Sold to Serve by Kyra Alessy

Chapter 17

Kora stared out of the window of her family home, watching the last of the dead leaves begin their floating descent to the ground from bare boughs. When she’d returned with Royce, she found that although Blackhale hadn’t lied about her family, his reports of the house in ruins had been greatly exaggerated. There had been a fire in her parents’ wing but that was the only part of the house that was damaged. She’d had the servants – servants in truth now, not slaves – close that part of the house until she’d decided whether or not she’d have it rebuilt.

Royce entered the room, sitting down heavily without preamble and holding a missive. He’d stayed with her the past weeks while they’d dealt with the estate and tried to quietly dissolve the dreaded Writ as she’d tried to move past all the things that had happened since she’d left this place.

‘What is it?’

‘I must soon leave, my dear.’

Brow furrowing, she sat down in front of him. ‘Do you really have to go?’

He smiled at her. ‘The sea is in my blood, girl. Besides, you don’t want me staying here forever. I’ll outstay my welcome soon enough.’

‘Never.’ She grasped his hand. ‘What about annulling the Writ of Ownership?’

He sighed heavily. ‘You know many in the south have a stake in slaves and they don’t care where they come from. That a woman from a noble family was taken is unheard of. There’s no precedent for it. I have no doubt it will go in your favour, though it will be a lengthy and expensive battle. But the Brothers who hold the Writ haven’t come here to claim you back either. My advice? Unless you want this dragged out for a very long time, either buy a slave to take your place – ’

‘I can’t give them another slave. I can’t do that to a person.’ She sighed heavily.

Royce gave her a pointed look ‘Or, take the Brothers in my employ and offer payment in exchange for it. Kane, Sorin and Viktor are the highest-ranking unit in the Army. The bought Brothers be able to protect you even if the Writ-holders try to force you back to them.’

‘As long as we keep paying them,’ she muttered. She didn’t like the bought Brothers. The three of them had been respectful of her, but they weren’t like Mace, Kade and Lucian. Their eyes held no emotion, not for anything. They were simply mercenaries. Or perhaps they’re simply not the Brothers you want protecting you, a traitorous voice in her head whispered. She closed it out and stood abruptly.

‘I know you miss the sea, Uncle. As you say, the bought Brothers will protect me. Even if someone did try something underhanded, they wouldn’t get past them. Especially the taller one. The servants are sure he has some sort of terrible power.’

‘Bah,’ Royce said flippantly with a chuckle. ‘Powers indeed.’ He quieted. ‘I do miss the sea though,’ he admitted. ‘This life was never for me.’ He looked at her. ‘But perhaps you’re the same,’ he continued too perceptively.

She turned away from him. He always had been shrewd. What would he think of her if she told him what she wanted?

‘Kora?’

‘I miss them,’ she said simply. ‘I think about them. I may be removed from them, but they still consume my every waking moment. Do you think that my time as a slave has twisted my mind?’

Her uncle was silent, watching her. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘I think you’re a woman grown and you need to make a decision. Can you get past all that happened to you as a slave?’ He shrugged. ‘If you want to see them, see them. But if they press the matter, you still owe them a slave, my child. Take my men and buy yourself free from them first. Perhaps then you can begin anew.’

Two dayslater she said goodbye to Royce and climbed into her carriage calmly, her bought Brothers and their men in formation around it. She waved goodbye, knowing that he would leave as soon as she had gone. Her uncle yearned to return to his ship and it was time for her to go back to the keep. Even if it was for the last time.

Until she had the Writ, she wasn’t truly free. That, she told herself, was the reason she was going in person, but really she ached to see them – even Lucian. In the time since leaving them, she had mulled over the many events that had transpired and she knew that, despite everything, she cared for all three of them.

But did they feel the same? In the latter days of her time there, they’d looked after her, but had that been because she’d been costly or did she mean something more to them? Lucian had begun their blood binding it was true, but that signified nothing where he was concerned.

And things were different now. She was a woman of means, and she felt much more herself without the shackles of slavery conflicting with her will.

