Merlin's Kiss Read online

"That's when he found me a new mother, Shala." All laughter stopped.

  "What did she do?" Brieana asked, still feeling hatred towards the woman who had drugged her and raped her mind.

  "Nothing. But with Shala came the beatings."

  "Why would your father beat you, Kerian? What made him think he could beat the evil out of you after all of that?"

  "I know not, Brieana, but after my father married the lovely Shala, every evening he would come to my room with his whips and he would hold a cleansing session."

  Kerian's eyes went dark as he recalled his father tying him down to the bed, tearing his night robes from his body, and swearing to rid him of the inclination to talk to wicked dracks. He remembered the searing pain of the lash, the cold anger he felt as his father proceeded to tell him he did it for love—that Kerian had to be made normal.

  "How old were you?" Brieana asked softly, noticing the anguish on his face even his usual control could not hide.

  "The beatings started off and on when I was eight, Brieana, and they lasted until I was sixteen. By then he had his two favored soldiers hold me down for my lessons. But it was Shala, more or less, who made my father cease when he really got lost in his madness and nearly killed me. It was after such a time I finally grew tired of his abuse and ran away."

  "Where did you go?" she asked, feeling pain for the young man he had been.

  "I ran to Gren. She long knew about the beatings and had launched several attacks in retaliation. Never harming anyone, but freezing my father's stable doors closed or scattering his chum after each beating. I don't recall if he was more frightened at that time or just angered more by what he considered the evils beasts' defense of me. It made him look bad in the eyes of his people for them to know a beast of the fields held me in higher regard than he."

  "What happened?" Brieana asked after several moments of quiet.

  "I picked a bad time to run away. Pacal had disappeared and Dalis and his scouts were out looking for him. Gren was about to go into lying-in with hatching of eggs and was alone when I arrived bloody from my latest beating and almost out of my mind with pain. I didn't know this, but my father had expected me to run away, planned for it, so there was a soldier always watching my room. He reported to my father where I had gone and the bloody trail I left led them straight to Gren. She was applying some ancient remedy to my back when my father arrived at the lair. I don't remember much, but I do remember him threatening to kill my True-mother and putting an end to all of 'this drackoon nonsense.' I believe he was going to destroy Gren's and Dalis's eggs too! I couldn't let him destroy my brothers and sisters, let alone my True-mother."

  "Of course, you could not!" Brieana cried out, shocked a father would murder the innocent and harm his son further.

  "I remember racing towards him. I had never been a small child, Brieana, and it was out of parental respect that I never raised my hand to my father. Gren taught me that. But this was too much for me to take. I used the lessons my father had taught me to engage him in combat. I still don't remember all that happened, Brieana, and Gren will never tell me, but that night, I bested my father, unarmed, and he fell from the cliff heights to his death."

  Brieana sucked in a deep breath at the thought of the pain Kerian must have experienced, knowing his father died by his hands.

  "His soldiers with him said it was a fair fight. I believe they said that more out of fear of the drackoon's retaliation than anything else. Dalis and his scouts had returned at the conclusion of the fight and surrounded my father's men. I remember begging Dalis to let them go, and Gren saying the same. So the men were freed to return to Mirage and I stayed behind with Gren."

  "I am so sorry, Kerian," Brieana crooned as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer to her.

  "I developed a fever that lasted a long time, then I had to regain my strength. I never wanted to step foot inside Mirage again, but then the hunting began. I don't know who ordered it, and maybe I never will, but there were soon mass huntings for drackoons taking place. I had to do something; I couldn't let the soldiers from Mirage kill off my family. So I returned, smarter and wiser."

  "Of course you did!" Brieana declared, knowing the determination that ran within him. "You had to take your place to protect Gren."

  Kerian smiled down at Brieana. Any other woman would be calling him odd and a murderer by now, but not his Brieana. She saw things others didn't.

