Fyne Sisters - The Star Witch Part 9

She was not sorry that she'd decided to give Lucan Hern what he wanted, and she did not regret the decision to be his mistress. She was beholden to no one, and only the possibility of a child could stop her. The Circle wizards had told Hern his first son would be born in two years. Since the Fyne women did not bear sons, then some other woman would be in his bed a year from now.

Isadora suspected she could not have a child, not without Sophie's a.s.sistance. She and Will had been married two years, and they'd wanted children... they'd tried. Sophie's gift of fertility had not yet been discovered, so they had not been able to call upon that magic. She didn't know if it was Will who had been unable to have a child, or if it was her, but...

She hated thinking of Will while another man held her in his arms, but she did not cry. The time for crying was past.

The girl who had loved w.i.l.l.ym had been gone a very long time. The woman who remained didn't want love and the complications that came with it, but heaven help her-she wanted more of the way this man made her feel.

What she felt and what she wanted wasn't love, and it couldn't ever be. But it was right for the woman she had become. For now.

HE HAD NEVER slept with a woman before. Those who came to him for s.e.x never stayed after the act was done.

But it was nice to wake and find Isadora's spine pressed against his chest. It was nice to find his arms so comfortably draped around her warm softness. He liked the feel of her skin against his, the even way she breathed in sleep, the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

The sky beyond the window was barely gray. Morning was coming and with it the responsibilities that had brought him here: the Star, Esmun, his pledge to the Circle of Bacwyr.

But right now he did not think of any of those duties.

He s.h.i.+fted Isadora's hair aside and kissed the back of her neck. She squirmed but did not wake. He kissed his way very slowly down her spine, allowing his lips to trail along the soft, silky flesh of her back. When she woke he felt it in the way her breathing s.h.i.+fted and the sway of her backside against him.

"Are you awake?" he whispered.

"No." Her voice was sleepy, satisfied.

"Pity." He continued to kiss his way down her spine until he reached the shapely small of her back-and there he lingered. "If you were awake, there are other things we could do."

"What other things?" she asked, sounding slightly more awake.

He reached around her bare and beautiful body and slipped his fingers between her legs, while he worked his way back up her spine again with feathered kisses. "Do you know I have been hard more often than not since I first saw you?"

"No, I did not know." She laughed airily, and her legs fell slightly apart so he had greater access. While he caressed Isadora she grew wet, and her body began to rock gently back and forth, as if he were already inside her.

"It is true," he said. "You know I will not lie. When I saw you at the emperor's table that first night, when I opened my eyes and found you standing over my bath, when you told me that you did not like me... always."

She reached around, pressed her hand against his stomach, and let her hand fall gently and slowly downward, until she could see for herself that he was telling the truth.

"But you are a man of great control," she said, throwing his own words back at him as her fingers circled his erection.

"Yes, but I am also human, Isadora." At the moment he felt more human than he ever had before, more vulnerable. He needed this woman.

She turned to face him and brought her lips to his for a long, deep kiss. There was a touch of desperation in that kiss. Pa.s.sion and yielding and even a hint of something he did not quite grasp. Sadness, perhaps, or regret, though he did not feel regret in her body. Still kissing, Isadora continued to roll until Lucan was on his back and she hovered above him, kissing and caressing and taking command. Interesting.

She straddled him, still kissing, and guided him into her body. She moved slowly, deliberately, sinking down an inch at a time until he was buried deep within her. She remained there as they kissed, making only the smallest of movements. It was the kind of motion that could drive a man wild. And did.

Eventually her movements grew faster and greater, until she stopped kissing him and sat up tall so that he was deeper within her than before. There was some morning light, which kept the room from complete darkness, so he could see her much more clearly than he had last night. Every curve of her face and feminine angle of her body was p.r.o.nounced in the gray light, and the sway of her soft hair was sensual and free. She had come to him of her own free will, and that made this night more precious than he had thought possible.

She possessed such power, such intense feminine energy.

As she rode him, Isadora kept her eyes on his face. Such dark eyes, so expressive and strong. It was only when she experienced release that she closed those eyes. She trembled around and above him, she moaned and gave a small, sharp cry. While she still pulsed around him, Lucan pushed up and into her and found his own release.

It was all he wanted from her, everything he required. And more.

Isadora drifted down, kissed him again, and whispered, "I must go now."

"Why?"

She smiled at him, though as usual it seemed a sad smile. "I cannot stay in your bed all day."

"Why not?"

"That's not who I am."

It was true enough. Isadora was not a woman to be commanded to a man's bed... though that's just what he had done.

"Do you know how to fight?"

She rolled off of him but looked back as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Fight?"

"With a sword."

She shuddered slightly and tried to hide the response. "Of course not."

He sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She was afraid of the power of deadly

weapons, as a proper woman should be. Still, war was coming, and if she was to protect herself she would need to know.

"I will teach you, while I'm here."

It seemed she trembled more deeply than before. "I don't wish to kill anyone."