But as her carriage neared the keep, her stoic manner started to crack. Her hands shook as they went beneath the portcullis. What if they demanded she return as their slave? What if they refused to let her buy herself free? What if – ? Stop it, she ordered herself. She shifted in her seat, donning a calm demeanour despite her misgivings and readying herself to enter the keep on equal footing with its lords.

The carriage stopped and the door opened. She stepped out, taking the Brother Sorin’s offered hand. She didn’t spare him a glance. Instead she surveyed the yard. It was cleaner, she realised; less haphazard. The repairs to the walls were finished, the piles of stones had been cleared away, but, more than that, the platform where the X had stood was gone. There appeared to be a small herb garden outside the kitchen from what she could make out as well. There were new faces – servants, it looked like – going about their work. The guards, the Brothers’ men whom she’d known before, were staring warily at her and her men, but no one spoke to her.

It was colder here too, now that they were slipping into the winter months. Shivering, she picked up her skirts and walked up the main steps to the door, her sentries following closely behind her billowing cloak. The door swung open and she was met by a stout and stern-looking woman.

‘I have business with your lords,’ she announced before the woman could say a word.

She didn’t move, eyeing Kora and her bought Brothers suspiciously.

A voice she recognised as Kade’s bellowed from the hall. ‘Let her pass.’

With a snort, she stepped aside and Kora entered. It smelled less dank in the corridor than it had before, and there was more light. She assumed she had this formidable-looking woman to thank for that.

Kora and her men made their way to the great hall. The door was already open and she eyed the three Brothers as she entered the large room. Lucian was lounging in one of the chairs by the sizable hearth, Mace looked pensive in the other one and Kade stood to the side, eyeing her like prey.

She watched for a moment, not knowing what to say. Should she apologise for leaving? No. she wasn’t sorry. She’d had to go.

They stared back, seeming to be as at a loss for words as she was. Mace stood and Lucian followed suit. They were all facing her now. Lucian had gained weight, she noticed. The hollowness of his cheeks had filled out. He looked healthier, but Kade and Mace were unchanged in the weeks that she’d been gone, as far as she could see. The trio watched her in silence and her cheeks began to warm at their scrutiny.

Suddenly wanting to get this over with, she threw a jingling bag on the table in front of them. ‘Twenty pieces.’

Lucian spoke first. He sounded livid of course, but, after some time to reflect, she’d realised that much of his anger was to hide his fear and hurt. And, she saw now that he was easily hurt. ‘Is that why you’ve come back; why you’ve brought your own men?’

Kora wasn’t cowed. ‘As the matter isn’t yet resolved, I was advised to bring my own Brothers with me.’

‘Then let’s resolve it,’ Kade growled, producing a paper she recognised from the day she was sold. The Writ of Ownership.

He handed it to Mace, who, to her surprise, proceeded to light it on the nearest torch. He let it fall to the stone floor and she watched in silence as it burned away to ash. And that was that. No Writ, no slave. So simple.

Tears of gratitude came to her eyes and she brushed them away. She was free. Now for the rest.

She turned her head slightly to speak to the men at her back. ‘Wait for me in the yard.’

‘Aye.’

She heard them leave and then she was alone with the Brothers.

She slowly removed her thick, ermine cloak and draped it on a chair before sitting down.

‘Things have changed here,’ she commented.

‘Aye,’ Mace said, sitting down as well. ‘After Davas … we decided to get some men from the village to finish the repairs to the keep.’

‘And the woman who answered the door?’

‘Tess.’ Kade said, also sitting. ‘She’s a … What is it again?’

‘Housekeeper, fool.’ Lucian drawled and Kora almost smiled. Gods, she had missed them.

‘Housekeeper,’ Kade repeated.

‘So what now?’ Mace asked, cutting through the small-talk.

She opened her mouth to speak, but found she didn’t know what to say. ‘I don’t know,’ she finally said. ‘I’ve missed you,’ she confessed.

They all eyed her, stony-faced, until, finally, she looked away, heaving a breath as the weight of sorrow settled heavily over her. So it was finished, then. Her time here was done and it hadn’t meant anything to them. Gazing at the floor, she pulled what was left of her pride over her like a threadbare blanket and turned to go as sadness threatened to fell her. But fingers tangled in her pinned hair before she’d even taken a step.

