Exiled (7 page)

“Later,” she agreed and hoped she spoke the truth.

Dawn was a faint wash on the horizon by the time they drew to a halt in the tree line, where the forest gave way to grassland.

Between them and the Keep lay a wide-open space.

They dismounted and studied the great fortress. It had stood for thousands of years and now seemed almost part of the land itself, a vast sprawling group of buildings, with a single tower in the north corner, but otherwise built low to the ground.

A tall, black stone wall ran around the perimeter. The main double gateway faced south, but there were other smaller entrances at intervals around the wall. Freya and Jarrod were heading for a small wooden gate at the back of the structure, which would lead them into the area of the Keep that housed the pleasure slaves.

Freya was to go in first. Jarrod had refused to let her go entirely alone, though he’d agreed to stand guard at the gate and only enter in case of trouble. Freya would talk to the slaves and then give a signal if it were safe for the others to approach.

It sounded simple.

But Cass suspected getting into the Keep would be the easy part. Reaching the Goddess would be harder as Malachai was bound to place guards around the tower. And they could well be walking into another ambush.

No matter; it wasn’t as though they had any other options.

She watched until Freya and Jarrod disappeared around the back of the Keep. Shayla and Tallon had seated themselves on the ground. Tallon leaned against the trunk of a tree, Shayla between his thighs. Her back rested against his chest and they spoke low words to each other.

Cass turned to Callum and held out her hand. “Come with me.”A frown flickered across his face, but he took her outstretched hand and she tugged him deeper into the cover of the forest. If everything went bad, she wanted this one last time to remember.

Once far enough away so she could no longer hear the sound of voices, she stopped and turned to face him. “Callum, I choose you.”A slow smile curved his lips. “As if you ever had any real choice. You were mine from the moment we met. You just needed to remember.” She pulled her hand free of his and raised it to the tie of her cloak. Loosening it, she shrugged out of the heavy material to stand before him in nothing but the scarlet diaphanous shift of a pleasure slave.

Callum went still, but she could see the pulse throb at his throat.

She took a step closer and sank to her knees before him. Shock flared in his face, but he didn’t move away. She licked her lips and heard him groan. Then she reached out a hand and traced the shape of his erection beneath the soft material, felt him jerk beneath her touch.

She used her other hand to unfasten his pants. Breathing in deeply, she filled her nostrils with the warm, musky, masculine scent of him. A wave of heat washed through her own body to settle between her thighs. He was big, already hard. She wrapped her hand around him and found the skin smooth and silky soft.

Leaning closer, she kissed him.

Jarrod stood motionless as her warm, wet mouth explored him. She kissed first the tip, then down his shaft to his balls. Her tongue licked them, then took one in her mouth and sucked gently. His cock had been ready to explode since the moment she’d gotten on the horse behind him. He’d felt her arms around him and known she had given in and her defenses were well and truly down. Now, he didn’t fight the pleasure that built with each tug of her mouth, each stroke of her tongue.

She licked her way back to the head, and he stared down as she took him fully into the warm cavern of her mouth and suckled him. How many times had he dreamed of making love to her? But he had never imagined her on his knees before him. He knew she meant it as an apology, maybe for the time she had wasted.

She had nothing to apologize for, but still he couldn’t stop her. It felt so good, and he didn’t try to hold back. His balls ached with need and he could feel them tightening as he came close. He slid his fingers into her hair, pressing her against him as he hovered on the edge. Then she reached up and cupped his balls in her palm and squeezed. He exploded, pumping into her mouth with a need so long denied.

Finally, the spasms stopped and she released him with one last kiss. Sitting back on her heels, she gazed up into his face as she rose slowly to her feet.

In his day there had been no such thing as pleasure slaves; it would have been sacrilegious to use a witch in such a way. Even so, his body couldn’t help but respond to her in the see-through shift.The transparent material hid nothing of the slender body beneath. It clung to her small breasts, showing the taut peaks, then hung down to her midthighs but split on either side so he caught flashes of buttock and the dark shadow of her pubic hair as she twirled.

