Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (13 page)

***

Drest didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was damning.
Eden was gone.
Her gun and pieces of her torn tunic were found scattered on the ground outside the lodge.
He just did not understand why she had gone outside during a dronusfly swarm.
Boadacea had told him that Eden had panicked in her fear and had left the house.
She had claimed that she had tried to stop her, but she had been unable to see through the darkness of
the swarming insects.
He could not accept that Eden would do something as stupid and senseless as leaving the safety of the house during a swarm, but he also knew that she had never experienced a dronusfly swarm attack in her life.
A search of the house and grounds revealed no traces of her body, but sometimes the flies took everything and left no remains.
She was gone and he knew that she would not have left him, so she must be dead.
He tried to accept it.
He found he could not come to terms with it and he continued to search for her anyway.
Brennus stayed with him, concerned that he was too depressed to be left alone.
He tried to resume his regular life, but Eden’s absence was affecting his ability to concentrate on
his studies or his work.
His druid professors told him to take some time off to clear his mind.
The
King
wondered about his lack of motivation in carrying out his duties; Drest made excuses, not wanting to mention Eden.
Weeks passed and he continued to grieve.
There had been no sign of her and he now believed her to be dead.
Brennus told him that he could not go on this way; he would be dismissed from the college and his position as Master Seanacha was in jeopardy.
He offered him a solution, to allow a druid to erase the memory of Eden from his mind.
After a few more days of misery, he agreed.
He wanted to forget.
The druid arrived and performed the deed, explaining to him that the memories would not
actually be removed from his memory entirely.
All memories of Eden would instead be pushed so far back into his brain that they would be hidden from his conscious mind, completely forgotten.
It would be like he had never met her.
He would remember the trip to Avenal, but he would not remember encountering her there.
The memory wipe would also break the mating bond he shared with Eden, which would help him avoid the mating bond fever that often struck those who lost their mates.
The events assoc
iated with Eden were forgotten
and Drest moved on with his life.

CHAPTER
NINE

Eden traveled to Eros with Jules, Audrelia, and
Miss
Portia Fairley
.
In Eros, Eden was thrilled to spend a day in the arena to watch the gladiators.
The gladiators fought bravely with various weapons, including maces and swords.
The excitement of the crowd heightened as the battles progressed.
Eventually, three huge barbarian warriors were sent into the ring and the crowd roared in approval.
One of the gladiators, Carpaticus, was considered a champion and had a legion of fans.
Several minutes later, some gates were opened and lions, tigers, wild boars, and wild wolves were sent into the ring.
Carpaticus and
the other two gladiators fought bravely.
Carpaticus took out a net and managed to capture one of the wild wolves.
One of his companions managed a deathblow to one of the boars.

Suddenly, the arena was covered in a blanket of darkness.
Eden glanced toward the sky and it appeared that some large dark shapes were circling overhead; they were so gigantic that they blocked the sun’s rays.
A feeling of dread seized her and she felt queasy.
Something about the creatures reminded her of the dronusfly.
She watched in horror as some of the creatures scattered in the air, making way for one of them to dive through the mass of circling shapes to reach the floor of the arena.
Light from the
sun filled the arena once again, enabling all of them to see what had landed.
It had excessive height, possibly ten feet or more.
It had multicolored wings like a butterfly, although they were far from delicate and appeared as sharp and metallic as steel.
The expansive wings were attached to a body shaped like a human.
The skin was covered by black tattoos and was unadorned with any clothing.
It had the appearance of maleness, judging from the massive appendage swinging through the air like a weapon.
The head was bald and covered by black tattoos of unusual design.
The face appeared humanoid, although it had pointed ears and large slanted gray eyes.

“Death to the Romans!
We will take your heads.”
The creature grabbed a lion and bit off its head.
Blood gushed from the
headless
area wh
ile the lion’s body convulsed in death throes.
The creature tossed the carcass into the stadium of spectators, where it knocked over several Romans as if they were bowling pins.
While thrusting the severed lion head high in the air,
the creature grabbed one of the gladiators by his long hair and yanked him through the air.
The creature
slammed the gladiator on the ground, stepped on his
body, and
wrenched
of his
head.
It
kicked the wriggling headless carcass away with
its
bare foot and
lifted up the head to peruse it.
“This is a fine Roman head.
It may even be good enough for my
special collection.”
The winged hybrid stuck the lion head between its legs while it attached the human head to a string; it then placed the string around its neck.
The creature grabbed the lion head, hefted it into the air, and
produced a terrifying battle cry.
It twirled the decapitated head
in the air several times
before tossing it
into the crowd.
“We will end your race if you do not stay within your own territories.
If you are not careful, we may end your race just because we fucking feel like it.
”
The creature proceeded to rip the heads off the remaining animals in the ring, throwing the heads into the crowd.
The floor of the arena ran red with blood while the people in the stadium screamed in horror.