She was pulled back against a hard chest and gasped as heat flooded her.

‘We missed you too,’ Kade murmured in her ear, letting go of her hair and wrapping a thick arm around her middle. She sighed in relief even as her heart began to thud hard in her chest.

Mace stood in front of her and grasped her chin, forcing her to look at him. ‘What of your uncle?’

‘No one has a hold over me now,’ she said breathlessly. ‘My uncle has gone back to his ship. The estate is mine to do with what I will.’

‘You would stay here with us? Is that was you propose?’ Mace growled, sending such an enjoyable thrill through her that her knees weakened.

She met his eye. ‘Yes … if you still – ’

He kissed her hard and she closed her eyes. He pulled back a moment later and rested his forehead on hers, heaving a sigh. Gods, she’d been so afraid they’d turn her away. She hadn’t known what she would have done if they had.

‘Never,’ Kade whispered in her ear and she realised she’d spoken her thoughts aloud.

Suddenly Lucian was in front of her. He looked relieved. ‘Come.’ He took her hand.

Kade’s arm fell away and Mace allowed them to pass.

Lucian took her from the hall, leading her up the worn stairs to the room where they’d spent so many hours together. He opened the door and ushered her inside, the smell of the books like a balm to her senses. This was what home was. The harp leant against the wall and she picked it up, realising with surprise that the strings had been replaced. She set it back down gently as she heard the latch, her heart racing.

* * *

Lucian pushed the door closed and turned to take her in, in her forest green gown. How had he ever thought any dress too fine for her? He’d been such a fool. She finally turned to him, looking suddenly timid and shy. He could hardly believe she’d come back to the keep.

He stalked towards her slowly. She didn’t look frightened per se but he was what he was and he’d done what he’d done.

‘Just you?’ she asked in trepidation.

‘For now. I needed to speak with you, Kora. I – ’ He let out a long breath, rubbing his jaw.

He’d thought about what he was going to say to her if she ever returned a hundred times in the past weeks. Lies, truths, a combination of the two. He’d concocted ways to manipulate her into staying, stories about his past that would pull on her heartstrings. But now she was here and in front of him and he couldn’t remember any of the machinations he’d practiced.

‘I was a Dark Brother. I was practically born to be callous and unfeeling. I’ve done many, many things that I’m not sorry for and never will be, but I am sorry for how I treated you. All that time you were here … for most of it I despised you or at least I thought I did.’

She stood in front of him in silence, letting him speak. So he did.

‘I’ve never cared for anyone except for my Brothers and Lori. I hated that you made me feel anything for you. So I tried to make you hate me even as I had to talk myself into loathing you. I’m sorry for that too. I should never have taken my tricks so far and I promise you that I will never treat you so cruelly again.’

He advanced one step at a time, making her retreat from him until her back was at the large table. He closed in on her, trapping her and excitement shot through him.

He lowered his tone. ‘But what I’m mostly sorry for,’ he murmured, ‘is that I’m not sorry I tricked you into bed and I’m definitely not sorry that I bound you to me. To us. I should have talked to you about it before, I know that, but, after we … I found, selfishly, that I couldn’t possibly let you go. I realised that you were our Fourth, just a bit later than the other two.’

She was staring into his eyes so intently that he felt as if she could see into his soul. He wondered if she’d see it for the putrid, dark mass that he feared it was. She was going to laugh in his face, he was sure, and then she was going to leave them.

‘I want you, Lucian,’ she breathed, shocking him. She fingered his tunic, looking down, he knew, to hide the distress she felt when she remembered her early weeks here. He swore to himself that he would replace those memories with much, much better ones. ‘But no more tricks,’ she said, ‘no more malevolence towards me, or I swear to all the gods I will leave here and never come back, blood binding or no.’ She looked back up at him, apprehension in her eyes.

‘Are you certain you want to do this? Stay here?’ he asked quietly. ‘We aren’t good men. We try, we pretend, but we aren’t. We will love you, yet shackle you to us, Kora, and you’ll never ever get away.’

