Gena Showalter - The Pleasure Slave

He had once refused to beg this sorceress for his own life. But he would beg for Julia's. With pleasure. Without another thought, he gently laid Julia atop her table and dropped to one knee.

"Please, Zirra, let me have the life I have built for myself. Let me have Julia healthy and whole and in peace. Please… I am begging you. Leave us to our life."

Scowling, Romulis strode to him and tried to jerk him to his feet.

"Do not beg her," he said.

Tristan held fast. Zirra's smile vanished and in its place was a grimace so fierce he had never seen its like.

"What do you think you are doing?" she screeched. "You dare beg me now? And for her ? She is nothing, I tell you. Nothing!"

"Nay, she is everything."

"I will not let you do this. Where is your box?"

"Please, Zirra. Please," he rushed out. "I am here on my knees for you when I swore never to beg again."

Zirra screeched, "Where is your box?"

Romulis released Tristan and grabbed her shoulders. "Do you see what he is willing to do for this woman?" he demanded of her, shaking her with all of his might. "Do you see how much he wants her? How much he does not want you?"

Tension crackled between them.

"You know not of what you speak," she screamed.

He rattled her again.

"How can you not realize you are meant to be my life-mate?"

She paused for only a heartbeat, then tried to slap away his arms without success.

"I do not realize it because it is not true."

"Liar. I am calling in my favor. Leave Tristan and his woman alone, and give us a chance."

Panic washed over Zirra's features, then she paused and smiled slowly.

"I am afraid I have already granted your favor, Romulis. You told me to come here and here I am."

A muscle ticked near his left eye, until finally he ground out, "Curse you, Zirra. You destroy everyone in your life."

"What do you care, Romulis?" she asked, haughty now with her victory. "Even without Tristan I would not come to you."

All emotion drained from Romulis's features. Defeated at last, he dropped his arms to his sides and stepped away from her. Tristan tried one last time to save the life of the woman he had come to cherish. "Heal her and let me stay here with her, Zirra. Please."

Mouth tight in her rage, Zirra strode to him. She glared down at him, her eyes barely visible behind her lashes. "Get off your knees, curse you. Stand before your master."

He remained where he was, sweating, trembling. Zirra wasn't going to grant his request. There was only one thing he could do. His stomach twisted painfully. How great would his suffering be because of his next action? Immeasurable. But he would do anything to save Julia's life. Anything.

"Do you vow to heal Julia," he said, "to leave her and all of her family alone if I give you the box?"

"Aye," Zirra said eagerly.

"Swear it by the Kyi-en-Tra Crystal," Tristan added. Such a vow could never be broken without death, and they both knew it.

She didn't hesitate.

"I swear."

"Let me first say goodbye," he said. Dying inside, he pushed to his feet and leaned over Julia, whispering in her ear, "Remember me fondly, sweet dragon, for I will never forget you. Live your dream. Love another. Have your children and be happy." She moaned.

He placed a soft kiss on her lips and tried to memorize her features while everything inside him crumbled, withered.

"It is there," he told Zirra, motioning to the plant with a tilt of his chin.

On shaky legs, Zirra inched toward it. Once there, she dropped to her knees and slowly released the false bottom. A gasp parted her lips. Slowly she lifted the box. Her greedy hands clasped around it with reverence.

"I have fulfilled my part of the bargain, Zirra, now fulfill yours."

She nodded and waved one hand through the air. Julia moaned again, stared. Already her color had begun to return. He pushed out a relieved breath. She was going to live, he thought, as she slowly opened her eyes. She reached for him.

Though it was the hardest thing he had ever done, he forced himself to turn away from her and face Zirra.

"You will be in my bed this night," the black-haired witch snapped, striding to him. "Where you belong. Take us home, Romulis. Take us home."

Without uttering a word, Romulis waved his hand through the air. The only thing that betrayed the sorcerer's emotions was the shaking of his fingers.

Tristan felt the box's walls close around him. Darkness. Silence. Only the awareness that he was a vaporous entity. Before, it would have killed him to go willingly into his prison, but now, now he was happy for it. Julia was safe, and gladly he awaited his next summons, knowing what he must do.

"Come."

He heard Zirra's summons and obeyed without hesitation. He appeared in her bedchamber. The walls, the bed, the floor, were all as white as he remembered. Too, her heart was as black as he remembered.

"Zirra," he said softly, languidly.

"Aye."

She smiled, standing naked and ready before the hearth. Flames kindled behind her, illuminating her body with a glowing amber halo.

"I am here, my pet. My glorious slave."

"I have been waiting for this summons," he said, and she caught the truth in his tone. Her smile grew.

"Did I not tell you Julia meant nothing."

"You did say that."

Now her eyes softened.

"You are mine once again."

"That is the way it appears."

"Come here and welcome me with a kiss."

He did, hating every step that brought him closer to her. The moment he reached her, she cupped his cheeks in her hands and forced his head down. Their lips smashed together. He hated her taste, her smell. The way her mouth pulled and stretched against his. The way her teeth scraped his. When his response did not meet with her approval, she fell back, eyes narrowed.

"I will make you forget that woman if it kills you."

Tristan stepped back, as well, and crossed his arms over his chest. He was ready, beyond ready, to at last take his fate into his own hands.

"I have something to tell you first."

Impatient, she tugged at his shirt until his chest was exposed and she could lick his nipples.

"And what is that, slave?"

He forced himself to groan an emotion he didn't feel. He watched as her eyes widened with hopefulness. He steadied his resolve. "I love…»

"Aye," she probed. "Tell me."

Her nails scraped into his chest.

"Tell me who you love. I have waited an entire lifetime to hear you utter these words."

"I… love.. Julia."

Three words that he had once thought impossible to utter. Three simple words that were suddenly more real and emotion filled than any he had ever spoken before. He inhaled sharply, feeling his heart swell with the force of the love he had just declared.

He loved Julia. She made him strong, not weak. She did not seek to master him, but only to return his love. "I love Julia," he said again.

And the spell that Zirra had held over him for far too long broke.

The air around him whirled. He was thrust back against the wall with the force of it. He felt invisible bands snap from his wrists and neck, and every docile acceptance he had ever given lifted from his shoulders. He doubled over, bellowed with every breath of air in his lungs. And when he straightened, he knew he was free.

Free!

The knowledge held no joy. Only a painful reminder that he was without Julia.

Zirra yelled with rage and flung herself at him, hitting and kicking.

What should have been a catapult of teeth, fists and nails was only a tug of a creature to be pitied. He recognized her agony, because he experienced his own.

He sighed while Zirra raged. And he waited. Aye, he understood this witch's obsession. He understood it so well that he could almost forgive her. Almost.