The Demon's Deception (Demons Unleashed Erotic Novellas) (7 page)

BOOK: The Demon's Deception (Demons Unleashed Erotic Novellas)
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"You lingered too long in the village." He stiffened. "I was...concerned when you failed to return. The ritual of Beltane is about to start."

Barbas jolted. Beltane was a sacred night in the Fae world. A night of fertility and great magick. The cusp of the longest days of the year. The Fae's power would be at its maximum for the next three months.

The guards flanked the older man, their gazes firmly fixed on the girth of the tree rather than either Aine or Barbas. "You deliberately disobeyed an order."

"You shouldn't have shackled me," she returned defiantly as she rose from the bow.

"There were reasons!" he shouted.

"Well, it's too late now." She shot back at the older man.

"No." He fell back aghast, his face drained of all color. He took in her disheveled clothing, the twigs and leaves in her hair, her plumped red lips, Barbas's naked chest.

"Everyone else in the realm is allowed to have sex but me?" Aine railed. "It was ridiculous and archaic."

Beneath her rant was a triumph that Barbas heard loud and clear. She had taken what she wanted. And what she had wanted was him.

"You realize that you must be punished for this...transgression."

How to diffuse the situation? Barbas searched for way to break into the conversation only half listening to their escalating argument. Until she spoke again.

"Your call, your highness." Her tone was anything but deferential.

This was the King of the Fae Realm? Which meant...she really was a Princess. When he'd meant to infiltrate, the idea was to do so incognito and not call attention to himself.
Well if you're going to fuck up, you might as well go big.

"Seize them both," the king commanded. "They will be restrained in the dungeon until after the Beltane celebration. And then, they will be judged."

One of the guards started to protest. "But King Egogabal--"

"Do it. Or you will be in the dungeon with them," the king snarled.

Rough hands grasped his arms and Barbas analyzed his options. Fight or go docilely?

Barbas needed to get into the Fae Realm. He needed to find out who was behind the traitor in the castle. And if he had to get thrown in their prison to do so, he would sacrifice his freedom for now. But he also needed not to arouse suspicion so he decided...fight. The decision was made quickly. Barbas sagged into their hold, then as they gripped harder, he rolled. The move yanked the two guards toward each other and they clanked heads.

The guards growled.

Barbas jumped to his feet and crouched into a defensive stance as the guards advanced toward him.

"No, leave him out of it," she cried. "This was my doing."

"Of that I have no doubt," the king sneered. "But he will bear the brunt of your crime."

"Crime? Hardly. We were just having a bit of fun," Barbas drawled.

"Ignore him," she directed the king.

Barbas tuned out the arguing pair and focused on the approaching guards. He struck one guard in the crease of his thigh and the man went down. As the other rushed him, Barbas twirled and lashed a kick at the guard's chin. The guard anticipated the move and the blow barely glanced off his face. Barbas pretended to lose his footing and the guard tackled him in an impressive move, his elbow connecting with Barbas's eye.

Ouch.

"What if he is in league with the Demons?" The king asked as the guard yanked Barbas to his feet. "They know that Beltane is a powerful time in the Fae world."

Barbas tensed. At least his cloaking was working, but he needed to divert their attention away from his ancestry before they studied him in earnest. "We were just following tradition. Isn't sex an integral component of the Beltane rituals?" He feigned bewilderment.

To Barbas, Aine hissed, "Shut up."

"Sweetness." He smiled wickedly. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Father, this is, this is...," she faltered. "Oh dear Goddess, what is your name?"

"Barbas, at your
service
, sweetness," he smiled jauntily at Aine and bowed. Barbas bet the king's roar could be heard all the way back at the Demon Castle.

 

***

 

Barbas leaned against the cool stone wall of the dungeon and marveled that he was right back where he started, except this dungeon was controlled by the Fae. He should be worried. But instead he was pleased. He had managed to infiltrate the Fae world. On the negative side, he had no idea how he'd gotten here. The guards had placed a hood over his head and bound his arms behind his back. The secret entrance to the Fae Realm was likely near the Faery mound in the clearing, but he still had no idea how to get in.