  "But the people refused to believe it was me, at first. I had to best my father's old first in command to even be heard. Then, with Shala's help, I took over the reins of leadership and enacted the treaty that protected the drackoons as long as they stayed off Mirage land. That was the hardest thing I had ever done, but I had no choice. Soon Dalis and Gren moved to their lair deep within the Dark Mountains and there they settled. I had to give up my family to keep them safe. Rarely did I get the chance to visit, to plan strategy with Dalis, to get snuffles from Gren, to see the brothers and sisters I protected, but it was worth it."

  "You are a special man, Kerian." Brieana sighed as she pulled his mouth down to hers for a deep, wet kiss. "That is why I love you so much," she breathed into his mouth.

  "And I…love you, Brieana," he returned, a little uncertain. "With every breath of my being."

  "Then show me," she purred as she dropped the blanket. "Show me how much."

  "With pleasure," he moaned as he crushed her naked body to his.

  Brieana gasped at the contact, still unsure of what to expect even after that first fiery round with her lover. But she anticipated the next move as her body became wet and swollen, ready to take inside whatever her man thrust upon her.

  Her eyelids dropped as her hands came up to tangle in his hair. She whimpered at the silky feel of it sliding through her fingers, and tightened her fist in it, pulling his mouth down to hers.

  His tongue invaded her mouth, carrying with it his special taste, making her moan and try her best to get closer.

  She arched her back, forcing her body against his, and pressing her aroused nipples into the muscled wall of his chest.

  Kerian trembled as he felt her legs part to drop him into the seat of her pleasure center.

  Her hands slid to his neck, holding on tightly as he felt her knees slowly slide up his sides to clamp tightly around his waist.

  "I need you to be in me," Brieana whispered. "I need that," she bumped her hips against his growing cock, "inside me so badly, Kerian. I need you to be inside of me. I just need you."

  "This?" he asked as he did a slow grind against her, the swollen head of his cock running along her moist cleft.

  Brieana whimpered and arched herself higher, trying to force him to take her to where her growing need would wipe all thought from her mind.

  "This?" Kerian asked again, still not believing this beautiful magical creature was his, belonged to him and him alone.

  "Oh yes, Kerian," Brieana whimpered, tugging at his hard body.

  The fire from their previous joining was not extinguished, only banked. And now with his words and actions, he was stoking the coals, making her desire for him burn red-hot.

  Remembering that she would likely be sore from her first real sexual experience, Kerian placed the mushroom-shaped head of his cock at her entrance, and then gave a slight push.

  "Ahh!" Brieana gasped as she felt the thick tip of his cock enter her. "Kerian!"

  But just as gently, he eased out before thrusting back in, giving her only an inch of his throbbing cock.

  Brieana's legs tightened around him, trying to force his heavy hardness inside her, but using his greater strength, Kerian held back, feeding his cock to her one inch at a time.

  "You are killing me," she gasped as slow waves of pleasure began to rock her body.

  "I am loving you," he whispered as he slipped his arms under her back, his hands cupping her shoulders, holding her tightly to him as he breathed in her ear.

  Helplessly, she let her head fall back to the blankets, his thumbs
caressing the sides of her face as his head lowered to nip and kiss at her neck.

  Again she whimpered, her body shuddering under his caresses and slow penetration.

  As he thrust a bit harder, a bit deeper, he began to lick at the soft skin of her neck, flooding his mouth with her beloved flavor.

  But he continued with his slow thrusts and parries, giving her just an inch more with each plunge.

  In this position, all control had just about been taken away, and Brieana reveled in it!

  Here was someone to take care of her, someone who had her desires at heart, someone who would lead her body into this erotic dance and deliver her into the jaws of sensuous paradise. And she gave in, letting the feeling totally overwhelm her, lost in the sensations her Warlord was giving her.

  "More?" Kerian asked, noting the glazed look in her eyes and her ragged breathing.

  For the past few moments, she had begun to gasp and whine vocally, telling him of her pleasure in this sex act, no, this act of love.

  "I can't…I can't…" she moaned, her head tossing side to side as if denying the pleasure he was bringing.

