Hers to Claim (26 page)

With a vivid curse,
Hel heaved his weight against a door fronting the alley.

T
he ghouls closed remorselessly on them, low moans and hisses echoing in the dark.

“
Nia, help me. Put your shoulder to this door!” Both of them slammed against the wooden door. With a splintering crack, it spilled them inward.

Hel
slammed the door behind them and leaned his full weight against it. Complete darkness enveloped them.

“Can you see anything?” Nia’s voice came from
no more than an arm’s length away, yet Hel couldn’t make out a thing.

“Give me a minute to adjust to the darkness,
and then we must barricade this door and find the front entrance.”

At that moment, a heavy jolt against the door almost moved Hel from his stance. “Damnation! Another heavy slam rattled the door on its hinges
, and Hel cursed again. “We must find something to brace this door. Nia, help me.” Another slam shoved both of them forward, and they groaned with the strain it took to close the door the few inches that the ghouls had opened it.

“Won’t we be missed? Surely someone will note o
ur absence and look for us,” Nia panted.

“Probably…but I fear not soon enough to preserve our skins.”

Hel peered intently into the gloom of the building. He could discern the shapes of worktables and multiple stoves. Now, he knew where they were—the kitchen of
The Half-Witted Sister
across from the entrance to the castle. “This is a grill house, Nia. One that used natural gas for fuel, not diaman crystals. I want to let the ghouls in and light the gas.”

He could feel Nia’s nod. “And where will we be?”

“Running like the seven hells, straight through that doorway.” He pointed. “There is a small dining room on the other side with a large display window. Be prepared to dive through the window. Tuck and roll and come up running for the castle entrance.”

“How do we ignite the gas?”

The door suddenly jolted and their feet slipped against the hard floor as they again fought to keep the door closed. The moans and hisses on the opposite side became more agitated.

Hel thought for a moment. “The kitchen grills have spark igniters for their
burners. We’ll turn on the gas to all the grills, allow the gas a moment to accumulate in the air, then hit the igniter spark on our way out and just hope the explosion takes out the ghouls.”

“We can’t stay here much longer, that’s a certainty,” Nia stated. Hel could hear the physical strain in her voice as she leaned into the door.

“Yes. Quickly, Nia, the stoves. Turn the surface units on full. The far left knob on each grill is the spark igniter. I’ll flip one as we leave.”

“And hope we don’t blow ourselves up as well as the ghouls,” Nia muttered
as she hustled to do as he’d ordered.

“Yes…there’s that.
I’ll try not to blow us up.”

Nia
moved hastily from stove to stove in the gloomy kitchen, peering at the controls from inches away. “Okay…I think all the burners are on high.”

“
Ready? Here we go.” Hel leaped away from the alleyway door. As soon as his weight no longer restrained the door, it smashed open to admit one of the lurching monstrosities. As the creature fell through the door, Hel paused at the stove and flipped the igniters, then careened through the open doorway into the dining room, propelling Nia in front of him.

A thunderous detonation obscured h
is scream of, “Jump!” Hel felt his feet leave the floor. The force of the explosion thrust both him and Nia through the large front windows of the eatery, flinging them into the middle of the street beyond. Ears ringing, head whirling from the explosion, shards of glass raining from his body, Hel crawled crabwise toward Nia, cast into the street like a rag doll. She stirred.

“Up. Get up.” His hand closed around her wrist
, and he half-dragged, half-carried her in a stumbling run toward the castle.

They had gone only a little way before a welcome sight met his eyes.
A dozen diaman lanterns carried by townspeople spread out in a phalanx and progressed down the street. Their escort to safety had arrived.

Hel wrapped Nia in his arms and held her tightly. “Are you in one piece?”

She straightened but clung to him. “Yes. I’ll have bruises on my bruises, but I’m whole.”

