Waterfall (Dragon's Fate) (17 page)

“Quite so.”

Celeste swallowed hard. “Is she all well?”

“She is struggling a bit with the need to feed. Other than that, she is thriving.”

She needed to talk to her but would give her the respect she deserved in this awkward moment. “Thank you, Astrid. I will speak to her later today when we are both dressed.” She brushed the tears from her cheeks.

“Yes, miss.” Astrid turned from the corridor and led her back to her room.

“She is free.”
Carmen’s voice vibrated in Celeste’s ears as she shut the door to her and Jordan’s room.
 

“So it appears,” Celeste whispered. “Carmen, where are you? Are you somewhere I can find you?”

“Doubtful. Havanis cursed me to here. I have no idea how to even explain what it is like. I am certainly no place on your world.”

“Tomorrow, we shall talk more about who Havanis is and how to find you.”

“Very well.”

Celeste slipped back into bed and pressed the length of her body up next to Jordan’s warmth. Jordan stirred and rolled toward her, wrapping her in his arms. She sighed. The air glimmered blue and gold and danced around them like the sun glinting off the rippling sea.

“Is all well?” His breath warmed her neck as his tongue licked from shoulder to ear. She trembled. His member grew between them and pushed between her thighs.

She opened her legs, allowing him access. “More than well. I am a bit shocked. Grandmum has transitioned. My vision was true.”

He pulled back from her and studied her face. “Are you certain?” She could see the concern in his eyes. He loved her, cared for her safety and her happiness. This was more than she had thought possible of her life three weeks ago. It was all she ever wanted.
 

She nodded. “Astrid has been helping her. Grandmum wanted me to know.”

He tightened his arms about her. “I am sorry, Celeste. We will have Ferrous do all he can.”

“Astrid said Grandmum wants this. That she can now live free. I can see that from all I know of her. She was always a bit unconventional. I will tell her how happy I am for her desires later today.”

Celeste leaned in and licked his lower lip, then sealed her lips to his. She pulled back and stared into his blue eyes. “I understand how Grandmum feels, because our situation has set me free too. I was given into a relationship that would have changed nothing for me. I would have been just as unhappy as the duchess as I was at my father’s. Our magic has given me happiness. You have allowed me to be a woman I never dreamed of being.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she smiled and it lit her soul.
 

He smiled back her. “I love you, my divine wife and lover.” His lips covered hers, and she breathed all he was into her body.
 

Tingles shot to her toes, and light flashed behind her eyelids.
 

This was what she desired too.
 

This man.
 

This life.
 

This otherworldly power that pulsed through her.
 

She wrapped her legs about her mate, and he slipped inside her. She broke the connection of their mouths and cried out.

Indeed. This was all she needed.

About the Author

Lacy Danes made a New Year's resolution to write a hot, historical romance. A year and a half later, she achieved her goal. She lives in Portland, Oregon, where besides writing she enjoys playing cards, chasing her kids around, and savoring a great martini with the man of her dreams all while watching the world go by. Visit Lacy at her web site.
www.LacyDanes.com

Look for these titles by Lacy Danes

Now Available:

House of Sin

Serving the master’s pleasure was never so dangerous…

House of Sin

© 2011 Lacy Danes

Emily’s dreams are simple: a life of dedicated service at a respectable estate, and a strong marriage filled with love and devotion for one man. Portage Place, the manor where her parents apprenticed, seems the perfect place to start. Though it is whispered that all is not as it seems behind its grand façade.

The rumors, it turns out, ring with truth. The halls are saturated with sensuality, desire and lust. Despite the scandalous duties she is asked to perform, she is determined not to stumble on what could be her first step toward her dream. Dreams that, lately, have included the manor’s fiery-haired groomsman.

A promise to watch over his younger half-brother brought Adam to Portage Place. For the first time in five years of enjoying the delights of the manor’s unbridled debauchery, Emily’s innocence touches the protector that still lives deep in his core. This house of sin may have ruined him, but he will see to it that it doesn’t ruin her.

It seems, however, that behind every door lurks a conspiracy to bind Emily in velvet chains of desire. Until the only way out is for Adam to take the biggest risk of all…

Warning: If servants sleeping with servants, who are sleeping with all the peers and guests at the house upset you… you won’t like this book. Contains explicit sex scenes, threesomes and a whole lot more!

Enjoy the following excerpt for
House of Sin:

Emily stood outside the kitchen and dry laundry door. The yard before her led to the stable and outbuildings beyond. The sun glowed in the sky as big fluffy clouds waltzed past on the warm breeze. She chewed a scrap of pitted apple that she’d grabbed on her way through the kitchen. The fruit pleasantly soured her mouth.

Not another naughty encounter all morning. Thank goodness. It was past noontime and she had expected to see something… What, she hadn’t an inkling. The normalcy of the day was reassuring and proof her mind had run off with the possibilities.

She inhaled and the smell of sweet rose soap from the laundry filled her nostrils. If she took stock, the morning was filled with accomplishment and calm.

She had pulled linens from the beds, washed them, and now they hung before her, drying on the lines in the floral summer breeze. She would press them when they dried and refit others in the rooms of the master, his sons and the ruby guest room. That was as soon as she found Sibila. Where had she gone? She was uncertain what her next task should be.

She glanced across the white, billowing walls of hanging sheets in the dry laundry and down the rust-colored dirt path, which led to the stone coach house and stalls.

She sighed.

A young man dressed in a green livery long coat and brown breeches crossed the path to the stable with a bucket in hand. His reddish hair curled over his collar. He glanced over his shoulder at her, slowed his pace and fully turned toward her.

