Heart of a Sorceress

Chapter Three - part one

“Hello, Lara.” Sha’ul’s large frame filled the doorway. The torchlight glistened off his hair like sunlight off a raven’s wings. “May I come in?”

Lara blinked hard several times. Was this a vision? Surely she was dreaming. She tried to sit up and found she couldn’t. Her body felt like a sack full of rocks and pain shot through her muscles with the slightest movement. “My lord.” Her voice squeaked out in a strained whisper. Oh no! She’d fallen asleep without her prescribed bath. To her mounting horror, she couldn’t even remember what she’d done with the pouch of crystals. “I…forgot…can’t move.” She felt the tears coming again and clenched her teeth in determination to fight them.

Sha’ul chuckled gently and approached the bed. He knelt down beside her and tenderly pushed her hair back off her face.

Lara caught sight of a small clay vial in his other hand.

“I thought as much,” he said. “It’s not everyday your stepmother gives birth. I realized after you left yesterday that this might happen.”

“Yesterday?” Her heart pounded even as relief swept through her. “I fell asleep soon after I got back here and visited Ariana. Oh, I promised her I’d see her again before bed. I only meant to rest for a minute.”

He nodded. The pad of his thumb brushed lovingly across her forehead. “Your first day of training must have been exciting and stressful both. Between the sword and Ariana and…” His voice trailed off.

Lara caught her breath at the reference to what had happened between them. His touch on her forehead began to stoke her desire in spite of the guilt churning within her. “I’ve already failed my vow, my lord. After only one day you had to come fetch me because I disobeyed you.” She avoided his gaze.

“That’s not how it is, Lara. I came here for several reasons of my own.”

She stole a glance at him, surprised to see the gentle smile curving his masculine lips. “You did?”

“Aye. The first was to pay my respects to the Lady Ariana. The second was that I couldn’t wait to see you.” The dark of his eyes smoldered a deeper shade of brown. “The third was to help you be able to move again.” He sighed. “So you see, sweetling you didn’t fail. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve been through enough already.”

The endearment washed through her like a sensuous wave, as well as the reasons he’d enumerated for coming to Karan-ver. She cleared her throat, afraid her nervous voice would fail. “I’m sorry, my lord, but how will I be able to train today? I can’t even move.”

His smile widened, even though the color in his eyes continued to darken sensuously. “I can help you with that, Lara, that is, if I have your permission to touch you.”

She swallowed hard past the sudden lump in her throat. Her heart pumped madly. She nodded. After yesterday, after the way he’d kissed her and sucked her breasts, she wanted him to touch her in every way possible. “Aye, my lord,” she breathed, “you have my permission.”

 He furrowed his brow. “You’ll need to…undress.”

Her breath caught softly in her throat. Had he read her mind? Or were her thoughts so clearly readable on her face? She swallowed hard as her heart pumped fiercely. She nodded. “Aye, my lord.”

Sha’ul withdrew his hand from her forehead and set down the vial in his other hand. He moved to the foot of the bed and slipped off her boots, one by one. “Are you able to move enough to undo your breeches?”

She pulled her hands upward, but found them void of strength. “No, my lord.”

On his knees, Sha’ul maneuvered to the side of the bed. His large hands took hold of the corded belt and untied it. He stood and slipped his hands under the small of her back, pushing the trousers over her buttocks and hips before pulling them the rest of the way off by the legs.

Letting them drop to the floor, he knelt by her once again. He undid the bow on her bodice, loosening the laces and with a hand on her back, gently lifted her and pulled the article off.

He let her back down carefully and looked at her, his eyes remaining fixed on hers. “I need to remove your garters and stockings,” he said quietly.

Lara swallowed hard. The garters and stockings were her only undergarment and the thought of his hands so close to her s*x, his fingertips grazing her bare flesh sent up a throbbing in her core that both exhilarated and frightened her. “All right,” she whispered.

Sha’ul pulled down the tails of her blouse, covering her to mid-thigh and reached underneath, his gaze fastened on hers.

Lara caught her breath as his warm fingertips grazed the flesh of her stomach, working open the ties of her garter belt. She heard the leather straps fall open and Sha’ul’s hands emerged. He pulled down her left stocking. The light material sliding down her skin along with his touch touched off waves of heat in her lower belly, down to her woman’s core, which ached for his caress. The same sensations and desires assaulted her when he removed her other stocking.

