A Bargain Made Ch. 01

But, with the last war, centuries ago, it was Neral's own people that had formed the bulk of the military force on the planet. With them having the largest force it was they that the Kressin blamed most for being driven back and kept from their rightful place.

"There's an anniversary coming up, isn't there?" His eyes expressed concern and what she took as sympathy for her.

She nodded slightly, lost in the ramifications, her dark eyes peering elsewhere, but she smiled at her own resolve. "We will be prepared. We will crush them."

"No, you won't. Not when it's you that made it possible that they win once and for all."

"I would never..."

"Knowingly," he interjected.

She couldn't get past the implication that she would aid enemies of her people. That this loon with parlor tricks would come to her home to game her to whatever end was bad enough, but to suggest that she would aid them. Nothing could make her. She stood in a flash and spat words at him, "Get out."

His hand took her off-hand in an iron grip. Without planning the action her other hand went to the dagger at her thigh. Her fingers closed around the hilt before it didn't matter and visions crashed her consciousness, taking her from her study.

She saw herself and her horse traveling the muddy path from guard post to guard post that she followed weekly to remain in touch with her soldiers and scouts when she saw that first flicker of unexplained light that lured her into a field near a small growth of trees.

She saw the entrancing light of the lure reflected in the eyes of her enchantress. Easily her height with wisps of blonde hair coming from under her cowl in soft curls, something in looking into those eyes had made it impossible to move.

Then the touches came that made it impossible to want to.

The way her fingers drew so gently along her forehead and down her temples before shifting directions to go up her cheeks and then down her jaw as though Neral might break if too much pressure were applied made her heart race in her chest. On top of that was the way they made her nipples crush themselves against the padding beneath her armor and her pussy dribble juice like a spring rain from the roof of her home.

She remembered the nights when the room was pitch black and there was no seeing her, but there was the feeling of her long fingers up under Neral's slip, brutally owning her insides while that thumb pressed down in hard circles on her clit while she clenched her fingers around wadded sheets and lifted and whined like a nobleman's bedpet.

The orgasms ripped through her one into the next to the point where she now wondered if the same magic had kept her sane during. As it was, her mind was emptied of everything but that glorious sensation and the promise of more.

That and the words.

Try as she might she couldn't focus on any one specifically. They came across as but a jumble of sound, but she knew how they made her feel. They were tantalizing and seductive and promised endless joy and all she had to do was obey them.

And she did. She saw herself in meeting after meeting, making subtle changes to scouting routes here and opening the distance between manned outposts there. She'd done it all and expertly allayed the concerns of subordinates and the queen herself. The core of the kingdom was too well-fortified for an all out assault with anything short of an army, the gaps she created would allow small teams to sneak through unnoticed and cause untold damage to the cities and small towns along the border before anyone could regroup and react.

And the queen. She could remember no words that told her, but she knew the beast wanted her to kill the queen. Neral was one of the few who could come and go from the queen's presence with impunity. In the panic that would ensue as word of the guerrilla strikes spread would be the perfect time to let her mother's dagger glide across the queen's throat. The horror of that act alone was impossible to put to words.

Whatever the damage done and lives lost, the fault would be hers. Her family would pay as well, banished to the hovels that Deres came from if they weren't hung as conspirators as her entire line was simply purged. She tried to tell herself for a moment that the images were more of his parlor tricks, but she knew it wasn't true. Those images were real. She'd done the things she'd now remembered doing and, while the queen was still alive and well, that last vision could become as real as the rest. Tears ran down her cheeks as she contemplated the enormity of all that had been taken from her already.

She collapsed in her chair as the tears flowed. His hand still held hers, but it just rested there in sympathy. Indeed, a range of emotions seemed to play across his own features.

Everything she thought she was was turned upside down in the space of moments. Her dignity lay in tatters after the spell casting of a vile witch. She'd betrayed her people already. That it hadn't yet come to a bloody result didn't matter just now. By comparison, it was almost irrelevant that she writhed with a woman, something that hadn't ever been a desire beyond something her mind wandered to as she slept.

She pulled her hand away from his, ignored the tears, and stood to her full height. "Thank you for telling me. I am in your debt, she said, keeping her tone formal.

