21
Alfred wanted to use Ella’s money, to destroy the orcs.
Ella was trapped in those words, in that truth, blinking at Grimarr, at this sudden shouting misery. Of course Alfred hadn’t really cared about her in the slightest. Of course he wanted to use her money — and defile her father’s memory — for awar. Of course he couldn’t be trusted.
When Natt’s hand clutched at Ella’s, and dragged her toward the door, there was no opposing him, no way to silence the mayhem charging through her head. Alfred had lied. Natt had lied. Grimarr had lied. And Natt’s father had beenkilled, with a hundred other people, because he’d been betrayed by his own.
And Natt wasstillbeing betrayed, by his ownCaptain, and his rage seemed to seep into Ella as he dragged her back through the corridors. Everything was pitch-black now — he must have left the lamp behind — and it was thoroughly, heart-poundingly disorienting, Ella’s body fighting to keep up, feeling walls slide close, hearing voices and bodies she couldn’t see, while the world tilted up and down and sideways.
“Why, Natt,” Ella choked out, once he’d finally drawn her to a halt in a place that felt more enclosed, where the sound and air didn’t seem to carry. “Why didn’t you tell me about Alfred. Aboutyou. About any of this!”
Natt’s movement hitched in the blackness, and she could feel his eyes on her, could taste the heat of his fury. “Foolish, selfish little woman,” he hissed, his voice cracking. “You did notwishto know these things. You wish to live in your darkness, with your unearned hoard, and your silly pampered life. You wish to givenaughtto an orc, and most of all to an orc who stands between you and all this, and has naught butdeathto his name!”
Dear gods, he was on this again, and Ella frowned at where she knew him to be, and gave a hard shake of her head. “That’s not true, Natt,” she shot back. “I kept my pledge to you. I gave you my maidenhood. I stayed with you, when you were hurt. I’m wearing your damnedclothes. I evenliedto your captain about youkidnappingme! I’mhere, Natt, I’m doing whatever you wish, what more do you want from me!”
But Natt’s replying laugh was hard, mocking, entirely unfamiliar. “Ach, you are here,” he said, “for mayhap three more days, until this foul man comes for you. And then you shall return to him, and take him into your bed, and hand him your hoard. And then you shall watch as hekillsme, and then turns his swords upon my brothers!”
Ella’s head was pounding, her hands gone clammy, her throat tight. “I wouldn’t,” she began, but Natt only laughed again, and suddenly here was the feel of his clawed fingers, tapping warm and deadly against her cheek.
“You would, my sweet little lass,” he said, in almost a parody of a caress. “And you shall. Shall you not? You shall do all that must be done, to become a fine lady. To bereal.”
Ella swallowed hard, felt her head shake against his hand — but Natt only laughed again, the sound almost unbearable in her ears. “Ach, you shall,” he murmured, and that was the feel of his other hand, coming to rest against her bare waist. “You shall go back to this man when he comes, even with my seed still hidden inside you. And you shall smile at him, and speak false to him, and tell him I have not touched you. You shall tell him you are yet a maid.”
That hand was sliding downwards now, over the too-short length of her leather kilt, until it found her bare thigh. “You shall take him to your bed,” Natt whispered, that hand now slipping up under the kilt, “and spread your legs for him. You shall take himhere, where I have opened you.”
Ella’s mouth gasped, her entire body twitching, because Natt’s clawless fingers were indeed there, delving against her, spreading her apart. “You shall take his foul little prick inside you,” he breathed, as he slid a single finger halfway inside, gave it a mocking wriggle. “You shall take him into what ismine, and moan and gasp for him, and all this time you shall be coating him with my seed, and thinking ofme.”
This was wrong, this was so wrong,Nattwas wrong — but Ella couldn’t seem to break it, couldn’t find any words to speak. And her hands suddenly grasping against his hot bare chest only made it worse, made his upper body flinch away from her, sharp and purposeful, even as that finger slipped deeper, stronger inside her. “Speak this, lass,” he ordered. “Speak your truth to me.”
