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Nights in Ardentia ISBN 9781419918650 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Nights in Ardentia Copyright 2008 Eden Avery Edited by Mary Moran. Cover art by Syneca. Electronic book Publication October 2008 With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Elloras Cave Publishing, Inc. 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publishers permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

NIGHTS IN ARDENTIA
Eden Avery

Love until empty, and you shall be filled. Lose yourself to abandon, and you shall be found. Paradox from the Ardentian Books of Bliss, Volume I

Nights in Ardentia

Chapter One
Captured

Their captors hustled them through the den of barbarian thieves and into a crude stone cellar barely lit by torchlight. Gizella didnt bother to show resistance. Ezmond took the opportunity to kick the last departing guard out of their prison with the steel toe of his leather boot. Ezmond adored the dramatic gesture and had been born to deliver it. Youve made your point, Gizella said, amused, as she watched the bandit scramble away on all fours. The wooden cell door thumped shut behind him, pushed by invisible hands eager to evade Ezmonds wrath. Ill make my point when I get my rapier back in my hands, Ezmond promised, pacing. Meanwhile, we must wait in this pigsty for the guardsmen to catch up to us and our kidnappers. Both Gizella and Ezmond were secretly armed with tracking and defensive devices, yet Ezmond would use only his sword against these primitive Uncivils. Nothing made a mans zest for life overflow like defending his ladylove against ruffians with his bare brawn. Ezmond swung his scarlet-lined black cloak over a mound of filthy straw. Your humble bed, my lady. No bed of mine is humble with you in it, my lord. Impudent wench! Ezmond laughed at Gizellas demure retort. In answer, she ran a hand down the front seam of his leather jacket to the tight lacings stretched across his fully filled crotch. The adventure of encountering a gang of Uncivils and using his ceremonial rapier for deadlier work had done more than stiffen Ezmonds cock. It had attractively warmed his olive skin and sheened his hawkish features with excitement. Wavy tendrils of black hair escaped the thick, formal tail at his nape, snaking across flushed cheeks. White silk ruffles framed his strong, lean hands. They fell in a lacy cataract from his throat and down his silver-embossed black leather jacket. Ordinarily handsome, he was extraordinarily handsome now, feverishly triumphant and breathing hard from the work of defending Gizella. Seeing Ezmond in this rare state, her desire flared, moistening her from mouth to cunt. How she loved him! And how she loved to be loved by him, through three years of steel and velvet intimacy, of which she had not yet tired and could never imagine doing so. They were perfectly matched, both in mind and ardor.
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His pent-up excitement from the fight veered toward her as his voice became low, soft, hungry. Pleasure me while we wait to be freed. He tumbled her down onto the silken scarlet cloak lining despite her costly evening clothes. A rapier of excitement impaled Gizella from the flaring heat between her legs to the rippling anticipation in her belly to a sharp, lovely twinge in her swelling nipples. Ezmond could, and would, turn any occasion into an erotic adventure. Besides, they were Ardentian aristocrats. These savage brigands could only temporarily inconvenience them before their ransom demands would be rewarded with quick capture by a deadly Embrian guard unit. Ezmond lay beside Gizella, peeling off her gloves to nibble her fingers. Did you see the much-muscled witch who commands these louts? Her gimlet eye and calloused hands were all over me. What would you have done if shed commanded me to her bed at dagger point? Waited for you, my darling, in my bed, however humble, and ordered cold water to wash her blood out of your shirt. Youre not convincing when youre being domestic, my angel. I did, however, capture her dagger, unknowingly. A crude weapon, but it might come in handy here. See, it has a fine scroll-worked silver haft twice the thickness of a boars tusk. His voice became husky as his hand slid up under her gauzy skirts until something hard and cold kissed the lips of her hot center. Gizella went blissfully limp, expecting him to fuck her with the handle of the weapon stolen from the woman whod craved him. This turn of the tables would excite them both. Ezmond loved and lusted only for Gizella. He could never get enough of the sheer fire that always welcomed whatever he wanted to do. Which is why the cold metal retreated after that tempting touch and came knocking at her upper lips and teeth. She arched back her throat while he growled soft satisfaction and slowly fucked her mouth with it instead. Deliciously adaptable as always, my love, he murmured. You two are debauched. And mad. The voice was low, angry, male and nearby.

Nights in Ardentia

Chapter Two
Chained

Our very own voyeur, Ezmond noted to Gizella with a devilishly arched eyebrow, but his voice had dropped into a dangerously deep register. One did not take liberties with Ezmond Reve-Lezane of Ardentia. The voice came even more scathing. Voyeur? You flatter yourselves, decadent Ardentians. Do I know you? Ezmond sat up to attention, thus matching the engorged cock which Gizella never ceased to admirebehind the front lacings of his taut leather tights. For you certainly know us now. An arc of spit caught the torchlight as it struck the straw beside them. Gizella finally spotted a powerfully muscled form, more shadow than substance, standing against the far stone wall. So did Ezmond. Whats an Embrian guard doing in here with us? Ezmond demanded with the authority of the head of the Ardentian Council, leaping lithely to his booted feet. He thrust the stolen dagger forward like the weapon it was. The mans huge head nodded toward the locked cell door. The wanton barbarian robber called Valaria will carve us both up before she kills us, but at least you have her dagger. Pretty, useless toy that it is. Gizella took a deep breath. The Embrians last taunt could have been, was, describing her as well. Shed seen the torchlight catch his glistening eye-whites as hed glanced her way. She was shocked to feel a slow heat wave of blush sweep from breasts to cheeks. She and Ezmond had never needed witnesses to spice their bed sport. The Embrians contempt was undeserved. Yet contempt it was, from a mere mercenary and a captured one at that. She rose and stepped forward. If the daggers a toy, give it to me. Ezmond, sensing her fury if not her shame, presented the weapon with mock formality, as for a duel, over his lace-draped left wrist. Gizella moved toward the Embrian. In five steps she realized she wouldnt need the dagger. He was chained to the wall. Fetters pinned his fists above broad shoulders. Anger held him stiff while she let her eyes adapt to the lower light here. His head had looked so massive because his long, braided mane of bronze-colored hair was no longer confined under a guardsmans helmet. Ezmond was tall, six feet, and she but a bit over five, but this man was inches over Ezmonds height and far broader. He towered over her like a giant. Suede trousers clung to massive thighs. His
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wide leather belt had been stripped of the knives, clubs and the unit call device Embrian guards all carried. Also gone was his leather jacket, though the bloody tatters of a linen shirt clung to his shoulders. On inspectionGizella found she was enjoying looking at him as intimately as hed eyed hershe guessed that most of the blood wasnt his. Except for four bloody slashes on his left shoulder. Did you attack Valaria? she asked. She attacked me, he said, still contemptuous. She only went for your pet after Id refused to respond to her indecent mauling. Ezmond and I are formally licensed pleasure partners, Gizella said, and equals. Admirable, for Ardentians. His tone still oozed hostility. I wouldnt be so insulting, Embrian. Gizella stepped close enough to feel the heat radiating from his recently battle-tested body. She used Valarias dagger tip to expertly flick the final shirt shreds from his chest. Even the dim light revealed every taut copperskinned hill and valley of muscle. For one thing, she told him, by becoming an Embrian mercenary here in Ardentia, youre pledged to protect Ardentians, particularly members of the Supreme Council. He didnt flinch a bare biceps at this revelation of her and Ezmonds high rank. For another, she added, I, and not Valaria, am here and hold the dagger. And you are bound. The reminder made his shoulders and hips wrench as his mighty torso bucked to escape the steel chains that tethered his wrists and ankles. Gizella, surprised, jerked back from that potent, agonized thrust as if it breached her cunt petals. Bound to protect you, but not to submit to you, he said between his teeth. Yes, she admitted. But he shouldnt have given her the idea. The fresh, moist warmth between her legs was dueling the shamed heat still flushing her face. She stared at him in silence, hearing the crackle of straw as Ezmond settled back on their makeshift bed, watching to see what shed do. It was her business now, handling the Embrian. Shed taken on that role when shed asked Ezmond for the dagger. Gizella knew that she looked merely ornamental in her evening finery, glimpsed satisfying her pleasure partner and herself, but she was a major architect of the city and worked on its defenses. Shed never encountered so defiant an Embrian guard before, nor one in such a helpless situation. Shed never seen one half naked before either, and it wasnt just the impressive muscles that intrigued her, but what was on them. Most of the mans broad chest was tattooed with intricate detail that covered every centimeter of skin, a tattoo of a million-and-one needle pricks. Submitting to such delicate, deliberate torture over several days would either be the death of a man or the making of an Embrian mercenary.

Nights in Ardentia

For the first time, she felt afraid, even though he was bound and she held a weapon. She couldnt tolerate that weakness in herself. A pretty, amusing toy. Very well then. She would use that toy. On him. She ran the silver dagger haft, where the perfume of her pussy lingered, over his clavicle and up his throat and finally to his lips. He wrenched his face away, spitting this time to the side at least, and not on her finery. She flipped the weapon to run the point lightly over the outline of his tattoo, a huge, snarling sand-cats face from shoulder to shoulder, with his nipples and their rich dark areolas serving as the center of the beasts glaring eyes. She ran the dagger tip around each tit, unsure whether they were erect from her toying or merely from the support of the underlying pectoral muscles. His face turned back to glare at her. His chest was hairless. Shed heard that about Embrian mentheir only body hair was on their eyebrows and heads, their fabled manes so thick they acted as a helmet in the wild. She ran the knifepoint over his ribs, tattooed with the wildcats crouching haunches. The tattoo dwindled to a centerline between the dunes of his taut stomach musclesthe golden tail of the cat. Gizella put the dagger in her teeth and then glanced up at the man staring down at her, frozen in everything but his seething inner fury. Her dainty hands struggled to undo the thick leather latches on the belt, but she was finally able to toss it aside and trace the next path of the tail tattoo, a loop around his navel that dove deeper toward his groin. Taking the dagger back into her left hand, she moved her right, sparkling with jewels and iridescent powders, beneath the trouser waistline. A deep, shocked breath the Embrian couldnt suppress drew in his stomach muscles and made more room for her further exploration. At once, the smooth head of a huge erect cock filled her fingers. Her breathing had gone shallow and fast. Heat lightning was gathering like a thunderstorm between her legs. Contrary to Ardentian custom, shed never touched another man but Ezmond, and no other man had touched her but him. Shed never had any complaints, had never craved or even considered the unfettered sexual experiences Ardentias culture nourished. Now she couldnt keep from exploring this bound Embrians body further. Nothing existed but this man, this moment, this heart-stopping discovery of his unwilling but evident and impressive response to her teasing. She glanced at his face. It was still a mask of aloof anger, but his gaze was fixed on her small pale hand, his engorged dusky cock, horrified to see them together. Mated. So far she had encountered only warm, hidden flesh, no hair. No Ardentian woman had ever reported on the truth of the rumors about Embrian males. The results of her

Eden Avery

research here would cause quite a stir in the ladies retiring rooms at the next Council soiree. Palming the dagger haft, she used the free first fingers of both hands to unlace the fly. Most men would have jerked away at the nearness of a blade to cock and balls, but he remained motionless. Embrian mercenaries were famed for their stoic demeanor under torture. Freed, his cock was huge and thick, almost vertical and long enough to brush his high, taut navel. All in all, a gorgeous and formidable beast, yet it wasnt coppercolored like his skin butred-black! Diseased? No. Tattooed! Gizellas eyes and fingers traced the form of a sinuous spitting cobra to its fanned corona of scales on the cock head, open jaws centered on the tip. The glistening dewdrop at the center slit seemed to ooze between its fangs like venom. This tiny but eager effusion of semen was a far more flattering and welcome form of spit. Gizella brushed that drop of unadmitted desire with her thumb tip and checked his expression. Now he watched her face. The hatred in his amber eyes was enough to take her breath away, had it not been already stolen by the magnificence of his intricately adorned cock. She was sorry she hadnt seen that sensuous beast rising and uncoiling but had come upon it fully extended. She pushed the trouser fabric lower, exposing the cocks full length to the root. She found only hairless copper-colored skin, that surprising satin hidden under rough clothing. It must be painful, she said softly. All this tattooing. All Embrian men accept it, or they are not Embrian men. Pride tinged his tone, and rightly so. How many days work? Three fevered days and three fiery nights then many more until our particular spirit-beast visits in a vision. She glanced at the huge cat face on his chest. How long does that take? No one knows. Mine came seven days after. Its a magnificent beast. Worth waiting a week for. She looked at the big cats tattooed image, but her fingers still clasped, caressed, his erect shaft. Her thumb and middle finger couldnt circle it, all that satin-sheathed iron rippling with distended veins. Her voice had become a husky whisper. How do they tattoo this? The skin must stay fully stretched, surely, and itd be a long process. He could no more resist answering her questions than she could asking them. No Ardentian woman had ever touched his penis, Gizella was sure, and certainly not with a knife in her other hand.
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He looked away again. The tattoo masters employ slaves, captive women who use their wiles, as you do, to keep the skin taut. Not Ardentian women though. No. Weve never captured Ardentian women. Nor would we ever want to. She smiled and took a silent moment to measure the pure pleasure swelling between her legs, in her breasts and throat. She fed it, pushing the furrowed suede trousers lower, searching for more beyond the root, abetting her calm interrogation with the most maddening, intimate touches she knew. The Embrian remained a pillar of steely muscular resistance. What wiles did these slave women who served as tattoo-master assistants use? Hands and mouth? She ran her a fingernail up the snakes belly to its head and pushed into its jaws, the top slit slippery with escaping semen, his inner saliva. Hands. She could hear the strain and distaste in his tone. Mouth, then, would be torment. Her free hand had slid down his cock to the root and had at last found the balls, huge, hard, smooth. Hairless. The rumor was true. Not chilled or shrunken as Ardentian men were unless roused. He must be aroused. She weighed them in her palm. How would they feel in her mouth? Or it, rather. She doubted more than one would fit at a time. Hed need to be tasted there in turn, again and again. Maddened by the alternating focus of pleasure. Has a woman ever used her mouth on these? No! Disgust. Not even during the tattooing? Especially during the tattooing. It is a sacred process. Gizella leaned close, cosseting his heavy, smooth, tempting balls, ignoring his cock for the moment, moving her lips lightly up the cats tail of the tattoo with a short pause to rest the tip of her tongue in the small bowl of his navel. And then apply sudden hungry suction there. Every muscle in his body flinched at her caresses, only making it smoother and tauter and tastier. Her lips moved over the cats haunches and fanged mouth to its left eye and settled there to suckle. Has any woman ever touched you here? She took his tit in her teeth. Lightly. Pulled. No! Gods! What do you Embrians do with your women? He answered between gritted teeth. When it is time to breed more warriors, we catch one from another tribe and lay her down and fill her until our seed is spent. If shes not with child in a few months, shes fair game to be laid and seeded again by whatever man wishes sons. Until she swells with fulfillment. So it is told, and so it is done. And if she bears a daughter?
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We trade her and it to another tribe at birth. And if she bears a son? She will remain and suckle it until it can walk and talk. And then we Trade her to another tribe. Gizella transferred her lips and teeth to his other nipple. Her mouth had moistened like a cunt the moment it felt the large, hard bead of the first nipple form as she tongued it. The second one was now harder than a passionpomestone; she had to nip a bit of his surrounding solid flesh in her teeth to properly suck it. Each suction motion loosed waves of hot pleasure from her clit to her womb to her own nipples. So this is torture? she whispered breathlessly, done for the moment. Her oozing inner juices only added to the conflagration between her legs. Yes. There was a rasp in his voice. Too bad for you. I havent anything better to do at the moment. For the first time his eyes expressed confusion. She thought they might be the same color as those of his sacred beast. Amber. Why are you doing this? She squeezed a firm pomme-size ball until he should have gasped. Because I enjoy it. And you must too, although youd die before admitting it. Determined to make his ardor match hers, Gizella dropped the dagger to the floor. She pushed the soft suede trousers lower, exposing the tops of his smooth, hairless thighs, running her hands over his muscled buttocks, up his rib cage, over his chest and nipples, lost in the tempting smooth sensation, petting the big cat and stroking the potent snake. Suddenly, a pair of warm hands behind her loosened the silken laces of her decorative corset, gathering up her gauzy full skirts at the small of her back. Ezmond! Shed forgotten him for the first time in her life. I didnt mean to His warm, wet mouth nuzzled her shoulders and neck. His voice held the slow, smoky tone of deep arousal. You know I always want to be there when youre excited, my love. His potent cock pressed between her buttocks. Take what you want, what you need. Ill help you. This was unprecedented! It had always been only her and Ezmond, no other. Gizella, shocked, felt Ezmonds strong hands close on her hips as he bent to lift her up and over and downdown dead center upon the Embrians erection. Both of them gasped, chained man and uplifted woman, as hard, smooth head met slick silk-gathered flesh and pushed past it. Ezmond, even blind from behind, lowered Gizellas hips on target. She shivered with delight at the spreading penetration, yet with a catch of fear that it would never end, that the Embrians cock would drive right up to her throat. But it did end, with Gizella staring into the ferocious sand-cat face in front of her eyes, wondering if shed mated with his spirit-beast rather than a mere mortal man.
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The Embrian gave a strangled cry of soul-rending protest. His broad pelvis bucked under her like a Wasteland wild horse, trying to unseat her. She had to wrap her legs around his hips and her hands over his shoulders to hang on. From what hed said, she doubted hed ever experienced pleasure in intercourse and orgasm, and wouldnt even recognize it, except as a taboo. At her back, Ezmond was whispering love words and holding her in place. He brought his hands in tight at her waist, so the front corset buckles gave. It fell open, baring an elaborate pattern of iridescent powders. They were flavored with sweet, tart and tingling foreign spices that sparkled and stung the skin, and particularly the tender wet flesh inside mouths and bodies. The Embrian stopped bucking as he gazed with a primitive wonder on Gizellas naked torso with its own intricate tattoos, on her pierced nipples and navel and labia with their ruby rings, a triplet of inciting sites. His hips lifted tentatively, to repulse heror perhaps to instinctively push deeper. Behind her Ezmond moved her hips in a slow rhythm to match. The Embrian still tried to buck her off, but despite himself, he was forced into a lovely slow fuck as Ezmonds expert timing lofted and lowered Gizella to match his movements. The line between agony and ecstasy is thin. Gizella wasnt sure which the Embrian felt. Whichever, it was powerful and new. His eyes were closed with his head thrown back against the wall to expose his strong neck and throat while Gizella ran her fingernails over his powerful shoulders. The pace was increasing, the Embrians enormous strength allowing him to buck her or fuck her, whichever he thought it was, with his hips alone. He might tell himself he was still trying to rid himself of her, but the steel-hard nipples and puckered areolas in the eyes of the spirit-beast told Gizella he couldnt stop now to save his life. And maybe this wild ride just would. She was moving hard, bracing her hands on the wall behind him, when Ezmond slid a finger gloved in a gossamer up her ass. The two sensations, each irresistible, each different, catapulted Gizella to her erotic edge. She felt the Embrians cock swelling to fill her until she split, Ezmond caressing her inside so she experienced a fresh and unsuspected thrillthe simultaneous penetrations of two men rubbing against each other inside her. Against the thin, sensitive wall of her inner tissues. She climaxed with a wrenching scream. Before it had ended, a harsh voice shouted from the far hall, If you kill each other, we dont care, but if youre raping the woman, have fun. Shell be the last piece youll ever see. Gizella smiled, knowing Ezmond did too. Prison guards everywhere were so unimaginative. When she opened her eyes as the after-shocks pulsed through her swollen cunt in a slower and slower rhythm, she saw the Embrian staring at her in horror.
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Ezmond started to lift her away, but she murmured protest. There, another luscious ripple, fading but still too sweet to release. Finally she let him separate them and lower her to the ground. Ezmond nibbled her bare nape and shoulders then ran his hand between her sopping thighs. He pulled up a finger, cobwebbed in glistening white fluid, for her to suckle. Then he fetched her cloak and draped it over her shoulders, hiding her naked torso behind its crimson velvet folds before he ebbed back to their straw bed. Gizella bent to lick the Embrians cock clean. His body held statue-still, every muscle tense with repulsion. He tasted different from Ezmond, not musky and salty but sweet and spicy, like czinnamon. She rose to pull up his trousers, relace his fly over the still-impressive bulge and replace his belt. He watched her with stiff disbelief, as if all this had been a dream. Whats your name? she asked before she returned to Ezmond. They call me Hunter. Not his name, but what others called him. Youre notinjured? he asked. No. Why do you ask? You screamed like a dying sand-cat. Dont the women you capture scream? Yes, during the hunt. But not when you throw them down and pump your seed in them? No. Never. They are good, disciplined. Well, Im bad and undisciplined and I always scream. How long does it take for you to spill your seed? A minute or two. Our code forbids lingering over such necessary but unpleasant business. The women obviously dont like it and theres no sense in prolonging it. We are not brutes. Gizella smiled and shook her head. Shed seen, been escorted by, Embrian guards since a child and had never guessed what odd ideas these strong but emotionless men held. Or what tempting but wasted assets for pleasure they possessed. Truly, Ardentians were advanced beyond their Uncivil neighbors and born to rule them.

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Chapter Three
Indentured

Shouts and the clash of weapons made Ezmond and Gizella leap up from the cloaked straw an hour later. Theyd reclined there after her encounter with the Embrian, but they hadnt resumed their intimacies under his eyes. Nor had they discussed what had happened. A rescue party, Ezmond exulted. Now Ill get my rapier back. Gizella removed the small ruby-studded stun-dagger from the hem of her cloak. It spat a burning red lazer light that cut like acid. There was no need for that. An Embrian guard unit burst into their prison. Their huge, lightly armored bodies filled the small chamber. Excellencies, their captain said. Weve chained the Uncivil robbers and are here to escort you home. They didnt harm you? Only by taking my rapier. A guardsman behind the captain grinned at Ezmond and tossed the weapon to him. Twelve men to one, Excellency, the captain noted. We recognized the blade. Hardly a fair fight. He frowned as he saw what, and who, was chained against the dark wall. One of us, subdued by this petty mob? No. Gizella stepped forward. The Embrian had been subdued by a woman, she wanted to say. He remained with us all the way. As indeed he had done, however unwilling. Wechained him to deceive our captors. We expected them to enter and then Gizellas lies evoked a furious battle cry from the wall as the Embrians huge torso bucked one last time and tore the chains from their anchorage in the crumbling stone. And then hed fall upon them and slay them, the captain completed her sentence. Very clever, Excellencies. Ah. Hunter. Of course. Good work. Get back to your unit. No! Gizella cried. That impulsive order made everyone in the room freeze in surprise. Ezmond stepped smoothly forward, whipping his reclaimed rapier through the air before he slipped it back into his belt. We were most impressed, Captain, by your mansHunter, you say?strength and, um, endurance. Wed like to move him to guard duty at the villa. Were it not for his presence, who knows what these filthy kidnappers would have done to Gizella. Ah, my lady. The captain bowed to her. He clearly thought her weak and foolish, since Ezmond had fully protected her. I understand your anxiety. Hunter is my best

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man. I hate to lose him at the barracks and in the streets, but if it would soothe your fears to have him as a personal guard, so be it. It would indeed, Captain. I cannot praise his devotion to duty highly enough. Id be honored to have him serve me. Embria is honored, my lady. Hunter, you will accompany their Excellencies and do all that they require of you. And more. Hunters tense hairless jaws seemed welded together by anger and astonishment. He managed to incline his head. No Embrian guard disobeyed a superiors order. Your sedan chair awaits, the captain said, bowing Gizella and Ezmond through the shattered wooden door. Hunter followed them, iron cuffs and dangling chains still circling wrists and ankles. Using a sedan chair had been foolish, Gizella knew. Yet she enjoyed the sights and sounds and smells of the old forms of city transportation to the sterile, quiet swoop of a floater-car. The Embrian guards trotted alongside, Hunter among them, jingling like a harnessed horse. The sense of him there, beside her, heard but not seen, the rhythmic chime of the metal on his huge, half-bare body thrilled her. Hell be angry and humiliated, Ezmond warned in the privacy behind the chairs brocade curtains. His return to the barracks wouldnt be wise. Hed probably confess his capture out of some strange notion of Embrian honesty or duty. Hed never speak of what happened with us. No. What will you do with him, Gizella? Youve taken responsibility for him. I dont know. Gods, did you see him break free of those chains? I shudder to think what would have happened if hed done it while I wasenjoying him. You shudder at that now. Ezmonds warm, supple hand ran up her thighs to caress her cunt petals in the curtained privacy of the sedan chair. Then, you shuddered at the feel of his cock. His finger thrust inside on a slick satin carpet of fluids. She moaned as he asked intently, Did he come? I dont know. You can see my own plenteous juices made it too hard to tell. Dear Ezmond. He always sought her pleasure, first and foremost. To give pleasure is to find treasureyou earn it back four-fold, Ezmond often quoted the second Book of Bliss. A strange breed. Gizella gasped, biting delicately at Ezmonds full lower lip until he growled with desire and inserted a second finger inside her. Her unprecedented exercise with the Embrian had stimulated him. She was relieved that it had heated rather than hurt him. This Hunter may need to bepenned at first. Ahhh, Ezmond, yes! I think he hates me. You dont return the favor? Of course not. Ezmond, yes! Actually I quite pityhim and his oddideas.

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And of course we pen those we pity. Ezmonds gentle sarcasm made her avoid his eyes. She shut her own as his fingers worked inside her, bringing her to the pitch of orgasm. She couldnt explain why shed had to have the Embrian. If you save a mans life, hes your responsibility forever, so went a saying from the Ardentian Concordance. If you take a mans will, surely you owe him something more. Ezmond pulled out of her as they neared their villa, leaving her deliriously open and aching, but quite rational. Hell need containment only for a while, Ezmond. He cant remain so angry and dangerous forever! I dont know what Ill do with him, only that I had what I wanted of him and now I cant bear to have him pay the consequences of my folly. Was it folly, my Gizella? Yes. I can at least admit to my failures like an Embrian guard. I dont know what came over me. I do, love. Ezmond kissed her temple and ran one hand through her long, suncolored hair. He braced her shoulder, sheltering her as she took his slick fingers into her mouth and sighed to suckle them. For the first time they tasted spicy as well as salty. I do. Thank the gods that I do.

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Chapter Four
Claimed

The Embrian had never been this far inside the city. Hed seen the pale, gleaming towers and the greenery and perpetual rainbow of the central forest from the barracks, of course, but his work was in the close, low-storied alleyways that formed a dirty, dark barrier Ring between the lofty luxurious city-state of Ardentia and the harsh desert lowlands that had been his home. Legend had it that Ardentia and its surrounding Uncivil lands had risen from a great wave of water as high as the morning moon. Legend said that an expanse of endless water still lapped at the other side of the Rim Mountains beyond the desert. Embrians didnt care about Ardentian legends. Their territory was hard-won, wrested from eternally feuding tribes, all so different in type and temperament and codes of behavior that peace was never an option. Embria was an all-male enclave, using women only for necessary son-bearing purposes, not even for domestic drudgery, as some other tribes did. The Embrian mercenaries in the city earned their pay to buy goods for the men and boys at home. Ardentians revered the Embrians strength and valued their total lack of interest in other tribes barrack activitiesdrinking, gorging and whoring. One became an Embrian guard in Ardentia because it was a post of honor and one could remain celibate, freed of the duty of defiling oneself with a woman in order to produce a son. Now an Embrian guard trotted onto the smooth stone streets of the inner city, broken chains rattling from his iron-bound wrists and ankles, clad in only trousers, his sacred sand-cat exposed, a sight for the decadent Ardentians to gaze on, a man more defiled than any Embrian ever, used by a woman instead of the other way around. And his own captain had sentenced him to more humiliation and torture! Better that he had died under the robber bitchs dagger than submitted to the bloodless passage of that same weapon across his skin at the hands of thatthat delicate female with the hunger of a starving sand-cat in her soul. Shame lay like a heavy wool mantle on his shoulders, scratched by two breeds of she-cat. The robber-woman hed understood and could have resisted to the end, could have goaded her to his own torture and death, if necessary, and thus have remained in control. An honorable fate for an Embrian. This deceptively delicate Ardentian lady was another matter. Hunter shuddered to recall the savage spasms of her inner cavern as it captured and grabbed his cock until it was nigh to bursting. He thought hed never pull free of that tight, damp, possessive

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prison. This other one, this Gizella, had used some spell to command his body despite his training and his every instinct. Now the guards bearing away the empty sedan chair could chafe him. Hunter, how did you end up in chains? one asked. Only twelve mangy armed robbers and yet they overpowered you? Twenty, he snapped. That unnatural female leader had them lie in wait for me. I killed eight, but she had some Ardentian tools, a ray of red light that made my muscles into water. Robbers with Ardentian devices? Thats why they call them robbers. And what did that mob want with you, one lone Embrian mercenary? I dont know. Their leader raved of wild women and lost girls, and waved her toy dagger around. By the time I awoke, Id been bound to the wall. Hed never mention Valarias violent lust even though her torments had not made his snakes head so much as twitch. Someone clapped him on the back, on the raw scratches. Well, Hunter, you land on your feet like your namesake sand-cat. Tearing your chains out of the wall was most impressive, and now youre sponsored by the Ardentian Supreme Council. I dont wish to be here, he said with fury. His unhappiness made his fellow guards feel less abandoned and uncertain. A posting in the heart of a degraded Ardentians villa was no desired duty. Were sorry for you, said one gruff voice. A pity you had to save the simpering fools. But the barracks will get a fine reward and much of it will return to Embria. To Embria, they all repeated, right fists raised, including Hunters. The others marched away in perfect formation, boots loud on pavement. Hunter, barefoot and still half bound, was forever lost to Embria, and he knew it.

*****
Here, fellow. Hunter finally realized he was being addressed. A man, if he could be called that, stood at the top of a flight of white marble stairs. He wore a long, fancily figured robe that brushed elaborate leather slippers. His face had silver-haired growths from the chin and under the nose. Disgusting, all that hair! He suddenly remembered Gizella, hairless between the legs, notfurry like the one captive woman he had taken to beget a son on. The sight and smell and feel of that female had been so disgusting that hed fled to the celibacy of the Embrian guards, forsaking sons forever. That terrible animal hair between her legsand the empty

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walking-death in her eyes. Hed never forget their pale color. One could almost see straight through them. She was not only ugly and unwilling but broken. That fact repelled him in a nameless way that he knew he could never mention to another Embrian without losing face somehow. This Gizella had no hair between her legs, at least, but was smooth anddecidedly not broken. Her eyes were a vivid color in which blue and green waged war. The man sprouting hair from his face spoke again. Youll first visit the smithy to get those crude bonds removed. He was glad hed soon lose the visible signs of his bondage, if not the reality. While he followed the slender old man inside, he wondered why he was here at all. It would have been easiest for all involved to release him back to the guards. Theyd chafe him for his bound state, but an Embrian learned to endure all. For a moment, hed felt a strange emotion to see the Ardentians, to see her, his tormenter, lying to save him face. Theyd been quite awkward about it yet had acted in concert in the end, without visibly consulting each other. Quite remarkable. He was taken to quarters far back in the edifice where a man almost as burly as he knocked off his irons with swift, strong hammer strikes on an iron spike. The place stank of horses and hay. He glimpsed stalls and a wooden door wide enough for the passage of a legendary horse-drawn wagon. Embrian, eh? the smith asked. Hunter nodded. Thought so, lad. Never flinched at the spike a hair away from your wrist veins. Hair! It belonged on heads, or above the eyes to shade them from the blistering desert sun. Shed had quite a head of hair, the Ardentianpleasure partner, shed called it. Whore, they said in the Ring gutters. Yellow and long and pale above her eyes, which had been all black pupil in the torchlight, like a sand-cats at night. Quite a tattoo you have, the smith said. Never seen the like. Hunter nodded as he rubbed his wrists absently, imagining what he could have done to her had they been unbound when she taunted him. And to her gallant. He had dangerous eyes for an Ardentian, that man, and perhaps was, like his rapier, a supple and sharp enemy. She resembled that little dagger of the robber queen, all teasing and surface prick, something to get under the skin until it was shaken off like a sand-flea bite. What theyd done to him in that cellar came back in a wave, making his stomach writhe with self-disgust. Before he could recover, the old man had stepped toward him. Hunter felt that imagined sand-flea bite on his upper arm then his knees were melting and the smithy heat was burning through him. The next minutes, or hours, were a fog. Two strongmen from the smithy dragged him somewhere. A tittering flock of birds pecked at his clothes then submerged him in water. He had a desert-dwellers fear of

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the stuff and tried to flail. Another sand flea bit his arm. Then he felt and remembered nothing at all. Until he awoke again, bound again to a wall, his arms above his head, his ankles wide. Awake in bright light to face the next part of this nightmare.

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Chapter Five
Forced

The room had cool milk-white glass walls and a blue-lit ceiling. Two horizontal bands of steel ten inches wide at ankle and shoulder height ran around it. The Embrian stood against one wall, his ankles and wrists secured to the steel bands by flexible metal-mesh cuffs. He wore a loose-sleeved tunic and trousers of sleek gray fabric and he was shower-fresh. His braided mane gleamed like polished bronze in the soft lighting. Her handmaidens must have enjoyed their work. Gizella was struck again by his sheer size. His skin, no longer stained with the soot of torches and the sweat of battle, was a rich copper colorexcept where the magnificent sand-cat tattoo colored his chest in bronze and black, except where the scarlet and black tattoo of the cobra twined his cock. But she couldnt see his body adornments now, as he couldnt see hers in this chaste column of cool blue silk she wore, a gown chosen to calm him, as were the blue lights in this white room. She thought with an inner smile that calm was not exactly the state her secret self wanted for the Embrian. He eyed her warily as she approached, his breath quickening. She wished that uptake in breath had been spurred by desire at the sight of her, but he was a wary, cornered animal now, exposed to wonders hed never dreamed of in his wild desert spawning ground or in the rough mercenary barracks at the edges of Ardentias glory. He spoke first. I remember now, as if a dream. The wanton women who showered me with water and took away my clothes said I was to be your pleasure slave. What does that mean? Nothing. A story to explain your unprecedented presence here, told to those servants who had to deal with you. I am bound like a slave. Are you washed and clothed like a slave? We dont wash much in the barracks and these soft, limp fabrics wouldnt turn away so much as a sun-hornet sting, much less a sword or a club. There are no swords or clubs here. That I can see. What weapons do I carry? She spread her hands, the long sleeves of her gown opening like iridescent butterfly wings.

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He caught his breath, his first open reaction to her. She suspected he was recalling her naked, metal-powdered torso. Good. She wanted him fighting to breathe from seeing and feeling things this unemotional breed had never encountered before. She came closer, watching his clothing shift at the tensing of every muscle in his body. He had plenty of those, all developed to peak strength. This was galling to him, and she was sorry for it. But her wayward impulse in a moment of shared captivity had forced her into an awesome new tasktaming an Embrian to civilized ways. Taming him to savor and please a civilized woman. She stepped so close that their luxurious fabrics mated. She shut her eyes, overcome by the alluring spicy scent under the civilized garb, by images of his bare skin and body. Shed had him once, he unwilling. Why should this second, clothed meeting undo her so much? He held himself like a man tortured, but wouldnt avoid her gaze. Arent you going to spit at me again? she asked softly. A waste of good water. Those of us born in the desert respect water. But youve lived in the city for five years. Youre an exemplary member of the guards. Strong. Loyal. Invincible in battle. We Ardentians honor your kind. So you asked about me. Then know thiswe Embrians serve you to benefit our brothers in the sand and the heat. We despise your soft ways and easy tools, your debauchery, your luxury, your weakness. I have a weakness, she admitted. She reached up and undid the drawstring tie at his left shoulder. The tunic fell away, baring his shoulder and chest and a third of the sand-cat tattoo, but not quite revealing the nipple that formed the pupil of its harsh, staring eye. She also bared the claw marks of that Uncivil witch Valaria. Hed earned them denying her lust, not even his body inclined to fuck her. Hed fucked Gizella later, however unwilling, because one hidden part of his body wouldnt be denied when shed unveiled it. This phenomenon, this unheard-of reaction from one of a celibate, woman-loathing and sex-hating breed, was why her pleasure partner Ezmond had seconded her instinct to claim Hunter. No Embrian had been known to lie with an Ardentian woman. If he did, it might mean mighty things for both Ardentians and Embrians and their conjoined futures. Gizella was here to tame the sand-cat.

*****
Trying to tame this warrior is dangerous, Ezmond had warned before she went to confront him. The bandits had chained the Embrian to the wall hand and foot and left us unbound for a reason.

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But his cock responded to me as it hadnt to the bandit queen, Gizella had answered eagerly. It fairly leaped into the palm of my hand, as hard as stone and so beautifully adorned. This Hunter is not a new bed toy, my love. He despises all Ardentians by nature. He must hate the fact that you seduced his body into violating several Embrian taboos. And hed hate you most particularly for proving him vulnerable. Gods, Gizella! In his place, Id feel the same. You adore our games of restraint, particularly when I claim you. The Books of Bliss reserve such tether-and-tease play for seasoned lovers who trust each other and know their limits. Here, you must confine the Embrian to even talk to him. Already he is isolated from his kind and angry and humiliated. Were forcing him against the grain of everything that hes known and revered. Force cant harden a cock. True, but hes more than his cock. His mind and heart are all Embrian. Then why did his cock rise for me and not for Valeria? Ezmond relieved his worry by laughing lightly. Gizella, my cock wouldnt rise for Valeria and it has been pretty indiscriminate in the past. He stroked her hair, as he loved to do. You dont realize that your golden beauty and your loving nature could melt the crown of ice and snow on all the Rim Mountains. But this Hunter is more wild beast than man. The shock of your fascination, soft questions and gentle touches in the cell enchanted him against his breeds nature at first. Hell bitterly regret that now and regard you as an enemy who has found an unsuspected weakness in him. A warrior can hate no one more than that. I helped you take him inside you. Hell hate me as much for witnessing his submission and humiliation. I swear he once thrust into me willingly, when you unlatched my corset to reveal my powder-tattooed body. He forgot to be Embrian for a few instants perhaps. Ezmond sighed. We attempt to build a bridge on a foundation as frail as glittering body powder. I can try, Gizella said. Ardentia must draw the Uncivils more into our influence. My handmaidens tell horrible tales of the brutal lives they escaped in the Uncivil lands. Exactly why you should be very, very careful with this Hunter. Weve agreed I should try this. That doesnt mean that itll work, or that I wont worry about you. She kissed him silent, happy that Ezmond had agreed to let her try to tame the Embrian despite his misgivings. He responded passionately, perhaps a sign of his worry or possession. Until this carnal encounter in the cell that had shocked both Ardentians as much as the Embrian, shed been intimate only with him. Ezmond had forsaken the multi-partner sexuality
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Ardentian custom encouraged to cleave to only her for three years. Now that exclusivity had been challenged, and by her, not him. Ezmond flicked his tongue back and forth against the seam of Gizellas lips where they were most sensitive then drew them into his devouring mouth, softly, one by one. His hand cupped the bottom of her skull, holding her head like a chalice as he nibbled and sipped from her mouth. His thrusting tongue explored all its wet, soft flesh that so mirrored her again-sopping front passage. Gizella relished the leather lacings of Ezmonds cock-swollen tights pressing her pouting labia lips. His hips began thrusting against hers in rhythm with the incursions of his tongue. She knew what he wantedfor them both to come, separately, through their clothes, inside their clothes, with no direct contact of bare skin. To kiss themselves to mutual climax. She pushed her hands into his dark hair, pulled his face hard to hers, letting her front teeth rake his lips and tongue, pushing her pelvis and swollen cunt petals hard into his crotch. She could feel her ruby labia rings crushed between them and pulling maddeningly against her clit with each thrust at her sensation-hungry tissues, could feel his intervening laces and erect cock as if they were welded to her hot interior. Their mutual moans had become a constant murmur, the heat in their mouths and between their legs equal, each site abetting the other, until they cried out together, into each others mouths, their breath one. They clung hard during a long, climactic kiss that echoed back and forth between Gizellas two mouths, both fully sated by Ezmond and both driving him to empty himself into the feel and nearness of her, with no more intimacy than that utterly undoing them. She laughed as their lips parted and clung breathlessly to him. His eyes were closed, prolonging their adjacent but separate pleasure as he fanned a hand on her lower back to tighten their genital contact even more, to squeeze out each fading contraction of pure pleasure. No one in Ardentia or even the Books of Bliss has ever loved more deeply and deliciously than we, he finally said. I shudder at the idea of sharing you with a savage. Its begun already, she said. I want to finish it. I cant explain Shhh. His forefinger stoppered her words inside her lips. You dont have to explain. Id lived the life of a rake and you a nun before we came together. Were considered odd for having pleasured only ourselves for so long. I know your distress at the lot of the Uncivil women. A woman-hungry Embrian warrior would indeed break precedence and shock the Supreme Council into considering a serious alliance with all the surrounding tribes. Youd be Ardentias supreme diplomat, a supreme gift to us as a peopleby seduction.

*****

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Now Gizella stood before this strange breed of man, not feeling like a diplomat at all but more like an erotic taskmaster. Your shoulder still bleeds, she said huskily, thinking of other substances that could weep from him far more generously. Nothing. Less than a scratch. Still She extracted a small control device from a hidden pocket. A button depressed and the upper steel band lowered all along the wall, forcing his wrists to descend with it, forcing him into a crouching position. You treat Embrians like the lowest dog, he said between his teeth, his amber eyes burning hatred up at her. Gizella remained calm. She drew a lozenge of healing Soothz from her gown and patted it over the scabbing tracks on the front of his shoulder. Theyd heal without leaving a mark. As she looked down, she saw four tracks on the back of the bared shoulder, traces of her orgasmic spasms the night before. She hadnt even realized shed clawed him. She untied the drawstring on the right shoulder. The tunic slipped to the floor, baring his chest and the full sand-cat tattoo. She bent to pat Soothz on her marks on his back, but his head and braids lashed and his teeth snapped at the only part of her within reach, her pelvis. Gizella dropped cat-fast to a common level, crouching to bare a pale full breast with its swinging circle of ruby ring through the nipple. If youre going to attack me, bite something good. As she expected, his face reared away, affronted, but only after a moment of involuntary staring. Embrians abhorred everything womanly except when forced to reproduce. They didnt even undress their hapless captives, but fucked them in two brutal minutes and were done. Gizella rose and used the control to elevate the band and bring him back to his full, towering height. His chest and its intricate tattoo were even more impressive in bright light. His trousers had a drawstring waistband. She reached for it. His evasive intake of breath pulled his rippling abdominal muscles tight under his rib cage, giving her a better view of his flat, muscled belly, hairless, bearing the cats dangling tattooed tail down its center. Could a female-scorning Embrian tattoo master have done more to drive a woman mad with lust than to create that narrow path leading to sexual nirvana? But Gizella didnt loosen the tie. Ezmond expected her to exercise control. That would be the only way shed break the Embrians inbred repressions. Instead, she delicately pushed the soft fabric to either side like a curtain, exposing his upright cock and feeling a thrill of triumph as well as pure excitement. I never find this snake of yours sleeping, she said, feigning regret. Why is that?

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He said nothing, but his breath remained held. She slipped her left hand through the slit, ignoring the cock and capturing his smooth, warm balls. Heavy, she murmured. It must ease you to have me take on some of this weight. He made a strangled sound, part fury, part pain. While she rolled the balls in her palm, her right hand made small circles on his belly through the cloth, to the side, above, to the other side of his cock. Never touching it, just circling its root, caressing the balls that were swelling and hardening in her hand. Stop! Why? Im not hurting you. Yes, you are. I dont mind the pain, but this is fiendish torture. You know Embrians cant abide a womans touch. Tell me about the pain. Where do you feel it? How? There, of course! Tight and aching and burning. Do you feel as if your cock and balls are about to explode? Yes! Shall we let them? Ease the pressure? We? It is all you and your damnable torturing touch. She leaned her body against his bare side, feeling his held breath explode out. It is partly you, Hunter, and your magnificent body. She bent to touch her lips to the head of his cock where the cobras fangs were opened widest and a white slick of unwanted desire waited. The cock shuddered as soon as her lips touched it. She withdrew in shock as a fountain of semen shot straight up at the ceiling. Hunters head was turned to the wall, away from her eyes. Why do you unman me? Unman him! Such a powerful ejaculation as that would drill straight through a womans vagina into her womb. No wonder the Embrians only took a woman once or twice, as was rumored. Such a mighty sword of sperm assured pregnancy. Gizella was awed that shed received a like outpouring only last night, but then she didnt remember much but the rapture. And she was protected against pregnancy, of course, unless she wished it. I dont unman you, she whispered as she drew the trouser slit closed over his still-erect cock. I celebrate you. She left the room, not looking back, and clicked the Flex-Silk bonds free just before the door slid shut behind her. The male attendants would find him unfettered, probably attired in the shirt again, and rather tired. A retiring room with bed and bubbling

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spring bath lay off the playroom, but Hunter had quarters a half-story below in a more secure sleeping suite.

*****
How did it go? Ezmond asked that night as she reclined in his lap. Not well. Hes furious, of course, but his body still betrays him. He takes the burning delight of desire for torture and the presence and touch of a woman as part of that torment. Ezmond laughed. You do torment me daily, darling, and I thank the gods that I know how to enjoy it. He stroked her hair, pulling it back from her face as he pushed her lips toward his exposed cock. Sometimes Ezmond liked to tease the edges of her senses for hours. Sometimes he liked to pull her fast and hard down on him and come as hard and fast. Whichever his liking, Gizella found her body thrilling to it. Would the Embrian ever be free enough to know these pleasures and accept them? The answer to that question was up to her.

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Chapter Six
Tempted

The next day Gizella lowered the upper bond-supports again while the Embrian eyed her small control unit with as much hatred as he did her. She untied his tunic while he crouched before her. Be still. I only need to see to your wounds. This is not the torturous touch you fear. I fear nothing, I simply detest your mauling. The wounds are mere scratches. They could burn with infection if not tended. Those Ardentian tools, that not even Embrian guards may carry, that spit hot-red light, are torture. My scratches dont need tending, but you must need to see me crouching and in your control. What if I did? I warn you. Your tools may be able to weaken my limbs so I am herded here, but these bonds will not hold me forever. She touched her fingertips to his shoulders and he flinched. Not from pain. The wounds had healed overnight. Soothz was good, but his own hardy constitution had more to do with it. He also seemed to recover remarkably soon from ejaculation. She buzzed him upright again. I prefer you standing, and you cant ever break those Flex-Silk steel bonds. Theyre designed to feel as smooth as silk but are stronger than the most powerful Ardentian engine. He pulled at his wrist restraints until his veins and muscles bulged. Hunter! Gizella stepped close to touch his forearm. She was used to thinking of her gestures as calming when she didnt intend them to be inciting. Please! Dont hurt yourself! Why do you caution such a thing when you live to hurt me? Ezmond lives for my touches. His expression froze for a moment then darkened again. He is a decadent Ardentian. So you ply me with please? Please, she repeated. Why? You can order me to do anything. My own captain surrendered me to this abasement, not knowing the depths of your Ardentian depravity, as I have seen for myself. Then you do accept that you are oursmineto command? Perhaps. But I dont have to pretend I like it.
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I dont want you to pretend, Hunter. Not at all. He folded his high-arched lips into a straight, stubborn line and said nothing. Gizella saw his sense of duty as the possible road to undoing his repressions. She bent to open the slit in his trousers then stepped back a few paces. A central cushion-topped table was filled with drawers, her and Ezmonds toy chest. This room that Hunter took for a torture chamber was their playroom. As the Books of Bliss said in more ways than one, restraint induces rapture. Her pulses quickened as she realized that both Hunters captain and her instincts would see to it that he did everything she said. She examined his face and body, slowly, with great pleasure. What are you doing? he finally demanded. You know what Im doing. Its strange. For you to stand there andlook at a captive like that. Would you rather I came closer and touched you again? No! Your word is my command, Hunter. You mock me. The word is tease, and yes, I do. Why? What does it hurt, me looking at you? Youre taking something of myself away with you, the way you stare, the parts of me you study. What parts, Hunter? What parts in particular? My mouth. My throat. My chest and arms. My legs. My groin. Goodness! Thats all of you, isnt it? How can you say Im staring at certain parts of you? His body shifted, not from discomfort at his spread-eagled positionhe seemed to have the strength to assume any position for long periodsbut from the unease of her open, intense, obviously pleasurable regard. Where should I look? she asked. Into my eyes. That is common courtesy even in Ardentia. She let her gaze fix a last time on his crotch, and then ran it up slowly to his face and eyes. She knew how she looked because of how she felt right now. Eyes dreamy but knowing and hungry, lips parted to indulge the shallow breaths of sexual excitement. His eyes werent pure amber. The black and tan of the sand-cat tattoo was in them too. They were fierce and lovely. She was surprised she could look in them with love as well as lust. He knew so little of life or comfort or pleasure. He was worthy of so much more.

