“At your summoning you mean.” I said bitterly. “I am not forcing you.” “Not physically.” “Ah, now, Saria. Let’s not pretend you’re not already moist.” He reached down and touched the crux of my thighs over the fabric of my dress. Making me jump. My eyes rounded as I realized I was already soaking the fabric. He’s right. I didn’t even know it! I swallowed disgust at my own reaction. “Now take off your dress before I rip it off you.” I glared at him impudently but when he took a threatening step forward, I jumped from my gown. Stretching my arms over myself to cover my body. His gaze thinned on me. “What did I tell you about that?” *** “About what?” I knew very well what he was talking about. But I was stalling. I didn’t want to get in his wash bin and have him watch me scrub myself. “Shame.” “I don’t recall.” “You very much do.” His tone hardened. “Don’t play games with me.” He wrenched my arms away from covering me. Then he twisted and lifted me. Tossing me into the gia
“You think I’ve another man?” I didn’t want him. Much less any other after all the torment I’d experienced at his hands. “Who knows what you do when you’re not with me?” “Do you worry about it?” I was stunned at this hint of vulnerability. A strange note that may’ve been jealousy seeped into his voice. “I don’t wish to think on it.” “It disturbs you?” “Because you’re mine.” He said matter-of-factly. “It won’t matter. Soon enough your skin will be marred with my seed, and you’ll no longer be as fair as you are now. No longer be so desirable to the village lads. And I’ve plans for you one day. When you submit to me wholly.” “And if I don’t?” “You will.” “But if I didn’t?” “Then I’d likely pursue you forever. You, one woman, could probably charge me all I’d need with your power and the force of your will...If you were capable of that.” He ended quickly as if he’d given away too much. He dropped to his knees behind me and pushed one of mine forward so he could access my most in
My fear of what would happen to me down there was building. What if he didn’t let me go this time? What if he kept me here forever and no one ever knew where I was? Not that anyone would’ve come and got me anyway. It seemed that once Mathis claimed you were a witch you became his forever anyway. No one looks for you. No one yearns for you. No one mourns you. And God knows how long he keeps them to torture them. As we neared the doors to the dungeons, two of his huge lumbering ogres appeared. They were clothed loosely in what looked like servant’s clothes. But they barely spanned the length of the creatures’ hulking shoulders. The pants were torn around their calves. No one can believe there human. Not even close. But when they’d come to the Dining Hall, Mayor Marx hadn’t batted an eyelash when he saw them. Was he seeing something different then I did? Like how Mathis manages to disguise himself to every eye but mine. But, I reminded myself, there had been a time when I too
“Go to it.” He said in a coaxing voice. Immediately, my instincts were screaming. I can’t do this! I knew what happened to people in the stocks. They were left out in public. Forced to be bent at the waist or on their knees. Their neck and wrists pinned between the notched wood and locked closed. And sometimes cruel people threw rotten food at them and persecuted them for whatever crime had led them to be there. Or for simple entertainment. It looked painful on one’s body to be in that position for so long. Terrifying to be locked in. And horrifying to have the indignity of being made into a public mockery. The last thing I wanted was to be in that thing. “Do you know what it’s for?” Mathis asked me darkly. “Public shaming.” My voice sounded choked even to my own ears. “You, who are so afraid of feeling shame.” He chuckled. “What an exciting experience, aye?” Exciting was the furthest thing from my mind. Terrifying. He was starting to circle me like a hungry vulture. His ch
Mathis clearly had no intention of letting me go. He was still behind me. Straining to reach over me as he finished pushing down the locks that secured me into the giant block of wood. I reflexively pulled at it like a caged animal, but it had no give. The width of my head was far too large to let me pull backward. And it only brought me closer against Mathis’ chins. He growled in pleasure. Taking the time to circle around the front of the stockade, tugging my red hair from within the hole until it all poured down the side of my face. He caressed my cheek. “So, beautiful…” “Open.” I looked up at him. Unable to lift my head far enough to look at him. And resisting the urge to beg him to let me go. I knew he was talking about my mouth. But I didn’t want to open it. He lightly pinched my bottom lip and my chin. “Open those pretty lips for me, Spitfire. I want in that mouth.” I whimpered in objection. I jerked at the stockade, but it only resulted in causing rough splinters to scra