She came to a halt in front of him. “You like?”

“I like.” He loosened the clasp of his cloak, shrugged out of it, and spread it on the ground. Then dragged his shirt over his head, tossed it on top, and kicked off his shoes. Glancing up, he found her avid gaze fixed on him and the heat pooled low down in his belly. He was already hard again, but then he did have a thousand years to make up for.

He picked her up and laid her down on his cloak. Bending low over her, he licked her breast through the silk, then took the nipple in his mouth and suckled her. Small whimpers emerged from her throat as he moved on to her other breast. He kissed down over the flat plain of her belly. Pushing the material out of the way, he dipped the tip of his tongue into her navel then kissed her hip bone, the hollow beside it. Finally, he blew gently on the soft curls guarding her core.

Her hips rose from the ground. Her back arched, her thighs falling open to spill the musky scent of her arousal into the surrounding air. He breathed in deeply and his cock jerked, already impatient to sink into her hot slick depths. He kissed her between her thighs, his tongue slipping between the folds of her sex. His mind reeled at the remembered taste of her. She writhed against him as he stroked his tongue over her and then sucked the sweet bud into his mouth. He bit down gently and she came.

They were even.

She yanked on his hair and he could sense the urgency in her.

He came up over her, and thrust into her with one firm flex of his hips.She wrapped her long legs around him. She pulled him closer, urging him on. Callum kept his strokes slow and steady, holding his need on a tight rein until he heard the whimpers low in her throat that signaled she was close. He picked up speed, pumping into her and grinding his hips against the bundle of nerves between her thighs. She kept perfect time with him until he could feel her reaching for her release. Sliding a hand between them, he massaged her with the ball of his thumb as his eyes stared down into hers.

“Mine.” For the first time he allowed himself to speak the word out loud. Then he thrust into her hard and carried them both over the edge. He lowered his head and silenced her scream with his mouth on hers.

“Always,” she murmured against his lips.

He rolled over taking her with him, so he lay on his back with Cass sprawled across his body. He knew they had to move. But he wished they could lie here forever beneath the witches’ moons.

But the sullen red glow mocked him. If they stayed here, how long would the moons continue to shine? “We have to go,” she said as though reading his mind.

They didn’t speak while he pulled on his clothes. All Cass had to do was add the cloak and she stood watching him dress.

For the first time since his return, she seemed almost happy. The hardness had gone from her features, and he could see glimpses of the carefree girl she had been.

He slid his palm in hers and they walked hand in hand back to the spot they had left Tallon and Shayla. They found them standing at the edge of the tree line staring at the dark shadow of the Keep. The sun was rising behind the high stone walls outlining the darkness. As they stepped up to stand beside them, a lantern flickered in one of the windows. Once, twice, three times.

The signal.

“Let’s go,” Tallon said.

~*~

They walked almost touching across the open ground, skirting around the edges of the Keep. For the first time in so long, Cass felt at peace. This time with Callum was something she had never expected, a gift, and she would treat it as such and not yearn for more.

Right now, it was enough to be with him, her body still warm and sated from his lovemaking. But as they walked, a sense of pervading evil stole over her. Out here, there was more evidence of the destruction of Arroway. When she had known this place, it had been a meadow of wild flowers. Now only a sparse blanket of dried grass covered the bare soil. Up ahead, where Shayla’s footsteps fell, flowers sprang from the ground as though she bought life to the land. But there was no such reaction to Cass and sadness welled up inside her. This place was no longer her home, the very ground beneath her feet rejected her. She shivered in the warmth of the night.

“Are you all right?” Callum asked.

“Maybe coming face to face with what I did is harder than I imagined.” He slid his palm in hers and squeezed but didn’t attempt to deny her words. Why would he? He was part of her and could feel her emotions.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll do what is needed.” She hoped she could. Inside her, the moon magic rested, slow and sullen, sleepy. Would it be enough? They came to a halt around the back of the Keep where a small wooden gate broke the monotony of the smooth black wall.

