War-Torn

by J. E. Keep

  “There are several major possibilities,” he said calmly. “You could be stubborn, and it all ends with you losing everything. You could play along but fail to impress me, and I lead you on until I grow bored and dispose of you. Or...” His thumb returned to her chin, then went up over her lower lip. “You please and impress me. And I claim for myself a beautiful and useful wife, who will ride my coattails to greatness... on her knees.”

  She’d been staring at him curiously until those last three words, and her nose crinkled. She didn’t bow to anyone. Her petulance had gotten her into trouble in the past, of course, but not like this. Not when everything was riding on it.

  “How do you think I could do that?”

  “It’s okay,” he said, having smiled at her reaction. “You can be bothered by the prospect. I like that in you,” he remarked with amusement. “It’ll be especially fun to beat out of you.” He said that with such an eerie calm, stroking her pale skin, her beautiful curls. “But not tonight. I promised to be friendly. And I always keep my promises, sweet girl.”

  “When I first met you, you looked like you hated me. Like you didn’t have a singular interest in my existence. Am I really to believe that being put under house arrest with me has changed that? Or is it simply boredom, a way to pass the time for you?”

  Her words were soft, but they still held the icy-hot anger that threatened her body as she tried to stop trembling under his touch.

  He had the nerve to laugh at her.

  “I hated what you stood for,” he said with a caress of her cheek. “What you represented. An impediment to me, my future. Lazy decadence.” He cupped her cheek and turned her face up towards his, locking eyes with her. “I thought you a pretty vessel, but dumb.” He narrowed his eyes just slightly as he studied her, as if reading what she truly was in her own gaze. “Perhaps I was wrong though.”

  “I’m not dumb.” It was defensive, but she didn’t care. She’d be hard pressed to admit to such a cruel thing under his hard gaze. “So yes. You were wrong. I’m glad you can admit that.”

  He laughed just once.

  “I haven’t seen evidence of that yet,” he remarked with another of his galling smiles. “It would be most convenient and fortuitous if I was on this count though.” It was hard to escape the similarities. The warmth of the fire, sat at the feet of a man so alike her father. The way he caressed her cheek, touched her brown curls. The harshness was not like him though. Her father rarely had anything but glowing praise and affection for her. “Beauty and brains are so rarely in the same package. And you’ve beauty to spare.” His hand cupped her jaw and he guided her in just a bit closer. “I’m not going to impregnate you so you can try and pass it off as that old bastard’s spawn,” he said calmly. “Not, that is, unless we were married.” He grinned just a bit, but it was a pleasant, playful grin in appearance.

  His calm demeanor was driving her mad, and she couldn’t help that her dark eyes narrowed at him.

  “You insult me then tell me that we could be wed. You want me to be obedient yet say that you like that I’m not, only to threaten to beat it out of me. You’re a contradiction.”

  He brought his other hand over to caress her thick ringlets as he held her jaw in place. “But tonight there’s just friendliness, as promised. You want that, yes?” he asked, “You and I to be friendly to one another? It would make the night easier to pass. Be a building block for the future between you and I.” He smiled so pleasantly at her.

  “I wouldn’t have shown up if I wanted to continue with things as they were.” The memory of him grabbing her, of his eyes on her body made her flush and her fingers went to drag the light skirt over her thighs a bit more modestly, though the fabric instantly fell away. It was too slinky to ever do anything but fall from resistance.

  She swallowed as his fingers touched her, and she thought, once more, of her father. “I’m willing to play nice.”

  “You’re used to pampering,” he said softly, those hard eyes of his soaking her all in, leaving nothing for her to hide, it seemed. “And I can give you that. But not only that,” he explained to her as if laying out the details of his perverse plans to a child. “I can pamper you, but you’ll serve me while you do it. I don’t need just a wife. I need a willing accomplice. A submissive little princess with her own cunning.” He retracted his hand from her jaw, but kept the other in her hair as he very slowly undid his pants, drawing her gaze to the bulge of his manhood.

