Perilous Pleasures (26 page)

“Lord Ramsay is nothing to you.” The Dark Lord's voice was gentle and beguiling. “You feel nothing for him. He is a stranger to you.”

But in the magical place where the wizard had brought her, Adam's eyes pulsed with life and with love—and the love that surged within her pulsed back toward him in response. How could he ever be a stranger to her, with all they had shared?

The Dark Lord's voice droned on. “Lord Ramsay is fading away. You are releasing him. He is a stranger to you. You do not know him.”

But she
did
know him. She knew the strength of his lithe body and the kindness in his heart. She knew the struggle he'd gone through to learn how to love her. And she knew more. She knew of the pain he had lived with all his life, thinking himself his sister's destroyer, and of the healing he had found when, daring to be an ordinary man at last, he'd reached out and opened his heart to her.

She couldn't let him go. What they'd shared had bound them forever. Not even the Dark Lord had magic enough to change that.

“Do you hear me, Zoe?” The Dark Lord's voice was soothing and relentless at the same time.

She nodded. She had heard him. But the words he'd spoken were lies.

“Lord Ramsay means nothing to you. Repeat it to me, now.”

As she opened her mouth to tell him that his spell was not working, in the magical world Adam reached out and touched her lips to still them, and a wave of peace coursed through her at his touch. With the tiny bit of herself that remained in the world of men, she summoned her strength to nod in response to the Dark Lord's question, giving him no sign that his magic had failed.

“Good. For
I
am your master now, Zoe. You shall do all I wish. My will shall be your will. My body, your body, and you thrill with the desire to have me fill you with my seed.”

With a shattering crash, the glorious colors of the magical world where the Dark Lord had taken her vanished, as the meaning of his words forced her out of the trance.

Had she gone mad under the spell?

But as the old man's soothing voice repeated the obscene suggestions that had propelled her from her trance, she knew it was not she who was insane—and that Adam wasn't the only one who bore a cursed heritage.

All her life she'd had contempt for her mother and taken comfort in thinking she resembled the unknown father whose nature she knew she must share. But now that father had brought her here to ravish her. If she were to escape, she must hope that, along with his cursed nature, she'd inherited some small trace of her mother's cunning.

Chapter 21

A
guard informed Adam the Dark Lord had taken Zoe down the hallway into his laboratorium. As he paced down the cold stone hallway to the laboratorium's heavy oaken door, Adam refused to allow himself to speculate on what might be going on behind it. He would rescue her. That was all he needed to think about.

Another guard blocked the door. Adam's fists curled. He cursed himself that he'd brought no better weapon, but as he approached, the guard bowed deferentially and stepped away from the door. There had been no need for violence. The Dark Lord's minions still believed him to be their master's anointed successor.

He turned a haughty face toward the guard and nodded slightly, the way one nodded toward a despised servant, reinforcing that belief. Then he knocked gently on the heavy door, tapping out the pattern the old man had taught him in Morlaix.

There was no answer. He rapped again, more loudly. As he stood waiting, the pounding of his heart seemed to fill the empty hallway, until he thought it strange the guard didn't seem to hear it.

The wait was intolerable. He longed to throw himself against the door and to smash himself into a bloodied pulp, anything that would get him inside—and to Zoe. But destroying himself wouldn't save her. He must lull the old man into thinking he was still his dupe. He rapped on the door again, this time so hard his knuckles started to bleed. The pain grounded him, reminding him that he must stay calm, but how could he stay calm when
she
was in there with
him
?

He sized up the guard. Could he take advantage of his inattention to wrestle him to the ground and grab his sword? Probably not. The man outweighed him by at least three stone, and the sound of their struggle would attract others. But even so, that might be his only hope. Each passing moment made it more likely that his worst fears were coming true. He was about to drop into the crouch from which to make his desperate move, when the door cracked open. The Dark Lord had opened it. Adam shouldered his way in.

Zoe lay on a couch. Her eyes were closed, her limbs relaxed. She was dressed in her beautiful sea green gown. He wasn't too late. He uttered a silent prayer of thanksgiving.

As he entered, the Dark Lord took a step back. His long velvet robe swirled around him. “Don't wake her!” he said in an annoyed whisper. “I'm not done with her.”

Adam composed his features into an expression he hoped looked like worshipful obedience. “Excellent! I was hoping I wasn't too late to observe you exercise your skill.” It was a miracle the words didn't choke him as he spoke.

The old man's expression brightened. Clearly, he was pleased by his student's servile tone. And clearly, too, he'd lost the ability to read minds.

“Did the girl tell you of the spell that went amiss?” Adam struggled to keep his tone casual. He must find out how much she had already told him.