Now she lay naked except for the blouse. Sha’ul slipped his hands under her back again, helping her to ease over onto her stomach. Lara stared at the mud packed wall, which was all she could see. She couldn’t see Sha’ul, but she could feel his simmering energy close to her and hear his breathing, heavier, as if he were fighting for control.

Her ears tensed, listening to his sounds. He uncorked the vial he’d brought with him and poured some in his hands. She heard the quiet swoosh of palms rubbing together and then his hands, warm and strong, were slipping under her blouse and splaying over her bare skin. In slow, even circles, he rubbed her muscles, his fingertips easing away the soreness. Her muscles tingled pleasantly, from his expert touch or from the oily substance he’d put on his hands, she couldn’t tell, but the sweet aroma of herbs wafted to her nose and her body loosened and her eyelids fluttered closed.

The hem of her blouse played along the back of her thighs and gradually over her buttocks. Her bottom was now exposed to his view and her heart fluttered.

“What is that oil you’re using, my lord?” She needed to speak to ease the crashing of her heart and gut.

“Oil of dewberries,” came the murmured answer as his hands slid upward on her back, releasing the pain and tension. “A liniment you’ll be learning how to make before long.” His voice had taken on a velvety tinge.

“It has a beautiful smell.”

“Aye.” His large hands paused, palms down behind her shoulder blades. “Lara, do I have your permission to work on your…lower extremities?”

Her heart scrambled upward to her throat—or at least that’s what it felt like on the heels of his question. Almost as disturbing was how very much she wanted his hands all over her, exploring every fold and curve. She nodded. “Aye, my lord.”

Slowly, Sha’ul’s hands slid downward, past the small of her back, over the swells of her buttocks. Her breath hitched softly as he gently pushed the heels of his hands in and kneaded the flesh in tight circles, releasing the knots of tension. Pleasant waves of warmth shimmered through her bottom and into the slit between her thighs. His hands were only inches away from the hidden center.

Sha’ul worked the tightness out of her buttocks. He paused and Lara heard him pour a bit more of the dewberry oil into his hands, rub them together before the warm touch resumed on the back portion of her right upper thigh. He worked his way down her thigh to her calf and foot and back up. She suppressed a soft moan when his fingertips dappled over her sensitive inner thigh, moving dangerously close to the lips of her s*x.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked. The tenor of his voice had grown husky and Lara swallowed hard.

“Aye, my lord. I can move again.”

He cleared his throat softly. “Good. I’m nearly done.” He moved his hands to her left leg and repeated the sensuously arousing process he’d done on her right.

In spite of her nervousness, Lara caught herself grinning like a satisfied cat.

Sha’ul lifted his hands off her leg and remained quietly kneeling by the bed. “I just have to do your arms when you’re ready.”

Her heart fluttered again. To massage the oil into her arms, he’d need to remove her blouse. “I’m ready,” she answered in a near whisper.

Sha’ul rose up and helped her to a sitting position before sitting down next to her. He picked up her left hand and rubbed it gently, his fingers still slick from the oil. “I’m glad this has helped you.” He looked at her, his eyes smoldering with obvious desire. “Unfortunately, my hands are too large to fit into your sleeve.”

Lara’s bottom lip trembled. “Unfortunate, my lord?”

A small, sideways grin teased at his lips. “Well, perhaps unfortunate is the wrong word.”

“May I ask you something, my lord?” She forced herself not to avoid his gaze, which caused her insides to melt.

He reached up and pushed a strand of her hair off her cheek. “Of course you may, Lara.”

She took a deep breath, shocked at the boldness she was about to exercise with her teacher. “Ariana told me that it…love…can be beautiful.” She felt her face cloud suddenly. “I would have had to serve Dogon, one of the queen’s ministers. Ariana saved me from that fate. He used to do terrible things to her. He…hurt her.” Ariana had refused to tell Lara the details of what Dogon used to do to her. But Lara already knew because the day Dogon had come into the haram quarters and ripped off her gown, leering at her, he’d described in detail his wicked plans for her body on the night of her initiation as a bed-slave.

