The Gentle Master

Natan had been a kind and loving man, a Marean fisherman by trade. He had loved her and her mother very much, always generous with affection, never stingy. Her mother, too, had been a loving woman, a timid soul who had been coaxed from her fear by her husband's love. Her parents' example had imbued her with abiding faith in love as a living force, and this faith had carried her through the worst suffering she could have imagined.

Ariana had been eight when the Pierran imperialist forces invaded her seaside village in Marea. She had watched her father slain by their swords and had cradled her dying mother in her arms when Shira was too weak to survive the rugged journey south to Pierra with the other captured women and children.

The strength of Natan and Shira's love beat in her own heart, which she had never been able to close, even in the face of the worst cruelty. She had not closed it to Karan in those first moments when he had captured her and tried to make her feel terror.

And now, in the face of his kindness, Ariana felt for him a depth of gratitude and love that she had not even experienced with Maya.

"Thank you, my lord," she said between sips of broth. "I haven't been treated so gently in many years."

Karan looked down, avoiding her gaze as he lifted the spoon to her mouth.

"You needn't thank me. I had to make up for the way I treated you." His voice was a murmer full of shame.

Ariana gazed on his downcast features. In spite of her weakened condition, she felt her woman's desire for him begin to rise, a warm rippling in the crevice between her thighs that radiated upward into her breasts, causing a tingling in the pink tips.

"I understand why you did it," she said softly. "I would have done the same."

Karan looked at her and she felt the space between them fill with his self-reproach. She sensed there were many things going on in his mind and heart that he wasn't telling her. She found herself hoping, however, that one of them was desire for her.

"Your gown was destroyed," he told her. "I will sew you a new one from skins. They'll keep you warm and dry."

Ariana stared at him, wanting to protest his offer. She did not want him to go to such trouble. But she was naked under the fur cover he'd given her. She had nothing else and no way of getting it for herself.

"Thank you, my lord."

Karan watched her and she wished he'd reach out and caress her hair again the way he had during her fever. But he did not.

"How did you know I was innocent?" he asked softly.

Ariana looked into his eyes. Their color was the blue of the placid sea, reflecting the pale morning. Her heart ached.

"I cannot say how, my lord. You only showed me what is there inside you."

Karan looked as though his eyes would fill with tears. "One of her ministers, Dogon, it was, told me of a plot against the queen." His voice was a low growl. "He asked me to protect her."

Ariana nodded. She knew Dogon only too well. He had been the one to take her virginity. He was a cruel man whose sadism went beyond the bounds of what could be considered pleasurable sex play. He had delighted in her virgin's pain, thrusting into her as hard as he could in spite of her whimpers. After that, she cowered in her haram quarters every time he called for her, and knew it was only by Galen's grace that she had escaped Dogon without permanent scars to her flesh or her soul.

"I did not suspect him for a moment, though I should have," Karan went on. "My loyalty to Maya blinded me to his deviousness. So I went to her chamber as soon as I was given an alarm that her murderer lurked in the shadows where she slept.

'The guards let me through. I didn't know they were part of the whole thing. As soon as Maya awoke and saw me over her with the knife, she screamed." He fell silent and bowed his head. "The worst part is she believed them. I never have understood why. I served her with my heart and soul."

Ariana felt her heart squeeze with pain and wished she were strong enough to comfort him in the way she wished.

"There are conjurors in the palace, my lord. No doubt Dogon employed them to bewitch the queen's mind. There is no other answer."

Karan sighed deeply. "Perhaps you are right. And if that's so, it does take some of the sting out of it to know she would have supported me otherwise."

Ariana felt a tear collect in her eye and she reached out a weak hand, putting it over Karan's branded one. "She would have, lord. She was a selfish woman in some ways, but not a cruel one. I knew her well. She would not have knowingly turned on you."

Karan looked at her, his expression twisted in pain. He set down the empty bowl and spoon, and picked up her hand, bringing it to his lips, pressing into her soft palm. Then he held it to his cheek.

Ariana's eyes fluttered closed at the pleasure of his silken beard against her skin. Slivers of heat began to shoot through the slit of her crotch, and she could feel the musk gather, like wet rain clouds before a storm. Her breathing deepened.