“Yes indeed—and of the annoyance she caused you with her unwanted admiration.” The Dark Lord chuckled. It wasn't a sound Adam ever wanted to hear again. “But you'll not be troubled by her unrequited passion any longer. I've undone the spell and relieved you of that burden.

S
he hadn't told him of their marriage. Only of the spell
.

“She is an ugly creature, isn't she?” The Dark Lord sneered. “I don't imagine she posed much of a threat to your chastity. You've withstood far greater temptations. But it's hard to fathom how she could have turned out to be so ugly with such a delicious mother and such a distinguished sire.”

“You knew her father?”

“I
am
her father,” the Dark Lord said with satisfaction. “That's why she, and she alone, will cure my wretched affliction.”

Zoe was the Dark Lord's daughter
?

Adam choked as his throat closed up. What was it the old man had said?
The energy of the forbidden fuels the Dark Lord's powers
. So
that
was why he'd wanted Zoe so badly. It hadn't been just any virgin his perverted beliefs required, but this one, the child of his own begetting.

It was impossible that Adam's revulsion didn't show on his face. But the old man's voice went on, dry and grating. “I released her from that misguided spell you bound her with. What were you thinking of to use it on her? I don't wonder that you botched it. That kind of spell is very difficult to control. There are far simpler ways to make a woman do your bidding.”

“I have not your art, master.” Adam forced his tone to remain humble. “It seemed like the easiest way at the time. The girl was rebellious and repeatedly tried to escape.”

“Well, then perhaps you weren't so misguided. Love will control the most obdurate of females. Though I would have preferred it if you hadn't meddled with her emotions. I wish them to be all mine.” He shrugged. “Even so, it's no great matter. I undid the spell you set and replaced it with one that will make the girl love
me
. Though it's a shame she's so damnably ugly. I've carried her mother's image in my mind all this time I've been awaiting her.” He sighed. It sounded like bubbling gasses rising from a marsh. “But there's no help for it. I must do what I must to heal myself.”

There was a rustle from the couch where Zoe lay. Hearing it, the old man paused abruptly. “We will talk more about this later. I'm not yet done with her. I've implanted my commands in her spirit, but now I must make her forget all that I have done to her and bring her back to life.”

“Will you use her as you planned when she awakens?” Adam struggled to keep his voice even and uninvolved.

“Of course not.” The old man shook his head. “You always were so rash, Adam. Always wanting to rush ahead. But as I've told you, time and again, these things must be done right. There are rituals to be observed, and the energy of the universe must be in the correct alignment. Only a fool would take her now, when tomorrow the Dragon's Tail conjuncts the Sun and Moon.”

“There is an eclipse?”

“Indeed there is, a solar eclipse. The second of the year and most propitious for our ends. Have you forgot all that I taught you and stopped consulting your ephemeris each morning to check the aspects? It was because of the proximity of this eclipse that I was so disturbed when you arrived without the girl. It is a very rare alignment, with Mercury combust and Jupiter on the ascendant at the very moment that it culminates. Nothing could be more conducive to my purposes. I shall take her when it reaches totality.”

“And then?”

The Dark Lord smiled, perhaps already imagining himself healed. “Then it will be time for you, my boy, at last. You will have your revenge against her mother—the harlot who sent your sister to her death—and it will be all the more delightful for having been so long postponed.”

How much joy those words would have given him had he heard them pronounced a few short months ago, before that last eclipse when he had gone, as instructed, to claim the Dark Lord's virgin. He felt disgust for the man he'd been then, who had let hatred so overpower him that he'd thought nothing of making a victim out of an innocent girl. But his self-loathing wouldn't save Zoe. He must find some way to get her away from the Dark Lord before he carried out his wretched scheme.

Doing his best to keep control over his voice, he said coolly, “So you will give me the girl then? To do with as I wish?”

The Dark Lord's eye, unnaturally bright, drilled into Adam's. “Not exactly as you wish, but as you must. Do you forget that I summoned you here to receive the Final Teaching? Once I have robbed her of her virginity, she will be of no further use to me. I'll give her to you then, so that by practicing on her the ancient sacrificial rite you may observe closely the process by which the life force flickers and leaves the body. It's by doing this, in the manner passed on from each Dark Lord to each of the Dark Lords' heirs, that you will cultivate the ability to rule over death. Your Teaching begins now, my heir. The Dragon's Cave awaits you. Your long apprenticeship is over.”

S
urely this must be a nightmare. It couldn't be real. But Zoe couldn't wake up any more than she'd been able to waken from that dream wedding at the inn. She could only lie silent, with her eyes clamped shut, pretending to still be enchanted, while her husband and father discussed in their cultivated tones the terrible fate they had planned for her.