“By Her ruby red tits, Nia! This must stop.”

~~~

“Goodman was your saboteur.”

Hel watched
Ramsey sheath a stiletto he’d been cleaning and throw the bloody cloth onto a dining room table that still bore the remnants of a meal. Ramsey slouched negligently in an armchair pushed away from the table. Steffania reclined on a chaise nearby, all but her head obscured by plush pillows, blankets and Ramsey’s cloak. She smiled brilliantly at Nia as Hel ushered her into the family dining room.

“
Did you discover the extent of his tampering?”

DeKieran pulled a
small blade from his belt and began to clean beneath his nails. “Goodman repeatedly broke apart and scattered the cache-stones on the western border. He contaminated the graves on the eastern side with polluted soil and threw hundreds of energized diaman stones into the river.” Ram raised eyes of cold dispassion. “Damnation, man, what happened to the two of you?”

Hel jerked his head sharply. “Later.”

Ramsey shrewdly eyed him then shrugged. “Goodman was too smug, DeHelios. He gloated about some mischief as yet uncovered, but deteriorated into mindless drivel before I could get details out of him.” Ramsey returned his small blade to his belt. “Be on your guard.”

Hel stood rigid
ly and fought to master his rage. He suspected he and Nia had already encountered some of Goodman’s mischief. “Where
is
Mister Goodman?”

Ramsey
sat forward and met Hel’s glare but responded with the same lack of inflection with which he had enumerated Goodman’s crimes. “I’m not certain. He met with an unfortunate accident—a fall from a watchtower. His body broke on the boulders at the base of the wall and the river washed his remains away.” The first hint of emotion entered DeKieran’s uncanny eyes. “But he suffered before his…mishap.”

Hel’s face twisted with f
ierce satisfaction. “Thank you.”

DeKieran
cocked his head with an almost imperceptible nod and studied Nia. “I’m glad to see you more or less in one piece, Lady DeCorvus. I would have killed DeHelios personally had his negligence resulted in your—”

“I suffered no permanent hurt, Lord Ramsey.
Thank you,” Nia interjected, glancing at Hel.

By Her light, the rogue knew how to taunt him.
Hel owed Ramsey, but right now, he’d gladly take his fists to the man. Only Nia’s pleading gaze held him immobile.

“Adonia, thank you.
A thousand times, thank you,” Steffania declared, also stepping into the breach. “This one won’t say…” she nodded at Ramsey…“but I’m certain I owe the two of you my life.”

Nia
shrugged modestly. “The important thing is that you’re recovering. How do you feel? Are you sure you should be out of bed so soon?”

Steffania groaned. “Not you, too. I just fought that battle with Ramsey.
I feel fine.” She glared at Ram who studiously ignored her. “You didn’t need to carry me. I was perfectly capable of walking!” Her gaze returned to Adonia. “One more moment lying in bed and I would’ve gone crazy.” Her eyes laughed at the wealth of cushions and blankets piled on, over and around her. “And as you can see, no pillow or blanket has been spared to ensure my comfort.”

Hel pulled out a chair and seated Nia when servants entered with hot food. “You will eat,” he said pointedly.
He watched Nia until she raised a fork to her mouth and began to chew.

A commotion in the hallway drew his attention and a townsman burst through the door.

“My lord! Soul-wraiths! Soul-wraiths and ghouls swarm the eastern entrance to the castle. The men you set at the doors are barely holding them at bay. We need more diaman crystals and every available sword.”

The undead already prowled the streets—and now soul-wraiths.
If a horde of wraiths attacked the castle, they were also elsewhere in the city. The news was devastating. There was no possible way Nyth Uchel’s occupants could repel a swarm of ghouls and soul-wraiths for the long hours of every night for months to come.

Only one hope for salvation occurred to him
. His mind stuttered in horror. He wouldn’t ask it of any unschooled woman, let alone the woman he loved beyond reason. With almost crippling despair, he realized he’d little choice. He must attempt the Great Rite with Nia.

Hel barked orders to the stunned servants attending them in the dining room. “Unlock the armaments room. Distribute weapons to every able-bodied person
in this castle, women and children included. Send them to the western doorway. One of you get to the storeroom and bring all the lanterns and diaman crystals available. Now! Be quick about it.” Hel turned. “Ramsey, meet me at the west castle entrance. We must ensure everyone is suitably armed with a weapon and a quantity of diaman crystals. We are abandoning the castle.”

Ram glanced at his wife
, who was flinging pillows and wraps to the floor in a flurry of urgency. “Change to your battle leathers and arm yourself, Steffania. We need to assist DeHelios in getting to the white tower and then buy him as much time as we can.”

Goddess bless the man, DeKieran
had guessed what Hel proposed to do.

“What does he mean, Hel?”
Nia stammered. “Buy you time for what?”

Hel could have
screamed to the heavens at the anguish that ravaged him, knowing what he was about to demand of her. She needed more time. She needed more training. She wasn’t ready. The bitter realization that he could very well lose her to madness cut bone deep. But it was Nyth Uchel’s only chance—it was
Nia’s
only chance—of remaining alive. “We are going to the white tower and perform the Great Rite. Ramsey, Steffania and as many others as possible will hold the ghouls and wraiths at bay, away from the
Chambre Cristalle
. Nia … please don’t look at me like that. The monsters are only active during the hours of darkness. The odds are not in our favor, but this is the only way we have a fighting chance. Beauty…it is
our
only chance.”

She
shook visibly. Bruises from Goodman’s attack and their encounter with the ghouls colored her body in hues of purple-black and exhaustion was apparent in her stance. “We are to work the Great Rite? Now?”

Hel could read the terror in Nia’s eyes.
