Pleasure's Offering (13 page)

His free hand drifted down as he spoke, his fingers brushing over her entrance. “You’re not a virgin,” he said, sliding one long finger in. “But you might as well be. You’ve never come, though you long to, never known pleasure. How can you know what you desire, then? Ignorant little bird that you are.”

Zoa closed her eyes. Her body clung to his finger, growing wet and ready, wanting more. She had to fight to keep from bucking her hips at his touch and she hated herself for it.

“I will teach you to love what I do to you,” he whispered. “I will make you beg. And then, when I deem you ready, I will send you to meet our goddess and you will tell her you want to be like me, a dark moon of Dezira. The moment you say it, the Lady will strike you with her black hand, and then, little bird, you will be mine forever. My dark moon, bound to me for all time, and we will do marvelous, marvelous things.”

“No,” Zoa said again. “No.”

The finger kept stroking. “You don’t get to say no,” Toric said. “No requires power, and here, in this place, I am the only one who has that. You, my dear, have nothing unless I give it to you.”

And with that, he began to torture her. And he was right, she did love it. Her other lovers had been nothing compared to Toric and the memory of them fell to ash beneath the demanding strokes of his fingers. He had her on the edge of orgasm in minutes, but he did not let her come. The moment it began to build, he would stop whatever he was doing and move to something else.

By the third time she was so desperate she was panting, but even so, she did not beg. She could still hear Mina’s cries in the tent below and they gave her strength, so though she did everything Toric asked—sucked his cock like a whore, let him lick her slit, let him finger her until she was nearly dying from the mix of pleasure and shame, she never once broke down and begged and he never once entered her.

By the time the sun rose, Mina’s cries had died out and Toric was very, very annoyed.

“You have more backbone than it seems,” he said, his voice sullen as he pushed her into his lap. Below them, the soldiers and Mina lay in a heap on the carpets. Zoa tried not to look at her sister, but she could smell the sex in the air so thick it made her want to gag.

“You can’t come unless I do it,” Toric said, looking at her with cold fury. “I am the only one in the world who can give you what you most desire. Why do you fight it? You’ve felt what I can do for you, what we can be together. Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because I won’t be like you,” Zoa whispered, looking up.

Toric stood so fast she tumbled to the floor. She’d scarcely landed before he grabbed her again, dragging her up until she was pressed against his chest. He stared at her for a long moment, and then, with cruel casualness, slapped her across the face. It wasn’t a hard blow, but it took her by surprise. She was still recovering when he tossed her on the bed, now tousled and damp from hours of her frustrated arousal.

“You will learn, little bird,” Toric said, stomping past the sleeping soldiers and out of the tent. “All your protests will mean nothing in the end. Power is all that matters in this world, the root of every desire. Soon enough, even you will learn that, and when you do, when you beg, you will become whatever I want you to be. Now sleep. You’ll need it.”

He opened the tent flap with an impatient wave, shouting for his guards. Zoa blinked. Except for the sleeping guards and her sister below, she was alone now. This would be the perfect time to escape, she realized. She started to get up then, but before she’d done more than straighten up, her body gave in. Too late, she realized that Toric’s command wasn’t just words. There was magic in it, a spell as cold and hard as the man himself. It struck her across the back of the head like his fist and she fell to the pallet, dead asleep the second she hit.

Toric returned that afternoon. Zoa woke to him thrusting a plate of food at her, telling her to eat with the same firm command he’d used to get her to sleep. Like before, she had no choice but to obey. She ate until he told her to stop and then he stood and carried the remaining food down to her sister, who was still passed out naked on the floor. The soldiers, however, were gone, but before Zoa could be happy about that, Toric spoke.

“There’ll be a fresh set tonight,” he said, rolling Mina over with his boot. “There’s quite a competition going on for the honor. Your sister must have made a good impression on my men last night.”

“Let her go,” Zoa said. Her voice was shaky, but still louder than she’d expected.

Toric just smiled, a cruel curving of his mouth. “I’ll let her go if you beg.”