Sha’ul brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Praise to Galen that you and Ariana are both safe now.”

Lara nodded. His touch comforted her as much as it thrilled her and she savored the potent sensuality simmering between them. “Aye, my lord. I would have thought she’d fear intimacy, but she’s madly in love with my father and seems to have healed.”

He smiled gently, capturing her gaze. “I see that she is contented now. So, sweetling, what is your question?”

She swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. “I wanted to know if you feel the same as Ariana does. I mean, that intimacy can be that way. Healing.”

Sha’ul’s eyes darkened with a warm glow and his lids lowered, the long lashes forming a sensuous line across them. “Aye, Lara,” he whispered. “I do.” He leaned in toward her, slid his fingers into her hair.

“I thought maybe…with you…I could heal…the same way.”

He moved closer, so close, his warm breath fanned over her lips. “Aye.” His voice was husky, like yesterday when he’d tasted her. . “I’m…honored, Lara. I certainly want you to heal.” His fingertips slid pleasantly against her scalp, fingers burrowed deep in her hair.

Her body thundered now, the way it had yesterday. Moisture seeped from her core. He was so amazing…so…“Then you would try?”

He smiled, a sensuous curve of his lips. “The healing has already begun.” Cradling her head with his large hand, he slanted his mouth over hers in a tender kiss.

Lara’s eyes fluttered closed as his lips pressed against hers. His warm, musky scent mingled with the herb from the oil in an intoxicating blend. Her lips parted as her body weakened. Sha’ul’s tongue mated with hers, tasting her, stoking the already white-hot blaze in her loins.

After several moments, he lifted his face from their kiss and gazed down at her. “You’re enchanting, Lara,” he whispered in a husky tone.

Heat infused her cheeks and she looked down. “Thank you, my lord.”

“Now, I want you to be able to move your arms again.”

She glanced back up. “So do I.”

Sha’ul took hold of the hem of her blouse. “Lean forward,” he told her.

She obeyed and he slipped the blouse over her head, down the length of her arms until it was completely off. Her blush deepened as Sha’ul’s gaze roved from her face, over her breasts and stomach, to the vee between her thighs with its light curls.

His face darkened “By the gods, Lara, you are absolutely exquisite.” He rubbed both hands up and down the length of her arms and movement tingled wildly through them again.

“Thank you, my lord.”

Reaching out, Sha’ul brushed his fingertips along her jaw, down her throat and across her chest. As he had the day before, he cupped her breast tenderly, brushed his thumb across her almond colored n****e. The soft tip pebbled immediately under his touch and Lara moaned softly, her eyes fluttering closed.

In the next moment, she felt Sha’ul’s lips pressing against hers again and parted them to let his tongue plunder her mouth with mounting urgency. Her fingertips stole up to his cheek, brushing across the masculine skin.

Emboldened, Lara reached around and pulled the leather tie from Sha’ul’s hair. The silky tresses spilled over his shoulders. She let it slip between her fingers, to the ends, which reached the middle of his broad back.

Sha’ul pulled away from their kiss and pulled off his jerkin and shirt. Lara’s gaze went immediately to his bare chest, perusing each hillock and sculpted line, to the small dark n*****s and swirls of silky black hair, a line of which trailed down the center of his taut stomach and disappeared below the belt of his trousers. He chuckled softly. “It appears as if the appreciation is mutual.”

She nodded, looking down. “It is, my lord.”

He gazed down, eyes smoldering. “Good. That’s the way it should be.” He turned and pulled off his boots and then undid the belt of his trousers.

Lara stared as he pulled them off, revealing his powerful legs, dusted with dark hair, and his buttocks, round orbs of hard muscle. She swallowed hard. Sha’ul was more beautiful, more magnificent than any mountain or field. He started to turn and her heart jumped, her mouth watered in anticipation of seeing his loins.

He faced her now.

A tiny gasp hitched in her throat. That part of him…already fully erect…she couldn’t help but stare,  gaze trapped by the thick shaft of blushing skin and veins, springing from a nest of dark hair. In spite of the fate she’d nearly met as a bed-slave in the palace, she’d not yet seen a naked man up close.