A twin to it dwelt in his heart when he considered the real possibility he might gain Nyth Uchel yet lose Nia. With her loss would die any hope for Verdantia, but that scarcely mattered to him. If she was gone, he wouldn’t care to live. With gut-churning desolation, he silently repeated his nursery prayer.
Great Mother, as you love me, protect her.
“We cannot wait if we are to save our people. We must act now.”

Adonia considered t
heir flight through the dark to Torre Bianca, surrounded by armed townsmen holding aloft diaman-lit lanterns, as the stuff of pure terror. Shrill screams echoed through the city streets—cries of townsfolk dying hideous deaths—the folk of Nyth Uchel who’d fallen to the invading nightmares. Every step she took brought her closer to her ultimate dread, the Great Rite. It was yet another terrifying step into a mystical unknown—a step for which she was grossly unprepared—and failure would exact a horrifying cost.

She and Hel had ascended to the
Chambre Cristalle
, all the while hearing the shouts of Ramsey ordering the perimeter placement to defend the entrance to the tower. Her heart wept at the thought of those close to her who might die to give them this chance. In addition to Ramsey and Steffania, Maddie and Sara, and others from the castle who had become a part of her, guarded the defensive perimeter.

When they entered the chamber,
Hel had cupped her face, his own a study in pain. “I can’t do this. For the first time, I believe She asks more of me than I am willing to give. I think I would rather die than extinguish your bright light with madness. You are too dear to me. Say the word and we will look for another way.”

Adonia could not have wished for a more profound statement of what she meant to him. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to be the person he thought she was.
“If we perform the Great Rite successfully, then all in Nyth Uchel might live. Yes?”

Hel nodded slowly. “It is my hope, my belief, the rite will cleanse the city of all pestilence.”

“Then I am asking you to perform the Great Rite with me. This is my choice, my decision. I understand the risk. I wish to take it.”

His great hand cupped the back of her head
, and he lowered his forehead to hers. Hel rested there for a long moment, eyes closed. “Dearest Beauty, never again tell me you’re not brave.”

Hel
crossed to a low sideboard and removed a stopper from a cut crystal decanter. He poured a liquid into two massive goblets of crystal banded with bejeweled precious metal.

“This is
cinnagin
-spiced wine.” He held one goblet at eye-level and studied it. “
Cinnagin
, both our greatest curse and most profound blessing. This aphrodisiac brought the scourge of the Haarb upon our heads, and yet, it provides our sole wealth in interstellar trade. The pinch of
cinnagin
in this goblet would purchase a hyper-light star cruiser.” He swallowed the contents of one goblet in several long pulls and handed her the other—but stopped Adonia as she raised the cup to her lips without hesitation.

“
Wait. Before you take this irreversible step, there are things I must tell you about
cinnagin
. The dried concentrate of this aphrodisiac enables and enhances an intense electro-chemical bond with
diaman
crystal. This creates a neural-chemical reaction that hyper-excites your nervous system. Your craving for orgasm will push you to the threshold of insanity…and Nia, the sensations will deluge you brutally and without surcease. Do not come—no matter if you think you will die—do not come, not until I command it. That way lies certain madness.”

Adonia remembered the soul-stripping cries of the insane
magistra
in Sylvan Mintoth. She lowered the cup, placing it carefully next to the empty one. “We must use
cinnagin
?”

He stepped up to hold her in an all-enveloping hug.
She felt the heat and solidity of his great body through her robe. She felt the deep vibration of his voice as he spoke. Somehow, it was impossible to continue to doubt with this man supporting her. “When I allow our mutual climax, a bond is formed with Mother Verdantia that allows me to amplify and focus all our combined arousal into the dais. The diamantorre absorbs the shockwave of our orgasms and converts it to greater magnitudes of energy. Somehow, during this moment, our Great Mother adds Her own inherent energies. Torre Bianca will blaze with the clearest of white lights, the
arcobaleno
. I pray that pure light will purify Nyth Uchel of the ghouls and wraiths that afflict us. Do not be surprised if you visit the aetheric plane for a time. Some women speak of interacting with
Her
during the aftermath, though it is uncommon.”

She sighed deeply and pushed away, offering him a wobbly smile. “
I trust you. So…I drink this and then what happens?”

The familiar wicked glint appeared in his eyes. “
Within a short time, you will beg me to fuck you, and I will be exerting all my self-discipline not to grant your pleas.” He grimaced. “
Cinnagin
has a side-effect. For a period following the Great Rite, you will need the presence of my semen inside you to orgasm.” Hel traced a finger down her cheek. “We cannot make love until the
cinnagin
passes from your system or that dependency becomes life-long. You may have a few uneasy days. I want you to understand why I will not touch you afterward. I made a mistake with my wife and gave in to her pleading with bitter consequences. She despised her dependency—and me.”

Afterward…he spoke as if an afterward was assured when they both knew it wasn’t.
Still …
Adonia held his gaze for a long moment. She had so little she could give him. She’d never considered this within her power. “I am not Lady Athena. What if I
desire
to give you this gift?”

Unreadable emotions ranged across his face. “
That
is a consideration for another day.” Hel leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in tender exploration. “Now … drink that cup, Beauty.”

As Adonia did so, the sounds of conflict, the shouts and
shrill cries of combat, filtered through the chamber’s windows and she sent up a prayer for those below.

