FION'S DAUGHTER Read online

  “You came to me,” Ro informed her. “You gave yourself to me. You will accept my claim.”

  Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. Deliya pushed from his embrace, resuming her pacing.

  Ro watched her warily. “You will contract with me, Deliya.”

  She paled. “I never said that. It was never—”

  “What did you want from me, Deliya? Why come to my bed if you didn’t want it permanently?”

  Deliya didn’t respond. She took step back, casting her eyes about as if searching for escape.

  “What did you want?” Ro demanded in a low, dangerous voice he usually reserved for soldiers in need of correction.

  “A— A child.”

  He stared at her in shocked disbelief. Deliya used him as a stud for breeding?

  She backed from him, straightening her spine despite a look of pure fear. “You gave your vow. Fion’s Children,” she began in a calming voice.

  “I am not one of Fion’s Children,” he thundered. “You are dealing with a Magden king. You are on Magden land and ruled by Magden law. By Magden law, I call you to a trial moon.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Trial moon?”

  Ro nodded. “Trial moon. For one month’s time, you will share my bed. You may have the child you wish.” He managed a tight smile. “In fact, I hope you do carry my child.”

  “You do?” she stammered, backing off another step.

  He took a stride toward her, his body announcing his excitement at that idea. “I most certainly do.”

  “Wh—” Deliya cleared her throat, her eyes fastening on the length of him tenting his robe. “Why?”

  “By the law of trial moon, if you carry my child by the end of the month, you will contract with me.”

  “And if I do not carry your child at that time?” she breathed.

  “You will,” he promised.

  “You cannot force this on me. Your own laws say that.”

  Ro took another stride toward her, closing the distance between them to naught, even when Deliya backed to the wall to escape him. “I will not force you to me, though I may encourage you.”

  Deliya nodded shakily, his point made clear to her by her body’s response. Convincing her would be simple enough.

  He strode to her cabinet and collected her packs of herbs.

  “Ro?” she questioned.

  He offered her a hungry smile. “I will not force you. Neither will you use your knowledge to prevent or to end a pregnancy. I am sure you know ways to do both.” Ro took her packs to the door and handed them off to the guard with orders to deliver them to his rooms. He turned back to her, ambling across the room, considering her carefully.

  “If I give my vow,” she whispered miserably, looking at the closed door.

  “As you gave your vow not to run from me on the trail?” he noted.

  She darkened, dropping her gaze. “I had to know, Ro. You know I did.”

  “Would you need to escape my contract as strongly?”

  Deliya shook her head, tears escaping down her cheek. She seemed to have forgotten her rule about weeping in front of an adversary — or perhaps she no longer viewed Ro as an adversary. He doubted that highly.

  “I am sure you’ve done nothing to prevent a child so far. You wanted one. It would not serve your purpose to do anything that would prevent it.”

  She laughed harshly. “No. You might say that I am too cautious for something like that.” Deliya grimaced.

  Something was not right. “What is it?”

  “It is none of your concern,” she replied crisply.

  Ro took her gently by the shoulders, resisting the urge to make a show of his strength with her. “If it concerns our child, it is,” he assured her.

  “I took steps to entice my body to conceive. I thought I would only have the night.”

  “How long does it last? This enticement that you used?” His voice was rough in his restraint. Knowing she was even more fertile for him than the typical Keen woman made him want her all the more.

  “A few days,” she admitted.

  “For the next few days, you will be more receptive?”

  She nodded.

  “How much more?” Ro nuzzled at her cheek, nipping her jawline.

  Deliya gasped.

  “How much more?” he repeated.

  “Double,” she whispered.

  “Hmm.” His cock was pulsing insistently toward the musk calling to his body. “That means our odds are one in eight now?” he asked.

  “Six,” she corrected him. Deliya dipped her head to the curls above his robe, drinking in his scent.