"I curse those who made you a slave," he said in a husky tone. "I wish Galen's wrath on them."

Her deep breaths caused the fur skin around her to loosen. She let it fall, wanting him to gaze on her nakedness. Her breasts were already swollen, the nipples tingling in erect peaks.

Karan reached out to cover her, but Ariana grasped his hand. She stared at him, silently imploring him not to pull away as she slowly moved his hand over her breast, pressing it down so that his fingers closed around it.

With her hand over his, she moved it around, bidding him to rub the swollen orb of flesh.

"Please, my lord," she whispered. "Have me."

She heard his breathing grow ragged. His eyes smoldered as he gazed on her. One breast was still bare, willing him to bend and kiss it, the other, tingling exquisitely under his callused skin. He appeared to be waging an inner battle between her seduction and something in his conscience.

He started to pull his hand away, but Ariana held him fast and gave a small whimper of protest.

"You owe me nothing, Ariana," Karan said gruffly. "Galen should strike me down for exacting a price to protect you. You are not my slave."

She stared into his eyes, frightened that he was turning her away. It had always been known about the general that he never took slaves. He had always refused the queen's offer of a bed-slave at palace banquets. But this was different, she knew. She loved Karan's soul as she appreciated his warrior's body. These feelings were utterly new and had closed over her like one of the giant waves her father's boat used to battle when he was fishing at sea. She felt her lip tremble and tears gather in the corners of her eyes.

"I give myself to you willingly, Lord Karan," she said in a near-whisper. "I know who you are and I love you. I would follow you anywhere."

Ariana waited for him to lean forward and kiss her. She wanted him so badly to nuzzle her breasts and cover her body with his. But he still watched her, a strange, twisted look of guilt darkening his chiseled features. Her panic mounted and she bit down on her lower lip, which trembled violently.

Suddenly, her control collapsed and she began to sob. She lifted Karan's hand from her breast and brought it to her lips, showering the rough skin with kisses and her desperate tears. Her anguish, borne so many lonely years with her grief locked inside her now spilled out, brought to the surface by Karan's kindness. He had nursed her the way her father had so many years ago whenever she was ill. When she was an innocent girl, back before the horrors began. . .

Karan reached out and pulled Ariana into his arms, letting her soak his abundant coat of silky chest hair with her tears. She clung to the warrior for a long time, with fistfuls of his tunic in her clenched hands. She felt little and safe against him, in a way she hadn't since Natan had last comforted her. Karan stroked her hair and placed small kisses on the top of her head where the scarlet tresses parted.

"Beautiful little woman," she heard him murmur.

With each stroke on her hair, she felt her tears begin to pass, leaving her heart cleansed and peaceful. Once again, she became aware of the man who held her, of the way his chest hairs brushed her damp cheek and his strength surrounded her. She breathed in the scents he carried of wood smoke, animal skins and earth. With each breath, she felt her body melt into his. Her lips were against his chest and she began to dapple it with soft, moist kisses, pressing her tongue to the salt of his skin. She moved across his breast to suckle gently on one of his nipples, eliciting a soft groan of pleasure from him.

Suddenly, she felt his hands grasp her arms. Gently but firmly, he held her away from him.

She looked at him, wide-eyed, frightened that he was about to turn her away even though he had seemed to want her.

"What is it, my lord?" she asked. "Don't I please you?"

Karan sighed. "Your beauty makes me ache."

"Then why..."

But her question was crushed by Karan's kiss. Her eyes fluttered shut as the pleasure of his lips overwhelmed her. She brought her arms around him, her fingertips pressing into the hard ridges of muscle in his back. The exquisite heat of surrender radiated through her, moistening the pink cleft between her thighs. She parted her lips wider as Karan languorously explored her tongue with his. She moaned as he wove his fingers into her hair, his other hand cradling her from behind as he gently laid her down on the fur skin. . . .

Karan tasted and suckled Ariana's lips as if they were the sweetest, most succulent fruit.

Her moans, caused by his mere kiss, unleashed him, and he paused to tug at the rawhide laces of his tunic so he could feel his bare skin against hers. He wanted to pleasure her as she had never been. A slave's pleasure depended on her mistress or master's whims. But he wanted to take all the time necessary to make her feel adored and treasured, saturated with loving.

