Page 9 of The Goddesses' Gifts

“Someone will come once a day to share their current for now,” he answered almost absently while he rose to his feet. “More often as the baby grows.”

I swallowed and a tiny jolt of fear brought me out of the comfortable, warm fog. “It won’t be you?” Not that I trusted him. He was guarded, yes, but my gut told me he didn’t mean me any harm. It was rarely ever wrong.

“No, we will rotate people through to act as surrogate father,” he explained before turning his back to me. “I only wanted the chance to talk to you first. Good thing too, ignorant as you are.” He opened the door and stood on the threshold for a moment before turning to look over his shoulder. “And please, consider my advice about how to handle the commander’s attentions. I know he said he would wait, but he hasn’t had a new toy in some time. He will come for you in the next day or so, I’m sure.”

I didn’t say anything. It was quite a bit to process.

Then, Zelfek reached up and called his light back. It drifted from the ceiling and started to fade.

I lurched and took a step towards him. “Please leave the light,” I gasped.

He glanced at me, his expression unreadable, and shook his head as the light continued to dim. “No, you have light,” he said, and the room went dark. “Use it.”

CHAPTER 4

ZELFEK

This halfie was not what I had hoped she would be. While undeniably the ideal hostage for my scheme, she also fit Dulanzo’s … well, if not tastes, then victim profile. Knowing she was his brother’s mate would make damaging her before Lobikno and Lhoris got here irresistible. But if I wanted Lobikno to trust me upon their arrival, I needed evidence of being trustworthy to prevent them from rampaging through me as well ... and that would be difficult if Dulanzo broke the fucking wench before they even got here.

There was no denying she was capable of violence with all the scars she carried, hence my decision to keep her mostly unconscious on the journey, I was surprised she had the balls to meet Dulanzo’s eyes let alone spit in them. The fact that she’d found the strength to run after being kept alive on broth and whatever she could eat half-conscious was, quite frankly, astonishing. It wasn’t until she wiggled off the chair to stand on her own two feet and give me a defiant little grin that I realized how much trouble she was in.

Dulanzo relished obliterating defiant personalities and her resilience would only prolong his amusement. The fact that she already had a baby plowed into her meant he didn’t have to fear his own seed taking root. He’d be down here to start toying with her as soon as he could free himself from his duties. Which was why I’d stirred up a rivalry between some of his personally loyal officers, and conveniently disappeared so he’d have to deal with it.

I’d gained information from her, though. Not just the paternity of the child she carried, but that she was smart enough to realize that I was attempting to manipulate her, but willing to play along for lack of option. It was part of why I’d been willing to give her the illusion of advantage by sitting and allowing her to loom over me.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t counted on how compelling the view from that angle would be. I should have stayed longer, to make sure the little parasite had what it needed, but I found myself wanting to lick the old scar that so beautifully marred the perfection of those full, shapely lips. To touch them and test their softness with my fingertips. I hadn’t been with a female in ages …

That wouldn’t do, though. I needed her to vouch for my behavior—to believe I was her ally, or at the very least the lesser of two evils. Dulanzo had anticipated that, though, and told her it was my fault she was here. While true, it worked against my plans. The situation was still salvageable, though. Her mates had left her so ignorant that a meager trail of informational crumbs would lead her directly to my good intentions. I’d been truthful when explaining what needed to be done, and she’d been trusting enough to let me put my hands on her. That, or she was overconfident. Regardless, I had to pretend there was something good left inside this festering old soul of mine and that would fall through if I gave in to the inappropriate impulses I usually didn’t try to resist.

So, I’d simply excused myself and left her in the dark. She needed to learn how to use her light if she did somehow end up trapped in this shit hole. It was like building muscle. The more she practiced, the stronger she would become. She’d be able to replenish her magic more efficiently, which would be essential as her offspring’s needs grew. Coddling her, as her mates obviously had, would only hobble her further. So many good reasons to leave her afraid in the dark. Enjoying the shimmer of fear in her eyes when the light faded somehow felt like payment for a job well done.