It swung open as they approached revealing Jarrod and Freya.

Jarrod’s eyes widened. He looked at her then at Callum and back to her. “Hey, sis, you look like...” He trailed off.

“Like I just got laid? Mind your own goddamned business.” She strode past him, scowling as she heard him chuckle. Inside the Keep, her sense of evil increased.

“We’ll head straight for the tower,” Freya said, standing aside to let them pass. “Hopefully if anyone sees us they won’t think three pleasure slaves an odd sight. The other slaves have promised to help us. They’re keeping watch and will intercept anyone who heads this way. Most of the Keep is asleep now anyway, and the tower is at the opposite end from the living quarters.” Cass slipped off her cloak and tossed it to Callum. He grinned and caught it, his gaze immediately sliding down over her body.

The grin faded to be replaced by hunger. God, she wished she could drag him back to the forest and make love to him again.

“Get that expression off your face,” she said, then turned and stalked after Freya. But she could feel his gaze on her ass and couldn’t resist adding a slight sway to her walk.

This part of the Keep was a sprawling maze of interlocking courtyards connected by narrow alleyways, which twisted and turned. Little light penetrated but Tallon led the way easily; he knew the Keep better than the rest of them. Cass walked behind him with Freya and Shayla on either side of her. Callum and Jarrod brought up the rear.

They saw no one and finally they stepped out into the courtyard at the far north of the Keep and stood at the base of the tower.

A round structure built out of the same black rock, it reached to the sky like a pointing finger. According to Freya, this was where they brought the baby girls soon after birth, to be stripped of their magic. It stood tall, looming over the rest of the Keep, a dark sym-bol of misery. Despair and guilt washed through her. She forced it down; guilt was self-indulgent. It wouldn’t help them now.

A plain black door at the base faced into the courtyard. Tallon stepped forward but the door swung open before he reached it.

Her breath caught in her throat as men spilled out into the courtyard. Cass counted at least twenty and each carried a sword and a staff.

And behind them Malachai stepped out, tall with dark hair and dark eyes, his staff held out in front of him. When she’d known him before, he’d been careful to hide what he was; now, nothing could hide the miasma of evil hanging over him.

He hesitated when he saw Cass, his eyes widening. No doubt, he’d believed her long dead. Deep, dark hatred rolled over her and she reached for her magic.

And nothing.

Beside her, Callum stepped closer and rested a hand on her arm. She cast him a brief forced smile, to show she was okay. But she wasn’t; the moon magic refused to respond to her call. And without her magic, she’d be useless.

Was this the end? “Kill them,” Malachai ordered.

But before they could make a move, figures flooded out of the alleyways around the courtyard. Women. Some dressed in black showing they were house slaves, others in the scarlet of the pleasure slaves. They came to stand between their group and the warlocks. A tall woman, in red, stepped out. Her body trembled but her voice was firm. “You’ll have to kill us first.”

“Not a problem,” Malachai snarled.

This could turn into a bloodbath. But Cass could see the warlocks were not happy. They glanced from one to another, small frowns flickering across their faces. Obviously, they didn’t like the idea of killing unarmed women—besides, who would they get to suck their cocks if they slaughtered the pleasure slaves? Malachai moved closer. “Do you know who this is?” he asked, waving a hand in Cass’s direction. “This is the woman responsible for destroying this world. The woman responsible—”

“Liar,” Freya shouted.

Malachai’s mouth clamped shut as he stared at her his eyes black with hatred.

“You know who’s responsible,” Freya continued. “Responsible for everything that has happened on Arroway.”

“Silence her.” Malachai growled the words. He lifted his staff and spoke a word, aiming a killing spell at Freya, but she lifted her hand and deflected it with ease.

“You.” She pointed her finger at Malachai. “You have brought this world to the very brink of destruction.” A movement at the edge of the courtyard caught Cass’s attention. Three figures strode toward them. More warlocks by the looks of them. Great.

Tallon edged closer. “They are the council members,” he said in a low voice. “The leader, Roark, is a good man—we need to convince him to listen to us.”