Of course she didn't. In spite of her evident strength, she was a gentle woman. "I can teach you to defend yourself. That doesn't mean you have to kill."

"Why?" she asked again.

He moved her hair aside and kissed her shoulder. "So that if any man ever dares again to order you to his bed, you can say no with confidence."

"Saying no did me no good with you, Lucan Hern."

Again he kissed her shoulder. It was so well-shaped and pale and fine. "Since the age of nine, I have

been given all that I desire without question. I suppose that makes me..." He hesitated, uncertain.

"Spoiled," Isadora supplied with a touch of humor in her voice. "Obnoxious. Demanding."

He hauled her back and gently pinned her to the bed. "You find me obnoxious?"

She smiled gently. "Sometimes."

"Do you know what I find you?" Still pinning her down, he bent his head to kiss her throat.

"What?" she asked gently.

"Fascinating." His lips moved lower. "Beautiful. Magnificent." She was all that, and more. When he moved his mouth to a taut nipple, Isadora tangled her fingers in his hair and held on. It wasn't until he felt the metal of her ring pressing against his head that he remembered why he had ordered her to his bed in the first place.

He sat up reluctantly. "I will escort you to your room."

"That isn't necessary. I'll take the hidden stairway."

"All the more reason for me to go with you. I should like to know the way."

"The pa.s.sageways within the walls are musty and dirty, and there are spiderwebs everywhere. The way is certainly not fit for a man of your station."

She was teasing him, but he replied honestly, "If the stairway is fit for you, then it is more than suitable for me."

THERE WERE HIDDEN stairways and doors within other hidden stairways, proof that whichever of Emperor Sebestyen's ancestors had overseen the construction of this portion of the palace had been just as mistrustful as the current emperor.

Isadora led Hern up the narrow stairwell, a candle in one hand and the other resting lightly against the cool, curving stone wall.

Liane had gladly given Isadora precise directions to Captain Hern's chambers. Her smile had been wide and true as she'd delivered the careful instructions. This was what she wanted, after all. Isadora had taken a lover, and with that taking Will had been firmly put into the past, where he belonged. It was sad to leave that part of her life behind, but at the same time she felt invigorated. Isadora was no longer a prisoner of the past; she was no longer bound by a love that had done nothing but hurt her.

Yes, Liane had gotten what she wanted. There would be no sharing of details, however. In that respect the empress would have to remain disappointed.

Isadora was very sure the emperor would prefer that their guest remain ignorant of the secret pa.s.sageways, which could very well lead an a.s.sa.s.sin to his bedside, but she was not about to hide the way from him. There were so many twists and turns, it would be impossible for him to find his way to any room of importance. Her room was of no importance at all, and there were no hidden doorways between her chamber and his. Just a few twists and turns.

"I do not know why you feel you must return to your own room," Hern said softly. His voice echoed, as hers did when she answered.

"I have duties. The empress needs me."

"The empress can find someone else to tend to her while I am here. I need you more than she does." He sounded puzzled, and she wondered if he had ever in his life needed anyone.

"It is my duty."

Isadora thought of the emperor's words about what might happen to Liane and the babies if the palace was attacked. She could not imagine that anyone would harm innocents. She had defended herself in the past, she had fought for her life, and she had killed. But she was not a soldier, and she did not understand how they thought during combat.

As she reached the door to her chamber, she turned to face Hern. He was her lover. She still felt him inside her, and she still marveled at the pleasure he had offered her. She did not love him, thank goodness, but there was an unexpected tenderness in her heart for this man who had helped her heal in a way she had not expected.

"In battle, do you kill innocent women and children?"

"Of course not." He reached out and touched her face with tenderness. "Is that why you don't like me?

You think because I'm a warrior I'm a cruel barbarian."

"No. I just worry about what will happen if war ever reaches Arthes."

"It will, I imagine. All the more reason for me to teach you to use a sword."

"If warriors don't kill innocent women and children, then why do I need a sword?" She knew the answer

but needed to hear it from him.

"Not all soldiers are honorable, Isadora."

She nodded her head slightly. She knew too well that many soldiers were not at all honorable. Those

who had burned her cabin certainly had no honor. "This afternoon," she said. "You can begin to teach me this afternoon, if you are available."

"Of course I am available, for you."

Her destiny was protection, and she had already learned that it wasn't always so easy as a spell or a health potion. Sometimes, in order to protect, one had to fight.

"And tonight?" she asked. He'd had her in his bed. Did he still want her there, or was his curiosity

satisfied?

"Come to me, in whatever way suits you. By this hidden stairway, by armed sentinel, on the arm of the emperor himself. I don't care how you come to me, Isadora. Just come."

He stood on the step beneath her, which brought them almost face-to-face. It was nice to simply lean forward and lay her mouth on his for an all-too-brief moment. "I will, Captain," she said as she drew away.

He grabbed her arm, not too tight, but certainly with a firmness she had not expected. "Surely now you