Zoa’s heart leaped into her throat and she looked away.

“What?” Toric taunted. “I thought you loved each other? Is your pride more important than your sister?”

“It’s not pride,” Zoa said, glaring back at him. “You said yourself, you want to make me like you. Well, I won’t. I won’t do it. You can rape me or do as you like, but I’ll never be like you.”

Toric’s smile faded. “And what if I give you to my men?” he said. “Will you be so sure then?”

Zoa began to shiver, and looked away.

“Thought so,” Toric said, glaring at her. “Sleep.”

The command hit her in the face and Zoa passed out, flopping limp onto the bed.

She woke next to her sister’s joyous cries of pleasure. Toric had six men this time, and they were taking turns on Mina, who was moaning below them, her eyes empty and clouded under the lust of Toric’s spell. Zoa herself was naked and sprawled across Toric’s lap. As she came to, his hands snaked across her body, one grabbing her breast, the other dipping casually between her legs. His fingers entered her without preamble and she was ashamed to find she was already wet for him.

“So ready, little bird,” he whispered in her ear. “I wonder, will you be able to resist tonight?”

Zoa didn’t answer. She just closed her eyes and did her best to block it all out.

That second night was harder than the first. Toric wasn’t playing now. He brought her to the edge over and over, commanding her body ruthlessly, training it to respond. And respond she did. After an hour, her body was begging for him, writhing and bending like a puppet under his touches. His eyes were delighted every time she came close to losing control, and once she thought she caught a glimpse of real desire in his gaze. Even so, by morning she still hadn’t given in, and Toric was so mad he almost screamed the sleep command at her as he left.

On and on it went. For five days, she lived as his prisoner. Every day she slept when he said sleep and ate when he said eat, and every night he would push her to the very edge, but he never let her go over, not until she begged. But she didn’t. She held out.

He lost interest in Mina after the third night and no more soldiers were called in. Instead, Mina stayed in her magical sleep, still as a statue at the far side of the tent while Toric did everything in his power to get Zoa to crack. Everything, that is, except actually enter her.

Oh, she’d tasted his cock plenty, had it dragged over her and teased against her entrance, but he never once put himself in her. At the beginning, she’d thought he wasn’t interested, but by the fourth day she knew his expressions well enough to see it was killing him not to do it and that knowledge gave her a fresh burst of strength. Maybe he wasn’t as in control as he seemed. So she held on to her resolve and did not beg, no matter how much her body hated her for it. The way Zoa saw it, this was a fitting revenge against the damn thing for betraying her in the first place.

On the sixth night, Toric was clearly nearing the end of his patience. He came in to the tent alone, waking her up with a grumbled command. She’d always assumed he was sleeping when she did, but now that she saw him, she wasn’t so sure. His face was drawn with tiredness, but his brown eyes were almost wild. He grabbed her hard and yanked her up, slamming his hard cock into her mouth before she was fully awake.

“Tonight, little bird,” he whispered, pumping into her with a vicious thrust. “Tonight, you will beg for me, or I will abandon you in the fields and leave you to your misery.” He thrust again. “I’ve brought you to the edge too many times now. Dezira’s Chosen can sleep for a long time, but not forever. Eventually they go mad from the longing. Their power corrupts and they become monsters who have to be put down.” Another thrust. “Normally, you would have many years before that happened, but not anymore. You’ve been around me too long. There is nothing so dangerous for an unawakened Chosen of Dezira than to have another Chosen in close proximity and not reach orgasm. Getting so close speeds the corruption. Even now, I can see it eating at you, nibbling your aura away.”

He thrust again, closing his eyes. “Dezira is angry with me for playing with you, but she thinks my desire will win over my control, that I am her Chosen before I am myself, but there she is wrong.” He grabbed Zoa and hauled her up. “You are mine,” he hissed, baring his teeth at her. “Mine, little bird. Mine forever. And if I cannot have you, then no one can. Not even Dezira herself.”

A flash of anger rolled through her at his words, hot and alien, like it wasn’t her own. Still, Zoa’s emotions had been all over the place since this began and she would have dismissed it had she not also seen the anger flash in Toric’s eyes.