Titus Quinticus, the governor of Eros, stood proudly and raised his fists.
“We are Romans and we do not cow in fear of vile beasts.
Our champion, Carpaticus, will flay you with his sword.”
The crowd cheered and began chanting Carpaticus’s name.
Carpaticus and his companion circled the creature and took stabs at it with their swords.
The champion heroically threw a spear at the creature, but it bounced ineffectively off the wing.
The creature lunged forward and one of the gladiators was cut in half by the creature’s wing.

The creature picked up Carpaticus and tossed him into the air like a ball several times.
“This is your strongest warrior?
He is nothing more than a toy that will soon be broken.
Watch how I break your
precious toys!
Your tears will soon fill a river as I destroy what you love.”
As the crowd wailed, the creature smiled triumphantly.
“Damn right, I’m the biggest asshole bully at the playground.
You’re not men.
You are nothing but dirty Roman cunts, and you will learn to fear me, mother fucker.”
Finally, it tired of playing with its prey and it decapitated the head of Carpaticus.
The creature
strung the head of the gladiator around
its
neck.
It grabbed the body of the fallen warrior and
flew into the air
.
It paused long enough to deposit the headless corpse
across
Titus Quinticus’s lap.
It then grabbed the woman sitting beside Titus Quinticus and carried her into the air.
People in
the stadium began to panic, screaming and running for their lives.
Eden and her companions
waited for the crowd to thin before they made their way out of the arena.
It had been announced that t
here would be no more games in Eros that week.

***

After many days of searching, Eden’s companions hired a woman by the name of Julia who claimed to possess the required skills and knowledge
in the erotic arts
.
Since their business was completed, they decided to
depart th
e
city
.
They
traveled by horseback
with an armed escort of fifty eunuchs
.
Two hours after leaving Eros, they spotted some
winged hybrids circling overhead like vultures.
Eden
knew
that if they chose to attack, they would be defenseless against them with only a paltry army of fifty eunuchs with them.

“The birds of hell are descending,” Jules said.
“We cannot overtake them.”

“It was capable of speech in the arena.
Perhaps we could reason with it,” Audrelia said.

Jules watched the beasts in growing horror.
“I can try to reason with it, but if it doesn’t work, I want you and the ladies to make a run for it.”

One of the creatures broke from the group and flew to the ground.
It was not the same one that had visited the arena, as it was not as tall.
This
one was also male and its appendage swayed
through the air in
a threatening manner.
The wings were black with orange spots and they were as beautiful as a butterfly’s wings.
They were also quite deadly and more than capable of slicing through flesh and bone.
The creature stared at them in a menacing manner and approached slowly.
No one could possibly miss the promise of death in the creature’s eyes.
“These roads are quite treacherous.
Many people set upon these roads and never make it to their destination.”

“We are not Romans and we are not your enemy
,” Jules said.
“
We are traveling home to Flourda.”

The creature continued to approach.
“You associate with Romans and that is enough to make you my enemy.”

“We have no alliance with Rome,” Jules said.
“We conducted some business there and now we are done.
Let us pass.”

The creature took another step.
“What was your business in Rome?”

“Our business is our own business,” Jules replied.

The creature took another menacing step.
“Any business in Rome is my business.”

“Stop right there!” Audrelia cried.
“If you must know, we went to Eros to learn about sex.”
After the words left her mouth, she realized that
mentioning sex was probably not the best idea.
The creature had wings, but the body appeared human enough to function like a human male.
She would not wish to give it any ideas.
It appeared almost amused by her remark, and as it stalked toward her, she knew she was in trouble.
She tried to remain calm when it pulled her by her hair and drew her closer.

“You know of sex.
You’ve had Roman seed inside you.”
The creature
made a look of disgust and
pushed her away
.
It
stalked toward the other ladies.
“I smell a virgin amongst you.”
It
grabbed Portia Fairley by the arm and surveyed her critically.
“You are the virgin.”
He released her and walked toward Julia.
“You
also
smell of Roman seed and you bore a child
.
Your stench offends me
.”
The winged beast
grabbed Eden
by her hair
, pulling her against
it
.
The creature
sniffed her hair and looked at her curiously.
“You’ve had seed of a different type entirely.”
It turned her around and
pressed her back
wards
against
its
chest
.
It
held her against
it
with one arm.
With
its
other arm,
it
pressed her head to the side
.
It
held her in that position while
it
studied her neck.
“
The mark - i
t
i
s very f
a
int, nearly impossible to see.
I am familiar with that house.”
It
released her head and neck.
“You accepted his seed, but you have never born a child.
Why is that?”