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He turned his head away. Your every look pierces. Stop it! So did an Embrian repulse a look of love. Gizella, startled out of her daze, realized her feelings were deeply hurt by his rejection, as before. But she was here to teach him feelings, not to be wounded by her own. She lowered her eyes, hurt and ashamed, as he had also made her do in the prison. They saw, with a thrill, his cock protruding from the trouser slit, rampant. This was the one fact he couldnt deny, even though he could deny the pleasure of such a state. This was what shed have to work with, the body that rebelled against harsh Embrian teachings and repressions. Shed have to tease him into surrendering to his own wants and needs. Surrendering to her. Youre right, she said, coming close again. I do want to torture you. Particularly here. She touched his silken cock head, which leaped reflexively. You manage to push it to the fore of my attention often enough. You must welcome torment there. She ran her fingers lightly all around it. Such calculatingly shy touches always drove Ezmond to an explosive climax. She knew her kiss could make the Embrians cock erupt instantly, but she wanted him to get used to the maddening pressure of desire until he could admit the excitement was sexual. Hed turned his face away, to the wall, but his flat stomach muscles were drawn tight. She spread her free hand on them and pushed inward with gentle even pressure. Hunter swallowed a groan. Her other hand reached for his balls, pinched the scrotum. Hunter bit his lips. Her fingers caressed the long, thick throat of the snake up and down. He bit back another moan. Then she stopped and stepped back. His chest was heaving as if hed run a race, his powerful arm and thigh muscles straining. She moved forward again to pull his balls through the trouser slit, exposed all his equipment. And stepped back to appreciate its beautifully engorged state with a dreamy smile. My lady! he bellowed, making the courtesy title into a curse. Stop this! Have you no mercy? I can end it with a sweet kiss to your cock head, as before. Do you want me to do that? No! Very well. She stepped farther back. Sat on the edge of the cushioned table on which she and Ezmond had made love many times. Tilted her head. Kept her eyes fixed on his crotch. Yes! he bellowed finally. Sounds, of course, wouldnt carry out of this room. Yes, please? she suggested silkily. Silence. Please, he finally grunted.
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Please, my lady? she said very softly. A far longer silence. His cock had been bowing back and forth during their conversation, their negotiation. Please, my gods-damned lady! Now do it! She jumped down and came to kiss the snake. But she also caressed the balls in the basket of her hand beneath them. When her lips met the snakes head, she took it in her mouth as hot streams of semen filled it faster than she could swallow and ran back down the shaft into her hand and onto his balls below. Hunter collapsed against the wall, his muscles loosening. He stared down at her. You, youinside your mouth. They were drenched in come, and her thighs were weeping juices too. She used the soft cloth from the toy box to dry her lips, his cock, her hands. What do you care where it went? she asked him. You dont feel pain anymore, do you? Only disgust. She refused to let him label her acts, her arts, her pleasure. And you feel somewhat tired. Not enough to allay your fears. She leaned against his side to kiss the cheek of the sand-cat on his chest and stroke his concave belly. That was wonderful, Hunter. Youre a magnificent and potent man. You gave me much pleasure. Im sorry you didnt feel any of it. Only at the ending of it. Gizella smiled at that growl of disavowal. Hed meant the words to discourage her, to prove that he was immune to all feelings she might call pleasure. In fact, hed just admitted to feeling release at the very last. How long do you intend to do these things to me? he asked. As long as it takes. For what? For you to love them. Then I will die first. No one here wants that, Hunter, most of all me. Only because you can then torment me longer. She nodded, smiling, and caressed his balls lightly before drawing the trousers shut so the male attendants wouldnt know. She looked into his eyes. They showed relief at ending the session along with that unconcealable dreamy post-climax relaxation that was in her own. She stared into his eyes longer than she should have, lost in that fleeting soft look on his fierce face. Hunter. A perfect name. She longed to kiss those strong sensual lips

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without risk of being bit. Instead she brushed a braid back over his shoulder, for no reason but the pleasure of a tender gesture after a sexual encounter. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. I am yours to command, my lady. Not my hair.

*****
Ezmond had stopped asking for progress reports, but he was especially tender making love to her that afternoon, as if he knew the toll her sessions with the Embrian took. I wish I knew if I was making progress, she said after dinner with a sigh. He cant help getting hard when I touch him, or even look at him, but he still disavows the pleasure. She eyed Ezmond quickly. He did come, in my mouth, today, but only because he was chained to the wall. I know. You know! Gizella, would I let you meet the beast alone like that? Ive been recording and watching from time to time, of course. Dont look so surprised. Weve recorded ourselves. Besides, you may wish to write of this watershed event if he does tame, add another chapter to the Books of Bliss, he said, smiling. I can take care of myself. I have the stun-dagger. Dont underestimate the Embrian. His kind are mighty warriors and cunning. This one strikes me as particularly valiant, and also strong in his convictions. He brushed back a lock of her hair as tenderly as she had done for Hunter, purposefully mimicking the gesture. Dont break your heart over him, love, if he cant come to appreciate our ways or your trying so hard to win his respect. I? Needing an Embrian guards respect? Thats ridiculous! I agree. Ezmonds eyes were dark and inciting, but also often wise. Yet his respect is what you crave above all else. And how do you teach love to one who knows only self-denial and harsh male discipline, who never knew a mother or a sister or a kind gesture in his life? This isnt about love, Ezmond. I love only you. As I you. She tilted her lips to his, knowing shed find tenderness there. Ezmond was wrong; she didnt need anything from the Embrian but his own enlightenment and betterment. Ezmond was seldom wrong, but he was this time. Self-denial and discipline. She must subject the Embrian to the discipline of desire and fulfillment until he could no longer deny his needs, or her good intentions.

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Chapter Seven
Forceful

On the third day of their sessions, the Embrian pushed himself away from the wall and strode toward Gizella. Youre free, she said, stunned. He must have palmed her wall control device while she was sipping mindlessly at his impressive cock and scrotum. Gizella saw the triumphant look on his face turn into something else, a blaze of anger. What do you want? she asked him, backing away, heart pounding with fear. What? Dont you command me? She eyed his body, cock and balls exposed, his angry face. She knew she could demand he bind himself again. She knew hed have to obey. She elected not to. What do you need? she asked. He waited for her to invoke her power. All she had to do was command him. They both knew it. Gizella held herself tall and proud, like an Embrian guard. Well? Speak. She could sense him searching for the one boon a bound man would ask if he had a few moments of freedom. Revenge, of course. She trembled inside, but still wouldnt invoke her power. You, he said finally, his voice hard. Where I have been. In the desert? No. Here. Against the wall. Pinioned. I have total control here. Yes. You could come to like that a good deal. Maybe. Some day, years ahead. And now? she asked. Now I want total control of you. Why should I relinquish it? Because you want to. How do you know? Ive learned to watch your body, as you so carefully watch mine.

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You think I want this? I know so. I have only given this to Ezmond. He is a civilized man. Why should I give it to you? Because you want an uncivilized man. And I will not disappoint you. There are codes we have. Such as? Something as simple as stop. I cant guarantee that I will recognize your Ardentian codes. I am Embrian. Hunter Will you give your body to me? Totally? Or not. You frighten me. Good. You said yourself only yesterday that facing fear is the first stage toward satisfaction, quoting some book. Ive never read a book, but I know what I want now. What youve made me want. I want to take you as you have never been taken before. He reached out and tore her gown from her body. Can you take an enormous risk, Ardentian woman? Can you willingly give yourself to me as you so willingly took me? It will be a journey I promise you will never forget. Gizella stood trembling, her juices dampening her thighs but her mind and heart shaking with doubt. Hunter had become more than himself, thanks to her. He was demanding her submission, her trust. The thought so excited her body that she was ready to swoon. Her soul understood that she was giving him access to destroy it. He was either a beast whod never be tamed, or he was a man strong enough to teach her a new and utter kind of love, and lust, that would shatter her or alter and fulfill her forever. She glanced at the ceiling. Ive been free long enough to find the recordings upstairs, he said, and the prying eyes in this manmade sky, and have blinded them. I have freed myself. Will you recognize my power? Will you be totally mine, or not? She nodded and stepped back against the steel bands on the wall. The wrist and ankle cuffs snapped into place as the sensors registered her height. He pulled the material closed over his genitals as he exposed hers. He used the control. The upper band lifted until her arms were pinned high above her head, her breasts lofting with the position, feeling full, displayed to their best advantage and access. Her nipples tingled and thrust out. Another button was punched. The ankle bonds took hold and stretched her legs wide, spread-eagled. You thought us Embrians crude desert fools, but now I hold the control device in my hand and you like this, your naked body parted to my view. Hunter
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Answer. Yes. You like other things, he said, turning to press a panel in the tables solid steel base. Gizellas heartbeat tripled. Hed found the hidden drawers, the toy box. What would he make of all those contraptions and devices? What would he produce to use on her? She heard the clink of metal and chain, truly anxious, as shed never been with Ezmond. Every toy had its dark side in the wrong hands, in those big, untutored, angry Embrian hands. Hunter turned with a length of narrow chain in his hands. He seemed quite confident about its use as he approached, the chain swinging, catching the light. Gizella swallowed, her throat as dry as her cunt was wet. Hunter watched her face until he stood before her. Then he studied her breasts with their ruby-studded rings. He snapped a nipple clamp on one then the other. She moaned at the initial bite, knowing it would ease after a moment. The chain between them swung, brushing her midriff, the rhythm ravaging her with sensation. You didnt see fit to use these on me. Why? His fingertips, feather-soft, circled her areolas, the soft touch making her moan again. I wasgentling you. I didnt think you were ready. I didnt want to madden you. His little fingers hooked in the nipple rings and pulled her breasts higher, making her gasp as the clamps bit again at the motion. You should have thought of that before you crawled all over me in the prison. He touched a clamp, added the pincer of his forefinger and thumb. What had been numbed grew sweetly sharp again. He watched only her mouth as she moaned. Then he walked away, tossed the control on the central table and sat one hip upon it. What to do to you, he mused, his golden eyes examining her body and face. I hardly know what I am anymore. What I like or what I want. Part of it is raw, hungry rampaging. Part of it is slow, sure torture. Im afraid that Im going to use you for both. Gizella nodded, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest with dread and desire. He was a brave new man and she had made him so. Would he raven on her, or ravish her? Or revel in her? Her rapid heartbeat echoed hard between her legs. He stood. Im going to leave you here, naked, to feel your legs and cunt spread wide, your breasts forced high, your nipples pulsing and tingling from my hands, to imagine what a man would like to do to them. And then you can imagine what an angry Embrian would like to do to them and to you, Gizella. To every inch of you, inside and out. Hunter. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. Dont leave me. But he left anyway, shutting off the lights as he went.

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*****
Hunter didnt go far. He leaned, breathing hard, against the closed playroom door. His triumph at freeing himself had faded as hed explored the adjacent quarters. They were like nothing hed seen before in the clot of stone huts that was Embria. Against this door, with Gizella splayed by his hands against the playroom wall behind him, he still felt as imprisoned as she was. Despite doing to her as she had done to him, his thirst for vengeance went unslaked. His pelvis still writhed in the hot-iron grip of tension and pain. In fact, the torture hurt worse since hed stripped and bound Gizella. And the confusing things hed seen in the Ardentians bedchambers! The images of metal-adorned naked bodies. The sight of the bandit womans cursed dagger, which the bitch had used to prick him in places no decent Embrian thought about. The dagger haft that Ezmond thrust into Gizellas bottom and top before his very eyes in the prison cell. That Gizella later used to run over Hunters body up to his lips. And then she had tickled his sacred sand-cats image with it. Travesty! That dagger had lain on a table beside a rich, wide bed, ready for use again. He shuddered. Not with fear, with repulsion. And the images hed seen. The strange toys hed found in the playroom table with the secret chambers before he began his exploration He was imagining things far worse than chasing down another tribes woman and forcing his sacred snake between her legs into a hairy lair fit for a spider. Every Embrian organ bore the image of a spitting cobra, signifying that to touch ones own or anothers cock was death. Now his sacred snake had been exposed, mauled, tamed, used by a filthy Ardentian woman for some sick form of enjoyment. Hunter breathed hard. Being free, seeing this, hadnt eased a particle of the torture searing his pelvis. The pain was even more piercing when he thought of Gizella spread open in his place against the wall. Alone. In the dark. Waiting. For him to return and for what he would do to her. His heartbeat pounded in every vein, as if he were pursued, rather than free. He didnt know what he would do until he did it. Hunter pushed himself off the door. He would do something. He was an Embrian, a warrior. Hed now seen enough of Ardentia to glimpse its utter decadence. Hed examined every chamber, every artifact. He and Embria would be avenged. And hed enjoy it. Hed pretend to kindness, as she had, and then He couldnt think further, confused. His images of revenge werent Embrian, but something quite different. When in Ardentia He touched Valarias dagger in his waistband. It was almost as hard and long as his cock at the moment.

*****
He returned in the dark.

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She could hear the door click open. She had no idea how long it had been, except that this enforced exposed position had made her into one throbbing, taut spring of hungry, flaming flesh. Her modest bondage romps with Ezmond were childs play compared to what the Embrian was capable of. How had they so underestimated him? How had she? His footsteps in the soft leather houseboots still echoed on the smooth metal floor. Everything here was deliberately hard and spare, mimicking prison. It had been a game! An elegant game with a foregone conclusion. Tether and tease and please. The Embrian had broken all the rules. He stopped in front of her, although she couldnt see him. No doubt a man who bore a sand-cat tattoo could see in the dark. She heard her breath, fast and labored. His was slow and deep. His big, calloused hand stroked her inner thighs, making them tremble with wanting more touches. Wet, he said. She said nothing. She could have told him that he didnt have to do this to make her wet. She next felt him as a glass brim clicking against her teeth in the mockery of a toast. Water. Drink. Youre losing a lot of fluid. Bad in the desert, bad in the city for a privileged lady. His voice purred the words, reminding her of her weeping thighs. She drank, tilting back her head to swallow, and the glass rim followed her lips. She sucked at the cool, smooth rim long past the time that it was empty. His hand stroked her extended throat, feeling her swallowing motions as if taking a pulse. It moved to a nipple, pinching there until she moaned. His body pressed close at the sound. Gizella, he whispered in her ear on a hot breath. You were born to drive me mad. And now you must pay the consequences. A sob of fear and apology and, gods help her, raw desire caught in her throat. A warm, wet cloth covered her cunt, washed her sopping thighs. I have something for you, he whispered again in her other ear. Do you want it? Yes! I dont hear an answer. Yes. You dont know what it is. I want anything you have. Everything you have. Silence.

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He moved. She heard the rustle of his smooth, gray Ardentian clothing, but she was in the power of a man who was all Embrian now. Something cold and hard kissed her lips. Do you want this? Yes, if you want me to. It left her lips, its icy metal tip skimming along her collarbones, up her throat to her lips again. She recognized the gesture with a chill of fear and regrethow shed taunted the Embrian with the implement Ezmond had recently touched to her cunt and pushed through her lips and down her throat for a slow mock-fuck. She recognized the dagger haft from the prison. Shed taken it from Ezmond to tease the chained Embrian against the wall because hed shamed her by witnessing their lovemaking and calling it filthy. Hunter had it now, in his hand, and she was bound to the wall. Youve been in my bedchamber. Gizella was shocked. And his as well. Did you truly think you could pen an Embrian guard indefinitely? No, but She was indeed shocked, imagining him wandering her chamber, looking behind cabinet doors and into drawers. The cold silver haft caressed her lips again. You kept this dagger, why? Ezmond and I always keep mementos of our amorous adventures. Is that what the wall full of man parts, dozens and dozens of them, are? It was an art collection as much as a display of metal, blown glass, plastique, wood and leather erotic toys, but that would mean nothing to him. Theyre called dildos. The word stopped him and the roaming dagger haft. Dildo? It sounds like the name an Ardentian lady would give to one of her tamed toy animals. Gizella almost laughed to think of herself calling, Here, Dildo, Dildo. Come. But he had no sense of humor and this was hardly a laughing moment. Some of them, he added, were bigger than me. The affronted male pride in his voice made her smile in the dark. Im sure not. They just look larger, detached like that. I prefer the attached kind. Her voice went even lower, seductive. Could an Embrian recognize such a tone? She purred and slurred the words as if her lips were on the part in question. And yours is manmade. He was silent for a few seconds. The others are made by machine? That is insulting. Something a decadent Ardentian would do. Hunter

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Be still. I have no name here. Only you do, Gizella, and right now all you, the civilized Ardentian, want is for me to fuck your wanton mouth with thisinhuman thing. Silence. Well? Speak. Yes. His body pushed even closer, large and hard, hardest where it pressed her damp, naked thighs. He had another dagger of steel wanting entry. He was breathing roughly. Yet he hesitated, as if torn by conflicting urges. She spoke quickly, before he ravaged her mouth, Your words, your watching at the prison shamed me. Id never felt that kind of scorn before. I wasangry, frightened. The cold, molded silver pushed against her lips. You loved it, he said. Did he sound furious, accusing or a bit excited underneath? He went on. You let him do anything to you, fuck you with an instrument on a bed of straw in a filthy prison. You welcomed it. We knew wed be rescued soon. Ezmond has been my only lover. And I am nothing, one of your man-thing toys. Hunter, we didnt know what we were doing. Now I do. Now Ive seen what depravity you crave. Be still and be fucked. She was willing for that, but first she sighed. One last time. When his hand spread on her throat, tilting her head back, she wasnt surprised. He could snap her neck with a wrench. When the hard silver haft pushed into her mouth she wasnt unprepared. It was a weapon. It would be harsh. Hunter took a deep breath. She felt his chest expand against her side. When the dagger moved in and out softly, teasingly, when she tilted her throat higher so that it could delve deeper, when his breath fell into fast, harsh rhythm with hers and his free hand caressed her throat before he ran a finger clothed in gossamer hed found the sheaths toodown her naked side, past her tender clit and into her cunt, it was a fast, direct, unschooled fuck. Still, she trembled and sighed, and let the orgasms, and him, take her. She came to herself in the dark, still pressed hard against him. You were truthful from the first, Gizella, his voice said with a rare hint of humor. You are bad, undisciplined and you always scream. Every time.

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Chapter Eight
In the Dark

Im truly sorry, Hunter, for what I did in the prison, she told the dark. He had left her side as soon as she was herself again, satisfied and unhurt, but still bound and bereft. Why did you bother with me at all? he asked bitterly from the blackness. Shed had a long time to answer that question for herself. I came to you in anger, but as soon as I neared you and saw your tattoos, I understood your majesty, your endurance. The pain you underwent. The pride that radiated from you. I wanted some of that. Id never faced anything. I was pampered, as youd said. I wanted a man like you to want me as fiercely as he wanted anything. Freedom. Pride. I wanted you. As a toy. You called me that. A pretty, useless toy. I didnt want to be a pretty, useless toy. I wanted to be the woman you wanted beyond anything. Life. Price. His fingers reached out. Touched her cunt petals. You wanted to unman me. No! I wanted you to be the man you could have been without the harsh nurture of the desert. To be not-Embrian. No! Hunter, I swear! I was wrong. I was bad and undisciplined, but I wanted you to be my Embrian! Always mine, ever mine. Mine! Gizella lurched forward as he had lurched, against the ungiving bonds, sobbing. His fingers reached out to her face. Wet, he said. Not with triumph. In wonder. What is this water? She didnt know how to explain tears to him. Tears of joy at his tender touch. Tears of release at the ecstasy of pleasure. Tears of loss at the distance between them, despite the bridge of her wet cunt, his wet fingertips. She understood now what she had done when she had reached out with her curiosity, her lust and her damaged pride to take the Embrian. Ezmond says, she told him, realizing her pleasure partners name was a lash across his back, you must walk in anothers boots to truly know him. Now I have. I know you, and I know I wronged you. And I cant regret it because of the ways we have been together, no matter how difficult. Leave. You can go. No one will stop you. Silence.
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She heard another rustle of clothing, him leaving, her left. A click in the dark. Her bonds released. She was stiff from confinement and toppled. But he was there to catch her and lift her against his warm bare chest, her cheek nestled against the sand-cats. He moved. The bright light of the retiring room made them both blink. He laid her down on the hammock-bed. She heard water burbling in the next room. Theres food, he said. More drink. His fingers stroked her throat and she cast her head back to be fucked. He put a fingertip to her mouth, as if awed by it, but didnt thrust into it as shed hoped. Rest. Bathe. Eat. In the morning I want you naked in the playroom. The words thrilled her and her naked body shivered. Yes. He gazed down at her. There was something very empty in his amber eyes. Hunter? I will not hurt you. On that promise he left. She ate, drank and bathed. Enjoyed the bubbles gathering at her happily worn cunt and breasts, sighed. She had ached to be well used by this sexually unsophisticated man, and hed granted her wish twelve times over. Why was she so worried?

*****
The Embrian withdrew to a small dressing chamber adjoining the playroom. All the rooms were interconnected and on several levels. One could wander from a luxurious bedchamber to a curtained eating room, to the playroom and into large closets along the way. He opened one now, filled with Gizellas gowns, and walked into the soft, hanging garments like an Embrian mythic hero into the fabled desert mirage of waterfall. His cock was throbbing with pain, screaming for the release of her hands and lips upon it. Hed just been as intimate with Gizella as Ezmond had in the imprisoning cellar, but he hadnt let his sacred snake seek any of her crevasses. Hed found these recent moments in the playroom both shameful and thrilling. He knew hed let her fear him, and maybe she should have. He didnt know what he was going to do until hed done it. Shed put herself entirely in his hands. Hed been harsh with her and had enjoyed it. He remembered the pale deadened eyes of the captive girl and shuddered. No. Gizellas eyes had been alternately pleading and hazed with what he now knew, even felt a little, for desire, but never dead. They were wet withfear? That thing Ardentians prattled about called love? What was this urge to command and surrender at the same moment? He felt it in himself now. Had seen it in her. It wasan undoing. Of all his Embrian virtues.

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He couldnt go back. Not to the barracks, not to Embria. He was half of something now. Of himself? Of them, the Ardentians, Gizella and Ezmond? Why did this Ardentian male let Gizella play with him? In a secret chamber. Under his own roof. He was far from a fool. Hunter had sensed a strength in him that was deceptive. He won by appearing to give, like his narrow but slashing rapier blade. Gizella would never give him up. Hunter would always writhe at the thought of them together. Yet he was the intruder, although hed been forced into their company, into Gizellas body in the first place. Gizellas body. He wanted it. Had pierced and taken parts of it. No Embrian warrior had ever craved such a thing. He was not an Embrian warrior any longer. Where was there a place for such one? Questions buzzed about his brain like sun-hornets. What would a fallen Embrian mercenary do? Where would he go? To the Ring, of course. Ardentians werent all high and mighty like Gizella and Ezmond with their talk of unity and betterment. Hed seen the worst of them slinking around the taverns and whorehouses. Women in hooded cloaks, seeking playroom partners among the petty criminals and bravos. Wanting more than depraved things. Hed heard it said that a willing Embrian would be highly prized, as either a private mercenary for the criminal stew of Uncivils dealing death, drugs and dark desires in the Ring, or for wealthy Ardentians with secret tastes. They werent all so perfect, so superior to Embrians. He shut his eyes and held a flimsy, scented skirt to his face, inhaling an odor of glittering powders. He pulled it away, seeing a damp patch on the fabric where his eyes had been. Gods! He must leave this place or go mad! Rogue mercenary work. That was all he was fit for now. If his anger and confusion erupted in violence like his cock, at least the woman in its path would not be Gizella. Not a woman whose face he could make as wet as her cunt.

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Chapter Nine
Regrets

By morning, Gizella was calm, collected and freshly pink from the bubbling waters of the hot-spring bath. Engagingly nude, she thought as she studied herself in the threeway mirror, gauging how Hunter would see her. Shed never been a vain woman, but suddenly that was vitally important. How did she look to his eyes? How could she make herself more irresistible to that repressed Embrian manhood, so she could glimpse the quick pass of consideration and confusion and even a tinge of hunger or humor in those amber Embrian eyes? Her lips were pink and plump. Both sets. Her nipples were perky, dark red and engorged. The rubies gleamed in competition with her Hunter-sated body parts. How could he not see the ways in which he had marked her body as his and not want her more? Everything pulsed madly, burning for that more. She could hardly walk for the heavy, hot swelling between her legs. But he never came. She had no idea where hed gone. She waited for three hours, naked, as hed demanded. Naked in both body and flayed, anxious, wanting emotions. Finally, there was no place to go but to Ezmond.

*****
Ezmond was dressed for city business in a gray leather jacket seamed with gold cord and a shirt of silver silk with formal falls of lace. His wanton tendrils of hair had been pomaded into a sleek cap and tail. As Gizella, clad in a filmy robe that was slightly crinkled from the closet for some reason, entered his suite of chambers he turned with relief. I know you have landmark news. He stepped close to lift her hand to his lips, his eyes searching hers for something that didnt seem to be there. I had to leave for an emergency Council meeting at the Oracle last night. More disturbing signs and rumors from the Rim Mountains. I would have taken you, but yourdiplomatic negotiations here were obviously too fragile to interrupt. Youve won him over then? Won? Ive lost him. When I last saw the monitor before leaving, he was as tame as a teacup-fairy. He was carrying you naked into the adjacent retiring room for what looked like a night of rapture followed by a morning of sleeping long and late. Thats the only reason I felt safe in leaving you two alone. And here you are, all dewy and triumphant. Ezmond, she chided, locking her fingers with his. It hasnt come to that. And I didnt expect you to watch every moment.

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Havent wanted me to, lately, he murmured, brushing hard knuckles and silken wrist ruffle softly across her cheek. What did you mean lost him? He wasnt utterly entranced by you as it appeared? Hardly. Ezmond, he put me to bed and told me hed want me in the morning. He never came back. Ezmond frowned. In a moment, he was at the wall, pressing the button that opened the opposite sliding wall. That revealed an arrangement of picture frames showing moving images of all the villas areas. Where has our perplexing Embrian retreated to brood? he wondered aloud, flashing each image large for an instant and then moving on. His own retiring room is a half-level down but empty. Ah! What? Gizella rushed to his side. The smithy. One of the park riding mounts is out of its stall, nuzzling hay in a bar of sunlight from Ezmonds thumb moved a dial to show in close detail that the strip of sunlight leaked through a slightly open door to the city street. He left the villa? By that door? Gizella was horrified. Makes sense. Thats the first place he was taken when he came. He went back to Embria then? Or the barracks? Ezmond lowered the control, frowning. Hunters too proud to return to the barracks or Embria. Especially wearing an Ardentian lounge suit. Unless Ezmond enlarged the image of the retiring room assigned to Hunter. The gray material pooled on the floor. His Embrian trousers, at least, were still in his quarters. But he wouldnt show that sand-cat tattoo to a street teeming with Ardentian citizens and servants, so The image of the smithy enlarged. He probably snatched one of our smith Yarels shirts. Hed seen the man and knew his clothes would be the only ones here big enough for him. Boots too, I wager. Ill give you this, Gizella. Youve picked a more mentally nimble Embrian than most Ive seen. Ezmond cast her a glance to find her cheeks a glistening sheet of tears. I know Im acting like a madwoman, but I cant help it, Ezmond. I wronged him in the prison cell and by bringing him here, and now Ive wronged him here and have driven him out, to who knows what! I thoughtoh, I thought what he let me think, what I wanted to think. I told you he was wily. Ezmond put away the control and came to her. You said he wouldnt tame, and you were right. But now hes neither Embrian nor Ardentian. He has nothing, and he knows it! She put her face in her hands and lowered her head. Ezmond had known her since she was twelve and had never seen her weep. He came to enfold her, kissing all that she could give him, the top of her head.

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Ill get him back, Gizella. One large rogue Embrian shouldnt be hard to find. Hell go to the Ring. I know it better than any Ardentian and most Ring-wardens. He said hed come back to you, and by all the Civil and Uncivil gods in Ardentia, he will! Ill make him. Ill go with you! No.When her eyes flashed anger as well despair, he shook his head. Gizella, Gizella. Hes fleeing you, and what he feels for you. Youre the last person he wants to see now, to have coming to retrieve him as if he were an errant schoolboy. She finally nodded. Dry your eyes and let me get ready. Ready? I cant go gutter-trawling the Ring dressed in my Council best. I cant go as an Ardentian at all. She took a deep, stuttering breath. Ezmond. Youll be safe there? I might not be, but Black Ozraldo will. Hes been absent from the Ring for more than three years and will be welcomed back by many, and not welcomed by many more. Ezmond! Three years. Thats since weve Since I had no yen to seek adventure anywhere else than in my own bed, he admitted, using his silken wrist ruffle to dab her tears and kissing along behind it. If you find him I will. He wonthurt you? If he gets the slightest chance, Id wager on it. She stared, frantic, into his dark eyes. They were dancing with anticipation. She dropped her hands from his jacket and stepped back. Ezmond Reve-Lezane, you expect to enjoy this! Why not? I can return her lost lambkin to my lady and play the hero and have a most interesting time doing it. She couldnt help laughing. Hunter a lambkin indeed! I couldnt stop you if I wanted to. No. And you do want me to bring him back, dont you? She paused, the time for tears and regret past. Hell hate you for it. It will make everything more difficult. But he half craves you, and that will make your task easier. You think so? Half craves me? I cant agree. Why else did he flee? Think about that while Im gone, and smile.

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A sudden awful thought occurred to her. But if I lose you as wellI cant risk you going alone into the Ring. Black Ozraldo is never alone, he said cryptically, vanishing into his closet chamber. Wait in your rooms. Ill introduce you to him before I leave. Gizella had never been one to wring her hands, but Ezmond had given her no other role, so when she got to her rooms, she added pacing to it. Hunter must be like a wounded beast, thrashing about the border between the Uncivil land of his birth and the heady luxuries of an Ardentian villa, between utter sexual denial and the confusing blandishments of the most sexually sophisticated society in their world. Torn between his stoic Embrian mercenary brothers and her, one besotted Ardentian aristocrat. Gizellas mind was so churning with imaginings and worries that when a soft knock came on her door, she could only whirl to face it. Ezmond never knocked, nor did he need to. Enter, she said, mystified. What entered mystified her more. If one could imagine the most disreputable rogue in the Ring, he stood before her. A sword, not a rapier, hung from his left hip with a dagger large enough to be closer to a short sword from his right. His dirty brown leather vest gaped to display his hairy, smoke-stained chest. On his left shoulder, a coiled black whip with a handle as thick as the Embrians cock was anchored there by a short chain. His muscled upper arms were streaked with tavern smoke. One bore a wide leather cuff spiked with steel. His long hair was half hidden by a ragged cloth, but a braided forelock dangled over his right shoulder to match the cheap gold earring dusting his left shoulder. Rows of thick, spiked finger rings bracketed his knuckles, so every blow of his fists was armed. Brown leather trousers met his boot-tops at the thighs. The hide was wrinkled and cracked, but dagger handles jutted from his boot-tops against his lean, muscled legs. His canine teeth when he smiled, as he did now, were surprisingly white and sharp, like ivory daggers. This one pristine detail on a figure so disreputable was incredibly sinister. Gizella let her astonished held breath ease out. Even knowing it was Ezmond hadnt lessened the shock. Knowing it was Ezmond had intensified something else. She approached him deliberately. Wheres the eye patch? Inspired touch, but it obstructs the vision. Cant afford that in the Ring. Maybe at home you could. She moved around him, behind him, squeezing his firm buttock cheeks as if testing melons at market. Maybe not at home either, he said, turning his head to watch her. She stopped when she faced him again, pressing close to his body to survey the transformation.

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Her hands moved to mark each bizarre accouterment. She brushed his braided forelock behind his shoulder, touched the earlobe hosting the unaccustomed earring. She moved her palms over his charcoal-dusted bare arms, the spiked arm cuff and the coils of the whip. Her fingers caressed its thick, dangling leather handle then moved to his chest to pull the open leather vest farther apart and finger the gold nipple rings that were still the same. She moved her hands lower in tandem to thoroughly caress his sword and dagger hilts, and the hilts jutting from his boot-tops against his thighs. Lastly, they moved to trace the long, hard welt of his erection her touches had teased into existence. Are you going to take that into the Ring too? she asked. He smiled down at her, basking in the desire in her eyes. So I still offer you some surprises? he whispered in a deep, thrillingly hoarse voice. She knew Black Ozrald now ached to stay and fuck her the whole day and night. Always. And I might surprise you by accompanying Black Ozrald to the Ring sometime, but I have a lot for him to do around here first. Remember, I want Hunter back very badly, but I want you and Black Ozrald back more. He caught her upper arms in those armored hands and kissed her hard and tonguedeep enough for the two of him.

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Ring of Corruption The blacksmiths boots rubbed him the wrong way, but his hooded wool tunic perfectly hid the telltale braided locks of an Embrian mercenary. Hunter had been tempted to explore Ardentias central park, but it was daylight and he needed to leave the high ground as soon as possible for the smothering, reeking safety of the Ring. There few questions were asked because they were so often answered with a dagger point. Every time an Embrian guard unit marched by on patrol, he slouched against a wall or a tent fold, and lowered his head to examine the piles of cheap goods in the shop fronts. Once he had strode through the streets like them, striking fear into all who heard that harsh smack of boot leather on cobblestones. Now he slunk like the lowest thief from scant shelter to scant shelter, trying to think what he could do next. He hadnt thought to take the smithy workers money. Embrian guards were issued credits for their meager wants. Food and water. Their uniforms and quarters were provided by Ardentia. Their pay went directly to Embria. Now Hunter noticed that everything in the Ring had a price on it. He thirsted. Was hungry. Too bad. Hed have to head for the Uncivil lands then haunt the borderlands to stalk food and find water. A far cry from the flowing comforts of an Ardentian villa, from entertaining thoughts of drinking from the twin fountains of a womans mouth and the juncture of her thighs. Hunters own juncture ached as if afire at the thought. A thief fled through the crowd, the cry rising behind him. Once Hunter wouldve pursued and caught the cutpurse with five giant strides. Now he shrank against a crumbling brick wall, trying to avoid notice in all the frantic motion. He shut his eyes. Against a wall. Her hands, smooth as sun-warmed steel, soothing ointment onto the wounds on his shoulder and back. Her hands, soft as Ardentian silk, soothing the wounds between his legs, making him swell into experiencing a new, taunting, needful hurt. No! Embrian warriors did not soothe. Did not need. Did not want. Yet he saw now through opened Embrian eyes. He saw the women leaning against walls, hollow-eyed, yet those vulture eyes were circled with enhancing soot and their bitten lips were smeared with berry juice. Good sellers, though they had no shops or tables but the public streets. And he noticed the smellearthy, yeasty, of beers and ales and ciders on the breath of all the men around him. Hed brought them in for drunkenness once. Now he needed

Chapter Ten

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drink, even spirits, to quench the thirst of twenty-four hours without water. Hed taken nothing but clothes from the villa, not stopping to swallow anything before he left. Was she still waiting for him, naked, as hed ordered? The thought made his erect cock spasm. Did he still want to go back for that? To do as she ordered? Another spasm accompanied by a wringing, delicious pain in his gut. No! It was weakness. Madness. Not Embrian. An erect cock was taboo for an adult Embrian, a whipping offense, perhaps even demanding exile. But now it was upright almost all the time, rubbing against his rough suede trousers, irritated. He felt her eyes and phantom fingers on it. Wanted to lean against the wall and close his eyes and feel it all again, feel even a twinge of shameless pride at how the elegant Ardentian woman had worshipped it like a god, him liking the feel of it hard and upright. His body blasphemed! He must forget these hateful sensations forced upon him unwilling. Somehow. He found himself teetering on the threshold of an alehouse. Laughter and shouts and smells of greasy food and sour wine and vomit leaked out. Now he knew want and need. He needed employment, wanted money for food and water. He went in and found a seat by sweeping two scrawny Ring-dwellers aside and taking it. No one objected. No one noticed. Strength was an advantage in the Ring. The men had left tankards behind them. Forbidden. But then he had done much morethat was much more forbidden with a dainty Ardentian sorceress Hunter drank. Beer, he thought. It had a bubbling, bitter sting that immediately quenched his thirst. Not bad. He tried the second tankard.

*****
It seemed a hooded man was a figure of much interest in the Ring. Hunter soon had an empty plate of nameless stew before him and three more full tankards. Three similarly hooded men had offered him jobs ranging from theft to murder within as many hours. Theyd ordered liberally while proposing their schemes. Hed promised to think about itwhile gaining strength for his march into the empty desert. A fourth figure was cloaked and wafted a scent that made his scrotum tighten with memories of Gizella. I could use a good man, she whispered across the table. You look strong. I could feed him fried fairy wing and moonsickle wine. Raw flesh. Do you likea touch of blood? Yours and anothers? Could I tattoo you in my own special way? Long, pointed nails like claws clutched the scarred wood tabletop in a sand-cat rhythm. Would you mark me in your special way? What Uncivil tribe do you come from, stranger? The Vashonians are said to last twelve hours at a time. Embrians are said to endure the severest tortures for weeks, even months. How long could you last in my cunt, in my devoted custody?

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The food and drink threatened revolt in his throat. All around him. This had always been all around him in the Ring, and hed never known. He rose and pushed over the table, the chair the twisted thing was sitting on in her aura of expensive perfume, and crashed through a slew of bodies into the street. Angry men had struck at him, but hed beaten them away with the strength of his arms. Outside it was dark as the backside of the moons, except for the crude flash of occasional torches. Voices lifted loud in anger and drunken song. He needed to head for the clean, dry desert. Without any light to guide him. Now! Before he killed someone, and not as a commission. The beat of boots announced an Embrian guard unit heading this way. He stood unmoving. He reeked of the taverns and the scent of spirits and women. Theyd spot him and surround him on suspicion in a moment. Theyd drag him away and rip off his hood, discover who he was and shame him and strike him until he could move no more, and then throw him on a refuse heap. He wouldnt have the heart to stop them. Something had happened to his heart. Hed apparently mislaid it. Left it behind. Somewhere. With someone he couldnt quite rememberor forgetthrough the liquor haze. Hsst. Fellow. He turned, so slowly. This must be what not sober meant. His legs and arms moved through molasses. He confronted another faceless, hooded man like himself. Another man worthy of capture and humiliation. She had captured him, humiliated him, but at least had soothed him. Here and there. And there again. Again. Again. He shook his head. The ale and wine, taken in quantity, made his hurtful thoughts into so many casting stones loose in his skull. This way. A strong arm grabbed his, pulled him toward a closed shop front. And he would go. How was one stranger different from another? He was a stranger to himself, to his entire life, to everyone who had ever claimed to know him. Hunter. One of our best men. His name was now Hunger! Not Hunter. Hold there! That deep Embrian guard roar of command. He stopped at once. Who wouldnt? Apparently, the man with him. Move! He obeyed. Shed taught him that. Or taught him not to care what happened to him or whom he obeyed. The awning over the shop was above them. The street was as dark asas the Ardentian mans leather tights. Why couldnt he tear, drown, pound those Ardentian memories from his head? The guard unit behind them was his home. He was running from his own past. Down! the man commanded.

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He was used to male command. Not female. Yet he had commanded at the lastwould like to again. The boots marched by. Solid. Impressive. What he had once been. His companion poked him in the ribs. Anyone who had tried to poke an Embrian mercenary in the ribs Theyre gone. This way. He followed because he was used to following orders and because of that curiously absent part of him called heart. Suddenly a heavy weight landed on his back from above. Your purses, fools! a voice ordered. That voice he wouldnt obey. He roared like a sand-cat stud, standing upright and throwing his attacker to the hard stones. The man screamed. The light of second-story torches showed a gang of seven men dropping to the ground on top of the two. His companion pulled something thin and reflective from a thigh-high boot-top. Take it. And this. This was a short sword from the mans hip sheath. They were both armed in both hands, just in time to repel the descending rapscallions. The stones grew slippery with blood, not his. Another bandit gang appeared, drawn by the cries and the scrape of metal on metal. He recognized the redheaded hellion whod led the gang that had ambushed him a few days before. The woman. Werent they all supposed to be in prison? Ha! his companion shouted, his leading boot drumming the stones as he pushed hard into the ranks of their attackers. Hunter could do no less. The intense fight was making the spirit fog vanish. He was still Embrian and a warrior. These blackguards would pay for their criminal attack, and that fire-haired harridan most of all. He was back-to-back with his unknown new ally, and they were beating the dozen men and one woman into retreat down the smoky alleyway. And then the unmistakable pound of boots, the Embrian guards! This way! his battle-mate said, suddenly at his ear. The man threaded down a narrow spiral of buildings less wide than Hunters shoulders. Hunter had to spin sideways to pass and suck in his stomach muscles as he did at the satin touch of Gizellas hands on his groingods! Would he never forget? This way. His battle partner turned an impossibly tight corner, and then said, Im sorry. Hunter glimpsed the red laser light aimed at the side of his neck. Felt the obscene Ardentian weapon sting him. Saw the mans dark eyes and swarthy face leaning over him.

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Seeing you again will stop her tears. So he lost himself to everything, thinking of her. And what weretears?

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Chapter Eleven
Man on Man

Hunter awoke in the retiring room attached to the playroom. His head ached from liquor, but the muscle-weakening red light never left pain or stiffness in its wake. What he felt now was from his hours of wandering and fighting in the Ring. He was naked. His cheeks flushed with fury to have been put to sleep like an infant and undressed by who knew what. He saw food and water on a tray, richly prepared as all Ardentian dishes, but his appetite had gone. He heard the hot-spring bathing pool roiling in the adjacent room, and remembered being tempted to carry Gizella there before hed laid her on the hanging bed and had left, forever. Apparently not. Hed been stupid. Shed sent her tamed man-pet to fetch him back by trickery. Next time hed know better. For nowhe went to kneel by the bubbling, unnaturally warm water and used handfuls to wash the sweat and smoke and smells from his body. He stood, and so did his cock. Her scent was in this room. He could smell it now that his skin was clean. He donned the soft, hateful gray garb for the playroom to hide his hard, hateful erection and went into the next chamber to face Gizella. She wasnt there. He didnt know what he felt about that. Just empty inside. No one had tried to bind him, so he sat on the cushioned central table and waited. He knew shed come to him. Not long after, Gizella entered, quickly and breathlessly, wearing a lizard belly-pale green gown that emphasized the golden sheen of her hair and made her eyes look more green than blue. Hed never seen her more beautiful, her nipples thrusting against the thin silk at the sight of him. She stopped when she saw him and looked him over, not in lust but from obvious worry. She had no idea of how worried shed have been had she known what hed been doing and planning in the Ring. She came near and spoke low, without fear, resting her palm on his copper-colored forearm. Hunter, we must settle something. Why did you run away? Why, just when what we shared was becoming so special, so intimate? When I last saw you in this room, you brought the bandit queens dagger to use to pleasure me. My mouth.

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You wanted that. I only did what you wanted unless you wish to lie about it to this man you dwell with. I dont lie to Ezmond and I dont lie to you. With you both, maybe, but not to you. His face flushed at her bawdy reference. His body was beginning to respond to frank talk, despite himself. She stepped closer, her soft breast brushing his upper arm, and spoke even lower, as if they werent alone together. Hunter, do you quite understand what you did, here, with that dagger and me? I fucked you. You wanted that. I am your prisoner. I gave you what you wanted. Yes, but you also finished what Ezmond had started with me in that prison cell, that your presence had interrupted. You found and brought that very same dagger handle here and with it you fucked my mouth, quite beautifully, and you had the forethought to bring gossamer to cover your finger so you could fuck me below. You brought me such pleasure that I swooned, but you also stepped into Ezmonds boots. And filled them very well, I might add. Your point is? You have business to finish with us, as we have with you, and I cant help thinking that doing so would please and benefit us all, and perhaps our peoples as well. He held his breath, wishing that she didnt touch him, his male pride. His next question was vital. That empty chamber set aside. Upstairs. There were suede trousers and shirts hanging there. Tell me, Gizella. Was it for me? Gizella held her breath. Hunter had glimpsed many things during his unauthorized ramble through their quarters, perhaps this was a positive one. Yes, Hunter, she answered, gently. Theyre there for you when you can move about the entire villa without us fearing youll leave. And of course, my bedchamber is always your bedchamber. The black pupils of his amber eyes flared like an animals in fear at this offer. In the Embrian barracks, he said, his voice hard again, they talk of whores walking the Ardentian city streets. We are advised to stay far clear of them. They are diseased and dangerous. Gizella held her breath. He had truly claimed his revenge simply because she had been honest about her love and desire. Perhaps my doors are not always open, she said, her voice cold, her heart frozen. He glanced at her from under lowered lids. I used to be strong, invincible. He sounded bitter. Now all that I am man enough to be is to wish that you do not close your doors against me. I will stay. But my desires may not be your desires. Her cheeks grew hot with humiliation and aching love and lust. Try my doors and see, Embrian. She said the opposite of what she wanted! Wasnt that always like love?
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He folded his arms over his sand-cat-carved chest. Perhaps thats what will keep me here as you so wish; what I can make you do to amuse me. Those beautiful sandcat eyes raked her body with contemptuous intimacy. And itd amuse me even more to meet your trained ape sword to sword, without a stun-dagger to do his fighting for him. If he can fight at all, that is. Gizella had been cherished, prized, pleased all her life. Never had she felt such frustration. She left the room and returned to a waiting Ezmond at the door, who kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear. He hurts, love, so he hands out worse hurt. You wanted to tame the sand-cat. They have claws and carnivorous instincts. Still, they are magnificent beasts. If its a fight he wants, Ill gladly give him one. She shed a few tears onto his full, silken sleeve. And here I said his return would stop your tears. But no matter, love. I have sixteen sweet, slow ways, Ezmond whispered again, to make you forget any heartsore your Embrian has given you. We should get started. Head high, she left the room on Ezmonds arm, knowing that it would hurt the Embrians pride, wishing that it would hurt the Embrians heart. If he had one. Aiiy, Ezmond hissed as her fingers dug into his forearm flesh. Have I hurt you? No. Just something I did earlier. Gods! These Embrians are trouble! Gizella smiled through her tears. Ezmond was so right. But she had Hunter back! Safe! Unhurt! The Embrian. He could not hate her forever.

*****
Hunter had returned to his room, the one he was to use until they deemed him trustworthy enough to sleep and eat on the same floor as they. To sleep in Gizellas bed even. With the man there to watch in person, no doubt. He recalled his disgust at their antics on the cell floor, the man disgracing the haft of his weapon by using it to toy with the womans body. Hed mimicked those degraded gestures with her only yesterday, partly out of anger, partly out of these fierce new feelings hed been cursed with since meeting the Ardentians. Hed liked doing it, thrusting something hard inside her, seeing her instant, willing surrender. She was at his mercy. He felt powerful and yetstrangely protective, invading her orifices slowly. And the slower and more considered his motions, the more heated her reactions. He had done as the man had done in the cell, found a thin translucent sheath for his finger in their toy chest, and then slipped it inside her front hole. How her passage had seized upon that slender penetration! He tried to remove his finger, but it was clasped tight. When he relented and moved back into her shed

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moaned and her hips had begun moving up and down on his finger as if trying to swallow it. As her throat had swallowed the haft of the dagger. He remembered when, as a boy, the tribe had found an abandoned sand-cat kit, blind, toothless, helpless. One of the captive women nursing a boy-child was ordered to suckle the sacred beast babe as well. Hunter had been told to bring it to her, even though it would involve his possible exposure to an ugly naked breast. Hed been instructed to not look on any account and had obeyed. But in taking the tiny cat to and fro, once it had fastened its mouth and gums on his forefinger and drawn it deep, suckling fiercely. Such pressure! Such possession. He couldnt pull his finger free and had panicked that it would strangle the tiny beast. Finally he wrenched it from that mindless suction, the gods own will to live they put into every living thing. Thats what Gizellas cunt had felt like, bottomless, raging with a savage desire to feed on his cock, his finger, anything he could fill it with. Hunter moaned softly at the two memories, so different yet so similar. Gods help him! He wanted to fill her, feed her, no matter the taboos broken. Hed been stripped of every last bit of fabled Embrian discipline and made into a ravening beast without a brain. These cursed Ardentians had polluted him, made him a failure, a pariah to his own tribe! If you want to fight me, food is a good idea, said a voice behind him. He whirled to see the Ardentian leaning in the open doorway. Hed come back to answer Hunters challenge. Now, in bright light and his right mind, he readily recognized Ezmond in the gypsy garb of the Ring. He looked a lot more dangerous so dressed. Fight you? I intend to kill you, Hunter said. All the better. I like a motivated opponent. Hunter rose. Not here and now. Tomorrow. In the practice chamber. We can both use short swords. Im used to a rapier; youre used to broadsword. It should make us equally disadvantaged. Id fight you dagger to sword if you want. Daggers are a womans weapon, Ezmond said, or at least their hafts, as we both know. Hunter knew the man had seen him ape his own action with Gizella. You prying, sneaking coward! Ill carve the smirk off your face and cut your lovelocks to shreds. Excellent! Thats the spirit. Eat, drink water and be ready for tomorrow. So why are you now so primed to fight me? Is it because I pinned her to the wall and penetrated her mouth and cunt with Valerias dagger and my finger, as you had done in the cell?

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No. I have done as much, and she to me. Restraint intensifies rapture, it is written in the Books of Bliss. Its because you didnt come back for her as you said but deserted her and caused her grief. Grief? Hunter frowned. And why are you still wearing that disreputable garb? This old thing? It seems my Ring identity of Black Ozrald quite piques Gizellas interest. Shed never seen it before and begged me to remain like this until the morning, when she is thoroughly through with me. Youd spend the night wasting your strength on a woman before a fight to the death? Actually, that inspires me. Just as you knowing what Ill be doing will madden you. My man will bring dueling clothes to your room in the morning. Good night, Hunter. Stunned, Hunter was just able to stop the man before he vanished. Wait. What are tears? Tears? You said that my return here would stop Gizellas tears. Ah. The man ambled back, irritating as usual in his easy grace and mocking manner. Tears are what a civilized human sheds, saltwater from the eyes, when moved by great emotion. Fright. Loss. Pain. Hunter frowned. He had seen that strange state with Gizella before he left. Only women? Women, yes, and children. We men are foolish enough to resist such release unless tried to our extremes. Im sure an Embrian never has shed tears. Hunter frowned again. A boy who waters from the eyes is as cursed as a boy who cannot control the water from his cock. That has the sound of a saying, Ezmond said. We Ardentians also have our sayings. Theyre collected in some ancient tomes known as the Books of Bliss. One of them is Hatred will grow thorns to cut you, but love will ooze balm to heal you. Love isnt an Embrian virtue. Its an Ardentian weakness. Tomorrow we shall test that. By the way, I doubt that theres any danger of you tattling, but Gizella does not, and will not, know of this meeting of ours. You hide this from her in case you should lose? I hide this from her in case you should lose. He bowed like a lord in his filthy garb and left. Hunter shuddered to think of Gizella in her soft pale-green gown twined with the Ardentians Ring-stained clothes and body all the night through.

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Chapter Twelve
New Exertions

In the morning a strange new servant brought fighting garb for Hunter. The Embrian frowned at the neat pileleather trousers as Ezmond wore, these colored a bitter dark brown, a heavy linen shirt laced high at the neck and a padded red leather vest embellished with black and bronze threads. He frowned more at the bearer of this fripperies. The man, at least he assumed so, was slight compared to him and Ezmond. His hair was even more repulsive than that of Hunters Ardentian keepers. It flared from his head in a feathery profusion of colors, short and upright, like the crest of a bird. His garb was also gaudysheer, clinging shirt and tights. A sickle moon of piercing rings outlined his nostrils and surrounded his exposed nipples. The creature stood and waited. I may not want to wear these. Youd duel only in those pathetically thin suede-skin trousers you came here wearing? he asked. I suppose that would be a heavy advantage to my master. Hunter prodded the leather tights. These are decadent and foppish. Also resistant to piercing with a weapon. The creature sighed. Why do you wait? Ill assist you into these things. Im told they are foreign to you. Ive dressed myself since I could walk. Obviously. The creature lifted the dark brown trousers. His Excellency has had these signature tights of his, designed to his specifications, made in a size that should fit you. Such tailoring is wasted on one lacking the lean elegance of my Lord Ezmond, but theyll protect you during practice sessions, and thats their purpose. Practice sessions? Hunter almost laughed aloud. Thered be no other meeting. His Excellency would breathe his last at the point of whatever weapon Hunter was given to use. Those trousers do indeed look too skimpy to don. He eyed the slack leather tether at the front fly. Gizella was adept at unlacing a mans trousers. No doubt shed practiced endlessly on these creations of Ezmonds. The idea enraged him, yet his cock stirred. He could picture her pale hands against this almost-black brown leather, laboring to free his cock. And then What was happening to him?