He suckled her breasts, taking delight in how she arched her back to meet his mouth. He intended to kiss and lick her the length of her body, parting the lips of her cleft and massaging the sweet spot with his tongue until she writhed in ecstasy.

But when her hands roamed over his hips and buttocks, squeezing them and bidding him to penetrate her, his intentions were lost. He had been away from a woman's body for too long. He could not wait.

He slid his cock into her, letting out a long groan of pleasure at once again feeling the slippery heat of a woman's sheath. Fighting for self-control, he thrust slowly at first, stopping each time to poke the head in and out in small movements before plunging in again.

With each thrust, Ariana moaned, her head thrown back, her pale neck curved upward. He teased and nibbled the soft skin under her jaw and braced himself on his elbows so he could grind against her sweet spot, hoping to bring her to climax before he exploded.

Once again he leant down and captured her mouth in a sweet, deep kiss. Her complete surrender made him feel enveloped in feminine softness, as if he were returning to the dark peace of the womb. Her legs were stretched as wide open as she could to accommodate his warrior's body, and he could feel the soles of her feet resting on his buttocks.

"I'm sorry, Ariana," he groaned. "I won't last much longer."

She reached up and smoothed back the wild silvery-gold mane that hung in his eyes.

"Please, my lord," she breathed, "Have your pleasure."

Karan closed his eyes with the visceral sense of power her words evoked in him. He hadn't intended to react that way, to be a possessor, a master. But she demanded it of him by her nature, by her faith in the man he was and her surrender to him. He had mastered her with gentle strength and now, they were both beyond return.

Karan did not have to worry about her satisfaction, for his thrusts against her swollen, taut clit brought her to orgasm and she released several small cries, one with each spasm of pleasure. She fell limp in his arms and after only a few more thrusts, Karan, too, had his release, his warm seed spilling out inside her.

When the last spasm had passed, Karan lay over her, covering her with his relaxed body. He closed his eyes, enjoying the silky feel of her small hands caressing his back and hips.

All praise to Lord Galen, Karan offered silently. He had never thought to have the gift of a woman's sweetness again. Perhaps all things were possible. Perhaps the same grace that had brought him Ariana would restore to him the other woman he loved: his beautiful daughter, Lara.

Karan pressed a kiss to Ariana's damp cheek. "Thank you," he whispered.

Ariana reached up and caressed his hair. Her green eyes shone up at him.

"Lord Galen loves me through you," she said softly.

Karan rolled his weight off her and lay next to her, gathering her against him. He pulled the fur covering over both of them and kissed her hair. "It is I who should be grateful," he murmured into her luxurious ringlets.

He rested his cheek against her hair, delighting in the soft sound of her breathing. She was not fully recovered and he felt how their passion had spent her strength. He kept his arms around her protectively.

Before he closed his own eyes in sleep, an image of the Pierran guards making their way into the hills came to his mind. No doubt, a search for the escaped slave was in progress.

The Pierrans would most certainly pay him a visit, wanting to know if he harbored her. The men he had once commanded loved to pass through occasionally and taunt him, not understanding he could wring their necks with one hand if he chose.

But he chose not to. If he killed any of them, the army would swarm him and any chance he had of saving Lara would be destroyed.

They were the scum of the planet.

He shuddered to think of the fate they had planned for the queen's assassin.

They'll never get Ariana, he swore silently. Never.

CHAPTER FOUR

For the first time since she was a little girl, Ariana woke with a smile on her lips. Never had a night been so sweet as the one that had just passed. Several times during her sleep, she had awakened and listened to Karan's gentle breathing. She'd breathed in the aroma of his warm skin. His strong arms around her made her feel a safety she'd forgotten could exist.

But now, she didn't feel the heat of his body beside her. He no longer held her. He must have moved away from her in his sleep. She turned over to snuggle closer, but only her body covered the fur skin.

Ariana sat bolt upright, looking wildly around the shadowy cave for him. She almost began to sob, terrified that he had left her when she became aware of the sound of water spilling in a shower against the rocks, just outside the entrance to the cave. She turned and looked.

Karan was there, naked in the morning sunlight, pouring water from a jug over his hair and body.