  Her body was going wild, his slow thrusts building to something almost fearsome deep inside of her. She wanted it to stop; she never wanted it to stop. It felt so good!

  "Please!"

  Her muscles began to tighten and spasm of their own accord, reaching, searching for something she had had a taste of once. Her body knew what it wanted, and it was now relying on her mate to see her through to the end.

  Seeing her frazzled state, Kerian smiled as he pulled one hand from behind her and eased it between their heaving, sweating bodies.

  "Are you ready?" he softly asked as he nipped at her shoulder and then licked away the small pain.

  "Kerian," she whimpered, lost in a sensual haze.

  "Take it," he grunted, then slammed full force into her convulsing body.

  "Yes, Kerian! More!" She began to beg, then screamed as wave after wave of pure ecstasy slammed though her body.

  "My god," Kerian gasped as he realized he was holding a wildcat in his arms.

  Struggling for control, he slipped his fingers through the moist swollen folds of her flesh to gently circle her clit with the pad of one finger.

  Her body arched so high it almost bucked him off of her.

  She was emitting these little wordless screams and cried as he pressed the swollen lips of her sex against the thrusting hardness of his cock, intensifying the feeling of each thrust.

  Suddenly her body froze, stiffening under him while fierce trembling took hold of her.

  Her eyes popped open and her mouth opened.

  "I'm… Oh, Kerian… Oh… Ahh!"

  She began to scream as the tension broke and the force of her orgasm slammed her back into the blankets.

  "Brieana!" Kerian managed as he felt her walls rhythmically tighten and release his cock, sending lightning bolts through his cock, up his spine, and back down to his balls.

  He felt them tighten and pull up as his cock swelled in the midst of the storm of release.

  "Brieana," he groaned as his hips uncontrollably thrust into her, sending his seed deeper, filling her with his white-hot essence.

  Shuddering and laboring to breathe, Kerian collapsed on top of her, his head by hers, and he sucked in lungfuls of air.

  "Kerian," Brieana said softly, and that alone empowered him enough to roll to his side and bring her body flush to his, pulling her leg over his thigh so they could remain joined.

  He loved the slick hot feel of her.

  "I love you," he whispered as he reached one arm down to grab the blankets and tug them over their rapidly cooling bodies.

  "Oh, how I love you," she responded, snuggling into the moist skin of his chest, drawing in the scent of him, of her, of sex.

  She shuddered in the aftermath of her violent release, pulling herself even closer to him.

  Closing her eyes, she quickly drifted off to sleep, a smile tugging at her lips.

  He'd shown her how to fly without wings.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "Gather the men," the dark sensuous voice ordered. "I believe it is time we pay our Warlord a little visit. Don't you?"

  Settling back comfortably on a large campstool, Dagon stretched his feet out in front of him and wiggled his bare toes in the plush carpet that lined the floor of his tent. Damn, but it was good to be the leader!

  "My Lord." The response was snapped out and the man kneeling at the entrance of this sinfully decadent campaign tent slowly rose.

  "And Tybo?" Dagon added as he met his second-in-command's eyes. "What do you think of these…little amusements?" He raised one leathery hand to his chin and smiled.

  "I have no opinion, My Lord," Tybo said with a crisp reply as eyes that reflected the ever-changing colors of the rainbow stared steadily into hazy red ones.

  "Yes, there seems to be a lot of that going around lately." His droll reply only stiffened the man's resolve as he waited for what his hated and feared ruler would say. Dagon did not disappoint.

  "You know, Tybo, I think the reason that no one has an opinion is because no one thinks anymore. Everybody just acts out on his or her impulses, and soon you have a whole lot of stupid reaction without true planning or attention to details. Like mindless chum, one follows the other chasing their tails and baying at the sun. The people need a great ruler. It just so happens I fit that particular bill, to coin an ancient turn of phrase." His red eyes glittered brightly with his amusement as he relished each and every word that escaped his lips.

