Enslaved: A Kinky Adult Fairy Tale (Bedding the Bad Girl Book 3) (6 page)

“Aaron, my love.”

And all thoughts of magic—or anything else—fled his mind.

He came hard, his heart aching with the same ferocity as his cock. She was everything he’d ever dreamed of, the woman he hadn’t believed existed. What did it matter if his love came from his heart or from some trick of magic? Surely this euphoria, this bliss was worth being the victim of deception?

And perhaps sleeping your life away isn’t so bad
,
either, as long as you have beautiful dreams
.

The thought cut through him, a knife slid cleanly into the heart of his pleasure, and Aaron’s throat tightened until he could barely breathe, a part of him already mourning the death of the dream that was Calliope.

CHAPTER SIX

Calliope

Men were more complicated than she had assumed, even kind, brilliant lovers like Aaron. Of course, if he hadn’t been so generous in bed and so sweet and understanding about her infirmity, Calliope wasn’t sure she would think him so kind.

“Hurry up, Calliope. Night will be falling soon. Try to ride as if you weren’t a dead body slung across the saddle.”

In fact, she would probably think he was a first-rate ass.

“Put some effort into it, will you?” His voice made it clear how very little he thought of her riding skill.

She had told him she’d only ridden twice before and had done her best to keep up, struggling to keep pace with him even when the sensitive skin of her thighs and other bare parts chafed against the rough leather of the saddle. She wanted to ask him to stop so that she could change into her riding pants, but they were at the bottom of the pack and she didn’t want to delay them any further.

Still, her poor thighs were stinging something fierce…

“Aaron, are you sure we can’t stop for a moment? I think if I—”

“How many times have I requested your silence?” He barked the words over his shoulder from where he rode in front of her, not even bothering to turn and look her in the eye.

“Several,” she said, wounded by his tone. “But I—”

“Then keep your peace. We’re in a dangerous part of the country.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Nonsense, we’re not far from my own farm.”

“I won’t ask you again, Calliope. The next word you utter will be considered treason against your king and country.” He followed the words by kicking his mount, urging the poor beast into a canter after four hours of hard riding.

“Treason, indeed,” Calliope muttered, beginning to think truly treasonous thoughts about the ways she would like to make King Aaron pay for his rudeness.

She wished she were skilled at magic, especially transfiguration. Spending the afternoon as a lizard would teach that man to think twice before he behaved like a cold-blooded reptile. It was impossible to believe he was the same man who had made love to her with such tenderness, who had melted her heart so completely that she could not help but call him her love.

She had cried at the beauty of their passion, for Goddess’ sake!

But maybe that was what had made him act like a mean-spirited troll. Mother always said that a man who held your heart was a man who couldn’t be trusted. They were cruelest to those they cared for and even crueler to those who cared for them.

Or maybe your spell is simply wearing off
.

For once, the voice in her head wasn’t one of the “others”, but her own inner muse. The herbs the healer at the castle had given her were even more effective than her tonics. She’d placed some under her tongue after lunch and hadn’t heard a whisper from the cast of characters usually gathered in her skull. She’d been wonderfully alone with her own thoughts.

Too bad that those thoughts hadn’t been at all wonderful…

What if Aaron’s abrupt change of attitude
was
magically related? She’d only heard good things spoken of the king and the way he had treated his family and courtiers at dinner had been above reproach. Even the more spiteful members of the court had been treated with tolerance and his dealings with her had been generous and caring. He had a sympathetic ear and had seemed shamelessly devoted to her comfort and pleasure.

Right up until they’d finished making love in the grass, when he had pulled away and stared down at where she lay with a suspicious light in his eyes.

Perhaps he suspects that the passion between you is tainted
?

“Why didn’t I tell him last night? Why did I keep my suspicions to myself?” Calliope softly asked the heavens, though she already knew the answer.

After the festive supper in his hall, he had walked her to the door of her chamber and kissed her so sweetly that she hadn’t wanted to speak a word that would influence him against her. She had convinced herself to wait until they freed Johann, justifying her silence with the belief that Aaron shouldn’t be distracted from the rescue by concern over his own possible enchantment.

“You were thinking of yourself and selfishness is never rewarded, Calliope,” she chastised herself, urging her mount into a trot despite the raw state of her skin.

Aaron had pulled ahead and it wouldn’t do to lose sight of him. She hadn’t been to the Beauvielle castle since she was a girl and could easily get lost on the rough road they followed. The narrow dirt path had already branched several times. But Aaron always seemed to know which branch to choose, as if he had memorized every inch of his country and could navigate its roadways blindfolded.

Blindfolded
…

Hmm…there was a thought. The pull between was definitely strongest when they were gazing into each other’s eyes. Even during the ride, Aaron’s voice would gentle if he turned back to look at her before he spoke. Perhaps the best way to test the truth of their attraction was for Aaron to be unable to see her as they touched…

The beginnings of a plan forming in her mind, Calliope urged her mount into a full canter, suddenly as eager as Aaron to arrive at their campsite for the night.

The sooner they fed and watered the horses and had their own supper, the sooner she would be able to put her theory to the test.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Aaron

“Leave them. I’ll clean the dishes,” Aaron said in the same impatient tone he’d used with his travelling companion the entire afternoon. “Get ready for bed. Morning will come soon enough and I don’t want you delaying our departure.”

“Of course, Sire. I live to serve you,” Calliope snapped, finally losing her temper, though he’d given her more than enough reason to lash into him several hours past.