“Touch me, if you want to.” Sha’ul’s voice was a tight whisper. “Whatever you want, Lara. I’m yours.”

His invitation caused a trail of fire through her belly into her core. Gingerly, she reached out, splaying the fingertips of one hand on his chest. Her hand looked so small against the bulge of muscle, which quivered under her touch. His skin was warm and his breathing rose and fell raggedly under her palm. The pad of her index finger grazed his n****e. The skin was smoother and tightened when she rubbed across it.

Sha’ul moaned softly in his throat as she ventured back across his chest, feeling the etched definitions of the muscles, honed and strengthened from years of disciplined training and fighting with heavy broadswords.

Her fingertips grazed lightly down his abdominal muscles, savoring each warm inch of taut flesh. She heard Sha’ul’s breath catch softly as her hand drew closer to his erection, hard and pulsing.

“Don’t stop, Lara,” he whispered.

His obvious enjoyment of her touch encouraged her, in spite of the fluttering in her heart. She held her breath as she pressed her fingertips tentatively on the head of his c**k. It made a small jerking motion at her touch and she pulled away, alarmed.

“It’s all right.” Sha’ul was breathing raggedly now as he reached for her hand and gently guided it back, helping her to close her fingers around the shaft. With his hand over hers, he moved her hand up and down in small motions, moaning as he brought them to a quicker tempo. “That’s right, Lara,” he whispered.

The skin was velvety soft against her fingertips and her hand slid over the veins and hard muscle. Sha’ul removed his hand from hers and began to feel her breasts, squeezing one gently then the other.

Lara moaned softly, finding it difficult to concentrate on pleasuring him while he touched her.

He chuckled. “It’s all right, Lara. Come here.” With his hand on her upper arms, he laid her back on the fur skins, her head on the pillow and half-covered her with his body. Lowering his mouth to hers, he sipped from her lips, mating his tongue with hers, moist and hot, coaxing the fire within her to the surface.

Her arms went around his broad back, exploring the ridges of muscle with growing eagerness, slipping strands of his silky hair between her fingers. Sha’ul kissed her deeply, his hand venturing tenderly over her breasts, caressing the swells of flesh and kneading her n*****s into tingling peaks.

Lara arched her back into his hand as her fears dissolved under his loving touch. Slowly he made his way down her stomach, smoothing his hand over her hip while he nibbled on her lower lip and teased her jaw with tiny love bites.

Sha’ul broke their kiss and gazed down at herface. One hand caressed her hair as he watched her Lara thought he was about to speak, but instead, he lowered his face down to her breast, closing his warm lips over her n****e.

Like yesterday, the pleasurable sensation made her gasp. She wove her fingers into his hair, closing her eyes as he tugged gently on the tiny peak between his lips and tongue while kneading the other one between his fingertips. Jolts of heat traveled down from her breasts through her belly into her s*x, which pulsed wildly. Instinctively she parted her legs and Sha’ul nested his body between them, his erection pressing into her slit. The tiny rubbing motions touched off more waves of heat and before she realized what she was doing, she grasped his buttocks, trying to pull him inside her.

“Sha’ul,” she whispered, her mind and senses whirling from Sha’ul’s sensual assault, as if she’d ingested too much mead.

He raised his face from her breasts, his face darkly flushed, his eyes smoldering like fiery coals. “What is it, love?” he whispered.

“I’m…ready, my lord…please.”

A wickedly mischievous grin spread across Sha’ul’s handsome face. “Are you?” he breathed. “Let me see for myself.” He rolled slightly to the side and slipped one hand down to the juncture of her thighs, whispering his fingertips along the fleshy lips of her s*x.

Lara caught her breath at the intimate contact that sent shivers of pleasure through her core.

Sha’ul bent his head down. “Open your legs,” he breathed close to her ear before gently nipping her earlobe.

She obeyed and Sha’ul spread her vaginal lips open gently, caressing her swollen pink flesh. Her juices had gathered and coated his fingertips.

“Yes, sweetling,” he crooned softly, his voice husky and tight. “You are ready. But I’ll wait just a bit longer.”