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The strange servant was fussing with the decorative copper braid down the tights outer sides. Hunter stared when the creature peeled them back and split the tights open from waist to ankle. So thats how the Ardentian got into his skin-tight trousers! The servant simpered, still managing to sound superior. The lacings are decorative and erotic, but the tights are simple to don and doff with the side seals. That is the genius of my Lord Ezmonds design. A man should design weapons, not wearing apparel. Hmm, the creature purred. And who is to say that such an inciting garment is not a weapon, hmm? But the material is hardy and durable for battle as well. When Hunter still hesitated, the servant sniffed. Oh, turn your back to me, leave your shirt on and drop your lounge trousers, you big ignorant Uncivil. I will glimpse no more than the sickle moons of your ass bottom and you will soon be properly attired to meet the master for combat. The word combat was the only goad that made Hunter comply. The two sides of the tights were slapped around him and sealed from ankle to hip, completely encasing his legs and lower torso. The creature started around to his front, but Hunter growled, Ill do the rest. He struggled to tighten the front laces. Leather strings were stiffer than the soft suede he was used to. Yet the smooth leather tights molded to his limbs. His cock was rising to meet the cool, taut surface faster than Hunter could lace it into submission. As soon as he tied the laces, the creature behind him put the shirt into his free hand. He shrugged it over his head, glad to shield his sand-cat tattoo from infidel eyes. When he turned, the man was holding out the leather vest for him to thrust his arms through. He wasnt used to such services. No one had touched his clothing, not even an unremembered mother, until Gizella had come pushing her fingers into it. Gizellas fingers. Face. Tears. He felt a pressure in his chest that wasnt fear. Loss. Pain. But not fear. The creature used a control device to make a wall reflective. Hed never seen his own image until now. It was a shock, but if he had Ezmond to compare himself to, he was pleasantly surprised. The tights emphasized Hunters powerful thigh muscles, as massive as a sand-cat studs. The front lacing also emphasized his stimulated and erect cock. He was bigger here than Ezmond too. Bigger was an Embrian virtue. For the first time Hunter took pride in his cock, a feeling that tightened his balls and warmed his pelvis and had him wishing Gizella could see him now. Better than I imagined, the borrowed servant sniffed. The master is a genius. It was all Hunter could do not to reply, The master is an as-good-as-dead genius. But he didnt want to alert Gizella any more than Ezmond did. Shed try to stop this if she knew. At least the man was not a coward. When will I get my weapon? Hunter asked. In the practice chamber. Ill take you there.
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Hunter followed the creature, feeling his leather tights stretch with every step yet stay molded to his skin. He hoped this new clothing wouldnt be a distraction, as perhaps Ezmond wished. But once a hilt was in his hand, nothing could distract him. Not even a naked Gizella begging him to stop. Naked. Gizella. Loss. Pain. But no fear.

*****
The chamber where he and the Ardentian were to fight was the same windowless style of the palaces private rooms. It was lit by a similar wash of soft artificial light. No advantage would come from any particular position in the room. One wall displayed dozens of exotic weapons behind some clear substance, like the man-things in Gizellas bedchamber. The other walls were padded in white material and the floor was some textured stone that wouldnt be slippery but could turn an ill-placed ankle. Hunter was glad for the heavy linen shirt and leather vest. The spirit-beast images tattooed onto Embrian chests at full growth werent just a mystical symbol. No Embrian mercenary wanted his tattoo cut and scarred. It therefore was a strong incentive to dodge disfiguring, and also mortal, torso blows. Ezmond was waiting, attired and sleek. He raised an eyebrow at Hunters appearance but said nothing. In turn, Hunter eyed the Ardentian in his black leather tights and jacket. He was a sly one. Hunter would expect him to spot an Embrians weakness and exploit it. A slashing blade could penetrate padded leather. On the other hand Hunter eyed the mans handsome, feline face. He boasted of being made for courting women. Blows aimed there would threaten him most. There is, Ezmond pointed out, a dagger on a shelf at each end of the room. Can we reach them, we add another weapon. Otherwise, there was nothing in this chamber to act as barrier, nowhere to hide, nothing to throw. It would be man and weapon against man and weapon. Ezmond held two medium-length and -weight swords with basket hilts to protect the hands. Hunter preferred naked hand on naked haft. He was clearly the larger and stronger, but the Ardentian remained calm. He was either foolish and brave, or skilled and lethal. Or all of them. Ezmond tossed him one sword, which he caught with the speed of a striking cobra. Hunter grinned to feel the weight of long steel in his right hand. He nodded. The time for talk was done. They didnt exactly duel over Gizella, but shed brought them to this place and this moment. They both knew shed hate their duel, but this was mens work. They began circling at a distance, Hunters boot soles getting the feel of the floor, its security and its treachery.

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The Ardentian was wearing the wide swashbuckling boots Hunter had first seen in the bandits lair. A sword blow down their gold-tasseled tops might trip the man. His own shirtsleeves were full enough to snare a sharp point, but the Ardentians leather jacket was closed from throat to hip and wrist, and would be a challenge to pierce. Ezmond tired of the circling first, as Hunter had expected. His sword came slashing in at an angle. Hunter couldnt match the quick, dazzling moves, but one of his long strides to the side put him out of range long enough to strike Ezmonds sword on a slant that threatened to break his grip on the hilt. Recognizing the danger, Ezmond retreated only to find Hunters torso guarded by his blade. He pushed in again, slashing, then spun two times, poised to strike the flat of the sword against Hunters back. But Hunter had spun in place to parry Ezmonds blow. And so it went, Hunter holding his place by tight turns, blocking Ezmonds blade. Ezmond dancing around his prey, seeking to penetrate that stolid defense with one swift thrust. Different as their attacks were, each had a defense sufficient against the other. It was clear that each would have to try a new strategy to surprise the other, or they could cross swords all day, until blinded by sweat, and win or concede nothing. Of a sudden Hunters sword went slashing madly at Ezmond. The leaner man could not play the mountain as well as Hunter could. And he didnt. Ezmond held his ground then ducked as Hunters humming sword slashed the air where he had been. His blade tip caught in Hunters sleeve and ripped it open down the outer side. But Hunters sword had caught the cuff of Ezmonds boot on the down-slash, and the heavy leather gaped open, creating a distraction for every step Ezmond took. These wounds to their clothing matched each mans fighting style and favorite weapon. Ezmond was used to a light, slashing blade capable of precise, long cuts. Hunters arm was used to a heavy blade that severed rather than sliced. They circled again then pushed closer, their eyes equally intent and deadly. Ezmond darted back as Hunters sword scribed a circle at the front of his leather jacket. His sword tip darted in as the heavy strokes end momentarily left Hunters chest unguarded. He cut through the leather thongs that held Hunters vest closed. The center of the sand-cat tattoo was only a layer of linen away from his steel touch. Hunter roared and advanced as Ezmond had, one leg and boot stamping forward, driving Ezmond back. The Embrian loosed an angry back-and-forth flurry of sword strokes that stuck home even as Ezmond spun totally before the onslaught. He retreated to see the leather jackets front scored as if decorated, and knew the back bore the same design.

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Each man stood back, panting hard, satisfied that hed marked the apparel of the other, now tasting for skin to emboss, for blood. Hunter lunged for the side wall, slashing, and then captured the dagger from the shelf. With Hunter at the wall, Ezmond could have lunged for the dagger on the opposite wall. But he didnt. He stood his ground, exchanging stares as hard as iron with Hunter. The pause endured for perhaps forty breathless seconds. They rushed together, instantly hilt-to-hilt, hand-to-hand, legs braced and faces almost touching like lovers, teeth bared in fierce battle grins. Hunter had expected Ezmond to give way before a direct duel of arm and leg strength, but he was holding amazingly well for the moment. Hunters heart sang with victory. The Ardentian couldnt resist this hard for long. His legs would start sliding back, his feet stuttering for purchase. Then Hunter would press harder, press him all the way back to the wall and Ezmond held. They struggled to a draw, silent, their battle grins frozen into grimaces, teeth clenched as each exerted more strength than seemed possible. But Hunter finally had his dagger point at the Ardentians throat. One sweeping blow would kill. He hesitated then spoke. Before I end this, answer one thing. Obviously, Ezmond gasped, glancing at the dagger haft in Hunters hand. What islove? Gizella. Hunter had to catch his breath too. Its more than one woman. Its that I woulddie for her. For a woman? Hed never understand that, Hunter thought. And I wouldkill for her, Ezmond added in a different tone. The Ardentian didnt seem to move yet a hidden dagger snicked from his leather sleeve into his hand as he spoke. The point prodded past Hunters vest to the sand-cats left eye, directly over Hunters heart. Neither man moved or lessened the contrary push of every muscle in their bodies. Sweat ran into their eyes and down their throats and chests. Hunter grunted. I see. Gizella is your Embria. I knew youd understand, Ezmond gasped, if I put it to you in the right way. Hunter glanced at the dagger tip threatening the sand-cats eye. What willhappen to Gizellawhen I kill you? Hunter asked. Shell be driven to the ground in grief. But I shall kill you. Hunter allowed himself a deep breath without losing ground. The Ardentians dagger prick was drawing blood, but so was his own point. And when you kill me?
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Shell be driven to the ground in grief. The Ardentian had conceded nothing, but Hunter knew he spoke the truth. Then wed better kill each other now, Ardentian, he said, still grinning and breathing hard, or no one. Yet neither could move apart or give one inch of ground. Hunter suspected the Ardentian of more treachery until Ezmond pulled back his hidden dagger. He lifted one dark eyebrow as he gazed at Hunters dagger, in an unsaid, Well? He was cool, this Ardentian aristocrat, and deadly. Hunter could understand why Gizella admired him and felt this thing called love. He felt crude now, defeated by his own strength and some new weakness he couldnt name. He straightened to withdraw his dagger. They stood apart suddenly, too exhausted to speak. The scent of their sweat stained the spotless white room, but no blood. Ezmonds dagger gestured at Hunters shredded shirt. You protected your sandcat. And you protected your Ardentian lady. Ezmond laughed. Gizella doesnt need to be protected, but I thought you could use some manly exercise. Also, you needed to see that Ardentian men can fight as well as love. Whatever that is. You are a mocking sort of man, even in the face of death. Indeed. Life is too short to take it too seriously. Hunter nodded. If you feel that way, we might want to try this again. Ezmond grinned. Certainly. I could use the exercise too. Now that I know your Ardentian trickery. Now that I know your Embrian weaknesses. Hunter did have weaknesses, but so did Ezmond, he now knew. The man loved Gizella too much to kill him, even if he could. Whatever that thing called love was.

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Chapter Thirteen
Ardentian Games

After doffing his practice clothes, Ezmond let the showers hottest, hardest water pound his aching back and arm muscles. Gods, that huge Embrian right arm could shatter rock! Izskeevial, his valet, tsked at the thoroughly slashed leather jacket then grew thoughtful and took it away without comment. Dressed in a soft silver lounge suit, Ezmond returned to the Embrians quarters. Swiftly, discreetly. The villa guards had taken Hunter still soaking from their swordplay. He was fettered to the wall without his sword-scored vest to obscure his picturesque bare chest, feet shoulder-width apart, wrists at his sides. He looked damn dashing in those leather tights Ezmond had made fashionable. His cock was still half hard, pushing out the lacings the way Gizella always liked it. He started when Ezmond came through the door. Obviously, hed been expecting Gizella. Anticipating Gizella, though he didnt know it and would never admit to it. Ezmond sat on the central table and flicked the control button to release the Embrians wrists and ankles. The man seemed to understand that this was a meeting, not a play session. Ezmond was relieved to note that his sword had not even nicked the sand-cat tattoo. Gizella would never forgive him if he had, but the heat of battle makes such self-defeating aims difficult. I believe, Ezmond said, its time to explain the Ardentian way of rearing children. I dont care to know it. It would help if you did. Help who? You? Does it justify you keeping me prisoner for your womans pleasure? Ezmond smiled. Perhaps. Just listen. The Embrian folded his arms across his impressive chest, a position that shouted Prove it! Ezmond put his weight on his boot heels and rose to prowl around the table. I was known since my youth as a man who loved women. There are the other sort in Ardentia, we Embrians hear. There is every sort in Ardentia, free to live as they like so long as they dont harm another.

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The Embrian lifted a skeptical bronze eyebrow. Ezmond wondered if he realized hed adapted the gesture second-hand from him, through Gizella. I was too busy loving women to consider others ambitions, Ezmond went on. I was in quite enough demand for my own specialty. The Embrian said nothing, but his old-gold eyes were taking new measure of Ezmond, trying to see him as Gizella might. He knew him now for a fierce foe, but how might a woman regard him as a lover? He grunted, as if conceding Ezmonds abilities in that area as well, but contemptuous of them, of the act of love itself. You must know how Ardentian children are reared, Ezmond repeated. Even the youngest child has innocent desires both loving and sexual. The Embrians next grunt denied that. Perhaps not in Embria, but in most other places. We Ardentians allow the young to feel and accept these feelings as they occur, neither suppressing nor encouraging them. By the time their bodies show signs of adult functioning, they are thirteen or fourteen years old. Each one is given a holographic computer program to interact with, where they can create on-screen dreams, desires, and experiment safely withfigures of their imaginations. Ardentian games! the Embrian said in dismissal. At fifteen, Ezmond said, theyre permitted to experiment under supervision with those of their own age for three years. They learn what pleases each others bodies and what pleases their particular temperament. Of course they are made safe from unwanted generation and disease. So your young are fucking large numbers of each other? Ezmond sighed. They are each limited to three liaisons a year. Given the intensity of the mating urge at first flush, thats quite conservative. Ezmond couldnt tell whether the Embrian was working himself up to another expression of spit, but he stopped in front of Hunter, just out of arms reach, and folded his own arms. I was past all this, of course, when I first really noticed Gizella as a woman at her parents villa. I was twenty and could have any woman in Ardentia I wished. I was content. Yet one day I looked at her and could not look away again. She dazzled me. I was lovestruck. I wanted no other woman. Gizella was almost fifteen, on the brink of taking lovers of her own age. I went to her parents and asked that she become my licensed pleasure partner when she turned eighteen, but before she sampled desire in more than her hologram world. They refused me. Hunter was looking interested for the first time. What did you do? Challenge her father to a duel? No. I expressed my instant and deep love for their daughter. They laughed at me. Hunter was really enjoying the tale now.

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They said I was a noted aristocrat, swordsman and cocksman, but they wanted more for their daughter, who was graced with beauty, intelligence and a rare sweetness. I agreed with their assessment but for the first time in my life, I couldnt bear the thought of another boy, girl, man, woman with someone who attracted me. Gizella. Hunter frowned, confused. Butyou helped her. With me. That first time. Ezmonds lifted hand commanded silence. I had fallen, for the first time, utterly in love with another. I wanted no hand but mine to lead her into full adulthood and physical satisfaction. I wanted her to experience no moment of anxiety, no unnecessary pain, and I wanted her every instance of rapture to be in my arms, at my hands. The troubled expression on Hunters face kept him still, bound by the story of Gizellas awakening at Ezmonds hands. I loved her. Ezmond eyed Hunter hard. So I offered her parents three years of celibacy. If I proved my constancy in a world where constancy is not demanded, I would be constant to her alone for life. No other women. I swore it. They were dubious, but theres no easy way to conceal misdoings in Ardentia. Time proved me true to my word. When Gizella was fifteen, they betrothed her to me. So none of the young people her age were everclose to her? No one was. Until she was eighteen. I was allowed to escort her the last year before then, to offer courtly gestures such as hand kisses and to converse with her about the arts of love. Wait! You kept yourself celibate for three years? A long time for a profligate Ardentian! Unheard of. But Gizella knew by then how much I loved her, and my sacrifice endeared me to her, so she came to love me as fiercely as I did her. It has been paradise for us ever since, the sweeter for having been withheld, for Gizella wouldve come to me eagerly and ardently much sooner. And the point of this story is? I know our ways sound degenerate to you, as Embrian denial of the flesh sounds harsh and barbaric to us. But I have spent whole years of my life seeing to it that Gizella is not hurt, and I wont stop now. Then why did you ever allow her to come within touching distance of me? I havent been trained in your soft ways, with women or in any other matter. If youd told her no, she wouldve heeded you. Why did you unloose her on me? Because I saw the beginnings of the love I first felt for herin her, for you. She loves you, Embrian, and the one thing I am unable to deny her is the love I nourished in her and her complete ability to enjoy its physical aspects, all of them. Perhaps by circumventing the physically experimental stage because of my possessive ardor, I left part of her emotional growth unexplored. I am thisimagined figure to be manipulated on the screen of her dreams?

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Alas, no, Embrian. I could live better with that. You are a real person, and perhaps the worst or the best man in the world for her. I dont know yet. But I cant deny to her what has been so precious to me. When you understand that, youll understand what love is. This is mad! Even Embrians know that men in other tribes who go with women all their lives are loath to share them. Not in Ardentia. Not until Gizella and I. Why dont you have me killed while I am trapped here against your fiendish moving prison walls? If that had been an answer for me, you would have never left the bandits cellar chains alive. Hunter sighed, mightily, shaking his warriors braids like leather whips around his shoulders. You are mad. Mad! In everything but But what? Hunter wouldnt be moved to say another word. The guards will release you when I leave. If we could trust you to remain and not lash out at us, you could have the freedom of the villa. And what would it take for you to trust me? A vow, I suppose. No. Then good evening, Hunter. Ezmond paused at the door. Dueling you has been most stimulating. You do notice how conflict as well as hunger makes the cock rise to the occasion? Ill be soothing my upset Gizella all night, whom youve lashed out to hurt because she loves you. Ill be soothing her in ways you can now too readily imagine, so dont expect to see her again before tomorrow morning. Late tomorrow morning. The Embrians face was a mosaic of bewildered emotions. Ezmond was glad to see among them a faint shadow of his own pride and pain and despair. And hope.

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Chapter Fourteen
Embrian Mornings

You like him! Gizella challenged Ezmond the next morning. I begin to respect him, he said. Like has nothing to do with it. I must like him, for you are besotted with him. Not besotted. Yes, besotted. He rolled her over in the bed, tickled her where it always made her laugh and protest and beg for more. Its all right. As long as you remain besotted with me. Oh Ezmond, how did I ever deserve your regard, your tutelage, your desire, your wisdom Wench! He slapped her lightly on the rear. I know how you fretted at his escape. You try to tame the wind and it will resent you every step of the way until you win, or it does. But I won you once, against all odds, and I cant deny you that pleasure of winning someone else over. Against all odds. If you hurt beyond healing in your hopes for the Embrian, come to me. Thats all I ask. Come to me. Ezmond, my dearest. Wherever I am, whatever I do, whatever I desire, I come to you. With you. He kissed her then, so deeply she felt it in every extremity. Ezmond! How could she feel anything like this for anyone else? Yet she did.

*****
She visited the playroom wearing her most modest gown, her heart beating beneath that silken carapace like a captured lyre-bird. Hunter was free, as shed ordered, his huge handsome body sitting on the central toy chest, watching her approach while moving his fingers over Valarias dagger haft. Their dagger haft. Hunter. I was wrong. Ezmond was wrong. Wed hoped to teach you the Ardentian way. Why did you presume I needed teaching? Am I always to be your inferior? When you had me pinned in this room, open to your every want, I was not your superior. Yes, you were. Always. You were above me. Beautiful. Prideful. In command.

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He came a step closer on every sentence. You intended to torture me into learning Ardentian ways, for me to forsake every instinct I had. To blind me with desire for your body and your soul and yourthing called love. And you succeeded. Isucceeded? Yes. I am willing to take you as we Embrians take a woman, even though you are sterile and useless, even though I do not have the excuse of a son to allow me to soil my sacred snake in your cunt-hole. Now I will teach you the Embrian way. He came swaggering toward her, a god of a manstrong, handsome, driven by overwhelming desire that he took for anger and the humiliation of recapture. He was a furious, pained beast, striking out at his only captor-friend, and she was his only meat. Ezmond had warned herhe was wild. He wouldnt tame. He could turn on her at any moment, given the chance. Hed made this meeting his chance. She backed away, falling against the central island. He pushed her down onto it full length, using the dagger to rip her gown down the center. He put down the weapon to brush the material aside and push open the trouser slit to expose his rampant cock. Her heart pounded with fear, but also excitement. This was the first time hed wanted to fuck her, even in anger. And a man couldnt rape a woman who wanted him with all her heart, any way she could have him. He thrust that magnificent, intimidating cock into her without foreplay, but she was already sopping wet. Just seeing him always triggered a gush of her inner juices. She understood now how Ezmond had felt all those self-denying weeks, teaching her to use her sex for the first time. There is not only the Ardentian way, Hunter was saying, which is to taunt and tease and torment and breach every orifice with tongue and fingers and every object imaginable. Hearing him say those words made her almost swoon with desire. How well he described the more exotic shores of lovemaking. There is also this, he said, driving his cock deep inside her swollen mons, his powerful hips pounding himself in to the hilt then out again, hard and fast and relentless. Gizella welcomed his deep entry. Feeling so totally filled was sublime. She tightened her buttocks, braced her legs and lifted her pelvis to welcome his ferocious fucking, every nerve in her body thrumming with stimulation. Again and again he rocked her entire body and mind, like a machine, like a robotic vibrator. What had happened to the reluctant fornicator who spent himself with distaste after a minute or two? His continuing assault had numbed all her surface receptors of pleasure. Even her clit had gone dead. But the mouth of her womb awoke and sang. It met his hard fucking with its own adamant wish to be pushed at and pushed at again and again and again until some even deeper place in her finally got its due and gathered for a release so

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gargantuan it terrified her. He never paused, never came; he wore the face of a man fucking his own most forbidden cataclysm. Gizella panted like a wildcat in heat to sense a tidal wave of release heading for every neuron in her body. Her torso stiffened into an arc, a bridge, as his human battering ram pounded the taut wall of her resistance, which had wanted to give anyway. I am Embrian, he was saying through his own deep breaths. I know how to please myself. I dont need your decadent play for satisfaction, for release. The tidal wave had almost reached her and it wasnt seawater, but a cascade of breakers formed of pure electricity. My spirit-beast name is Lynx. He could barely speak now and she could hardly breathe, yet the orgasm fought to erupt at the sound of his secret name, incredibly strong, and burned through her body and skin and soul until she couldnt see anymore, not his braids hanging past his intense face to tickle her breasts, not the soft-lit blue ceiling above her. She felt only his cock, needed it just one more time, one more cunt-shaking thrust, and maybe another. Another one more. Gods, she was wound to a fever pitch. Something had to give or she would break Her scream seemed endless as she plunged into an ocean of seething electrified water and came and came and came and came and fell into blackness, still blissfully impaled on his invincible cock.

*****
Gizella swam up to consciousness slowly, though thick, warm water, rocked by the waves. Rocked by someone who clasped her in his arms, his face buried in her hair, calling her name over and over and over and over again. Her cunt was still on fire and pulsing, all the way up to her navel. Her nipple rings were pressed so hard against his chest that the pain exceeded the careful tease of pleasure. He was crushing her in his arms, intoning her name again and again. This was not the first time hed used it, and then in anger, but now it came tumbling out as if he were releasing the thousand tender times hed said it to himself in his mind. She thrilled at the sight of this hidden, strangled passion finally breaking free. Gizella, my lovely, tormenting Gizella. Gizella, my cock wouldnt stop, it wouldnt spend, release me from the madness. Gizella, gods know I couldnt stop myself. I didnt mean to I didnt mean to. What shed told Ezmond in the crude prison when hed found her fondling the chained Embrian like a besotted schoolgirl let out to play with something dangerously addictive. She supposed theyd ravaged Hunter that day, and that had been wrong. Yet it had led to this.

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She felt an internal smile start and reluctantly left the sated, far-floating place hed fucked her into to blink her eyes open. Gizella! Youre alive! Not for much longer if he tightened his embrace any more. She was still too fulfillment-drugged to move or speak. She needed to do something though, to reassure him. Lynx She lifted a limp hand to caress one of his braids, knowing this was the first time hed heard his secret, sacred name on her lips. His expression was a study of mixed fear, relief and regret. Gizella, Im sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. He pressed his face to her breast and moved it down her body, murmuring sorrys over her breasts and the bare flesh of her belly and down to her swollen outer lips, lifting her hips to cover her love mound with frantic kisses. His first kisses ever, and so sweet there, worshipping where he had been taught from birth and through a brutal manhood to avoid and despise. She put her hands on his bowed head, twining her fingers into his braids, pulling his face harder to her, craving the pressure, the surrender, the possession. Ill never touch you again, Gizella. Ill cut it off, I swear Gods, no! Its all right, she told him dreamily. His kisses were arousing her again. Im all right. He looked up her body to her face, his grasp on her buttocks tightening as he held her pelvis like a chalice. Youre notbroken here? I didnt? No, Lynx. But I felt something break, a great rush of blood. Gods, Im sorry! Is there blood on your lips? His put his fingertips to his mouth, glistening with the proof of her rapture. He stared at them as he pulled them into view. Gods, his hands were huge. How many fingers could she take inside her? Something to find out. She ached to open even farther for him. Even deeper. No blood. He looked puzzled. Some say its a legend. Some say its only rare. I say I just came the way your cock does, releasing a flood of love juice. His large chest and the sand-cat face tattooed on it heaved with mutual relief. I was angry, beside myself. Perhaps I did mean to hurt you, as you have hurt me. How have I hurt you? By making me want things I was taught to despise. But now I only want to make up for what Ive just done to you. Make up for giving me the deepest, most overwhelming climax of my life?

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Embrians were pretty humorless, but she watched his almost comical puzzlement change into full comprehension. She lifted one eyebrow, a gesture that shed learned from Ezmond was useful in the bedroom at rare, awkward moments. What can I do to please you even more? he asked, finding the right question at last. You could put your handsome head back down and suck my fucking cunt dry. Shock at the compliment and the blunt words for the deeply thrilling and intimate act froze Hunters expression. The old Embrian taboos arose as he realized just what hed been doing to her where. For how long and how eagerly. Yet, as he stared, he found Gizellas beautiful face even more irresistible now. It was flushed as pink as her cunt petals, her eyelids half lowered, her lush lips even more swollen, parted. Her expression was a strange blend of haughty command and naked need. Both attitudes struck his heart and his hips like heat lightning. He didnt know what to think, but his steel-hard cock and engorged, pulsing balls knew what he should do. They still ached for release. His lips softened finally into a small, secretgrin. His hands tilted her pelvis into his face like a wassail bowl of steaming hot wine he would swallow in one long, endless draught. His thumbs pulled her outer petals open by the labia rings until she murmured mingled protest and delight at the burn. The small sound was a searing spur. His tongue plunged as far inside her as it could to soothe the burn of his opening her wide to his mouth, tasting, taking, teasing and loving it. Gizella slipped into blissful surrender. Seeing Hunters proud, cold hatred turned to passionate possession of her innermost secrets was sheer rhapsody, her body so awash in pleasure that she seemed to be watching herself from a place slightly distant. Only Hunters thumb tips fit inside the labia rings, just barely, Gizella noticed dreamily, mesmerized by the glittering rubies that twinkled in time to his tongues advance and retreat. Shed need a bigger set made for him. Of all her body jewelry, and perhaps something new. Shed ask him what hed like. Perhaps a clit ring. That powerful tongue could play it with excruciating delicacy. Everything inset with yellow diamonds the color of his eyes. They could make a foreplay ritual of it, changing out her body jewelry just for himhis big, powerful hands making the delicate movements needed to string fine metal wire through delicate flesh, his big, clumsy knuckles accidentally brushing her nipples, her clit. Shaking a little with impatience. So endearing. So fiendishly exciting. Then the heat and wetness and wild spasms swept her away again.

*****

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She returned to her bedroom to find Ezmond there, lounging on her bed in open, loose white shirt and black leather tights, and felt shame. Take off your gown, Gizella. I want to see your body. For the first time she felt uneasy being naked in front of him. She hesitated; she whod never hesitated at any of his requests, his needs. He stood and came to unfasten the jeweled waist clasp and let the gown pool at their feet. His fingertip touched her at nipple, navel and slit, slipping through the delicate rings. Each touch was achingly featherweight. Though she was exhausted from pleasure, she suddenly wanted more of it, from him. These rings are too small for him, for his hands, he said. I know. But you arent. She glanced up sharply, unsure. Was Ezmond angry? Jealous? I know you watched. And you know that without even glancing at my lacings? She did then, of course, and saw his evident erection. Unthinkingly, she stepped toward him, wanting to press against it. Ezmonds fingers on her shoulders stopped her. We must talk first. About the Embrian. He was so angry, Ezmond. Angrier than ever before. He quite took my breath away. And you now know he has a right to be. Yes. She looked into the velvet-black eyes that had won her love and desire even before hed taken her from her parents house. We took him, Ezmond, against his will and every instinct he knew from birth. I did, rather; you only aided me in thisdespoilment. It was wrong. I agree. Why did you let me then? Because my only desire is to see you satisfied, my love. I saw that you were intrigued by the breed, by the man, by his body. You still are. She hung her head. And because, Ezmond said, pushing a finger into her cunt and catching her arm behind her back as she swooned a little from the pleasure she always felt at his touch, I saw you at your parents house when you were not even a woman. I was the best swordsman in Ardentia with rapier and cock. I know, Ezmond, she murmured. All the men feared you and all the women ached for you. Ezmond inside her in any way was the deepest and dearest emotional connection of her life. She loved him, and him doing that.

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And the moment I saw you, Gizella, all the women were done with. I went to your parents and argued for months to take you away as my pleasure partner. I remained celibate for three years to prove it. It wasnt hard once I had seen you. I didnt know that then. I only saw you come and talk to them, when I was dying for you to come talk to me. Gizella tightened her inner muscles on his finger, trying to draw it inward. All the girls my age swooned over you, and I too was dying for so much more that I couldnt even imagine then. For three years the only holographic figure on my trial pleasure-screen had been you. Really? She had ignited a flash of youthful bravado. Was I good? Perfect. You sensed my every need. You did some things that were anatomically impossible, but they were always rewarding. Some day I must see these files. Her cheeks reddened. The imaginings of a besotted virgin. Id rather you didnt. He smiled and dropped the subject but continued to speak. And when I finally did take you away, you who had been sheltered and cosseted, I did as I had sworn. I showed you the arts of love, slowly, easily, until you were open to enjoying every variation. He ran his lips over the side of her face to her neck. I could make you climax with a touch, Gizella. You are now, Ezmond. She lifted her hands to seize his shoulders as her exhausted cunt trembled yet again. Her scream was short and ended with a murmur of contentment. He kept his finger in her as he kissed her breasts. It was a minor intrusion, but as potent in its way as the Embrians mighty cock. I never tire of pleasuring you, my love, he said, and never will. Which is why I let you take the Embrian. Through me, youve experienced everything a woman can with a man, but not the one thing Ive experienced through you. And that is? Instant, unstoppable, eternal, mature passion for another. I saw that seed in you for the Embrian, and I wanted you to have it. Why? It has complicated everything! I feel things I never felt before. Guilt. Shame. The lust to use another for my own pleasure. Responsibility. He smiled at her tenderly as his finger began working expertly inside her, bringing her to another orgasm as he could any time he pleased because she loved and wanted him, no matter what. Thats why. Youve always been my beautiful, precious, loving, pliant, passionate partner, but you were not my equal, Gizella. And now you are.

*****
Ezmond had a warm bath and her most beautiful snow-white silk lounging gown awaiting her along with dinner. After her active time nude and fucking in the playroom and here, she savored all the civilized conventions and barriers.
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They lounged on separate divans, tasting many small exquisite dishes by the light of copulating fairies in crystal cages. After dinner, theyd release the tiny, fey and randy creatures into the forest parklands of central Ardentia to continue their graceful mating dances. So youre willing to welcome the Embrian to our pleasureship, Gizella said, sipping a sweet after-dinner drink. Willing, yes, as a wise man would be. There was never any question that this would be necessary. Is it to be? Yes? Do you desire him too? If I did, it wouldnt matter. Hes barely able to admit desire for a woman after many ecstatic hours with you, the most persuasive of women. Another man is anathema to Embrians. You can imagine, with their all-male, warrior society, that such relationships would be deadly. So I am only to be with you or him? I hope not. I believe that you deserve the best that we both can give you. At once? Your fingertips are trembling on the glass, my love. Yes, of course, at once. Why else would a tri-pleasureship be among the city licenses? I dont know if he Of course you know that he wouldnt. But I waited three years for you. Besides, Ezmond set down his glass, there is more to this than you and I and he and our various lusts and loves and fears and desires. He is the first Embrian who has lain with an Ardentian. He is the first of his kind to crave a woman with any emotion or heat. He is rare and precious and even key to both our kinds and our worlds future, and therefore politically useful. Useful! We have used him enough! I admit I pity him despite the royal passion he has stirred in you. He doesnt know what to make of himself, and that is more torture than any Vashonian witch could devise. I let him use me when he was angry. And experienced the most intense orgasm of your life. Perhaps you need him to be angry. No. I need him to be safe. Gods! Dont tell him that! Hes a warrior. He doesnt wish the woman he wants to fuss over his safety. Gizella sighed. You are so wise and experienced, Ezmond. I dont know what to do with a man who doesnt know what he wants.

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Who doesnt know that all he wants is you, you mean? He doesnt! Feel that way? Do you think so? He does, my love, as hard as it is for him to recognize or admit. At least I saw my fate from the first and bowed to it. Gizella spilled a few drops of red wine on the top of her hand and extended it to him. Wicked, he said, kissing her hand, his long, agile tongue lapping up the wine. Everywhere I spill wine on myself tonight you must kiss. Orwhatever else you wish. Ezmond glanced hotly at the carafe full of vintage rouge. Gizella unfastened the clasp so her white gown gaped open between her full breasts. Just a little. She sipped again.

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Chapter Fifteen
Ambassador of Love

What has happened between you and Hunter? Gizella asked Ezmond two days later as they stood in the villa war room. Theyd been examining the lay of Ardentia and the Uncivil tribes in the great desert. They could no longer presume the Uncivil ring was a barrier now that signs of alien activity dotted the Rim Mountains. What makes you think that anything has? he asked in turn. When I see him, hes full of questions about you. What questions? Who trained you in weapons. When and how you and I met. Why you know the Ring when the only Ardentians who do are criminal or twisted in mind. Ezmond smiled. Its good that he shows curiosity about us, isnt it? And how is he in the playroom? She frowned. He still must be bound for me to touch him. I would submit to him, but he doesnt want that after our one explosive session. I use wiles that would raise the cock on a statue and he responds and welcomes them, but I must lead. He seems to be clinging to the bondage wall and the ritual of what weve done before. He doesnt take the freedom he can have. We have given and he has taken some of what we offer. He has the freedom of the entire villa now, Ezmond answered. Perhaps its all too much for him. Let him adjust. Ezmond left Gizella in the war room, puzzling over who besides the lone band of Izonian monks could be ranging the Rim Mountains.

*****
Hunter understood what a promotion was and why it was awarded. He apparently had given even the Ezmond-loved Gizella such a blissful fuck that he was trusted to explore the villas many rooms. Guardsmen armed with laser knives no longer escorted him to and from the playroom. No one entered his quarters a half flight below. He was free to range up to the retiring room and playroom, to dress as he pleasedas long as it was a lounging suit for inside the villa or the dueling clothes Ezmond had sent him. He even could sleep in his own bedchamber, near theirs, if he chose.

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Hed broken through his anger to something else, something that took pride in making a woman scream with pleasure and swoon at the passionate sword-work of his cock. It was much like winning a duel. And the bliss he felt as that stiff, aching cock was massaged by her inner passage, those wringing waves of pressure and release That was even more rewarding than winning a fight with another man. Yet he hesitated to fully embrace his cocks new role. Gizella was so much smaller than he, so fragile. He knew shame for the anger with which hed fucked her, even if her pleasure had taken and swallowed that anger. And he wasnt sure what he felt for Ezmond beyond anger. They dueled daily now, knowing they wouldnt kill each other. Maybe. Hunter was learning the dancing, slashing ways of the Ardentian, but adapted to his own size and strength. Such intense exercise made him hard, so hard he feared to let it loose in Gizella. He fought his own cock. Even now, far from the practice and playrooms, he was trying to forget his cock for once in a far different room. A room undreamed of by Embrian or any Uncivil. Hunter moved in the upholstered chair, his balls hard, tight and explosive, his cock expanding against his leather lacings in a satisfying, slightly torturous way. Just thinking of not fucking Gizella made his heart pound. He looked around to control the hunger. He liked this library room. Patterns on the milky white walls changed to show outdoor sights and various crawling and flying creatures. He even recognized a two-headed firelizard from Embria. Freestanding shelves all around were crowded with vertical cards covered with words. They reminded him of Gizellas wall of man-things. He looked back to the screen and the lines of words there. He could touch a word and a definition would appear. Or he could type in a new word and ask for a definition. Hed first learned to read the words he wanted to say. Now he was learning other ones. He put in a new word. Gizella. He jumped back in the cushioned leather chair when a lifelike image of Gizella appeared along with words. Supreme Council he knew. Architect he had heard and had learned more about at this very apparatus. She was skilled in designing these massive buildings that gave the surrounding desert its center, its navel. Navel. He remembered her tongue in his, the very first time shed put her hands and face on him. He felt an unfamiliar achefor that moment, for what the word navel meant. Hed looked it up. Hed looked up every place on his body shed touched. A navel was a scar from the point where mother and child separated after birth. Every two- and four-footed creature in the world had a mother, hed learned on this writing and image box. Except for egg-born creatures like birds and serpents. But for Embrians, a mother was not even a memory and a navel was an unwanted wound in a way. Now Hunter felt that his Embrian wound had been kissed and healed and claimed by Gizella.
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Gods! Would he ever be able to make sense of her and what they did and how he felt about it? Hunter heard a door crack and was skilled enough at the word-box to make Gizellas image vanish, replaced by a long, dull list of the worlds lizards. Homesick? a voice asked. Hunters spine stiffened. The man was here. Ezmond came around the desk to face him. Hunter had always seen this man as the height of effete Ardentian luxury with his curling dark hair tied in a red leather thong at his nape, with his black leather tights and jackets and fountains of lace-edged white silk tumbling down from his throat and covering his graceful hands to the knuckles. Now Hunter knew those knuckles had force, and hed seen that costly shirt unlaced, as now, to reveal the hairy chest of a mountain ape beneath the silk. Were all Ardentian men so haired? They were hairier and uglier than the tribal women Embrians captured and sowed sons upon. How could Gizella tolerate it? The shirt was open enough that the gold ring on Ezmonds furred chest winked at him. Hunter supposed it pierced a hidden nipple. It sickened him to picture Gizellas dainty lips and small white teeth suckling greedily there. Yet he must. Ezmond had moved to a shelf to draw down a wide swath of words. It turned out to be the edge of a huge book. Ezmond put it beside the word-box on Hunters left. You can read this or look at the drawings. Its the original Book of Bliss on which Ardentia and its people and ways are built. Its old? Ancient and ageless. Ezmond glanced to the word-box window, smiled then pressed a button on the long control box in front of it. Gizellas image was back again. Hunter felt fire and shame in his face to have his obsession disclosed, but Ezmond leaned back to view her image with him. Exquisite, isnt she? For her I spent two years celibate in an icy mountain monastery among the Izonian Monks, revising and updating the Books of Bliss while I contemplated all the ways I could apply their wisdom and wild abandon to Gizella. Two years in the mountains! That must have been! Hell without her? Ezmond said. Something in his eyes twinkled to match the obscene gold ring in his chest hair. Hunter was confused again. Gizella liked that bauble, would probably like to see himself tricked out that way. Hell for an Ardentian, that is, Hunter said quickly. Yes. For an Ardentian. For a moment I thought you had felt my painpersonally. Embrians do not feel.

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A great advantage in life perhaps. Ezmond extracted a strange iridescent disk from the back of the heavy Book of Bliss. This recorder holds an instructive illustration of certain Ardentian games of love. Perhaps its time for you to see it. He bent to slip the glittering thing into a slot Hunter hadnt seen in the word-box before. Hunter felt his face heating again. Everything these Ardentians did hinted of liberties and incursions. Ill leave you to watch it alone, Ezmond said, and Ill answer any questions you have after. I am not a great one for asking questions, Hunter said stiffly. Especially of effete Ardentian courtiers with apelike chests. Ezmonds graceful but strong hand rested on his shoulder, gripped hard. Youll have many of them, and better to ask me than Gizella. Hunter waited until the Ardentian was gone then his fingers struggled with the small keyboard to hit the button that said Go. The box whirred for a bit before the screen became a picture of the villas playroom. Hunters throat tightened nigh to strangle him. He knew the Ardentians had ways of saving the past to show them in the present. He knew Ezmond recorded his times with Gizella for her safetyand perhaps his own lustbut he wasnt prepared for this particular image from the past. Ezmond and Gizella were sitting on the toy table, tangled in each otherlimbs, garments, hair, fingers, legs and tongues. Their faces were the most mated at this moment. Hunter watched with half an eye, drawn but repulsed, not wanting to see Gizellas mouth ravening on Ezmonds, knowing that he was foolish to deny such a fact. Then she pulled the tie from Ezmonds hair and drew his long locks tumbling over their bare shoulders. She pushed the black leather vest off his arms, entangling them, and eased open the lacings on his shirt, revealing the black pelt on his chest. Against the wall, she was saying, urgent. There. Her hands were fumbling at the crux of his body where the cock grew. How will you make me submit to your wants? he asked, ravishing her mouth with his all the time they exchanged words and breaths. Ill bare myself to you. He shrugged. Slowly. Ezmond slid off the table, lifting Gizella along with him. He backed away, fastened on a thin leash of gold chain in Gizellas hand that came from between the cock lacings of his black leather tights. Gizella came toward him, undoing the invisible fastening of her gown so a slim white shaft of her body gleamed nude.
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When Ezmond got within a foot of the wall, it reached out and sucked his body to it, the Flex-Silk steel bands fastening onto his ankles and wrists like pariah-worms. Gizella followed close behind, using a control device to push Ezmonds arms wide in their Flex-Silk bonds, to anchor his legs and then push them wider. So she had done, much less forcefully with him, Hunter. Gizella pushed Ezmonds shirt open on his chest and ruffled its hair, revealing twin gold rings piercing hard brown nipples. Ezmond groaned, his features slack with abandon as she drew the rings into her mouth and pulled, pulled, covering his nipples with her mouth, sucking and biting. Hunter felt his own nipples tighten and burn and tingle. Shed never gone after him that fiercely. Why? Because he was an untutored Embrian unused to an Ardentian womans deepest desires? The Gizella on the screen pushed her gown off her shoulders. She wore clear glass shoes on tall platforms and a shimmering column of metal-latched silk around her torso, like a warriors buckler, that pushed up her bare breasts and clung tight to her ribs and waist and hips almost to the upper thighs. Almost. He could see her nipple and labia rings, but the navel and its ornament were shut away behind those glittering silver metal hooks. His fingers itched to rip open flimsy decorative metal latches. She was clad only in this skimpy corset and shiny silver bootlegs that rose up almost to the tops of her thighs. The swatch of naked skin between the boot-tops and the corset-bottom displayed all the tender places a man would want to see and touch and worship. Ezmond was gazing at her with the same stunned appreciation Hunter felt on his faceher cunt petals and the pale breastlike mounds of her buttocks, the tops of her naked thighs meeting this delicious juncture, so that she was suddenly near to Ezmonds height and her bare parts could press against his. The Ardentian knew how to surrender. He threw back his head and reveled in Gizellas relentless exposure and stimulation of his body, moaning with pleasure as she wrenched his tight lacings open and pushed the fly aside to reveal his rampant cock. Hunter had never seen another males organ since his youth when any discovered erect state had been harshly punished in Embria. Hed left before the current crop of boys was old enough to raise their cocks. He thought Ezmonds was longer and thinner than his, but it was now down Gizellas eager throat, so he couldnt be sure. When she pulled back, Hunter gasped at the thick gold ring through the head of Ezmonds erect cock, and the thin gold chain, Gizellas leash, hanging from it. Gizella lifted the gold chain to Ezmonds chest level, stringing it between his nipple rings and back to the ring on his cock head. Hunter had never imagined the weak Ardentians doing such a thing as a pierced cock head. The pain and risk of getting such a badge of courage, of manhood! Gizella stepped back, using the control device to draw Ezmonds arms out farther and higher, pulling the chains taut on the triangle they made of his body, of every part of his body most tender to pressureand pleasure. Hunter knew that now. There was more than pain and restraint here; there was pleasure and restraint.

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Hunter might as well have been fastened to that wall. His pulse was pounding everywhere, temples, throat, wrists, nipples, thighs, cock. The chain drew the Ardentians iron cock higher until Gizella bowed to kiss it then withdrew again. Ezmond writhed, his lean, whip-muscled torso all dark hair and gold rings celebrating his engorged manhood. Gizella fed on this image, her breasts echoing her rough breathing when she finally stepped back and opened a drawer in the toy chest. Ezmond moaned at the sound of the drawer opening. Once Hunter wouldve taken such sounds for weakness, but he understood that somehow, bound, at her command, Ezmond was stronger than hed ever been, and exulting in it. Gizella returned, holding a thin black leather collar or harness in her lovely white hands, only large enough for a medium-sized dog. Ezmond saw it and moaned again. Suddenly the bonds on the left side of his body snapped free. Before his liberated arm and leg could move, Gizella pressed another button and the wall exerted its pulling force, spun him to face it and snapped shut on his free limbs to pin him face-first to its creamy illuminated surface. Hunter wondered if it was warm now, for the color had changed from blue to red and it seemed to pulse in time with his own heartbeat. Hunter couldnt help marveling at the Ardentians pale hairless back and backside, suitable for a huge, magnificent tattoo. He could even imagine the intricacy of ita design of words as entwined as fine black hairs from shoulder to lower back with the pale, taut buttock cheeks left as plain and milky as a womans breasts. Gizella leaned up to slip a narrow black blindfold over Ezmonds eyes. He began panting hard and deep. Then she bent to circle the harness around his hips. She passed it between his muscular buttocks and paused to do something that made his torso buck while he grunted and moaned and whispered her name. Again the bonds released on one side of his body and he was swiftly pinioned face forward again. Gizella bent to leash his cock with metal-studded leather strands that pushed around to its bottom before moving up through the thick curling black hair acting as an elaborate frame for its red erect length. She fastened the device finally with a buckle under his navel. Gizella stepped back to admire her workEzmonds pierced and chained cock, harnessed and looking like a magnificent centerpiece of his entire body. His chest was heaving with deep, sensual gasps now. Even Hunter finally saw past the despised black chest hair to the erotic beauty of the mans muscled, writhing torso. Gizella, release me. Its enough. Im beyond hungry. Let my pleasure and restraint wash over your body like hot lava. Now. You will melt under my passion as never before. Gizella!

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She suddenly came close to him, withdrew the chain from the rings that bound it. She clicked the bonds free and tore the blindfold from his eyes. Hunter couldnt look into those eyes. The man was not bound; he was experiencing boundless power. He rushed forward to push Gizella back on the cushioned table that held all these instruments of restraint and delight. She fell before him like a willing cloud, crying his name, begging him to take her, letting that harnessed cock plunge into her until the gold decorative studs at the bottom slapped metal with her own genital rings. Their moans and cries became the waves hitting a magical beach and seabirds screaming high above. Hunter had heard legends of such a place but now he saw it in the rhythms of their bodies thrusting joyfully against each other. Everything in his own body throbbed. Hed felt, experienced something close to this, but not this. Gizella had been gentling him, as Ezmond had said hed done with her at first. He didnt want gentling. He wanted what Ezmond had gotten and was getting from her. He wanted her tearing at him, his clothes, taking and treasuring. Gods, his cock would burst from the need and the desire. His Embrian body was smooth and tattooed. She could see every centimeter of his engorged nipples and cock and play with them under the bright lights until she exhausted herself, and him. Gizella! Come take, come give! Ill give you all you can take; you take all you can give. I am Lynx and I love you! Love me! Hunter broke the prime and oldest Embrian taboo. He came in his own hand, his cock shuddering, his fingers shaking, the release sweet and intense, but such a sorry substitute. He cleaned himself quickly on the flowing trouser material, fearing Ezmonds knowing return. Not a moment too soon. The Ardentian had come up behind him. Offered a lace-edged handkerchief. Hunter waved it aside. He could hardly sit on his bloated, throbbing balls. Do you see? Ezmond asked. His hands were on Hunters shoulders. Hunter imagined Ezmond was holding him still for Gizellas soon-to-come attentions and felt a new erection stirring. Ezmond did everything for Gizella. I think so, Hunter said. Tell me what you learned from these images. Thatin that bandits cellar, when Gizella saw me chained against the wall, she was reminded of these Ardentian love games. Very good. I understand that I lookedstrange. Unhaired where Ardentian males are shaggy. Smooth, more naked thanyou, tattooed, attractive to her that way. She could not resist.

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Of course she could have, Hunter. She came close enough to see you and then she didnt want to resist. What did she see? You tell me. A man, as in an Ardentian love game, bound, half naked, ready. Only I was different from any Ardentian male. My hairless body, my tattoos, my desire to be untouched by a woman. Exactly. She wasintrigued by me. Yes. And as she said, she recognized the significance of your tattoos. Not the mystical meaning, but that youd suffered to have them. Gizellas heart is as soft as her silken hands on a mans cock. She cared for you, Embrian. She loved what you were and what youd gone through and what youd never known. There was no way she could keep from making love to you. But you aided her in doing that! Believe me, Id have rather seen her ravished by seventeen greedy young Ardentian boys during her experimental Threen years, the three years between fifteen and eighteen that I spared her, than drawn with such hopeless yearning to a womanhating man such as you. But it was done the moment she saw you, as I was done the moment I saw her as a woman, not a girl any longer. Hunter, I was her first man and her only man. Gizella is your first woman and your only woman. We, we two men, must learn to share her love or tear her apart. I assume youd want to prevent that as much as I. I cant describe what I feel for her. No Embrian has ever known this before. Dont tell me, Ezmond said. Show her. Hunter looked up. With your blessing? Of course with my blasted blessing. Ezmonds smile was subtle. And I confess I see some advantage for myself in this, Embrian. Ardentians! Ever for themselves. Then Hunter held his breath. Did this sensual man harbor other forbidden desires? Ezmond sat on the desk edge, his long, lean thigh gloved in pungent leather. His finger flicked a button on the control. Gizellas image exploded on the screen, her face gorgeous with longing. Her mouth was fastened to the sand-cats swollen eye on Hunters own body. Id been forced to hold back so long from Gizella, Ezmond admitted, studying the image with sensuous musing, that it had become an unsuspected leash for me. Your untamed desire the other day gave her the most intense release of her life. This is true? You admit it? Hunters cock stirred again. Ready.

