He ran his hand through her hair. “Beautiful as ever.” He sighed. “I have missed you so.”
“As I missed you. Your duties have kept you away longer than ever before,” she replied, stroking his cheek gently. “I’m sorry for your loss. I know Vidos was like a son to you.”
“Thank you, my darling. How did she take it?”
“As well as could be.” The Oracle looked down at the figure slumbering at their feet. “She’s but a child. I have prayed to the Goddess to give her time to learn the skills she’ll need and find the strength to do what she must do.” She shook a finger at Antonius. “You should not have read the scrolls, you know.”
“What will the Goddess do? Strike me dead? We’ll all be there soon enough if she doesn’t succeed.”
He pulled her closer. Captured her lips in a fierce kiss that held all the pent-up passion he kept hidden away until they were together. “Come, my love. We’ll let her sleep. Be mine once more – for this time may be our last.”
Antonius slipped the cloak off his shoulders and covered the slumbering queen. Then he swept the Oracle into his arms and carried her away.
Hours later, he stood at the foot of her bed. “I must go.”
She gave him a wistful smile and started to rise.
“No. Stay there,” he said. “I want to remember you as you are right now. Not the Holy Oracle sitting all alone on her ornate throne, but the incredibly beautiful, passionate woman tangled in the bedsheets with a satisfied smile on her face. The woman I fell in love with the first time I saw her.”
He headed for the door then stopped.
“Before we leave, you should tell her.”
“The rest of the Prophecy?” The Oracle shook her head sadly. “She’ll learn her fate soon enough. Danger is at hand. It doesn’t matter what she thinks or wants or feels. Her duty now is to her people, not to her heart.”
Chapter Seven
Drayke
“You bitch.”
I snarled at her.
Shelaughed. The old crone took one look at my rock-hard cock, starkly outlined through the bulge in my pants, and let out the shrill cackle that always made my skin crawl.
She’d shown me the scene from the temple before. Part of my preparation for taking on the quest. But tonight she played it out for me so I was right there. I could feel Melisandre’s smooth sleek skin, smell her pussy, wet with arousal. Feel her hand stroking my cock. First tentatively then boldly. Running her fingers over the head and down the shaft.
I felt the heat of her pussy, her slick juices coating the head of my cock as I got ready to slide it inside her.
And then the witch made it all disappear.
“I want to make sure you have some incentive,” she replied.
“For this mission of doom you’re sending me on?” I snorted. “You’ll have to promise me more than a hard-on that goes unsatisfied.”
She let out another cackle. “You’ll have more than your cock to worry about before your quest is completed.”
I should have gotten used to her viciousness by now. I’d met with her many times in this fortress hidden behind the temple at the top of Mt. Jarazal. Ever since that first night, I’d been her puppet. She pulled the strings, summoned me here at will, always talking about my damned destiny. She’d teased me, showing me bits and pieces, but never the full picture. This time she lured me here with the promise of finally revealing the part I was to play in this drama.
I was more than ready to begin. My life had become unbearable. Though I had tried, I was unable to completely control the Dragon within me. At times, the fever consumed me, and I craved the power of fire with a fierce and mindless hunger. The need was so great I was barely able to sneak away fast enough to shift without being caught in the act.
My father never knew, but I think my mother suspected something. I’d catch her looking at me from time to time with tears in her eyes. I’d smile, go to her, and put my arms around her. And she’d whisper, “My darling boy. May the Goddess grant you peace.”
I was glad she’d gone to be with the ancestors. She’d be spared the pain of my death. For I suspected the reason I hadn’t been told the full truth was that the Oracle knew I wouldn’t survive my encounter with the Lord of Darkness.
“Pay attention,” she snapped, yanking me out of my reverie. “The time draws near. Your destiny awaits.”
She closed her eyes, and her voice took on the hypnotic sound it did when she went into a trance. Channeling the unseen spirits. “Your quest begins tonight. You must go to the queen. Earn her trust.”