But as I stood outside her prison door, painfully aroused, listening to the rustle of fabric and the crunch of straw as she crawled back into bed, all I could think of was the gentle peaks and full curve of her rosy, bow-shaped lips. The way they parted or pursed when she was listening to me. The little unconscious movements that shifted along with her thoughts. I couldn’t concentrate when she spoke.

I would need to seek out Rhemvile if I were to spend any more time with the woman. His were lips I could touch. That I could part with my tongue and taste.

I closed my eyes, turned away from her door, and reached for the delicate thread of magic that was our lifeline to the surface. It had been installed along with the warband many generations ago. Most here couldn’t interact with it due to their lack of power. They only benefit by observing the enchanted devices that worked with the tether. There were many clocks and color-coded crystals that served as a peep hole to the world above us. One could determine the time of day, moon phase, and weather at a glance, but I knew all of that, and the calendar day, just by interacting with it directly.

It was after dark and Rhemvile’s patrol would just be returning. I sprinted out of the prison wing. There were no guards there to witness my haste or question why I’d been there. Posting guards was a waste of resources. Even if she broke the door off its hinges, she’d never get out of the compound unnoticed.

Nobody escaped this place. Not even the people that held power within it.

I jogged up a long flight of stairs and a corridor with a steep incline but didn’t slow my pace until approaching the mid-level that served as living quarters. It wouldn’t do to arrive out of breath. We all had our roles to play and appearances to keep. Deviating from those things was too noticeable and prone to drawing the eyes of those seeking weaknesses to exploit.

The space itself was a long narrow cavern. Down the center were equipment racks loaded with the various tools of war, ready for quick retrieval such as armor, shields, halberds, pikes, the larger things that weren’t easily carried or kept in their barracks. There were tables for gathering on either side of the racks and then large rooms carved out of the cavern wall that served as barracks. They held 20 soldiers each.

While waiting for Rhemvile’s patrol to return, I wandered and spent time intimidating the rabble lounging about the hall, like a subcommander ought to, with a little harassment over improper equipment storage, maintenance, and cleanliness. There wasn’t anything else to really harass them over. Elves were clean and orderly by nature, especially when they had little else to do between patrols and raids.

It wasn’t long before Rhemvile and the rest of his cohort appeared. He stood out for his curly hair, muddy brown eyes, short, blunt ears, and pale blue skin—things the others used to remind him he was inferior because of his half-human heritage. But they were also the things that had drawn me to him in the first place. It took me a while to realize it was his human aspects that made me desire him. It no doubt played a part in my desire to lick the half human hostage I’d just left in the prison wing.

Rhemvile walked with the other soldiers, speaking quietly, as they probably had all day. But when he saw me, his eyes widened and his lips turned up, just a fraction. His happiness upon seeing me made my upper lip draw back in a sneer and anger flare in my chest. Not because my use of Rhemvile was secret—half of the males here were fucking each other. No, it was because he shouldn’t be pleased to see me. I treated him like garbage, and he kept coming back like a beaten dog with its tail wagging. It was contemptable. Disgraceful. I hated it but oh, how I benefited from it.

“Rhemvile,” I barked, not disguising my disgust. “With me.”

His smile disappeared and he gave me a curt nod, a short pale curl falling over his eyebrow. “Yes, sub-commander.” He swallowed, as if worried he were in some kind of trouble and handed his gear to his companions before joining me.

He kept pace as I led him away from the populated living area and back to the quiet of the prison wing, where I always took him to satisfy my needs. I couldn’t do this sorry cur the honor of taking him to my quarters. If I did that, someone might get the idea that he was special to me. He wasn’t. Rhemvile was chattel and, quite frankly, an idiot. Catching my cum was all he was good for, really. He was strong enough to just barely earn his keep as a soldier but lacking in any ability to negotiate the social hierarchy of our culture. The only benefit was that he wasn’t a threat to anybody here and since he was my idiot, the others mostly left him alone. That would change if they perceived him to be my weakness. Rhemvile was beautiful and meek, but he had to be replaceable, expendable.

“Sub-commander?” he asked, apparently still unsure of my purpose. He swallowed and searched my face with his soft brown eyes, no doubt hoping for a glimpse of my intent.

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