He surged forward, burying himself in her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, holding tight as he rode her, long perfect strokes that had her already primed body coming apart in minutes.
As her orgasm began to end he came, groaning in her ear as his body emptied in hers, and she held him tighter, holding onto him and vowing in her heart she’d never let him go again.
Chapter Fifteen
‡
The final day of the fights. Esh was going against Rorth in the first round, and Nalah had accepted Esh at his word that she didn’t have anything to fear from the half-orc.
She did fear the albino, though, and her heart beat a mad rhythm whenever she considered the possibility the final match would be between him and Esh.
All in all, fear held her in its grip, though she did her best to dispel it and keep moving forward. It was too insistent though. Today was the end, and all she saw was disaster. She didn’t tell Esh, but she was beginning to question what was going on with the Guild. There was no indication she’d received about anyone else being her back-up or coming for her, and that combined with the albino and Beylor’s looming offer had her downing antacid and hoping she wouldn’t be sick.
She’d seen Tiffany earlier at breakfast. The woman had been wearing the magical ring and talking her usual mile-a-minute about nothing in particular. Before she left she gave Nalah a hug and a wink and said how glad she was they were joining the “family”. That made Beylor’s expectations pretty clear.
Esh was already at the ring. After breakfast she’d come back to their apartment, but it was about time to head out and cheer him on. There was a knock at the door, and before she could answer Beylor walked in, followed by Lian.
“Hello Nalah,” he said in that high voice, and strange how being alone and defenseless made the usually pitiful tone suddenly menacing.
“I’m about to head to the ring,” she replied, though from Beylor’s smug, sure face, there wasn’t anything she could say that would change what was about to happen.
“I hope you understand we don’t want to harm you. We just need to give Esh the proper incentive to make the right choice.”
Lian moved towards her, and his power rose in him, a beacon shining from within. In his hand was a gold cuff, and as he fastened it around her wrist, his power surged forward, branding her and making her hiss at the repugnant sensation. Her hand jerked in automatic desire to get rid of the loathsome shackle.
“Don’t touch it,” Lian said. “I have a gift, you see. Take it off, and it will poison you. Move more than five feet away from me, the same thing will happen.”
Nalah prodded the magical item. Lian was telling the truth, the magic circling the band giving light taps to her skin before pulling itself back, and one tiny thread rose from the band and split apart, pinning one side of itself to her shoulder and the other latching on to Lian.
Beylor made a motion with his head, and Lian grabbed her and jerked her upright. Beylor continued. “You’ll be fine as long as Esh makes the right choices. So quit whining. Gods, women are such a pain.”
Beylor left, muttering something about Tiffany starting to get on his nerves. Lian kept her still in the apartment, and after Beylor was long gone, spoke to her. “So you understand your circumstances,” he began, his voice perfectly pleasant. “You are dying today. If the fights don’t kill Esh, I’m going to kill you in front of him, and then I’m going to kill him. Of course, if you run from me, you’re dead that much sooner, and I’ll simply throw your dead body in front of him.”
“You can’t do that! Beylor said-”
“After I kill Esh I’m killing Beylor, so I don’t care what he said. That fool has been too lax in running his empire. It was time for it to fall.”
Nalah studied him for any hint of what was going on. With everything else going on, they hadn’t taken him seriously enough. “Why are you doing this? You’re really that jealous of the Cage King?”
Lian’s lips thinned. “I couldn’t care less about that ridiculous title. What I care about is he murdered my brother, and it’s time he paid.”
“Esh doesn’t murder anyone. If it was a cage match-”
“My brother’s name was Vitto,” Lian interrupted. “Ring any bells? It should. Your brother died in one of my brother’s matches.”
“Vitto didn’t have a brother.” This was madness. She wanted closure, right? Well, closure was slamming down on her hard, knocking her to the ground and gut-kicking her while she lay there broken and bleeding.
“‘Half-brother might’ be more accurate. While we might not have been close, Vitto was my blood, and I won’t let his death go unavenged. So I’m going to kill Esh, then take over Beylor’s operation and merge it with the remnants of my brother’s that I was able to salvage. My empire will be one everyone will envy. You won’t be around to see it, of course, but you’ll be the one who starts the dominos falling.”