His eyes glittered as he nudged her legs apart and rolled between them. For a moment he sat back on his heels, drinking in the sight of her, naked and writhing below him. Then in one fluid movement he covered her body with his and thrust into her.
Her back bowed off the bed as her hips churned to meet his plunging drive. He laced his fingers through hers and raised them above her head. He thrust again and again until she lost all sense of time.
Quinn kissed her throat and murmured into her ear, “I want you with me always. Say you’ll take vows with me.”
The raw urgency and longing in his voice spoke louder than his words.
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” she shouted, wanting the universe to hear.
With that their bodies blended to one graceful, loving, gasping creature. Pepper didn’t know where Quinn ended or where she began.
Then he slowed his rhythm to long, deliberate strokes that rubbed her clit and took her to the knife edge of ecstasy.
“Come with me, please,” she begged, as the ripples of her orgasm began to grip her. She clawed his back, and panted, open-mouthed.
Quinn’s pace quickened again. His back arched. His chest was dewy with sweat as his powerful body quaked with his release.
Feeling his rapture sparked more waves of pleasure through Pepper. Her pussy started clenching again, responding to his. Her hungry pussy milked every last drop of his cum until his body finally stilled. He dropped his sweaty forehead to touch hers.
His eyes shone with love.
“Maybe you should come with me to Silvelea,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Vengeance and Vows
While Quinn and Pepper were making love, the enforcement arm of the Tribunal Guards were smashing down the door of Daedra Mazrant’s house. Roused from her bed, she was given ten minutes to dress and lock up her house before they marched her off to the holding cells under Tribunal Hall.
The warrant for her arrest was signed by Alfred Seymour whose name was followed by his two titles along with two official government seals. For the time being, Alfred Seymour had added the position of Minister of Citizens’ Services to his role as Lord Treasurer.
There were few jails and only one prison in Elsinania. Until Daedra’s arrest, they’d all been under her control. She shrieked in protest when she was told where she was being taken because she knew better than anyone how barbaric the penal system was. Under her orders, prisoners were supplied with one comfortless cot, a sink with cold water only, and a hole in the floor for sanitation. None of the cells had windows, nor were prisoners allowed out for exercise or fresh air. They subsisted on one meager greasy meal a day.
After a month of that existence, often much less time than that, inmates were happy to volunteer for a transfer to the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp to be trained as cannon fodder in Daedra’s growing army.
Alfred Seymour had never seen the jail cells in the basement of Tribunal Hall and he personally accompanied her there to inspect them. When he saw the conditions, he ordered all the other cells to be emptied and those prisoners to be escorted to the local hospital for evaluation. He’d review each prisoner’s case himself over the following weeks but no one but Daedra would again occupy the hellish cells she’d created.
Daedra fought the guards who tried to put her in one of the filthy cells. It took four of them to push her inside and slam the iron gate behind her. Seymour watched, showing no emotion, as she spat curses at them all.
Turning his back to her, Seymour spoke to the head jailer. “No special treatment for this prisoner,” he said. “Let her suffer as she has made others suffer.”
* * *
Meanwhile a small contingent of Tribunal Guards and select stealth fighters from Senne were invading the camp. They broke into the sentry box and swarmed the tunnels, armed with battering devices to smash through the hidden access doors.
The first thing they found, at the bottom of the steps in the tunnel under the moat, was the unconscious body of Terence, the chipping master. He wasn’t dead, just severely dehydrated with two broken wrists and a mild concussion.
The fighters made their way up to the front courtyard quickly and with surprise on their side, easily overcame the guards there. They’d lowered the drawbridge and raised the portcullis to welcome other liberators.
* * *
The next morning Quinn and Pepper met Kai and Gail for breakfast in the hotel’s luxurious dining room. Pepper and Gael exchanged shy smiles as they lowered their tender buttocks onto their chairs. Pepper noticed that Gael’s manner toward Kai was more openly affectionate today. The two of them exchanged loving sidelong looks.
