SUMMARY:
After Clovis becomes king of his
tribe of Salian Franks he reunites with Nimia. He soon realizes how useful her
Phannic gifts will be, and with her help, plots to take down Soissons. She is
in love with Clovis, however, and while he says he loves her, too... there is a
calculating coldness in his eyes sometimes that makes her wonder if he knows
what love is.
Sygarius, meanwhile, is outraged that Nimia fled, and he too has realized that she has useful powers. He wants her back. And he is prepared to fight for what’s his.
Sygarius, meanwhile, is outraged that Nimia fled, and he too has realized that she has useful powers. He wants her back. And he is prepared to fight for what’s his.
EXCERPT:
Terix
heaved a put-upon sigh. We’d had this same argument a hundred times over the
past month and a half as we fled from Sygarius and toward . . . toward . . .
Well, that was the issue. Toward what? The only answer that had any
meaning—to me, at least—was to find my lost people, the Phanne. And the only
clue I had to finding them was the story that a tattooed man named Maerlin had
once met my onetime lover (and only one time, gods rot his betraying
heart), the Frankish prince Clovis, on the shore of the channel. Maerlin had
told Clovis that he was of the Phanne and going to Britannia, and that Clovis
must remember this fact, for someday it would give him what he sought.
An
annoyingly mysterious statement, that.
“He’ll
want more from you once we’re on his boat. You’ll have to give it to him, too,”
Terix tried.
I
hoped so.
Hades,
what had come over me? This was not the Nimia I was familiar with, for most
of her life untouchable and untouched, the consecrated sexual-toy-to-be of
Sygarius.
Or
maybe I was the same Nimia: I had spent those untouched years lusting
for the feel of another’s hand on my skin. Perhaps it should be no surprise to
anyone, least of all myself, that once my virginity was gone I would seek to
gorge myself on that which I had so long been denied.
Jax
was the first attractive opportunity to do so. How convenient for me that we
needed his help.
“Better
a cock rubber . . .” I said, reviving an old joke between us.
“Than
a pot scrubber,” Terix answered, but then made a face. “That was only funny
when we were slaves with no choice.”
“There’s
never a choice for the likes of us. Not here in Gaul, anyway, with Sygarius
hunting us. We have to get beyond his reach.”
Terix
threw up his hands. He knew I wasn’t going to be dissuaded. “It’s your cunny.”
“My
cunny isn’t part of the deal, you know that.” At least, not yet it wasn’t. One
look at my tattoos, and no matter how horny Jax was for me, he’d be a lot
hornier for the ten-soldi reward. “It’s the only way, Terix.”
Terix
turned his shoulder to me, and made grumbling comments to his cup of mead that
I chose not to decipher.
I
slid my gaze to Jax, and sent him my answer in a small smile and a nod.
Jax
rose at once, leaving his friends to their dice and drink. He wove through the
crowd, coming toward me with an easy, natural confidence, his arms relaxed, his
narrow hips and sinewy frame moving without hurry, but with purpose. A sudden
certainty came to me that a man who moved through a crowd like that, with no
sign of either arrogance or caution, was a man who didn’t blink at killing
anyone who got in his way.
A
shiver ran down my spine and landed in my loins. I was a fool if I thought I
was in control of this situation.
My
cunny pulsed in response to the thought.
“All
is agreed?” Jax asked when he reached me. His Latin had an accent I couldn’t place;
I guessed that he’d not grown up amid Romans. How old he might be, I couldn’t
say: deep crow’s-feet spread from his eyes, and grooves ran from the edge of
his nose to the corners of his mouth, but a life on the water would do that to
even a young man. His hair hung thick and dark brown, and his teeth flashed
white in his tanned skin.
I
nodded.
He
took my elbow in a gentle grip and guided me from the tavern into the scorching
heat of the day. The sun felt like flames on my skin. My stomach fluttered as I
realized this was happening; I was going alone with Jax to the stables. I had
agreed to suck his cock in exchange for his agreeing to take us on as paying
passengers, and he was not a man who would let me change my mind.
Link continuing the excerpt to XOXOAfterDark:
This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.
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