“Where?” I whispered slowly. “What’s that?” Mathis asked. “I didn’t say anything!” I turned trying to talk to him but found I couldn’t bend to see him. It only made my hips swing to the side. But Mathis held them in place so they couldn’t go far. Catching them so firmly that his fingers nearly bit into the front of my pelvis as he lifted me off my knees and slammed me back down on my knees before him. I felt him straightening behind me and felt the hardness of his length rubbing along my crack. “Mmm…” He purred appreciatively. “You look so beautiful like this.” Vulnerable. Unable to fight him. His ideal prey. I thought bitterly. Feeling helpless and frustrated. As he no doubt intended me to. *** “Like what. Trapped in your stockade?” “On your knees, vulnerable…Mine to take.” He whispered. I was trying to focus on spotting the tiny gray light again but was having a hard time finding it. Then I felt the blunted tip of Mathis prodding my entrance. His slick body keeping mine
“You’re mine, Saria.” He whispered. As if hearing my thoughts. He angled up to grip the top of the stockade. Using it to pull himself forward and pressing the back of my body down until I thought he’d snap my spine or pierce from my stomach. But my body was somehow constructed in a way that it could survive his brutality. He knew what he could do to me, that would make me feel destroyed without having outward effects. He’ll harm me just to the point of killing me. “We’re here.” The little voices rose. “With you. Focus on us.” I tried to do what they said but the sense of hands on me and the strength of someone invading my body made it a struggle. “Focus...” They whispered in tiny voices that sounded like far off bells ringing in my ears so loud I wondered if he could hear it. *** But soon the option was gone. I had to as the little fey had bid me. Because then the blinding pain came. As he got close to his climax, there came the black burning. The stinging of him peeling away
“What if you’re making this far too complicated?” I sauntered to him on bare toes. Letting my hips swing and my arms drape around me in a seductive flow. Something I’d never done before. One foot in front of the other and letting my hip drop then sway to the other side. Letting my breasts hop with each movement and turning my head slightly to keep my hair swaying around my body. His eyes were drawn to the movements like a magnet. Roving over me from head to toe, savoring every curve and hollow as if he couldn’t get enough of looking at them. It’s working. I knew that whatever odd thing had possessed me, was doing the trick because I saw something I never had before. The hint of something. Behind all that lust was something else. The hint of fear... I gloried in that. Letting my fevered body take control and keep my thoughts from trying to argue what was clearly happening. The behavior the tiny fey had incited in me. I draped myself against his bare chest. Letting my breasts and
“What about Udora? How did you come by her.” He sobered. Drawing a long breath as he twirled me twice more. Considering how to tell me. I guessed. But he was unwilling to stop dancing. So, far anyway. “She came by me, more or less. Drawn to my dark magic, I suppose. After I crawled out of that oubliette, I stumbled across her. Greedy, morose and feeling hollow, I fed on her.” He quieted. And I sensed there was guilt in that memory. “And then?” “Then she was mine. From that day.” “How so?” “She wanted to spend every moment with me. Wanted to be mine.” “And did you want her?” “I did not. But I fed on her just the same.” “Through joining.” “That’s the only way I’ve learned how.” He said, a bit taken aback, as though he’d never before considered if there were other ways. “It was how Kasha taught me.” “She was wicked.” “She was. But I never tho
When I knocked on the door of the WitchFall fortress, it was with a resolute expression. Mathis ripped open the door as if he himself had rushed to it. No servants. And when I stepped inside, I felt how empty it was. And there was something wrong with him. He looked disheveled. Fraught with worry. “What’s wrong?” I asked. Eying him in his uncharacteristically mussed state. He lifted his chin. His chest swelling. “What have you come to tell me, Spitfire?” He’s prepared to fight. Or he wouldn’t be calling me that. “I’m going to ruin you.” I said coldly. “Then you’ve already decided to refuse me?” He seemed to visibly deflate. I held my silence a long time. Surprised that he seemed so genuinely broken. “No. I’ve decided to marry you.” He blinked rapidly. Tilting his head in interest. “For revenge?” “No.” “Then why would you destroy me?”