Pepper smiled because they mirrored her and Quinn so perfectly.
When the server came to take their orders, Quinn said, “We’ll have a bottle of your finest sparkling wine.”
Kai smiled. Gael’s eyes widened. “It’s seven in the morning,” she said.
“What better time to celebrate the fact that this beautiful woman has agreed to exchange vows with me?” He kissed the top of Pepper’s head.
Immediately Kai and Gael were on their feet, moving around the table to hug their new friends at such momentous news.
“Where and when is this happening?” asked Gael.
“We haven’t even talked about that yet,” Pepper answered, looking at Quinn for his opinion.
“It’ll happen as soon as Pepper’s mother and sister are ready to join us for the ceremony. I’ve already let Ezmar and Renee know we want to go ahead as soon as we can. They will organize the event for us. I’m thinking either today or tomorrow.”
“In Rosewyld?” Kai asked.
“If we may have the use of your fast copters to get everyone in place.” Quinn looked to Kai.
“It would be Senne’s honor to help in this way, wouldn’t it, princess?” Kai lifted Gael’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“Absolutely!” she agreed. “Once they’ve delivered the advance troops and guards to the camp today, they’ll return here. They can take us all back to Rosewyld. We can collect Lily and Brinley on the way.”
* * *
While the friends were celebrating, a surgical team flew in from Rosewyld arrived at the camp and began the tricky process of removing microchips from the hundreds of hostages. At Quinn’s instructions, Bernadette and Anna were the first to have their microchips extracted and, along with six other inmates, caught an early flight back to Rosewyld.
At midday, the fast copters arrived to take Quinn, Pepper, Kai, and Gael back to Rosewyld.
* * *
For the first time since Quinn had moved into his father’s house, it teemed with people. Kai, Gael, Brinley, Lily, Ezmar, and Renee were there along with Quinn and Pepper. Ezmar and Renee had brought in staff to open the guest bedrooms for Bernadette and Anna, who were the last to arrive.
The large drawing room comfortably held the crowd as catering staff from the hotel circulated with plates of tantalizing food.
Brinley sat at the grand piano and, after a tentative warm-up, started playing pleasant background music. Pepper wondered why he wasn’t trying to ingratiate himself to anyone of importance in the room like he usually did. Was it possible he’d changed? Maybe he was a new man, a man who understood that he was now close to the power center of the nation and no longer had to struggle to be seen.
Or maybe, as Anna had suggested, Brinley had been the one to whisper to Daedra that Rosemoor had a massage therapist who could relieve the symptoms of Waking Illness. Once Pepper was out of the way, was he the one who’d reported Anna as being a person with Waking Illness? With both Pepper and Anna conveniently removed from Lily’s life, she naturally turned to him for affection and warmth.
Time would tell. Once the documents in Daedra’s office and at the camp had been sorted through, they would know if it was Brinley who’d signed the recommendation to the minister that Anna be removed from Rosemoor. Maybe he was trying to make amends by assuming this polite role as an entertainer.
Because Bernadette and Anna had been through so much, it was decided that Quinn and Pepper’s ceremony wouldn’t take place until the next morning. But, because Kai and Quinn were anxious to set sail for Silvelea, it would happen at dawn. Then the Senne fleet, along with Quinn and Pepper, would weigh anchor and leave the port of Rosewyld on the ebbing tide.
As everyone talked about plans for the next few days, Bernadette and Anna declared they would both be return to Rosemoor after the vows ceremony. They loved their country town and had no interest in staying in the capital any longer than necessary.
With that announcement, Pepper knew she wouldn’t have to worry about Lily any longer. Mama and Anna would keep a protective eye on Lily and her relationship with the most ambitious sycophant in the county. If Brinley was proven to be the traitor she suspected he was, she was confident that her mother and Anna would devise an appropriate penalty for him.