  Her throat constricted as she stared. Her lower lip drew in, and she began nervously chewing it, letting his words digest.

  She didn’t believe him. Not really. His kindness was a farce, and he’d never let her keep anything, but she was desperate. To protect her father’s interest, she’d take the chance that she’d be left with nothing, embarrassed and perhaps worse.

  She nodded, so gently as to nearly be invisible.

  That was enough to draw a broad grin to his face.

  “Good girl,” he said, as if an echo of dear dad.

  He withdrew his manhood from the confines of his pants, not yet turgid, but growing thicker before her eyes. His hand in her hair gently but firmly guided her in towards it, the scent of male musk wafting to her nose as the stunning organ swelled upwards under its own power, as if seeking her plush lips.

  “You said you’d be nice, and you weren’t lying then,” he remarked approvingly.

  She understood on an instinctual level what he wanted her to do.

  Yet she was inexperienced, and her hands trembled at her sides as she followed his lead. Her mind was growing hazy and she wondered if it was fear that was making her so dizzy or if it was him.

  If she was going to do this, though... If she was going to bargain with the cruel man, she was going to impress.

  With the firm guiding hand of his on her head, he brought her mouth to his cock.

  “There you go,” he said, “open up.” He gently but strongly guided her mouth down around him so that she felt the warm, throbbing member slip along her tongue and mouth. He grew there, throbbing to a new girth that pressed out against her teeth.

  “Good girl,” he said on a sigh, exhaling in satisfaction at the warm wetness. “I’ll be gentle this night, as promised, so make the most of it to learn, pet.” And his hand in her hair coiled its digits about her ringlets and began to urge her motions on, making her begin to bob her head.

  She couldn’t believe she actually felt a small bit of gratitude at his words with what he was making her do. He tasted foreign and the motions were unnatural and ungraceful. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of what she was doing, of what she was allowing him to get away with, and anger boiled beneath her pale flesh.

  Yet there was the insistent tug and pull of his hand as he guided her along his shaft. He was using her more than she was fellating him, though the motions were mostly gentle but firm.

  “Good girl,” he said, reclined back in his chair, watching her through lidded eyes as his cock swelled to fullness, her lips pulled taut around it. He brought his other hand to her head, caressed her cheek then took hold of more of her hair. “You are a very pretty little princess,” he said in his low, lust-tinged voice. “It would please me immensely if you proved adequate for my needs.” He licked his lips, acting as if his infuriating words were anything but. “I could enjoy the sight of you stuffed with my dick each and every night for many years.”

  He repulsed her. His treatment of her, his behaviour, it was all so vile. She wanted to jump from the floor, to flee from the room and simply wait out the rest of her captivity, but she knew it wasn’t an option. She’d held on for some hope, some way that she could save her father without resorting to the Viscount’s generosity, but too much time had passed.

  Her charade would soon be over and they would be jailed. They’d lose it all, if she couldn’t make this man see her worth.

  Her tongue swiped across his cock, her mouth feeling so moist and hot. It was uncomfortable, and she was frightened.

&nb
sp; Each and every swell of his shaft in her mouth was like a taunt. It goaded her as he forced her mouth and face upon his cock faster and faster. He was building towards his release, she knew, and gave a low groan of pleasure from her tongue as he let his fingers rub against her scalp in his grasp.

  “That’s it,” he said in a husky groan. “So close... good girl, good...” He pulled her face down partway along his shaft one final time then held her there. She couldn’t budge against that grip, and had to accept it as his girth expanded and the thick streams of salty cream shot from his bulging crown along her tongue and the roof of her mouth again and again.

  Her feet kicked in protest, her hands digging into his thighs as that strange sensation overtook her. It wasn’t like anything she’d ever experienced before, and the taste was odd. She didn’t know what to make of it, of him, and her face was red with shame.

