The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

could. The sensuous caress of that single finger rasped against her taut nerves. Hot shame vied with a need for him to continue his teasing of her nipple. Shame won.
    “Did you know, my dear, that the next Vernal Equinox occurs on the night of the dark of the moon? ’Twill be a night of powerful magic. I will be able to build spells of such magnitude, all other magicians will be forced to bow to my will. But I need a virgin.” His gaze captured her eyes and bound them together with alien power. His thumbs traced erotic circles on her breasts.
    “A willing virgin.”
    “Wh . . . what will become of me?” She couldn’t look away though she tried and tried. Lightning seemed to flash across her vision, then leap from his hooded eyes into hers. Of its own will, her body arched toward him.
    Disgusted with herself, she fought the heated longing he built within her.
    “There is power buried deep within you. With proper training between now and the Equinox, you have a good chance of surviving the ritual. At the end of it, you would no longer be a virgin, but your power would be released. Only I have a matching power that will bring yours to maturation, ready to be tapped. I might even allow you to bear me a son. A child raised to rule the coven as Miranda’s son will rule SeLenicca.” Finally he blinked and released her. The spell that bound them together slid away, and he retreated to the edge of his desk once more.
    “And if I don’t agree to this?”
    “Then I will take you for my own pleasure—and yours, my dear—and your father will rot in the mines!” Anger exploded from him like a living being. Katrina recoiled from him.
    All traces of longing for his renewed touch vanished, replaced with cold hate. “Then I have no guarantees that you will honor the bargain even if I give myself willingly to your vile purposes.”
    “You can trust me. I am your king, after all.”
    “ ’Twas not P’pa’s fault the ship was lost at sea. Why are you blaming him?” She blinked back tears of bewilderment.
    “Fraanken Kaantille organized the plan and supervised the investment syndicate. If the ship had won through, he would have been a hero. But the ship was betrayed by a dark-eyed magician boy. My agent barely escaped alive.” He petted the thin weasel once more, almost cooing to it. “The plan failed. For all I know, Fraanken Kaantille may have sold out to the agents of King Darville’s Commune of Magicians. So, ’tis only right your father be considered a traitor for that failure,” he stated evenly.
    “P’pa would never sell out to an outlander. He loves our land and our queen.”
    “Answer me now. Do you give yourself freely to my coven for the Equinox ritual?” A sneer marred his handsome face. No spell bound them together this time. She was free to make a rational decision.
    “Never.”
    “Perhaps a few moons of humiliation and unrelenting toil in a factory will change your mind. Did you know a factory owner has offered to buy you from me? You, with your moon-blond hair, fair skin, and blue eyes of a true-blooded woman will be the slave of an outland half-breed. He hates all true-bloods and will make certain you suffer. And you condemn your father to death in the mines.”
    “No, I don’t. You do.”
    “Remember my offer when hunger, cold, aching back, dimming vision, and humiliation drive you away from the factory. I’ll wait for you, Katrina Kaantille. You will come back to me.”
     
    “Simurgh save me!” Rejiia gasped. “Come back here, Yaakke. I’m not finished with you. You can’t do that. I won’t let you!” She stamped her foot in rage.
    Gone. Without a trace. She flung a web of magic outward to snare any life within her range. One very cranky crow screamed at her as he beat his wings against her entrapment. Nothing else. The soldiers were too far away, all rushing to douse the fire in Marnak’s camp.
    “Where are you, boy?” she screamed as she released the crow with the funny white feathers on its head. She cast the net again, more carefully and in a wider pattern. Still nothing.
    “What did I do wrong?” All her dreams of power faded. Having probed his magic, she should be able to find him anywhere on Kardia Hodos. Still he eluded her.
    That kind of power was unheard of, outside of legend. Only one of the Stargods could disappear so completely. “I’ll get you yet, Yaakke. Then I will take you to the coven for judgment. And I shall preside as your judge and