Lara almost groaned her disappointment, until Sha’ul slipped two large fingers inside her, sheathing them as deeply as they would go. He moved them in and out, caressing her c******s with his thumb at the same time. The pleasure was so exquisite, she cried out, grasping his back, her vaginal muscles clenching around his fingers as they contracted, releasing the most blissful spasm she’d ever experienced.

Sha’ul didn’t stop his ministrations until the waves had passed and she lay back, limp underneath his hand, her chest heaving.

She stared up at him. He was smiling down at her and withdrew his hand from her s*x.

Her musk coated his fingers and he licked them off. “Mmm,” he murmured deep in his throat, “you are as delicious as you are beautiful.”

Heat flushed her cheeks. “What happened to me, my lord?”

Sha’ul smiled again and settled his body between her legs as he’d been before. “It appears you had an orgasm,” he answered. “And based on your question, you’ve never had one before.”

She shook her head against the pillow. “No, my lord. Never.” She looked up at him. “Ariana would have told me about them. She’s offered to tell me anything I wanted to know,” she added, “but until now, I didn’t want to know.”

He smiled and kissed her lips tenderly, fondling her right breast. The touch on her n****e began to re-ignite her desire and she arched her back upward, pushing her breast into his hand. “Is that what it is, my lord? Don’t you have your pleasure too?”

Sha’ul reached down and spread open her lower lips again, guiding the tip of his erection into her swollen, moist opening. She gasped softly at the contact. “Aye, sweetling, I do have my pleasure. But so much of it is giving to you.”

She grasped his shoulders, eyes closed. Her heart pounded now and her stomach flipped around inside her. But she wanted it so badly. Wanted him to fill her.

He inched his way in a bit deeper, bumping into her maidenhead.

. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He punctuated his sentence with a tender kiss on her cheek.

“You won’t, my lord. Please.”

He nodded and braced his large, muscular body on his elbows. In one swift motion he tore through her virginity.

Lara cried out softly at the mingling of pain and pleasure that followed as he began to move inside her.

“How is that, Lara?” he breathed close to her ear.

“Wonderful, my lord.” She closed her eyes, gripping his hips, following his rhythmic motions. How glorious it was…the feeling of him so intimately joined, a part of her body, the shaft stretching her open, filling her.

After several moments, he stopped moving and rolled slightly to the side. Reaching down to where their bodies were joined, he found the swollen nub of her c******s and rubbed it lightly with his fingertips while he began to move inside her again. Before long, a second orgasm built and exploded, causing her to cry out and squeeze her eyes shut as she grabbed at his back muscles.

Sha’ul leaned down and captured her mouth again, sensuously laving her tongue with his. He pulled his hand out from between them and put his arm around her, pulling her against him as he slid in and out. His movements increased and he pushed a bit harder before his body twitched and he moaned into her mouth.

Apparently, he had an explosion of bliss too, for she felt his c**k pulsing inside her. He groaned softly until the pulsing inside ceased and he collapsed gently on top of her, his lips pressed to her temple.

Lara snuggled in closer to him and he caressed her hair with one large hand.

“I love you, Lara,” he whispered.

His words thrilled her and tears pooled rapidly in her eyes. Ariana had been right. The physical act of joining could be beautiful, gentle and passionate. Her heart soared with the understanding that she didn’t have to be afraid. “I love you too, my lord. Sha’ul.”

Sha’ul held her quietly in the little room. Their bodies were molded together, damp from lovemaking. The bed was soft and cozy, enveloping them in a little world of their own.

For a moment, Lara wondered if their union would produce a child, but then she remembered with horror, that she’d been sterilized with herbs back in the palace. Disappointment stabbed her. She sighed and let Sha’ul’s warm, masculine strength envelop her. Perhaps he, too, could make a potion to reverse it and they could have a child together. If Ariana had been able to, maybe she could too.

Lara lay quietly, listening to Sha’ul’s steady breath as he lay holding her. For some reason, a deep sadness welled up inside her and she was overcome with terror, a strange, horrifying premonition that one day, she and the man she loved would be torn apart.

No! The thought exploded in her mind with force. She would not let that happen. She had finally found some happiness after years of suffering and torment.

She wished desperately that she wasn’t a Being of Power, but an ordinary woman, like Ariana, who could marry her soul mate and bear his child.

But somehow, she sensed that would never happen.