That afternoon Kai, Quinn, and Gael shut themselves into Quinn’s study to plan the Silvelea campaign. The others went into the city to shop and prepare for the next day.
* * *
At the streak of dawn the next morning, Bernadette and Lily helped Pepper dress for the ceremony. Pepper’s off-the-shoulder lace gown in emerald green was chosen to complement Quinn’s red serge jacket. The only jewelry she wore was her brand new CommBand with its woven bracelet of gold and silver. Lily fixed Pepper’s waist-length, corkscrew curls loose over her shoulders, topped with a handwoven crown of white roses.
The ceremony was being held on a grassy knoll on the green belt in front of Quinn’s house. Renee arranged to have an upright piano brought to the field for the occasion and Brinley spent time refreshing his playing skills. Ezmar and Anna created a bright autumn arch to frame the couple as they swore their pledges. Staff from the hotel set up tables and chairs for the breakfast feast.
The sun was just rising over the horizon as the small crowd gathered. Alfred Seymour, wearing the purple sash of his office, attended as the official celebrant to witness their vows and record the event for public records. Vows exchanged for the first time in Elsinania were always brief. They grew in complexity only as couples renewed them at the end of each term.
Quinn and Pepper left his house together, holding hands. They followed the lush carpet of fragrant rose petals that had been strewn from the front door to the knoll where their guests waited.
“Nervous?” Quinn asked.
“Nope,” Pepper lied happily. She still didn’t believe this was happening.
Seymour waved them under the arch, allowing them to face their guests. Then he spoke. “Quinton Zara Garrick and Piera Elin Thornback, you are here today in front of witnesses to swear your love to each other. Are you both here willingly and without coercion or duress?”
“We are,” they said in unison.
“Then please proceed,” Seymour said.
Quinn took both Pepper’s hands in his and was shocked at how cold they were. He wrapped them in his much bigger hands and rubbed them gently.
In a deep clear voice, he said, “Piera Elin Thornback, I loved you the first time I saw you, without complexity or pride. The more I know you, the stronger that love grows. Today I pledge to be your faithful, loving, guiding partner for the next four years. My home is wherever you are. You hold my heart in your hands. May the bond we share today deepen and bring us back here to renew our vows.”
Pepper choked back a lump in her throat. When she first opened her mouth, no sound came out and everyone laughed. Quinn smiled down at her with such loving kindness in his amethyst eyes, her courage flooded back.
On her second attempt, her words came out softly. “Quinton Zara Garrick, I loved you the first time I saw you, without complexity or pride. The more I know you, the stronger that love grows. Today I pledge to be your faithful, loving, obedient partner for the next four years. My home is wherever you are. You hold my heart in your hands. May the bond we share today deepen and bring us back here to renew our vows.”
As they exchanged the plain gold bands that signaled first vows, Quinn began to sing. Pepper recognized the ballad and added her strong mezzo soprano to his baritone. Without warning, Quinn fell silent.
She paused at the end of a refrain and he whispered, “Sing for me, little sparrow.”
She nodded and let her solo voice rise on the cool morning air. The guests sat transfixed, soothed by her healing gift. The ancient love song had been banished ever since the Handbook went into effect, many years before.
By the time she’d finished, a hush settled over the crowd. No one spoke a word.
Later, when people tried to recall what had happened in the moments after the rings were exchanged, all they could remember was songbirds soaring in the early rays of sunlight as a universal sense of contentment settled over them. Maybe it was Pepper’s voice that captivated them. Or maybe it was the gentle scent of the vildehair flowers that decorated the tables, but everyone said the ceremony was enchanted.
Quinn had closed his eyes as Pepper sang, reveling in a joy he hadn’t known was missing in his life before he met her. Her song celebrated the comfort of life with a soulmate, someone who’d bring him fresh perspectives and challenges and delight him in infinite new ways. Pepper’s support, her devoted presence, had already eased the loneliness of his command. Life would only get richer from this day forward.