Veline caught my hand. Wrapping hers around it and looking at it as though it were a foreign thing. “Do you know, we shouldn’t be able to touch.” “Why not?” “Because I am pure spirit now.” Veline reached out and touched my chest. “While you are still bound in your skin.” Bound. A strange word for it. “You know in this land there are far more creatures than you ever guessed. You’ve been very sheltered in Drimidan.” “I guess I have.” I admitted softly. I wasn’t even sure my parents knew of all the things out there. “There was a time, long ago when the land was predominantly Fey.” “But as Fey darkened some lost their power and became human. Others became twisted and their power darkened to make them other things.” “Like Mathis?” She nodded. “They become what we know as demonic. Or what the people of Drimidan might call a witch or warlock.” I blinked slowly. I’d heard of such things, but they were s
Only as The King of Creatures stood facing me now, did I realize how tall and imposing he was. He wore a masquerade mask over his eyes, which seemed to change from blue to orange like flames burned in them. His hair was blonde and waving back to his collar but as he moved. It shed small sparks at the tips from the tresses that hung loosely over his forehead. He was lean and tall. Towering well above me like one of the trees in this forest. The strangest man I’d ever seen. “They brought you here?” “They summoned me, yes.” He nodded toward Veline. “They advise me you’ve discovered the root of evil in Drimidan.” “Yes…” I said slowly. Mathis. “Tell me what he is?” “I don’t know for sure…He was once a man but now a demon.” “A form of changeling then…Hmm.” He murmured thoughtfully. “Well now that we know, killing him should be easy enough. We’ll just need you to get me into the fortre
“Because of Kasha?” He lowered his head in admonition. His hands linked behind his back. To keep from touching me? I wondered. “Despite all I’ve done, I have deep respect for you, My Spitfire. And ultimately, I wish to see your laughter return. And that is what I’d spend the rest of my days striving for. But if away from me, is how you can regain it, then that too I’d learn to appreciate.” “You’re so contrary. A moment ago you were declaring I’m yours. Now you say I have a choice.” “You’ve always had a choice. Even when you believed Udora was at my mercy. You had the choice of forsaking her.” “That wasn’t an option.” “Not with you. Just because it wasn’t an acceptable choice, doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. But,” He lifted his finger. “I do caution you, you can’t change me, Sweetheart.” “You just said you have changed!” He smiled almost sadly. “I have. Because I wished to change, to become something more
He dressed in more finery. Smoothing his black hair back into a tether and wearing a cream undershirt with a silver vest and long overcoat. Once dressed, he offered me his hand. “Let’s get you home.” I took it. Wondering why it felt like every time I took it, I was making some kind of promise to him. Vowing to trust him, when I should not… Blowing a relieved breath, I let him help me into the carriage. Relieved to see the driver sitting atop the bench this time. He’s making an effort at normalcy. We took the winding drive down the hill and into the village. Quickly arriving at my house. I blew a steadying breath. Letting him help me down from the carriage. “Are you ready?” He tucked me under his arm. “To be home?” I peered up at him. But he wasn’t acknowledging me as he kept me sheltered next to him and we headed for the front door. Mother rushed out and embraced me. “Dear Heaven! You’re okay.”
Mathis made almost no sound. Barely the flutter of clothing and I saw his feet leave the floor as he must’ve leapt. I heard a thump and a horrible wet, wrenching sound. Next was the sopping thunk of a head lolling along the stone floor. The grip on my neck went slack. Dark nails slipping from the wounds they’d created as the heavy body collapsed next to me. Headless. I screamed. Leaping to my feet in panic. By the time I managed to scramble to my feet, he was already there. Eerily still in that way that only he could master. Where he only watched my skittering movements with those intelligent green eyes. But once I steadied myself on swaying legs, his hands snatched out to catch my upper arms. Jerking me against him as he wrapped sheltering arms around me. “What did you do to her?” “Killed her.” “Her head.” “Parted from the rest of her.” He said flatly. I flinched and tucked my face into
“Why did you bring me here?” I swallowed the pain rolling through me. He’d said he’d break me. Now he’s perilously close. I felt weak, betrayed and entirely alone. The two people I’d thought closest to me were both traitorous wretches. “I should think that painfully clear.” Udora said snidely. Taking another step towards me. “Enough, Udora!” Mathis put up a staying hand but she continued speaking spitefully. “The demon thinks he loves the girl...And that she might ever love him back.” “Shut up!” He roared. “He wants you to know what I am. So he’s the one you trust.” “That’s only partly true.” He approached in several strides to catch her arm. Pulling her further back from me. As if he’s worried what she might do. “I wanted you to know what you’ve really been so loyal to.” “Why?” “Because, though I have never denied I’m harmful I thought
I froze in the blackness. Horrified that I was trapped. “Come on.” I could hear amusement in his voice and realized he was right next to me. He closed the door as he came down behind me. He knows I was petrified. He caught the back of my arm and held on as we went down the stairs, as if worried I might trip. I called him out. “Is that so I won’t fall or run?” “Both.” “Mathis?” I heard Udora’s soft voice calling. “Is that you? You’ve left me down here far too long this time!” She sounded annoyed. I paused on the steps in confusion. What’s she mean by that? Mathis turned his hand, I could just barely see the outline of it in the dark. A cool green flame burst to life and stretched aobut a foot up from his palm. Illuminating his features. He put a finger to his lips to indicate I should be quiet. I gave him an incredulous look. Wondering why I would obey him now.