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This is true, Embrian. You remember that moment, when you covered her sex with penitent kisses after having given her all a woman can desire. That too is recorded? Hunters face heated again. Recorded and instructive. I learned from it. I learned that I too can now push Gizella past her earliest knowledge of love, to such mature intensity myself. And I will. Hunter met the mans eyes. At swords point. They might always be at swords point over Gizella, but it was clear that Gizella would benefit from their rivalry, body and soul. Done! They would fight each other to give her the most rapturous satisfaction of her life! The Ardentian had only begun to suspect what an Embrian could do.

*****
That very evening Ezmond came near, unfastened Gizellas gown, brushed his lips down the opening, kissing slow-burning fire along her bare skin from throat to clitoris until everything throbbed. Gizella, you dont need the Embrian for an alpha orgasm, you know. Ididnt know that I could have one. I didnt know that you could be fucked that hard. I was always so careful of your body and emotions. I was your caretaker who took your maidenhead and nurtured your libido and I took that role seriously. Id sworn to gentle you. Ezmond. She put her fingertips to his lips. Are yousorry that it took the Embrians honest anger to bring me my most intense response? He kissed her fingers free of his mouth so he could speak. In a word, Gizella? She laughed tenderly at his expression. Yes, of course you are. Dont you know that the moment it happened I imagined it happening with you too? You can fuck me that hard as well, Ezmond. Im not your fragile virgin partner anymore, thanks to you. And to the Embrian, he added ruefully. I want to go there with you now. Let me. She unfastened his shirt and tight trouser lacings, roughly and gasping with excitement, knowing now for sure that he wished to take her to that far edge himself. I want it your way, Ezmond. Youve always shown such care for me. Im hungry for more of you, for that part youve always held back; for my sake, youve no doubt told yourself. But youve never trusted yourself to unleash your full passion on me. I have been a pretty, useless toy. Take me as a woman who can take all you want to give, and take. I need that; Ive always needed that from you, Ezmond, my dearest, darkest, deepest lover. Ravage me. His hands were shaking. Im not sure that I can. For so long Ive sheltered you, from everything, even myself.

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She gazed hard into his eyes. If you wish to make a triad of it with me and the Embrian, and I think you do, you must make me inexorably yours to the utmost degree, or he will always have the advantage of you. Do you want that, Ezmond? Because I dont. He gave a sound, half cry, half growl. No quarter, Gizella, all my love, all my lust, as I have always wanted to give it to you, from the moment I first saw you when I knew you were innocent and tender and so young and still wanted to ravage you. Now you can with a clear conscience. Ezmond, I love and want you with my whole heart and soul and body. Take that! He groaned and thrust her down on the bed, tore the clothing from her in shreds, paused while she jerked open all the laces on his clothes then he kissed her hands and ripped the leather and silk from his body with powerful gestures. He fell ravening upon her, breathing, kissing, sucking, pressing hard to the edge of pain then backing off and teasing with light, lingering touches. It was as if all those celibate years hed wasted to win her came due. He was invincible. He came between her breasts. He came in her hand. He came on her belly. He came in her ass through a gossamer veil. He was still as hard as Vilmark steel. Ezmond. Shed been gasping with pleasure, his name constantly on her breath as he turned her this way and that, in total command. Gods! You have the endurance of eight men. I cant stop coming. Youll come until I stop, he promised hoarsely, and I wont stop until you have another alpha orgasm. He finally thrust that metal-hard erection inside her cunt and pumped until the head of his cock rammed her high and to the front. The dam broke. A wave of warm, wet female juices swept his raw, swelling tissues, which spasmed and drowned in violent, spewing pleasure at the flood. Gizella was screaming and clawing his shoulders, crying his name out over and over as he rammed her over and over until his cock shuddered with its last, deepest satisfaction, bruised, emptied, still rutting, needing more and more of her as she needed more and more of him, to the utter end of consciousness. He came to himself to find her suckling his still ravenous mouth with one soft, swollen tit, murmuring into his hair, Ezmond, my mighty first and dearest love, youve made my body delirious with joy. I had no idea you could plough your passion so deep within me. Fuck me like that forever. Please. He couldnt speak, only feel. Love. Gratitude. Ecstasy. Bliss. Fuck her forever like that? Gods! Easy.

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Chapter Sixteen
Free to Be

After a long night alone filled with vivid dreams alternating with sleeplessness, Hunter still didnt know what to think. The dreams were of Gizella mostly, and made him come while unconscious. So hed tried to stay awake but finally drifted off to awaken climaxing again. His cock had developed a mind of its own. Denied so long, it wanted more. Tossing and turning in the silken Ardentian sheets only made matters worsehis entire body wanted more, more luxury, more satisfaction, more Gizella. So, when he heard her steps in the rooms above, his cock stood to attention again as if inducted into the Ardentian guards. He felt far less assured, not knowing what he should say or do after their violently successful mating. He felt a twinge of pride in thinking of it. That hed surprised and driven such a skilled woman as Gizella to complete and ecstatic surrender was an achievement that not even Ezmond had accomplished. His pulsing cock pulled him up the short flight of stairs to her chambers. He paused on the threshold to savor her presence. She wore a translucent gown made from the colors of the dawn. Embrians had no names for colors other than blue or red, black or brown, yellow or green. He told her so. That was his greeting. She smiled and came slowly toward him, plucking the sheer gown panels as she named them. Lavender. Rose. Saffron. Silver. Pomme peach. Azure. She stopped but six inches from him, so he looked down on her veil of golden hair. And your hair? he asked. Flazen. Your eyes? Aquamarine. Your skin? Im pale. I supposeivory. He bent to press his lips to her hair. Flazen. Then her eyes, which closed in turn. Aquamarine. Both blue and green. She nodded as his lips pressed the valley between her breasts. Ivory. He slipped the gown off her shoulders to reveal her breasts and brushed his lips over one nipple. Rose? She nodded then purred in her throat as he tasted her deep there. Red? he asked after breaking away. Lynx Crimson, she corrected with a smile.

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He felt a savage desire and pulled her pelvis close to his and bent her back at the waist to polish both nipples to the same dark red hue. Lynx. May I still call you that? she asked when he paused for breath. He released her and pulled the flimsy fabric over her breasts. Her Lynx-crimsoned nipples made enticing tents in the gowns smooth flow. He found he liked her looking as if hed just been at her. Take that, Ezmond! The name is sacred to me and my spirit-beast, he told her. I dont know why I used it with you. Its unheard of in Embria that another should know that name, much less use it. Yet I gave it to you as you gave yourself to me. I felt such sacred power at that moment. So yes, you may use it, but only you when we are alone. Make sure yourthat Ezmond knows that. She nodded then touched his shoulder, a pointed question in her eyes. Brown, he said promptly, recognizing that he was to play his side of the naming game. Copper, she answered. She lifted one of his braids. Brown, he said. Bronze, she replied. Her fingers brushed the corner of one eye. Yellow. Amber, she corrected, running a hand inside his loose shirt to touch the sandcats eye. Amber. She brought her mouth to the nipple in the center of its black tattooed eye, glancing up at him with those amazing aquamarine eyes hed seen nowhere else. Brown, she finally admitted, biting down with herivoryteeth. Hunter swallowed a series of escaping sounds. Warriors didnt moan, not even under the most agonizing torture. But he let his pectoral muscles harden and swell as she fed from his spirit-beasts eye and his body, and held her in place by the arms until she could lift her face and whisper, Gizella Crimson. He didnt understand it. These simple acts made him feel enormously exciting things he couldnt name any more than he could have named the subtle colors of Ardentia. Sensations. Emotions. Things he couldnt name and now could never forsake. Things completely not Embrian. You are too delectable for my sanity. Gizella finally pushed away from him, her lips swollen a deep Ardentian Rose. This is a business call, believe it or not. Were hoping you can become Embrias first ambassador to Ardentia. Ambassador?

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Its an Ardentian title. Many of the circling tribes have such an emissary here in the city. Wed like you to represent Embria. But first, I must show you how Embria and Ardentia sit in the vaster scheme of things and what threatens them both. He welcomed her return to ordinary matters. He could warm himself with watching her from a distance then. She led him up the stairs to the private rooms, all those delicate panels of dawn trembling, letting him glimpse parts of her naked form. This was even more inciting. He almost didnt notice the bedchamber marked for him as she led him past the villas private quarters and into its larger, public rooms. He had a mind to claim that room now, bar Ezmond forever and They entered a chamber with no windows, like the playroom and practice rooms, but much larger with a huge table in its center covered with tiny structures set in a pattern he recognized as the Ring surrounding Ardentia. At the citys center stood a huge green area filled with tiny growths for trees. Hunter walked around the huge table that held the city of Ardentia, a ring of Uncivil Lands and the Great Desert beyond and finally the dark, unexplored Rim Mountains on the fringe of the entire world. Yet Ezmond had been there. How could that be? This is Embria? Hunters forefinger indicated a small, sand-pale swatch of color and black letters. Hed learned to read many letters, but not enough to recognize the letters of his own land. Yes, Gizella said. Sosmall. Not in your case, Ambassador. He looked up. I am no larger than my people. He did feel like an ambassador though, a man with a duty to his kind. Then he let his features relax, let his eyes feast on Gizellas graceful form, both revealed and covered by layers of thin veiling. But I am glad to know your expert, architects opinion of me, my lady. You are superbly built. Always she could take his breath away. With her look, her words, her clear admiration. Appreciation. Lust. Hunter was truly confused. In the tavern, women who were open and lusty were used and abused and sneered at after. Here, among the aristocrats, they had power, confidence, and freely showed their sensuality, even exulted in it. Both places were Ardentia. He moved around the table again, his throat tight and aching, his balls hard and full, his cock as erect as any miniature Ardentian tower in this simulation. More. She was waiting, cool and clothed, for his next words. If I accepted the bedchamber you have marked for me Her breathing had quickened. So had his cock.

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He went on. The chamber you call the playroom. His fingertips caressed the tiny tip of an Ardentian spire. He wouldnt look at her. I could stillsee you there again? With pleasure, my lord ambassador. Her voice was low and vibrant. It grabbed him by the balls as no enemy ever had. However youd like to see me, and at what time youd please. He saw her. Again. Pinned naked against that milky-blue-lit wall. His to caress. claim, control. Utterly. And, he asked, after a hard swallow, seeking the unfamiliar words of surrender, youd be willing toto come there, to visit me there, my lady? Ah, Lynx. She stepped closer, using his secret name, yet still across the table from him. Anytime I can claim every inch of my Embrian lover at my command, I am happy to oblige. Id be willing to accept whatever youd cede to me, however youd like to be seen by me, at whatever time youd please. And he was there, pinioned against the wall, as he had been before. He welcomed her velvet hands, her teasing sharp points, her teeth and nails and silver-hafted dagger until his sand-cat and cobra rose and won, after allher swimming in need and satisfaction, swooning with pleasure even as she took dominion over him. He moved on, the weight between his legs so heavy it seemed ready to burst. And your lord, hed tolerate this? He already has. This binding from the Books of Bliss. It can involvesmall golden chains and the rings such as you and he wear on the tender parts of your bodies? Chains? I have seen much that is harsh in the Ring, and debased. A man in chains, but never for play. Never under a womans thumb. Never with a ring in his cock head. Gizella flushed and stood confused for a moment. Her ivory skin turned rosy and made him want to turn her crimson in less visible places. He watched her, more to enjoy her body than to hear her words. These fits came over him now. Standing and watching her, feeling some things in him harden, others, even more alien, soften. Finally she spoke. So Ezmond showed you the recording of us enacting the Three Hundred and Eighty-fourth Day of Love. I didnt know. Its a very advanced technique. That was naughty of him, but it is considered a classic encounter. She glanced at him carefully. Hunters face burned. It had probably turned the dull pink of an Ardentian copper pot. The three hundred and eighty-fourth day? The Books of Bliss outline scenarios for the entire year, all four hundred and eightyeight days. This scenario emphasizes the bound and adored male freed and rising as triumphant as his cock to fuck the adoring and adored female into delirium. What you wore Did you like it?

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It was bizarre. It left you bare from the breast above and bare only for a narrow path below. Between your legs. And surroundings. Did you like it? My cock did. Gizella laughed and touched his bare shoulder. What else did you like in the scenario? Im not sure that I liked it, but what was the harness you put on him? Its called a cock cradle. Gizella pushed her hand down behind his loose trousers. Hunter knew to draw his stomach muscles in now to make room for her fondling. She had frequent fits of that. His cock was half hard already and leaped to fill her palm. She loved his ever-ready responses and murmured her approval of what she found. You know how I love to support your balls, and how much your balls like that? This harness puts you in a constant state of such support. Its quite inciting. And it does some other things. She continued coddling his hard, swelling balls. He cleared his throat. Ah, the, ah, three gold rings Ezmond had. Wore. And the chain you put through them? That particularexercise is called the Z-crotch cross. After Ezmond, actually. He was the first man in Ardentia to have his cock pierced as well as his nipples. Her fingers moved over Hunters body to demonstrate. The chain is run through one nipple ring, down to the cock ring, up across to the other nipple ring and then to the other nipple and back to the cock. It produces a divine amount of tension and sensation over the entire torso. Its hard to explain. But Hunters erect nipples and cock seemed to understand. I dont want you to explain, he said. I want that. I want you to do that to me. Oh Lynx. His stated desire to enter into advanced erotic play made Gizella sway her soft torso into his. Itll hurt somewhat and will require some time to heal, but you willand I willlove it. I swear. She kissed his mouth until they both could hardly breathe. He gazed at her over the tiny emulation of their kingdoms. I want it all, my lady. So I will give all, Gizella. But most of all, I want you, in all ways, at all times. She bowed her head in assent, her cheeks flaming crimson, her pale aquamarine eyes looking up at him, as searing as acid.

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Chapter Seventeen
Practice Sessions

When next summoned to the practice room, Hunter was surprised to see Ezmond leaning against the weapons wall, clad only in black leather tights and loose white shirt. The Ardentian gestured lazily at the gleaming patterns of blades behind the clear barrier wall. Id like to learn to use an Embrian broadsword. But first, Hunter, I think you should learn the rapier. Once you understand my weapon of choice, youll be better equipped to teach me yours. You called me here to teach? Learn, Ezmond said with a sly Ardentian smile. Thatflimsy long dagger? A rapier is so much more, Ezmond said, picking up his blade from the side shelf and slashing the air with a sharp hissing sound. A broadsword tore the air. It didnt toy with it. Nor did it glance off bone, but cut through. This thin blade is a toy, Hunter complained. It tangles in sleeves and offers only a pinprick for a threat. My Embrian broadsword could slice off your arm. Well try the Embrian broadsword later, Ezmond said, tossing Hunter another rapier and staring hard down the length of his narrow steel, and then you can instruct me. For now, you need to learn the rapier. I assure you that my blade can pierce your heart through, even more deeply than any orgasmic moan of Gizellas, to certain death. Ezmonds easy reference to their shared intimate knowledge of Gizella blinded Hunter with fury. It was as if the man sought to goad him to something. Gizella was not to be spoken of so lightly. He drove forward hard with his rapier in the side-stepping fashion Ezmond had taught him, eager to make the man eat his words. Ezmond was eyeing Hunter while his booted feet advanced over the stone floor. Why not doff your leather vest, as I do? This is hot work and the stakes are higher without protective wear. Hunter unlatched his padded vest and threw it to the wall. Ill have exerted more force carving a fresh roast than dueling you with these flimsy blades. Ezmond shrugged. No doubt. But lets see first. Hunter swiped with the blade. It was so light he was likely to lose it.

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With one back-and-forth slash, Ezmonds rapier slashed Hunters knuckles, surprising him into loosening his grip as the upsweep sent the Embrians rapier flying into the wall behind Ezmond. Hunter lunged to bull past the Ardentian and reclaim his weapon then charged the Ardentian again. Ezmond dodged. And dodged again. His frail sword swept down with a ripping sound, in the motion of a large letter Z. The treacherous rapier came slashing down his center, skimming perilously near the sand-cat tattoo, but only connected with the leather tights. Hunter pulled his pelvis back at the last instance. Combat hardened both Ezmonds and Hunters cocks. The Embrian had noticed and ignored that in the practice room. He didnt like to contemplate Ezmond in that state, although he suspected that was usual for Ardentians, whod never been disciplined to keep their cocks in check, as hed been. Hunter stopped. Ezmonds blade had been a blur and he felt the wind of its passing very near to his body. Yet nothinghurt. Burned. Had been sliced. Again, a frail, foolish blade, of no use in combat. Ezmond had fallen back to a non-combatant pose, resting the rapiers point on the stone floor like a cane. He smiled. A victors smug and certain smile. Hunter frowned. Something was different. He stood still in utter shock, gazing at his own crotch, although that was forbidden. First, he couldnt deny that it had been an incredibly adept stroke. He suspected that Ezmonds pride was so strong that he enjoyed leaving Hunter untouched to display his skill more than actually cutting him. Second, he couldnt deny the audacity of the thrust. The casual skill in bringing sharpened steel so close to his prominent cock had made Hunter feel an unsuspected emotion. Fear. Fear that a blade could cut what Embrians despised, could harm what Gizella openly admired and craved. Could cut it. Or, as he had so rashly offered Gizella once, cut it off. Hunters heart was pounding. Sweat prickled his body. He couldnt move. Ezmond smiled. Alas, my rapier has interfered with your clothing. Enough of these practice sessions. Youd best go and ask Gizella for a new lacing. Ezmond lifted a dark, demonic eyebrow. He looked pointedly down at Hunters center. Hunter flushed to have a man stare there, but he looked down again anyway. Hed missed it at first glance. His leather crotch lacing had been cut from left to right and back again, the full length of the fly. He had not even seen or felt the intricate attack. His response was verbal. So your flimsy weapon makes a disrober of you? Surely there are servants for such work.
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The insult didnt stir Ezmond. I can assure you, Embrian, that my rapier could have cut much deeper but just as precisely through the leather fly beneath the lacingand even deeper to the firm, long organ beneath it. Although Embrians apparently have little interest in keeping their cocks, all the other Uncivil tribesmen are exceedinglyattachedto theirs. Such a normal man, so attacked, would immediately drop offensive moves and surrender. The fact was sinking into Hunters soul. Ezmond had whipped his rapier past there deliberatelyhad he not had utter control of his weapon, he would have And I think this particular Embrian, Ezmond went on, has discovered uses for his cock that might make even him loath to lose it. Ezmond tabled his weapon and threw Hunter a glance as he unfastened the gold buckles on his leather dueling jacket. Get yourself to Gizella. Shell find you a new cock lacing. Dont mention her name while we duel. She deserves more respect than that. And I dont go where you tell me, when you tell me. Fool! said Ezmond. I dont send you anywhere. I send Gizella a gift, one that is battle-heated, ripe, half-opened, and shell know it for all its worth when she sees it. Ezmond shrugged and vanished behind a closet wall, leaving Hunter with a rapier and no one to use it on. And a slashed-open fly barely containing a battled-hardened and heated cock.

*****
Hunters boot steps pounded his fury and shame into the echoing villa passages. Hed go to his bedchamber and change these decadent leather tights for honest Embrian suede trousers and return to his retiring chamber on the lower level. He needed no private room on their lofty level. Hed never go crawling to Gizella after Ezmond had sliced the pants off him. Still, in the upper hall, he veered with fury toward Gizellas rooms. She might not even be there, where Ezmond had directed him. But if she washe was an Embrian. It was only fitting that an Ardentian lady should do handmaiden duty on his ruined tight lacings. Let her kneel before him so her delicate hands must slowly rethread the laces. Let him look down on her golden hair falling over her face, bright against the deep brown leather expanse of his crotch as her fingers moved there, trying to fix the damage, failing to contain his throbbing, fully risen cock He entered without knocking; that was an Ardentian courtesy. Gizella was standing at her dressing table in the usual filmy gown, a crystal perfume vial and stopper in her hand. She saw him. Froze. He liked her reaction. So should an Embrian warrior terrify an Ardentian lady. She dropped the bottle. It fell to the heavy rugs and spilled its bounty, not breaking. The air instantly smelled of a thousand desert-blooming flowers.

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Tamanthia, profuse in Embria. She must have been trying a new scent. One hed recognize. His nostrils flared. Breathed in the heady perfume that was still less potent than the evidence of her wish to please him. She said his name. Once. His secret name. Lynx. Her face blazed shock then desire then love then fear of what itd shown. Hunter could name every emotion, he realized, something he never could do before. She didnt flee his rage and confusion. Instead, she sat on the dressing stool as he came to stand before her, to loom over her. Her forefinger traced the path between the severed laces, the length of his aching, engorged cock. Her touch was as delicate as a rapiers. He couldnt help breathing hard, fighting to contain an unmanly moan. She smiled as she spoke, looking at him right there, where hed been both humiliated andrevealed in glory. I think, Lynx, she whispered to his cock, youll set a new fashion that will make all the women of Ardentia swoon. Not just me. Fix me here, he choked out. She complied, making the pulse in his body and particularly there, bound. She teased the lacings and fly beneath them open. Then she took him into her warm, endless mouth, half rising to take in more of him, all of him, deeper down her throat. He threw back his head and basked in the sensation until his cock almost shuddered to climax in her throat. He lifted her away, ignoring her mew of loss, pushing back her sheer panels of skirt and lifting her high to bring her down on his cock. His hips pumped into her luxuriously giving center as her legs and arms entwined him. He swept them both back against the support of the wall so his cock had more thrust. Her mouth at his ear murmured his spirit-beast name and Yes, love me, fuck me between many wordless murmurs of abandoned pleasure. She reached to the dresser top and put something cold and pointed into his right hand where it grasped her hip. The wall was holding them together, so his left arm pulled her closer, deeper onto him, as his right hand explored the valley of her ass until the perfume stopper, having lost its shattered vial, found a new vessel to ram home into her. Ezmonds assistance, as in the cell, was no longer needed. His cock exploded in front as he filled her from behind. Her gasps and screams echoed in his ear and her lips said only one thing, his spirit-beast name over and over again. Lynx.

*****
I found a new lacing for your tights, she told him half an hour later as they lay on her bed, blissfully together after the storm. Her head rested on the cradle of his naked hipbones, her lips still on his skin like a frozen kiss. His hands were massaging her masses of hair over his half-risen cock. Her gilded tresses were long enough to clothe

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his pelvis. He marveled that hed ever been trained to loathe a womans hair. Hers felt like satin rain to a desert dweller. Underneath its cover she was twining his cock with the thin leather lacing. A new tight-lacing for Ezmond to sever again, Hunter grunted, complaining but content. Speech was hard with his heart in his throat and Gizellas lips and hands working softly again on his manhood. She smiled. If that can be arranged, Ill gladly suggest that he does so daily. But youre new to the rapier. I suspect Ezmond will soon have trouble rearranging your clothes. And Ezmond has long needed a challenging fencing partner. I am to teach him the Embrian broadsword. With that weapon you could do more than cut his crotch lacings. Do be careful, Lynx. I love Ezmond too. She lifted her head from his pleasure point to watch him digest the word too. Hesamazingly adept with that rapier. And other blades, she said. He evaded comment. And the Silengian whip, Gizella added. The Silengian whip? An ancient weapon. It was designed to herd stubborn animals that didnt like serving as we humans beasts of burden. Unlike the Uncivils, Ardentians no longer need animals to toil for them. Theyre all beloved partners now. Still, the whips an awesome weapon and Ezmond could use a reason to keep up his skills. So Im here as a sparring partner for Ezmond and to fuck you unconscious in between, he said to her bowed head. Gizella looked up demurely from feasting on his cock, loving his new, blunt talk. Ah Lynx, just saying those words make your eyes glitter like precious topaz and your cock uncoil deeper into my mouth. Dont distract me from devouring it. He pulled her head back down, tangling his fingers in her hair. She finally drew away, reluctantly, to speak again. That role you propose for yourself sounds ideal to me, but you know Ezmond and I have higher hopes for you than our own so-far separate pleasures. Strangers are appearing at the Rim Mountains. We may need to present a united front. If Embria could become a real ally, the other tribes might follow. You seek to undo centuries of hatred. Then wed better start soon. He took her head in his hands, the spun silk of her hair shifting away from his fingers. He knew this was no time to pretend to be indifferent. Gizella, Id die for the touch of your tongue, but I cant change the world for you.

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She slithered up his sated body to take his face into her hands in turn. Then she touched her tongue to his closed eyelids, his cheeks, ears, lips, throat and nipples. Navel. It has to start somewhere, Lynx, why not with we three? And Id die for the look I saw an hour ago in your eyes. Gods! Youd fucked me with your eyes before you ever laid a hand or cock on me. I came for the first time just from seeing you standing here like that before me. Winded. Hot. Your leather fly slashed open over your cock. Seeking me like a sword its sheath. Did Ezmond know what sending me here just then would do? Ezmond knows a lot of things, the fever of lust being one of them. She smiled. But not all. She put her tongue into his mouth and moved it in ways that made him bite back meaningless sounds of surrender, yet he climaxed again, onto the new lacing tethering his cock and her busy, beautiful, teasing hands. So-far separate? he asked when he could speak again, recalling a disturbing, or possibly inciting, phrase from her earlier remarks. Shhh, she murmured. Sleep, Lynx, my love. Youve earned it. Ill wake you when the cock calls in the morning. Gods, just her words could make him hard. But he slept finally.

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Chapter Eighteen
Distraction

Gizella took Hunter at his word that he would take anything of herself she offered him. Her invitation to enter into the next stage of intimacy came by letter. She was to be powder-tattooed for that evenings Council soiree in the room next to the playroom. Would he care to come watch her body being adorned? Some of it might be a bit taxing. She could use distraction. Hunter read the formal invitation in his own bedchamber now, on their level, proud of his new mastery of the written word, reveling in these new intoxicating symbols of meaning and desirewords. Tattooed. Her body. Adorned. Distraction. Hed told her how the tattoo masters women had distracted him. He knew what she meant by distraction. He rolled the word around his tongue. His throat was dry, his heart and cock pounding in aching rhythm. He scrawled a yes on the heavy parchment in his bedchamber desk and left it on her pillowcase in her empty bedchamber, but first he kissed the fragrant, fine linen. Longing.

*****
The room was full of women. Hed walked in with his cock straining to split his leather tight lacings, and there were all these women, turning to look at him. At him, right where he was most obviously a him. Young women, half naked with trailing hair and pierced nipples dangling jewels and supple, ring-free hands. In their midst Gizella lay naked on a table that upheld her head with its pale gold hair hanging down, and displayed her body, pale and stripped of hair along her cunt lips, her legs and arms dangling as the women sprayed her torso with a gleaming layer that gave her skin a tempting sheen. He wanted to fall flat upon her, as in Embria, drill his erection between those pale, soft cunt petals, forget the women, and fuck her into an oblivion they would share. Instead he was the lone male intruder in a flock of females, who were also focused on Gizellas nakedness, her vulnerability, dressing it, tending it in ways to madden a man. He was the madman in their midst. Then he spied one of the handmaidens, one not seen before, her hair braided bronze, her cheekbones high, her lips full. Like him. So like him. He wasstunned.

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Her eyes met his with contempt. She turned away, her braids lashing her back. Hed felt that very goad in battle, the strength of his own hair. Now he saw that warriors attribute on a woman. An angry woman. Ambassador. The handmaiden kneeling before him was young and coaxing and far from angry. She kept her eyes lowered, fixed on his crotch lacings, almost desperately. Our lady asked that you regard this book and choose the patterns you wish for her body tonight. Gods! The patterns hed wish for would be the invisible path of his lips and fingertips over every inch of her flesh. Instead he was given a book that lay heavy, open in his hands. Hunter sighed as he paged through. There were hundreds of designs, pastel or dark, all glimmering with desire. Twining leaves and flowers. Butterflies and birds. Glittering, turning, fit to lace thighs and breasts, fit to settle upon cunt petals and nipples and suckle there like gorgeous insects. He wanted to clothe her in all of these and none of these but himself and his desire. Your wishes? The girls softly shining eyelids did not so much as flutter at the words, although she licked her nervous lips, just inches from his lacings. She wasnt Ardentian, but apparently she was learning their arts of love. Ah, the, uh, twining stuff up her sides. And the iridescent butterfly wings over her breasts and torso, the aquamarine center spots at her nipples. The lilac greenery down her belly and thighs. The ruby glitter of the hummingbird over her navel. And the black panther head at her cunt, jaws wide. A splendid choice, Excellency, but highly aphrodisiac and somewhat taxing on application. Shes taken a potion that keeps her in a light sleep, but she can still feel the sting enough that more pleasurable stimulation will ease her ordeal. She accepts this discomfort for only the use of one night? I am told that the ecstasy of the removal process, which of course will be your doing, is worth it. The girl slammed the book of designs shut with her palms. Do you wish to only watch, or will you assist her in the process? She swung a stool toward him and positioned it dead center of Gizellas cunt, which glimmered, hairless, nude, wet, inviting. This time he licked his lips. He sat his swelling equipment on the hard stool and laid his spread palm over Gizellas pelvis. Possessively. Her flesh was smooth and warm and he felt her deep inner tremor at his touch, the leap of her womb toward his palm as a tamed sand-cat will rub its head into a hand to win a petting. His palm blossomed sweat and his cock shot even more vertical. I will assist.

*****
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It was a long process. Whenever Gizella moaned or stirred, he stroked her outer petals, or tongued her ruby labia rings, or leaned in to lap the bottomless cup of her juices there for a while. The handmaidens eyed him with lust and satisfaction, as if feeling the caresses themselves. Gizellas swollen lower lips were bright scarlet by the time he had to draw back to stand and watch the wildcats black ferocious feline face take shape around her cunt. The effect was breathtaking. Fucking her now would be like thrusting his cock into the hot, red, yawning mouth of a wild beast. Your own tattoos are permanent, Ambassador? the meek handmaiden said, looking up from her powder-dusting work only as high as his clothed crotch and chest. Yes. But only frontal? another asked. Yes. How do you know such things? Our lady is talkative when she first takes the potion. She murmurs whatever comes to her mind. Apparently, that is you and your body. He felt pleased and proud and some strange emotion that was the oppositethat only he and Gizella should know these things. One handmaiden came up behind him, stroked the cheeks of his leather-covered buttocks, ran her hands up his bare back under his silken Ardentian shirt. We can powder-paint you as well, preview designs you or she would like needled-painted later. There is much strong, smooth canvas here for embellishment. Shall we suggest as much to our lady? Now he knew the name of the second emotionembarrassment. No. I am quite capable of making suggestions to your lady. We dont doubt it, Ambassador, another girl said, sliding past with the hint of her hip brushing against his. The one with the braids moved past too, wide of them all, her face sandstone-hard, her eyes dead and focused only on the chamber door. She will rouse shortly, the first girl stretched high to whisper in his ear. Alone with Gizella at last, Hunter looked down on her. Now that he had become enamored of Ardentian erotic refinements, the Embrian in him wanted to take her fast and hard, here and now; the Ardentian wanted to prolong the contact into many variations. There was someone else here now, though, his new identity, the Embrian ambassador himself, who had a purpose other than satisfaction. Itd be prudent, that new man knew, to wait and let Gizella lead the way into this new experience.

*****
She finally stirred as her iridescent-painted eyelids blinked open. She focused on him standing between her legs, waiting, and smiled.

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Then she looked up to the ceiling and caught her breath, which made her torso shimmer like the bejeweled rainbow that hung over the citys central forest. Reluctantly, he lifted his eyes from her toher reflection in the mirror above. A magnificent selection, Ambassador, she said, a shade of surprise in her voice. Something is wrong? Itwill be a veryintense night for me. She stretched out her hand. The top of it was studded with shimmering stones and dust. Help me up? He did, afraid the intricate overlay would fall to the floor in a glittering shower, but apparently the first clear, shining layer had been an adhesive. Now, Hunter, you may choose a gown for me tonight. I am no handmaiden. But you are a very interested party. I only ask you to choose what youd like to see me in. She pushed a button on one of the small controllers that lay everywhere. A wall eased back to reveal a long row of clothes as bright and gleaming as her body powders. Hunter strode over, determined to hide his almost disabling erection. Never had his cock had to stand to attention so long without relief. Here. This. His hand had seized a crackling fall of green-blue iridescent cloth that matched her aquamarine eyes. Taffeta? Her tone struck him like a silken blow. Welcome. Wanted. But it would hide myyourmagnificent tattoos. He let the crisp cloth drop. Hed been thinking hed want her embellished body hidden from other mens eyes. But that was not the way of Ardentia, and he must master their ways to treat with them. He plunged his hand into something gauzy, slippery and iridescent white. Better, she said. A matching shirt for you hangs beside it. This shirt I wear is silk and soft and Ardentian. He plucked at a full sleeve. Not for a soiree. Please. Tearing off his shirt allowed him to not torture his cock by watching her slip into her translucent veil of a gown. He donned the new shirt, as transparent as her garb, and turned for her approval. Now your magnificent tattoos are visible. At least one of them. We will leave the leather-laced tights. Ezmond favors them for formal wear too. As they left the chamber they met their images in the mirror on the door. Hunter eyed his sand-cat glowering fiercely through the thin shirt tissue. He saw Gizella glimmering through the transparent veil of cloth. She led him to her bedchamber. Arent we leaving now?

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First we must practice Ardentian etiquette. Ettyket? Manners. How Ardentians treat each other in public. I hope that is more discreet than in private. Gizella smiled, pouring a pale liquid that gave off a faint blue-green haze the color of her eyes into two tall clear goblets. Wine will be served. You must accept at least one glass. Embrians do not drink spirits. You did several nights ago in the Ring. I was doing as Ardentians do, and my head still hurts from the attempt. Just a little wine. You should be able to sip slowly half the night on one glass. Embrians dont do anything slowly. Oh Lynx, her pouting pink lips breathed over her glass rim, I disagree. He didnt know where to look, but his heart pounded at her praise. What is the purpose of this soiree, this powdering and gowning? I dont need to go. I dont need to wear this jest of a shirt. I dont need to show my sand-cat. I dont need to see you wafting about as good as naked in front of everyone. She stepped close to tip the cool glass rim into his mouth. Her scent and the tickle of her flowing gown against his flesh made refusal foolish. The drink was sweet and dry and strangely tingling. She leaned up to kiss the aftertaste from his lips. She moved away. He sipped again. It wasnt strong and sour like the tavern ale hed tried to his regret. Who was that girl in the, um, room below? he asked. In the adorning room? Which one? There were several. The one with the braids. Tasheeta. An odd name. She is from the Adanji tribe. They are red-skinned and black-haired. She is copper-skinned and bronze-haired. Of course. She is half Embrian. Shes one of the Lost Girls. Lost Girls? So they call themselves, born between two tribes, unwanted by both. Many come to the city for work and forgetfulness. Hunter remained silent. Hed never for a moment imagined one of his tribes unwanted girl infants living elsewhere, growing up, becomingrecognizably Embrian. She hates me. Many of them do. Not you personally, merely your tribe. Thats what your role of ambassador may help undo.
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Hunter wasnt sure he wanted to undo that hatred. It was natural, he supposed. He would hate too, had he been banished from Embria as an infant, never wanted. He would hate too. He sipped again. The wine numbed the ugly feelings jostling behind his sand-cat faade. It heightened other, far more pleasant ones. When do we leave for thissoiree? Not tonight. Not tonight? No. This was for practice. We could have gone, and I intended that we would, until I saw the powder patterns youd chosen for me. Its my fault? Yes, and Im very glad of it. Why, Gizella? You did not need me to choose a robe then, or to don another shirt? No, but I wanted you to. It will be just us tonight. You must eat the powders from my body within twelve hours or they become toxic. Poison! And I am to consume them? You are to consume me and their enhancing erotic powers. Theyre safe until later. You picked the most potent shades. Black is particularly incendiary, and you have haloed my cunt with it. She came close. I am capable of unlimited, especially ecstatic orgasms tonight because of your choices. Should I ask Ezmond to come in later, to spell you, or can you manage to make love to me all night long? Manage it? Ive been holding myself back from it for hours already. Gizellas eyes glittered with a heightened, heated desire Hunter had never seen. How very Ardentian of you, my love. Perhaps, but I will be all Embrian now and you will be exceedingly happy about that. He quaffed all of his wine and backed Gizella toward her own mirrored wall, feeding her impatient sips from her glass. Then he smashed it, empty, to the floor, picked her up and carried her to the bed. The sand-cat was about to mate with the wildcat until the mirrored walls shattered from her cries of seeking and fulfillment.

*****
By the early morning hours, Gizella was denuded of three-quarters of her tattoos and Hunter was slightly high on the hallucinogenic lavender powders. She should have warned him about those, but she so loved his huge naked body lolling in her bed in a delirium of desire

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She took advantage of the opportunity to clip a pair of her nipple clamps on his, brushing back the torn shirt to fully reveal his chest. The sand-cats eyes sported a pair of tasty hard brown nipples the size of pupils. His torso spasmed as the metal bit into them in turn. A heavy chain dangled between them. She pulled it until he almost moaned. What are you doing, bewitching Ardentian? Showing you how nice the right rings can feel. Come here. She used the chain to pull him atop her once more, and he was instantly hard again. You have to still kiss off all the black-cat powder between my legs. Beautiful scarlet Ardentian hell-cat, he muttered, drawing back to gaze into the mouth of the powdered wildcat. Ill eat you alive. Or let you eat me alive. He pushed himself down and sunk his tongue to the hilt in her cunt. His lips suckled her labia as if they were nipples, a refinement that almost took her breath away. Then he began consuming the wildcat image surrounding her slit, screwing his broad thumb into her cunt and keeping up the pressure. Gizella, he was murmuring against her swollen, wet, hot labia, your cunt tastes as sweet as an Embrian thorn-flower that blooms only once every year. Only here I can suck your nectar every night, every day. I love this part of you. I claim it for Embria, but only for its ambassador. His hand on her lower back lifted her pelvis high as his mouth ground against her labia rings and his tongue took her clitoris into such sweet suction that she cried out to the gods. The sensations were exquisite, and seeing Hunters abandoned enjoyment tripled her pleasure. She climaxed again, her thighs tightening on his head as her body gave way to its own interior earthquake, her fingers twined in his braids. He ate her up, every last bit of aphrodisiac powder. She finished by sucking his relentless erection until he came again in a spicy flood she swallowed until she had to give up and catch it in an empty wineglass. Too precious to waste. Every moment, every climax, every act. They collapsed into sleep.

*****
My head, Hunter said, rousing first, feels as if a hammer has been at it. My cunt, she countered, feels as if a velvet hammer has been at it. He pushed two, three fingers up it, filling her with fresh excitement. Not enough. I want more. In the playroom. She moaned. Yes, but not again so soon. What was in that wine, those powders? Everything we wanted.

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Yes. He chuckled and pushed her upright with his fingers, walked her to the wall mirror by her cunt to examine their bodies. You look as if youve been taken by a sandcat. You look as if a wildcat had been at you, she countered. He wiggled his fingers as she sank back onto the support of his broad chest, ready to be fucked again and again. His motions slowed, teased. So this is what I am to do as ambassador? No, this is what you are to do as my lover. Politics is much drier stuff. I dont want dry. He sucked hard at her neck. Nor I. But we must go through the motions. Motions? His fingers thrummed her insides as if she were a stringed instrument. Lynx, oh, that feels, ohso divine. Youve seen what I want from you. You know what you can give me, and I you. We can indulge ourselves here. There, in public, we must be cautious, but we can do great good. We can do ourselves the most good by resting for more play.

*****
By evening they had slept again and awakened, sober and sated. Ezmond ventured in to assure himself of their survival. Hunter covered himself and Gizella with the bed linens as Ezmond strolled to the feasting table, pouring wine and sucking succulent sweet-crabs from their shells while they adjusted to his presence. Always the diplomat, Ezmond, Gizella thought, amazingly sensitive. Ezmond still wore his leather tights from the soiree. A gaping, unlaced white silk shirtfront framed the gold glint of a nipple ring against his rich pelt of chest hair. Hunter seemed fascinated by the ring and the dark hair. Gizella gazed too, enjoying the simple black and white contrast of Ezmonds clothes against his olive skin and long, dark hair. His body was lean and elegant and lovely to watch, moving or still. The soiree, Ezmond noted, was abuzz at your absence. It was my fault, Hunter began. Dont flatter yourself. It was Gizellas fault, but it worked brilliantly. Brilliantly? she asked, sitting up, not bothering to defend or cover herself. Ezmond knew every nuance of what happened in their villa and in the greater world beyond. They are all agog to meet the first Embrian ambassador, he went on. Skipping the soiree only whetted their appetites. Hunter, his intense gaze dropped from the mans face and tangled braids to the reddened nipples in the eyes of the tattooed cat face, acquitted himself valiantly by his absence. They are dying to see him, meet him, share a wineglass with him.
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You are being shallow, Hunter said sharply. Yes. You see through me. Ezmond gazed solemnly upon Hunter, at the physical signs of his recent ravishment. Ezmonds aristocratic features were the usual handsome mask of noncommittal meaning, but his eyes grew doubly dark as the pupils betrayed their interest by swelling like a cock. Gizella spotted a matching swell at Ezmonds leather-laced crotch. He couldnt hide an unexpected, unprecedented attraction to the naked Embrian. Her heart began to beat triple time. Both of them, together with her, together. Could she share Hunter, even with Ezmond? And would the Embrian ever submit to another man watching him in bed, much less the merest touch from a man? Hunters staring at Ezmonds tit-ring didnt help the situation. Gizella stroked his cock beneath the bedcovers. It was stiff again, but then hed been insatiable under the influence of the potent aphrodisiac powders. The gesture brought the Embrians amber gaze to her face. We must be certain to attend the next soiree, she said, taking his smooth face in her hand. Ill wear a corset over my powder tattoos. You wont go fully exposed then? Some of the women will be, so youll have to school yourself not to gawk like an Uncivil. But I have an official pleasure partner, and one not official, so theres no reason to flaunt my festive tattoos before any but Ezmond and you. Hunters sigh of relief made the sand-cat face seem to snarl. Gizella suspected he coveted nipple jewels of his own, not Ezmond, though he didnt realize any of the implications of his fascination. Theyd have to be removable for now, simple body jewelry to snap on with powerful magnets to mimic the look of real piercing, which took two weeks to heal. Gizella disliked having any part of Hunters body off-limits for any amount of time, but the piercing would stimulate him constantly and enhance his sensations. For now, the pseudo rings would do. He was made for them and itd be good politics to expose Hunters impressive Embrian chest tattoo at the soiree. It would cause a deserved stir, enflame the women and display the rarity of his breed. And its beauty. Embrians were considered ignorant savages; many would prefer him to be brought in collared and chained like a captured wild beast. The thought warmed Gizellas cunt; another new game to play with Hunter. Her first, to show him the way and the rewards of it, then him. Gizellas face flushed as she caught Ezmond watching her. He knew her well enough to read her thoughts and he understood the role restraint played in rapture. Also, the pleasure in teaching one new to rapture and its every variation. Ezmond pushed off the table with a businesslike motion. Well have to attire the Embrian ambassador with just the right amount of civility and savagery for his true debut next week. Meanwhile, Gizella, we have duties to perform and Hunter can work on his reading. I assume you are both satisfied for a few hours.

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She nodded, her hand releasing Hunters satin-skinned cock under the covers. Theyd had enough of playtime; now was business. And then Ezmond would be ready for his playtime; she saw it in his black, black eyes fixed full upon her face, his slightly parted lips, the gold nipple ring flashing faster as his breathing rate increased. Despite his languid pose, her long, abandoned romp with the Embrian had heated his Ardentian loins to the boiling point. Gizella excused herself to take a shower, wash off the last remaining fragments of powder, and ponder what Ezmond had in mind for them later. Her speculations were very pleasant. What she had in mind was more than merely pleasant.

*****
Tasheeta! Gizella was used to seeing the handmaiden only in the adorning chamber, not on her bedchamber threshold. The womans unusual height and bronze braids, her inborn pride, reminded Gizella achingly of Hunter, especially as shed first known him. Come in. Gizella was still exhausted from her extraordinarily intense new intimacies with two men now, but her handmaidens were dear servants who had seen her at her most naked and unadorned, writhing under the mouth of her Embrian lover. Ardentians enjoyed nudity and openly admitted to the full erotic life they felt all were entitled to. Including handmaidens. Tasheeta wore her gold nipple bars with pride, but now her shoulders were hunched forward, as if shed imbibed a bit of the Embrian fetish for modesty. My lady, I have thrived in your employment. And I in the hands of you and my other women. Do you need more pay? Are your duties becoming too hard? I admit that Im not the most observant of mistresses. Especially lately. You are the soul of kindness. Its been a pleasure to serve you. Ah, but now you have accumulated enough money to follow your druthers. A business perhaps? Id happily give you the highest recommendation to my friends, make an investment. Whatever youd do would be successful. None of my handmaidens has such devotion to duty. Oh. Gizella stopped talking and gazed long at Tasheetas handsome but stony face. The woman was half Embrian, and the fact of that half angered her. What is it, Tasheeta? You can say what you like without fear here. I know that. Anguish tightened the girls pleasant, low voice, but her eyes evaded Gizellas. Youre free to voice any complaint or demand. I cannot watch him bowing between your legs.

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While Gizella stood stunned, the woman went on. You know who, the Embrian. She named the breed as one would curse. You believe Im betraying Ezmond? Never. Hes the most open-minded of men. Hes been faithful to you only, not an Ardentian trait. Hed never even glance at us handmaidens, and yet you open yourself to the Embrian for all to see. Gizella did see, did hear the fierce yearning at the girls mention of Ezmond. Tasheeta. We Ardentians have never been hypocritical and have never denied our physical needs. Ezmond need not be denied anotheroutlet. He so chooses. And you choose the Embrian! With Ezmonds blessing. Why? Why would he do that! He is besotted with you still and yet you lower yourself to an Embrian. Embrian blood flows in your own veins. No! I have erased all trace of it from my being. If I believed anything of those wretched men lived on in me, Id let all my blood flow out of those veins. Youre one of the Lost Girls, Gizella said, as you call yourselves. Sworn enemies of the Embrian way that raped your mothers and exiled themand youto a life of hardship. I can understand that, but you must understand that Hunter is a new breed of Embrian. He may be the link between Ardentian and Embrian and even Lost Girls. Dont you see what a prize he is? An Embrian who would cosset and enjoy a woman for herself? Next youd have me believe that he can love. I believe that he can. That he does. Fool! He will never forsake his tribe. He can never love you as Ezmond loves you. Or as you love Ezmond? Gizella asked gently. She might as well have stabbed the girl. Tasheeta bowed over, her arms guarding her navel as if Gizellas words had been a dagger aimed just there. I cannot stay. I cannot watch. I understand. Now. Renzo will give you the usual generous parting sum. You may follow your own enterprises. I am sorry to see you go, Tasheeta, despite your poor opinion of me. Still bent over, Tasheeta ran from her presence as from the plague.

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Chapter Nineteen
Taboo

Tasheetas angry defection troubled Gizella. If the jealous handmaiden talked of her and Ezmonds welcoming an Embrian into their private lives, this could reveal prematurely the larger, diplomatic implications of taking the Embrian into their villa and Gizellas body and bed. Yet why trouble Ezmond with the piques of an infatuated servant girl who was now out of the villa? Something far more exciting awaited. Hunter had come so far he wished his body to be further adorned and equipped for erotic ecstasy, right away. Shed not seen Ezmond undergo the piercing procedure, but shed oversee every step of the process for Hunter. It would be quite an adventure. While Ardentian ladies were pierced in their own palaces by women brought in from the city piercing guild, were surrounded by attentive handmaidens and the warm attentions of their favorite gallant or pleasure partner, the men roughed it. At least that was fashion since Ezmond had gone to the Ring to have his cock pierced. That had happened while Gizella was still in her pre-pube white gowns dreaming hopelessly of the most desired man in Ardentia desiring her some day. She was highly excited now that she could witness such an act, that she could take Hunter there to be pierced under her doting supervision. This piercer was male. She wanted no other woman touching Hunters erotically sensitive parts, not even exciting them in the course of professional work. After Ezmonds numerous lovers had raved about the wonders of his cock ring, other Ardentian gallants had sallied into the Ring for the same procedure. Not only Gizella enjoyed feeling a cock ring inside her. But now, for her, there would be two.