  “It is very powerful, is it not?” Ro growled. “The call of a fertile male body? A man who wants to spread those pale thighs and make the ache go away?”

  Deliya rubbed her cheek in his curls, her body heating, her scent begging for more.

  “You do ache. Do you not, Deliya? You are not accustomed to these sensations. Let me still the ache.”

  “One in four,” she groaned.

  “Not so much less than six,” he reasoned. He skated his fingertips over her hipbone, massaging the sensitive spot at the join of her thigh and buttocks.

  “You do not own me,” Deliya pleaded. “You cannot own me.”

  He untied his robe and let it slide apart, uncovering his body to her. Deliya circled his length with an unsteady hand, her green eyes glazed in need.

  Ro stroked his fingers over the damp head, collecting a bit of his essence. She watched his fingers as he raised them to her face. He passed them under her nose, and her nostrils flared in response.

  “I am ready for you, Deliya,” he returned her teasing of the previous night. “You see how much I want you. You smell it.”

  She shivered. “I— I took other steps,” she chattered.

  “What steps?” he whispered, his mouth watering as she licked the offered moisture from his fingers. He was winning. Deliya was falling to him in minute increments.

  “The child—” She rolled her tongue over his fingertips again, her eyes closing in pleasure. “Any child you give me in the near future would likely be female, a Daughter of Fion and not a heir to your battles. You want—”

  “Good. I would like a daughter,” he told her honestly. The sons will come later. “You could teach her your healing arts,” he offered. “She could have the blessings of Fion and Mag.” All our children could, but saying that will scare her away.

  “You would allow that?” she asked weakly.

  “Unite the Children of Fion and the Magden with me. We could have a strong people who worship Fion’s gifts and goodness along with Mag’s might. We could bring peace and prosperity to Kegin. Join with me.”

  Deliya stroked his length. “A priestess of Fion has never taken an outsider as true mate.”

  “Your Mother Fion’s approval would convince you?”

  She shot him a pained look. “Producing a child proves nothing. A child can be produced between souls who loathe the sight of one another.”

  “No. Your schen. Let your schen decide.”

  “In what way?”

  “Spend the trial moon with me. I will give you my child. If your schen drives you to me within three weeks of conceiving, you will know that your Mother commands this. Agreed?”

  “And if it does not?”

  “The trial moon says that you still may choose to contract with me. By demanding the trial, I state my intent to convince you, my wish to contract. I am bound by your choice and our agreement.”

  “If I refuse you, I will leave to ease your pain.”

  Pure panic coursed through him at the thought. And take my child and yourself from me? I cannot allow that. I have to convince her. Ro met her eyes. If he didn’t agree, Deliya would not agree to let him share her bed. That much was a given. He nodded stiffly. I will convince her, but only a love schen will be enough to drive her to me. Please, Fion. I do not know the proper way to honor you, but I ask for Deliya’s love. Nothing more than that.
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  Deliya nipped at his chest. “Agreed,” she breathed into him.

  Yes. He shrugged out of his robe and went to work on hers. When she stood naked before him, Deliya shot him a skittish look, as if the night before had never occurred, as if she were a maiden.

  Ro wrapped her in his arms. “What is it?”

  “I do not know your customs, Ro. How does a trial moon— Am I akin to a vanquished foe or one of your schente or—” She blushed. Her hands shook, though she obviously tried to still them.

  He drew her chin up and captured her mouth slowly, drawing out her passion as the sun enticed the lizors to bloom. “You are my love,” he whispered.

  Deliya sank to the bed, pulling Ro with her. She pressed the golden curls of her mound to him, as if desperate to be his again.

  “Slowly,” he rasped. Ro had never been a man who favored slow, gentle coupling. He took a woman deep and fast to screaming release. But, Deliya wasn’t any other woman. Ro had never wanted a woman to love him before. He’d never wanted a child before. His child would not be rushed.