He dropped her like a hot brand, clutching his head as he staggered. “You can be angry all you like,” he said, throwing back his head so he was look up through the small hole at the very top of the tent at the white moon above. “But you Chose me, cruel Lady! You gave me the power to take whatever I desire, you can’t punish me now because my desires don’t match your own.”

He looked at Zoa then and his lust hit her so strongly she fell back on the cushions. Toric was on top of her in an instant, his hard, heavy body crushing her beneath its weight. He glared down at her, and for a moment, she thought he was going to hit her again. But it wasn’t his fist that landed on her face. It was his lips.

The whole time she’d been in his power, he’d never once kissed her, but he did now. The kiss was as hard as everything else and strangely inexperienced. Suddenly, as his tongue clumsily invaded her mouth, Zoa got the feeling that Toric had never actually kissed anyone before.

The kiss broke as violently as it had started and Toric sat back on his knees above her, shaking himself like he was trying to clear his head. The motion must not have worked, because his voice was thick and strange when he spoke at last. “She thinks she can control me,” he said, his brown eyes nearly black with lust as he looked down at her. “But I won’t give you to her unless I know for certain that I’m getting you back on my terms. You will be mine.”

But even as the words left him, lust stronger than anything he’d called before landed on the both of them like a lead weight. They groaned together, and then Toric ripped off his shirt, pants, and boots. Naked, he stretched out on top of her again, his throbbing cock pressed against her entrance as it had been many times before, but this time, Zoa realized that it was Toric, and not her, who was fighting. That realization hit her as hard as the lust, and with it, a warm, bright confidence blossomed in her chest.

And then, sudden as the moon breaking through the clouds, Zoa knew how to get free.

He was so much stronger than her, so much faster, his weight pinning him down. But with the moon-driven lust running through them both, the power had shifted and Zoa was the one who came out on top. With a slight wiggle of her hips, she shifted down and Toric slid into her.

The joining made her gasp, but it was Toric who seemed to feel it most. He cried out as he entered her, his hands grabbing her hips. For a second, Zoa thought he was going to fling her away, but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed hold and began to thrust.

What happened next was nothing like the nights before. There was no more control, no more coldness. Toric was an animal on top of her, driven mad by the wild lust. There was no art in his pounding, no care or skill. It was pure instinct, a man reduced to his basest aspects. He kissed her as he rode her, his mouth hard and demanding, his breathing ragged. He bruised her with his roughness, but even that didn’t stop the wild pleasure that was building, and before the tenth stroke landed, the release Toric had teased for so long broke over them both.

Zoa came in an explosion of pent-up power. The wave shot out in all directions, making the soldiers shout and Mina moan in her sleep. But it was Toric, trapped at the epicenter, who was hit hardest of all. He came with a furious shout, spilling himself into her. His eyes slammed open as he did, and Zoa caught a fleeting glimpse of burning fury and deep, bitter loss before the world fell away.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing naked in a moonlit field with a warm breeze caressing her skin.

“I am sorry.”

The voice was beautiful as glass bells, but so sudden and angry it made Zoa jump. She whirled around to see a woman standing in the shadow of a large apple tree, her body half in light, half in shadow as she paced angrily back and forth.

“He should have known better,” the woman snapped. “You are mine. He had no right to keep you from me.” She stopped with an angry breath, and then turned on Zoa. “Do you know who I am?”

Zoa bowed her head. “You are Dezira,” she whispered, her voice trembling. For truly, who else could it be?

The goddess breathed a long sigh and the breeze picked up.

“I am so sorry, beloved,” she whispered, turning to walk toward Zoa, moonlight and shadow dappling over her body as she closed the distance. “Toric has always been willful, but I do not Choose my Avatars from the weak. I thought if he had someone who could understand him, someone kind he could desire, he might find his peace. My dark moons are always my strongest, but they are so hard to manage. They are made to take and hold, while my white moons are meant to yield and protect. Two halves in balance.”