“Tell me something. Battlewar Castle, it’s not a brothel, is it? A whorehouse? Gathering place for prostitutes?” Jayne stared at Ronen, willing him to fight with her. She could handle fighting. Being weak was another story. Besides, if he fought her, she wouldn’t have to face that protective, almost gentle look on his face. How was a woman supposed to react to that? No one in her entire life looked at her the way he did. No one made her feel the way he did. Death she could manage and face. But this tenderness? It terrified her like nothing else had.
Ronen frowned, pausing as he swung from the back of his horse to look down at her. “No. It’s the king’s castle. The king doesn’t stay there as there is always too much to do by the borderlands, but we use it for ceremonies and such.”
So much for that theory. I think I might prefer a brothel to marriage. When Jayne looked at Ronen, she wasn’t so sure she really believed that.
“You know, where I come from a man goes through certain rituals before asking a woman to marry him, and then they only cohabitate for ten years. If, at the end of that time, they want to file for another ten they can.” Jayne hated feeling weak, but she’d pushed her body hard the last several days on little food. She could take the pain, even the hunger, but she couldn’t take the fact that it had all been for nothing. Ronen had caught up to her. So what if he’d saved her life in the process. It didn’t mean he planned on letting her go.
No, he thought she belonged to him. What was worse, he didn’t consider her to be a slave or prisoner. No, to him she was a mate, a breeding partner, a wife. Out of all those names, wife scared her the most. Though, breeding partner did take a close second. Too bad for him, the biogeneticist assured her she would never have children. Divinity wouldn’t want a pregnant boxer waddling around the ring.
“Here we mate until death,” he answered. He turned his back on her and busied himself clearing a spot on the forest floor. He wore a different tunic than she’d last seen him in, but his eyes belied his exhaustion. The barest hint of whiskers textured his jaw, darkening the already tanned flesh. Bloody misery, the man knew how to move—from the strength in his chest and arms to the almost graceful rhythm of his walk.
Jayne went to a big boulder standing by itself in the middle of the forest, completely isolated from other rocks. Widowrock, they’d called it. On impulse, she braced her shoulder against it and tried to push it in his direction, grunting, “If you insist.”
The boulder didn’t budge. Ronen gave her a bemused glance, dismissing her idle threat. “Come sit before you hurt yourself. Let me take that collar off your neck.”
“Shouldn’t you go check on your brother? What if he is hurt?” She stayed against the rock, leaning against it. Even with tired eyes, Ronen was a stunning man. Their joined fantasies were never far from her thoughts. Though unreal, they felt quite the opposite. Funny how she’d made love to him more in her dreams than in real life. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to wait right here.”
“For me to consider his defeat would be a dishonor,” Ronen answered, crossing to her.
Argh! She hated his calm tone. She wished he would scream, yell, punch. That language she understood.
“Turn. I’ll free you.” He urged her head to the side with a gentle shove before taking the knife to her neck. The sharp blade soon had her free.
Jayne grabbed her neck, stretching the muscles. He stepped back and she watched in silence as he gathered dried leaves, branches and twigs to build a fire. Within minutes, a soft firelight cast over them.
“Let me see your arm.” He stood, reaching his hand out for her to join him.
“It’s fine.” Jayne didn’t like the softness in his gaze. Why wasn’t he yelling at her for running away?
“You’re wounded. I should bind it.”
“It’s already healing.” She refused his comfort.
“Why must you make a battle of this?” he muttered, more to himself.
Jayne answered anyway. “If you don’t like it, let me go.”
“What is it that makes you want to fight and face death rather than accept me? You chose me. I was content to not claim a woman. It was you who bewitched me with your kiss.” He strode toward her, closing the distance. Placing his hand on the rock, he leaned into her. “It is you who has been plaguing my mind with thoughts of taking you. We are connected. We are meant to be.”
“We are joined by defective nanobots.” She sighed heavily, letting him hear her frustration. “When I cut my finger on your sword and stuck it between my lips—”
“I remember,” he interrupted needlessly. His tone dropped to a low whisper.
Jayne continued, trying to ignore the sultry dip of his lashes and the parting of his firm lips. “When we kissed—”
“Yea.” His breath fanned over her cheek.
“One of them left my bloodstream and somehow took up residence in you. Since they’re programmed to work as a team with my body, they’ve decided to talk to each other from inside our bodies.” She leaned away from him, but the small distance did nothing to quell her growing arousal. “I was warned it might happen, but it was supposed to be a one in a million chance. Bloody misery, perhaps even one in a trillion.”