  Slowly his member stilled, the last of his seed spurting out into her mouth as he breathed heavily. “That’s it,” he crooned huskily, hand still clutching her head. “Easy now.” He retracted his shaft from her mouth very slowly. “Remember, good girls swallow it all down,” he said as he slipped his well-shaped crown from betwixt her pouty lips.

  She did as instructed, but she couldn’t look at him. Caprice’s eyes were blurry and her entire body felt like it was betraying her. She was so hot and it felt like there was something crawling under her skin. She needed release, some pressure put on that little bundle of nerves between her thighs, but she wouldn’t let herself.

  Instead she simply licked the seed from her lips and slipped down onto her haunches.

  “Well done,” he said at that, and he released her hair as he bent forward and kissed the top of it like a doting patron. “You didn’t disappoint.” And those simple words were said as if they were extreme praise.

  She could still taste him on her, and her breathing was panted and shallow. Her heart pounded beneath her ribcage and she felt panicky, like she had to get out. To escape.

  She pushed herself to her feet, stumbling as she regained her balance. Even without any shoes on, her knees were trembling and her muscles felt tight. She needed to get out.

  The smug Viscount sat back and casually tucked himself into his pants. He smiled to her. “A wonderful start for our new beginning. And keep that choker on,” he instructed with a flick of his finger towards her neck. “I’d like to see you wear it at all times. To know you appreciate my thoughts and present.”

  The thing had been so tight around her neck, it’d made swallowing his seed much more difficult than it had needed to be. And it still proved a constant reminder with that over-tight squeeze of her throat.

  He shifted his shoulders, getting more comfortable in his seat.

  “I’ll see you at breakfast. Upstairs, just you and I.”

  She couldn’t speak. Tears stung her eyes as she nodded and walked away from him, her skirt trailing after her in her speedy retreat.

  Was this what her life would be like, now?

  And in the end, would it matter at all?

  Caprice felt like all of her pride had been drained from her, leaving her destitute and afraid. She could handle doing what he wanted, but she wasn’t prepared to handle what it was doing to her.

  Even before she got to the safety of her room she had to stop along one of the dark hallways and touch herself. To try to release that tension that was building in her.

  Chapter 44 – The Rebels

  Caslian used the medkit that Levek urged her to take to treat and bandage the wolven’s wounds.

  “I can’t promise I know what I’m doing here,” Caslian said to the blonde woman, working diligently. “I’ve never worked on one of his kind before, and I’m only a fresh medic myself.”

  “Please, just do whatever you can,” came the desperate reply.

  “Don’t worry, we will,” Levek said, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder, causing her to jump and pull away.

  “It’s okay,” Caslian said, brow arched. “We aren’t gonna harm you.”

  “S-sorry, not used to… y’know, soldiers of the state being so… helpful,” the woman said, cracking a forced smile.

  Caslian gave a bitter, harsh laugh.

  “We understand,” Levek said, offering a sheepish smile and diverting his gaze from the bloody, wounded mess of the wolven.

  He was doing what he could not to see the blood and gore, Caslian realized. Distracting himself by reassuring the woman.

  “I’m Levek by the way. What’s your name?” he asked warmly.

  “Ro—ah, Laura,” Rosa lied, brushing back her blonde hair. “So what are two soldiers doing out here in the middle of nowhere anyhow? If it’s not to hunt down folk like us?”

  Caslian and Levek looked at each other, surprised by the question in the face of the obviousness of the answer.

  Rosa looked between them before it slowly dawned on her.

  “Oh shit! You’re deserters!” She said, eyes wide. “Sorry! I—” she quieted down, calming herself. “Fuck, sorry. I thought you were like… hunting for deserters, not…”

  Levek chuckled and smiled.

  “It’s okay, Laura. Yeah, we’re deserters. Cas and I are looking to start a life together. Somewhere peaceful. Somewhere safe,” he said, smiling at Caslian’s back with some tiny sliver of hope still in him.

  “Speaking of somewhere safe, we need to get your friend to such a place. Quickly,” Caslian said, rising up. “I’ve done what I can for him, but he needs more care than we can give him out here.”