*****
Ezmond wouldnt let her and Hunter go unescorted, of course, which annoyed the Embrian warrior. Yet he understood how much this plan violated Embrian taboos, so he submitted to the black satin eye-mask and hooded cloak Gizella wanted him to wear. They couldnt have the piercing-master gossiping about the Embrian enlisted into an Ardentian triad. No other Ardentians had seen an Embrian torso bare, so their elaborate chest and cock tattoos were unknown. Tomzin, Ezmond said, donning a street disguise of mask and hooded cloak as well, and looking dashing as usual. Thats the fellows name. He tattoos all the riff-raff who fight and prey in the Ring. Hence hes much in demand from young Ardentian

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bucks who wish to impress the women with their bravery. Hes a tattoo master, but his piercing skills are also fine, accurate and sterile. An odd fellow, closed-mouth about himself. Also, he has the best tattoo wenches in the Ring, both beautiful and diverting. Gizella playfully thrust her lazer-dagger at Ezmonds chest. Masked and cloaked, she felt quite the bold bandit girl. I dont want to hear about tattoo wenches, Master Ezmond. If you crave any more such adornment, my love, youll have to suffer me distracting you. Ezmond bowed to signal assent. His only role tonight was escort. Hed let them enter Tomzins establishment alone. Hed paid well ahead of time to ensure they were his only customers tonight. They left their floater-car on the fringes of the Ring and walked into the maze of dark alleyways reeking with smoke and the untidy scents of ale, alleyway sex and fear. Tomzins shop was an unmarked doorway next to a shuttered weapons shop. Ezmond lurked like a bravo in the street outside while Hunter and Gizella entered. The room was a tiny cave lit by flickering torches, so it was hard to see. A veiled woman admitted them but vanished. Tomzin was a hooded mystery hunched over a table lit by lazer-light from above. It held a glittering array of pointed and pincered tools that looked suitable for a torturers bag. What do we have here? Tomzins voice quavered. Hed been at his trade for a long time. Yet the dark, wrinkled hands toying with the savage-looking tools were as steady as any Embrian guards. Gizella spoke, certain and crisp. He needs his nipples pierced, and his cock. For gold rings, heavier and thicker than the usual. An inspiration she wouldnt be able to use for a couple weeks struck. And Id like the navel done too, at the bottom center. Hes your lover? Thats none of your business, Tomzin. I want this all done, smoothly and safely. Then I want you to forget us both, as you enjoy hiding away your forty ezralds of pay. Show me what I have to work with. Gizella unveiled Hunters cloaked torso. With the hooded cloak sealed tight he could pass unnoticed in the dank night alleyways of the Ring. Underneath he wore only boots that almost met his crotch, and a leather pouch on buckled straps to support his genitals. Gods. Tomzin sounded awedas should anyone who looked on Hunters magnificent male body bare. Can you be both good and quick about it? Gizella asked. Id just paused to admire the superlative chest tattoo, my lady. You dont see such superb artwork in the Ring. Let me see the other area. Gizella unbuckled and removed the pouch. Just having her hands in motion there had made Hunters spitting cobra rear up full and straight.
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Gods! Tomzin repeated. Magnificent. Again, you dont see such extraordinary tattoo work here, except from me. Im glad you take pride in your work. So am I. Tomzin waved a hand at Hunters fully bared torso. Because this is my work. Hunter snatched the cloak sides tight to shield his tattoos. You lie! How is that possible? This was done in Embria. The old man unlatched the jeweled hasp at his jackets throat. The leather split to reveal the tattoo of a desert fox covering his somewhat shrunken but hairless chest. Gizella was struck doubly dumb with surprise, but Hunter bent closer to eye the tattoo and then reared back again. Slink! You disappeared! We thought the desert had lured you with a mirage and youd died. The old man chuckled. I was lured, all right. What do you think all those years of having captive young women kneeling at my feet to stimulate you youngsters cocks did to even an aging Embrian? My long-subdued cock began to have thoughts of its own again. You boys might grumble and protest as the girls kept you erect for the pinching of my needle, but I began to see the light. As you have yourself, my boy, I ken. That sandcat is the finest work I ever did. You were a magnificent specimen, Hunter, and I tattooed that cobra on your cock, not to poison and inter it forever, but in hopes that it would someday rise to strike some female delirious. I see that it has, and an Ardentian lady yet, who cant wait to taste it again as I enhance it yet more. Youll be my masterpiece when this piercing is done. Pity the lady sounds so possessive, but I think she has indescribable delights in mind for you, my boy, and for the parts my best work adorns. Itll be a pleasure to see her distract you tonight. And me. Hunter looked appalled, disgusted, utterly off-balance. Gizella laughed. An old rogue you are, Slink. I imagine youve seen it all here in the Ring, and well add to your list of wonders. But you must hold your tongue about it. It could hurt Hunter. Shed been careful to use his everyday name, not that of his spirit-beast. Hunter was ready to leave anyway. This was to have been anonymous. I dont want him watching you acting as a lowly tattoo girland boasting of it. Hunter, hes a physician of a sort, from whom no secrets can be kept. I dont want his tattoo girls seeing you, so he shall have to see me. Maybe he can learn a thing or two for his assistants to emulate. Sometimes I dont mind lowly. She winked at Slink and then went to her knees before Hunter. Hunter almost said her name. The backs of his fingers stroked her cheek instead. I dont want you doing this for me.

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Gizella waved a hand at the old man and his tray of tools. But I want you doing this for me. Come, Hunter, Slink said. You dont know how glad I am that another Embrian has escaped a dry life of duty and self-disgust. Your fine lady is a jewel beyond price and she knows that pride is a delusion. Youre worthy of each other. Ill place these rings for unimaginable pleasure and you both will praise my name for it. Discreetly. Ezmond will see you well patronized, Gizella said. Well, well, well, arent you the doubly fortunate lady? Theres another lad I feel honored to have enhanced. All right, Hunter. Trust me as you did before. Such a steel will. So steady. Keep so now. Gizella began kissing the tops of Hunters thighs, playing with the narrow zone of inflammatory flesh hed noticed featured on her own body on Recording 384. Slink pushed the cloak back again and rose to run the thin-needle steel clamps through the thickness of Hunters nipplesone then the other. This was the most painful part of the procedures. Gizella could tell by the steel-hard tensing of Hunters buttocks when the piercing began and ended. She eased his balls into her mouth then, suckling them, while Slink quickly and painlessly installed the navel ring. Hunter actually groaned from her intimate attentions for once, but not the pain. Enough! Slink ordered, looking down at her with salacious pleasure. You want to save something for the main attraction. Were you really my tattoo girl, Id have to retire you for overmuch distraction. He is very distracting. Slink bent to Hunters erect cock. This will just take a moment, lad. I can personally attesticle to this enhancement. He giggled, and then sobered. In a minute or two a steel holding ring dangled from the maw of the cobra tattoo. Slink issued instructions. Your piss will cleanse the opening, but keep the shaft offduty for two weeks. Her caresses in the area will keep you both engaged during the period of celibacy. Help the lady up, and allow your cock to go down. I prescribe young love until you heal. Much kissing and panting and no penetration. Hunter held himself stiff, whether from the procedures or injured privacy, Gizella couldnt tell. She buckled his bandaged cock head into its pouch and pulled the cloak shut, sealing its edges. She liked the old man and his lusty view of life. It was refreshing coming from an Embrian. Slink bode well for liberating Embria from its repressive ways. She didnt mind at all him witnessing how much she loved to love Hunter. He was the father figure Hunter had never known he had, an older man whod always wanted more lust for life in the younger one. When they left, she looked back and saw the lazer light reflecting from tears in the old mans eyes.

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Chapter Twenty
Shadows in the Ring

Gizella smiled under the shadow of her hood as she stepped into the dark, narrow street. This outing had gone better than she could have dreamed. She was relieved that the piercings had been clean, swift and expert. Even better, Hunter had encountered another Embrian, an old mentor living here for years in Ardentias Ring, one happily free of Embrian repressions. There was no hint that Hunter desired to escape again. His eyes had looked mutinous when Slink had forbidden intercourse for two weeks. Slink obviously approved of love and all its accouterments. Of her. Of Ezmond even. How could it be better? She lifted her eyes to find Ezmond, anticipating confiding all that had happened in bed later tonight. She washappy. So happy. It would be all right. Hunter would be all that they had hoped and far more than they deserved. Ezmond was not to be seen. She wasnt surprised. He had promised to lurk, to be discreet. He could become invisible at such times, if he wished. Only now she wished he were awaiting them at the door instead of her trying to locate his nearby hidey-hole. Yaiii! came an alien battle cry. Jingling, armed figures came dropping down on them from above. They landed with the thud of many boots. Dagger and sword blades glimmered silver in the light of the evening moon. The only metal on Hunter was his piercing rings. Gizella drew her stun-dagger from the side hem of her cloak. It made the buzzing sound of live lightning. The hilt button could depress to cast strikes as far as four feet away, but the attackers were circling a body length or more away, licking their chops like mountain wolves. An Ardentian lady, men! a rough voice shouted. Shell have jeweled rings on all her dainty parts. Theyre worth a years ale. Take em, lads, and well take her after. A bit o blood will only oil her the better for us. Hunter roared. Not hollered. Not screamed. He roared like a sand-cat, a long, deep, vibrating sound that Gizella felt through the cobblestones before it made her put hands to ears. The bandits had lifted hands and weapons to ears as well. The mighty swipe of Hunters arm past three of them had the weapons crashing to the stones where Hunters boot kicked one weapon after the other into the air to be grabbed by his hands, a sword in his left hand and two in his right.

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At that moment, a piece of the night rushed forward behind a whip-stitching rapier that had the bandits howling and turning to defend themselves, only to feel Hunters swords and Gizellas lazer-spitting dagger shots at their rear. The attackers were falling to the ground, tangling with each other and their weapons, helpless under the triple assault. Then new battle cries echoed in the Ring. Another half-dozen bandits closed in behind the Ardentians and Embrian. And more cries, more armed men pouring in from the side streets, drawn by the commotion. In the ill-lit confusion, the reinforcements even attacked some of their own. Now there were more than twenty brigands attacking two men and a woman. The cobblestones were growing slick with blood. Gizella ducked into every gap in the fighting, zinging rapier-long rays of red light on any enemy limb or face she could see. Ezmonds voice rose above the cries of the wounded, from the thick of things. Ha! And this! And that! Each exclamation meant a blow hitting home. Hunter was literally wading into the fallen bodies, his booted legs impervious to low blows, his broad shoulders and arms plowing more men down to the ground with rapid blows to the left and right. A sound of distant thunder finally made both wounded and whole men pause and lift their heads to listen. Embrian guards! a voice shouted. Scatter. A tremendous scrabbling began as boots searched for purchase and hands for dropped weapons on the slick and bloody stones, as men crawled to retreat into the shadowed alleys. A voice at Hunters and Gizellas rear hissed in their ears, mockingly, The Embrian guards. Scatter. Gizella rounded on Ezmond, whispering too as the marching boots grew louder. Scatter where? Back to Slinks, of course. Ezmond frowned in the glare of moonlight. Gizella turned to see Hunter standing statue-still, listening to the advancing thunder of Embrian boots. Waiting for them. She grabbed his arm and he dropped his trio of swords. The clatter raised a call from the guard leader. There, men! That street! Hunter stood rooted, even when Ezmond slapped him hard across the shoulders. Gizella, use your dagger. Hurry. She hesitated, unwilling to hurt Hunter, then gave him a quick sting on the wrist. He turned, snarling like a sand-cat, seeing only danger, not her. His arm lifted to bat her away like a teacup-fairy.
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Ezmond drove his shoulder into the blow before it could gain forward force, driving Hunter against the wooden door to Slinks establishment. Despite the two mens weight, the door held. Locked! Ezmond spat out like a curse. Gizella, bespell that old coward to let us in. Fast! She cast herself against the crack of the door. Slink! Let us back in! The boots were as loud as a thunder and about to turn onto this street any moment. Slink, she cried, Ezmond will have another forty ezralds for you. She hesitated, desperate. And all my women friends will seek your services when I tell them about The door gave so suddenly that they all fell through as one. Slink sidled around them to bar the door again. He turned, his eyes crafty in the lamplight. Hunter! Get behind my workshop curtain. Ardentian lord, out with your cock. Ardentian lady, on the stool, swooning with fear or delight, I care not which. Now! Ezmond and Gizella had to push Hunter behind the leather curtain. They quickly assumed their positions as Slink rattled his toolbox. The first pounding on the door shattered the already tried door bar. It snapped open to reveal a tableau of two men at work and a woman watching. We seek bandits, the lead guard said. Is that what that racket in the street was? Ezmond said languidly. You can see we were rather absorbed here. The Embrian guards kept their eyes averted from the fork of his legs and ran suspicious glances over Slink and Gizella. No one came in here? Only us, Ezmond said, and that was an hour ago. This man is good at his craft, but you can see hes aged and has lost some of his speed and skillow! The Embrians within sight flinched at the sound and grew pale. Well not be delaying your Excellencies any longer, the leader said contemptuously. Back to the streets, men. They cant have gone far. Theres blood enough out there to launch a ship. As the door banged shut and then rebounded ajar again, Slink rose to produce an unbroken bar and latch the door fully shut once more. Any of that blood out there from anyone in here? he asked. No, but not through any intention on your part, Ezmond complained, tucking his cock behind the laces hed slashed open in his haste. Tsk. Call an Embrian old and slow, will you, lad? Speaking of Embrians Hunter, are you unbloodied? He bowed out through the inner door, still looking troubled. Except for my cloak and boots. My lady? Slink asked her last.
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Yes. Then I suggest you return to your villa as quickly and quietly as you can manage. The trio glided through the empty streets like ghosts. None encountered or stopped them, so their floater soon wafted them back to their lofty towers.

*****
Gizella immediately led Hunter to her bedchamber to ensure that the brawl in the Ring hadnt torn his freshly pierced skin. She led him past the bed into a separate area, this one cool-lit and circled with steel bondage bars like the playroom. She wrenched open the seal on his cloak and let it fall to the floor then unfastened his leather crotch pouch to fall on top of it. He was nude except for the suede boot-tops that almost brushed his ass. Hunter was more concerned with this new room than his recent piercings. Whats this place for? A little of this, a little of that. Right now its an infirmary. He leaned against a wall and watched her check his steel nipple rings and the navel one then pat Soothz onto the areas. Her ministrations were stimulating him. I was afraid, Gizella said, trying to play the stern, efficient nurse, that your exertions in the alleyway would tear your fresh wounds, but these look all right. And the rest of me? Hunter had recovered from the near encounter with the Embrian guards and was feeling quite manly after vanquishing a dozen brigands. His lazy eyes and voice said that he thought she owed him a suitable reward. Here. Now. She touched his navel, watching his breath and muscles suck in. That steel ring was perfectly centered and she had plans for it. But not yet. Not until hed healed and could wear the heavier gold rings shed had made for him. She patted Soothz on the fanged mouth of his cock-snake last. Nothing damaged. He caught her arms. Everything that had happened after theyd left Slinks establishmentthe violence, the danger, the triumph, fighting side by side with Ezmondhad stirred him to make love to her, to fuck her hard. But it was too soon. We cant, she told him, wriggling away, but I do have a consolation prize for you in the meantime. Nothing would console me for losing access to you. Gizella opened a drawer in the wall and drew something out. She turned, an intricate leather-strapped object dangling from her hands. Hunter straightened against the wall. He hadnt been sure of this when hed seen it on the recording, but now it was literally hanging before him. A cock cradle? Not a cock cradle. Yours. I had it specially commissioned. The leather is dyed bronze, black and red to match your tattoos. Itll please your cock when I cant. Gizella
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lifted a control device from the drawer top. The rooms walls and floor suddenly became mirrored. Before Hunter could take in seeing his nude body from a multiplicity of angles, Gizella gently turned him to face the mirrored wall. Brace your hands here on the mirror, your legs spread and away from the wall so you can see me put this on you. He hesitated, but his breathing had roughened and she knew it. Do I need to bind you? she asked. Gods no, Gizella. He did as she said. She held the device in front of his crotch. In the mirror, they both could see his cocksnake, already full-length, the new steel ring gleaming as it hung precisely from the spitting cobras fangs. Youll like feeling that new metal in you? Hunter asked. She stroked his firm ass. Youll like feeling it inside me even more. But yes. Now be still and bewell, almost fucked. He grinned to hear her repeat his own instructions from what seemed like long ago. She slipped the cock cradle down over the snake and pulled his balls through the leather ring, no easy task with such full, solid equipment. Hunter closed his eyes momentarily and bit back a moan. She tightened the cock ring. His cock was pulled taut and smooth, the impudent piercing ring on the tip quivering with the tension. His balls were forced forward against his cock, drawn away from their ordinary position and feeling full, captured, held. Gizella eased the hip straps over his pelvis to his lower back. The central strap hung down from the halters bottom between his legs like a thin, long, limp cock, waiting to be drawn up to meet the metal latch that would ride at the top of his ass crack. And in the unfastened strap thrust the assertive mini-cock of an anal probe. Hed seen her insert one into Ezmond on Recording 384, but perhaps hadnt realized what was going on. Now he would. She eyed him in the mirror. Theyd neglected to remove their eye masks and that made them momentary strangers to each other, their true expressions hidden. Which actually made this easier. Gizella ran a finger gloved in gossamer down his crack, pausing to press his anus. Hunter stiffened all over, more so, if that was possible. Thats the ultimate Embrian taboo in the second degree, he warned her, his voice deep and hard. How so? She kept her fingertip pressing at that small depression guarded by iron-tight muscles. No man shall put an object in his abysmal hole, he quoted by rote, nor shall any other man put any object or part of his body in it, on pain of prolonged death and eternal torment ever after.

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Gizella knew she challenged Embrias deepest taboo, but Hunter had seen Ezmond spasm with pleasure at this very same intrusion on the recording, though he hadnt known it then. This object is the size of my little finger, which you can try first. Hunter was trembling with excitement and stress now, feeling the slight teasing pressure, his body liking it, his mind trained to vomit out the idea. She caught his masked eyes in the mirror. Did you say no man shall? Neither spoke or moved for perhaps a minute. Then Gizella wiggled her finger and pushed harder. Hunter bit his tongue. She waited. Its true, he said. Only men are barred from thisbreach. A woman was never mentioned. Of course, Gizella thought, no repressed Embrian male could conceive of a woman wanting to do such a thing. Its very small and youll like it, she promised. Besides, every man should know how a women feels when he thrusts his cock into her, and why she likes it so much. Hed seen her relish such rear penetration from the first, but no doubt hed attributed that to womanish and Ardentian debauchery. Ezmond likes it, she added. The eyes behind the mask closed. The bracing arms tightened. Now, before I change my mind! Gizella slipped the lubricated rubber prong into the place marked by her fingertip. Even now the muscles were incredibly tight, but restraint induces rapture and she pushed hard into him. The barrier breached suddenly, Gizella pressing her other hand down on his pelvis in front, pressing her bare breasts and nipple rings into his buttocks at the same time so the stimulation would be total. Hunter shuddered as the probe slammed home. His cock shot a long, pearly stream at the mirror, his seed running down the surface in rivulets. Gizella quickly latched the anal probe into place. Her heart and cunt were beating with mutual excitement. Hunters powerful involuntary climax showed he was a prime candidate for full body penetration. She so longed to have his harnessed cock in her ass she could hardly keep from assuming his same position against the opposite wall so he could turn and fuck her with his still-rampant cock. So much for urging restraint on him! Ive ruined your mirror, he finally said. Gizella quelled an urge to lick it clean, so much did she desire all things Hunter. Itll clean, but are you all right?

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Hunter turned and straightened cautiously, keeping his legs splayed, partly to preen for her eyes, partly to feel the fiendishly pleasurable pull of the cock cradle as he stretched to full height. You can unlatch the back when you need to remove it for a while. And come to me anytime, of course, for adjustment. She ran her fingertips along the boot-tops, along the hairless skin at the tops of his lean thighs, against the sweet curve of his butt cheeks and up the rear strap of the cock cradle between them to press the anal probe in even more and adjust the latch tighter as he shuddered with forbidden pleasure. That will be often, Hunter promised huskily, his intent eyes glazed with satisfaction. I hope so, she whispered, and bent to kiss the new ring on his cock head. It jerked wildly again, spilling spicy, warm semen into her mouth. Gods, but the Embrian way made men potent once they were freed from repression!

*****
He came to her every day and night. Several times a day and night. Whenever he appeared, wordless with want, shed lead him into the dim-lit mirrored room. They never spoke at first. Shed Soothz him in the name of healing then tease him mercilessly. Shed loosen the cock cradle straps there, tighten them here. Change the size of the anal probe. Their emotions danced in the dark as she pleased him and therefore herself. Their intimacy was so intense, so secret now. They were both atremble at the others needs. She refused to let him touch her in ways that would satisfy her until he was healed and could do it without restraint. It was all about her satisfying him. This was how it had been when Ezmond had courted her, and Gizella understood the ecstasy of being anothers total love object, of another delaying satisfaction to give it again and again. Only once did he speak, whisper, pushing his fingers into her hair to hold her suckling face still against the fork of his body. Gizella, every time you touch me here in this place where we are alone, it wipes out a memory of being publicly beaten and berated for having a cock that would stand up rather than cower. That was endless torture. Do you still think this is torture too? she asked, her lips and tongue lifting from the satin skin of his cock before she resumed and went silent again. Yes. She froze with dismay. Good torture, but Im going to end it for today. He pulled away, his hands holding her face so he could thrust his cock deep into her mouth, his hips pumping hard, even expertly now, until she felt that her clitoris had
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emigrated to her throat. She kept still, letting him set the pace and the depth. The stroke of his cock-ring against the soft back of her throat soon had her climax trembling on the brink there and between her legs as well. Her heart was swelling with such gratitude that her lovemaking had turned Hunters torment into pleasure that tears gathered. She had to close her eyes. Her cries trembled around his shaft as it spasmed sweet, spicy juice into her throat and a sympathetic flutter swept her empty inner tissues. Ive made your face wet again with the things called tears, he whispered. Good tears, she whispered back.

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Chapter Twenty-One
Old Pleasures for New

Ezmond, being the supremely sensitive man few would guess he was, understood Gizellas need to succor Hunter as he moved into full Ardentian sensuality. Still, he was a man, and his cock would wait only so long. They were in the war room, examining the admittedly mild defenses ringing the city, when Ezmond glanced at Gizella sharply. Are you keeping Hunter in a cock cradle? She started and blushed. Why do you ask? I can see his almost constant arousal, especially now that we duel daily. Why dont you answer? No. At least Im not keeping him in anything. Its his wish. I gave it to him to ease the time his piercings will keep him celibate. The piercings keep him from piercing you; hes hardly forced to be celibate, and he hasnt been, has he? No. Do you mind us being apair during this time? I mind us not being a pair during this time. Gizella cleared her throat, and then her eyes met Ezmonds. Ive got him up to a size six on the anal probe. Hes letting you? Yes. It seems the Embrian taboos are insistent that a man not violate that orifice. Nothing was said about a woman. Ezmond sat on the edge of the table holding the model of Ardentia, chuckling. Im astounded. Very clever. Does he like it? Exceedingly. Ezmonds face flushed slightly. That must be the most intense and ingrained taboo to break. I salute you. His smile was wry. I can imagine how exciting it must be to take him where no other can, but is there perhaps someplace that I could take you while we all wait this out? Gizella came close. Yes. Ive withheld my own satisfaction to concentrate on his. Its beyond rewarding, butit exacts a price. As you know. Im aching for you, but I couldnt say that as long as you didnt know what was happening. And I couldnt betray Hunters particular new vulnerability to you, unless you knew. I was counting on you to guess. And now you have. He took her in his arms. Where would you like to go, Gizella?
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Anywhere with you. Just my bedchamber. Just you and me, touching and loving. She shut her eyes in relief at his promise, welcoming being the object of love. In that moment he swooped her up into his arms. The sharp motion of possession and command sent daggers of desire dueling between her cunt petals and in the pit of her stomach. She murmured her pleasure and fastened her lips at the bounding artery in his neck, sucking feverishly as he carried her to his black-glass-lined bedchamber where it would be just them, Ezmond teasing and fulfilling her to the brink and beyond. She was speechless when Ezmond set her down in the middle of his bedroom. Hed prepared a welcome. Floating bubbles of gracefully coupling fairy couples lit the chamber. The beds linens were red satin. A skyline of dildos sat on one table, most sheathed in black leather gossamers, some like towers of huge black pearls, some black glass in sinuous shapes circled by cabled ropes like veins. With such exotic erotic instruments Ezmond had first teased her tight virginal cunt open by degrees. One black leather dildo had cross lacings like a corset or crotch closure. Hed carefully stimulated and trained her cunt petals to cream at the sight of black leather laced over a mans cock. Gizella realized that Ezmond had been amazingly generous to attire Hunter in this garment of his own inciting design. The overbearing scents of flowery fairy come and leather made Gizellas cunt contract sharply with desire. She loved feeling the painful ache that would only ease with him putting something inside her, and stood trembling an inch away from Ezmond, his strong, lean body a pillar to support her, his head bent down, the teasing tendrils of loose black hair tenting her face and shoulders in his visible shadow. She reached her hand to his crotch lacings, fingering the blunt-cut ends with a gasp of surprise. You wore this pair of tights in the Ring, she whispered. A sword blow there cut them open. I saw it then and was terrified andhungry at the same time. When you did that to Hunter in the practice room and sent him to me with his cock so undone, I told him that this fashion of slashed crotch lacings would make all Ardentian women mad with desire. Are you maddened yet? Her fingertips played with the severed ends, outlining the long, full welt of his cock. They pushed back and under, inside, to warm flesh, capturing his hard, highdrawn balls and forcing him to spread his stance with a deep, guttural purr of pleasure. You should always be seen like this, my love, with your swollen cock and balls exposed. Design me a set of leather tights that will do that. A soft growl in his throat expressed his growing satisfaction and excitement. Youd want other women to see me primed to fuck?

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See, but nothing else, poor things. See what I have used on me nightly. Such talk was just that, but it inflamed them both. Ezmond laid her on her back at the beds bottom, pushing her gowns sheer wings aside, baring her creamy cunt. His hand spread her thighs and stayed there while his mouth dipped toward her core. The locks of his hair tickled her inner thighs as he licked from the bottom of her slit to the top. His tongue slipped into one of her labia rings, twisted and pulled. He made the rounds of the four rings, pulling until she was throbbing. He pushed his thumbs into two opposed rings and stretched her labia open to the burning point then plunged his tongue deeper into her slit, running it up to her clit where it penetrated the tiny fleshy hood to lave its most sensitive exposed surface. His chin pressed hard into the narrow bridge of muscle between her slit and anus in the same rhythmic fucking motion his devouring mouth and tongue used higher. Gizella was blissfully lost, her head tossing from side to side, her fingers curling into the soft velvet coverlet. She could only make sounds. Moans, purrs, sighs, murmurs. She drew in a huge breath then began huffing it out as Ezmonds expert lips and tongue sucked an orgasm out of her cunt into his greedy mouth. His mouth kept working to swallow the creamy liquid pushed out by violent interior spasms that went on and on and on. Ezmond finally lifted his head, lifted his entire upper body up on his arms and thrust his throat and head back like a wolf to howl. Only he kept his gleaming lips closed on her swallowed orgasm and lunged forward to bury his cock to the leather tights inside her, moving into the very teeth of her climax and thrusting so hard and fast and deep that a new one came bubbling out of her womb to envelop his cock with even stronger pulses. Then he dropped his weight down upon her and brought the orgasm in his mouth to hers. She swallowed as much of his thrusting tongue and her own juices as she could as a third orgasm started deep in her throat. She gasped and screamed it into his mouth and they rocked and sucked and clutched one another in one endless circlet of climaxes so close to each other that neither she nor he could say where whose began and whose ended. They fell apart in exhaustion, beside each other. Ezmonds cock, scarlet and slick, still stood upright from his black tights, reminding her of the shiny scarlet sheets of his bed under the black velvet cover. Gods, I love you loving my cock with your eyes. He rolled his upper body over to hang his face above hers, smiling total satisfaction but still enamored enough for more. The curling ends of his locks tickled her breasts and face. I dont think I could survive another bout of ecstasy like this, she admitted. Nonsense. Its not over yet. I dont intend to let you off this easily. He pushed himself upright, winced a bit to see his angry cock, then went to the table to fetch something black and filling.
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Dont you still crave something inside you? he asked. If you put it there. He bent to slowly insert the dildo with the black leather crotch lacings. Gizella sighed her content as he seated it deep and stroked her smooth, slick mound. Ive missed you, Ezmond said, baring her breasts for suckling and lying beside her again. I noticed. You may also have noticed that the presence of our Uncivil visitor has affected us perhaps more than him. Because? He ran his hand from her chin down her throat, between her breasts, over her mound, past the dildo head and back to her anus where his gossamered forefinger entered to stroke the dildo inside her. Gizella gasped again, lifting her neck and chin to throw her head back, letting her lips fall slack. She needed his tongue there. Something. Ezmond purred deep in his throat to see her body abandon itself helplessly to his touches. He complied by fucking her mouth with his tongue, as long, deep and tenderly as he could manage. Finally he pulled away to smile down on her beloved face. I feel free, nay, obligated, to fuck you into paradise. Competition, I have discovered, is quite the goad to an Ardentian cock. If this is the result, my love, we did the right thing. I have only begun to exploit the Embrian for your pleasure, Ezmond promised. You have nothing to expect but more ecstasy.

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Chapter Twenty-Two
Morning Becomes Gizella

Come with me, Embrian. Ill show you how Gizella likes to be awakened in the morning sometimes. Hunter hesitated. Hed always been alone with Gizella. But the Ardentians mocking dark eyes challenged him. He followed Ezmond into her bedchamber where a starlit simulation of the black night sky formed the ceiling. Gizella lay on her back atop the tangled black satin bedclothes, a wisp of silken gown barely clinging to her midriff, her pale bare legs and arms splayed and her long, tangled hair eddying around her sleeping face like liquid gold. Hunters heart melted as his cock hardened. She had never looked so beautiful, so touchable. The feeling that came over him as he watched her sleep, unaware of their presence, made his throat close with some emotion hed never felt before. It was pure hunger, and yet protective. It was worshipping, and yet fierce. He knew hed kill for her. Die for her. Was this love? His hands made fists. What he felt for her must be weakness, yet it made him feel stronger than he ever had before. Ezmond stood slightly behind him, permitting him the prime view. Thats the first thing I taught her, on her seventeenth birthday, when we still had a year to go before becoming licensed pleasure partners. You taught herwhat? To learn to sleep on her back with her legs open, always open and ready for loving, always achingly tempting to any mans eyes. But, of course, then I thought only I would see her this way. Hunter understood what Ezmond was sharing. At this moment, he wasnt sure he could ever be so generous. Ezmond went on. That last year, when I was allowed to keep social company with Gizella, was an eternity of balked desire and boredom. He spoke with a smile, with nostalgia. I used to secretly break into her parents house and come to stand at the foot of her bed, watching her lie and sleep like this, in the moons glow from the skylight above her. No one knew. You must have embraced your cock in silence at such times. No, Hunter. I was a perfect Embrian mercenary all those three years, celibate and banned by my own vow from easing my cocks pain. Id sworn to do that until the day my cock could lawfully touch her, and even then it took more than three months to prepare her tightly coiled rosebud of a cunt for full and unfettered entry.

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Hunters fists tightened, along with his stomach and balls. His own cock was tightstrung to bursting, seeing her here and now. How did you avoid involuntary climax? Ezmond laughed softly, his voice very near Hunters ear. I didnt have the harsh Embrian training that keeps your cock reined even now, though it tugs mightily at the bit you put on it, I venture. Id immerse my equipment in a bowl of frigid water. In the desert we have no frigid water, much less water. I supposed there are other ways to stop it. Yes. Hunter kept his expression and voice flat, but inside he winced at the remembered shame and pain of those Embrian techniques for discouraging boy children from soiling themselves, crying or coming. Ezmonds hand curled over his shoulder, a bracing gesture. Our purpose now isnt to stop whats natural from happening, but to enhance it to its highest art and pleasure. Wait here. Ezmond walked over to open the sliding noiseless door that exposed the shelves of man-things against one wall. Dildos, Gizella called them. Ezmond returned bearing one of smooth transparent solid glass, as thick around as Gizellas wrist, and laid it between her legs. Gods! Hunter whispered, swallowing hard at seeing that huge rounded obelisk within an inch of Gizellas delicate cunt petals, horrified, yet feeling his balls tighten and burn at the sight. Ezmond put a quieting finger to his lips then drew two soft, shimmering scarves from the bedside table, which was a small version of the toy chest in the playroom. He tossed one to Hunter then bent to tie Gizellas left wrist to one of the golden rungs at the head of the bed. Gizella stirred in her sleep and shifted her legs until one inner thigh almost touched the man-thing between them. The sight gave Hunter such rushing pleasure in his belly that he quickly tied her other wrist to another rung, testing to see that the silken bond wasnt too tight. She murmured, still asleep. Ezmond beckoned him to the foot of the bed. Hunters stomach was hollow with need, seeing Gizella naked and sleeping, her bound arms lifting her breasts into sweet, peaked mounds, her spread legs poised to accept that giant manthing inside her. Ezmond bent and butted the tapered glass head against her cunt lips. She stirred, murmuring with pleasure. He pushed the narrow tip an inch inside her. Gizella moaned and opened her eyes, blinking to see past her heavy eyelashes. She saw the two men standing together at the beds foot then smiled and stretched, sleepily accepting the silken bonds and the mens joint presence. Ezmond. She yawned. Youve brought Hunter for breakfast. How thoughtful. Hunter looked around. He saw no food. Only Gizella, just slightly fucked. As he watched, she pulled her arms against the bonds then swiveled her hips, trying to push herself farther down on the tapered man-thing head.

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Cold, she murmured. Glass or steel? Guess. And youll warm it up, Ezmond said. More, she suggested throatily. Not yet. More! Hunter was aghast. Its too huge. Itll never enter fully without hurting her. Is it really that big? Gizella asked. Her voice was aching, dreamy. Hunters worried remarks had only excited her. I cant see it. Too big, Hunter warned her again. That answer only made her breath come faster, her breasts rising and falling in a quick rhythm that echoed the hot pulsing in his balls. Its new. Ezmond bent down to push in the head a bit farther, his low voice blurred with desire. Bigger than anything youve had before, Gizella, maybe even Hunter. Itll fill you like youve never dreamed. Youll have to work for it though. Just rest for now and enjoy your cunt throbbing. Get used to the stretch. Ezmond, its setting my passage on fire with want. Just a little more. Later, love. He nodded Hunter over to a table near the man-thing shelves. Two chairs awaited them and the top of the table lifted off to show a breakfast feast that Ezmond unveiled. The gesture released aromas of soft breads swimming in butter and syrup, of seasoned meats and some spicy hot-cider beverage. The men sat and ate, despite their excited cocks, prolonging the feeling, as Gizella did. Ezmond said softly, The secret to exciting a woman is promise and delay. Anticipation is all, so say the Books of Bliss. She loves hearing us nearby, not seeing us, not seeing whats poised to enter her, imagining what it will feel like, what more we have in store for her. Hunter forced himself to relax into the same casual attitude as Ezmond. He realized that the murmur of their voices, near and yet far, both lulled and incited Gizella, as did their apparent indifference to her state. They discussed the next council meeting where Hunter would make his debut. Ezmond suggested a new swordplay match in the weapons room. They looked frequently to Gizella, moaning contentedly as she tried with tiny hip thrusts to fuck the dildo head so near and yet so far. Ezmond stared at her writhing on the bed for a while then slid onto his tailbone in the chair, splaying his legs and moving his hand inside the loose trouser slit to coddle his erection. Hunter sensed his masturbatory movements and kept his eyes on Gizellas. His own cock was hard and heated, but the brutal Embrian training kept his hands off it, if not his mind and emotions. Youve done this often? Hunter asked.
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Just often enough to remain eternally inciting. Adding you to the game makes it even fresher. Ezmonds head moved. Hunter found his eyes drawn to the other mans face, which was pleasure-blurred, both lazy and intense. Ive never seen Gizella so seductive. Shes outdoing herself now to excite you. Shell probably try to convince you to satisfy her sooner than I would, sooner than she really needs and wants. Youve captured her erotic imagination in ways I never could. I love watching and benefiting from the results. I havent done anything, Hunter said, puzzled, except follow my cock for the first time in my life. Speaking of that noble beast, do you wear the cock cradle all the time? Ezmond asked, his voice lowered so Gizella could only hear them whispering. Yes. Ive considered doing that. I think Gizella would like it. She does. We should devise something as constantly stimulating for her. Acunt cradle? Exactly. Perhaps white leather with ruby studs. And penetrating knobs that should be quite satisfying. Hunters hand fisted on the damask tablecloth as he pictured Gizellas pelvis so harnessed and adorned and presented to him. To them. It should lace up the front, he told Ezmond. The Ardentian frowned, not quite picturing that. Like our tight laces, but through her cunt petal rings, with thin chains or red ribbons or black leather laces. Maybe she needs more petal rings. Gods! How deliciously wicked and inciting. For an Uncivil fellow who just follows his cock you have a first-class Ardentian erotic imagination. Ive been taught by a master. And a mistress. Their silence as they contemplated Gizella in this inciting new garment made her writhe anew on the bed with a particularly ardent, pouting moan. Ezmond. Its slipping back out. What a tragedy. Would you like a bite of breakfast? Ezmond asked her. Yes please. He prepared a small tray with a slice of soft bread and small pitchers of butter, syrup and candied fruit sauce. He brought it to the bed, leaning over to push a fragment of buttered bread dipped in syrup between Gizellas parted lips. The piece was so tiny she could swallow it lying down. Thats good, isnt it? Very.
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His hand reached between her legs to push the dildo head farther in, so the wider section now parted her cunt petals. Her welcoming moan held a tinge of pain, the pain Hunter now knew soon turned into pulsing pleasure. Gods! Yes. So hard. So big. Very good, she said. Then well have some. Ezmond began drizzling the warm melted butter and syrup over her left breast in a design as delicate as a powder tattoo. He looked up at Hunter, standing bewildered, still reeling from Ezmonds smooth suggestions yet excited in ways hed never felt, mystified. Will you have the fruit sauce or syrup on yours? Ezmond asked him. Hunter stared at Gizellas bare right breast with its hard red berry of a nipple pierced by a ruby ring centered on the pale, creamy mound. The sauce. His voice was so hoarse that Gizellas glazed eyes turned to him. Hunter, love. Could you kiss some of that flavor onto my lips when youre done? Anything you want. Then push the dildo higher. No. Ezmond was firm. Not yet. After breakfast. He lounged on the bed as his hands shaped her left breast into a tempting peak then he bent to sip at it, slowly licking up the sweets. Gizella moaned so besottedly at this attention that Hunter dropped to his knees at the bedside and began devouring the dressings from her other breast, only he brought the sweet fruit sauce to her lips so many times that they soon seemed painted scarlet for a Council soiree. Gizella purred and moaned, the small, satisfied sounds goading the men to massage her breasts into higher mounds, to tease her nipple rings with their tongues and suck her flesh into their mouths until it was rosy from their hunger and her chest and face grew feverishly pink. She thrust with her hips. More, Ezmond. He rose to take away the tray then gestured Hunter to stand beside him at the beds foot where she could see them. First, he said, we have something to show you. He untied the tunic at his shoulders and the trousers at his waist and let them drop to the floor. Hunter quickly did likewise. Gizella drew in a deep breath to see their paired naked bodies and erect cocks in cradles, balls pushed forward. I want those, she said. You know the answer, Ezmond answered fondly. Later.

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Then more here, now. Her hips thrust up at them, displaying her heated and glistening center adorned by the ruby rings and topped by a swollen wet pink pearl of a clitoris. Even Ezmond had to take a moment to catch his breath, to decide on the next, most inciting step. For that, Gizella, he finally said in a soft, teasing tone, half promise and half threat, well need your legs spread wide and secured. Gizellas eyelashes fluttered as if the words alone thrilled her to the brink of orgasm. Hunter knew his breathing had quickened to hear them and that everything between his legs was throbbing even harder. Ezmond had bent to pull a Flex-Silk cuff on a retractable steel cable from the bottom of the bed. He reached for Gizellas ankle, but to his obvious surprise, she pulled it away. Her nearly closed eyes glittered through her pale lashes. Hunter. I want Hunter to spread and bind me. I want to know if he still despises my ability to surrender, or if hes learned to enjoy it. Hunter? Ezmond regarded him again with the raised eyebrow he was famous for. Hunter knew it was true. The very first time hed had Gizella under his power, hed forced her legs wide apart and taunted her for liking that, for wanting him to see her so naked and open. Hed been an angry, confused and even frightened Embrian mercenary then. Everything sexual was foreign to him. Now he was her lover, and he still wasnt sure what desire demanded, what love permitted. He leaned down to take her ankle gently in his large hand, watching her eyes as they watched his. He ran his hand up her strong yet delicate limb to her inner thigh where he brushed the backs of his fingers over her slit and was rewarded with a gasp. Then he drew her ankle to the far edge of the bed, slowly, marveling at the slender grace of her leg. He pulled it wide then stopped, consulting her eyes. They were fixed on his face, widened, waiting. Sharply, with force and intent, he pulled the leg another six inches open. Her eyelashes shuttered as she moaned her pleasure at his mastery. He pulled the leg a bit farther still, watching her breasts heave with quick breaths. Then he secured the band around her ankle and moved to her other leg, caressing it slowly all the way to her center. No one spoke. Everyone sensed Hunter opening Gizella as wide as she could tolerate. The only sound in the chamber was harsh, excited breathing. Hunter moved the other leg fast and far. Gizella pushed her face to the side, into the satin sheets, and sighed his secret name, that not even Ezmond could use, though he d heard it on the recording. Lynx. You undo me. Look at me, he said.

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As she did, he quickly pulled her leg even wider and snapped the Flex-Silk band shut. Her torso lifted from the bed as a pre-orgasmic shudder racked through her from womb to throat. Gods, Ezmond whispered behind Hunter. Hunter ran his eyes over her splayed legs. Spread wide and secured, he murmured in a haze of desire. He looked at her face again. You love it, and I love it, as I love you. As you will love it when I push this man-thing up between your gaping legs. Hunter sat on the bed, unable to fret over Ezmonds nudity or his own. He only had eyes for Gizella. She looked so desirable in this state, so trusting, letting them push her into a mindless frenzy, wanting them and no others. His hands shook as he took the dildos end and pushed it into her a bit more. She cried out. Wait! After several deep breaths, she gazed into his eyes again. More now, Lynx. Please. He still wasnt sure of the line between pleasure and pain. I cant. This hurts you. Only for a moment. More, Lynx. I love watching you do this. His eyes caught fire from hers. I love doing this to you. He pushed harder. She writhed and moaned and he lost heart again. Ezmonds hand edged his away to take control. This is Hunter, Gizella, his big Embrian cock. You know how much it fills you, how much you like to take it into you. Open yourself just a bit more and hell be all inside. Hunter wasnt sure that he liked having a dildo named after him, but slowly Ezmond eased the huge shaft inward. Hunter laid his hand on Gizellas silken-skinned lower belly. He could feel the gigantic thing filling her higher and higher. She moaned at the pressure of his touch, more as he increased it, murmuring his name over and over. More, Hunter! The dildo finally passed the last inner barrier of muscle and slid in to the limit. Hunters palm felt its progress almost as if he were being fucked by it too. Gizella lay still, her eyes closed, a purr thrumming in her throat. Ezmond gazed down on her, his desire-darkened eyes feasting on the beauty of a woman willingly opened and filled to her limit. He nodded at Hunter and then the scattered bed pillows. Hunter fetched them and lifted Gizellas buttocks in both hands as Ezmond settled the pillows under her, tilting up her hips to display the dildo bottom stretching her rosy and gleaming cunt lips into a big round O. Ezmond produced a long, thinner black dildo Hunter hadnt seen before. He nudged it between Gizellas pale buttock cheeks below the glass dildo. Now this is Ezmond pushing into you, he said.

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She moaned, begging for more. Hunter frowned. He knew the Ardentians recognized no boundaries, but this rear insertion broke the darkest Embrian taboo. Yet the probe in his cock cradle was setting his abysmal hole on fire, and Gizellas hips were wriggling, ardently welcoming the double intrusion. He knew that Ezmond had entered a gossamer-clothed finger here the first time Gizella had claimed Hunters cock. Hunter couldnt help noticing that Ezmonds cock had been as hard as his during this entire exercise. Then the Ardentian put Hunters hand on the black dildo and stood so Gizella could see him. More, she cried. Even though he encountered no resistance now, Hunter could hardly stomach slowly invading Gizella with a tool into here, of all forbidden zones the worst. Hunter, are you helping Ezmond in? she asked. Yes, Ezmond answered for him. Hunter cant resist fucking you. Ah. Both of you, coming into me both ways. Im delirious. Dont stop now, Hunter, fuck me! He withdrew the dildo, feeling it rub against its larger brother inside her, and fed it in again and out, faster. Taboos drew back. Doing this felt almost as good as ramming her with his cock. Gizella was sighing and moaning as if she could never get enough. Im so hungry, she purred. Ezmonds hand stayed Hunters on the rear dildo. Go fill her mouth. She needs you there. Hunter felt another twinge of taboo then looked up Gizellas naked and beloved body to her face. Her expression as she gazed at him was serene and excited at the same time, and it changed to something more powerful than mere pleasure as their eyes met. She was proud of him for overcoming his tribal taboos, of having him here to help her enjoy her passions. He was her passion. This was a look of love. Hed glimpsed it before in her eyes but had evaded the emotions that look stirred in him. She had taken his cock in her mouth before, and hed both loved that and felt ashamed of spilling his seed there for her to swallow. Now he saw filling that lush, loving mouth as the deepest, most adoring kiss he could give her. He turned his back on Ezmond and Gizellas beautifully filled and displayed bottom and knelt, straddling her bare breasts as her head lifted to swallow his cock. He hardly noticed Ezmond coming over to push pillows under her head so he was penetrating her at a perfect angle, as deep as her throat could take him. Hunter put his hands on the sides of her face, guiding himself into the warm, wet sheath, enjoying the dull pull of her teeth on his thin cock skin, the push of her tongue tip into the slit between the cobras fangs. His thumbs caressed her lips right where his cock pushed in and out and in again. Every part of her was precious and inciting.

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He could sense Ezmond fucking her bottom behind his back, both dildos ramming in and out now so he could feel her torso bucking between his thighs. Gods, he was going to burst in her throat! Then her face pulled back, her voice both demanding and breathless. Balls. I need to suck your balls. The request puzzled him, but Ezmonds voice came, also shaken yet certain. Turn around. Hunter did, only to be inflamed by the sight of Gizellas lower body being fucked hard by Ezmonds hands on the dildos. He lowered his ass and nearly jumped out of his foreskin when her hot mouth greedily sucked one ball into it and began rolling her tongue and teeth around it. Gods, what sublime pleasure! An erection in his early manhood years had merited a tongue-lashing from an elder and standing on a stage for the rest of the tribesmen to mock, each coming to strike his cock, his balls, his buttocks until they were bruised. An Embrian youth quickly learned harsh and painful ways to prevent erections. Now he was being stimulated to delirium in these despised places. He began rocking back and forth on his knees, trying to rub his cock on Gizellas breasts, but the angle was wrong. Ezmond had one hand on his own blood-flushed cock, which stood as straight as a spear. His eyes were all pupil, all black, and they burned into Hunters. His other hand pushing both dildos all the way into Gizella, Ezmond reached out, past Hunters chest and belly, to enfold the Embrians cock in his curled fingers and move up and down on it. Hunter cried out at this utter violation, this exquisite assistance. Ezmonds palm wasnt the silk of Gizellas. It was calloused; it clasped tighter and moved harder, concentrating at the head and the area just below. Hunter found the motions irresistible. No cock could resist this knowing pummeling. He had to climax. Gizellas mouth opened wider to suck both his balls into its sweet, inciting haven. Hunters strangled cry wanted to break into an orgasmic shout, but this, this was wrong. A womans mouth so near his anus, a mans hand on his cock, no matter how pleasurable. Ezmonds eyes were as intent as during their swordplay, nothing womanly about them. As he leaned closer, his nipple rings glinted in the shadow of his loosened long black hair falling forward. Hunter couldnt retreat or deny as he fell into that potent shadow. Ezmond was a man who knew how to take what his desires demanded. His lips touched Hunters. Hunter saw angry Embrian elder faces, felt again the harsh blows to the parts of his body now thrumming with pleasure and aching for release.

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Ezmonds lips sucked Hunters lower lip into his mouth and ran his tongue over it, warm and gentle, then bit. Lightly. Bit again. Not so gentle. Hunter felt that more than his cock and balls would explodehis entire body, his head and mind, his soul. Then Ezmonds tongue thrust into his mouth like a dagger blow, deep and hard. Hunters tongue instinctively parried that blow and retaliated in kind, seeking the hot depths of Ezmonds throat. And in that haze both before and behind, Hunter felt everything in him shake loose as he pumped semen onto Gizellas lovely white belly below them, to mingle in a shiny spreading pool with Ezmonds. Gizellas body pulsated under them as she screamed into Hunters balls and both men groaned into each others mouths. All three climaxed as one, honoring each others needs and desires. Neither man had closed their eyes during all this. Neither man had moved farther apart during the wrenching spasms of their cocks. Hunter spoke finally, still gasping a bit, when he had pulled away from Ezmonds mouth. When you say come with me, Ardentian, you are not lying.

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Chapter Twenty-Three
Aftermath

Hunter had rolled off Gizella, onto his side on the tousled black satin bed linens while Ezmond eased out the dildos and unbound her wrists, placing the erotic accessories on the nightstand. Ezmond stood for a few moments with his eyes shut, his head thrust back, his cock glistening. His dark eyes caught Gizellas as he jerked his head toward the Embrian. Then he dredged up his fallen clothing and left the chamber. Gizella moved onto her hands and knees on the bed, naked and throbbing, trying to grasp the delirium she felt, what shed sensed happening between her two lovers during their acts of mutual devotion to her body and its needs. Ezmond had never before left her without a parting kiss. She wallowed over the sheets toward Hunter, lying on his side, lovely, long, copper-colored back to her, like a hurt child curled into himself as if unborn in a mothers womb. She wanted to mother him and wrapped herself around his somehow defenseless body. She stroked his tense muscles, kissing his neck and down his entire spine to where it disappeared into his ass. She rocked her hips and semen-slick belly into his backside, admiring the cock cradle emphasizing taut buttocks, stroked his upper thigh muscles, touching and licking. He groaned at her touches and then spun to face her. You dont know, he said. I dont. Tell me. Better, show me. I want you, Gizella. I know that now. I love you beyond all reason. Ive betrayed you. She stroked his face, his brow, his cheeks, his lips. How so, my love? I came as hard as I ever have today, even harder than with you alone, my Embrian lover. His amber eyes shut. I let Ezmond urge me over the brink. So have I, many times, Lynx. Hes very good at it. Wasnt it good? Gods, we are men! This is taboo. Wasnt it good? She stroked his cheek. His tongue is magic. Doesnt your mouth ache for it? Come give me yours. Your mouth is magic too. I ache for you. And I for you, Gizella! Only you. But Ive betrayed you, myself, Embria. She kissed him softly, like a sister. Lets dress and talk this over then. Ill come to your chamber where we can be private. Nothing is lost. Everything can be solved.

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He sat up, keeping his back to her, and gathered the lounge clothes Ezmond had left from the floor. Gizella winced to see that in their confusion, the men had claimed each others garments, but the garments were so loose that the sizing and color difference was slight. Not even Ezmond at his most peacockish would have noticed it. She felt a rush of tender, rueful affection for them both. Her still-throbbing body ached to loll among the tangled, damp sheets for a dreamy hour or so, drowsing, purring with fatigue and fulfillment as she thought about her inciting lovers. And they had shattered her senses without even getting their cocks inside her. She shivered with fresh anticipation. Instead of dreaming up future encounters, she got up and showered as soon as Hunter left, letting the steam blast hot and then cold, soaping the sweet stickiness from her skin, her mind as troubled as her body was soothed and sated. She donned council business attirethe same loose trousers and tunic the men wore, shaded aqua, with a draped collar over her shoulders and a sand-pearl torque at her neck. She braided and wrapped her long hair into a crown around her head. Hunter had never seen her so attired, and she hoped she could speak to him as a figure of authority in Ardentia, not as a lover aching over the new trouble inside him. She knocked on his chamber door two minutes later. There was a long, troubling hesitation before his voice invited her in. He too had showered, until his copper skin gleamed ruddy. The silvery lounge suit covered his bronze sand-cat tattoo, but the metallic colors made him look godlike to her, resembling a great metal statue in one of Ardentias oasis-like chapels. She was surprised to see an instant-image computer screen on his wall and books and a smaller screen and recording tablets strewn about a large desktop underneath the wall screen. This was more than a bedchamber, it was an office. The idea of an Embrian having an office made her smile. You look, he said, expressing his own surprise, so official. This is an official visit. Gizella sat on the visitors seat beside his desk. Hunter glanced with panic at the smaller screen on his desk, but it was a bland blank gray, asleep, as she should be at this moment. Her deliberate formality set him at ease and he took the desk chair so they were facing each other but separated by a couple feet. Youve adapted very well to our ways, she told him. Your presence among Ardentians will cease to cause comment once youre introduced. You will be one to reckon with because of your warriors bearing and inborn dignity. Youll be accepted as something once unthought of, an Embrian ambassador. The next step is for us to plan ways to extend that to all of Embria and Ardentia. That will never happen. Iveheard of how Ardentian children are reared, and its the opposite of Embrian ways. Ezmonds doing. How so?