Jayne frowned. It was why boxers took a special supplement before a fight so they didn’t risk transferring their technologies.
“See, we are blessed by the gods.” He tried to press his lips to hers.
Jayne jerked back another inch. Her resistance didn’t seem to faze him. “How is it you hear about a scientific catastrophe and think it’s a sign of true love?”
“I confess, I have no idea what manner of spell a nanobot is or what purpose they serve. But if it proves my point that we are meant to be, then I agree with them.”
She scowled. “I’ve got news for you, warrior man, true love doesn’t exist. It’s an illusion.”
“I agree.”
That surprised her. With all his “mine” mentality, she just thought he’d be a romantic of sorts. He spoke of the “will of the gods” and “meant to be”. She wondered why she felt disappointment at his cold, logical admission—an admission she said first.
“It is not in our nature to seek romantic love. Marriages are unions, partnerships. Women must be cared for and protected, provided for. Men need sons and,” he brushed his finger over her cheek, “the pleasure of a woman’s bed.”
Jayne swallowed nervously. She didn’t necessarily like the life he laid out before them. What if she couldn’t escape it? Or him? Or this barbaric place? What if she didn’t want to?
“It is my hope we will find a mutual affection in time,” he continued, not taking his eyes from hers. “Marriages seem the better for it.”
“I want you to listen to me, Ronen,” she said, quietly, reasonably. Mutual affection? How could she make him understand that everyone who felt any kind of affection for her was dead? That it was better for both of them if they went their separate ways? “Do you really want a woman who was sent here as a punishment?”
“Punishment?” He dropped his hand. “You are a criminal? Traitor?”
“I’m a loser,” she stated flatly. For all Divinity cared, it was the truth. She’d lost her fight, even if it was fixed.
“What did you lose? Something important? A king’s missive?” He furrowed his brow, as if trying to think of all the lost things that warranted a punishment.
“My championship title to the cheating, son of an ape, Big Bobby Bishop in the gladiator rings on dimensional plane 241.” Jayne felt angry all over again and pushed off the rock. “His gangster father tried to make me throw the fight, but there is no way I could take a dive to that no-talent buffoon.” She paced across the forest floor. “They threatened to kill my family if I didn’t fall. Well, my nonexistent family but they didn’t know that. And the son of a whoring cat hits me with a whammy?! I let him beat on me for a half an hour to make a good show and to let him have a little dignity when he lost, and he drugs me. Me! Jayne ‘The Sweet’ Hart.”
“I do not understand what this has to do with you as my wife.” Ronen hadn’t moved.
“I don’t lose. I never lose. Divinity Corporation banks on that, and they’ve paid a lot of doctors a lot of money to make sure of it. When Big Bobby hit me with his drugged fist, a lot of money was lost by a lot of powerful people. Divinity would not have been happy about it and they were my way home. But instead of hearing my side, they packed me up and shipped me off to this forsaken…” She paused, trying to think of a description that wasn’t as mean as the ones filtering through her head. “Ah, place.”
“So you fight for money?” He looked over her in disbelief. “You do not look like a warrior. I have seen your body. The skin is smooth. There are no scars.”
“Bare-knuckle boxing.” Jayne looked down at her arm where the deep gash already began to heal. She held it up to show him. “I’ve been bioengineered to heal fast and not to scar. It keeps my face pretty for the fans.”
He looked down at his body. “I have that thing. I will no longer scar?”
“Nano-robots are these tiny, microscopic, self-sufficient army of machines designed to replicate and act on a specific level of function while they travel around my bloodstream to heal my body. They’re engineered to only work on me. But somehow one of my nanobots jumped ship and is inside of you. It should have deactivated.”
“But the gods willed that we—”
“Ah,” Jayne held up her hand stopping him from saying it. “Scientific mishap. With any luck you’ll bleed the bugger out and the air will deactivate it. Then it’s bye-bye shared thoughts. Or your own immune system will attack it and shut it down.”
“No part of me could attack you, Lady Jayne.”
Jayne got the distinct feeling he didn’t understand half of what she said.
Ronen grabbed her hand and jerked her forward into his chest. The hard press of his muscles formed a solid wall. He turned her back against the boulder, trapping her. The unmistakable press of his erection made itself known. “I enjoy the shared thoughts.” He rocked his hips. “And when I feel your sex clutching my cock as you finish, I know you enjoy them as well.”
“I don’t deny that there is, ah,” she chose her words carefully, “sexual lust.”