  “Alright, lead on,” Rosa said, hands upon her hips, ready to go.

  Levek and Caslian just looked back and forth between each other.

  “What?” Rosa asked.

  “We’re deserters,” Caslian said.

  “We have nowhere to go. Nowhere we even know of,” Levek added. “I’ve not left the front in years… Cas is from the south coast. We don’t know of any place.”

  Rosa paused, reality sinking in.

  “What was your plan then? You can’t live out here. You’ll last no time at all,” she said, looking between them.

  Their eyes dipped a little.

  “Shit,” Rosa said, rubbing her mouth and chin. “Well… alright. Guess that leaves it to me huh? Only… there’s only one place in this world I know I can go and be safe. And they threatened to murder me if I so much as hinted at its existence.”

  Caslian and Levek peered between each other in confusion.

  “You can’t very well carry the guy back on your own,” Caslian said.

  Rosa took a deep breath, her ample bosom heaving.

  “Right. Well… okay. Off we go then. Guess you’re comin’ with me to the refuge,” she said, bending down and grasping part of the makeshift gurney Levek had constructed while she fretted and Caslian healed.

  “Wait… you mean… one of the outcast refuges?” Caslian asked, eyes wide.

  “The underground city?” Levek added, apparently knowing more about it than Caslian did.

  “Yea, that’s the place,” Rosa said. “So come on and help me get him there already. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Caslian and Levek finally felt a little bit of relief, that much was obvious as they grinned at each other happily. It was the first bit of good news either of them had had in weeks. Longer.

  “We’ve got a place to go now,” Caslian said, unable to believe their fortune.

  Levek reached out and took her hand, squeezing it before moving to help Rosa with the rope and stick gurney.

  “Well, let’s not get crazy. They don’t exactly like me a lot there,” Rosa said as they began to tow the wolven’s body. “What’s the two lovebird’s names anyhow?” she asked.

  “Caslian.”

  “Levek.”

  “Well good to meet some decent folk out here, Cas and Levek. I’m Rosa,” she declared.

  “I thought you said it was Laura?” Levek asked, brow arched.

  “Oh shit, I did, didn’t I?”


  Chapter 45 – The Matron

  The Kaliak were battering at the door of the barracks, but already Aleena, her Kron and the shifters were huddled upstairs, with the stairways destroyed for some tiny modicum of added defense.

  If the outraged mob didn’t get them, then the army of Kron approaching would slaughter them all.

  Vicalus hung his head into his arms, while the Kron waited behind, watching through cracks in the wood at the mob outside.

  Aleena realized they didn’t have much to be concerned about. Assuming their people won the day, they’d be freed, assumed to be prisoners.

  Except then they’d have to return to the war, she realized, and wiped that self-involved thought from her head.

  “I’m going to head up and watch things unfold at least. More interesting then what’s happenin’ down here,” Aleena said, climbing up the ladder.

  More interesting it was, though only barely.

  Dawn had broken, but little was happening. The Kaliak guards were returning to their city, the Kron were approaching, but it all seemed to happen in such slow motion from her distance…

  Though as Aleena watched, she started to notice something.

  The outlay of the terrain made the approaching Kron forces undetectable to the Kaliak. There was a ridge blocking their view.

  She looked about the village, and realized: her post, the one she currently occupied, was the only one with a clear view of the Kron’s approach.

  She waited, waited. Watched as the two forces moved slowly across the landscape, until it became clear the Kron were where she wanted them… out of sight of the pine wall behind the barracks.

  Ducking back down inside, she went to Saghar.

  “I need you to do your plan from before. Light the back wall on fire so we can make a plan to escape,” she said.

  Saghar didn’t argue, he nodded and gathered his things.

  “Right away, Matron,” he said, rising up the ladder with his makeshift torch and flint.

  Aleena paced back and forth, waiting. The long, insufferable quiet only punctuated by the thuds of rocks and blows against the outside. Until finally…