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Hunter fingered a graphic tablet on his desk, one lying near the viewing slot. We have no parents. You know how we breed children on captured women from other tribes and expel the mothers of our sons as soon as we can. I see now that some of them, and some of their unwanted daughters, have found their way to employment in Ardentia, just as our mercenaries have. Gizella nodded. They could have been discussing a treaty, when only minutes past theyd been negotiating ways of getting into each others bodies as much as possible. Yet she welcomed this new, analytical side of Hunter. This cool, leadership facet also stoked her inner desires. She liked to think she could drive him out of this distant, professional stance with a few ardent looks and touches. But now was not the time. You Embrians arent coddled, she stated. I learned that much from what little youve said. I dont know that word, coddled. My point. We treasure children and, more importantly, their intellectual and physical development, their free will, yet a will guided by reason and responsibility to others besides themselves. Ive heard this before. He didnt mention Ezmond, but that must have been his source. You Ardentians havent heard how it is for children in Embria. You said the boys are on their own as soon as they can walk and talk. And keep from soiling themselves. That is not tolerated and ends soon. What do you mean by not tolerated? It is punished by beatings. Gizella couldnt hide her wince. Here we gentle children, teach them, train them. Here is not Embria. And Embria sees that boys do not soil themselves in any way. Ah. You Embrians are trained to be celibate and only lower yourselves to intercourse with women to produce more boys to be trained not to soil themselves. He nodded. How? When they reach the time that manhood begins to show on their bodies, its only natural that boys should be led by their cocks at first. Thats not natural in Embria. One gets ones cock tattoo only after it has been subdued by many trials and will be discharged only on ugly foreign women with hairy places for the noble goal of producing sons. But cocks will harden. That is taboo in Embria. So if a boys body engorges despite himself? That is expected. He is stood in a place of public view and jeered at and beaten on the offending parts by all passing Embrians until his fear makes a man of him and he forgets what it is to have a cock except for pissing through.

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Gizella was gripping the arms of her chair, fighting to remain calm. Youve mentioned some of this before, but I wasnt aware it was soconstant. That seems harsh. The desert is harsh and it produces warriors no torture can sway. So he had really regarded her seductions as torture at first. And now? There is no love in Embria? Love of our pride, our survival, our reputations as warriors, our freedom from the boot heels of other tribes. So you despise Ardentians because we are unlike you. What other reason is there for despising? None, she agreed, but ignorance of each other. Embria is lost to me, as I am to Embria. As ambassador, you can help see that Embrian and Ardentian are less ignorant of each other. Perhaps, but neither kind will want to change. You have. The path was arduous. I dont regret a moment with you, Gizella, even when they were torture and trespassed utterly on everything I hold sacred. You have become what I hold sacred. Only now Ive defiled you as well as my Embrian heritage. How, Hunter? I dont question your feelings of loss at abandoning Embrian ways. You have. Ive forced you to. But how can you say you betrayed me? I dont feel that. You couldnt see the betrayal! Ive violated the second greatest Embrian taboo in two ways less than an hour ago. I let another man touch my cock and my mouth. This is far from unheard of in Ardentia. Some men here are made only for each other, as are some women. Some men and women love both women and men. Your Ardentian has said more than once that he is made only for women, and has been only for you since he claimed you from your parents, as you call them, the man and woman who made you. He swore to them that he would love no other woman once he had you. Then you think Ezmond has betrayed me as well. He put his hand on my cock and stroked it until it gave up its semen. Why did he do that, Hunter? He frowned. You were behind me. You couldnt see past anything but my balls in your mouth, another grave taboo, but Id now let you violate almost any Embrian taboo. My cock needed to enter you, or just rut against some part of you, but the position Was impossible. So Ezmond lent a helping hand. He is a man who would allow his own cock to seduce him into embracing it.

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Not a taboo in Ardentia. Boys and girls here are encouraged to give themselves healthy release as needed. Obviously, I was not positioned to help either of you climax. Ezmond only did what was sensible. Didnt you climax then? His motions weresure, faster and harder than yours, more Effective? Of course they were. He has a cock and I dont. Didnt they work? Yes. But he sounded uncertain. Did something else he did work even better? Hunter shut his eyes. His hands made fists. He brought his face to mine. His eyes were those of a man who hungers and will have. He took my lips in his, softly. His tongue caressed them outside and in and then dueled mine with hard strokes. I found myself climaxing in his hand, trying to thrust my tongue down his throat as if it were a cock and his throat was a cunt. Gizella couldnt speak for a moment. She wasnt sure how to approach this, and Hunters description of the event had made her loins melt with fresh desire for both men. Hunter was right. This had been an earth-shaking moment, not only for him but for Ezmond. As for herself, shed often thought that a triad of one woman and two men could not escape a fuller bond between the men, even as it would produce one between the two women who loved one man. Shed have to approach this delicately, for all their sakesshe must negotiate a three-way treaty that would satisfy and reassure them all. Ezmond would be the next to meet with. She asked carefully, When you were becoming a man in Embria and your cock would harden, how did the men around you behave? They reviled me. Shouted into my face. Their own faces were furious, crazed. I thought theyd kill me and was relieved when they settled for public humiliation and beatings. At least our current crop of boys are too young for this. In time, I would have passed on this treatment in turn. Gizella risked putting one hand on his fist, but she wanted to pull him into her arms and croon to that viciously abused boy and mother him for hours with sexless petting and kisses. Ezmond was praised as a boy when his cock rose, she said calmly instead. He was instructed how to love it and himself and to use it to pleasure another as well, the most important and highest use of its potency, and to use it to make another, if he wished, and to treasure that offspring. He admires his father above all men, and deferred to my own fathers extravagantly impossible wishes because of that. Hunters troubled frown deepened. Youre saying that it was natural for him toto help my cock spend itself? And for any other Ardentian male. Perhaps Ezmond sensed what you had to overcome, as I did in that cellar prison. What if youd not been born Embrian, but had

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answered to a father who would show you sweet ways to treat your boyish cock when it first rose and demanded attention? And Ezmonds mouth on mine, in mine? An Ardentian father will kiss a young son with compassion and love. There was much of that in his gesture. So he is trying to be my Ardentian father? Perhaps, unknowing. And a brother. We Embrians have brothers at arms and battle, but not in our camp beds. That is the greatest taboo. Who knows who shares a father or a mother? That is meaningless for us. So thats all this was, some strange Ardentian urge? It wasa courtesy. Gods! I admit there was some similarity to a duel between two men, the same thrust and retreat and holding strong. But at first, before that, it washe was Was what, Hunter? She couldnt imagine what terrible thing Ezmond had done to Hunter in that sensual, heated moment between the three of them. He was Hunter stared down at the recording tablet on his desk. He swallowed hard, as if barely able to speak. It waskind. Hunter had surprised her. So had Ezmond. She well remembered, still felt, the tenderness of Ezmonds first kisses. She was touched that hed been moved to give that to the Embrian who had joined their bed because of her. Oh Lynx! Now do you know why I love him so much? Gizella put her free hand on Hunters other fist. The first one was relaxing under her warm custody. She pulled her chair so close to his their knees were touching. Perhaps Ezmond discovered that he felt more, and enjoyed feeling that, more than hed expected to. Just as you did. Hunters fists pulled away. Gods! And you say you arent betrayed by that? She leaned forward and took Hunters lower lip in her mouth, sucking softly, using her tongue on the outside only, settling into the sweet, restrained contact. Finally she suckled the inner lip, raising a welt his tongue could worry at later, making herself a womanly memory on his body that outweighed a mans unheard-of moment of tenderness. Hunter didnt resist until she pulled away, his lips clinging to hers. No more than Ezmond is betrayed by this, she told him breathlessly.

*****
Ezmond didnt answer her knock, but his bedchamber door was unlocked. She entered to see his seated silhouette against the open shades to the street, his head tilted and supported by one bent elbow on the chair arm, the other hand on his hip. The elegant masculine power of his pose made her belly tighten, but she saw beneath it.

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Ezmond was as troubled as Hunter, in his way. Ezmond troubled? This was unheard of. She came near, quietly. But he sensed her, as always. How is he? Bewildered but soothed. He has broken all but the last Embrian taboo as of this morning. Ezmonds arms reached out and drew her down onto his knee to lay his head on her breast. I didnt mean to, he said, sighing. I didnt mean to. They all three had confessed that in turn. And yet they all had done more than they meant to and had to face the consequences. Why did you? It was a matter of practicality, Ezmond said ruefully. His balls were in paradise in your mouth, and you were about to climax, as was I, but his cock was ill positioned for enough stimulation. I felt it only fair that ourguestnot be left out, so I reached out to assist him. Its no more than Ardentian youths do with and for each other while were learning our potential and limits. But even that was not quite enough. I reached fartheroutand before I knew it, I took his mouth. It was shallow as kisses go, and we ended by making a territorial contest of it. Nothing really significant. Have you ever kissed a grown man before? Ezmond burrowed his face into her cleavage, muttering, Its not a taboo, a mere personal preference, but gods no! I cant explain what made me do it. So had Gizella confessed to him but two weeks before. She answered as he had responded and comforted her then. I can. Gizella outlined the brutal details of Hunters years of repressive upbringing. Gods! Ezmonds fists tightened on her tunic. Gods! I guessed at discipline, but not such drawn-out torture! We must find some way to intervene in Embrian affairs. You think thats what I saw, who I kissed? The boy whod had no mans understanding, tenderness or guidance? Im sure of it. Gizellas voice was faltering now. Ezmond. If Id known, in that prison cellar, Id have never toyed with him as I did. How proud we Ardentians are of our love and wisdom and superiority! Yet we mock those we dont understand, not knowing what theyve been through. She hid her sobbing face on his shoulder. It you hadnt been stirred to interfere with him, Ezmond consoled her, his voice strong again, hed be in that state of self-loathing still. Ezmond ran his fingers around the crown of braids on her head, teasing her with hands and voice. Instead hes here, breaking taboos, enjoying us both despite himself, and preparing to be the one warrior capable of leading Embria into an enlightened era. I

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think a brief tongue-dance with an Ardentian gallant was worth the sacrifice. Fucking you for the past two weeks is no sacrifice at all, as I will swear to before all and sundry. Even Embrians? Even Embrians. But only if I have to.

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Chapter Twenty-Four
Hunter Taken

The next morning, Gizella found herself stopping whatever task she was doing to daydream warmly about her latest lovemaking sessions with Ezmond. He was right, as he so often was. No, always was. Hunter had increased a passion they had thought unsurpassable. A pity their inspiration was still so far from accepting his full sexuality. Gizella frowned. Hunter had progressed, spurred by the competition with Ezmond. Yet, alone with her, he took her catering for granted and showed signs of complacency where once hed been at least passionately rebellious and judgmental. Now was the time to address this, before his ring sites healed and he could be expected to join fully with her in lovemaking, learning to give pleasure as well as take it. The next time Hunter came to her bedchamber wanting cosseting, she took him into the dressing room and opened his shirt, pulling the full, sheer, silken stuff out of his leather tights slowly, making the motion as inciting as possible. He looked down on her with the same masculine satisfaction and excitement she expected from Ezmond. He felt desire. He knew she wanted him. He was a man. Hed come to regard it as his right to take her lust and love for granted. Hed come far. But not far enough. Hunter, why is it that you moan so seldom, even when Im teasing you mercilessly? A frown crossed his copper-colored brow. Moaning is a sign of weakness in Embria. You know I like this, you undressing me. Ummm. Just hearing you say that makes my core hot. Dont you love to make me unable to speak except for the small sounds of pleasure I make? Yes. That is delightful. But you are a woman, and an Ardentian woman, and no one expects you to show silent endurance. Silent endurance! That smacked of the abuse hed taken, that all young Embrian boys had suffered. I find a man moaning with pleasure at my hands inciting. That man is weak. You Ardentian women are used to leading your men around by their cocks. Its a pleasant state, but I dont need to lower myself to begging to enjoy it, or you. Lower himself! She put her fingers inside his tights, pulled hard, drew his pelvis toward hers. He liked that too. Her open hunger. But she could not see or hear his, oh no.
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I want to try something different today, she said. A yellow gleam of excitement lit his amber eyes. He liked her games now. Perhaps too well. She lifted a control device and pressed. The ceiling released a steel cable with a pair of Flex-Silk restraint cuffs dangling from it like a lightless chandelier. Do you mind? she asked silkily, moving behind him to press the cuffs on his wrists. His pupils had expanded to swallow almost all the gold in his eyes. Ezmond had been right. Hunters constrained upbringing made him a perfect candidate for playful restraint. As long as he risked nothing central to himself, Gizella thought, like his pride. Like self-control. She levitated the cuffs until his arms were stretched high above him. She moved to a drawer and came back with a narrow black blindfold. Spread your legs so I can reach to put this on. His cock answered first, bulging and warping the cross-lacings that contained it. He took a mighty spread stance, obviously relishing the protesting creak of the leather tights seams, though he denied her any inciting sounds. His eyelids were lazy with anticipated pleasure, his lips slackening with excitement. She went on tiptoes to tie the blindfold behind his thick mane of braids. And then she moved away from him to the wall. There are two rules. He liked rules; hed been bred to expect them. What? I will obey them to the letter. You are to say not one word. No words. If you must express yourself, it can only be through sounds. Gizella, I see your game, but Im not made to moan and sigh at a womans hands, not even yours. So. I shall be silent. And, she said, coming closer, very close, so her breath riffled across his smooth tattooed chest with her words, you must try not to climax as long as possible. Thats nothing to me. Oh, it might be more than you can imagine. She stepped away again to lean against the wall. His forehead wrinkled over the blindfold. Gizella a body length away was no fun at all. She hit another button on the control, and the door to the dressing room slid open, silent as a ghost. Hunter didnt know what to think. Shed maneuvered him into this enticing position where his body was exposed to every wile she might use. His cock and balls were throbbing with the possibilities, and yet she hung back.
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These Ardentians, always delaying their delights in the name of anticipation. Hed had his moments of anticipation, and he was ready to receive her touches. They didnt come. He frowned. His core, as she called it on herself, was aching quite royally. To leave it unaddressed too much longer would become cruel. Gizella was anything but cruel. Could it be that she seriously expected to hear him mew like a newborn sand-cat cub? An Embrian mercenary, even an enlightened one, would never do that. Ah! He felt a shift in the air around him. She was drawing nearer. She couldnt resist. He thrust his pelvis forward so she could see how swollen his organs were. A fleeting touch on his tight lacings. Maybe the brush of silken hair at his naked waist. These butterfly-wing, fairy feints were indeed a fine new variety of tease. His throat closed down on the hint of a murmur. He must not speak. And he certainly wouldnt be reduced to inarticulate cries, like a woman on the brink of climax. A hand cupped one cheek of his ass and was gone. Fingers stroked the inside of his leather-clad thigh. Both these touches were fleeting and too soft. Like whispers. His muscles and flesh craved full engagement. Especially that hard rod of flesh at his center. Gizella. No, he couldnt speak her name. No words. Not one. He could play this game with her. One didnt become an Embrian warrior without being able to carry out even the harshest orders indefinitely. Her instructions were nothing. Be still, keep his cock from running away with him. Hadnt he done that for years? Easy. An unexpected force pulled the top crotch lacing looser. Uh. Nice pressure, nice not feeling anything more than that invisible tug. Gizellas erotic approach was getting ever more fiendish. Hed reward her with a fierce pounding for this, until her eyes rolled back in her head and she swooned in his hands, fucked unconscious by his cock and loving it. The image made him want tono, no groans. They were allowed, but he wouldnt allow them. Something loosened the seam flap at his tights side where the easy-opening seal was located. While something else pulled a tight lacing one rung looser. Clever. To attack him on two fronts, one easy, one hard. He felt his left side seam split enough to let air waft against his hip. And feel something silken, like a head of fine blonde hair, shiny as satin. She jerked on his lacings. How was it possible? For her to kneel at his side to unseal his leather tights, and at the same time tug at his front crotch lacings in that bold, exciting way. Of course. Shed situated herself at the sideway edge of his body, reaching out to tease him on two fronts. Clever strategy! His senses zigzagged back and forth, doubling the pleasure with that pull in front, that tug at the side. He swallowed, hard. At this rate, itd take several minutes to strip him of his tights, and his still-hidden cock wanted attention now!
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But he couldnt say so. No words. His side seam was split open over a foot now. He felt a silken palm slip inside to cup his tense cheek muscle and make it twitch. Another warm silken palm was stroking along the outer seal on his other legthe sensation was maddening! And how could she do that? Right. Shed moved behind him now, was working at his side seams from behind. He felt a pressure at his crack, like a womans cheek being laid there as her arms reached around to his side seams. Ah! This was bliss, to be so encompassed by her, to have this teasing at the sides and rear while his throbbing cock and balls were ignored up front. What a general Gizella would have made. Armies would have surrendered to her to feel her busy, silken hands taking command of their outflanked cannons And then some force roughly ripped out his front laces all the way. He was surrounded by sensation on three sides. Impossible! As the side seals opened, his tights slipped down his braced legs, the body-warmed supple leather replaced by silken human leather. Hands. And a wet mouth, nibbling at his desire-swollen balls drawn up hard against the leather harness of his cock cradle. This was sweet, maddening torment, next door to real torture! Uh. Someone had grunted. Surely not him. No. Silent endurance. Embrians were masters at that, even if one had been softened at the hands of an Ardentian sorceress. Softened. He had not been softened. Everything about him was hard, so hard he thought his muscles would crack, his cock and balls would burst. Into her soft, wet, warm and waiting mouth. Uuuuh. She liked that. Gizella, get to it! The tights were unsealed to the ankles and he felt them drawn away. The sensation wasexquisite. Surely she couldnt resist going where she so often worshipped on her knees now. Surely the tip of her tongue would touch him there very soon. Wet, warm, questing. He shivered with anticipation and felt a warm mouth suck one of his balls into its wet cavern. Ahhh! Sweet release. Wait! No sound. He hadnt made a sound, had he? And he wasnt to come, but his neglected cock and balls were pulsing with impatience. Hair as soft as satin fell against his rear left calf as hands climbed his rock-solid thigh and a tongue slowly traced the break between his thigh and ass cheek. A warm mouth sucked his other ball into the custody of its tongue and teeth, from the front! There was no way that Gizella could split her ministrations to his balls front and back, but the sensation was unlike any hed had before. So pleasurable it would drive him mad. He moaned, long and deep, only realizing what hed done when it was too late.
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How was he to keep from climaxing under such siege? Yet the moan had released a bit of the maddening pressure. The sensations surrounded him nowhands, hair, tongues and teeth. They lapped at his skin from every side as if he were immersed in some legendary desert hot spring and beset by schools of fish with female heads and hair. He moaned again, making the touches more fevered, driving him to the brink of climax. There was no going back. Hed broken the first rule anyway. Gizella, he shouted, his voice raw with need, not wanting to climax into this flurry of stimulation, but ontointo her and her alone. The knot at the back of his head gave and the blindfold fell away. Her glorious golden head was the first thing he saw as she took his beringed nipples into her mouth in quick succession, her suckling hard and sweet. She blessed his navel and its new ring with another sweet suction on her way to her knees to capture his cock in her throat just as it came and came and pulsed and pulsed and shot hot semen into her mouth until it backed up and ran down his shaft. And still the maddening caresses that made him moan and groan through this whole climax continued on his entire lower body. He looked down to see a rainbow of multicolored heads and arms and bare backs, of plump breasts and nipples pierced with long dangling beads, of slim hips disappearing into a rainbow of gauzy silk skirts slit open to the upper thighs. May we speak now, my lady? a soft voice asked from the vicinity of his ass. Gizella was standing again, kissing his own semen onto his nipples and then sucking it off. Of course, she said. Another mouth, or two, licked his cock clean. Hes so divinely hairless all over, one serving maid commented. His thighs are as hard and smooth as marble columns. And so are his balls, another said. They started giggling. We envy you his gorgeous cock, so thick and long and beautifully tattooed. I almost like snakes now, said another. And his ass is stone-hard but parts so sweetly. Hunter closed his eyes, remembering several hands spreading his buttocks and one hot, agile tongue at his abysmal hole. He moaned slightly in remembrance and saw eyes light and dark gazing up at him, adoring, teasing, pleased. We want our own Embrian mercenary, my lady. He looked down to see the shy handmaiden from Gizellas adorning session clinging to his calf and fresh from licking the top of his foot, which had feltamazingly good.

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We envy you your joy, said another whose skin was the dull black beauty of slate. Is it possible, asked a red-haired girl with czinnamon-colored skin, to tame another Embrian for us? Gizella answered them fondly. Someday perhaps. Who knows? Meanwhile, my dear ladies, my Embrian mercenary needs to recover from your tender attentions. And you have other duties. This was no duty. A pearl-skinned one rose to flash him a bold look. They left in a giggling flock as Gizella used the control to unfasten his bonds and retract the restraining devices into the ceiling. Hunters leg and arm muscles trembled a bit from the stimulation rather than the long-held position. She eyed him. I wasnt sure if youd be angry or not. I was for a wild moment when the blindfold first fell away. And now? He picked her up, enjoying how her silken veils brushed his tempting smooth, hairless skin, the strength of his hard, pillar-like thighs and gorgeous cock. Even in Ardentia, he knew, a man couldnt believe everything a maid told him, but Gizellas handmaidens had told him just what hed needed to hear. And Gizella had known that. This surprise assault of yours, he told her, has washed away perhaps a dozen sessions of pain and berating in Embria. But not all? Her brow furrowed with anxiety. Not yet. There are many more that you must labor to counter with your own body only. How many? Her voice grew flirtatious. Two dozen, three? Im thinking more. Hundreds? Thousands, Ardentian woman. For now Id like to return to you one-tenth the pleasure and release you gave me through restraint today. I hope you dont mind if I moan my ecstasy. Lynx! She blushedafter all this, Gizella blushed!and hid her hot face on his sand-cats muscular shoulder. So you see now? No, I hear. I hear myself admitting my need and I hear you and many other voices telling me my past was a harsh and hateful lie. I only wish my fellow Embrians could learn as much as I in longing for an Ardentian woman I do not deserve. Thats the whole point, Lynx. You deserve everything. And now, thanks to you, I will take it.

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Chapter Twenty-Five
The Gift of Intimacy

Gizella sighed as she stepped out of the shower naked, her mind barely on the Council soiree this evening. No, her mind refused to focus on business, musing instead on her recent ecstatic moments with Ezmond and Hunter. Hunter was coming along so well now. His piercings were healed enough to accept the four topaz-studded gold rings shed had made for him. Letting her handmaidens swarm his naked lower body had been a wise exercise. He was unused to women admiring him, cosseting him that way, eating him up from toe to groin. Hed be more confident from now on, at the Council soiree tonight and even here at home. She lilted a silken gown over her shoulders, recalling his cock exploding into her mouth just in time And then Ezmond. Gizella smiled as she leaned against the mirrored wall, weakkneed at the memories of his new abandoned lovemaking, touching her womb from the outside. Ezmond never failed to surprise her, to ask more of her and himself. Ezmond. My headstrong folly with the Embrian has made you bare your soul and body to me as an equal, my love. Its been worth it for that alone. She wished for time to brood and dream about Ezmond, not Hunter for a change, for a very welcome change. Gizella enjoyed these moments alone in her bedchamber, no matter how much she always welcomed Ezmond and now Hunter. Here she could think slow, inward, womanly thoughts. She could warm herself with the images of her two delectable lovers. How could she have been so blessed with bliss? Having had Ezmond to teach her reverent desire and its deep, eternal, slow burn; having Hunter now to teach her reluctant desire and its unpredictable, fiery excesses. She sat at her dressing table and pulled a brush through her long golden hair, toying with the idea of letting her pussy hair grow again so that Hunter could experience it. Hed probably vote with Ezmond to keep her smooth there. Still, he should glimpse its golden glory, all coiled wires, fresh and springy, then damply matted with the effusions of passion. She really couldnt conceive a more ideal situation for a woman, her mind and body humming with thoughts of two men equally desiring and desirable. Her cunt wept at the thought, secretly. Did they know how they undid her with the mere memory of their faces and bodies, their strengths and weaknesses, their love and lust? A door cracked open. She turned from her mirror, knowing her body was ripe to welcome whichever man entered. Ezmond!

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How handsome he was. Powerful and elegant, always focused on her pleasure. And now she had exposed a darker, deeper lover, one with insatiable needs of his own. Her knees trembled slightly. She loved knowing that hed take her totally now and fearing that, just a little. You expected? he asked. I expected whatever pleasure visits me. Youre being coy, Gizella, like a woman with two lovers. I both enjoy and resent that. She regarded him, pierced to the heart. Im sorry. Once it was only you who entered that door. I can understand how you feel now. Another figure edged through behind Ezmonda broadsword where the other man was a rapier, both of them well armed to satisfy her every dream, desire, need. Lynx. They had both come to her bedchamber only once. That had resulted in a romp so passionate it had drawn the men into a moment of intimacy both had recoiled from, although the memory warmed Gizellas heart and cunt. Seeing them togetherdark hair and bronze, black eyes and amber, made her catch her breath. A pity she could do nothing about it now. They were preparing for the vital Council soiree that would introduce Lynx as Ambassador Hunter of Embria. She must remember to always call him Hunter in public. We have something to show you, Ezmond said. We? Something Hunter hascontrived, Ezmond added, circling around behind her dainty dressing stool. Hunter held a box on his stiffly extended arms, a slight white box upheld by bare copper-bronzed muscles. Ezmond leaned over her. You need to inspect it, he whispered. As if you were surprised. It is a gift from him. To you. A gift? From an Embrian guard? A landmark day indeed! Gizella stood, curious, aware that Hunters amber eyes darted away from her gaze, shy as a desert deers. Its something I thought of with you in mind, he mumbled, surprisingly humble. Ezmond helped me have it made. Its nothing, really. She glanced at Ezmond. He nodded encouragingly. Her heart was wrung with tenderness. The Uncivil Embrian had brought her some awkward token. She loved him for many things, but thiswell, bashful gift offered through the intervention of Ezmond, the sophisticated Ardentianwas truly touching.

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She walked toward Hunter, looking even more handsome and desirable because of his newfound uncertainty. Show me your gift. Im happy to accept it. Ezmond caught her elbow to detour her to the foot of her bed. Youll best appreciate it sitting down, he murmured in her ear. Oh dear? Was it something heavy? A raw desert sculpture, perhaps? She must pretend to be enamored by it, naturally. She eyed Ezmond knowingly and he nodded as he sat beside her on the bed. Their secret. That was the trouble with a triadtwo always arrayed against one. It couldnt be helped, Gizella thought. Theyd work it out. In time. Hunter leaned forward to deposit the box lightly on her knees. Her dressing gown, full and transparent, flowed past her body and the box. She lifted the lid, saw glittering tissue, lifted that. Saw something folded, black and satin-shiny. Ascarf of some kind? Ezmonds hand unfastened the waist clasp of her dressing gown and drew it open while pushing her naked onto her back. Ezmond! Hunters big hands swooped her hips high off the bed, making her gasp at her sudden total exposure in a purely sexual position. Hunter? You must be fitted with it, Ezmond said, his arm lifting her head and shoulders so she could watch, his hand stroking her cheek. She felt something slide beneath her and then a thick, blunt object pushed into her anus. The unexpected but not unheard of penetration made her shiver with excitement. And Hunter was taking the lead in this taboo act, filling the despised abysmal hole, as Embrians called it? Ezmonds hand was stroking her breast now. He pushed a finger from the other hand into her mouth to silence her protests. Lie back, darling. Just feel what we give you. We. There had never been a we before, only an us. She felt something satin and sinewy stretch between her legs. Then a second thick, hard object pushed into her cunt. She was truly taken now, throbbing from the double penetration, still not sure what fucked her, only that the two men she most loved and desired performed a labor of love over her nude body, swift and determined, pushing her to a new threshold. She sighed at the penetrations stretching both places and settled into the sweet feeling, no longer fighting the shock of it. Hunters fingers pushed the shiny black garment up over her cunt petals to her clit. As a powerful seal pressed closed on those delicate lips, compressing them, she moaned into the sudden hot, wet presence of Ezmonds mouth.
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Then Ezmond lifted her to her feet, against his chest. Hunter was still kneeling at the beds foot, sealing the garment shut along her sides. Ezmond pushed her far enough away from him to draw lacings tight up her back from her crack to her shoulder blades. The tightening pressure on her belly made her exposed cunt swell and burn, basking in being bared to two mens eyes while her breasts poured into and over the supporting half cups of a corset top. She was on her feet, filled and fucked and laced shut tight into that state, watching Hunter gaze up the length of her corseted body with a fiery glance of possession that was all man and no Embrian. Ezmond whispered in her ear as he pinched two attached metal nipple clamps at the corset cups into place. The deep breath of shock she took only made them bite maddeningly deeper. Every inch of this construction has been designed to pleasure you, Gizella, Ezmond told her softly. The front and rear plugs are short enough to continually tease your entrance muscles. Youll always feel that sweet first pushing presence of a cock, yet they allow you to walk and even sit. They screw outyes, youll enjoy that process tooso that we may insert harder, longer objects or parts of ourselves as we feel the whim. Hunter will show you after you mount your playroom shoes. Gizella was speechless and breathless from these multiple stimulations of her ambushed torso. Ezmond bent to lift her one foot then the other into the plastique platform shoes that made her crotch level with his, if not Hunters. Ezmond cocked his leather-clad knee between her bare thighs from the rear. The masculine power of that parting motion and the scent of leather warmed by its sudden contact with her dripping cunt made Gizellas pelvis flame into an aching and invaded zone of tightening want. Open yourself wide for Hunter, my love. Yes. Open. Wide. Gizella could only gasp one word at a time, but the men growled softly at her breathless invitation. Shed never felt such need, felt so thoroughly taken, never had wanted to be taken more and further. She swiftly pushed the shoes apart until her thighs clamped Ezmonds thigh and her spine bowed back against his hip, her head and face feeling his thick chest hair as fur to writhe against. Standing so straddle-legged made the corset shift and tighten and stimulate her body inside and out. She gazed on Hunter now kneeling before her like an Ardentian gallant. His hand had unsealed the corset and exposed her again and his eyes focused only on watching her cunt petals part for him. A new rush of moisture kissed them as he stared, the amber of his eyes shrinking to a rim around the desire-swollen black pupils. The sand-cat was primed to take her. He reached a hand up to do just that. She felt an exquisite twisting motion between her legs. A moment of emptiness and further opening. Then something long, cold and smooth edged into her cunt. Hunter held the solid steel dildo, a smooth icy monster almost as big around as he was.

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Gizella moaned at the sight of it disappearing into her. It would stretch her slowly, making her cunt tighten in resistance at first as the cold surface invaded her. Then her cunt would blossom and win over this cold plaything to the inner heat of her body. Hunter had been told, or realized, that the penetration must be slow and firm. He lowered his mouth to suck feverishly at her swollen petals and clit. Above, Ezmond caught her wrists and held them behind her in one hand. The posture thrust her breasts high and forward, and tightened the clamps on her sensitive nipple buds. She moaned and sighed and purred as Ezmond put the side of his face to hers. His loosened hair was soft-moving satin tickling her skin and falling almost to the tips of her naked breasts. Hunter gazed at this new display above him and growled like a sand-cat without taking his lips and tongue from her slit. His own purrs echoed hers. Ezmond must have used a control device because suddenly the bedchamber ceiling, walls and floor blushed hot pink for an instant and then became mirrors. Gizella almost came at the sight of her seductively corseted self totally enwrapped in her lovers exotic toils. Are you? she asked Ezmond through a dry throat. Recording this? he whispered into her ear, his searching tongue and lips making the answer into a tender assault. Of course. Hunter and I covet writing our own chapter in the next Book of Bliss. All about you and your body and how we serve it. Gizella could hardly speak. The dildo was halfway in, still stretching her boundaries, making her ache for more. Surely he? He doesnt know about that yet. Now save your voice for the rawest shriek of pleasure Ive heard from you yet. Ezmond, I dont know Shhhh, love. Just let us love you. Even tighter here, Gizella? he asked in a louder voice so Hunter could hear, his breath hot in her ear. For me. A bit more bite? I dont know Gizella had never felt such tension gathering in her body. The maddening ache was everywhere. Each breath made the corset move to claim her senses deeper and deeper. She was aching to taste the dildos steel in her throat. Thought she almost could. Then Ezmond produced the bandit queens silver dagger haft and fucked her mouth with it, with the memory of both him and Hunter doing that. She could imagine taking both their cocks in her mouth at once, or one every other stroke. It would be ecstasy. Her moans were constant now. Then the mirrors vanished, turned into a shining black plastique surface that only reflected the bronze gleam of Hunters braids, her naked white arms and legs and breasts and cunt, the gold of one of Ezmonds nipple rings behind her. The darkness deepened everything her body and emotions felt.

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She loved Ezmond taking her this far this fast, accepting her matured sexuality, mastering it and using Hunter to intensify it. Tighter here, Gizella, Ezmond breathed in a deep, hungry tone. He pulled her wrists farther back then tightened the tiny screws of the nipple clamps. Gizella gasped as Hunter pushed the dildo to its deepest seat within her to match Ezmonds pressure from above. Heat lightning held her belly captivated. She thought she would shatter into a thousand blissful pieces, body, mind and soul. More, Gizella? I-I cant take whats coming. No. Im afraid. Its too much. Youve never said that before, Ezmond said, sounding sated and excited, and ohso pleased with himself. Hunter lifted his mouth from her lower lips to tell Ezmond, Every time you tighten the clamps above, I can feel her womb leap inside her like a startled desert deer. They were conspiring to undo her, to push her to a nigh-unattainable climax, an omega orgasm. It was only legend, even in the Books of Bliss, deemed the property of the gods. She looked down to where Hunter was stroking the slick, warmed metal dildo in and out easily now, each motion pulling sweetly on her cunts muscles and engorged flesh. Her legs were trembling, her mouth dry, her breath ragged. But she hung back from the brink so close. Surely a woman couldnt survive surrendering to such total, intense stimulation! Surely only a goddess could survive this! Hunter moved his big warriors hand from her naked buttocks to the small of her back. He pushed her belly toward his mouth to kiss the taut satin corset right above her hidden navel, where the dildos head was pushing hard against her womb deep inside. Such a remote gesture shouldnt have brought her over the edge. Yet the tender, intimate desire of it finally undid her. Especially when Ezmond used an arm to crush her breasts and her body hard against him and bent to suck a love bruise into the side of her neck. No! Oh! Yes! More! More! Ezmond! Lynx! Gods! Im coming so fast, so hard! She climaxed long and violently, a string of orgasms, one gathering heat and power as the other finally faded, shuddering between one mans hands and mouth below her waist and one mans hands and mouth above. Gizella screamed her release over and over. The clenching pulses between her legs sent torrents of unimagined pleasure though her body and mind until she did as shed feared and fell unconscious against Ezmond. They waited until she stirred again to continue. They wanted more. Hunters eyes were as black with desire as Ezmonds. She watched him withdraw the long, stainless

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steel dildo and refill her still-pulsing cunt mouth with the black rubber stub, screwing her slowly shut again. The stub accepted her waning throbs. Yet it made her cunt ache bitterly at having nothing longer and more substantial to seize upon. Ezmond held her, murmuring as his fingers eased the glittering clamps open and caressed her sensitized nipples where theyd bitten her rosy red. Hunter kissed her cunt lips a tongue-deep farewell then pressed them closed behind the seal again. Everything between her legs was swollen and throbbing and contained so tightly Ezmond. Hunter. My loves, the tireless plunderers of my body and center of my soul. You havent been satisfied as completely as I have. Im afraid, just now, I cant They were all standing again, though Gizella still leaned back against Ezmonds chest. She felt his hugely engorged cock push against her crack and glanced to Hunters leather tights where the lacings strained to contain another formidable bulge. We can wait, Ezmond said. This will be a lesson in Ardentian restraint for Hunter. The Embrian groaned protest but with a touch of humor and anticipation in his eyes. Ezmond ran his hand over the corsets front, eliciting a fresh moan from Gizella. This is an effective bit of lingerie and we like you in it. Youll wear this to the Council soiree tonight, he declared. This. Tonight? Gizella questioned Hunter as well. It stimulates the devil out of me even when Im not moving. Hunter shrugged. Were under Ezmonds orders tonight. I cant complain about them so far. She glanced in appeal to Ezmond. Hunter will be the center of all speculation tonight. Thisepisode and the promise of more release later will soothe his nerves about being introduced into Ardentian upper echelons. Its a key moment in our plan to bring the Uncivil tribes into union with Ardentia. Its only fair that our own intimate union mirrors that goal. Ezmond went to the closet wall to select a black-iridescent transparent silk gown that he put over Gizellas shoulders and clasped closed at her waist in front. Its folds hid her bareness below the waist, but her breast tops and diamond-studded nipple clamps glimmered through it plainly. Hunters guttural murmur approved the effect. Gizella decided it was time to take the reins from her lovers for a moment. They were conspiring with each other entirely too much lately. I have another gift, she told them. It was made for me, but perhaps it can also be bestowed on you before it debuts for the Supreme Council. The men exchanged surprised glances. She went to the drawer of a bedside table and lifted out a long, thin strip of brocade that dangled from both sides of her spread hands as she bore it back to them.
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She folded back the cloth to reveal a bejeweled two-inch-wide strip of supple silver leather. Its a belt, Hunter guessed. Ezmond narrowed his eyes. An erotic harness of some sort, but not a cock cradle, unless for a Rim Mountain ape. Certainly not, Gizella said, smiling. It has nothing to do with you two gentlemens equipment, but is for me. And for you to see on me. She slipped it around the back of her hips and clasped it in front. It hung from her hips into a central vee, and from that vee hung a bejeweled length. That part made an external cock, hung from navel to the tip of her clit in front, over her clothes, aimed at her cunt. It was clearly meant to make her instantly naked to both mens eyes. They stared bewitched, unable to guess the purpose of this adornment, other than to entrance them. Then Ezmond said, Ahhh. He picked up the bandits dagger that both men had used to fuck her and that he had used again tonight on her mouth and throat. He deliberately licked the dagger haft free of her saliva and then handed it to Hunter. Hunter slowly stroked the hilt through his closed palm. Their every move reeked of sensuality and possession and ritual. Ezmond steadied the sheath against Gizellas quivering pelvis while Hunter pushed the blade home into the rich sheath shed had made for the crude weapon. The artifact and the act memorialized their meeting, their bonding, their eternal triad. Ezmond took a deep breath. This stimulating trinket you had made has ambushed us both with fresh desire. Ah, Gizella, I ache to take you to all the tempestuous new levels of pleasure I see youre capable ofif you knew how I felt! You are our intermediary. You make possible all things. I can foresee a political agreement with the Uncivil tribes because this Embrian has enhanced our most intimate moments. Well both pleasure you more fully again, but later. She stood panting between them, excited anew, despite her erotic exhaustion, by the promise of further delights from them both, soon. Satisfied yet still wanting, needing more from them now and forever. She managed to walk to her dressing table to finish her hairdressing. Gods! Hunters raw whisper to Ezmond was loud enough to overhear. That jeweled sheath at her center, the way she walks in that corset, on those shoes. My lacings will tear and snap. She walks with the filled, wide stance and gingerly contented sway of a woman well-fucked, who knows she will be so again. Soon. Everyone at the soiree will see that. Yes, they will. Ezmond sounded slightly smug. But theyll give me all the credit for her entrancing state. Not a wild Embrian warrior.
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Men! Always competing, Gizella thought as she sat, gingerly, to pull the brush through her hair. Hunter came up behind her. He took the brush to stroke it and his hands through the golden strands. This boy whod been reared to loath hair and women and most of all, a womens hair! His touch was gentle but hungry. She could see his sand-cat tattoo, gleaming with metallic powders, through the transparent silk shirt shed selected for him for the earlier soiree. The nipples in the eyes of the sand-cat were as hard as the erection still straining against his leather tights. Farther behind, in the mirror, Ezmond stood toying with one gold nipple ring, watching them with almost a mentors pride and more than a touch of sheer lust. That was the trouble with a triad. It was always two against one. Thank the gods for making things so interesting!

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Chapter Twenty-Six
Three in a Crowd

Gizella floated through the palace rooms in her veiled gown. The diamond-studded nipple clamps winking through the sheer black chiffon won many looks, but she was on her most bland, prim behavior, nibbling from appetizer trays, sipping iridescent Seven Moon wine, moving alone through the rooms on her elevated shoes. Intriguing, darling, a woman paused to whisper, but your body powders are missing tonight. Where is your delicious PP? Ezmond is somewhere around here, Gizella said airily, trying to ignore the spasm of excitement at the pit of her stomach as she spoke his name. Ezmond, prince of lovers and Ardentians. Their last abandoned tryst had only deepened her desire for him. As forHunter Theyd agreed to separate. Gizella was not to know the two mens whereabouts unless their paths crossed by accident. Meanwhile, each man fingered a tiny control in his tights pocket that could jolt her with vibrations anywhere on her torso, from a soft purr, she imagined, to a hard, racing rumble. She imagined. She didnt know. The undergarment felt like living molded silk on and in her body. She couldnt believe her stern, reluctant Embrian lover had conceived this inciting and swoonworthy piece of erotic corsetry, or that Ezmond had cooperated in its creation. She remembered the quick, conspiratorial look that passed between them as Hunter tossed one of the two devices to Ezmond in front of her. They were to be in control. Their unexpected unity set all her nerve ends tingling. Nothing would be as expected from now on. Theyd never hurt her, but they both seemed more than capable of teasing her to erotic extremes. That this new Game of Three would play out secretly in public was another thought that set pulses racing in Gizellas neck, wrists, chest, thighs and cunt. This was the beginning of a true triad. Whod have thought an Embrian guard would participate, nay, initiate, such a sophisticated, custom-breaking erotic exercise? You look especially lovely tonight, an elderly councilman noted as he handed her a fresh flute of wine. Your face is flushedradiant. I cant believe that your eternal Ezmond is not at your side to guard you from the courtship of a new partner. She murmured disavowals along with thanks at the compliment. No. Her eternal Ezmond was prowling around the fringes like a lone sand-cat, picking his moments to assault her softly long distance, dueling another man for the most powerful stimulation of her body. Not that this exercise didnt tease more than their fingers on the control buttons. Both men had worn their shirts loose tonight, so that their expected erections wouldnt be too obvious.
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Ooooh. Gizella felt another thrum of inner excitement, totally of her own production, as she realized the men had consulted with each other on their dress as well as hers. This was a plot to bring her to a new apex of passion. Theyd both stimulate that state. Obviously, both would want to be there to sample its benefits. It was to be two strong, passionate men against one strong, passionate woman. She would show them! Let them do their worst. Shed remain in command of herself no matter the waves of pleasure they hurled at her body. At least in public. No sooner had the councilman turned to leave than a soft purr tickled her cunt. Gizella felt her face flush even more, but she tightened her grip on the wineglass and sipped. A slight alcoholic fizz would help her resist this public pubic teasing. As she tilted her neck back to swallow, the nipple clamps tightened and vibrated. Gods! She felt as if she were suckling two men with greedy teeth and wished they wouldnt stop until her milk flooded their mouths. Then the purring intensified between her legs, front and back. Gizella moved shakily on the high platform shoes Ezmond had selected to a wall, where she leaned, legs quivering, as the stimulation faded and ended. Your Embrian is quite the showpiece, a voice said beside her. A woman was leaning against the wall by one hip, wine flute in hand. Her hair was an artificial version of the vivid blue of a phoenix breast, her expression taunting. A pity they are such an asocial kind, she went on. All they know to do with women is rape and impregnate slave girls and trade them to another tribe with more imagination. So Uncivil. And what a waste of a supremely virile body! I wonder you threw away the cost of topaz tit-rings on the creature. They look very well on him though, dont they, Sidoney? Indeed. The woman licked her lips before she drank again. But the breed hates women and sex. Still, Ill go over and try to raise a reaction to amuse myself. Gizella watched the socialite slither over to Hunter, who immediately offered to fetch her a fresh wineglass as if he were an Ardentian gallant. Gizella caught her breath. And held it when Hunter returned to present the crystal flute then stood and smiled as the hussy started chattering and gesturing. A tickling buzz began again between Gizellas legs that she hardly felt for the furious buzzing in her head. Sidoney was a slut. She had no pleasure partner, never had, only preyed on anything in leather tights. Her gesturing hands rested on Hunters forearms, her nails long enough to brush aside his transparent shirt then move lower to finger the heavy leather belt at his hips. He was just standing there, being impossibly gorgeous and courteous, gods damn it! While that whore now spilled her wine all over his chest and her hands tried to brush it away. Then she brazenly licked at it, taking a topaz ring in her mouth and fastening there.

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The cunt vibrations increased, setting the pit of Gizellas womb twisting with helpless pleasure while her mind seethed withcould it be? Jealousy and fury. Shed commissioned those topaz rings, kissed between Hunters legs while her handmaidens had applied metallic powders over his complete Embrian chest tattoo, just so that this, this slut could slobber over her handiwork! The vibration between her legs tripled, making her gasp. She saw that Hunter had a casual hand on his hip. That must be where the tiny slit of pocket was in his leather tights. He was driving her to escalating erotic distraction while being pawed by another woman! Hes handling himself well, our Embrian, isnt he? She whirled to see Ezmond behind her. So is that wanton witch! Gizella spat. Her throat was so wrung dry with emotion that she was momentarily mute. Ezmond tilted his wineglass to her lips, gazing at her with dreamy desire. That woman is impossible! she fumed when she could speak again. Youre spitting and hissing like a maddened female sand-cat for nothing. Hunter has slipped her mauling. Look. It was true. Hunter had, with amazing diplomatic aplomb, foisted the randy creature on the aging councilman. Now he moved away with a long stride and a grim smile on his lips. He never glanced at her, but his hand left his hip pocket. Gizella leaned against the wall, exhausted mentally and physically, as the invasive stimulation inside her stopped, leaving her throbbing from head to cunt with frustration. Are you comfortable in that undergarment? Ezmond inquired softly. His eyes were jet black with desire. It fits like a dream, she admitted, her voice throaty with sudden longing. Dear Ezmond. He always cared for and satisfied her. The absence of the vibration between her legs let her feel the taut hurt of muscles and tissues aching for direct stimulation. You deserve a dream, he said, stroking his fingers over the tops of her breasts and along her throat. She relaxed against the wall. Nobody would remark on her and Ezmond in intimate conversation. Most of them were indulging in far more flagrant mating rituals. It was good Hunter had their hidden game of stimulation to distract him from the open and exotic coupling happening all around them. Ezmond preferred saving the most intimate moments for their private enjoyment. Thinking of that secret but explosive fruition soon to come to them all made her smile. Gizella was recovering her poise. Then a sharp sudden bite and intense vibration at her nipples had her knees buckling as Ezmond stepped very close and held her up. Stop! I cant control myself. Nor should you have to, he whispered so deep into her ear that his tongue filled it a moment later. The pressure and vibrations increased as she almost swooned at the

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relentless stimulation. Only Ezmonds strong arms held her upright. I love you like this, Gizella, so hungry. You know well fulfill you a thousand times over tonight. She could hardly think, hardly speak. We? Its time we fully surrender to the Embrian, as he has to us. Dont you think? Of course she couldnt think. And then the maddening, swooningly sweet buzz began again between her legs. She moaned as Ezmond swept her away somewhere dark and quiet. It was an empty chamber he must have had in mind all night, for he locked it behind him. Empty, except for Hunter. He was waiting there, hip cocked, finger toying with his nipple ring, his tight laces undone and his eyes as hunger-black as Ezmonds. Ive never seen her so desire-drugged, Hunter whispered through shallow, excited breaths. Your doing. Ezmond was gasping too as he backed against a wall, still holding Gizella upright against him, her back hard against his heaving bare chest. She felt his hands moving against his crotch behind her. Her body bucked involuntarily in sweet anticipation. Hunter was pushing her skirts up to her waist and took her weight, lifting her. She braced her hands on his shoulders, and then tore the shirt fully open to gaze on his stiff nipples and glittering tattoo. He pressed her hard against them, reaching down to unscrew the corsets built-in dildos in turn as she gasped, bereft by the shock of them slipping out of her, but feeling bolts of pleasure at the motion up to her breasts. Then Hunter lifted her again, high, so she came down slowly against Ezmond, onto his erect cock, up her backside. Her body claimed that invasion with a spasm of delighted shock. Ezmond had never entered her there before. It felt a perfect fit, and then he began moving in and out. Her back passage thrilled to being fucked by a living cock. Gasping, breathing hard, she clung to Hunters armsand felt his big, thick cock slowly pushing up into her cunt against Ezmonds shaft. The corset dildos had been a mere whisper of what it would be like to feel two long, hard cocks inside her. Shed never been so ardently filled, and sensing their cocks rubbing against each other inside her had her moaning with ecstasy as both mens hips pumped in and out, in and out in a mutual rhythm that took her breath away. Ezmonds hands were caressing her breasts, tightening the nipple clamps, pushing her and them flat against Hunters chest for a divinely sharp pressure while she fingered the Embrians erect nipples. Hunter held her face in his hands as his hips moved his cock far in and out inside her, and was tongue-fucking her mouth deep toward her throat.