“We have time before the others arrive.” He rocked again, swaying his hips back and forth. “And it is said any lady who makes love to her husband against Widowrock will never be named a widow.”
“I don’t believe in legends.” Her breathing deepened. Every part of her body tingled, from the top of her head, the pointed buds of her nipples, the tight pearl of her clit, the slick folds of her sex, to the very tips of her toes. She couldn’t think or reason, not when his delicious mouth was so close. Sex wouldn’t change anything between them. He’d still demand she was his wife. She’d still try to find a way to escape.
Jayne grabbed his face and roughly pulled his mouth down to slam against hers. She bit at his lips, kissing him with a potent force. Ronen didn’t seem to mind when she raked her hands over his tunic, jerking it up so she could free his thick cock. When she couldn’t figure out how to unfasten his breeches, he helped her, tugging them so they loosened enough for her to reach down the front. She grabbed his rigid shaft, pumping it in a tight fist.
Ronen groaned, squeezing a breast. He whispered hotly against her throat, “Lift your skirts, my lady. I would take you now.”
Jayne wanted to be in control. She let go of his cock and pushed him down. “On your back so I can mount you, Knight.”
“Yea, my lady, whatever you wish.” He scurried to obey, his breathing deepening in his eagerness to be ridden. Ronen pulled his breeches down, exposing his cock in readiness for her.
“My wish is to ride you.” Jayne was hardly embarrassed by such admissions. She climbed over him, lifting the long tunic to bare her pussy. “Hard and rough until you beg me for mercy.”
“I am not accustomed to begging.” He gripped her bare hips, forcing her up against his cock. “But my lady is welcome to try.”
Jayne grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up to meet her mouth. She kissed him hard, sawing her lips against his. The heat of his thighs teased her sex and she squirmed, undulating her hips.
Something about him drove her to distraction and she lost all logical thought. Knowing this was real this time and not just an overactive fantasy, spurred Jayne on. She needed him. Now.
Jayne dropped his head, lifting her body over him. Ronen took his cock in hand, guiding it to her as her fingernails dug into his tunic. She impaled herself on him, gasping at the pleasure of his thick probe. Warm, strong hands skimmed her thighs and hips, touching but not controlling.
Ronen moaned. Jayne found herself going slow despite her earlier decree. She savored each thrust, each sway. Rocking her hips in small circles, she found the perfect rhythm. She ran her fingers along his chiseled face, across the rough texture of a whiskered jaw. He trapped one between his lips, sucking gently.
Tension built, propelling her onward. Ronen managed to find her naked breasts beneath the shirt and cupped her so her erect nipples flattened against his palms. Jayne quickened her tempo until she slammed into him. Pleasure crashed over her, making her tense and shake. She inhaled deeply, her pussy quivering violently around his cock. Ronen still moved beneath her, taking shallow thrusts before finally exploding to join his release with hers.
Jayne rolled off him, falling onto her back. Her muscles still ached, but sex had done wonders to relax them. Inside, it felt as if her bones turned to water and every nerve was numbed with the euphoria of the aftermath.
Ronen tugged at his breeches next to her, lacing them along the hip. “I am glad you have accepted your role as my wife. I promise you will not regret it.”
His words caused an ache deep in her chest. Didn’t he understand what this was?
“I don’t need a man’s protection,” she whispered. “I can take care of myself.”
“You are strong,” he agreed, “and will bring much honor to our family name, my Lady of Firewall.”
“I don’t think you understand. I have no need of a husband. I never wanted one.” She didn’t move beyond tugging her tunic over her exposed hips to hide them from view. “As for your reasons, I cannot fulfill them. I can’t give you children. I won’t keep your house. I hate cleaning up after other people. I won’t feed you. All that leaves you with is a whore to see to your needs. Surely paying a prostitute is cheaper than keeping a wife.”
Ronen visibly paled. Weakly, he said, “We have servants.”
Jayne turned away from him, rolling her eyes in disbelief. Really? That’s all he had to say? Servants? As if that solved all her issues and would suddenly make her want to be with him forever. She decided long ago that she wasn’t one for marriage and family. Sitting on the ground, she gingerly pushed at her wounded arm, resisting the urge to scratch the healing tissue.
“I hear my brother,” Ronen said, breaking the uneasy silence. He pushed up from the ground, hitting the dust from his clothes. Seconds later she heard the sound of horses’ hooves. Lord Sorin wasn’t alone, and when he rode into the clearing around Widowrock, fourteen knights came with him.