Emily froze mid-chew. His green eyes sparkled like a bead of dew caught in the sunlight. Filled with merriment and mirth, he had masculine lips that turned up in a grin and stretched the skin over his square chin.

Her cheeks, filled with apple not yet swallowed, twitched as her lips curved in reply. My, he was handsome. If not for his livery, she’d have taken him for a playful forest sprite. A fiery-haired sprite and an enchanted soul.

He raised his hand and his index finger glided along his lower lip. His tongue slid out and wrapped the tip as long, amber lashes closed over his left eye. He then gestured with his head that she should come with him.

Her heart hammered. He was worth whatever this house was about. She wondered what mischievous, good-natured fun he was headed for. Or did he simply wish her to help with something? She worried her lower lip between her teeth.

He shrugged, turned and continued on his path into the stables, whistling a happy tune.

Sibila stepped out the door past Emily, bringing with her the savory smell of baking apples, cinnamon and tart.

Emily flinched and sucked in a startled breath. Had she been behind her all this time?

“He is handsome, isn’t he?” Sibila turned and glanced over her shoulder. “An amazing futter.”

A futter… Surely not everyone participated in the act with everyone else here. Or did they?

“Follow me, Emily. Learn something.” Sibila’s hips gently swayed as she followed the red earth path of sin to the fiery-haired groomsman in the barn.

Emily stared at the barn door as if through a tunnel.
You do want to be introduced to him, so follow her.
Emily glanced back at the door to the kitchen.
Make haste before the cook sees you!

Emily stepped and her knees wobbled. Her heart pounded. Indeed she wanted to meet him. She inhaled deeply, summoning her fortitude, then gathered up her skirt and ran down the path, across the cobbled drive, to the stable door.

She pressed her back up against the bumpy stone of the barn to the right of the door and closed her eyes, listening.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Stomp, stomp. Swish, swish. Crunch, crunch
.

The horses chewed on their hay and stomped flies away. Her shoulders relaxed. She acted foolishly.
Well, go on in
. It was possible Sibila and the groomsman were…well, she supposed they could be doing anything.

She turned and entered the small barn. Light shined in through the paned windows, casting a golden glow in streams on the dark hall and stalls. The damp air from the cool stone chilled up her skirt like icy fingers. It was as if she entered not into a sprite’s den, but something infinitely more sinister.

She inhaled to steady herself and glanced around. Horses resided in the first two stalls. The smell of dry hay and the unique scent of beast and sweat curled into her nostrils. Her muscles tensed. She’d always enjoyed the smell of the barn. It reminded her of long days spent occupying herself while her father readied the horses for the carriage. Though the smells and sounds were similar here, there was a stimulating heated noise to the air which she could not quite place. She strained to hear it more clearly. There was a rustling of cloth and whispered voices.

She stepped forward, carefully listening. She turned the corner and headed down another longer row of stalls with a green door at its end.

“There she is, Adam,” Sibila whispered from the stall to the left of Emily. “I told you she would follow.”

“Miss Grey.” His deep voice, so different from what she’d imagined, made the hairs on her neck stand and her stomach flutter. “Come in and assist us.”

Emily peered through the slats in the wood, but saw only hazy light and shadows. What were they about? Maybe they simply required her help with something.

Emily lifted the wooden latch on the stall door and pulled it to the right, sliding it out of the way. She stepped in and quickly closed it behind her.

The copper-haired groomsman faced away from her. His green coat lay fanned out on the hay before him, and he stood in his white shirt and brown breeches. “Umm.” A wet, slopping sound came from in front of him.

She stepped closer, and her head spun slightly from the stifling confines of the small space.

“You require my assistance with something…sir?”

“God, yes.” His hips pressed forward and then relaxed.

Emily stepped closer. Goodness, he was taller and broader at this vantage than he had appeared from a distance in the dry laundry. His stature was impressive. Definitely not a sprite. She barely came to his shoulders. She rounded his side.

Sibila knelt before him. Her skirts billowed out around her. Hands on his thighs, she licked the length of his peg with an improper slurping sound.

Emily’s eyes widened. Oh! She should not be watching this. This was definitely something obscene. The hairs on her neck stood and tingled. They had asked her here to assist them! She could not look away. Long, thick and red, his staff stood straight from his trousers.

“No need to fret, little one. Sibila told me of your innocence and desires. We shall show you nothing more.”

Duty and honor demand the ultimate sacrifice.

Haevyn

© 2012 Darcy Abriel

Humanotica, Book 2

Everyone has their poison. For Haevyn Briena, it’s her inability to resist a dare. This time it’s a challenge from her friend and lover, Grisha, to sneak into the popular, illegal cage fights that always end in all-male orgies. Eagerly she snaps up the gauntlet, unaware that she will end the night forever changed.

When expatriate humanotic warrior Entreus locks eyes with Haevyn at the sex-fueled event, he is instantly captivated. Despite a duty that binds him to an exiled malevolent sorcerer, he seeks her out in a shattering, illuminating encounter.

Grisha’s plan is in motion—to bring both his warrior lovers together and heal their scarred souls with a combined passion that he alone cannot provide. But Haevyn’s tormented past refuses to die. And Entreus will not rest until the Core that ruined his life is destroyed.

Amid ever-tangling emotions and a brutal plot to take over the city, the three lovers walk a tightrope that could be cut at any moment. Fighting for justice, bound by duty…and a love that could alter the foundations of their world.