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The heat, the motion, the mounting conjoined pleasure was incredible. Gizella writhed, suspended, sandwiched between the two men, impaled on their cocks, a position only possible because of their vigorous upright erections. They were made to double-fuck her and it felt as if she were coming in her mouth and her cunt and her ass as well as her sex organs, everywhere at once. It was an impossible alpha-to-omega climax, only whispered of in the Books of Bliss. Hunters hard-working mouth swallowed her orgasmic screams. He moaned in turn as Ezmond sucked the back of her neck in a climactic bite and groaned like a man gone mad. Tremors shook them all and wouldnt relent until they were emptied of every spasm of juice and pleasure. They kept still for a couple minutes twined together, connected, pulsing. Ezmond, pressed hard against the wall and Gizella by Hunters body, lifted his hands behind Gizellas shoulders. It could have been a gesture of surrender, an unspoken no more. It was quite the opposite. Hunter slowly raised his palms to touch Ezmonds. Gizella quivered between them, witnessing the first-ever truce between Ardentian and Embrian. Then they bent their mouths to her bare shoulders in unspoken concert, front and back, touching and kissing and sucking and nibbling her skin until she shuddered again and squeezed them hard inside her, wringing them both dry, love juices running down her legs to the ankles. She felt hot, sticky and in need of a steam-shower, but never had a woman in Ardentia been so thoroughly and divinely and blissfully fucked.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Rainbow Mist

Nothing could detract from what the three of them had done together. Yet Gizella noticed that Hunter grew quiet as they returned to the palace in the close quarters of the floater-car. She eyed Ezmond, who nodded. Youll come to my bedchamber tonight, she whispered to Hunter. His amber eyes fed on hers, still pupil-dilated, but their expression was heavy. Someone must release me from this devilishly divine garment of your design, she whispered again. Somewhere between the villas rear door and the bedroom suites Ezmond vanished. Gizella took Hunters hand and led him into her bedchamber where she dropped her outer veils and stood garbed in only the black satin corset. You must unfasten me. He stood behind her, tall, warm and strong, and pulled the corset strings tighter before he loosened them, making her gasp. He unclipped the clamps from her nipples and bent to soothe the hot pulsing tips in his mouth. He peeled the garment down and slowly emptied her of the built-in dildos Ezmond had reseated in the locked chamber at the soiree. He unsealed the sides and the slit seal last, using his fingers on each liberated area, inside and out. She leaned her hip against his shoulder as he knelt beside her and she stroked his hair. Your first Ardentian soiree was arduous. He grinned up at her. Yes. Im exhausted. He reached up to toy with her liberated labia, navel and tit-rings, a ladder of delight for both of them. She tilted up his chin. Something is bothering you. Is it theway we replayed our first meeting in the cellar? We three? You didnt seem to be repulsed tonight, at the time. Gods, no! Now I understand the pleasure you wished to pull me into then, you andhim. It was me with two men at once, not two men Hunter stood, tearing off his thin shirt. No. You make it worse by trying to guess. She took his hand, despite his momentary need to be untouched. Come with me into the mist. Itll soothe you.

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Hed become accustomed to the Ardentian form of bathinghot steaming mist that floated around the body from floor, walls and ceiling. A desert dweller cherished wet heat. Outside and in. At the opaque glass door to the chamber, she pushed him against the wall and unsealed his side tight seams. He let her, let her strip them down, and then stepped free of them. He was naked but he wasnt hard. She kissed a fingertip and pressed it to the snakes hidden head then led him inside. They could barely glimpse each other in the steam, but Gizella sensed that Hunter craved retreat at the moment. She stood under a soap dispenser and let it slick all over her body as her hands massaged it into a lather. Hunter didnt even notice what should be inciting. He stood under another dispenser and worked the soap into concealing foam on his chest, over and over again. Finally, she understood. The Ardentian courtesan whod fingered his nipples and spilled wine on his chest in an effort at seduction had affronted the Embrian mercenary still deep inside Hunter. He was new to social games. His spirit-beast had been stained and pawed by an unwanted Ardentian female. What could she do? Gizella came close then turned off the hard shower hed blasted onto his body. Hunter, I know that woman offended you. Offended me! Had I not been diverted by the control that brought you pleasure, I would have gone mad. Id have snapped her neck. Instead, you enjoyed riveting me with your inescapable touch from a distance. Did you see me swooning inside your seductive, invasive corset? I saw Ezmond remote-fucking you into a swoon against the wall while I was being mauled by that sharp-nailed harpy. He controlled the nipple vibrations. It was you who rampaged through my cunt. I? He said I had the nipple control. Ezmond loves games, Hunter. It was you who was fucking me. He gave that honor to you. Thats why you saw me swoon. You. You were relentless. I wanted to forget where I was, to bring you with me to someplace else. If Id known my desire to escape had put me so intensely inside of you, Id never have used you sodeeply. I loved it, Hunter. Now stop trying to wash off that vicious woman and let me kiss your amazing, potent tattoo clean again. Kiss? he asked. Ill rinse you with love, not lust.

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She moved her lips lightly over the outline of the sand-cat then inward in tiny circles. She licked the last taste of spilled wine from his skin and blew softly on it, spent four infinitely tender minutes soothing his nipples until they ripened in her mouth and he pushed her head hard to his chest and moaned her name over and over. Have I gentled and cleansed you, Embrian? she asked with a smile when he finally released her head. With my love? Yes, he said. His big hands clasped her upper arms. Do it again. Will the tattoo inks never wash away? Do it again and well see. Do it again with lust this time.

*****
Ezmond finally joined them, a large towel wrapped around his hips. He tossed another one to Hunter then wrapped the third towel around Gizellas rib cage. We all could use a nice, long, hot soak, he told her. She raised an eyebrow. No one knew of their secret cave, not even the villa guards. Hunter sensed their wordless consultation. Something I should know or shouldnt know? No one knows but us, Ezmond told him, pulling Gizellas back against his bare chest. Hunter stared explosively at thempartners at home in their semi-nudity, pale and dark, chests hairless and haired, forming a blended image of female and male beauty. Gizella knew that Ezmond did this deliberately, stirring the Embrians confusion, jealousy and desires into a mlange that would break down the fearsome number of taboos that still afflicted him. I alone will be admitted into this secret? he asked. Why? Because youll enjoy it, Gizella said, holding out a hand. Hunter came to them but didnt take her hand. They all left the steaming shower chamber to walk down a short hall that ended in a steel wall. Except it wasnt a wall. Ezmond blinked to let his retinas register. The wall slid back, revealing the smooth curved walls of a tiny chamber. It was everything an Embrian was bred to detest and fearmodern, confining, unnatural, Ardentian. After Ezmond and Gizella had stepped inside and turned to face him, Hunter stood at the door, unmoving. His primitive soul was screaming No! Gizella put out a hand. You will experience something no other Ardentian has, only us. Trust me.

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He moved inside, examining every inch of the smooth, featureless walls. When the door slid silently shut, he turned, as tense as a trapped animal. Then the softly lit chamber smoothly plummeted down into the sand and underlying rock on which Ardentia was built. Gizellas heart ached for Hunters inner conflicts. He stood stiff, trembling, wanting to go berserk in this undreamed-of situation, too proud to express even understandable fear. She touched the back of his arm with just her fingertips. He didnt react, not even when the door whooshed open in what must have seemed like hours to him but had only been a minute. His muscled body gleamed with sweat like polished amberwood. That state only attracted her hands and tongue more. Ezmond left the chamber, Gizella waiting until Hunter moved out into the waiting dark to follow him. Outside the chamber lurked a semi-dark world. It took human eyes awhile to register the faint iridescent glow that this place gave off like luminous perfume. Hunter had taken five steps forward before he looked down. The ground was rough, as if rocky, but it was covered with a soft velvet carpet of mosses glowing with the darker shades of a rainbowpurple, orange and crimson. As the three of them followed a descending path, glittering moths dancing in the air massed to light their way like living torches. A cluster of huge rock caverns, lined with jagged crystal growths, hung from high above like lit chandeliers. Hunters fear had evaporated into awe. He gazed up and around, forgetting his guides. Gizella stayed with him, slowing her pace to shadow him, smiling when his towel pulled loose. She caught it as it fell away. He hadnt even noticed. So she followed him, admiring the view of broad shoulders, lean waist and long sleek legs meeting muscled buttocks cheeks, the divine X shape of the male body seen from behind, until they caught up with Ezmond, whod also let his towel fall on the edge of an underground pond the vivid blue color of the sky. Sands of ruby, purple, amber and emerald shades edged the water. A misty curtain of steam rose from it, in which capered the delightful little illuminated fairies Ardentians used briefly for lights before releasing them into the central forest. The fairies loved air and were happy anywhere they could float and fuck in it. A sound of a distant crystal shattering had an indefinable rhythm, like music. Ezmond was hip-deep in the blue waters. Hunter hesitated on the pools glittering edge. I dont suppose, Gizella said, that youve ever seen this much water in a natural state, much less thought of walking into it. He looked at her, both awestruck and uncertain. How well she knew him. She leaned close, dropped her towel and whispered, But then youd never thought of plunging your cock into an Ardentian cunt, and you like that well enough.

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The strict Embrian upbringing made bold, honest talk a challenge, a goad, an aphrodisiac. Hunters amber eyes flared black at her blunt reminder of their exquisite intimacies. He took her hand at last and they walked together into the warm, silky waters scented slightly of smoke and flowers and sex.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Days in Ardentia

Hunter awoke in the bedchamber they had made his. For a moment he couldnt remember getting here. The stress and suspense after their return from the Ardentian gala had been taxing. He could never stand to see a sand-cat behind the bars of a cage any longer, whether in the city or in the desert. Hed often felt like a wild beast contained and paraded in the past few days. The enormous pleasures of mating with Gizella couldnt quite dismiss that feeling. They knew what they wanted of him, she and her lover. They worked to make him want that too. Perhaps they were right, but every step took him farther from what he was, what he had been. Yetthose moments in the magical pool beneath the earth had filled his heart. There it felt as if everything hed learned and experienced here had only been the merest slice of reality. He recalled all of them hip-deep in the warm, swirling, seething, steaming blue waters, as if they moved through the hot syrup Ardentians doused on their bread. He and Ezmond took turns kissing Gizella until she floated in dreamy bliss back and forth between them. At times her body bowed back against Ezmonds shoulder so Hunter could drink hard and long from her breasts, or imagine that he did, a sweet, savage nectar. Sometimes she pasted herself to Hunters face and chest with never-ending kisses while Ezmonds ravenous mouth devoured her neck and shoulders and shoulder blades and spine to where the water met it. Hunter awoke with a hard cock, lying in cloths so smooth and soft they felt like Gizellas thighs. He stared at the softly illuminated ceiling. He had a choice to make. To be Embrian at all, or to become something that was not anything that he recognized. Something new, Gizella had said. A link. Important. Hunter had never been a man who wished to be important. He had only wished to be the best Embrian warrior he could be. Perhaps nowat this time, in this place, to be non-Embrian was the boldest, hardest path. Embrians knew hard. Could one know soft? And perhaps save his race from a slow, sad diminishing? Ah Gizella! You and your devil-lover, who knows and understands that you deserve all that any man, men, can give you. And perhaps give themselves. Yes. Gizella was worth the sacrifice, but hed never give an inch to Ezmond, not in the dueling room and not in the bedchamber. Not even for Gizella, his love. Love. An Embrian had his pride, even if that was all.

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*****
The next few days were a flurry of learning about Ardentian plans for saving their world. Incursions from beyond the Rim Mountains were becoming more frequent. They had scouts, but none were as good as Embrians. Could Hunter consider asking for help there? Not yet, he said. He was the Embrian usurped by the Ardentians. His own people would distrust him unless he could approach them with the right argument, the right bait. Gizellas satin thighs wouldnt work here, although they worked with him every night. Gods, he enjoyed her every moment he could! And she him. What was Ezmond wresting from her? How could she love equally at this pace? Yet she did. And he loved her for her loyalty to Ezmond, for that was an Embrian trait, even as he sought to subvert it and keep her transported in his bedEmbrians had never had beds, only carpetsevery night, and perhaps three times a night. His cock was insatiable. Why had he never been told about its capacity, or his hearts capacity to love?

*****
Hunter was beginning to enjoy his daily contests with Ezmond. He was getting so good with the needle-thin practice swords that he could parry any fresh attempt to split his lacings. He was less adept at lunging for Ezmonds, but that was his secret goalto hand back the humiliation of having one perfect blow sever the cord without touching the fly and cock beneath. He now understood the Ardentians better. They reveled in their own excitement, whether the cock-rise was stimulated by the hot whisper of a partners breath or the subtle slice of steel so near the swollen organ. Hed come to like the feel of his cock erect against the tight leather and lacings. Hed spied the giggling servant girls staring and blushing and admiring as he passed them after a practice session. And Gizella, Gizella was mad for him hard behind a tight lacing stretched to its limits. Unfortunately, she was equally mad for Ezmond in the same state. One day Gizella came to watch them. Ezmond had reported that Hunter was doing well, if not brilliantly. It was clear her presence put both men on their mettle. The practice blades moved as fast as thrown knives, not mere dueling blades. The sound of steel sliding and clashing on steel matched the tempo of their advances and retreats before each others weapon. Gizella applauded and acclaimed both mens skill and grace, which only prolonged the contest. She didnt want them both exhausted, for purely selfish reasons.

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But they danced back and forth, dueling with their eyes as well as their weapons as the sweat poured down their foreheads. Gizella was planning on a long, inventive three-way shower when the thumps and slicing sounds halted. She watched them uneasily. There was an air of more than friendly combat in the practice room. I have a question, Ezmond told Hunter as they paused for breath. Yes? About when you went to the powdering room to help adorn Gizellas body. Yes? I have a recording. Id like to use the black wildcat tattoo on her cunt. Hunters eyes held unblinking. He didnt seem to breathe. You have a recording? Of course, a visual one. If some design is particularlyeffective, we want to know, so we can repeat it. No. Gizella and I can repeat that design. You cannot. Find your own breed of cat for her cunt. Ezmond drew up, tall, suave, unrattledannoyed enough to show his steel. Perhaps a sand-cat then, Embrian. That image is sacred to me. Do you know what you ask? Gizella did, and she too held her breath. Ezmond was threatening to fuck the representation of Hunter through her. This was the ultimate male territorial game, played out on her theoretical body, against Hunters frantic denial of all man-to-man contact. The tension of male dominance in the room was enough to choke her. This was perhaps petty rivalry engaged in so the two men could preen in her presence, but Gizella shuddered anyway. She stood. I will decide what beasts image halos my cunt, gentlemen. She smiled to soften her declaration. Now please table your swords and your imaginations. After seeing you duel so splendidly, I want you both in the shower with me, where you can table your swords in much more interesting places and ways. The weapons drooped in their hands as their cocks swelled even more against their tight lacings. She moved close and thrust her forefingers behind each mans lacings, pulling hard. Come with me, my loves. Make love, not war. Inflamed, they both leaned close to caress her. Hunter lifted her in his arms so Ezmond could open the front of her gown, both men working together to feast their eyes on her surrender, to inflame her. Gizella purred her pleasure as they forgot their territorial dispute in their mutual boyish greed at plundering her offered body. That the two men she loved could ever
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come to blows, could kill each other over their individual stake in her was a nightmare Gizella couldnt survive. She couldnt imagine anything more dreadful happening.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lost Boys

The very next day the captain of the Embrian guards called upon them, and it dawned on Gizella that nightmares came in many forms. Excellencies. The captain bowed politely to them, but his brow was furrowed and his manner one of restrained urgency. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. The matter is urgent? Ezmond paused in gesturing with a graceful fall of lace cuffs toward the water carafe. Embrians didnt drink spirits. Not for Ardentia, but Embria faces destruction. Ezmond forgot about taking a chair and inviting their guest to sit. Gizella came to stand beside him, looking concerned. Embrians never exaggerated. All Embrian guards have been called home, the captain said. Gizellas hand clutched Ezmonds arm. It must be a crisis indeed if you leave Ardentia unguarded. My deepest apologies, my lady. I hope that we canend this travesty in short time. What is it, man? Ezmond asked. Beyond belief. Beyond thought. Our settlement was raided in the night by stealth. How many killed? Gizella asked, fearing the worst. None. The captains expression was grimmer than before. Not a guard saw anything, not an Embrian awakened. But But in the morning, he told her, we found all our boy-children gone. Stolen away. How, without any of them making a cry, fightingI dont know. What monsters would do such a thing? Your boy-children? How many? What ages? Ezmond asked. Fourteen, all under the age of eleven. These are our heirs. It will take years to father and rear as many. A devastating loss, Gizella agreed. Well do everything we can to find whoever did this, Ezmond promised. Ardentians cant help. We need desert trackers. Are you sure? Gizella asked. Why would the kidnappers head into the wastelands toward the Rim Mountains? With so many youngsters to feed and watch? It could be beasts from the Rim Mountains and beyond.

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Or hostile tribes from any of the Uncivil regions abutting Ardentias Ring, Gizella reminded him. You capture their women to father these sons on them. Perhaps their tribesmen only want their own back. Theyve never retaliated before. They think as little of their women as we do. He caught a breath. Im sorry, my lady. For saying the truth? Dont be. But you may encounter another truth that is even harsher before this is done. My lady? Ezmond spoke again. She means that nothing will become clear until the identity of the kidnappers is found. You can track them in the desert, but well search in the city. Why would anyone from the city take them? You recall Valaria and her bandits? Gizella pointed out. Are you sure theyre still captive in the Ring prison? Ardentia didnt keep prisons, but the Uncivils had created a huge, multi-tribe prison for the lawless among their kind. The captain had forgotten the bandit gang. Ill find out. And, said Ezmond, well find out if any tribe members employed in Ardentia know something. Speaking of such, I need Hunter back. Gizella had not anticipated such a request, but Ezmonds smooth answer showed that he had. Not a good idea. Im counting on using him to find and interrogate the Uncivils here. Hes the finest tracker in Embria. No doubt. Thats why hes uniquely suited to tracking down those involved inside the Ring. He is more than a city rat-catcher. He is our strongest warrior. Yet his time with us makes him more useful here, Ezmond parried. Excellency, I cant agree. Fetch him and well see whom he wants to serve the most. The good of Embria, Gizella said quickly. Hes met many Ardentians of influence. They regard him as a kind of informal ambassador for Embria among us, which is an unheard-of position. It will even now provide you with much more assistance from every household in Ardentia that employs Uncivils than before he was in our service. Cant you see that? Perhaps, my lady, but now I want to see Hunter. Ezmond nodded to old Renzo, whod stood quietly in the doorway, waiting to be of service.

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I wont ask you to sit, Ezmond told the captain. An emergency doesnt call for civility. Well begin inquiries here immediately. The captains expression never altered. He believed Ardentians essentially useless, necessary to cater to at times, but irrelevant to any part of Embrian life and community. Gizella saw on his face when Hunter entered with the silent step of a wary Embrian. Such a summons was unprecedented. Seeing the captain no more pleased Hunter than the sight of Hunter pleased the captain. Hunter! I see youve adopted the Ardentian way of dress. Ezmond answered the joint insult before the captain made it worse. I told you that hes been acting as an ambassador, which makes it wise to assume the manners and dress of the host land. We dont need ambassadors. We need warriors, trackers, and now, avengers. Whats happened? Hunter asked. The captain spit out the story again. You must come with me now. Well find you decent battle dress at the guard post and be in Embria in a half-days march. Youre assuming, Hunter said, that whoever abducted these boy-children was an enemy wishing them and Embria harm. Gods! Have you gone mad? What else would the motive be? Rescue, Hunter said. Rescue! These are our most precious possessions, a whole generation of heirs of the spirit-beasts. Think what we had to endure to produce them! They also carry the blood of a dozen different tribes, of fourteen different abducted tribeswomen, Ezmond said. What do you speak of? Those women were nothing. We didnt kill them, but traded them back to whatever tribe would want them. Its matters like this that must be addressed, said Gizella. In the past, the present and the future, or the Uncivil tribes will be always at each others throats and such raids as this will happen more and more. The captain turned from Gizella with unconcealed contempt. Hunter. You speak and do not act? You do not rush to our aid, our defense? A few weeks in an Ardentian palace and you, our most fearless man, have become a coward? Gizella couldnt hold back. Lynx is not a coward because he thinks instead of ravages. The captain didnt even bother to look at her, but his face grew crimson with fury as he stared at Hunter. This pampered Ardentian woman knows your sacred spirit-beast name? That even we guardsmen have never heard before? Then your inside is as corrupted as your outside.

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He aimed an arc of spit like piss, to land on the tip of Hunters polished boot. Say nothing more. You are no more an Embrian. Any Embrian who sees you in the future will kill you on sight. He turned and left, brushing by Renzo so quickly that the old man was slammed against the doorframe. Gizella was beyond sorry. Lynx! Oh gods! I shouldnt have said He stood statue-still, a draining pallor under his copper-colored skin. Ezmond addressed Gizella. Its not what you said. Its that he cant do it now hunt down those boys to be brought back to what Embria considers proper rearing. Weve made an ambassador of him, and he sees the bigger picture. Its a pity you let the captain see how much he, and we, have changed. Ive never known a man I respect more than Hunter for what hes done today. The truth wouldve come out anyway. Now we can concentrate on finding the boys and the best future for them. And us. Bitter regret made tears flood down Gizellas face. Theyre his tribe. Its his whole past. Didnt you listen to your lover, your student, your equal? Hunter spoke of the present and future too, something no Embrian has ever considered, nor have any of the Uncivil tribes, or Ardentia itself, I might add. We have brought a born leader under our roof, into our beds and our hearts. And leaders stand on their principles, no matter what it costs. What have I begun, Ezmond? So much hurt and pain and the promise of much more? He came close. Change, my dearest. Revolution. Because of one womans love for one man, and one mans love for one woman. History doesnt allow for many such figures as you, Gizella. Accept it. Dont you think I didnt always know what was at stake? Far more than mortal love and desire. Change was due, and we can either resist or embrace the future when it comes and meanwhile make it happen. Its true? Hunter asked abruptly. The Ardentian houses will allow me to question their tribal servants? They will allow us, Ezmond said. What do you think now, Hunter? Gizella asked anxiously. I think that Ezmond is a great speech-maker, but that whats needed now is an Embrian tracker. And a boot-shine, Ezmond added. Hunter shook his braided head of hair, ignoring the insult. I agree with your assumption. Those boys arent in the wastelands, he said. They were taken from them. All Embria is rushing in the wrong direction. He sighed. As it has been for untold years. There is good there, but it needs a new direction. Perhaps this crisis will open their eyes a bit. Perhaps not. How do you propose we set about investigating this?

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First, said Ezmond, we need to find out if Valarias crew has escaped prison and is able to make mischief. Ill do that while you and Gizella visit the great houses. Why do you put so much faith in this approach? Gizella finally forgot her regret enough to think again. The Lost Girls! Ezmond nodded. Exactly. Hunter considered. Theunwanted Embrian female offspring? Valaria did mention them. Gizella was convinced Ezmond was right. Yes! And the women who bore them, who lost their girlhoods to bearing children theyd never see again, to being traded like used hard goods into lives of enslaved drudgery. We treat them all well in Ardentia, which is why so many find their way here. But theyre still servants. Maybe now they make a new tribe, Hunter said, nodding. A tribe of unwanted women. Interesting. Gizella laughed. Can you imagine what you wouldve said to such an idea weeks ago? Weeks ago I was another man. Hunter eyed her. Youve seen me naked and proud, and naked and unsure. But through it all I have been a man, and that I remain. I will save my tribe, and I will save the boys I once was. He hesitated, aware of the solemnity of his words and his vow. And then he added another vow, no less serious. And maybe the Lost Girls too. He left the chamber. Gizella felt Ezmonds consoling hand on her shoulder. We ask so much of him, she fretted. No. He asks so much of himself. Gods! I envy him his purpose. Who knew what we unchained from the wall of that bandit lair?

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Chapter Thirty
Inquisition

At first the great houses of Ardentia welcomed Gizella and her tame Embrian warrior and pretend ambassador. Hunter stood behind her like an attendant as she stated their reasons for interrogating their Uncivil women servants. The Ardentian women eyed him with interest, the men with suspicion. Yet Gizella was sacrosanct. One of them. Not to be questioned. The servants were another matter. They clotted together, awed by the Embrian among them. Unwilling to talk. After visiting several great villas and palaces that housed many Uncivil servants, Gizella was almost distraught with discouragement. Hunter smiled at her in the floater as it wafted them back to Ezmond. We learned far more than you think. Didnt you notice one telling thing about all the servants we interviewed? No. Honestly, Hunter, Im too addled by this desperate turn of events. I was terrified youd go with the captain of the Embrian guards, that Id lose you. That wed lose you. You may yet do so, he said grimly, lifting her hand to his lips. This is deadly business. But one thing is clearthere were no half-Embrian women among the servants. Hunter! Youre right! There should be more. They must have left, like Tasheeta. Tasheeta? My own handmaiden. And why did she leave? Gizella lowered her eyes. She objected to your intimacies with me during the powdering ritual. So this is all my fault. Hardly. She also harbored a hidden passion for Ezmond and felt that Id betrayed him. And you havent? He accepted your enthrallment with me for your sake, not his. But he has come to share it. This time Hunter lowered his gaze. I respect him as a man, a fighter and your lover. Anything more

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Is best left to better times and cooler heads. Gizella leaned close to kiss him ardently on the mouth. Lynx, my love, I still fear for you and Ezmond. You are both at the crux of a fearsome crisis. The floater landed as soft as a phoenix feather in the villa roof garden. Fairies darted among the leaves and branches, their delicate wings glowing in the twilight air. Gizella cancelled the floaters direction drive and shut it off. Hunter moved a hand up inside her gossamer gown to caress the fork of her body. I would die happy between your satin thighs, but I fear that this matter will end on the pitiless deserts of the Uncivil Lands. She leaned back to permit him deeper delving. And youll go there, no matter what. As will Ezmond. She moaned, not with pleasure but from fear and the threat of loss. Not both of you. I couldnt bear it. He kissed her silent, his tongue piercing her mouth like a cock. Despite our differences we are warriors, he said on withdrawal. We will fight together. And she, still fearful, couldnt help feeling utterly proud of them both.

*****
Hunter and Gizella retreated to their separate bedchambers to bathe and don fresh clothing. Fear and worry had dewed their clothes with the alien scent of sweat, a taboo in Ardentia, although common to the Uncivil Lands. When they sought Ezmond, they found him in the receiving chamber, entertainingguests. Tasheeta! Gizella exclaimed. Are you all right? The girls eyes remained focused stubbornly on the inlaid marble floor designs. Gizella felt Ezmond, close beside her, tauten all of his muscles, as he had not since she had first reached out to caress and tease an Embrian warrior. She saw why. The third woman in the chamber was Sidoney, the Ardentian aristocrat whod lusted after Hunter at the Supreme Council meeting hed attended. Fruitlessly lusted, Gizella reminded herself, meeting the womans cool green eyes with a glance twice as cold. So you have taken Tasheeta into your service, Gizella noted. Shes a fine worker but not reliable among men not of her station. Tasheetas proud Embrian features winced at the praise and the pity in Gizellas eyes. The women were one thing. The Ardentian men standing behind them were another. Council elders, six of them, staring at Gizella and Hunter as if they bore two heads.

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Dancing between them all with words and gestures was Ezmond, nimble and elegant, yet somehow frantic under his sophistication. My dear Gizella, he greeted her with a bow and hand kiss. How fortuitous that you are back from your investigations among the Uncivil servants. He ignored Hunter, as did the other men in the chamber. Gizellas heart clutched to see Ezmonds frantic role-playing. Something must be seriously wrong. My Lady, said the First Counsel, charges have been brought. Charges? she said, astounded. We have no time for charges. Didnt you hear about the Embrians kidnapped man-children? This could upset the uneasy peace between the Uncivils and certainly leaves Ardentia unguarded. Were not here about such major matters. A charge has been brought. Were here to weigh it and proscribe punishment. You sound like your minds are already made up! The testimony is damning, my dear. We and your doting parents, gods rest them, expected so much more of you. Me? I have offended? The First Council produced an official document. Sidoney smiled as he read the words. You have transgressed, Gizella. Youve introduced an Uncivil into the Council under the guise of an ambassadorship when he was always just your lover. Your forbidden lover. As if you wouldnt have wished so much for yourself! Gizella spat at Sidoney. Then you admit it, the elder said, shaking his head. Youve entered into an unsanctioned tri-ship with an Uncivil. Such inter-matings are one of the few things forbidden by the laws of Ardentia. But not by the Books of Bliss, Ezmond said. The Books of Bliss are our sensual and mystical guide. The Mating Tribunal is our law. Ezmond Reve-Lezane, you and your pleasure-partner Gizella Crizotane have broken the Law to take thisuncouth Uncivil into forbidden intimacy. You have deceived the Council into accepting him as a false emissary. We cant support that, and we cant support you. You are banished from the Supreme Council, both of you. You are anathema. You are not welcome in our palaces, villas or our city-state. We suggest you relocate to the Uncivil Lands with your questionable mnage a trois. And take this creature with you. It was a death sentence, and they knew it. Ezmond drew his dress rapier faster than a spitting cobra could strike. This is our home and you are the unwelcome ones. Your minds and hearts have been poisoned by venomous women with grudges against our Embrian guest and lusts both of them dont dare admit to.

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He fixed Tasheeta with such a scouring look that Gizella realized Ezmond had always known of her passion for him. They are vengeful witnesses, he went on, and defraud only themselves. We remain a tri-ship whether you endorse us or not. We do not. You will find Ardentia a cold host for your excesses. No goods will be sold to you. No Uncivils will work for you. No food will come to your villa. You will have to live on your unsanctioned love. Out! Ezmonds rapier danced around the womens faces, slashed at the old mens long beards and robes. You are blind and deaf and loveless and should be begging in the Ardentian streets, and soon may be if you dont take this Embrian uprising seriously. They retreated, Tasheeta casting a distressed and yet adoring look at Ezmond in his just rage, looking as beautiful and powerfully angry as an avenging god. Sidoney just smirked at Gizella. The old men didnt look back at all, their thin lips set, a pack of obliging hounds retreating to their cowardly kennels. Ezmond leaned against a table while he slipped his rapier through his belt. Fools! he fussed. Theyve just exiled their best swordsman and most experienced Council members while our borders gape open without a single Embrian mercenary to guard them. And then they banish the only Embrian willing to save their sorry hides! What will we do? Gizella asked. Not what they want. Old men with shriveled cocks should never listen to besotted and vengeful young women. Hunter and I will visit the Ring in hidden guise to root out the talk there. You will question your handmaidens. That traitor Tasheeta may have let something slip to her sister servants. That traitor Tasheeta loves you, Ezmond. Love doesnt betray, he spat back. Agreed, Ardentian. Hunter spoke for the first time in some minutes. I swear my fealty to Gizella and you and no other, Embrian or Ardentian. And I to you both. Ezmond stood to receive this oath, putting out his sword arm as Hunter grasped it. Forearm to forearm, they eyed each other with steely resolve. Gizella recognized this as a warrior bonding ritual. She put a hand on each mans entwined arm. And I also, she said, looking at neither man to indicate favor, for she loved them both equally and with matching desperation. The Supreme Council had its rites of pleasure partnership and tri-ships, but none was as strong and deeply felt as this simple declaration between the three of them on the brink of mutual disaster.

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Chapter Thirty-One
None to Fight

The Ring was sinister and quiet that night as Ezmond and Hunter ventured into its coils. When they finally came to Slinks shop, it was dark and shuttered. At their demanding knocks, he opened a small peep-door within his door. Embrian and Ardentian, just the most dangerous men to know. Where is your woman tonight? Safe at home, Ezmond said. Whats happening? Only the Cataclysm. Embrians in defiance. The Ring in chaos. Ardentia failing to act. And you two, linked by one woman, however exquisite. Beware the Lost Girls. They are the key. Our Gizella is the key, Ezmond said, reaching through the tiny door to grab Slink by the shirt. She is not your Gizella any longer, my lads. I weep for you. But my shop is closed. Slink slammed his small door shut on them. What does he mean? Ezmond asked. Hunter roared his sand-cat anger and the whole street fell silent. Weve been sold, by these Ardentian women, by these Ardentian men who are cowards. But no bellows of outrage would open a door or a window in the Ring. Balked for the moment, they returned to the villa to find servant girls weeping in piles. Embrian mercenaries had breached the walls and doors. Gizella? Their adored mistress, so sweet and so mild. She had been swept away between strong Embrian shoulders. The terrifying invaders had left their message, to be repeated by the terrified handmaidens of many tribes. One stuttered out the words to the furious Ardentian and Embrian trying to draw the facts from them Said the Embrian invaders, kidnappers, avengersGizella was theirs. They would all hammer their seed into her until she had birthed the lost fourteen sons. They didnt care how long it would take or how bitterly Ardentia mourned a lost woman of their kind. She would be mother to a new generation of Embrians until her body expired from the task of it.

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Hunter screamed like a wild sand-cat. Ezmond tore the hair from his chest until his blood dewed the Ardentian marble floor. The servant girls quailed. Then Ezmond and Hunter withdrew to the dueling room underneath it all.

*****
Theyve taken Gizella, Hunter said, as if he still didnt believe it. For her history with the Supreme Council, for her parents sake, surely the Ardentians can mount a force to reclaim her. My lad, Ezmond said, buzzing back the transparent wall of weapons then opening cupboards and drawers and slinging weapons onto the shelves that edged the sparring space. You heard it. The Council has disowned us. Abjured us. We have been cast out. Because of me. Because they are doddering, stupid old men who fell victim to vicious gossip when their whole world is about to fall to outside invasion. No one will help Gizella but us. There are a hundred angry Embrian warriors out there. We are two angry warriors. Will no one aid us? Not likely, Ezmond said bitterly. Here. This gray suit is the same Flex-Silk we use in the playroom bonds. Its quite amazingly flexible steel-chain fabric, light but capable of repelling many blows. Embrian warriors dont resort to the cowardly technological shields of Ardentians. Ezmond pushed the suit at Hunters sand-cat chest. This Embrian will because I need an ally for as long as we both can stand. For Gizellas sake. Gods! What they even now may be doing Do not madden me further, Embrian. Suit yourself for bloody war and well be gone. In the end Ezmond had to show Hunter how the Flex-Silk armor sealed shut over his shoulders, ankles and wrists. Ezmond tossed two rapiers on the table, two broadswords and a thick black leather coil that wasnt a snake but a whip. Gizella Hunter faltered at her name. She said you were a master of the Silengian whip. I am, and I wish to the gods that Id taught you that useful skill. Ezmond hung the black coil over the heavy weapons belt at his hip around his own Flex-Silk suit. But
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youre a canny man with the rapier now, and well threaten every Embrian chest tattoo we see with our lightning blades. Thats their weakest point. Hunter nodded. His former unity with an Embrian us had irrevocably become them. This Ardentian aristocrat was his only fellow tribesman now. One more thing, Ardentian, he added. You may call me Lynx now. Ezmond froze, aware of a rare honor given when he heard it. Then he reached out to clasp HuntersLynxs forearm in the steely grip of warriors united in purpose. Brothers at arms. One in their love for Gizella and rage to reclaim her. Rivals united in the rewarding task of bringing her bliss and taking it from her. And you, he told Lynx, may call me Lord Ezmond. Lynx laughed, a short bark that ended in a growl. Lets go.

*****
The Ring was still hushed. All the Uncivils in Ardentia understood that the Embrians had breached the peace and Ardentia was too divided to resist. This time when Ezmond and Hunter broached Slinks shuttered door there was no answer. Their boot heels kicked in the door. Slink was waiting for them over his tray of glittering steel implements. So you came back, he said. I wasnt sure you would. I see you dress for war. You have no allies, no chance, no luck. What do you want? A guide to the Embrian camp, Hunter said. They will have moved it and you were always the desert fox. No Ardentian will help you? No one will help us but ourselves, Ezmond said. So it was when I first fled Embria. I was afraid then and I thought I was no longer afraid. Apparently I am, and I dont like it. Slink stood. He was armed now, with a battle-ax and an amazing kit of piercing implements suitable for throwing. I liked the lady, he said. Lets go.

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Chapter Thirty-Two
Deserted

Slink lived up to his name. He led them through the city gates undetected and then into the wastelands. Youre right. The Embrians will have moved their camp, he whispered against the dark velvet desert air. They understand that theyve violated the tacit truce of the Uncivil Lands toward Ardentia. They expect pursuit. More than you two. We three, Hunter reminded him. Slink chuckled. What a fools mission this is. I guess Ive lived long enough. Live, said Ezmond, dredging Slink up by the seams of his tunic. We need you, old man. Maybe Ill live long enough for the honor of tattooing your cock, Ardentian. For sure, Ezmond growled. If I still have a Gizella to appreciate it. Hunter answered. Enough negotiation. We must find them before we can free Gizella. Slink eyed Ezmond. They both knew that thered be much killing of Embrians before anyone would be freed, and perhaps Hunter had not yet accepted that fact. Ezmond eyed the Embrian in turn. He didnt expect to survive this night, but if Gizella did, and Hunter, thered be someone to love her after her grief drove her to the ground. If Gizella lived, unbrutalized, that would be enough.

*****
The desert was alive with rustles and hoots and strange slitherings. Slink shrugged under the light of two moons in flight. Ive been a city dweller for years, but I think theyve moved camp closer to the Wastelands. They know theyre outlaws to Ardentia now. Theyll leave the Uncivil Lands and the Ring to push outward. This meant the pursuers had to push themselves onward as well. The longer they pursued the Embrians, the more tired theyd be for the confrontation. Slink finally collapsed against an outcropping of rock. Theyll have stopped for the night, and we must too, or well be weathered dingo-dogs when we need to be sandcats.

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Ezmond nodded, pulling blocks of trail-gnaw from the provisioning backpack he carried. Hed expected a trek. Hunter growled refusal at any offer of food and withdrew from the others. He needs sustenance, Ezmond commented. No, said Slink. We Embrians fast for the entire time we are tattooed and awaiting our spirit-beast. Hunter runs best on hunger and a mind sharpened to receive the call of his spirit-beast. And what of your spirit-beast? Ive lived so long its become subdued within me. Not so Hunter. He has a wild side still, and perhaps his sojourn with Ardentian profligacy has raised it to an entirely new level of power. You still consider us profligate? I consider you in touch with your primitive souls as perhaps Embrians have forgotten how to be, even while priding themselves on that fact. As for Hunter Slink sighed. Only time will tell what both our misguided tribes have finally made of him. Ezmond settled down next to the old man, his warrior heart saddened. Hed fight to the death for Gizella, but that wasnt enough. She must be rescued. She must live to know again the joy shed had with him, even if he died. Hunter also must be spared, at any cost. As for Ardentia, it had proven shortsighted and craven, unworthy of anyones sacrifice. Especially his. Slink gazed at the star-spangled sky. The two moons, one full, one only a crescent, ruled the edges of their world, opposite in the night sky yet bold and bright in their own quarters. Its a good night to die, he said. Ezmond fingered the rapier hilt at his belt. Its a better night to kill.

*****
Now, Hunter said, bending down to the two sleeping men. Now? Slink asked, starting up. We dont know the direction of their camp. They do. Hunter looked over his shoulder. The two men followed his glance, their sluggish, night-chilled blood afire of a sudden. A pride of sand-cats surrounded them, still, inscrutable, fanged and clawed beasts called into a docile coven for the moment. Gods! said Ezmond. To Embrians, Hunter replied, yes. My boy, how in the name of the many gods did you call them? Slink asked, his teeth chattering.

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Hunter held out his forearms. The Flex-Silk steel hung in tatters from elbow to wrist while tracks of blood oozed onto the desert floor. I called. They came. We have a blood-bond. Gizella will be furious. Hunter grinned at Ezmond. Shell have time later to heal me and favor me and weep and kiss over me, time enough to make an Ardentian lord restless indeed. Ezmond leaped up. Ill personally hold open the Books of Bliss for you both if we three see Ardentia again. He eyed the eight sand-cats, their muscular shoulders hip-high, maned like Hunter. Now we have a force to put the Embrians to flight!

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Chapter Thirty-Three
Night of the Sacred Serpent

Gizella lay in a desert tentbound, dusty, choking on sand, hungry, hurting, frightened, worried and furious. Shed sensed the Embrians anger at her during the rough hours after her capture and kidnapping. She was the Ardentian whore whod corrupted their best and brightest, Hunter. Even they didnt call him Lynx. That she alone did damned her further. Ezmond had accustomed her to being regarded as beautiful and strong and precious. She was considered ugly and evil here, a corrupted vessel that could only redeem herself through a life, and death, of forced intercourse and child-bearing. Shed evaluated her captors and saw no hope. Hunter had called to her from the first, something noble about him, something of fellow feeling deep inside despite his brutal upbringing. If these men felt a scintilla of that, theyd stamped it out, quickly. It was vital to them that she be worthless, a despised and necessary tool for their survival. The hem of her robe held the usual stun-dagger. One small weapon against a camp of large men with large weapons. Well, the Books of Bliss had promised that one light touch could trigger a cataclysm. Although the saying had been in another context entirely. As for rescue? She didnt doubt that Ezmond and Hunter would be on her trail. But to what end? Ardentia had disowned them. The two men she loved most in the world were doomed to die in any effort to rescue her. So. Shed have to rescue herself before they got here to save her. Mercy was not a commodity in the Uncivil Lands. Guile and guts were. Ezmond believed her strong. Hunter had trembled at her touch until hed learned to treasure it. For them shed become a warrior. She, so agile in the pleasure bed, twisted her legs and arms around. Her fingers, cramping, worked the stun-dagger out of her hem. She used its cold lazer fire setting to melt her hempen bonds. No one must know. She lay there, listening to the Embrians tribal council meeting. There was dispute.

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To capture her, theyd abandoned their ancient lands, driving them all into the wilderness. They mourned their Lost Boys. Some wanted to return rampaging now and find them. Others wanted only to make more sons upon her helpless body. Little did they know that she was guarded against pregnancy. When they finally figured that out after months of daily brutal Embrian raping, theyd slay her and leave her for the jackals to eat. No one would know where her bones lay, and her beloved lovers would search the Wastelands over for some faint, unfindable trace of her. Her eyes wept for them. Gizella would lose her life twelve times over for them. But them lost, searching, not finding. Oh my dears. For one tear I could shed upon your beloved faces at the last Tears were surrender. Her beloveds would never surrender her. She wouldnt surrender them. All right. An Embrian approached, thinking that a tool might need oil. Food, water. He tiptoed into the tent as if she were a beast to leave sleeping. Bowls of dried jerky and water were left. She stared at them, wanting to reject, needing to live to destroy. A hissing sound hit her ears like the waterfall in the secret caves under Ezmonds villa, if there were still a villa, andgods be!an Ezmond. A spitting cobra slithered under the tent flaps. Gizella caught her breath and held it. It was a huge, six-foot-long red-black snake, silent and deadly. It slithered in that looping way of serpents that made them seem to be moving on air above the ground. She tightened her grip on the stun-dagger, set to sear. The serpent lifted up four feet from her, swaying from side to side, its dark tongue darting out. It must have hung in that hypnotic, hooded position for two minutes. It dropped back to earth and swayed away to coil around the water bowl and hiss once. In the dim tent, its curled form was invisible. The next Embrian who came to change the water was a dead man. Gizella eyed the serpents dark gleaming eyes. It showed its tongue in her direction, almost as a greeting. And then it settled its coils around itself in a lovely, ladylike train. A female cobra. A beautiful creature. Quite suited to entwine a warriors cock. And protect it. Not jealous like some Ardentian servant women. An ally with quick and deadly fangs. Gizella gazed back at it. In sisterhood. They knew whom they loved. And how they were loved. Neither woman nor beast could know more. They awaited the dawn together, armed and dangerous allies beneath the skin.

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Chapter Thirty-Four
Cats Claw

At dawns earliest light the three men crouched by a cluster of cats claw cactus, careful to avoid the long, toxic spears. Hunter had warned them of the poison. They dont expect Ardentians to pursue them here, Ezmond noted, for the camp was sleeping, except for a string of guards posted all around. They dont expect much of Ardentians, Hunter whispered back. Theyre fools, Slink said, to forsake the stone huts of their ancestors near the Ring for this, a circle of twenty crude tents. Theyre not thinking, Ezmond said, and thats to our advantage. They regard Gizella as a prize that all Ardentia will follow to claim. They dont know how blind and craven my kind is. Then well have the advantage of surprise, Slink said. Well need it. Ezmond pulled the first stun control from his belt. The plan was simple but would be effective. To a point. The three of them would fan out with the stun controls, able in the darkness to touch stunner to skin on most of the posted guards. The men would fall unconscious for perhaps an hour at the most. In the meantime, Hunter and Ezmond would have to down all comers while Slink searched the tents for Gizella. The two warriors would prefer to use stunners in hopes of a future truce, but the fact was that charging Embrian mercenaries would have to be engaged with fist and dagger and sword. Taking out the camps guards would only disable a dozen or so men. Ezmond and Hunter would still have dozens more to face. The sand-cats presence was a question mark. They followed Hunter but ignored Ezmond and Slink. Whether they would supply only a certain potential for awe or actual attack force was anybodys guess. Who knew what a cat thought? You know the call to give when you find Gizella? Ezmond asked Slink. The desert-wizened old man nodded. Then we go, he said. Their boots on sand sounded loud to their ears, but desert-dwellers were used to the scrape of lizard and snake scales over the terrain. Hunter and Ezmond split and rejoined on the camps opposite end in a mere ten minutes, nodding at each other. No guards stood upright and awake.

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The rising sun far below the roots of the Rim Mountains was just now tinting the horizon a discernible midnight blue. Slink lived up to his name. He must be moving toward the tents, but they heard nothing except the sudden snore of a sleeping Embrian. The two men circled the camp again, ever inward, able to stun a few sleepers before the devices charges ran out. The stun-daggers had been designed for quick and dirty urban melees, not taking out an entire camp. Resorting to fist and club, they left another circle of unconscious men in their wake. The dawn was drawing a pale blue line along the mountaintops and shadows now had details. Stealth would not long favor the invaders. The low whine of a jackal chirred through what was left of the night. An Embrian cursed and threw a stone. Hunter and Ezmond hastened as quietly as possible toward the sound, Slinks signal. They spied the likely tent, but a tall moving figure was even now bending to enter it. They froze where they were, all hopes of finding Gizella and slipping away with her before the light fading.

*****
It was lightening enough for Gizella to see the mans figure darken the tents entire entrance. The jackals are calling for your blood, Ardentian woman, he said. Or yours. Do you speak jackal? Gizella didnt move to show that she was free. No one was stirring yet. What did this man want? Theyll cast lots for your body today, and every man will have a turn because every man here was robbed by the theft of our sons. Youd do yourselves a better turn searching for your lost sons than dallying with me like city-bred men. This is not dallying. This is vengeance. We know the debased Ardentians treasure their women and the acts of lingering with them. I wish to be the first Embrian to plough you like bitter earth and cast you aside as soon as my seed is planted. Youd be the first to treat me so brutally, but not the first Embrian to plough me. The man gritted his teeth and snorted with fury. That traitor, Hunter! We will tear him apart for the jackals to dine on. Dont mistake this for lust, woman. This is hatred. I bring woe and hurt. That you have brought down our finest, that Hunter surrendered all that is Embrian for a taste of you He strutted toward her, his hands tearing at the trousers at his crotch. Apparently hatred and vengeance were stimulating. Gizella glimpsed a coppercolored cock head rising in the light as three things, no four, happened simultaneously.
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She rose up, her stun-dagger held out to sting his cock. The cobra lifted from around the water dish and struck like Ezmonds Silengian whip to fasten on the mans suede-clad thigh. Another man slipped under the back of the tent to hurl a scalpel blade toward the attackers neck. And two shadows filling the tent opening struck him in the chest with knives. He went down, as did his exposed cock, both dead. Gods! Slink breathed. I believe I could call that overkill. Gizella! Ezmond rushed toward her, Hunter on his heels. Im all right, she whispered. A dark long belt eeled under the tent side. What was that? Hunter asked, tensing. Gizella couldnt resist running her hand down his center to his Flex-Silk guarded crotch. My personal night guard. A spitting cobra. Your victim was dead before you and Ezmond struck him. You can pet his cobra to your hearts content later, Ezmond said. We may still be able to steal away from camp undetected. Lets go. Out the back like the snake. All four turned as one to do just that. A sudden slicing sound surrounded them. The tent began collapsing around them. The entrance! Quick! Hunter bellowed. He and Ezmond swept Gizella and Slink out with them. Just in time. The tent crashed to the ground, hides and poles behind them, interring one dead Embrianand exposing the escapees to a circle of perhaps seventy upright and murderous Embrians basking in the first golden rays of Mother Sun. Ezmond didnt hesitate. Before Embrian arms could lift weapons, hed seized his whip from its coiled place on his hip. Its long snake of black hide was curling around weapons and jerking them from hands and slashing across foreheads so the copious flow of blood from head wounds blinded the men. Hunter waded in to knock reeling, blood-blinded men unconscious with his fists while Slink came behind applying a club to any flailing bare limbs he could both avoid and dart out to touch. Gizella stood her ground, using her stun-dagger on any man who managed to elude the others. There were enough to keep her circling constantly, stabbing out. She saw Ezmond and Hunter in hand-to-hand combat with the thirty-some Embrians still standing. She moved to rush to their aid, small as her stun-daggers contribution would be, and almost fell. She looked down at what impeded her and then froze.

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Sand-cats! A circle around her as high as her waist. Any Embrian who eluded Hunter and Ezmond came for her, understanding that she was their attackers prize, no matter how despised by themselves. And any Embrian who charged her saw the pride of huge cats making a moat of fang and claw and low, warning growls around her. Hunter had stopped, failing to raise his weapons. Gizella, now safe in her circle of sand-cats, sensed where Ezmond and he were at any moment. Why wasnt Hunter moving? Survival here depended on swift action. Oh my love Gizella tried to wade past the hundreds of pounds of surrounding sand-cat flesh, but she was their prisoner, protected to death. Hunters death. Oh gods, no! She stabbed at the sand-cats with her stun-dagger, but she might as well have been tickling them for all the notice they paid. Their hypnotic hmmmm increased in loudness, driving her to put her palms to her ears. She screamed but knew no one heard. Not even Hunter. His huge silhouette was stilled. And then he lifted his maned head, his form seeming to shift, the shoulders more massive, and the thighs too, if that was possible. The infinitesimal Flex-Silk steel rings split open in jagged lines and fell to the desert sand in a ringing metal rain. Bare, Hunters hips and stomach looked leaner, as if corseted. His copper skin was glowing as amber as his eyes under a sprouting tawny coat of fur. A long tufted tail that swung between his taut muscular buttocks lashed the sands into a mini-monsoon. He turned, flaunting a thick tuft of genital fur lifted by a raging erection. Gold rings still glinted from the top nipples and cock head. A lover would notice those alterations most, and Gizella did. Apparently sand-cats were even better endowed than Embrians. Gods, she whispered as the sand-cats purrs all around her rose to the monotonous level of monkish chants. Hunter resembled a statue of the animal-headed gods in Ardentias museum of Wasteland ruins. Not fully animal, not fully man, but some stunning, fearful meld of both. Hunter lifted his blunt, fanged face and roared out a challenge before wading into Embrians on his hind legs, swiping them aside with the clawed might of his huge paws. It had happened so fast that only Gizella had seen and grasped the change. Ezmond was fighting hard with his back to Hunter, the mass of Embrians pushing inexorably closer. Sand-cats! one Embrian warrior cried, falling to his knees at the back of the circling warriors. The sand-cats have not only been called and have answered, but One among us has shifted, as not in a thousand years! Called. Shifted. The words echoed, taken up by one Embrian voice after another.