Moody eyes turned toward her. She arched a brow, forcing all emotion from her face as she stared back. Why were they mad at her? She didn’t ask them to hunt her down.
“Maps,” Sorin stated, looking at his brother. He held up a fur pouch. His hand was covered with blood.
“Watch my lady,” Ronen told the men, automatically following his brother without a backward glance.
Jayne sighed heavily, letting the knights see her irritation. Muttering to herself, she turned her back on them and sat down by the boulder. “Fourteen guards, my lord? Do you really think that will stop me?”
Ronen was grateful for his brother’s interruption. He still didn’t know what to say to his wife. No children? It would be a lie to say the news wasn’t disappointing. He wanted children very much—sons to carry on the family name and tradition, a daughter to bless their home. When she talked it was clear Divinity had done some diabolical things to her—nanobots and bioengineering? He didn’t fully understand what those things were, but the way her arm healed was not natural. Is that why she couldn’t give them children?
“Ronen?” Sorin frowned. “Do I have your mind?”
“Yea,” Ronen lied. He hadn’t been listening.
Sorin held up the pouch. “We found this on the Caniba spies. They are mapping routes through the forest originating at Spearhead.”
“Magda,” Ronen ground out.
“The Sorceress plans something.” Sorin pulled out a piece of parchment and dropped the Caniba pouch on the ground. “We must warn King Wilhelm so he can order troops to reinforce the borderland marshes. His personal army should be camped near Daggerpoint Castle.”
“I will go,” Ronen stated. “You must go back to your wife.”
Sorin’s face darkened. “Be sure the king knows I’m ready to march.”
“Is the choice so bad?” Ronen grabbed the parchment and slid it beneath his tunic, holding it in place beneath his belt.
“Battles are nothing compared to what she puts me through,” Sorin answered. Ronen knew it was all the explanation he’d receive. But, he really didn’t need words. By the look in his brother’s face, Lady Lilith denied him her company and her bed. Should it continue, it would make for a hard marriage and a miserable life for his brother.
Ronen thought of Jayne. It would seem the Lords of Firewall both had problems. “Trust in the gods, my brother. They do not give us trial without reason.”
“Yea.” Sorin instantly changed the subject. “I’ll take most of the men back to Battlewar and leave four to scour the forest to ensure no more spies linger. I’ll spread word in the village that Lady Jayne’s departure was the will of the gods and she led us to the spies.”
“Yea, and I’ll take Kar and Lance. There might be need of a healer on the battlefront.” Ronen held out his hand. “Journey smooth and swift.”
“Fight well,” Sorin answered, grasping his hand before striding back to where the men awaited their orders.
Ronen was glad for an excuse to avoid Battlewar Castle. Not only would the battlefront distract his mind, but it was far away from the only Divinity portal in the land and Jayne’s only way out of his dimensional plane. By the will of the fire goddess, she would never have the chance to leave him again.
Jayne watched in surprise as the knights rode off after Lord Sorin. They’d only left her with two guards—albeit large, disapproving, intimidating guards. She interlaced her fingers, cracking her knuckles. Yeah, she was pretty sure she could take them.
Jayne made no move to leave the boulder. The guards had horses and trying to outrun them would be a futile effort, even if she were to knock them unconscious first. They’d already proved apt at tracking through the forest, and if her recent beastly captors were any indication, she couldn’t rely on help from the Caniba.
Technologically advanced race?
Jayne chuckled at the thought. The knights frowned in her direction at the sound. She laughed harder.
“What has happened?” Ronen strode through the forest.
“She’s gone mad,” a knight answered. He was the one from her joined vision with Ronen who’d been hunting her in the forest.
“Methinks she is overtired,” the third knight said, a redheaded man with steady eyes and a thoughtful expression. “Do we ride back to Battlewar?”
“No. We go to Daggerpoint to seek an audience with the king.” Ronen strode to his horse and swung up into the saddle. Then, walking the animal toward her, he held out his hand. Jayne hesitated, gauging the jump up. Finally, too exhausted to argue, she grabbed his wrist. Ronen jerked, pulling her up. It wasn’t her most graceful landing, but she managed to slide behind him on the saddle. It didn’t seem to take much for her body to respond to his nearness. With her legs apart and the tight space holding them firmly together, her sex molded to his ass as her thighs pressed into his. He spurred the horse into a gait and her breasts bounced against his back. Jayne closed her eyes, trying not to get aroused.
This ride is already too long.