The clearing where he'd apparently deflowered a Fae Princess. A grin curved his mouth as he remembered the acts.

"What are you so happy about?" Aine grumped from the bed across from his. The cell was wide enough for two beds on opposite walls. Above each bed, a heavy chain was bolted into the stone wall. At the end of the chain was a single metal cuff. Barbas and Aine were locked into the restraints.

Aine shifted restlessly on the cot. Sounds of the celebration drifted through the barred windows of their cell. Music, laughter, dancing and the distinctive grunts and moans of copulation lingered in the air.

What had she asked? Oh yeah, he was happy.

"Remembering." Might as well have a little fun. Plus perhaps she knew more about the king's dealings. Barbas had to discover who was the traitor in the Demon Castle. His wrist was shackled to the wall with an iron cuff. The iron seared his skin as he shifted the chain to a more comfortable position. The sound of all that sex happening had aroused his body without his permission.

"Goddess, is that all you think about?" She stomped over to the bars that separated their cell from freedom. She rested her forehead on the bars and wrapped her slender, caramel fingers around the metal like they'd wrapped around his cock.

"Careful, Princess," he cautioned. "You're giving me ideas."

She flushed and yanked her hands from the barrier. But she wasn't completely immune to the idea as her focus shifted to his cock. Just the mere touch of her gaze, and he began to harden fully. He wondered if the chain would stretch all the way over to her cot.

Outside their dark prison, lights twinkled and the Fae frolicked. The sweet scent of elderberry wine and the salty musk of a lot of sex permeated even the damp dungeon.

While the Fae partied, they had been brought back here and abandoned, which got Barbas nowhere in his quest to find the traitor. "So what were you doing in the village alone, princess?"

"Nothing of consequence." She paced back to the bed, threw herself down on the bare cot and moved her legs restlessly.

Barbas thought back to their brief conversation in the tavern before they'd left to screw each other's brains out. And just remembering, along with the pervasive sounds of sex, was messing with his head. He needed to focus. Barbas stood and began to pace, dragging the heavy chain along with his wanderings. In the tavern, she'd asked him if anyone had been asking about the Fae. Interesting. "You were spying?"

"Perhaps," she answered lightly. Her gaze tracked him as he paced the cell, as much as he could. The heavy chain stretched about eight feet. He thought through the events that lead them to this point. She had been looking for him. And he had been looking for her father. The irony was not lost on him.

"What did you hope to find out?" Perhaps he could give her some information. Perhaps they could trade.

"None of your business."

"What if we play a little game?" Barbas rubbed his fingers together and ignored her block.

"What kind of game?" she asked suspiciously.

"For each answer I give, you must take off a piece of clothing."

Her pulse fluttered in the hollow of her throat. "That sounds as if I will be naked very quickly."

"Ah but for each answer you give, I will take off a piece of clothing."

"You have on far less clothing than I," she argued.

"True, so I will be naked and defenseless far more quickly."

She snorted. "You are hardly defenseless. I watched you fight the guards."

"And you are hardly defenseless either. You forget, I watched you perform your katanas. Naked."

She swallowed again.

He'd seen her glance longingly through the bars at the sounds of revelry in the forest. Light flickered on the dungeon walls as a bonfire of hawthorn branches roared in the night sky. The sensual game began in earnest as Barbas considered the possibilities. She was nervous. But composed. And she was very, very confused about why she was in this dungeon with him.

Join the club, sweetness. Why had the king put them in here together?

"Fine." She tossed her curls away from her face and cocked a hip against the stone wall. "Me first."

"Absolutely."

"Why were you in the clearing?"

"I had been enjoying the charms of a local wench but I was tired and decided to rest there." He answered but hoped the misdirection of himself with another woman would distract her.

She removed the over tunic, the outward symbol of the Fir Bolg. The sheer white panels of her under tunic revealed her dark areola and pert nipples. "Ah, Princess. You are a sight for these captive eyes. Now, it's my turn."

He considered what question he should ask first. Tactical questions. Questions about the Fae. Questions that might lead to the traitor. But what came out of his mouth surprised them both. "Why me?"

