Summoned and Stolen (Summoned Series Romances) (5 page)

“Never,” he vowed. “Now, listen carefully, Lily. These are the only orders I ever intend to give you as my slave.”

Even if she hadn’t been compelled to obey him, Lily would have listened. Kel’s words rang with a tone of command she had never heard before. She nodded once, all her senses fixed on him. “Yes, mast—Kel. What do you wish me to do?”

“You will have to come with me to see the Duke. If I leave you alone I have no doubt the guards will have orders to secure you again. The moment I release your hand, you are to make yourself tiny and then fly away from here as fast as you can. You have to be out of earshot so
that he cannot give you commands to counter my own. Are you strong enough to fly some distance if you need to?”

She nodded. “I’ll eat a bit more before we leave, that should give me strength enough.”

“Good. When I tell you to go, you will not hesitate, little temptress. You are to fly away and head toward the rising moons. In a mile or so, you will find an oak tree standing in the middle of the field. Perch in the branches and wait for me.”

Lily began to agree, but he waved his hand, stopping her. “I’m not done. If I am not there by the time the Hunter’s moon reaches the height of its passage, you are to leave without me. Make your way north, as fast as you can. You should find my men on the road just as dawn comes, if you are quick enough. Tell them what happened, and tell them to safeguard you whatever way they can. You
must
find them before sunrise, Lily. Once day comes, The Duke will have you in his power again.”

“But what about you?”

He gave her a strange smile and brushed a hand down her cheek. “If I’m not there by morning, say a prayer for my soul, for it will no longer inhabit this body.”

Lily’s chest tightened, and she found it hard to draw her next breath. She didn’t want Kel to die. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Aye, I do,” Kel leaned in and kissed her, his mouth hot on hers and his powerful arms closing around her to draw her in tight to his chest.

“Why?” she whispered when he finally gave her space to breathe again.

“Because once, a long time ago I made a promise to my father. I vowed that I would strive to be a man he could be proud to call his son, even if he never publicly claimed me.”

“I imagine he is very proud of you.”

Kel’s expression grew wicked. “After tonight, I suspect he’s going to be very unhappy with me, to be honest. But that’s tomorrow’s problem. Right now, I need to get you looking like you’ve been properly debauched.” He fisted his hands into her hair kissed her until her lips were swollen, her cheeks flushed and her breath was coming in ragged gasps.

“Much better.” He let her go, flashing her that devil-may-care smile that seemed so impossibly familiar. He took her hand in his much larger one and drew her to his side. “Let’s go see a Duke about a deal.”

***

CHAPTER 6

Lily didn’t have to pretend to be dazed by what had just happened to her. Kel’s kisses made her head spin, leaving her flushed and flustered. She followed along behind him, clinging to his hand and trying to keep up with his much longer strides as he led her out of their tent and into the night air.

He felt her falling behind and turned to give her a drunken leer that would have been terrifying if she hadn’t known it was all an act. Still, she squeaked with dismay as he tugged her along with a growl that would have done an ogre proud.

“Where’s His Grace?” Kel snarled at the first servant they came across. The woman blanched and then pointed to a large tent set some distance from the others.

“Just there, sir,” the servant directed them, shooting Lily a look of sympathy as she scampered away so quickly the tray empty dishes she carried rattled as she went.

“Come along, little temptress. If you slow me down too much I’ll have you again right here and we’ll never get to talk to the Duke.”

Kel ran his free hand possessively over her hip and Lily belatedly realized she had not asked permission to use her wings to cover her naked form. No wonder the servant had felt sorry for her. He pinched her bottom and Lily picked up her pace, nearly jogging her attempts to keep up.

As they headed in the direction the drudge had pointed, Lily noticed that Kel’s strides became more uneven. Every step his posture and bearing changed a little bit more until he was weaving and staggering instead of walking. They were far enough away from the cooking fires and servants that it was quiet here, quiet enough that she could hear what sounded like faint moans and grunts coming from inside the tent. She shuddered inwardly, aware that if not for Kel, she might very well be inside that tent at this moment.

They rounded a corner of the tent and Lily spotted two guards standing outside an entranceway. Kel made toward them, dragging her along behind.

“Ho there!” he called out. “Need to see his Grace. Face to grace. Er…Face to face.” Kel’s words were slurred as he made his request, and Lily caught a flash of amusement in the nearest guard’s eyes as he looked Kel over.

“Duke Camford is engaged at the moment. Could this not wait until morning?”