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The grunt and clash of battle waned. Embrians fell before Hunter voluntarily, awestruck, giving no resistance. Some bowed their foreheads to the sand, hoping for mercy and not willing to see death in his majestically maned face and the clawed clubs that his arms and hands had become. Ezmond turned, puzzled, lost in a bloody battle haze and abandoned by his foes. And then he saw what Hunter had become. His spirit-beast had claimed him. He was half man, half cat, not merely Embrian any longer. Not merely Gizellas barbarian any longer. Even Slink had fallen to his knees, exhausted and shocked. Gizella couldnt have fallen if shed wanted to, despite her fatigued, watery joints and pounding heart. She was held upright by all that furred, now purring, feline bone and muscle. She lifted a hand, pure bravado, and touched her palm to the warm furred head of a sand-cat. Its massive jaws opened in a fanged snarl at the surrounding Embrians. It was as if she had cued the huge cat. They were her allies and protectors. And that was that.

*****
The aftermath was simple. Embrians worshipped their spirit-beasts, all creatures of the Wastelands. Never had a spirit-beast, beasts, abandoned custom and come to the Embrians. It was told since the days of the Before Memory that Embrians once had become one with their spirit-beasts. That was the legend. Now Legend walked among them, an angry god they had offended. He was Man-Cat, drawn into the ancient shift because of their unworthiness and foolish pride. A spirit-beast in the flesh, infuriated by their attempt to revenge their wrongs on an innocent Ardentian woman. Lynx, they began hailing him one by one. Lynx. His spirit-beast name was no longer secret and sacred, it was as open to daylight as the desert and the great cats who began melting away into the landscape that hid and housed them. Slink had come to support Gizella because Ezmond and Lynx were surrounded by Embrian warriors offering truce instead of death. That I should live to see such a day, Slink chortled and wheezed from his scrawny chest. I knew that was my finest tattoo. So you take credit for this wonder. The old man shrugged. A little. He eyed her slyly. But its mostly your fault. Mine?
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Only extraordinary need could have allowed Lynx to draw on this buried talent. I always felt the lad would go far, he said, but who wouldve dreamed it would have taken a woman to accomplish it? Gizella didnt answer. Lynx had stepped so far from her in less than an hour. The stunned Embrians on the fringes began awakening to find a new order and leader in place. Defeat had come to look like triumph, battle a mere war game, now over. Gizella winced to see Lynxs bloody golden-haired forepaws, but the Embrians gazed hungrily upon the cat tracks as a sign of the spirit-beasts favor as much as his maned head and blunt-nose features, his twitching tail and potent cock that did not subside. Of course theyd take pain and injury for a sign from their gods, Gizella thought sourly, aching for her Soothz and trying to reconcile having mated so ecstatically with a semi-beast. Lynx was acclaimed their leader. All Embrian eyes fell to the ground as he came to lead her back to Ezmond. They couldnt look her in the eyes, the Ardentian woman the sand-cats had anointed as worthy of spirit-beast protection. Yet they bowed to her and put hands on heart. Once the fire of victory had been properly stoked, the sand-cat tattoo took shape again on Lynxs feline chest fur. Within a moment of the designs reemergence, Lynx was all smooth hairless flesh and manly muscle again. Fully human. Gizella feltlike a means, not an end. Lynx was clearly the new leader of his tribe, not one to ever be led by her errant desires again. She watched him assume this role with pride and despair. Ezmond had said itwe didnt realize what we released from those prison chains. Lynx ordered the Embrians to return to their old lands and encampment. He promised them that hed find their lost sons and soon. Then he rejoined his Ardentian allies. The four from Ardentia, laden with water bags and food pouches, left the camp as the Embrians began packing to return home. The moment they were out of sight of the camp, Gizella dropped her bags and seized one of Lynxs bloody forearms. Theyre both in ribbons! How could you let this happen? And no Soothz until a days march! Her heart was pounding with the loss she foresaw. How could a mere woman belabor a demi-god like this? This god liked it. Lynxs yellow eyes warmed at her angry, anxious fussing. The sand-cats are only slightly more savage than you, Ardentian lady, when you get your claws into a man. Slink sniggered, but Ezmond was digging in his belt pack until he brought out a supply of Soothz. I brought these for you, Gizella, but apparently youre better at applying this than needing it.

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The bonds barely bruised my wrists and I know how to work with them, not against them. Ezmond laughed heartily. The Books of Bliss have never before been considered a self-defense guide, but were breaking many customs and taboos here. Why not that? Gizella smiled as she slathered Lynxs arms in Soothz lozenges. Were all still anathema in Ardentia. Ezmond wasnt worried. Until Lynx finds the stolen Embrian boys. In Ardentia. Gizella gazed at Ezmond, her face softening. Im glad youre not wounded, but Ill find many reasons to give you much special tending anyway. His eyes held hers as a world of worry and want flashed between them. Any tending of yours is special, he said. ButLynx! She rounded on him again, strong emotion needing public expression until she could give free reign to it privately. You are far more than I, weever dreamed, but you promised your tribe the Lost Boys. Ezmond, you say theyre in Ardentia, not the Wastelands. Who? What? Our enchanted Lynx must make good on his promises. Slink eased over to take her elbow. We wont know, will we? Unless you three stop your tending and eye-gazing and making vague amorous promises and get back to Ardentia? Get back home. Oh Slink! I wish it were home. But after whats happened After what has happened, Lynx repeated, taking her arm as Ezmond took the other one. He was fully human again, but she had to fight a wild female sand-cat notion of mating with his unhuman side. Ardentia will never be the same, Lynx promised. Nor Embria. Nor I. Nor Ezmond. Nor you, my lady. And we all will see to that.

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Chapter Thirty-Five
Tables Turned

The villa was quiet but not deserted. Even the servants had not been welcomed elsewhere in Ardentia, so they clung here, to what was familiar, and rejoiced like children greeting parents when Gizella and Ezmond returned. Surprised, but glad. Such loyalty spoke well of them all. There was no time for rest. Lynx strode around the reception room, his forearms still bloody but the flesh underneath healing already. Tell the Supreme Council that the Embrian ambassador requests a meeting. Who will tell them? Ezmond asked. Gizella and I are disowned. Slink will do. Me? Im just a shopkeeper in the Ring. The wiry old man looked both appalled and pleased. Youre now my aide. And you know enough of Ardentian manners to approach these noble lords and ladies, Lynx said, his tongue using a sardonic twang hed learned from Ezmond. Tell them Im the newly acclaimed leader of Embria and its ambassador, and that we have a grievance toward Ardentia for sheltering the kidnappers of Embrian boys. And that the Embrians will not return to guard their walls until we meet. And that I will only treat with Ezmond and Gizella on this matter. Id rather face a sand-cat, Slink said. You do, Lynx said, letting the mans glance fall to his own tattoo of the beast in question on Lynxs broad chest, reminding Slink of the living ones that had come to Lynxs call in the desert. And of his living sand-cat self. And that was that.

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Chapter Thirty-Six
Lost and Found

Ezmond was chuckling almost silently in the dark streets of the Ring, crouched beside Lynx. Slink was beside them along with two dozen of Ardentias leather-tightclad young bucks clustered behind them. This is no laughing matter, Lynx growled. It will be, Ezmond said, but first we must fight. Lynx nodded his heavy, braided mane. Behind him, hands clasped hilts tighter. The Ardentian bloods he and Ezmond commanded were eager for adventure but knew little of the brutal realities. With luck, this raid would be over swiftly, with no loss of life. Lynx nodded. Slink prodded the first dozen Ardentians to spread out to the right behind Ezmond. The others, and Slink, followed Lynx toward the looming one-story building girded around with barred windows and doors. Lynx stepped back, his huge broadsword cocked at his shoulder, as the ancient Embrian applied a wire-fine saw to the bars. The action was nearly soundless. In a quarter hour Slinks strong arm and shoulder muscles had sawn through five bars. He stood back as Lynx lifted a booted foot and kicked through the bars and the wooden door behind them. Everything gave with a crash. Lynx led his men through the breach, knocking down guards with the left and right swing of the flat of his sword. From within came screams and grunts and the rat-like scurry of startled flight. Lynx and company pressed into the long central hall between cells whose ironbarred doors swung open. The only guards had been in the anteroom, and they hadnt been guards but brigands. Lynx had recognized Valerias minions. The Ring prison had changed hands since hed first encountered Gizella and Ezmond in the bandit hideaway. The prisoners had been running the place for almost that long. It was a fortress they were storming, not a prison. Curses and the clash of metal erupted at the long narrow buildings other end. The resident rats were discovering their alternate exit was plugged by Ardentians with swords and the appetite to wield them, the formidable Ezmond at their forefront. It wasnt long before the escaping mob had retreatedback into the bite of Lynxs sword.

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He happily slashed Valerias red hair off at the ear on one side then kicked her retreating butt so hard she slammed into one stone wall and slithered down the wall onto her ass. A bronze-maned woman sprang forward to take her place, but Slink tackled her below and Lynxs sword nested at her throat until she too fell back, glaring hatred. The Ardentian lads jingled chains as they bound the women, some of them squeaking with shock and pain as the warrior women surprised them with stinging daggers and snapping teeth. Still, the women had been taken by surprise. Ezmond passed through them unmolested, eyeing them with interest. Weve bottled them all between us, he reported. No men present besides Valerias followers. And the Lost Boys? Lynx asked. Ezmond paused to look down at Valeria, who spat at him like a cobra. One of the common cells, I imagine, he said. He prowled the hallway, finally looking back at Lynx and nodding. Ambassador? If youd be so kind. The chained women snapped at Lynxs boot ankles as he passed between them. He recognized those impotent lashing-outs from his own early captivity and smiled grimly. The Lost Girls had a lot to learn. And teach. They would do it in Ardentia, under his supervision. Meanwhile He moved into the doorway Ezmond had entered. Fourteen boys. Boys, not men. Slender, awkward, fighting to show no fear but riddled with it. Lynx had argued long and hard before the Ardentian Council before it had reluctantly accepted his plan with Ezmonds and Gizellas vowed support. Youll return to Embria, unharmed, he told the kidnapped boys. They gazed up at him with awe. He was an Embrian warrior, after all. What they all wished to be. What he would see to it that they didnt become, not without adjustments. We have a new treaty with Ardentia, he told them. You will spend half the year with these women. Groans and mutters. We dont need women! one piped. Yes, piped. His voice had not yet changed. Too bad, Lynx answered. Embria needs women. Embria will welcome the Lost Girls. Never! cried another. They are girls and abominable and weak and useful only for breeding us boys. And they smell bad, added one taller than the others.

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So you think, Lynx said. You will find that your elders have had a change of mind and heart. Women have magical powers we men should aspire to. They are potent in ways beyond our mere muscle and sinew. We need them. Ardentians and Embrians. You will see. Meanwhile, these Ardentian troops will escort you back to Embria. The boys struggled to their feet and into the hall then hesitated to see the women whod been their jailors lined up bound along the walls. One bit his lower lip. Another eyed Gizellas Tasheeta with an anxious look. They all gazed at Lynx, lost. These ladies are so concerned for your betterment that they became a bitungoverned. You will see them again. It is decreed. Where? a trembling tenor asked. In Embria, of course. The womens faces, anguished and angry at the same time, grew shocked. Lynx watched Slink lead half the Ardentian men and the Lost Boys out of the prison. Gizella, dressed in leathers and boots, appeared at the prisons other end. Uncivil women, welcome to a new day. Youll see your lost sons again. A truce between Embria and Ardentia will make certain of it. The women scowled. We are prisoners, Tasheeta called out, no matter what you promise us. And prisoners you shall remain, Gizella said in a voice certain yet consoling, until you are willing to cast off the bonds of blind hate you share with the Embrian men. I think its possible, and I think youll see that soon enough. Ezmond, standing next to Lynx, shook his head. I admire Gizellas hopes and faith, but the Lost Girls have too many just grievances against the men of Embria to ever make peace with them. I agree, said Lynx. Ezmond raised an eyebrow. You take issue with our adored Gizella? Not at all, Ardentian. She is right. And what will make it right, in good time, is what the Embrian men will have learned from me, their new Changeling leader and demi-god. You enjoy that role. So I have been taught to by an Ardentian lady. Ezmond frowned. What can anything you may do or say accomplish to end such a bitter war between men and women as has existed in Embria for centuries? Its very simple, Ardentian. Lynx folded his arms and gazed down on Ezmond with his own raised eyebrow.

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Before we left them, I told my fellow Embrians that I was able to shift forms to that of my spirit-beast because I had consorted with an alien female in luxurious, long, loving, sexual congress. I said that our ancient tradition of abhorring women has made us impotent, unable to invoke our spirit-beasts. They are leery, but all mad to shapeshift and will use any means to accomplish that. Youll need to translate your Books of Bliss into an Embrian mode as soon as possible. It will encourage them to learn to read and can be adapted to help them overcome their inbred revulsion for women and erotic acts. Ezmond stood speechless. For once. Dont look so startled. I am Lynx. I will help you. Lynx narrowed his eyes at the disgruntled, rebellious warrior women the Ardentians prodded to rise and follow Gizella out. What I told the Embrian men may even be the truth. The real problem, he said, will be taming these ferocious Lost Girls. Gizella has her work cut out for her. But its important, Ezmond answered. The Izonian monks in the Rim Mountains sent a message just now that the mountain apes are massing into large groups for protection. I fear something wicked is gathering to come our way. Uniting the Uncivils begins with a truce between Embrians and the women they have claimed to produce only sons and then cast out. Thats a daunting task. Ezmond eyed Lynx sideways. But you know Gizella. She loves to conquer a challenge. She also loves a challenge to conquer her, Lynx said. You know Gizella. You mock me, Ezmond said, surprised. And intrigued. Lynx punched him on the shoulder, hard. Perhaps Ive adopted Ardentian ways too well, Lord Ezmond Reve-Lezane. Come, we can discuss this further in the practice room. Its time for you to learn to dance to the thunderous tune of an Embrian broadsword. Ezmond froze to note the challenging glint in Lynxs amber eyes and his own provocative interpretation of the Embrians words.

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Chapter Thirty-Seven
To Come Upon a Kiss

You promised me, Ezmond said, special attention when all the fuss was over. Gizella smiled at him then really looked him over, from dark-haired head to booted toe and everything in between, all of it beloved and tantalizing. She came close, whispering, What would you like, my love? Recording 384? Something new? Something very new. She lifted an eyebrow. His trademark gesture. He lifted one back. With Lynx. Oh. Her heart was suddenly pounding between her legs. The Embrian leader still desires to see me? One would hope so. Where? At the Council? Hes waiting. Where? In the playroom. There? How? How you like him. She swallowed as she thought. Everything had changed, but some things hadnt. And you, my love, later? How you like me. She leaned to unfasten the hooks on his leather jacket, push his shirt open and loosen the laces of his leather tights until he groaned. Her body was taut liquid satin, pulsing. Her mouth moved down him from throat to crotch, over soft hair and hardmuscled flesh and especially over a hardened cock. There she murmured, her mouth on his manhood, And how do I like you, Ezmond? In the palm of your hand and your heart and your mouth and your cunt. And Lynx? In Recording 384, as youve never seen him. Both of you? Mine to claim, to claim me? Despite all thats happened? Always, my love. Even the Books of Bliss dont offer such paradise.
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We shall all have to write a new chapter. The Book of Gizella. Thats an ancient and practiced text. Ill have to be very innovative to add anything to its wisdom. He reached down to raise her up against him and unfasten her gown down the center so they were warm flesh to flesh. Gizella purred deep in her throat. Well help you. But first, I give Lynx his due. Hes come so far and risked so much. Tell him I send you to him with my envy and my blessings. He pulled her close for a deep, enchanting kiss, his tongue better at fucking than most mens cocks. He knew how to insinuate it slowly and drink deep then tickle the entire inside of her mouth with relentless strokes. Then his tongue would harden like a dagger tip and drive for the soft tissues of her throat while one hand positioned her neck for total entry and the other pushed fingers inside her. Her cunt and throat would flutter and seize together. Hed draw his tongue slowly out as her orgasmic scream began, watching her with heavy eyelids while his own climax claimed him. They leaned against each other for a pulse-pounding time. My separate moments will come soon enough, love, but this is Lynxs first time at playing out an amorous encounter from the Book of Bliss. Make it a memorable chapter.

*****
The Embrian stood bound against the wall. He was huge, strong. Half naked. He was a god to his people, and here he was all hers. And liked it. His hands were fisted and bound above his broad shoulders. His bound legs were spread wide yet strong enough to maintain that position effortlessly. That was excellent. She wanted him open to her, his body her playground, for a good, long time. She moved toward him, an Ardentian lady whose gown had already been unfastened by another man who understood how inflaming that fact would be to the man against the wall, his nipple, navel and cock rings heavy and gold against his smooth, copper-colored hairless skin. His chest wore the tattooed face of a snarling sand-cat; his center was tattooed with its tail, which vanished into his leather tights. You must have let Ezmond bind you, she said, surprised. His face deepened to a terra cotta color of embarrassment. It was necessary to surprise you. She came closer, ran one forefinger over the criss-cross of leather crotch lacings that held in his cock. Lynx groaned at her delicate touch and shut his eyes. I am surprised, she told him. Do you like that? It was worth watching the look of apprehension on your face turn to joy and then desire. What did you think, that I wouldnt want this anymore?
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Youre a god to your people now. Ive been a god here longer. I know youve come to worship my body, Gizella. She smiled. Youve converted to the Books of Bliss. You see that you are the one truly in control here. She went to the central console and pulled a section out of the base, which she carried and set near the wall in the center of Lynxs splayed legs. He watched with edgy curiosity. I need you out of those tights, she explained, but, of course, the side seals would be far too fast and easy. Undressing a lover should be slow, sweet torment, and youve come to crave slow, sweet torment, havent you? He swallowed hard as she knelt on the stool, which brought her face level with his crotch, and then growled a little. Gods, yes, but get on with it! Please. She put her hands behind her back, staring at his crotch. Another day Id like you to tie my hands behind me like this with your crotch lacing and then let me make love to your naked body for as long as I can without you climaxing, or I. Gizella! I am next to climaxing now. No. Hold it back. Can you do that for me, Lynx? Isnt that what all good boys learned to do in Embria? He made another sound of almost animal frustration. She slowly moved her lips to kiss the black leather then drew them back from her teeth and pulled the first lacing end loose of its knot. Lynx sucked in a deep breath, drawing his stomach below his ribs almost concave, in contrast to the cock swelling hard against the lacings. Gizella nibbled and pulled at the lacings. He thrust his pelvis forward to give her greater access, threw his head back against the wall, moaning low until it became a kind of sensual purr. She even felt a slight vibration in the cock behind the lacings. She pulled the lacing free of the first hole and glanced up. Lynx was gorgeous. His tautened stomach muscles emphasized his lean flanks and waist beneath the powerful upper body. His bronze braids fell over the broad shoulders, and his closed eyes and gently panting open mouth was a portrait of nigh-orgasmic pleasure. Shed like to see a statue of him looking thusand it was possible to have one made from a recorder image. She murmured such pleasure at the thought that her throaty thrum must have reached his cock because he tossed his head to face the other side like one demented with pleasure. Gizella, he breathed, opening his golden eyes to look down at her teeth untethering his cock inch by inch. You are my wild, wanton sand-cat queen.

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She saw that his expanding black pupils were vertical, not round, but the desire in their expression was the same as ever, maybe even more. She bit deeper along the lacing to pull it farther free, worrying hard enough to jerk at his pelvis then pulling again, harder. His sides were heaving now and his groans were constant. She bit at the leather fly already revealed, tearing it back and away from his cock. This would go better, she admonished, if your cock were not so thick and full. It keeps me from getting a clean grip on the lacings. My cock wouldnt be so thick and full it you werent worrying at it like an Ardentian wildcat. He took a deep breath that made his cock swell hard against her mouth, making her moan in turn. Gizella, stop. Thats an Ardentian word. A sand-cat queen doesnt recognize such commands. She savagely ripped two inches of lacing free on the left side, rewarded by a mighty gasp above her. Gizella, really. I must warn you. She kissed her way down the remaining fly lacings then sat back to look up at him and listen. Your face, he said instead. Its so beautiful. That is what was so urgent that I must stop my assault on your cock? Lynx blinked his eyes shut. I have to tell you, confess. I dont need to know. The word confess terrified her. What was he about to say? That a non-Embrian, a non-feline, couldnt play with his private parts anymore now that he was a god to his people? I must tell you how my spirit-beast came to me. This sounds like a story and therefore long. May I stand, Ambassador? Of course. As she did, his face relaxed from an expression of extreme sexual heat to one of fond love. That night we slept in the desert before attacking the Embrian camp to free you, I went apart from the others. She listened. I was consumed by two destructive feelings. Utter rage at those whod taken and threatened you was one. The strength and fury of tenno, twentymen primed me to tear asunder any Embrian unlucky enough to cross my path. And I simultaneously feltutter fear. Three men cant defeat a hundred warriors. Two and a half men, if you consider Slink. Yet if we didnt take you back, and if you were not despoiled, hurt, dead already

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At any rate, I threw my furious, fearful soul to the winds. I abandoned myself to the treacherous desert, flung out my legs and arms and lay there, open to any venomous night creature that wanted to walk over me and leave me with a killing stingscorpion, lizard, snake. I lay there in total submission to fate. Gizella had listened to Lynx with growing horror. Shed been fearful that night, lying bound in that tent, and she was sure that Slink had been shaking in his city-made shoes. Ezmonds forehead wouldve been furrowed with endless thoughts of strategy and a realists fear of being too late. But Lynx had been in agony, physical and spiritual agony. No wonder the sand-cats found him! Thats when I realized, he went on, that I also felt free in ways other than I was used to. Id forsaken the illusion of being able to make events and men bend to my needs and desires. I and my wants were small in a world that was huge. And then I felt not only calm, but I was absorbing the movement of the desert wind over my body, I was becoming part of the silence as the screaming in my head subsided. My sacred snake stirred and rose up to the dark night sky, seeking the light of the two moons that never meet. And thats when the sand-cat females came to me, he said, confirming her speculations. They gathered around me, silent as love come stealing. And each came forward to leave her mark in my forearms. It wasnt a four-claw strike from each one, but a delicate blooding, each huge cat using only one claw. Its just that there were so many. It didnt hurt. Or if it did, that only told me I was still alive. They each touched a sand-thistle tongue to the head of my cock before they drew away into a circle around me. I understood then that I, we, had allies. Gizella was so amazed that she ran her fingertips up Lynxs bound forearms, copper-smooth and unscarred now, thanks to Ardentian Soothz. He purred at her touch. Yes. Purred. He whod been so inarticulate during lovemaking for so long. I just wanted to warn you, Gizella, that if you engage my emotions and desires too much, if you tease my heart and body with all that youre capable of doing, I might not be able to stop it. My spirit-beast may manifest again, may master me, and you. I know hed want you as much, if not more, than I do. Lynx lowered his eyes, refusing to look at her any longer as he spoke more. You came here afraid that my unprecedented shifting into my spirit-beasts soul would make me too elevated to love you. I can see now that my new shifting ability doesnt make me a god, but it makes me a very unreliable lover for an Ardentian lady. I am feeling now the same ecstatic transported effect that I felt in the desert. Are you ready to face and fuck a true sand-cat, lady? Gizella took a deep breath. Lynx was saying that the heat of their lovemaking might evoke his spirit-beast. She remembered the first time he penetrated her in the prison cell, when she had wondered if she fucked the fierce sand-cat tattoo on his chest as much as the man who wore it.

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That could come true now. At any moment. She stepped as close as she could into the warmth of his body, into the smooth, hairless muscled chest whose slopes and valleys her fingers never tired of exploring. She felt his body heat meeting hers, melding and flaring. She put her hand over his heart to feel its beat leap to a faster rhythm. Her hair was brushing his skin, making him sigh with want. She pushed forward to kiss the tattooed sand-cats fanged mouth. She imagined this lovely sensual landscape of skin becoming all fur, yellow-red fur with copper highlights. Did you know, she asked softly, without looking up, that your spirit-beasts cock was tattooed in the form of a spitting cobra, despite the great tuft of thick coppery hair guarding it? Still tattooed? You saw that? And that I glimpsed three, perhaps four, sets of nipples marching up its furred belly and chest? He was silent, his breath held. You were right to warn me, Lynx. An amorous encounter with a shape-shifted sand-cathalf man, half beastwould be a totally new and unexpected experience. For one thing, Iyouwewould need extra nipple rings made in that eventuality. She ran her hands down his sides from his pebble-hard nipples to his hips then put her lips to his left nipple, sucking hard until she had almost no breath left. For another, she said, her aqua eyes sparkling with mischief, you can see that Id have so much more to pay attention to. And I probably couldnt take your balls into my mouth then. Too furry. But on the other hand, theyd feel so good that Im sure I couldnt keep my hands off them for long periods of time when Id be petting and squeezing and stroking them. I might even have to give them undignified, ungodlike pet names Fuzzy, for instance, and Stop! he cried. Stop, debauched, mad Ardentian! He was half laughing, half moaning with excitement. You glimpsed many intimate parts of my shifted self during the heat of battle. I was already thinking of the heat of bed, my love. Dont you know by now that we Ardentians crave and celebrate variation? He lowered his mouth to the top of her head and whispered into her hair, I do like you gnawing at my crotch lacings like a sand-cat. You might enjoy the reverse as well. Do you want me to return to the task at hand? she asked, smiling and kneeling again. His cock had pushed the top lacings totally free and was expanding the lower ones. And if a sand-cat comes to call, dont worry, she reassured him. I will welcome him with openeverything. But the sand-cat held off. By the time her mouth freed his cock, it was a risen and striking spitting cobra with a gold ring in its mouth, cock and balls contained by the

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leather bands of a cock cradle shed commissioned for him and taught him to wear and want. While he held quiet and dead still with expectation, she threaded a golden chain through his cock ring and up to the navel, through the nipple rings and back down to the navel and then finally back to the cock, which pulsed with excitement. Then she pushed the control device that stretched his arms and his legs wider until he moaned at the ecstasy of this relentless sexual tension, and watched her with hungry, eager, amber eyes dilated to the deepest black of desire. Her untamed desert sand-cat craved a very thorough petting. Gizella felt her body and emotions melting like candle wax. That big Embrian cock was welcome to push into her anywhere it could. But before she could swoon with desire for him, Lynx needed her in command to show him the Ardentian way of driving a lover to delirium, sand-cat be damned! She came close and ran her hands over him everywhere. He twisted and shuddered his powerful torso to push into her touches and stretch his pierced pleasure points against the chains, murmuring her name until she stretched up to silence him with her mouth. She finally pulled her tongue free to lave his chained nipple rings and the hard brown eyes of the sand-cat. He quivered everywhere as she moved her hand to tease the head of the cobra. She was breathing as hard as him, and fought to reclaim her speech. This snake of yours came to the tent to protect me in the desert, you know. This snake of mine will always come to you, he said in a husky voice. He was bursting to come now but she wouldnt quite let him. Not yet. Not until the swelling and pulsing excitement between her legs couldnt withstand another instant without him there. No, Lynx. It was your actual spirit-snake who came to my tent. She was very powerful and beautiful and loyal. She? He was gazing down at her with besotted love and extreme erotic satisfaction, but he still sounded mildly affronted to have his cocks gender feminized. She, Embrian ambassador, who serves now at my command. Gizella ran both her hands down his straining cock and bent to touch her tongue to the tip, as quick and lightly as a serpent. She tasted the stinging spice of his pre-come and felt a rush so exquisite she took a moment to catch her breath. Only a female serpent would desire to twine such a splendid cock so tightly, she whispered to the organ in question, to keep it safe and close within her coils. Gizella purred like a sand-cat queen. This is hers. This is mine. This is ours. Now do you see? Yes, he almost hissed the word, his body writhing against the playful chains that excited him beyond endurance.

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Mine, she repeated, moving her mouth over as much of it as she could encompass, stretching her jaws wide like a loving serpent to devour him. His torso arched like a bow as his muscles braced for an explosive release when she finally decided let him have it. He murmured her name again, and finally the magic words, Please, my lady. She lifted her head, delaying the moment yet again so the flames in her own loins could lash up higher. Be still and be fucked. His eyes closed and then opened as he heard his own harsh yet thrilling words come back at him. For a long, long time, she whispered. Can you do that for me, Lynx? His moan was tortured, tortured by the promise of unending pleasure at her hands. The sand-cat had not yet appeared, but it surely would someday soon with a furnace of such desert fire burning daily. And that was just the beginning of that.

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Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ezmond Now and Then

Thank you, Gizella told Ezmond when he came to her bedchamber that night. He came tentatively, still armed, easing into the shadowy light of the flickering candelabras, perhaps not sure shed be there. Hed been hammering home a few unpleasant truths to the Supreme Council, unaware of what had happened between her and Lynx, and if it was over for now. If he was even welcome. He no longer recorded and watched them. There was no need. Unless they wanted him to see. For what? he asked. Cautious. For everything. For now. For then. What do you mean by now and then? He was so heartbreakingly tentative, for Ezmond. He had given up much of her. He must get much more of her back for that. You came to my parents villa frequently the year before you attained your Selfship. Yes, of course. When I turned eighteen at Selfship, Id join the Supreme Council to represent Clan Phoenix. Your father was Council head then and was initiating me into the protocols. I hadnt noticed you yet, more fool I. Id noticed you. You did? You couldnt have been fourteen yet! Thirteen. I was still in my pre-pubescent white short skirts with my hair braided tight to my head. Hmmm, Ezmond responded to her offhand self-depiction by stroking a hand through her long, loose hair. You were still beautiful, Id wager. I must have been blind. You, Ezmond Reve-Lezane, she said fondly if a bit tartly, were already the amazingly adept and prized lover of many adult Ardentian women. Your amatory exploits were as spectacular and notorious as your swordsmanship. I was awkward and self-conscious and am very glad today that you dont remember me then, Gizella added. But I especially remember the day when you returned directly from a duel in the Central Wilds. Ezmond frowned then laughed. I remember now. What a hothead I was then! Merely eighteen. Id dueled two Clan Scorpion scions at once and won. I was so cocky

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that Id scheduled the duel before an appointment with your father, assuming Id win. And I did, by the luck of the rash. You remember that very day? I remember you arriving, wearing a black shirt instead of the usual white, sheened with the water of effort, your hair in wild snaky tendrils, your shirt slashed open. I thrilled to glimpse the dark hair covering your chest. Id speculated for hours on what patterns your beautiful dark hair made on your naked body. I wasnt thrilled to see the bloody red slice of a blade across it. A mere cat scratch. Ezmond eyes had warmed with the memory shed painted of a youthful triumph. And I saw, Gizella went on, her voice suddenly low and husky, that the older boy Id adored for more than a year had become a man and I was already woman enough to know it. I saw that your crotch-lacings were stretched to the breaking point from the excitement of the contest. Your sword belt hung low over your pelvis, caging in that impressively engorged cock. At your hips jutted up the rapiers leather-wrapped hilt on the left and the steel hilt of your dueling stiletto on the right. I realized in an instant that this youth Id always adored was a man with three cocks to give me, and I wanted them all inside me at once. Ezmonds smiling face had sobered during this speech. At thirteen, you felt such deep hunger for me? Gods, Gizella! I didnt know, but if I had Thank the gods I didnt know. His eyelids lowered with arousal so strong that he automatically shielded her from the full blaze of his eyes. So thats where and when you got your taste, he ran a long forefinger over her closed lips, which she opened to draw his fingertip into her mouth and suckle, for the hilts of my weapons in your mouth. And other places. Anything your hand had encompassed, I wanted inside me, from your cock to a hilt. I still do. You were celibate for three years to win over my parents. I was celibate for five. So I put three years conditions on your natural desires to satisfy my own fears and wants! I never suspected that you felt such heated desire for me, or any man, so young, that you could feel that at all. Im sorry beyond words! I had my first monthly bleeding that night. I lay in bed pretending that it was from your three cocks, that it was you flowing out of me after having broken my maidenhead, and indeed, the mere sight of you that day had. Gods, Gizella, I love you more than my life, you know that! I never dreamed how long Id had your love and desire unknowing. Its as if today youve laid an invisible cloak of love over my entire past. I see now that what I asked of you, through your parents, was selfish. Yes. But it was also highly possessive. Oh, I craved your possession, my love. It thrilled me that you would wait for me to grow old enough, forsaking all others. I knew then that you loved and desired me as much as I did you. I nearly swooned with

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excitement when I heard the bargain youd struck with my parents. How much you wanted me! Do you know why I did it, Gizella? Even with the information and care adult Ardentians lavish on their children, young love is fraught with trial and error. Id seen it, experienced it. I couldnt stand the thought of your heart or body being humiliated, feeling unwanted or taken and used, not for an instant. Youve always underestimated my intensity and passion, Ezmond, because I was younger than you, because you thought you chose me rather than the other way around. She stepped close, pressing herself against his firm center, her palms caressing the hilts of his hard-used battle weapons as if they were lovers. Remember on my seventeenth birthday, when youd returned from the Izonian monastery and we were allowed sexless social contact for another year before we could become official pleasure partners? How could I forget? That was the hardest part. Youd grown more beautiful than a man can imagine, than even Id imagined in my monastery cell every night. You werent much taller, but your body had swollen to such sweet and maddening womanly proportions it made my heart ache and my cock throb to look at you. Your spirit and bearing were majestic. And youd changed too. Youd lost the soft male beauty of youth. You were lean and hard and strong both inside and out. And your hunger was overwhelming. You frightened me a little at first. I frightened me, he said with a smile. Id studied and copied out the Books of Bliss for two icy, lonely years in the Rim Mountains, imagining you naked on every page. Still, beyond the public hand kissing and whispers, you managed to insinuate yourself into my bed nightly. How? I never broke my vow. She leaned up to whisper in his ear while he gallantly rained sensual kisses on her hand, licking the palm, tonguing between her fingers, sucking them into his warm, wet mouth one by one. Gizella shivered as she let her fingertips explore and take and fuck his mouth in turn, silencing him so he could hear her next youthful confession. Remember, Ezmond? You asked me to spend that year training myself to sleep on my back in bed with my legs parted wide, so that when we finally were together Id be always open to you. That intimate request inflamed me as Id never felt before. Every time I retired for the night, I positioned my body for you. Whenever I awoke in the night, I turned and opened to receive you, over and over again. You were my ghost lover. Ezmond smiled as he devoured rather than kissed her hand then finally pulled free. You learned your lesson well. I was afraid that last year when we were together yet still apart would be the breaking of me. I expended my foiled desires by dressing all
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in black and breaking into your parents villa like a jewel thief. And there you were. Id often slip into your bedchamber to watch you sleeping, to stare at your face and the moon-silvered storm of your hair on the pillow, at your yawning, yearning naked legs. She was dumbstruck for several moments. You came undetected to my bedchamber, my bed? Did you only look? I only looked and loved. I didnt touch you. I didnt touch me. I stayed until the hurt of not having drove me away. I had no satisfaction of any kind even that last year, except knowing that it would end. Gizella pulled away from their twined position of lovers whispering to each other in an empty room. She smiled gently and ran her palm along the side of his face, smooth at the cheekbone and then rough-shaven below. You were the soul of stealth. I never awakened to catch you. Ezmond, Im ready now to show you my simulations from that year. Come to bed and watch what you did in my bedchamber that last year, with me. He responded by swooping her into his arms and carrying her there, laying her down. He tossed the whip aside first. Then unbuckled his sword belt and unsheathed the weapons, laying each on the bedside table with a clang for later use. Her aquamarine eyes flared around expanding black pupils at the gesture and its meaning. Shed have his three cocks this night. He stood by the beds head so she could reach up and toy with his taut tight lacings. The struggle had them both panting by the time his swollen cock sprang free. Her gown had a glittering set of latches down the center. He picked up the stiletto and cut it open, ignoring them. The gown fell away as Gizellas body writhed its pleasure and her legs spread. Ezmond bent to push his stiletto hilt between her glistening labia petals. Her cunt was slicker than a well-oiled sword sheath. The jewel-welted hilt was both cold and engagingly pebbled as he moved it in and out. They both moaned when the steel penetration eased home at the mouth of her womb. Ezmond walked around the bed, cock straight up, veined like scarlet marblestone and as hard. He paused at the foot to stare at Gizellas bared and filled body, letting his face show its full heavy weight of pleasure, taking his cock in hand and slowly stroking its length for her to witness, caressing the swollen crown. This is what hed held back from doing for an entire lost year. She whispered his name. Thats one of my three cocks inside you, Gizella, he answered. Two more to go tonight. Her torso quivered with anticipation, her breasts shimmying. At his side of the bed, he ripped his shirt away. He lay down, leaning over her breasts to sip and suckle. To run a warm hand down her center, tickling her sopping

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folds, to push the hilt in farther until she moaned hard and long enough to satisfy them both. Ezmond lifted up from her body like a beast that had paused in feeding. Now, my love, what did you want to show me that I havent seen my fill of here and now and many times before and to come? The control? she asked. He reached reluctantly to the device on the bedside table. At his touch, the ceiling mirrored their erotic disarray. Very nice, she said. Let me have it next. When he did, she moved through several settings with expert speed, to a site shed obviously visited often, that she knew, literally, by heart. The large view screen lowered from the ceiling. Another series of clicks moved to a scene of Gizellas former bedchamber in her parents villa. Ezmond sighed to see that place again, to see a younger, virginal Gizella flat on her back, arms and legs enticingly splayed, mere wisps of night garments threading over her limbs and torso like clouds trying to block the glaring heat of the sun and failing utterly. This is the simulation, Gizella told him. Its finer than most, almost real. You are finer than most. I wanted my lonely pleasures to seem as real as possible. Ezmond gasped a bit when his younger self entered the scene like a jewel thief, clad all in black, rapier and stiletto at his hips. You imagined this? You never saw me actually visit you? I imagined this. You instinctively did what I most wanted, although I never knew it then. Watch. He leaned against the headboard, pulling her up beside him, leaving the stiletto behind. When she mewed her discontent, he bent to retrieve it and brought it to her lips with one hand. The other caressed her breasts and nipples until she was breathless. Her hand lightly traced the shape and hard length of his cock, keeping it primed. Ezmond gasped and started to turn over upon her, but she put a hand to his chest. He reluctantly left her mouth free to talk instead of murmur and moan at his fucking motions. I really want you to see this, love, she told him. Now that weve escaped almost certain death, I dont want you to miss knowing every particle of my love and need for you. He groaned good-naturedly. Even the best of women never quite understand the urgency of mens needs. All right. I will lie here and watch. He took her hand in his, as if they were still in Year Three before Selfship. Youre a model of patience, she chuckled, brushing her fingertips over his battlescraped knuckles and them bringing them to her breast to brush her nipple.

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Ill be a model of madness if Im not soon unleashed inside you in all the ways I have in mind. You had ways in mind then. Look. The Ezmond who was the dashing burglar of Gizellas fantasy moved soundlessly around her huge bed, his desire-darkened eyes devouring her. He wore black leather tights and dueling gloves. He pulled his rapier from its leather sheath, silent as a striking snake. The rapier tip moved delicately to rearrange the silken wisps on her body, baring one nipple completely, lifting up an airy bit of silk to reveal the soft down of her pussy, lofting a lock of fine blonde hair from her pillow. He bent over her face suddenly. He rose with a severed wisp of hair to tuck deep in his tights pocket-slit, pushing it down close to his cock. Which was, of course, hugely erect. Gizella sighed and stirred in her sleep. Next, he knelt by the bed to bring one gloved forefinger to her revealed slit. The black glove tip stirred the pale hairs, moved over her cunt petals, traced a centerline just above the slit itself. Gizella murmured in her sleep. He leaned close, blew across the finely coiled hair. She moved a bit, as if half awake and remembering some instruction. She spread her legs wider right under his face, opening to his unsensed presence. He murmured this time, almost soundlessly, and touched the tip of his tongue to the pale bud of her clitoris. Her pelvis jerked, ever so slightly. He kept his tongue tip and face there, breathing onto her exposed sex, warming it more with every breath. As if drawn beyond his will, chancing her awakening, his tongue glided up her slit from bottom to clit. She drew in a gasp then pushed her hips down into the bed, moving her pussy closer to his lips. Pearly white juice gathered at her cunt lips. His tongue couldnt resist sipping gently there. Then his gloved finger stroked down her slit again, to the bottom. And pressed there, ever so slightly. Her torso bucked on the bed, but her wrists remained up beside her head, her ankles fixed at the beds opposite edges. It was as if someone had bound her there invisibly, open and wanting. And waiting. He stood, unable to keep his breath smooth and shallow enough that it wouldnt wake her. Still gazing down, he put a hand to his crotch lacings, pressing to ease some ache that made him moan. Then he moved. Most Ardentian beds had built-in restraints of the finest Flex-Silk. He bent to find and stretch them to her delicate ankles. Maintaining this position without a counterforce to ease her hips would soon become uncomfortable. And he plainly didnt intend to leave soon.

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Once her legs were bound open he paused between them at the beds foot. And stared as if to stoke his resolve. He moved up the other side to secure her wrists above her head. That woke her. He gazed down on her face, her taste on his tongue. Her eyes were a deep green-blue between pale lashes. Sleepy. And sleepily she took in the sight of him, his face and hair, his black-clad body, the weapons belt at his hips, the stretched crotch lacings, the black gloves, one still holding a rapier. She didnt scream. Hed sensed she wouldnt. Youre a thief finally come to steal me, to take me, she said. Ive come to give to you, he answered, his deep voice low but with a tremor in it. I cant move, she said, pulling lightly at her bonds. Do you want to? Not yet. Youre a wise woman. They say Im still a girl. Youll be a woman before I leave. Your woman. My woman. My queen. My lover. Her eyes dropped to his hips. You have three cocks. I wear only two sheaths for them. She shut her eyes and shivered. I am your only sheath. From this night on, yes. Ive waited so long! I as well, but the moment must be right. He bent to brush her hair from her face. Which way do you want my touches? He flexed the black leather covering his hands. Gloved or bare? First one then the other. You expect a long night of it. I expect a never-ending night of it. Ill start here, he said, kneeling beside the bed and taking her face in his gloved hands to drink deep from her lips and then her mouth. Their tongues met in a sensual duel, and there he tasted her steel. She thrust as hard into him as he into her. Gods! It was sweeter than any mans imagination of three long years standing could conjure. He was ready to weep with the ecstatic fulfillment of it. His Gizella, truly his. As he was her Ezmond. Sweet and fiery she was, everything hed dreamed of, and far, far more. She wrenched her face away, her lips scarlet and swollen. Through them and the love marks hed impressed upon them, she seduced him. If youd free my arms I could kiss my way down your crotch lacings and undo them.

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He swung up onto the bed, and then swung a long leather-clad thigh over her torso. Kneeling on the bed, straddling her, he thrust his crotch lacings into her face. Use your teeth. Her eyes flared with surprise. He lifted her head off the pillow to brace it with many other pillows. He expected her to work at it for a while. Her eyes blazed challenge. He meant it. She met his gaze then nipped sharply at his crotch. Lustily. He closed his eyes and thrust his head back to feel her tearing at his clothing. He didnt know how long his cock could withstand this muffled stimulation. He glanced down. She was moving her mouth methodically over the lacings, pulling out the top one then the next. She glanced up at him then ran her tongue slowly down over the entire fly length, making his cock spasm with tease and release. He pushed his fingers into her silken hair, supported her head, Undo me, he urged, begged, exulted. Undoubtedly lust burned between them in that room. This, their imagined first mating, was also lust interlaced with love. Bit by bit, lace hole by lace hole, she labored lovingly to release his cock from containment. They were the most ecstatic moments of his life. Finally she was extracting the lacing the entire way, her teeth grabbing it close to the leather then pulling. Then gnashing inward to grab another inch or two and pull. His cock was in paradise. His love wanted it with every particle of her being. He reached down to pull out the last inch of lacing then pushed the fly aside so that his cocks whole throbbing red length was hers to devour with eyes and mouth. Is it all youd hoped for? More, she said, both an answer and a plea. His hand guided it slowly, gently into her mouth, his hands holding the sweet vessel of her face up to it. She took it down her long elegant throat, sucking and swallowing. She interrupted the ecstasy to gaze up at him. With adoration andmischief. When and where do I get your third cock? Ezmond, pulsing from seeing the simulation as if his body had experienced it here and now, stirred uneasily on the bed beside Gizella. Youve long known the answer to that question, he told her. Gizella smiled. To my great pleasure. He ran a forefinger down her throat to the valley of her breasts. But youve never asked where my fourth cock could go. Fourth? Cock? He smiled at her confusion and threw a long, leather-clad leg over her hips, pinning her. Fourth cock, my love.

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Her hand moved to his first cock, stroking its naked length. That feels lovely, he said, but its not what I have in mind for you tonight after seeing that. Not this? He spun her over on onto her stomach, using one hand to loft her pelvis while he piled pillows underneath it. His hands joined forces again to pull her ass cheeks apart, exposing her anus and her cunt as they rode high in the air. Gizella could only moan at this sudden turn of affairs. She spread her legs as far apart as she could and curled her fingers into the bed linens for purchase. Stay as you are, Ezmond ordered, rising. And she did, loving the suspenseful throbbing such exposure and abandonment brought to both her orifices, loving wondering what Ezmonds darkest and most thrilling desires would require of her next. Fourth cock? He had ten fingers, one tongue, one cock, two hilts The crack of a whip made her body quiver as she saw its black tip slash the burning tip of flame from a bedroom candelabra. Only smoke curled up after it had passed. The whip snapped and coiled above her, cutting off candle flame after candle flame with absolute precision. The cracks startled her nerves, made her heart race. Ezmonds mastery of the whip doused the lights until the mirror behind the bed showed only their gleaming eye-whites and her pale exposed flesh. Her skin quivered at every crack, but he only manipulated the light around them, clothing their bodies in furtive glamour. He stopped to bend over her at last, threading his loose cock lacing through her nipple rings and drawing the ends behind her back in one hand. The pull was startling and incendiary. He pulled her loose hair back and twisted it around the lacing ends, so her head and chest were drawn back like a bow and her torso below was shot through with lancing bolts of indescribable desire. Her mouth and throat and nipples were flaming. Ezmond tickled her open lips with the thick whip end and spoke softly. You said you desire every extension of my hands caress, every weapon that is part of me. Youve never opened yourself to this. Gizella was mad with suspense, with glimpsing the dark side of Ezmond again, as she had as a hungry young woman. She murmured onto the whips thick leatherwrapped handle. No, never. Now, Ezmond, please. He covered her body to lie heavy on her and fuck her drawn-back throat with the whip butt as she pulsed with desire and surprise. It was a fourth cock, warm from his hand. Broad, black, scented like his leather tights, big and consuming. He retreated finally, pulling away the whip handle as she whimpered her distress at its absence. A moment later, its wide wet end, slick with her saliva, came knocking at her tightly puckered asshole.

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It has no tapered end, she cried, both excited and leery of this newest dildo in his arsenal. The other end tapers, he reassured her. But you can take this into you. You want to. Your every orifice loves a challenge. So did he. She tightened her fingers in the sheets, lifting her ass high for him and relaxing to give him domain. The huge blunt end pushed against the tautest entrance to her body, the one least under her control. Ezmonds free hand caressed the curves of her buttocks, pulled them away from his fourth cock, murmured over their firmness and praised her ability to swallow his length and width and hardness. He whispered how splendid that long black bulk looked disappearing into her soft white flesh. How much she took in. Gizella was crooning contentment at his praise and his possession and the spreading presence of the whip handle warming to her body. Ezmond began drawing it in and out, the pressure building in her. She felt the supple lower part of the whip being pushed aside as Ezmond thrust his cock into her cunt below the handle, pushing high and hard into her taut, aching core despite the pressure of the ungiving leather above it. He stroked in and out of both places, his mouth breathing hard and hot at her neck. Finally, when the tension was almost insupportable, he whispered into her ear, Our shape-shifting sand-cat friend Lynx would go truly wild to see you wearing such a thick long tail, my tail, in your ass, my love. We must see to it that he does one day. Or night. She saw Lynxs man-beast form again, also tailed. That did it. She wailed like a sand-cat in heat then spasmed into a cascade of climaxes. Ezmond nipped the back of her neck, groaning and coming with her in wave after wave. Gizella lay throbbing beneath her first love, Ezmond, the master of erotic ecstasy and daring. Dangerous, irresistible, as capable of driving her to sensual distraction as shed always sensed, a man secure enough to use another lover as an accessory to their mutual satisfaction. Is Lynx your fifth cock? she finally was able to gasp. Hell have to find multiple cocks of his own, he growled against her ear, pinning her relentlessly to the sheets. You still always take like a virgin. My own wanton virgin. I love every particle of you, mind, body and soul. Ill share you if I must, but Ill never relinquish you. Nor I you. Were already pledged, love. We neednt do it again. Every time we come together, we pledge again. He twisted around to kiss the tip of her nose. The Books of Bliss were invented for my times with you, light and dark and everything in between. Does that include a new fourth cock? she asked. It does now. Well drive our Embrian ally mad.

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Or he will drive us so. Its a risk. And a challenge. I welcome it as much as you do. And as Lynx will, Gizella said. She smiled. Secretly. What? Ezmond asked. Lynx once asked me if his only role here in Ardentia was to fight you and fuck me unconscious. Not a lot to ask from an Embrian warrior of endless endurance, Ezmond said. But now he has another task that will make him feel valued for more than his physical and sexual endurance. Ambassador, you mean? As a real, vital position. Ezmond rolled her over on top of him and lifted his head for a kiss. No, Gizella said. Savior of the world. I do hope he can fit us in. Her lips met his and stayed there.

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About the Author

Under another name, Eden Avery has published an intemperate number of novels. They include contemporary and historical romances and mystery, as well as fantasy and science fiction. She has won many writing awards, including several each from the Romance Writers of America and Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine. She loves to write about characters stretching their boundaries, which makes exercising the erotic imagination both compelling and enlightening. If you like exotic backgrounds, heat-hungry men and heart-hungry women on the erotic edge, and forbidden love that haunts and heals, you are in the land of Eden Avery. When not immersed in the fictional world, Eden consorts with cats, crossword puzzles, and her pretty darn dishy husband, not necessarily in that order. The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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