And he roared with laughter once again. Then withdrawing himself from between her breasts, he pulled her beneath him, and without another word thrust hard into Lara’s body, groaning with delight at her denseness. His black eyes closed, a look of rapture blooming on his face as he pumped her vigorously over and over again.
She had not been ready, but he hadn’t cared. Didn’t even notice. All he had wanted was her body for his pleasure. At least Enda had made the experience a pleasant one. But Lara knew what was expected of her with this man. She cried out as if she were actually enjoying his attentions. She wrapped her legs about him, whimpering. But she felt nothing but anger at his cruelty.
With a roar and a howl he released his seed into her body. For the briefest moment he lay atop her, crushing her, but then he arose. “She’s good, brother, and with your careful schooling she will eventually be perfect. I’ve had my fair taste, and I wish you much enjoyment of her. You may have her to yourself for the autumn, but come the winter I will want her again. But I am willing to share as we have this time. Good night.” And gathering up his few garments he left them to find Truda, for if truth be known, it was Durga this night who wanted more than he ought to have.
Lara arose and bathed herself again. She was sore now, and where Enda had taken care with her, Durga had left her feeling dirtied. Returning to the bed she lay down, and waited for Enda to claim her again.
Instead he said, “Sleep now, Lara. I will stay with you, and later I shall have my pleasure of you again.” He rolled away from her, and was quickly asleep.
She was surprised, but grateful. She doubted he would be as thoughtful in the nights to come, but this was tonight. She reached for the crystal to reassure herself.
When she awoke she could see a sliver of light coming through the leaves outside the window, and Enda was covering her face with his tender kisses. “You wish more pleasuring,” she said quietly, looking at him directly. She supposed he could be called handsome. He was tall, and big-boned, his skin ruddy from being outdoors. Durga, however, was stockier and shorter than Enda, although just as big-boned. And Durga’s features could not be called pretty by any means, though his black beard was attractive. His dark eyes were small, and his nose large. Yet they had the same mother. It was curious, Lara thought.
“Aye,” he agreed, “but first you need a little bit of soothing. Open your legs for me, Lara,” and when she had he slid between them. Drawing her nether lips apart with two fingers, he let his tongue begin a journey of exploration about the coral shell of her womanhood. He licked her slowly, first the inside of the lips themselves, and then moving deeper into the more hidden regions of her body.
Lara murmured with surprise at his actions, but it was so nice, and he was soothing her newly opened flesh. The pointed tip of his tongue swirled gently about the opening to her sheath, and her eyes closed to better savor the sensations he was now arousing within her. She was almost purring. The tongue touched the sentient nub within her flesh, and began to tease at it. She moaned and moved restlessly as her body grew hot, and she experienced a longing she had never before felt. She could feel her own wetness as the nub tingled.
He raised his dark auburn head, his brown eyes glazed with his desire for her. Then slowly he moved his big body up and over her, his manroot sliding into her smoothly in a single motion. And then he lay quiet. “Do you feel me within you, Lara?”
“Aye, I do, my lord.” He seemed thicker and longer than he had earlier.
“Tell me,” he murmured hotly in her ear.
“You are hard,” she whispered. “Harder and bigger than before. I feel the heat from you. I am almost afire.”
“You are beginning to experience passion,” he told her, “and you could not have a better teacher, my little faerie girl, for I am a master of passion. Tonight I shall begin teaching you all you must know to please me, and thereby any man you take between your legs. But now I must release my lust for you for it but weakens me.” He began to move on her, and shortly she felt him filling her with his seed again. And when he had finished he arose from the bed they had shared, gathering his garments. “Remain in bed to rest,” he told her. “I will send a woman to you with food and water.”
“I want to bathe again,” she said.
“Will you do this every day?” he asked her, amused.
She nodded. “I like being clean, and I can smell both you and your brother on my flesh. Besides, I am more pleasant for you when I smell fresh.” She gave him a small smile.
“I will tell the woman she may escort you to the bathhouse,” he agreed, and then was gone out the door.
Lara slept, awakening when Belda entered the bedchamber calling her name.
“I have brought you something to eat. Gracious! That bed looks well used.”
Lara slid from beneath the coverlet. “I am well used, and the prize of my virginity gone in the night,” Lara told her, stepping from the bed.
“You bled heavily,” Belda said, pointing. “Was he pleased?”
“Well satisfied, and his brother as well,” Lara replied.
“Both of them?” Belda’s eyes grew wide. “You poor girl!”
“First the lord Enda, and then his brother who came, conquered and departed. Lord Enda is not a bad sort I suppose. He was not unkind last night when he breeched me, or this morning when he took his fill again.” Lara pulled on her chemise. “He says I may go to the bathhouse.”
“Aye, so I was instructed by the lady Sita. Do you want to eat first?” Belda inquired. “I’ve brought a meal.”
“First I need to get the stink of those two men off me,” Lara told her. She picked up her cloak and started for the door. “Have you see the giant, Og, who lives in the bathhouse? Lord Enda says it is the only place other than the out-of-doors where he may stand up.” She followed Belda down the stairs through the hall and outside.
“They say the Forest giants were servants of the Forest Lords until some plague wiped them out. Og was an infant, and the only survivor,” Belda said. “Imagine an entire race being extinguished like that. Poor fellow must be lonely.”
They hurried through the village which was busy this morning. Lara noticed that some of the women pointed toward her, and others made signs as if to ward off a hex. Reaching the bathhouse they went inside where Og greeted them, bowing low.
“The lord Enda sent ahead to say you would be coming, lady,” he said.
“I am Lara,” she told him. “A Pleasure Woman, and nothing more, Og. Please call me by my name. And this is Belda, a slave woman.”
“The water is hot, Lara,” Og said to her, and he smiled a sweet smile. He had very light blue eyes, and short cropped red hair. “Go in, go in.”
“I’ll come back for you,” Belda said. “Do you know how long you will be? The lady Sita doesn’t approve of idleness, and so I must return to the hall now or be punished.”
“Perhaps a half an hour,” Lara said. “I washed my hair last night.”
“I’ll tell my lady, and someone will return to escort you back,” Belda said, and then she hurried out.
Og ushered Lara into the bathing room, and then withdrew, closing the great oaken door behind him. Alone now, the girl shed her enveloping cloak, slipped out of her chemise and stepped down into the water, pinning her hair up as she did. It was hotter than last night, and perfect to take the soreness from her body. With a sigh she closed her eyes. The worst, she hoped, was over, although she still didn’t understand what it was they wanted of her. After a few minutes Lara stepped onto the lower step of the tub and, taking up the washing cloth, dipped it into the stone jar of soft soap. She washed herself thoroughly, removing the soap with the rinsing shell by the bathing tub’s edge, and then returning to soak for a few more minutes.
Finally remembering that someone would be coming to escort her back to Durga’s hall, she stepped from the water and wrapped herself in a large drying cloth. A long dull day stretched ahead of her, but at least there was more mending to do. She had not finished repairing Enda’s garments yesterday, but she probably would today. And what would she do tomorrow, penned in those two rooms? She would ask him tonight for a little more freedom. Even in the City she had been permitted to roam. Pulling her chemise back on and covering herself with her cloak, Lara came from the bathing room. But no one was waiting for her. She sat down on a bench within the waiting room where they had waited last night for Og to stoke the fires heating the water.