  Ro reined in the urge to treat Deliya like any other woman. He suckled at her breast tenderly, imagining his son doing the same. No. Not a son. Deliya will give me a daughter first, a tall beauty, a warrior woman with her mother’s spirit and the secrets of Fion’s Children.

  Deliya pushed against him more purposefully, pleading silently for completion.

  He pulled her tight to his body, on fire for her. “Give me a daughter,” he invited. Give me yourself.

  She cried out, as Ro slid deep inside her. He took her in slow, insistent strokes. Yes, Deliya would tell their daughter about this, about the pleasure a man could give a woman he loved if he took her slowly. Her reactions said as much.

  Deliya clutched at his shoulders, winding her legs around his hips. “You want that,” she mused. “You really want a daughter.”

  “Yes. I do.” Desperately. Our child together. One that I will hold. You will not leave me.

  She came quickly at that pronouncement, screaming his name at her pinnacle. That was where Ro’s patience ended. He followed her over, shivering as she released an egg for him.

  Just her love so she will stay. Mother Fion, please grant me that one gift.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Abrin 10th, Ti 10-459

  Ro nuzzled his face into her breasts, drinking in their mixed scent. He would kill or die to spend every day in Deliya’s bed like this.

  Her hand traced his shoulder, and she opened her eyes. After almost three weeks of waking with him, she still studied him curiously, as if the sight of Ro beside her was new and unexpected. “What is troubling you?” she asked.

  “You know me so well.” And not at all, if you believe I will ever give you up. Ro couldn’t tell her how desperate he was for her to greet his presence in her bed with a smile instead of studied indifference.

  “Ro?”

  His mind snapped on another issue there was to discuss. “The doctors would like to work with your antidote for gola poisoning,” he blurted out.

  She stilled, moving away warily.

  Ro wrapped his hands around her waist, shaking his head.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “A distillation may be able to do in one injection what you did in six. You know that it is medically sound.”

  “Gola is not a plant that grows wild, Ro. What is your plan?”

  “We will plant it in fields near the border as if it is one of our crops. Our people will know the danger.”

  “But the Lengar will not — at first,” she reasoned. “Gola is not an easy plant to extinguish. “If you do this, it will not be an easy thing to undo. It will continue to grow within your borders.”

  Ro nodded.

  “The children,” she began.

  “Will have the antidote, and they will be taught not to eat it, as your people were taught not to eat it. Please, Deliya. The damage we can do to them by using their own raiding parties would be immeasurable.”

  “It will take years to make a decent bush grow from seed.”

  “We have already collected the ones left in your fields. Adult plants already producing.”

  She seemed at a loss for words. “It is not Fion’s way to entrust the sacred knowledge to doctors.”

  “To outsiders,” he challenged.

  Deliya looked away, her color high.

  Ro turned her face back to him. “You still do not trust me,” he decided miserably.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Prove it.”

  “The antidote?” Her eyes darted about, as if she were trapped.

  “No. You had no problem poisoning the Lengar at your home. In time, you will see the beauty of this plan. It is precisely what you did at your home.”

  She nodded. “You are correct in that. I will— I will share the antidote with your doctors.”

  “Good. Now prove you trust me.”

  “Prove it?” she stammered.

  “Yes.”

  Deliya swallowed hard and met his eyes. “I trust you.”

  “We shall see.”

  *

  Deliya took a calming breath, unsure what Ro had in mind. Remember your training. Meet the challenge. Ro will not harm you.

  “This iri blossom is truly beautiful,” Ro decided.

  She tensed. “Must you talk about that now?”

  He chuckled. “So tense,” he mused.

  “I trust you,” she insisted. He wants to unnerve me, as Loric often did.

  Ro ignored her comment. “But, it is beautiful. The bud of an iri blossom is not gold, but pale and soft, much like your skin.”