She wandered toward the fire. The heat was like the hug of a friend and the flames licking upward helped her focus and dry her tears. Neral knew the witch had to be stopped, but how was the question. The tactician in her played the most obvious choices in her head and countered them. In short order she came to realize that her only choice was to capture the bitch, to, at the very least, be certain that there was no alternate plan. But even that was fraught with risk.

Not turning from the flames she voiced her conclusions, ending with a question. "You are her better in this magic, yes?"

She heard his voice from over her shoulder as he moved behind her. "She's skilled and not to be taken lightly, but I'm better at this than she is in ways she can't comprehend."

"I realize that your childhood home hasn't always been kind to you, but the land has appealed enough for you to still call it home and come back to it. Will you aid your homeland when it needs you?" She closed her eyes for a moment, unwilling to admit how badly she needed the answer to be yes."

"What is my help worth to you?"

There it was. She'd expected it and there it was. It wasn't a bad thing though; she needed help and he was willing to give it. All that was left was to make a deal on price. She turned to meet his eyes. "My House is wealthy enough to make you so."

He smirked, and when he did he looked like a prankster about to spring his trap. "I'm sure it is, but I have no need for that."

She didn't know how much time she had to act so she didn't have time to haggle. "So what do you want?"

"You already know what I want. I want very much to return home."

She was at a loss, "So return home."

He raised his brows at her. "No House to claim me, remember?"

"If you have no need of money, then you have wealth enough. If you have wealth enough, you don't need a House; wealth enough and you can buy your own."

He turned from her and walked two steps back before doing a half turn and sitting on the table with aplomb. "Yes. With the difference between my childhood and now being that they'd be slightly less inclined to laugh in my face and my children get whispered about for a few generations before they finally cross the threshold to old nobility."

"Or, the queen could grant me title given my...special service to the kingdom. No one would dare say a word. But, then, you'd have to tell her what that special service was," noting the unsubtle manner in which Neral clenched her teeth, "which, quite understandably, you'd rather not."

"Now, it seems to me," he worked to sound nonchalant about the whole thing, "and I'm just presenting this as an idea, if you were to marry me it would solve both our problems. I'd, of course, help you with your problem. In return mine gets solved as well. Marrying up isn't unheard of, and with your status on your own as well as your ties to the royal family, the snickering would die down quickly."

She almost didn't believe she'd heard it, but once she'd taken it in she shook her head at him, derision in her tone. "So much for your love of home. You could prevent untold suffering and all you can think about is what's in it for you."

He shrugged. "I can do both." As her expression soured even more he threw up his hands a bit and took on a more serious tone. "No. I don't want anything to happen to anyone. Yes. I want to come home when it's really sort of crazy for me to want to at all. What's wrong with me wanting to have a decent life once I do?" His lowered his tone. "It's not as if I'd be a terrible husband. I could be very helpful to you. But I'd be a fool not to take advantage of an opportunity that comes to me."

She searched his face. She'd had to learn early on how to judge and read others; to know which people would have her back in a battle and which would flee at the first cry or spray of blood. Outside of that, she had to know who to trust in the game of strategy that was Court politics. Something in the pit of her stomach said she could trust him and she'd always trusted that place, but she had to wonder if he wasn't already weaving some spell on her to make her agreeable.

No. In spite of everything she had to trust herself. If she already considered herself that damaged she may as well crawl under the covers of her bed and never come out, as she'd be useless to everyone, herself included. Besides, if he were truly malevolent and could do more of what the other did and, according to him, do it better, he could make her do as he pleased anyway.

Neral thought a long time, not sure that she wanted to hear the answer to the question, but she had to ask, "Would you help me even if I don't agree to your terms?"

He looked away in thought, "I don't know." Looking back to her, "I accept that that may make me a less than perfect soul, but then, I never claimed to be." That grin played at the corners of his mouth. Fortunately, I don't have to decide that because you're going to agree."

She groused and he continued before she could speak. He loved the way those brown eyes could smolder. "I didn't go rooting around in your mind when I unlocked those memories. I didn't plant anything. All I did was read what was there. You didn't care what happened to you. You didn't care if you were driven from your home and you didn't care if you hung from the nearest tree. What mattered to you was your family and your people. You've given your life in service to them. They matter to you more than you. In the face of that, marrying some man from the dregs of the city who can help you save them is nothing by comparison, is it?"