“Nay!” Kel roared and both men reached for their weapons, only stopping when they realized Kel made no move for his. “Need to talk to him ‘bout this pretty little thing. One taste isn’t enough. One night, neither.”

Both guards turned their attention on her and Lily dropped her eyes as she saw the lust in their gaze. Without warning Kel ran a finger along one wing tip, making her shudder as a tiny moan fell from her lips before she could quell it.

“You see? One touch makes her quiver. Any wonder I want her to warm my bed for more ‘n one night?”

Both men nodded their understanding and Kel brayed with laughter as he released her hand to clap both men on the shoulder. They started to grin in response but then their faces went slack and they crumpled to the ground, the flat hilt of a knife protruding from each of their throats.

He’d killed them so quickly neither of them had time make a sound.

“Go!” Kel hissed at her and Lily belated realized he had let go of her hand to strike the killing blow. That was to have been her cue to flee. Now the time had come, she felt strangely reluctant to leave him. What if she never saw him again? His orders overrode her fear, and she only had time to whisper his name before the transformation began.

It took less than two heartbeats for her to shift to her smaller form, then Lily was away, flying as hard and as fast as she could. The cursed torc forced her to obey his orders, no matter how much she wanted to stay with him.

Kel watched Lily fly away, a shimmering ball of silver light that quickly vanished into the darkness. He breathed a prayer to whatever Gods were listening to watch over her until he saw her again.

If he saw her again. He had no illusions about what would happen next. He would push the ruse as far as he dared, but in the end there was no doubt that Camford would refuse to free the lovely fae. When that happened, Kel would do what he must to gain Lily’s freedom. If the Gods were feeling generous, then this would be over quickly. If things went badly, it would take a little longer and be far bloodier. He yanked his knives from the throats of the guards, wiped the blades on their uniforms and tucked them back up his sleeves. He grabbed the two men by the scruff of their uniforms and hauled them to the far side of the tent, leaving them in a shadowed corner where he hoped they would not be spotted until he was well away. Then he returned to the doorway and set the rest of his mad plan in motion.

“Your Grace!” he loosed a bellow as he staggered into the Duke’s chamber, once again playing the part of the drunkard. Inside was a sight Kel could have gone his entire life without witnessing. A pile of naked, writhing bodies filled a bed so large Kel had to wonder how many draft animals had died of heart strain trying to transport the behemoth.

The rest of the room was no better. The walls, carpets and even the linens were all varying shades of eye-gouging crimson. As if that wasn’t bad enough, every surface was gilded, even the chamber pot Kel could see under the bed. Just scanning the room was enough to give him a headache.

Out of the tangle of bare limbs rose a familiar, if flushed, face. Camford’s mouth gaped open in shock at Kel’s arrival, and he struggled to free himself from under a nubile young blonde…and a brunette. If Kel lived through the night, he was going to need a great deal of mead to wipe that image from his mind.

“What are you doing in my chambers, mercenary?” Camford demanded, his bloodshot eyes glaring at Kel from beneath their flabby lids.

“I came to talk to you about the very fuckable fairy. I want to buy her from you.” Kel shambled a few steps closer to the bed and leered as one of the Duke’s pleasure slaves winked at him.

“Never,” Camford grunted, and heaved himself up to a semi-sitting position. The movement caused the bed to heave and the slave who had been eyeing Kel wailed in shock as she was sent tumbling off the bed and onto the floor at his feet. She scrambled to her feet and fled, but not before Kel caught the distinctive scent of dreamberry juice clinging to her skin.

Well, that explained Camford’s bloodshot eyes. The Duke had slathered his slaves in the drug before indulging himself in their bodies. Rare and very expensive, the berries came from a land far to the south and were famous for their pleasure enhancing qualities as well as their narcotic effects. The Duke and everyone else in that bed, was in a dreamberry induced fugue.

This might just tip the scales in my favor.

Camford was sitting up completely now, albeit unsteadily, his vice-bloated body rocking from side to side as he tried to focus on Kel. “That one is not for sale.”

“Everything’s got a price, yer Grace. Name hers.”

“She can make me immortal, fool! Of course she’s not for sale!” Camford waved his arms in irritation and the remaining slaves retreated, vanishing through a barely noticeable doorway. “Now get out before I call my guards. If they get you out of here quickly I might forgive them for letting you in here at all!”

“She says she can’t,” Kel gave him a lopsided grin as if imparting the punch line of a wonderful joke. “Says her powers don’t work that way.
Now
do you want to sell her?”