  “Ro,” she warned. Why does he insist on talking about something so ridiculous when I am focused? Deliya knew very well what an immature iri blossom looked like, though she wondered where in his home was so warm as to have a fully immature blossom this late in the season. She concentrated on the healing properties of iri to calm her pounding heart.

  He stroked the petals over her lips. “So soft,” he whispered.

  Deliya shivered, her body heating. “There are better things you could be doing,” she snapped impatiently.

  “Yes.” His voice came from just beside her ear. “Yes. There are.”

  The flower disappeared then feathered over her distended nipples. Deliya bucked up, pulling against the jaglin fur restraints that bound her wrist and ankle to the bed. She closed her eyes, though the blindfold was secure.

  Deliya groaned as the blossom touched her hood then retreated again. She waited, tensed and prepared for his touch, her breathing harsh. Nothing happened. Where was he? What was he planning for her next?

  “Talk to me,” she gasped, needing to fix his location.

  She bowed up, as the flower trailed lazily up her inner thigh from her knee to the moisture gathering on her sex. It disappeared, and she sobbed, craving the matching trail up the opposite leg.

  It didn’t come. Deliya shook, painfully aroused by his teasing. Her nipples strained into the chill air. Her sex felt hot and heavy. Nothing Loric taught her had prepared Deliya for this. She couldn’t touch herself. Deliya couldn’t even press her thighs together to relieve the ache building in her. She was helpless, waiting for Ro’s next touch to ease or to torture her further.

  The flower returned, brushing over her lips. Her body reacted fiercely to the scent of their mixed musk on the petals. Ro was prepared for her, and he painted his essence on the flower to tell her. Deliya licked at the petals, groaning when it disappeared after the barest taste of him.

  “Please, talk to me,” she begged. She felt as if she were lost in a pool of water, floating without direction.

  Ro remained silent. Not even his breathing gave away his location, though her hearing was muted by the thick blindfold that stole her sight from her.

  The flower traced circles around her breasts slowly, rising steadily until it teased a nipple, darted across and traced the other in a similar fashion. On and on, Ro followed that pa
th until Deliya thought she might go mad. The stroking seemed to cover her entire body simultaneously, touching all of her and firing every individual nerve at once. She fisted her hands in the fur and bowed up to him. The flower disappeared again.

  Deliya hardly had time to draw a breath when it was back. The blossom traced the trail up her opposite thigh then over her sex. She bucked her hips, groaning at the feeling of the iri blossom stroking over her and praying that Ro wouldn’t remove it again.

  He didn’t. Deliya moved against the soft touch of the petals, needing more. She threw her head back and forth, feeling her climax looming over her. It was so close. It would take so little—

  Deliya cried out, as Ro’s mouth closed on her breast. She stilled, the quickening of her orgasm overpowering her conscious mind. His fingers breached her body, thrusting into her while the flower was pressed hard to her hood. Her breathing hitched. She screamed, pinpoints of light dancing in the darkness behind the blindfold.

  Ro whipped the blindfold off of her, settling his cock deep within her spasming body. Deliya met his eyes, stuttering out incoherent pleas. He stilled, buried to the hilt in her, watching her face as her body begged for his.

  “For you,” he whispered, his face twisting into a look of exquisite pleasure as he joined her.

  They cried out together as Ro’s seed flooded her body, hot and potent. His cock swelled, and Deliya waited for the shocks of her stimulated egg. The sensation didn’t come.

  Deliya gazed on Ro’s face through the fog of her tears. It wasn’t right. Fion could not ask that this be her last moment with Ro, this perfect pinnacle he’d brought her to. She would never know his body again, though her body screamed for that already.

  *

  The warm lassitude in Ro’s muscles disappeared as he saw the first tear fall. He touched Deliya’s cheek in confusion. “What is it?”

  She shook her head, swallowing a sob.

  There was nothing that made Ro feel this helpless in all his experiences, lying locked inside her while Deliya cried and having no idea why she did. A sick certainty assaulted him, and Ro’s blood ran cold.