Summoned and Stolen (Summoned Series Romances) (4 page)

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CHAPTER 5

The servant entered without warning, a breach of courtesy that Kel knew would only happen if they had instructions from the Duke. Camford expected his staff to be discrete and invisible at all times. Thus, the servant had been told to interrupt and report what they had seen despite the risk of angering one of the Duke’s guests. Lily’s quick thinking had just ensured Camford would be told everything was as it should be. Now they would likely be left alone.

“You dare enter without permission?” Kel snarled at the servant, who blanched and nearly dropped the tray she was carrying.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she squeaked out the apology and went about placing the food and drink with shaking hands.

Lily’s soft lips brushed along the length of his dick as she made a good show of pleasuring him, and it was pure torture to have her sweet mouth so close when he knew it would go no further. When she swiped her tongue across the head of his cock Kel couldn’t stop himself from bucking his hips, rubbing himself across her soft lips.

Aware that he was nearing the edge of his control, Kel growled and made a halfhearted swipe in the servant’s direction, encouraging them to leave quickly. Once they were alone again he slid his fingers into Lily’s silken hair, drawing her head back.

“You are going to be the death of me yet,” he told her as he drew her back to her feet, reaching down to tuck his now throbbing cock back into his pants.

“I’m sorry. I just thought…” Lily waved her hand toward the doorway in explanation.

“I know, little one. You did the right thing, but try to remember I’m no chaste priest. If you touch me like that again I cannot promise restraint.” Gods. If she touched him like that again, he’d be inside her before she drew another breath.

“If you were going to do that, you would have done so already. After all, I am yours to command until sunrise.” Lily’s eyes were full of trust as she gazed up at him, her mouth curved into a knowing smile. “You are a better man than you pretend to be.”

“No, I’m not. Say that again and I’ll turn you over my knee and paddle you,” he grumbled and pointed to the newly arrived provisions. “I don’t imagine Camford fed you today, so eat up. You’ll need the energy soon enough.”

Just the scent of food had Lily’s stomach rumbling loud enough she knew Kel could hear it. He was right, of course. No one had offered her anything to eat or drink since the moment Camford had placed the ring on his finger and ordered her to come to him. Fear had stolen her appetite for the last few days of the battle, and now she was terribly hungry.

She picked out several pieces of sliced apples and honeyed dates, eating them with relish as she perched on the edge of the couch. The meats and breads she left for Kel. Fruit, honey and water were all she required to live, and all her body was able to digest. Rockland had insisted she sample a variety of foods at the beginning of her stay with him, but she had not been able to handle most other foods. Eventually, he had stopped trying to change her eating habits and simply ensured she had what she needed.

Kel stripped his shirt over his head and did something with his sword, but Lily was too hungry to pay too much attention. She was surprised when the big warrior pressed a goblet into her hand, and was more surprised still when she sniffed the contents to find it was only water. Thirst
hit her then, and she drained the contents in short order. He took the empty goblet from her and refilled it as she ate another date, and by the time it was gone she was feeling better.

That was when she finally turned and saw Kel bare-chested. The sight made her heart pound and her mouth dry despite the water she had just drunk. The only thing he wore on his upper body were a pair of leather sheaths that covered his forearms, each of them holding a flat handled knife.

He was a large man with his clothes on, but without his shirt, he seemed even larger. Stronger too, no doubt because she could see the corded muscles that flowed and bunched with every move he made. No man from her world was built on such a scale, and every fae male she had known paled in comparison to Kel.

“You’ve not touched anything but the fruit.” His words drew her out of her lust-inspired thoughts.

“I don’t eat anything else.”

Kel’s brows arched upward at her explanation. “Nothing?”

“Fruit and honey, the sweeter the better. I can drink wine. It makes my head go all fuzzy though, and if I drink too much I feel quite ill the next day.”

Kel sprawled out behind her, laughing in amusement at her confession. “Most people have the same response to wine, little one.”

“I don’t have much experience to judge by. I haven’t met many humans in my time here.”

As she leaned forward to take another morsel of fruit, Kel gave into the temptation to touch her wings for the first time. He ran a finger along one furled edge and she moaned softly as a shiver rippled up her spine. “Your wings are lovely. I have never seen anything like them.”

“Since my former master used to brag I was the only one of my kind in all the kingdoms, I’m quite sure you haven’t seen anything like them before.”

Kel grinned at her retort and caressed her wing again, drawing another low moan of desire from his companion. One day soon he would spend an entire night learning just how sensitive her wings really were, but it would not be tonight. Tonight he had other plans.

As he ate and drank, he began to formulate a plan. By his estimation, his men would be moving out of camp by now, slipping away in small groups to avoid attention. They were camped far enough away from the other soldiers that it should be hours before anyone noticed they were gone. Now, if he could just manage to be as stealthy as his men, he and Lily would be able to meet up with them by dawn.

Somehow Kel doubt it was going to be that easy. The enchanted torc that kept Lily enslaved was a serious complication. If he was going to keep his promise, he needed the ring that controlled her. Camford wasn’t likely to just give it to Kel because he asked nicely. He was going to have to take it.

A contented sigh drew Kel’s attention back to the present, and to the lovely fae female who was now curled up beside him. The soft curve of her wings brushed against his bare chest and she settled into his arms like a trusting kitten. His life had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated, but somehow he just wasn’t as worried about it as he should be.

With her energy levels restored and her thirst quenched, Lily was feeling better than she had since Camford had claimed her as his. It was oddly comforting to feel the warm bulk of Kel’s body wrapped around her. He may be a dangerous killer, but Lily didn’t believe he was any threat to her. At least, not physically. After years of loneliness and emotional neglect, she yearned for someone to connect with. Not just with her body, but with her heart too, and that was an idea fraught with risk.