~~~

It began as he’d said. An inferno of arousal washed through her system, in unrelenting wave upon wave. Nude and bound spread-eagled to the dais in the
Chambre Cristalle
, Adonia realized that forevermore, her benchmark for torture would be the Great Rite and its
cinnagin
-driven extremes—when she could think at all—when the detonation of sexual craving moderated enough for rational thought. Klaran had branded her cold and unwomanly. She’d believed him.
Cinnagin
transformed her into an insatiable succubus, and she forgot she’d ever been anything else.

“Remember, B
eauty, stay with me.” Fire burned in Hel’s gray eyes as he knelt between her legs and scanned her body while she devoured his muscled elegance and prodigious cock. Then began hours of unremitting torment—or perhaps days—she couldn’t tell anymore. Awareness of her surrounds faded, and she forgot who and where she was. Her vision fogged. Why she was in this place and who shared the chamber with her drifted from her rational mind. She only
felt
.

The very air across her body
teased her in the most violent fashion. Her nipples contracted to stinging firmness and ached for any touch as her most private places swelled to the limits her aching flesh would allow and wept with her body’s dew. Uncontrollable undulations stretched her to the limits of her bonds as she craved contact to assuage the wildfire that consumed her.

“Touch me. Goddess,
please, a touch. Anyone…please.”

A man’s
broad shoulders spread her already straining thighs further apart as his tongue moved in a well-lubricated slide across her swollen intimate flesh. He paused and circled her clit with the tip of his tongue. The muscles in her buttocks trembled, straining to press into his caress, to deepen the stimulation that merely taunted her with completion.

Her eyes found his
, her neck corded with the strain to hold her head upright. For a moment, reality filtered through her mental daze. “Please, Hel…please…”

He raised his head enough to meet her gaze
, his chin glistening with her wetness, his full lips swollen and red. “Please, what, Beauty?” His snarl should have warned her.

“I need you.”

“You have me.”

“Inside. I need you inside.”