Aaron turned to watch her storm away toward the river, a smile tugging at his lips. No matter how foul it made him feel to treat her so horribly, some sick part of him enjoyed hearing his imperious tone mocked in her sweet, lilting voice.

The smile faded as quickly, however, replaced by a more familiar wave of misery.

He was making himself miserable treating Calliope this way, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. If he wasn’t actively trying to be difficult, he slipped under her spell all over again. Just the sight of her blonde hair shining in the sun made him want to whisper a hundred apologies into the delicate pink shell of her ear.

He cursed as he scraped their plates clean and buried what little food remained from their supper a few meters from the camp.

This was hardly the ideal way to spend the night before a difficult battle. And it
would
be a battle, no doubt about it.

Calliope had told him what she knew of the castle and none of it sounded good. There was a moat of molten lava surrounding the keep that had the tendency to overflow as travelers attempted to cross the drawbridge. There was a forest of poisonous vines filling the bottom floors of the castle, and the entrance to Rosamund’s tower was guarded by a half dog, half dragon beast that craved human flesh.

If Aaron was to free his brother without magical intervention, he would need his wits about him…though he hoped to have more than the power of the sword on his side. He believed Calliope would be swayed to use her magic once she came face-to-face with the wicked thing she had created.

He found it hard to believe she hadn’t tried to remedy Rosamund’s situation before now. Aside from the spell modification she had made as a child, Calliope swore she hadn’t ventured within a few miles of the castle for fear of making the problem worse. Her lack of faith in her powers didn’t inspire confidence, but the castle physician had sworn there was nothing magically amiss in her aura.

Aaron couldn’t see such things himself, but he trusted Dr. Whethers. She had kept his father from death for a good twenty years after the old man should have passed into the next realm. The former King Aaron had even managed to sire a son, Johann, several years after the first attack on his heart, giving Outer Kartolia a second male heir to the throne fourteen years after the first. If Whethers said there was nothing clinically wrong with Calliope’s magic, he believed her.

But that left the question—what was the fairy’s problem? For there certainly
was
a problem if her gifts kept ending up as curses.

He was still angry with her for possibly enchanting him into caring for her, but he didn’t believe Calliope would deliberately hurt anyone.

Then why are you punishing her with your foul temper
?

Aaron snatched the pan they’d used to warm their dinner and stalked off toward the river, choosing a different path than the one taken by his companion.

Even
if
Calliope had spelled him, which he still didn’t know for certain, there was a chance she hadn’t done it on purpose. She seemed as infatuated with him as he was with her—or she had until he’d spent the afternoon pushing her away—and surely she wouldn’t have deliberately spelled herself. He supposed there was a chance she was like some of the other besotted young women of his realm, who idolized him with an obsession usually reserved for musicians and movie stars, but it didn’t seem likely.

She hadn’t even ventured to his castle of her own free will. She had been kidnapped and held prisoner there. And if her magic had been under her control, why wouldn’t she have melted the prison bars and walked free? Why allow herself to be treated so vilely?

Examining the facts, it seemed Aaron had likely been punishing Calliope for nothing, or at the very worst, a magical misfire.

After all, what would the fairy have to gain from making him fall in love with her? The title of Queen and access to the wealth of the kingdom, yes, but so did every other woman who came to his bed. He’d stopped worrying about that being the sole motivation for a woman to love him a long time ago. Aaron trusted his instincts to let him know when he was being played false.

And even if a woman managed to trick him, she would pay the greatest price for her treachery. What sadder existence could there be than to marry another person for any reason other than love? No treasury, regardless of size, would ever be able to make up for such poverty of the heart.

“Seems you’ve answered your own question,” Aaron mumbled as he knelt beside the swiftly flowing river.

He had just decided that he had to speak honestly with Calliope about his suspicions—after a heartfelt apology, of course—when her voice sounded from behind him.

“Don’t turn around, and don’t say a word. This is the simplest of spells, but I still can’t guarantee your safety if you disobey my command.” Her voice was cool, but her words sent a wave of heat surging to his groin. She could be getting ready to kill him, for all he knew, but the idea of being at her command still made his traitorous body react.

“Calliope, I—”

“I will tell you once more to be quiet, Aaron. After that, you take your life in your hands with your disobedience.”

He sucked in a deep breath, but forced himself to hold his peace as she began to chant behind him. She really was casting, damn it, and despite Dr. Whethers assurances, Aaron didn’t have enough faith in Calliope’s magical skill to risk shaking her concentration.

“Still and mum is what I would, magic hear and do as you should.” The air near the river shivered and went strangely silent, seeming empty without her words to fill it.

Aaron was about to say something to that effect, when a stinging sensation shivered across the back of his neck. Warmth spread throughout his body, relaxing his muscles for one blissful second before his arms were forced up and over his head and bound together by invisible wire.

“What the—” His words ended in a shout as he was pulled across the ground by some unseen force, coming to an abrupt stop against a tree. His head hit the bark, hard, and his vision swam for a moment before everything—including Calliope’s concerned face—faded to black.

He feared he was losing consciousness, but his thoughts remained sharp as his vision blackened.

“It’s okay, Aaron. You’re all right.” Calliope’s voice was soft and placating, but it did nothing to stem the panic rushing through him

He was blind. She had blinded him!

“What have you done?” he snapped. “Release me immediately! I swear by the—”

“Quiet now, you’ll hurt yourself. The spell won’t last long.” Her hand smoothed down his stomach and over the slight bulge in his pants—which, despite his fear, became a larger bulge under her exploring fingers. “So if you want to enjoy this, I suggest you hold still.”