She blinked, her panic receded momentarily as the stirring began between her thighs. Rising to her knees, she watched, captured by the magnificent vision.

Karan bent over to fill the jug from a basin. He straightened and sluiced the water over his head and down his back and chest. The sunlight glinted off the droplets in his hair and beard and off the rivulets coursing over the bulges and curves of muscle of his scarred back.

He then turned so his front was back and buttocks and thighs. toward her, still unaware he was being watched. The water had plastered down the abundant silvery gold hair of his chest, accentuating his broad strength.

The sight caused the pulsing in her crotch to radiate upward into her breasts, tightening the pink tips.

Karan set down the jug, reached for a large cloth and began to towel himself as he entered the cave.

Ariana's gaze met with his as he drew closer. She could feel the heat of the moisture radiating from his body. Suddenly, tears of relief rushed to her eyes and spilled out. She hadn't realized how afraid she'd been that he left. She lunged forward and threw her arms around him, pressing her face into his stomach, just above his silky abundance of sexual hair.

She felt Karan's large hand on her hair. "I meant to finish and be back next to you before you woke," he said softly.

Ariana sniffled, smiling at the simple joy of his tender caress. "I thought you'd left," she murmured into his skin.

Karan gently stroked her hair. "I'm sorry I frightened you, Ariana. I should have known." He stood quietly, caressing her hair and face.

She began stroking his buttocks and hips, her fear giving way to the desire that had begun moments before. She pressed her nakedness against his legs, and nuzzled the nest of hair at the base of his shaft. She wanted so badly to please him, to give him the love and pleasure he'd been deprived of for so long. She heard him moan softly, his cock rising in response to her hands roaming over his bare skin

She felt his erection swell against her cheek and lowered her face and captured his shaft in her mouth. She closed her eyes, delighting in the delicious feel of the smooth, velvety skin over hard, veined muscle.

Slowly, gently, she suckled him, sliding her lips up and down the length of his hardness, stopping each stroke at the tip to smooth her tongue over its swollen ridges as she whispered her hands over his buttocks and thighs, and over the sac between them. . .

Karan moaned, stroking her hair with both hands. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. Her mouth was a warm wet sheath, and he gently pulsed his cock in and out, the fingers of both hands entwined in her soft red tumble of curls. This beautiful woman who was pleasuring him with such love caused his already finely honed senses to flare even more, and he could smell the musk of her cream rising, the scent filling the air around them.

He could hear the low murmurs of pleasure in her throat and feel them vibrating on his shaft as her mouth slid up and down on it from head to base. The sounds caused his blood to mount and his heart to beat faster. The sudden desire to hear her cry out from pleasure seized him, and in one swift motion, he withdrew from her mouth and crouched down, his hands on her upper arms. He looked at her flushed cheeks and lips moist from suckling him. Gently he pushed her back.

"Lie down," he told her in a gruff whisper.

She fell back under his hands, her legs spread wide. Her breasts and sex were swollen and the cream he had smelled had saturated her ruby curls and glistened in rivulets down her inner thighs.

Karan knelt between her parted legs and raised his body over her, lowering his lips to hers.

He began with her mouth, seizing it in deep, wet kisses. Fighting the deep need to take her immediately, he moved slowly downward, trailing a moist path of warm kisses down her neck and breasts, stopping to nibble and suckle the hard tips.

For a long time, he worked his way down her soft yielding body. The earthen scents of her skin and musk filled him and he experienced a visceral surge in his loins that radiated through his entire body. He could not wait another moment to taste her deepest most hidden parts.

With gentle fingers, he parted the lips of her sex, burying his face deeply into the hot wetness. When his warm tongue and soft beard met her sweet spot, she moaned loudly and raised her hips. Her glistening cream covered Karan's lips and flowed into his mouth, down his throat as he laved the slick pink skin in languorous circles with his tongue.

Ariana's cries grew louder and more frenzied, and she writhed her hips in the depths of pleasure. The sound delighted him and he slid his large fingers inside her as he continued to suckle the hard nub. In moments, he felt her sheath tighten around his fingers as the spasms of climax coursed through her. He continued his ministrations until she fell limp. Then he raised his head and looked at her.