Men like Kel didn’t make emotional connections, she could see it in his eyes and the way he held himself apart from everyone. After only a short time in his company, Lily already knew that falling for her rescuer would be far too easy to do. She also knew that there would be nothing easy about the heartache that would follow.

Instead of dwelling on what couldn’t be, Lily opted to focus on their most pressing concern—getting away from Camford. She turned her head so that her cheek touched Kel’s chest and softly asked, “How are we going to do this?”

His hand brushed a stray lock of hair from her face as he whispered back, “I think the direct approach might work best. In a little while I am going to stagger out of here, drunk and disheveled, and request to see the Duke. I’m going to offer to buy you, little one, and when he says no, I’m going to take the ring by force.”

“That’s…very direct.” Lily tried not to let the worry she felt seep into her words. It bothered her that this stranger would be willing to risk so much to help. She was only a slave, after all.

“I find it’s best to give people what they’re expecting. Camford considers me a baseborn inferior, whose only strength is in his sword arm. He’ll enjoy seeing me drunk and disorderly, because it will fit with the place he has assigned me in his mind. He won’t consider me a threat, because taking arms against a nobleman off the battlefield is grounds for execution.”

Lily frowned, confused. “But you are a baseborn mercenary, aren’t you? Everyone says…”

She found her words cut off by a calloused finger laid across her lips.

“Everyone repeats what they’ve been told. That doesn’t make it true. It might be that I’m the son of a shepherd, or the son of a king. If we survive this night, you can ask me again which I really am.”

“Shepherd or king, it doesn’t matter to me, Kel. You’re the only person who has been kind to me in all the time I’ve been held on this world. That makes you a better man than any of them.”

She found herself spun about and wrapped in his arms in half a heartbeat, and her laughter was lost in the warm cavern of his mouth as he sealed her lips with his. Hard, calloused hands stroked over her naked flesh, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Kel’s tongue flicked at her lips, questing and tasting, coaxing her mouth open beneath his.

Blue eyes stared into hers, passion and something deeper glowing into their sapphire depths. Her heart recognized it and gave it a name, loneliness. This handsome warrior was just as alone as she was. Her arms twined around his neck as she kissed him back, letting everything else go. For this moment they didn’t have to be alone. She banished her fears of what was to come and embraced the now. More than anything else, Lily wanted to feel alive again, alive and free to make her own choices.

Her choice was simple. She wanted Kel.

As much as Kel wanted to abandon common sense and take what Lily was offering, this wasn’t the time. He wanted to be certain it wasn’t the damned torc that was making her so eager to give herself to him. If he took advantage and found out later that she hadn’t truly been willing, he’d have to live with that for the rest of his life. The thought acted the same as a bucket of ice water dumped over his head, and he pulled away from her before he was tempted to kiss her again.

“Did I do something wrong?” Lily’s pretty eyes were clouded with confusion and uncertainty and it felt damned unpleasant to know that he had put that look on her face.

“Nay, little one. You did everything right. And when you’re free of Camford’s influence, I hope you will do me the pleasure of repeating everything we just did. Next time I promise you, I won’t be stopping.”

When she nodded slowly he couldn’t help but tangle his fingers in the soft length of her hair and brush a tender kiss to her brow. “I just need know that it’s your choice, Lily, that’s all.”

She smiled then, and the light came back to her eyes as she turned her head to nuzzle his palm. “You see? You
are
a good man.”

“Tell anyone that and I will take great pleasure in turning you over my knee, little one.” He grumbled at her even as he felt his lips turn up into a grin. She was going to ruin his hard earned reputation.

It struck Lily that Kel was a completely different man when he smiled. Now she could tell without a doubt that his dour warrior persona was the mask, hiding his devil-may-care smile. There was something familiar about him when he was smiling, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She had the sense she’d met him before, but that was impossible, he’d never been to Rockland’s court. “You should smile more often. It suits you.”

“When we’re clear of this place and you are free of Camford’s control, then I’ll smile.” Kel gave her hair a gentle tug and then stood up, and Lily couldn’t help but stare at the scars that crisscrossed his body.

“I’m no expert at warfare, but isn’t the point of armor to avoid getting wounded?”

Kel chuckled and nodded. “Aye. But not every enemy is decent enough to give you time to get your armor on before they attack. Some of these I got from friends and men I was training. If you come home to Viren with me, you’ll see for yourself.”

“You wish for me to see your home?” Lily asked as she rose to join him.

“Aye, I wish for you to come home with me, if that’s what you want.” He handed her his shirt and retrieved his chainmail, putting it back on and tucking it into his pants as best he could. “Hand me my shirt, little one.”

Lily had been momentarily confused by what Kel was doing, but now she understood. He was going to suffer the discomfort of having chainmail against his bare skin so that he could wear the shirt overtop and make it appear he wasn’t wearing armor at all. It would not fool anyone for long, but it might last just long enough to give him an advantage. She helped him redress, leaving his shirt untucked and his pants only partially laced.

“So, do you?” Kel asked as he splashed a fair measure of wine down the front of his shirt.

“Do I what?” she asked, distracted enough by what he was doing to alter his appearance that she didn’t catch his meaning.

“Do you want to come home to Viren with me?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation.

“Good,” he said as he refastened his sword belt around his waist. “Why?”

“Why? Because it would be good to have a home again, and you are clearly in need of a healer if your scars are the product of your own training.” Lily hesitated for the barest of moments before adding, “And because I trust you. If I go with you, you won’t mistreat me.”