Carnal Sacrifice

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Carnal Sacrifice

ISBN # 1-4199-0509-0

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Carnal Sacrifice Copyright© 2006 Lacey Alexander

Edited by Heather Osborn.Cover art by Christine Clavel.

Electronic book Publication: January 2006

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 443103502.

is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales

Warning:

rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers. The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been

rotic), and X (X-treme). Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-

S-
ensuous
 
love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-
rotic
 
love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as  “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X-
treme
 
titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

B
RIDES OF
 
C
ARALON
:

C
ARNAL
 
S
ACRIFICE

Lacey Alexander

Lacey Alexander

3591 AD

Chapter One

As a warm touch came on her shoulder, Laela turned to look into her mother’s eyes.

“It is time, Daughter. You must take your place before your father’s throne.”

Laela drew in a deep breath. This was it—the moment she’d awaited her whole life.  Her father, ruler of Caralon, was ready to announce the name of her bridegroom.

Her mother, Jalal, always so strong and regal, offered a reassuring smile. “Don’t be afraid. You see how well your sisters’ marriages have worked out.”

Laela nodded. She
 
wasn’t
 
afraid—she was excited. After all, both her older sisters had been given in marriage to virile, rugged men who seemingly made them happy in every way. Now she was about to get a virile, rugged man of her own. The spot between her thighs clenched at the thought and her nipples tightened beneath the silk that shrouded them. Thank Ares she had finally reached bride’s age and would now learn all the secrets of marriage that were kept from royal girls. “I’m ready, mother.”

As Jalal led Laela toward her father’s throne, set upon a platform at one end of the great hall, the crowd around them grew quiet, understanding the important moment was at hand. Enrick, her father, had called weeks ago for the grand feast they’d all just eaten, inviting visitors from far and wide, but only tonight had he announced that he’d decided to whom he would give Laela’s hand in marriage—not to mention her virginity, her bride price.

Having both her sisters in attendance for such a momentous occasion comforted her. A quick glance at Maven and her warrior husband Dane, then to Teesia and her dark-haired Ralen, reminded her once more that she would soon know the same joys as they. Her whole body tingled at the realization that after this night, her life would change forever—she would finally be a woman, a wife, a
 
lover
. Oh, how she wanted a man—a man to hold her, a man to love her, a man she could explore and touch and learn about. A man who would ease the aching of that tender, hungry spot that yearned for release—a man who would
 
give
 
her the release she’d found herself, with her hand, late at night in the privacy of her bedchamber.

Her father’s eyes smiled on her as she neared, and it struck her how much power he held—perched high on his throne made of valuable antique metals from the Before  Times. He’d brought peace to a region that had never known it before, and he’d united

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Carnal Sacrifice

that region under his rule. He was the most revered man in the domain, and now he  was delivering her into her future.

“Laela, my youngest daughter,” he began, his deep voice booming over the vast  hall, “in three days, you will be given to your husband-to-be—Ogran of the  Mountains.”

As the crowd gasped, Laela felt lightheaded and actually stumbled backward. She caught herself and remained upright as she tried to process what her father had just said.
 
Ogran of the Mountains?
 
No! How could it be?

She swallowed nervously, her heart thudding like a drum in her chest, her legs gone weak, then managed to ask the question she knew she must. “Father, the only  Ogran I know of is…” Old. Terribly old.
 
Unthinkably
 
old. “Perhaps…Ogran has a
 
son
, or a
 
grandson
, of the same name?” she asked, trying to understand.

Her father’s lips pursed and she could have sworn the wrinkles at his eyes slashed a bit deeper. He looked almost sad as he replied, yet his voice came strong and sure. “No, my daughter, Ogran has no son. He is the man you have met here in our fortress.”

She remembered his visits when she was a very little girl—he’d been an old man even then. Bile roiled in her stomach, any fluttering she’d been experiencing between her thighs now a thing of the past. “But Father…” She was at a loss for words and knew she need not even speak them—her complaint was clear enough without voicing it.
 
How could you do this to me? How could you?

Enrick spoke softly, kindly. “He wishes a wife, children.”

“And in return?” she asked, her voice growing cold.

