.

  I nodded as my fingers found the cleft between her thighs, but my pulse quickened when I realized she was already soaking wet for me. Nulena blushed and turned away with a coy glint in her eyes, and I stared at the veiled outline of her ass while she slowly sauntered across the great hall.

  I was in such a hurry to follow her that I almost forgot I was still wearing Temin’s crown, but I swiftly backtracked and propped it on Haragh’s head instead. Then I drained my goblet as Nulena’s chuckles echoed in the hallway, and when I caught up to her, she was untying the back of her corset as she headed up the stairs.

  I swallowed hard and checked to make sure no servants or guards were around, but Nulena didn’t bother conjuring any shadows this time. She let her corset fall on the marble steps before she smirked over her shoulder, and I fumbled to grab it as I watched her slowly unwrap her sheer black skirt.

  She had nothing but heels on by the time we got to the top of the stairs, and I fiendishly eyed every inch of her ebony body while I trailed behind her in a daze. Then she leaned back against a pair of gilded doors as she curled her finger for me to follow, and I was so distracted by the wanton look in her eye that I stumbled into the room without thinking twice.

  I didn’t know if it was her or the alcohol heating up my blood at this point, but the second I had the doors shut behind me, I closed the gap between us in two strides before I devoured her lips. The Baroness clung to me as I pushed her further into the room, and when she reached for my belt, I chuckled and resurfaced to get the job done faster.

  That’s when a glint of gold caught my eye, and I froze in place.

  “Hoooold up,” I mumbled, and I whipped my head around as I registered the fully gilded four-post bed, the fur-trimmed, velvet robe in the corner, and three polished crowns mounted on the mantelpiece. “Is this Temin’s bedchamber?”

  “Mm-hmm,” Nulena giggled against my neck, and I abruptly pulled her off me.

  “We can’t fuck in the king’s private quarters,” I hissed.

  “Why not?”

  I furrowed my brow as she smirked up at me, and maybe it was the Rosh, but I just had no rebuttal to that. I tried my damndest, though, while I considered the plush carpet under my boots and the stained-glass windows, but the bed was twice as big as any I’d ever seen, and the dense black hide draped over the blankets practically begged to have Nulena thrown onto it.

  “Yeah, okay,” I decided as I tore the buckle of my belt open, and when the Baroness delved her tongue into my mouth, I caught her by the ass to hoist her up. Then I stumbled over and tossed her onto the bed, and I was about to pull my chainmail off when she grabbed my wrist.

  “Don’t,” she ordered in a low voice. “Keep it on.”

  I raised my brows at the depraved glint in her eyes, and the woman grinned as she laid herself out on the jet-black fur.

  I’d never kicked my pants off so fast in my life.

  Chapter 15

  Nulena’s long black hair was strewn around her as she waited for me, and when I brought myself between her splayed legs, the cold steel of the chainmail made her gasp. Then I pressed myself more firmly against her as she began to shiver all over.

  “This might hurt,” I warned as her nipples met with the steel.

  “Good,” Nulena purred, and she let out a sadistic chuckle as she hitched her legs around my waist.

  I could tell by the way her breaths trembled in her throat that she’d been craving me for days, and even the slightest touch of my cock against her slick entrance made her whimper. So, I teased her a little by sliding my shaft along her ebony lips, and with my weight pressing down on her, she couldn’t do anything about getting more of what she wanted.

  Which was exactly what I had in mind from the moment she asked to have me all to herself.

  The last few times we slept together, my other woman had been so into it I was completely unbridled with the Baroness and did anything to her that they wanted to see. Normally, I loved nothing more than obliging my women’s taste, and Nulena had loved every minute of it. Still, I’d noticed early on she wasn’t very good at waiting her turn.

  It wasn’t that the Baroness didn’t mesh well with the others, but she was clearly used to getting what she wanted whenever she chose. Any woman who shared a bed with us would have to respect the order of things, though, because I’d learned to recognize what all of my women wanted or needed, and I knew when to deliver so everyone was taken care of.

  If a princess and a future goddess could obey that, then so could a baroness.

  So, now that I had her to myself, I held her pinned against the fur as she writhed beneath me, and her eyes begged for more while she tore at my chainmail to p
ull me closer. I kept on teasing her regardless of how bad she needed it, though, and when she clutched her roots and let out a tortured moan, I finally gave her just a couple inches of my cock.

  This was enough to make her back arch in pleasure as she let out a feral moan, and she tried desperately to force me in even deeper.

  “More,” she begged, and I grinned at the tremor in her voice.

  I took my time with her, though, and I only gave her slow and shallow thrusts as I watched her bite down on her lip until a bead of blood appeared. She was shaking all over now from wanting to feel my full length in her, and I let out a shameless chuckle as I brought my lips to her ear instead.

  “You need to learn some patience,” I growled.

  Nulena met my gaze with a fury that sent a chill down my spine, and then she immediately began taking her frustration out on me. I let her claw at my neck and nip my tongue as much as she wanted, but the angrier her kisses got, the more firmly I held her in place. She was sopping wet with arousal when she finally eased up, and it took ironclad restraint not to let her fury egg me on.

  All I wanted to do was flip her over and give her exactly what she wanted until she was limp and kitten like for me, but I forced myself to hold out. The abyss of Nulena’s coal black eye burned through me like she would tear me apart with her teeth if she could, and there was something so incredibly sexy about the control I had over her composure.

  One touch from me made her limp, and holding back made her lose her damn mind, and I was beginning to realize how much fun it was to test those extremes.

  So, as she glared up at me and stopped her fighting, I gave her one long, deep thrust as a reward, and in an instant, her gaze was pleading again as she gently stroked the scratch marks on my neck. Then she began laying soft kisses along my jaw, and she let her powers seep through me like a tonic as a shaky sigh left her lips.

  Her arousal had heated her to a blistering degree, though, and once I was buried inside her, there was no way I could keep up with the lesson. I took a steadying breath as I willed myself to pull out, but Nulena was moaning in my ear now as she rolled her hips against me, and I ended up driving myself deeper instead.