When the guests looked up at the end of the song, some swore they saw a fleeting gold aura surrounding Quinn and Pepper. It lasted only a breath and then Lily shook herself into action and jumped to her feet, breaking the magical moment. She followed behind Quinn and Pepper as they made their way to the table. Once they were seated, she stood behind them and loosened their hair down over their shoulders. Then she proceeded to plait their long locks together loosely, in the ancient tradition of Elsinania, another banned tradition that Quinn had allowed to be resurrected.
The interweaving of their hair symbolized the blending of their hearts. They would share their first meal together as a joined couple and then, as their plaits loosened, they would be separate but pledged individuals bound by their vows to join their lives.
They ate well and many glasses were raised in salute to the couple’s happiness. Pepper sat at Quinn’s side, reveling in silent wonder at how quickly her life had changed. Only a few weeks had passed since Quinn had kidnapped her from a quiet country town and a regulated, dull existence. Her life then had been a prison of rules and regulations but she hadn’t known it.
When Quinn stole her away from her that regimented existence, she’d exchanged one set of rigid rules for another. The transition hadn’t been that hard. At least with Quinn there was the dizzying certainty of his hand on her body, heating her bottom, and stirring a primal desire that no one else had ever woken.
Then he’d surprised her when he encouraged Ezmar and Renee to loosen her chains further. He sent her off with them so she could see how free women lived before he’d unshackled her himself the first night she shared his bed. She’d discovered the ecstasy of being loved in the way she’d always dreamed of and never thought possible. More important than that, she was wanted and needed by someone who understood her.
No one was ever truly free but the love she shared with Quinn opened a door she hadn’t known was closed.
Now, at the celebration feast, he constantly touched her hand or kissed her cheek or whispered in her ear, thrilling her in ways she’d only dreamt about in the past. Until the day she met him, she had no idea that such tender and chaste gestures could make her body vibrate from the inside out.
And it was only the start of their joined lives.
Epilogue
All too soon, Quinn stood and announced that they had to leave. A flurry of kisses and hugs ensued before the newly joined couple went inside to change to clothes more suited for the expedition ahead.
Within the hour Quinn and Pepper, along with Kai and Gael, boarded the HMS Bonaventure. The captain had given up his cabin for the newlyweds. I
t held a bed large enough for two Devmaereans, a desk, and two chairs.
Quinn set the bags on the bed. As Pepper opened hers to unpack, he said, “Sit. I have a small gift for you.”
“You said no presents!” she protested, having resisted the urge to buy him something the day before.
“I said you were not to buy me anything. When you accepted me as your mate, you gave me everything I’ve ever wanted, even though I didn’t know it until I met you.” He lifted one of her hands then the other to his lips. “Your hands are no longer cold.”
Seeing the protective love in his eyes, Pepper thought her heart might burst with happiness. “We did it,” she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief still. “We actually exchanged vows.”
“Thank you, little sparrow,” he said. “For accepting me as your mate and leader. Now, please sit and close your eyes.”
She grinned with anticipation and perched on the edge of the bed with her eyes squeezed tight.
She heard his suitcase unzip, followed by the rustling of paper. Then a parcel was laid on her upturned hands.
“You may look now,” he said.
She held a thick brown paper bag.
Quinn nodded to indicate she should open it.
She reached in and found two parcels wrapped in gauzy white cloth. The first was quite heavy and shaped like a brick. She undid the red ribbon and found a pile of chocolate bars.
“Thank you!” She opened the wrapper on the top one, broke off a small piece and popped it in her mouth.” She sucked on it, enjoying the dark richness. “Want some?” She held it out to him.
“It’s all yours. But pace yourself. If you want to eat it for breakfast every day while we’re on this mission, you’ll have to make it last.”
She nodded and placed it on the bed beside her.
The next parcel had a seal on it from an artisan so famous, even she recognized the name. Inside she found five pairs of bright red socks.
She burst into laughter. “How did you know?”
Bound to the Commander Page 22