Passion Light (3 page)

They didn’t emerge from the room for a long time and they found in each other more sexual energy than either of them had ever experienced before. Brian tried to communicate to her his need to have her as his wife or mate, but she wouldn’t agree. She said whores didn’t marry and that she was unworthy to be his wife.

Brian left Evan and the other Terrans to work on Isabelle. He knew he had his own problems.

Chapter 3

Evan arrived on schedule at the castle gates two days later. He was expected and Albert in his role as Uncle’s rule enforcer and the other guards allowed him inside without argument. They were careful around him. He looked very dangerous, being an enormous man with an unsmiling face. They treated him with wary respect, allowing him to keep his weapons and directing him to the great hall to wait for Isabelle’s uncle’s convenience in meeting with him and discussing what Evan wanted and what Uncle might want in return. A guard continued up the steps to let Uncle know he had arrived.

Uncle sent a summons in just a few minutes for Evan to join him in his room. Evan seethed with impatience and it showed on his face giving him an even more dangerous appearance than usual. He stalked into the bedchamber in a stiff, soldierly manner and nodded at his host.

“I am Evan Wolf and I wish to meet with your niece and discuss marriage between us.” he said, his deep voice gravelly and impatient.

Uncle looked him over and thought of what he could do with a man as dangerous looking as the one who stood in his room. He could function as some sort of enforcer that few people, even Albert could withstand. Uncle was an old man who sought to control everything and everyone in his life, usually by being trickier than anyone else. It came to him that he really wanted to control this man. He set to work figuring it out immediately. Aloud he said, “Your man paid me a fee. I will allow you to meet Isabelle for the amount paid and an additional amount due immediately.”

“How much?” Evan growled.

“The same amount that has already been paid,” Uncle said casually. He could sense Evan’s impatience and had no qualms about demanding more money from him. He looked like the average warrior, though bigger and scarier than most, but most fighting men tended to be stupid and simple to manipulate. The thing he could not figure out was why he wanted Isabelle. She was the worst nag he had ever known.

Evan slipped a hand into a pocket and threw him another small bag of precious metals, which Uncle fumbled and then caught. Uncle asked, “Why do you want her?” It was obvious the man valued Isabelle highly and he never liked a mystery. But the other man disappointed him.

“You don’t need to know why. It’s none of your business. Suffice it to say that I want to speak with her,” Evan answered.

Uncle needed for him to talk to him. There was no other way to figure out how to manipulate him. Perhaps liquor might loosen his tongue. He got up and went to a chest and selected a bottle and held it up and asked, “Would you care for a drink?”

Evan shook his head and growled, “No.”

Uncle was starting to be concerned about the whole matter. He used Isabelle as a way to avoid working too hard himself, but beyond that she was a pain in the ass, frequently preaching at him and preventing him from doing things he wanted to do and also preventing the guests from doing things they were quite willing to pay good money for. 

Uncle poured himself a drink and motioned Evan to a chair. “Sit down and let’s talk,” he suggested.

Evan walked to the chair and sat carefully. It seemed able to take his weight and he relaxed slightly. “What is it you wish to discuss,” he asked Uncle.

“We can make the arrangements for your meeting with my niece,” Uncle said.

Evan nodded. “I want to meet her tonight and I want time to meet with her alone. That’s all I want at this time. I have paid you for the privilege and I don’t want you to get in my way.”

“Anything you want is here for the asking…if you can pay for it,” Uncle said with a genial smile. “All you may want is here for the right price, even my niece. I believe your goal is marriage, is it not?”

Evan nodded. “I have said so,” he growled.

“If she agrees to marry you I will expect more money,” the old man said. “If you want to get physical with her to force it I will not stand in your way. For me, money solves everything and will get you what you want.”

“I will not force her to do anything.” Evan said. “Neither will you.” It was a threat and Uncle knew it.

“As you wish,” he agreed. It seemed wise to give in to the compulsion he suddenly felt. It was nothing like anything he had ever experienced. He felt more agreeable than usual and also frightened. He blinked at the big man and tried to get back on track but without success.

“If Isabelle and I agree to marry I will want my people to attend the wedding,” Evan said.

“How many people?” the old man asked.

“Not too many,” Evan said. He had already dropped the effort to compel the old faker into anything else. Nothing else mattered to him in a real sense, not even the wedding guests.

Uncle did not really want a bunch of people as intimidating as Evan in the castle walls. “I don’t think we have the resources to entertain all of you here unless you can give me more precious metals,” Uncle said firmly. “I’m sure you understand. We will need to access many things to add to the meals and entertainment. You can let me know what you decide.”

Uncle was sure he could get a lot more out of Evan and profit from each part of it without spending anything himself.