‘I don’t want to get away. I’ve been … hollow and now that I’m back here, I feel ...’ she closed her eyes and let out a breath, ‘so content. Like I belong in this keep with you.’

‘You do belong here,’ he rumbled, kissing her hard. He pushed his tongue past her lips and pulled her dress down roughly at the same time to free her breasts and imprison her arms.

He made a low sound of anticipation as he touched her softly, feeling her nipples harden under his fingers. He could hardly believe she had returned, that she wanted him still.

Unable to help himself, he delved under her skirts and into her small clothes, caressing between her legs and finding her ready for him. With a groan, he thrust a finger into her, mimicking the movement of his tongue in her mouth.

She made a sound of surprise as he ripped the lacing of the dress’s bodice and quickly loosened it. He pulled the dress away, leaving her in nothing but a shift that was already pulled down to her waist. He divested her of that as well, throwing it behind him as he finally looked his fill of her.

He eased her up onto the table and laid her back as he opened her thighs. She let him move her where he willed, passively watching him with hooded eyes. He couldn’t stop looking at the dark curls nestled between her legs. He spread her wide, taking in the pink flesh that came into view.

‘The times I imagined doing this when we were in here alone together,’ he murmured, ‘bending you back on this table, forward over the chairs, on the rug before the hearth, against the wall. I’ve dreamt about fucking you a thousand times in this room.’

‘Then do it.’

With a growl, he ground himself against her as he took off his sword belt. A wicked thought crossed his mind as he looked at the rounded pommel of his sword. He grinned teasingly at her as he brandished it. She looked delightfully confused and his smile widened. He kept forgetting how innocent she really was.

He winked at her as he lowered the sword, still in its scabbard, of course, and eased the cold metal of the ridged hilt into her slowly. She gasped and jerked at the sensation, rising up on her elbows to see what he was doing.

He pushed her back gently. ‘I’ll not hurt you much,’ he said softly, holding her gaze as he slipped it out. He thrust it back in with a bit more force and her eyes widened. He would enjoy baptizing all his weapons in her cunt, he thought.

A cry of pleasure erupted from her and she closed her eyes, one of her legs moving to rest on his hip. She gripped him with her ankle, pulling him closer as he pushed the hilt of his sword into her again and again. She moaned and twisted until he pulled it from her body and threw it to the floor with a clatter, unable to wait any longer. He pulled out his hard cock and plunged into her hot, swollen channel with a groan. He’d been wanting this for so long.

She squealed as he gripped her hips and pulled her to him. He took her by the waist and picked her up, impaling her deeply. She cried out, wrapping her legs around him as he moved her body up and down on his hard length.

He heard the door and was dimly aware that his Brothers had found them. They watched from the shadows as Kora came apart on his cock, mewling and whimpering, but he didn’t finish – not yet. Instead, he eased her into Kade’s waiting arms.

‘We must finish the binding ritual,’ he heard Kade tell her. ‘Until it is complete, our unit is weakened.’

She looked at each of them before nodding.

* * *

Kade gave her a cup of wine mixed with just a drop of his and Mace’s blood. Without hesitation, she swallowed the contents and he smiled. The beast was happy as well, in a way he’d never felt before. The past weeks had been difficult. He’s spent many hours roaming the vale in his other form. But now she was here – with him. With them.

She held her hand out for the knife and pierced the tip of her own finger. She made to put her blood in the cup as they had done, but Kade took her hand and brought it to his lips. He licked the drop of blood with a grin and then held it out to his Brother who did the same.

It was done. They all heaved a collective sigh of relief. She was theirs.

‘What will happen now?’ she asked in a small voice.

‘A subtle change you’ll likely not notice. The meaning of the ritual is what matters. We are bound to you and you to us,’ Mace said. ‘Forever.’

Kade turned Kora to him and kissed her lips as his hands roamed over her naked form. She unbuckled his sword belt and it fell to the floor with a thud. Then she took his dark tunic and undershirt off, fully baring the scar that covered his shoulder and half his chest and face.