“She lies!” Camford snarled and flapped his pudgy hands again, making the multitude of rings he wore gleam and flicker in the lamplight. “I’ve researched it thoroughly. She can make me immortal, or near enough to make no difference. Now I have her, I can finally take the throne.”

Kel hid his surprise at that wild statement and staggered in closer, his voice lowering to a drunken rumble. “There’s already a king in Wulfshaven, yer Grace. With young Prince Jorn preparing to take the crown in his time.”

Camford shrugged, setting his flesh rippling in obscene patterns. “Accidents happen. Especially to young men eager to prove themselves.”

“You’d do away with the princeling?” Kel buried his feelings deep and tried to appear as if he were intrigued by the idea.

“I wasn’t sure about you, mercenary,” Camford informed him as if he hadn’t heard Kel’s question. “Not until you took the pretty little fae to your bed. I knew you had a price, I just didn’t know what it was. I like to know a man’s price before I trust him with my secrets.”

“But now you know my price, you tell me you can’t pay it.” Kel frowned in sullen displeasure. “I want her.”

“Help me take the throne, and I’ll have the magi bring you a slave of your own. There are fae women of every flavor you can imagine. Do this for me, and you can have your pick.”

“Kill the prince…” Kel mused, as if considering the Duke’s offer when all he wanted to do was end the traitor’s life. Soon, he would. But first he needed to find out if the Duke was working alone, or if he had allies.

“Aye. And then who would the king turn to? He’s too old to sire another child before the end. I am his most loyal man. Everyone knows this. It’s why he’s not interfered in this little war of mine. He needs me.” Camford raised his hand and clenched it into a fist. “It could all be mine. But I need
her
to make it happen. The healers tell me I have very little time left. She can give it to me. Heal me, make me strong again.”

So Camford was dying? Hardly surprising given the man’s obscene appetites. “Who else knows of this plan? And would there be a place for a man like me at your court, if you were king, along with the reward you have offered? Would your cohorts allow it?”

Camford nodded slowly, his face twisted into a feral grin. “This is my plan, and mine alone. But it occurs to me that I have need of your skills, mercenary. Even a common man can have his uses. You’re just the sort of man I need.”

Kel nodded. “And what of the rumors that the king has a grown son, born on the wrong side of the blanket? Couldn’t he claim the throne and ruin your plans?”

“Bah! The king is a cold-blooded man. He barely managed to have a single child by his wife. There is no bastard son, just the idle rumors of a bored court.” Camford was rambling now. The drug had loosened his tongue and made him arrogant. “Kill the prince for me, War Dog. Kill him and I’ll find you a place at my court. You have my word.”

Kel’s lip curled in distain as he leaned in over Camford, trying not to retch at the thick stench of corruption and dreamberry that rose from the Duke like a poisonous cloud. “Nay,” he growled
and slid a dagger from the sheath at his belt. “I’ll not kill my half-brother. I’ve been offered a place in the court of Wulfshaven before, traitor. I turned it down then as well.”

The blade was already at Camford’s throat by the time understanding dawned in the Duke’s drug-muddled mind, and by then it was too late. Killing a man in cold blood was not something Kel found easy, but he drew the dagger across the Duke’s throat knowing that he did so to protect the king…and his brother.

As Camford’s blood gushed forth in a crimson fountain, Kel felt a brief stab of pain on his thigh and looked down to see the Duke’s hand pressed against his leg. A burning sensation began to build, travelling up the limb, and Kel finally understood what Camford had done.

Poison.

One of the bastard’s rings held a poisoned needle, and his dying act had been to try and take Kel with him. “I’m not that easy to kill.” He snarled as the light went out of Camford’s eyes and the Duke expired in a final sputter of blood.

Kel slashed off a strip of linen from the blood soaked sheets and tied it high on his thigh, creating a makeshift tourniquet. It wouldn’t do much, but he hoped it would slow the poison down enough he could make his escape.

Precious seconds were lost as he looked for Lily’s ring amongst the many Camford wore. Kel found it at last, grateful for Camford’s garish taste. The amethyst was the only subtle stone in the entire collection. With no time to waste, Kel slipped the ring onto his finger and made for the exit the slaves had used earlier. With any luck, it would be unguarded and he could make it back to his horse before the Duke’s body was found.

The pain in his leg grew worse with every step, and Kel knew he didn’t have long before he’d be too weak to fight. His had to get to Lily. Her healing gift was the only chance he had.