Aine studied him closely. She was no idiot minion. He had purposely provoked her father. He had wanted to come to the Fae Realm which begged the question. Who was he really? And why wasn't he freaking out about being in the dungeon? His question was also far from anything she expected. It was personal. Her answer could have no bearing on whatever his purpose might be.

She tested her theory and trailed a finger along the curve of her collarbone. "Why you what?"

"Don't play coy," he snapped. His gaze was glued to her hand as she leisurely trailed her finger back and forth. "You know what I mean."

"No one else would bed me."

"You lie." He shook his head and loosened his breeches. His cock pushed at the placket, already erect. Ready for her. How could that be? "Tell me the truth."

How could he know? She hadn't even realized herself, until she'd been riding him with his cock buried deep inside her, that she could have compelled almost anyone in the Fae Realm to have sex with her. Her father might even have forgiven them because her power of persuasion and sexual appeal was almost as great as his.

But she had only played at sexual temptation until she'd seen him stroking his cock in the wooded glade. Because she knew, knew that she hadn't compelled him to want her.

"Because." Her voice was hoarse. "You wanted
me
."

With her honest answer, he shoved his breeches off and tossed them on the threadbare cot. His erect cock bobbed in the late evening air. A sliver of moonlight shone through the bars of the tiny window, the beam spread across the stone floor. "Better."

She tossed her hair again and let the strands come to rest against her chest, covering her breasts from his view.

He scowled. "Your turn."

She contemplated his cock. Contemplated all the reasons why her father might have thrown her in this cell with him. Close enough to talk but not close enough to touch. Nothing good came to mind. And so she turned his question around on him. "Why me?"

He was silent, solemn. His body still as if he poised for flight, which was silly because he couldn't go anywhere. He was chained to the wall. With iron which would hold the Fae more effectively than a Human but still. The moonlight shifted closer to his foot, as if drawn to his body.

"Ah, you intrigued me." He skimmed a strong hand over his hairy thigh. "Aroused me. Distracted me. And believe me I was damned sick of sex at the time."

He laughed awkwardly and captured her attention by stroking his cock. Moonlight limned his body painting him a fantastical silver. His bald head shimmered and his body nearly vibrated with energy.

If she hadn't been a Demon divining rod she would have sworn he was calling the power of the moon. But she could always sense a Demon. Always. And he did not give off one single Demon vibe.

Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow using the moonlight. She peered through the darkness. Was his black eye less purple than a little while ago? Impossible.

He'd answered her question but only engendered more. But a bargain was a bargain, until she was done playing the game. Gods, she wished she could touch him. Then she would know the truth.

"Take off your undershirt," he demanded, his attention firmly fixed on her chest.

Just to be contrary, she stepped out of her breeches and felt pretty smug. Until she noticed his dark grin. He'd played her.

"Just look at that beautiful thatch, glistening in the enchanted moonlight," he purred. "Are you wet for me?"

Her body quickened and her heart boomed in double time. He was across the room, safely chained. They were separated by two sets of metal chains, his and hers, and still he'd managed to arouse her. The man was sex personified. "Are you an incubus?"

"A sex demon? No." He laughed low and deep. "I'll give you that answer for free. Next question."

Her sex throbbed with a deep piercing arousal as she watched pre-cum pearl on the head of his cock. The sounds of revelry swirled around them. The heavy aphrodisiacal scent of hawthorn blooms perfumed the air. And the musky aroma of an orgy lingered in their cell.

"Fine." But her breathy voice gave away her desire.

He stroked his cock once and the iron cuff clanged down around mid-forearm. A vicious burn marked his wrist where the cuff had rested. She gasped. He'd been burned by the iron? She hadn't been able to sense Fae either, but as she thought back to the tavern she realized that he had been using glamour to blur his face from the humans there. The thought made her mad. What game was he playing?

"What
are
you?"

Barbas paused. He wondered how to play this. Dammit, he'd meant to use the moon power to heal himself without her noticing the damage the iron inflicted on his skin. His strength was almost regenerated. He would be able to break free of the bonds that held him but he still wouldn't have the answers he needed.

BOOK: The Demon's Deception (Demons Unleashed Erotic Novellas)
4.98Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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