He wanted to cover it. She’d never seen the extent of the damage the accident had wrought upon his flesh and, though he knew she wouldn’t turn away from him, he didn’t like anyone seeing it, if he was truthful. But she barely looked at it as she caressed him, closing her eyes as she found the ridges of it with her tongue. She licked the length of it from under his ribcage to his shoulder, and the sight of her doing so was the most erotic thing he’d ever experienced.

He eased her away and kissed her again as his hand found her core. He traced circles over her bud and pushed a finger into her as Mace moved behind her, easing a finger into her back passage as well. She squirmed at his invasion.

Kade shook his head. ‘You know better than that,’ he admonished, impaling her on his finger so deeply that she rose onto her toes with a low cry. He kept her balanced there, unable to avoid what Mace was doing as he readied her to take him.

When Mace had stretched her enough, he nodded to Kade, who eased out of her as well, letting her down. He led her to the hearth and lay on his back, placing her on top of him. He smiled at her anxious face.

‘Don’t worry,’ he chuckled, sliding his cock into her hot passage slowly. ‘You’ll like it.’ He let his head fall to the rug with an animalistic sound when he was buried inside her. Then he heard her small cry of pain as Mace eased his well-oiled staff into her other entrance. Staying still for a moment, they waited until she was used to both their cocks inside her at the same time. Only then did they begin to move slowly.

It wasn’t long before the little whimpers of pain gave way to the enjoyment he’d promised. She was gasping and moaning on their cocks, making small sounds of pleasure deep in her throat as she was alternately filled. Mace caught his eye and Kade nodded, changing his pace. She bucked, screaming in pleasure as both of them entered her at once, slid out and shoved into her again.

Lucian, who’d been watching from the side, knelt down on one knee by Kora. She took him in her mouth without hesitation and he looked to the heavens in delight as her body sheathed his cock as well.

‘Let us see you touch yourself, Kora,’ Kade murmured. To his surprise, she did as he asked without needing to be cajoled, using her fingers to play with that part of her that was instrumental in finding her own release.

Suddenly she tensed, legs shaking, as her passages began to undulate around them, practically forcing their staffs from her spasming body. She cried out in ecstasy as both Mace and Kade did the same, spilling their seeds in her. Though clearly well-pleasured and sleepy, Kora continued to work Lucian with her tongue. When he was close, he took her hair and began to thrust past her lips, hard and fast, until he suddenly threw back his head, grunting as he filled her mouth.

Sated, they lay together on the rug by the warm hearth and dozed until they heard a timid knock on the door.

‘My lords,’ came the muffled voice of Tess, their new housekeeper, ‘forgive me, but will the lady be staying the night?’

They all chuckled, even Kora, though she was practically asleep on Kade’s chest.

* * *

‘Aye,’ Mace said fondly, not taking his eyes off Kora. ‘She will be. Have a plate of food brought, would you, Tess? Oh, and see to the lady’s guards as well.’

Later, after they’d eaten their fill, they all went down to the bathing pool, taking turns seeing who could bring Kora to climax the fastest while washing her delectable body; Lucian’s game, of course. And though Mace had rolled his eyes, the lass had well enjoyed it, half-hearted protests aside.

She fell asleep not long afterwards, exhausted, and they took her to her chamber. Kade and Lucian retired, but Mace sat on the bed for some time, just watching her. He’d missed her much more than he’d let on even to his Brothers. A part of him couldn’t believe she had returned and stayed of her own free will. They were truly lucky to have such a woman.

There were moments when he was afraid that he was still in that dungeon, that this was all just the elaborate imaginings of a madman. But now that Kora was here with them, he knew that those memories would fade in time as new ones took their place.

She opened her eyes just a bit and yawned, reached out to him with a contented murmur and pulled him down next to her. Happy to indulge the fourth member of their unit, he took her in his arms and held her close, wondering when she would realise what Kade had discovered upon tasting her blood. His hand moved down to her abdomen and he smiled. It had already been a few weeks, so she’d notice soon, he was certain.

He’d never thought of them as fathers, but, with Kora, he wanted everything and he knew the others did as well. For the first time, they could all truly imagine living – really living. They’d be happy and content and ensure that Kora was as well, he vowed. Nothing would ever part them.

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