Pinned against the soft cushions that cradled her body, she felt her hand go numb, as if she were already beginning to leave the body whose future was to be so short and hold such horrors.

The father she'd longed for all her life would rape her. Then, when that was done, the husband she'd adored would make her the sacrifice that would transfer to him his master's unholy powers. Could this be the same Adam she had loved? Whom she had married? Whose child—or children—she might be carrying even now?

The numbness had crept up her arms now. Soon it would reach her heart. If only it would move more swiftly. How could she have felt love, even bespelled love, for a man who could discuss her ravishment and death so calmly? How could she have reveled in his touch? Had he known all along that as the Dark Lord's heir, his hands were meant to take her life?

Love was as terrible as her mother had warned. Worse. For even her mother hadn't warned her of this kind of betrayal.

The old man's hesitant footsteps turned back toward her. Then he swiveled around to face Adam. “There's one more thing.” He wheezed. “While she's still entranced, I must seal her to me with a Word of Power. When next she hears it, she will lose her own will and yield herself to mine. Observe me well, my heir, as I complete the magic, so that you don't bungle it when next you use the spell.”

The Word of Power.
The blood in Zoe's veins turned into ice. Adam had used one to make her sleep. And she
had
slept—and then he had used it to make her love him.

“Can you hear me, Zoe?” the Dark Lord asked. Despite herself, she heard her voice reply, “Yes.”

“You are the Dragon's Child. When you awake and hear me call you by that name, you will open your soul to me, ready to do my bidding. My will shall be your will. You shall live only to fulfill my commands. You will feel joy as you give yourself to me. Do you understand me, Dragon's Child?”

Filled with revulsion, but paralyzed, she heard herself answer, “Yes.”

He had made her his.

The last bit of her will drained out of her. The Dark Lord had stolen her soul, and Adam had let him.

H
e must act now, whatever it might cost. As chancy as it would be, he could save her no other way. Adam took a deep breath, and putting his hand on his master's shoulder said, “It won't work.”

The Dark Lord's face hardened. “Of course it will. Why would you doubt it?”

“Because she is no virgin.”

“What? Did you winkle out of her that she had taken to her mother's ways?” A look of distaste swept over his features. “What an irony it would be if she, too, were to turn out to be diseased. Where then would I turn for healing? But if she defied me thus, the little baggage, I'll teach her to disobey the Dark Lord's will!” His face had turned an unhealthy purple against which his sores stood out dark red.

Adam cut in. “She attempted to do your will. It was I who was at fault. She lost her virginity when I forcibly made her my wife.”

“Your
wife
?” The Dark Lord's eyes widened. “You stole her from me?
You?
But that explains why you wouldn't bring her to me. I knew you weren't telling the truth, though I couldn't tell why. But why did you defy me like that?”

“I didn't do it to defy you,” Adam said, keeping his voice dangerously quiet. “I was tricked by Isabelle. She was wilier than I credited. She sent a messenger to convince me that it was
your
will that we marry. By the time the truth came out, it was too late. The deed was done. The girl knew nothing of it. I used a spell much like the one you just set upon her to bend her to my will. That was the spell she begged you to undo. So if you must blame someone, blame me. The girl was blameless.”

“That damned whore Isabelle.” The Dark Lord growled. “I should never have saved her life. If I'd let the Committee kill her and taken her daughter afterward, I could have kept the child locked up somewhere and then none of this would have happened.”

The Dark Lord had saved Isabelle.
Did that mean what Adam thought it meant? He couldn't let himself think out the implications. He didn't dare let himself react. All that mattered now was getting Zoe away safely.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her body twitch on the couch where she lay enchanted. Dark Lord noticed it, too. His lips tightened in irritation.

Adam continued. “What's done is done. But as the girl is worthless to you now without her virginity, I'll take her away with me and you won't be troubled with either of us again.”

The Dark Lord shrugged. “The loss of her virginity is a heavy blow. But still, she
is
my daughter. To mate with her, virgin or not, may release energies sufficient perhaps to heal me. I must use her. I have no other recourse.”

Adam's heart sank. He'd thrown the dice and lost. Deception would not take him any further. It was time to speak the truth. “You'll have to kill me before you touch her.”

The Dark Lord's hands flew up in surprise, revealing the tattooed serpents. “Surely such an ugly chit can't mean that much to you, a man who has trained for years to assume the sacred heritage?”

“She means more to me than life itself. She is my life, my one true love. No power you could give me would make up for losing her.”

“You would choose her over all that
I
could give you?”