But Rathgarr hissed a low growl, his huge body lurching a step closer. “I ken what I wish for, poppet,” he hissed, as his clawed hand slipped downward, and blatantly adjusted the front of his trousers. “And tonight, I am here foryou.”
For you. A stark, dizzying thrill surged up Geva’s spine, her eyes wide on the bulging sight beneath that clawed hand — but she shook her head again, fought to collect her thoughts, to drag her eyes back to his face. “You can’t mean it, Rathgarr,” she snapped, though her voice hitched. “You don’t trust me. You barely evenlikeme. You would never want to make me your mate. Yousaid.”
Rathgarr’s scoff was sudden and sharp, and oh gods, his hands had dropped, he was unbuckling his belt, the movements slow but certain. “Ach, andyousaid I should be the last orc in the realm you should choose,” he hissed back, so low, so deadly. “But this was not truth either, was it, my pretty poppet?”
Geva had entirely lost the ability to speak, her breaths heaving hard, her eyes still frozen on the sight of Rathgarr’s hands. On where he was deliberately drawing the belt open, and then easing his trousers downwards, until…
His cock bobbed out thick, swollen, hungry, already leaking with thick white. And oh, his big hand was circling around the base of it, stroking it, pumping it out to a rich dangling string, swaying back and forth…
“Do you wish for me, my sweet?” he growled. “Do you wish to swallow me deep inside you, and be flooded with my good fresh seed? With myson?”
And oh gods, what was happening, why wasn’t Geva moving, why was her tongue brushing against her lips. He wasn’t really offering this, to give her his fresh seed, hisson…
But somehow, that almost seemed to break the spell, and she jerked a step backwards, up against the schoolroom table behind her. “You don’t trust me to have your son!” she managed. “You think I’ll use him against you. You think I was spying on you, and lying to you, andusingyou!”
That shot a very faint wince across Rathgarr’s mouth, so Geva kept going, gulping for air, for rational thought. “And you also made it very clear that you wouldnotfollow me,” she hissed, “because that was apparently part of my dastardly plan to entrap you, and steal away all your gold!”
But oh, he was stepping closer again, his hand still leisurely pumping up and down, his eyes crackling with strange, stark intensity. “But now, my fair angel,” he drawled, “you can do none of this. And we shall know if you have spoken truth to me, ach?”
It still wasn’t making sense, it wasn’t, except for the way he’d closed the last space between them, trapping Geva between him and the table. And she could still shove him, still scramble away, make her escape… so why was she still standing here, her breaths hitching short and shallow in her chest.
“We shall now learn, my pretty poppet,” he continued, hot and harsh, “what you truly wish for. Ach?”
He’d raised his brows at her, his hand still just blatantly stroking like that, as if this was another test, another challenge — and oh, hell, his other hand had reached out, spreading wide against Geva’s hip, and then slipping up, up, up. And she still wasn’t moving, or even breathing, as that hand slid up over her side, her waist, until it found her full breast beneath her shift. And why was she still wearing his shift, his clothes, his wedding-ring…
But maybe this was why, the way his hand gently gripped her, as though she were his. Squeezing, caressing, slow and deliberate, his thumb brushing her already-hard nipple — and then, oh, he reached down inside. Pulling her full, heavy brown breast out over the low neckline of her shift, so he could watch himself tweaking and squeezing it, his tongue again brushing his lips.
“You aren’t — making sense,” Geva choked out, far too late, even as she felt herself gasping, perhaps even leaning into his touch. “You don’t — want this. You don’t wantme. You think I want your gold. That stupid damnedhoard!”
But oh, hell, suddenly Rathgarr was smiling at her, all sharp teeth and terrifying eyes. “But this is the snare, poppet,” he breathed at her. “The hoard is gone.”
Gone.Gone. The word ringing like a bell through the room, like flying wings trapped in Geva’s belly. The hoard wasgone?
And was he trying to trick her, was he lying, what the hell was this, why couldn’t she think, damn it,think. “What do you mean,gone?” she gasped at him, her body still arching into his touch. “Where?”
Rathgarr was still smiling, stroking, caressing, and now his other slick, seed-coated hand was easing up too, and pulling out her breast on the other side. Flagrantly putting them on display for him, full and shameless, and he leisurely tweaked her nipples, kept giving her that taunting, treacherous smile.
“I gave it to Grimarr,” he replied, his voice very even. “To the mountain, for the gain of all our kin.”
What? No.No. He wouldn’t have, he couldn’t have — but he was still here, nodding, holding her eyes, waiting for her response. “This hoard was stolen,” he continued, harder. “It was tainted. Cursed. Kesst and I, we agreed upon this. We did not wish it” — his eyes shifted, flicked away — “to keep coming between us. To keep tearing us apart.”
Geva couldn’t stop searching him in return, her body shaky and breathless beneath his touch, her disbelief screaming through her thoughts. He’d — given the hoard away. ToGrimarr. For the gain of all his kin. He and Kesst hadagreed.
And suddenly Rathgarr was laughing again, and crowding even closer, enough that Geva had to scrabble back up onto the table — and oh, that was just what he’d wanted, his huge body looming close between her legs, his strong hands drawing her thighs apart.
“Gone, poppet,” he hissed, harder, as he yanked her shift up, exposing her bare, trembling body beneath. “So now, what shall you do? Shall you make pretty excuses? Call for your loyal Skai to help? Cringe away from your true mate, and seek to run? To betray me?”
And gods curse him, it was anothertest. It was him spreading her out like this on this table, opening her thighs even wider, exposing everything between. Exposing her for him, for his taking, because oh, he was so close, that hard, dripping head only a breath away from her parted, quivering heat. Poised and ready to fill her with his seed, and his son.
And they both knew Efterar’s magic was gone. Knew the deep, fundamental, irrevocable risk in what he was offering, what he was challenging.
His son. With no coin, no hoard, no more secrets between them.
Geva’s body was shuddering all over, her thoughts screeching and swirling, her eyes still desperately searching his hard, taut, waiting face. This was a test, and a challenge, and… a gift.
And suddenly, she was nodding. Nodding, fervent and frantic, clutching at his back, his shoulders, his hair. Yes.Yes.
“Yes, Rathgarr,” she breathed. “Yes. Fill me.”