“His forces will guard our western borders from encroachers through the mountain passes.”

She nodded shortly, fully understanding now. Her father had given her sisters in marriage to men who lived on the borders as well, men who could protect Caralon from enemies trying to invade—but he’d also chosen men with whom he’d known they would ultimately be well matched. In Laela’s case, he’d apparently sold her for border protection without a care for her happiness. She let her accusing gaze burn into him without concern for the roomful of people around them.

“Come closer, Daughter,” Enrick bade. He bent down to speak, low enough that only she could hear. “He will die, Laela. And then his estate will be yours. It is a good arrangement.”

“For
 
you
,” she snapped, not replying in quite so discreet a tone.

“For you, too. Once he passes, you will be free to do whatever you wish, and you will be wealthy, as well.”

Her back went rigid. “So you’re banishing me to a place so remote it doesn’t even have a real name in order that I might be wife to a man who could easily be my grandfather, and you think having only to live this way for five or ten years until he

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Lacey Alexander

dies is a
 
good arrangement
?” She’d never spoken to her father so shrilly and she’d not  have been surprised had he struck her down with the back of his hand.

But instead, his sad look remained in place. “Laela, it is not ideal, I admit. But the  western borders are being threatened. Dane has kept the Virgs to the north contained,  but there are others—tribal people—coming together beyond our western rim, and they  could intend our domain great harm. There has also been talk of the Virgs circling  down to invade through the mountains, as well. Ogran was…the only choice.”

“I am a pawn,” she returned softly.

“Caralon must be kept safe, this you know.”

She snorted in disdain and turned to go, yet stopped to look back at her father one  last time. “I never thought you’d forsake me,” she spat, then walked back down the  path she’d come, eyes on the smooth stone floor before her, unwilling to glance up at  the astonished onlookers. Her skin crawled with disgust over her own fate.

I must get out of this room, now. I must be alone where I can think and somehow try to  figure out how I’m going to survive this.

But already she knew that thinking wasn’t going to help.

Her life was about to become a nightmare.

* * * * *

Laela lay on her bed, hugging her black cat, Midnight, to her breasts. She knew everyone at the fortress thought it a bit odd that she’d taken such a liking to the stable cat, even bringing it indoors and giving it a name—people didn’t form such personal attachments to that sort of animal—but ever since her sisters had married and left home, leaving her virtually alone in the world, she’d needed a friend, and that friend had become Midnight. “At least I’ll have
 
you
 
with me,” she said, looking into the cat’s green eyes, which reminded her of the rare round, green marbles she’d seen from the  Before Times. “Even if we
 
are
 
being banished to ‘the mountains’.” She rolled her eyes at the very notion. Just like her sister Teesia, she loved the ocean, and she found it difficult to imagine life without it nearby.

Then again, she was having a hard time imagining
 
any
 
part of the new life she’d just been sentenced to. Glancing in the general direction of the great hall, she sneered her anger at her father. She’d always felt like the odd-one-out in her family, and this only proved she was right. Maven was her father’s eldest and favorite, her looks echoing his blonde hair and fair complexion, while Teesia mirrored their mother more—in both appearance and temperament, with long dark locks and an eager determination to get what she wanted at all costs. Laela, with her plain brown hair and a face she’d always thought of as pretty but not
 
striking
, was not particularly much like her mother
 
or
 
her father—and she was no one’s particular favorite.

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Carnal Sacrifice

Yet, even so, she was loved within her family and she’d never have believed her father would simply abandon her this way! Clearly, he didn’t value her as much as his other two daughters. Clearly, he saw her life as something disposable.

Just then, both Maven and Teesia came rushing in to the bedchamber, their silk dresses flowing around their curves like ocean waves. With their long hair falling about their shoulders like decadent waterfalls—while Laela’s remained in the braid that

signified her royal virginity—it was one more reminder that they both lived the perfect  life she ached for, and now had no chance of ever achieving.

Both sisters’ eyes brimmed with horror on her behalf. “Oh Laela,” Maven said,  hugging her close as she plopped on the fur-covered bed next to her. Midnight  screeched and leapt from her arms, dashing under the large wooden wardrobe in the