  "And now look at what we have! Chum still, but chum with a purpose! Now what can be a greater purpose than that of seeing my dreams fulfilled?" He raised one dark eyebrow and waited for a reaction. Baiting people was like talking to dracks. When you had the knack, you had the knack. And since only a few could talk to dracks, that made the knack of baiting people all the rarer.

  Lazily he extended his wings, his dark leathery wings and compared them to the wings neatly folded on the young man's back. Where his were drab and dull this soldier's wings were light gossamer, looking barely capable of supporting his great weight, let alone flying. Light Magic pulsed through his young body and he possessed an innocent beauty he himself would never have again. Pity. He missed manipulating people with his looks alone. And for really forbidden acts of lust, it just never felt the same when your bed warmer was reluctant to touch certain parts of your body.

  Oh, they all loved the man-root, but sometimes he just missed the feel of a woman's tongue lapping across his back or the feel of her wings fluttering against the skin of his thighs as he…But one mustn't digress. Power was greater than a need for feminine caresses. Besides, he had a little power-lusting whore of his own. Some people would just give anything for a taste of true power. Luckily, he was the type who knew how to take advantage of that weakness.

  Refolding his wings, Dagon contemplated Tybo, the people's hero. >From the time this one was born, Dagon had tried, without much success, to corrupt his young mind and utilize his Light Magic for his own purposes. But Tybo had proven disgustingly resistant to his little suggestions. How utterly boring! But now he was becoming a bit tired with the whole thing. Maybe it was time to stop trying. Maybe it was time to seek other amusements for this light creature.

  "The people think, My Lord," finally came the expected reply. "They just don't express what is on their minds."

  "And what is on their minds, young Tybo?" Dagon sneered. For all he cared, the people could, as they said in days long ago, go to hell. But wait, they were already there! Wasting away on the Dark Isles. He chuckled to himself as he settled more comfortably on his seat.

  "That you are a vain, egotistical villain who won't stop until what's left of their spirit is crushed beneath your heels."

  "The people flatter me!" Dagon's laughter rolled out of the tent, making the waiting warriors shudder with fear as he offered a short mocking bow to her. "Vain and egotistical am I? And I haven't rap
ed or pillaged, as is my right, in hours! What were the people thinking?"

  Tybo said nothing, but his face tightened slightly. He must remember to stay calm. If the rumors circulating through the Light Isles were true, then he was needed to make the prophecy a reality.

  "I meant only that the people fear you, My Lord."

  "As well they should, Tybo." Dagon sat forward, giving his soldier a glimpse of the pure dark magic flowing through his veins. His eyes flashed dangerously red, an evil glowing color that evoked memories of death and destruction. And scarier was the knowledge and wisdom that swirled around in his glittering orbs, proving this was a man who knew exactly what he was and delighted in the acceptance of himself. He was no fool in the guise of power! What he wielded could rule the world, and he wanted to be sure his little underling understood this. "As well they should."

  Dagon settled back onto his stool and arched one eyebrow as he looked at the warrior before him, the glowing haze gone from his eyes, and continued as if it never was.

  "Maybe some people think too much, would you not say, Tybo?"

  In a dark flash, Dagon was across the room, towering over this insubordinate, wings extended, eyes flashing red lightning!

  The man was silent. Maybe it was time for a new acolyte? Maybe the child he created would be in his image and have the strength to fight for what he wanted, without compassion, to rule with no mercy!

  Lazily, Dagon ran one leathery hand across Tybo's back, enjoying his small uncomfortable tensing, feeling the magic hum through his body. With casual strength, he grasped one of Tybo's brightly colored wings and chuckled to himself as the man forced his muscles to relax, forced himself to accept Dagon's hated touch upon a part of his body he valued almost as much as his life. Dagon raised and extended his wing to its full extension, then just a little bit more, ignoring Tybo's gasp of pain, to prove who was in power. Maybe, it was time for a clip.

  "You have your orders, Tybo." He carefully released the wing and smiled as it listed to the side for a moment, before the warrior slowly brought it back into place. "See that they are carried out."