That was wrong too, Ella couldn’t even see him, couldn’t at all feel that compulsive draw upon her thoughts. But maybe he was mocking her in this too, and when her mouth gave a helpless little moan he indeed laughed again, hard, sardonic, vicious.
“Ach, my sweet little lass,” he breathed, as more fingers pressed against her, plunging deep and almost painful inside. “You yet wish for my power and my taking, do you not? Even as you fear me, you yet wish to fill your womb with my seed, so you may have yet more to give your foul little man.”
There was no answering this, only gasping for air, only feeling those invading fingers seeking, stretching, pushing. Sparking impossible pleasure, her swollen, betraying body clenching greedily against him. And when Natt abruptly spun Ella around into him, so that her back was flush to his bare chest, that was even more whirling pleasure, his fingers still driving deep, his breath hot against the back of her neck.
“Speak truth, lass,” Natt hissed, as that huge heft at his groin pressed hard and demanding against her bare, exposed crease. “You long for me, as you shallneverlong for him. You shall think of my prick inside you, each time he fucks you. Even now, you long for me to take you, and fill you, and thrust even thethoughtof him away from you. Ach?”
Ella’s head was violently nodding, yes, please, do that, please — and behind her Natt laughed again, and shoved her forward. So that she was bent over something — something soft, at least — but then Natt’s fingers yanked out of her, and suddenly it was —him. That huge, tapered cock. Strong, commanding, unyielding.
“You shall think of me,” Natt growled, promised, pledged, as that slick hardness began to spread her apart, opening her wet heat around it. “You shall think of me, andscreamfor him!”
And before Ella could move or speak or even think, he slammed inside. Filling her with thunderous, astonishing force, impaling her whole upon him — and gods curse her but Ella did scream, the sound helpless and shrill, shredding at the darkness.
“Ach, you wish for this,” Natt choked behind her, as that invading heft yanked out — and then punched back deep. Making Ella scream again, her entire body flailing and trapped upon him, but he only gave that scornful, painful laugh as he did it again, setting sparks flaring behind her eyes, her heated groin frantically grasping for him, fighting to keep him still, for a moment, a moment —
“Foolish little lass,” he breathed, cold and taunting, as that hot hardness filled her again, and wrenched away. “You know not what you have done, what you have asked for. You shallneverforget me, and even if you have taught yourself not to speak, you shall speak this truth to me!”
But Ella couldn’t, she couldn’t even think, the pleasure and the misery all hurled too close together, fierce and dark and terrible. And the only truth was Natt, this, his powerful force inside her, but he kept taking it away with every thrust, pummelling her with it, punishing her. And it felt so good and it was far too much and why couldn’t she speak, only moans and gasps and screams —
“Speak to me!” Natt shouted behind her, the words burning at Ella’s ears, her groin, her heart. “You shall never forget me, you shall never stop feeling me inside you, you shallneverstop grieving me when I and all my brothers aredeadat your husband’s hand!”
And it was like something broke deep inside her, screeching out white and hot and utterly unbearable — and it was him, it wasthem, his invading strength finally holding fast. Surging out its truth inside her, while Ella’s own body clamped and flailed around him, soaring broken ecstasy, raw and wretched and aching.
It didn’t stop, Ella couldn’t stop it, escaping now out her mouth in bleak, broken gasps. But Natt was there, still there, trapped deep inside her, his claws sunk into her skin — and it was enough, finally, enough. Ella could speak truth, to this. She could.
“You can’t die, Natt,” her voice choked. “You can’t, youcan’t. And of course I’ll never forget you, or stop feeling you, but I can’t grieve you, because you can’t die, because Iloveyou.”
And was this his magic, or something entirely new, because Ella couldn’t see his eyes, it was dark, there’d been no compulsion to say it — but she still needed to say it, needed him to know, needed him to understand,please.