His eyes closed to mere slits and he slowly shook his head. That was when she began to hurl vitriolic curses at him. As time passed, her venomous curses turned to abject begging and then to mumbled incoherency as all conscious thought abandoned her, and she became a piece of needy, wanton flesh. In the background, almost obscured by her lust, the low bass rumble of sound and the increasing brilliance of the
Chambre Cristalle
filtered through her awareness.

At last, Hel’s heavy weight lay on her. His
hard length parted her swollen feminine lips and invaded. She grunted at the glorious satisfaction. He withdrew. She refused to breathe, all focus poised for the return of that singular sensation. Again, He probed, thrust and withdrew. A low growl built in her chest. “More,” she snarled with guttural ferocity. Viciously, his thick cock pierced her and held deep, hitting the end of her channel, and then began rhythmic, punishing thrusts that pushed her to the precipitous brink of orgasm. Beyond coherent speech, she snarled hysterically when his rhythm slowed.

“Easy
. Hold fast. The
Chambre
glows brilliant with our arousal. We are almost there.”

She shook off the choked syllables of Hel’s voice and
strained upward to force a more rapid penetration. He retreated. She fell into a seething, ravenous silence. The tempo again picked up and again she climbed to the heavens.

“Nia, come. Come now!”
Incapable of disobeying him, she exploded—ecstasy pulsing from her physical body in tsunami-like waves.

When the mind-wiping pleasure released her, Adonia floated bodiless
in what could only be a dream world set on a vast metaphysical plane. The universe spread out before her like a velvet cloud. Joy swamped her as she recognized others around her—Hel, Fleur, Sophi and Eric, Ari and Doral—all displayed as brilliant globes of golden light, swirling in the plush blackness. She didn’t question how she knew their individual identities—but she knew them. Just as she knew the vast, radiant intelligence was their Great Mother, Verdantia.

Adonia
frolicked with childlike innocence among the others but her joy dimmed and horror invaded when her awareness stretched outward. A dark void had gained terrible inroads in its invasion of Her. Black veins threaded the whole of their mother and patches of pustulent corruption dotted her once pristine brilliance. In places, the darkness swallowed Her radiance completely leaving gaping holes of nothingness.

Welcome,
my beloved daughter.

An immeasurable sense of
acceptance and love overwhelmed Adonia. There was no question in Adonia’s mind as to who spoke. Her
.
Their Great Mother. Verdantia.

Bring them to you…all my bygone sons and daughters of
the light…only you can call them forth.”

“Great Mother? I don’t understand.”

To save me, child, you must summon them. Soon.

Adonia reached out
to Her in panicked question, but she was thrown back into the
Chambre Cristalle.

Her body felt as
if she’d turned for hours on a fiery spit, and her brain refused anything but the most fleeting coherence. She swam in and out of consciousness, trapped in a world of leaden flesh. Her spirit yearned for a return to the grace of the Mother. A dead weight kept her pressed full-length into the diaman-stone dais, and a blazing radiance pained her eyes. Adonia had no concept of how long she lay smashed into the brilliant surface before the weight stirred—a man. Her mind supplied a name—Hel. He lifted himself off with a groan and slid clumsily to his feet. She felt the stinging ties on her wrists loosen. Her struggles against her bonds had abraded her flesh leaving raw sores.

“Nia? Tell me you are al
l right. Nia?” Vague sounds became words that echoed in her brain, and she fought to comprehend their meaning.

As he freed her hands, he
eased her upright on the dais, massaging her arms, and then pulling her into his body in a fierce embrace before attending to her feet. She could do nothing to assist him. She couldn’t respond at all. It was as if all strength and will had drained from her.

~
~~

Hel massaged and caressed Nia’s
limp form, trying to rouse her. Shallow breaths parted her lips but otherwise Nia showed no life—no cognizant life. His greatest nightmare had become a reality that he rejected with ferocious adamance. It was too cruel. He choked on a garbled cry at the anguish that tore through him. “No! Goddess, no! Great Mother, you cannot allow this. I refuse to lose her.” His lips curled back in a snarl. “I reject this end for her. Do you hear me! This will
not
happen.”

The force of the pain ripping him apart made it difficult to steady his trembling hands to touch her.
“Nia…Beauty…talk to me. Please, talk to me. Your silence is destroying me.”