“We’ll see,” Evan said and then he got up and left the room. It seemed pointless to continue to fence verbally with the old man. Evan could have seemed much more accommodating than he had been with the old liar, but he liked the simple approach. The longer the old man didn’t know much about him, the more he might imagine. Evan was not a big talker at the best of times and Uncle was too full of manure to trust with his most personal secrets.

It was after all Isabelle’s decision, not the old man’s. If she agreed he knew he could handle anything else that came up. Terrans had learned they could do most anything on Earth with enough precious metals and superior fighting and thinking skills. Pragmatism often worked better than diplomacy. Nothing he did would significantly change Uncle’s ways. He was what he was.

Chapter 4

Isabelle stood listening to the quiet. The stable hands were bringing horses and people were leaving. The revelries had run their course and it would be safe again for her dependants to resume their normal lives.

She walked along the hidden passage peeking into the rooms at some men who were still sleeping. They didn’t know she was there. No one knew how she kept the castle under surveillance. It was her secret, passed on to her by her father.

A few couples remained, some sleeping, some having morning sex. She watched a couple briefly just because they seemed to be enjoying what they did. The woman, Glory was her name, straddled the man and slid up and down on his enormous organ as he stroked her nipples. The man was very large and muscular but he had gentle hands. They almost worshipped Glory’s body as they traveled over her. Isabelle could see the moisture from Glory’s pussy glistening on her lover’s cock. She was quite wet, making it much easier to take his large cock. She continued to slide up and down, up and down until her body stretched backwards as if to try and take him to her fullest depth as she gasped and shivered in pleasure and the man followed her as they came simultaneously. They ended up clasped in each other’s arm smiling, snuggling and talking intimately, if sleepily.

It reminded her of a dream she had given up long ago. The thought of love and a pleasurable sex life with someone had never been further out of her reach.

Glory and the unknown man were…looked very different from what she often saw. She had seen many people in the throes of sex, but many of the women looked bored or simply disengaged during the act. The women who worked the sex weekends talked about anything that happened with lots of vivid and frankly mocking and humorous details, insults like pencil dick, beer belly, and premature ejaculator. Then there were the ones who couldn’t come without lots of work and a long time. Some couldn’t get it up at all and had to settle for seeing some naked people and some salacious acts that passed for sex for many people after the wars. Plus there was always the stuff about who would bathe and who wouldn’t. Then there was the competition between workers about who would get the good ones next time and whether the man was capable of being generous enough to make the worker have fun, too.

If the men they discussed knew they would probably be embarrassed. It was difficult for the sex workers to work up much enthusiasm for doing it with some old fart unless he was very generous with both money and his concern for their pleasure. They all enjoyed sex as a rule but they did like attractive partners much better. Some unattractive men could be fun, but some were not. Many attractive ones were very selfish sex partners who did not bother with their partner’s pleasure or were ignorant of what to do. Many more men often looked repulsive because of poor personal hygiene and unattractive bodies and habits.

Isabelle peeked through another spy hole and saw the priest, naked and soft in bed with another man. Neither was attractive and they were repulsive together. If the old man knew she saw him regularly in such surroundings and activities he would probably have a stroke. He was every bit as selfish and venal as most people if not more so and he was a genuine pervert, too. At least she managed to limit him to adults. He preferred little boys but she never allowed one to be victimized. The priest hated her for it. He was really into the patriarchal part of his religion, especially the part about how women should be obedient and never question anything he did.

Isabelle didn’t openly question him but she never allowed children to be used in the brothel, though many men wanted them. She felt no obligation to give them all their perversions. Consenting adults were one thing, but kids were not consenting adults. It was something she would not compromise on no matter how much pressure her uncle and the priest put on her.

“We offer what we offer,” she said. “Anything else would cost them both effort and maybe violence. They get much more here than they can someplace else and it’s relatively safe for them.”

It was true. She knew what she could do and it was really not happening anywhere else. They still attracted lots of customers and kept them relatively happy. She knew the market and she also knew what she could tolerate and what she could not. So many men were damaged, their brains and sexuality impaired by radiation and poor quality food. They experienced and were willing to pay for anything the castle could offer, and if the occasional request was not fulfilled, few people dared complain.

Her uncle did plenty of complaining. He was like many men and often could not perform, something he invariably blamed on his partners. He would be too drunk, often beat the men or women and rarely had a nice word for anyone. He thought he had control of the whole place, the income, the local area, and everyone within the castle including her. She still had control of many things, anyway. She had to be really sneaky, but she had little choice. He certainly had no idea she could watch him in his room without him even being aware of it. It was very important to keep an eye on him, slimy worm that he was. It was offensive just to have him and his friends in the place. She was convinced he had found some way to murder her father. She suspected poison, but how it was administered was a mystery. But she recognized all the signs of stomach upset and pain had been etched on her father’s face and corpse.