He opened the secret doorway to the goddess’s chamber, leaving Brienne. She would not wake for some time, for she lay unconscious from exhaustion and pain. Such was the price paid for using the power in their blood, at least until she learned how to use its rejuvenation properties, too.
As he walked down the steps, into the underground vault that sat beneath the old castle ruins, his flesh roused in anticipation of communing withher. Deep within the ground, surrounded by the buried stones that had been hidden away by his ancestors, he stood before her and prepared to be cleansed by her fire.
The shock of it as he pushed his hand through the wall that separated them forced him to his knees.
The heat as she approached shocked him in its intensity.
And then his body and soul burned in the heat of her pure fire.
“My goddess,” he forced out. His jaws clenched as he held fast, fighting the urge to pull away from the agony of her touch. “I am yours,” he pledged.
“She pleases me.” The goddess’s voice echoed through the barrier and across the stone chamber. “Power seethes in her veins.My powers.”
“Aye, Goddess. She is strong,” Hugh said as pride tinged his voice now. Though she lay unconscious on the floor of his chamber above, she had been spectacular.
“The priests and the seer are near. And a warblood,” she hissed, her form rearing back as she spewed more fire at him.
The goddess swirled in anger inside the darkness, shooting flames and screaming out curses. He had never seen her so and tried to placate her in some way. “The warblood means something to the girl, my goddess. She could bring him to our side.” Hugh dared a glance up at her. “And she will be the sacrifice to put an end to your enemies.”
Her fury calmed then, and he heard the sound of her fluttering wings behind the barrier. She existed in that form there. But what would she be when he freed her? He shivered in anticipation and arousal.
“Use her,” she hissed. “The warblood must be ours.”
Hugh smiled and nodded. “She will do as I command her.”
Chaela sent a burst of molten heat across the barrier then, and he felt her pleasure in the wave after wave of pain that sent him writhing on the floor. His body melted into flames and merged for a moment with her heat. Barely able to withstand such a joining, he fought to remain flames but could not.
His human body re-formed and burned anew. Hugh screamed against the pain, and then in the final moment of agony, he attained release. As he lay there, letting his own powers heal his scorched flesh, the goddess spoke in his thoughts.
Use her. She is ours.
Later, as he carried Brienne back to her chambers, he realized the more important connection—she would mean something to the warblood. Hugh must play on that. Time was growing short, for the priests had arrived, and if they could convince the other bloodlines to work together, it would jeopardize his plans.
“Girl!” he said, shaking her as he walked down the stairs and along the corridor. No one would hear him. “Girl!” He shook her once more. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Hugh held her closer and whispered to her, “Does the warrior want you? Does he lust for you?” When she did not respond, he used his thoughts to wake her.
“Aye,” she mumbled, startled.
“Has he shown his power to you?” Another push, and she stared into his eyes. “Has his blood risen yet?” All it took for her to answer was for him to narrow his gaze. Like a trained dog, she knew what would follow if she did not. “Aye, my lord. He changes . . . into . . .”
He pushed again, but it was too much. She fell unconscious, and he could not rouse her. Arriving in her chambers, he dropped her on the bed and walked out, disappointed that she could withstand so little before losing consciousness. With more training and moreencouragement, he would teach her to endure longer. Pulling the door closed, he returned to his sleeping chambers, his body stronger and more vigorous for what he’d endured below.
Knowing he would see the goddess and that his condition would change after such encounters, he made certain that a wench waited for him in his chambers. As he’d ordered, she knelt next to his bed, naked, the marks of his last attentions still reddened and burned into her skin. Because of the spell he’d cast, she slept deeply, curled over herself with her face resting on the cold stone floor, awaiting his return.
No matter that she slept, he thought as he lifted her and laid her on her stomach over the edge of the bed. She would wake soon enough and scream the way he so liked.
As he had for his goddess. They always did.
ChapterFifteen
“Brienne!”
“Brienne!”
Her name seeped into her exhausted mind, and Brienne raised her head to find the source of the noise. It hurt to even think about moving, and it hurt when she finally forced her body to respond. The chamber spun around her as she turned to face . . . someone.
“Brienne, you must hurry. He has called you to the noon meal in the hall.”
The frantic sounds of Emilie searching through the trunk and the slap of the tossed garments on her skin made her look around. She lay half on her stomach, half twisted on her side, across the bed. Wrapped in a gown she did not remember donning. On top of the bedcovers.