It wasn't. She was only angry at him for pointing it out. He was right of course. She'd risked her life for them countless times on the field and would die for any of them if need be, class be damned. She allowed herself one more flash of anger for the fact that he already knew what her answer would be. The flare spent, she took a deep breath to steel herself. "If your assistance prevents this attack, then, yes, I agree."

The smug and coy were gone for a moment. Did he look happy? Yes. There was warmth there. There was a good man there under the surface so perhaps being married to him wouldn't be so horrible in the end and she said so aloud.

"I have something that might make your married life much more pleasant." He walked to his cloak and, fishing through one of the pockets, he produced a small red rectangle that looked like a slip of glass.

She looked down at it, not daring to touch it. "What is it?"

He held it between thumb and forefinger for a moment, letting the light catch it before placing it in his palm. "A spell. Break the glass and you'll love me. Always."

Her stomach turned and it was all she could do not to spit on him. "Your puppet instead of hers then? How ever will I choose?"

He shook his head before closing his hand around it and, for the first time, she saw irritation crease his features. "Not a puppet, if I wanted a drone I could make a dozen. You would still be you. You would still be the noble woman and noblewoman you are today. I won't lie to you, this would change you a bit around the edges, but the soldier and woman you are at your core would be there as strongly after the spell as before. Anyone would be a fool to change that which makes you so beautiful."

Those eyes again with that gentleness to them that suggested something desirable beneath the rest.

Damn it

.

"I've watched you indirectly inasmuch as I've watched her watch you. I would never take you from yourself as she has."

"But you're fine with making me love you."

"Not making you," he corrected quickly. "As a choice was once given to me, I give it to you."

She stepped back from him, ready to fight. In response, he took the crystal and dropped it back into the pocket of his cloak carefully so that she could see it done without any attempt at misdirection. "I can't break it. The only thing that can is your will that it does. You will still be you. You'll still be the proud woman and leader willing to give her life for her people."

That look that attempted to make slightly smug look adorable appeared again. "The only difference is that you would love me... adore me, really. There's a certain deference and willingness to accommodate that comes with that, of course, but you would still belong to you."

She shook her head, "No. If you help me I will marry you. I'll endure the teasing of my sisters and the whispers at Court. I'll be a dutiful mate, but nothing else to you."

"Even though what I offer, part of you wants?"

She snorted at him, "You are insane."

He drew closer, but she didn't pull away, "I only read what was there. She manipulated you, yes, but she stoked embers that were already glowing even if you pretended they weren't there. Part of you liked her filling your mind against your will. Part of you ached for the next command just so you could follow it. Part of you liked her pulling your mind open in submission even as much as you loathed why."

Her throat tightened at the words. If only she were better at self-delusion. She jumped despite herself as he took her hand in his. She looked down to make sure he hadn't somehow palmed the crystal. Seeing that he hadn't, her eyes drifted back up to his.

"You live a lonely life in many ways. You had to, and I understand, but it felt good to be more than desired. As much physical pleasure as she gave you whether you wanted it or not, it felt good to be owned. You liked that and we both know you did. All I'm suggesting is that you let yourself have a bit of that feeling with one who respects you and knows what they have in the woman that is you."

Her mouth opened as if to speak, but she closed it because she feared what she might say in response.

He pulled his hand from hers, retreating from her a little. "Something to think on." He cleared his throat. "Whatever she or they have planned, it has to be in its final stages, if not now, soon. Regardless, she'll visit you again, either to give you more tasks to perform, make sure you've done the ones already set, or to make sure that you haven't found out or been found out."

Neral was grateful to have something to focus on that was more in tune with her expertise. "That's...tactically sound." She watched this Deres head back to the bookcase and examine one of the tan leather bound novels that was nearly out of his reach. "I assume you have a plan?"

He spoke as he thumbed pages, not looking up at her, "I have all I need, Neral." He finally looked up. "Can I call you Neral? I mean, we have just been betrothed, so it doesn't seem too out of line, does it?"

"Conditionally so," she corrected.

There was the smug that she wanted to slap from his face again as he waved her off. "It'll work out. I've been planning on how to deal with this since I started having an idea what was going on in the first place."

She didn't hide her irritation as she approached him. "I don't care for your certainty that I was simply going to agree to your offer."

"No magic involved, Neral. One simply doesn't hold the position you do without being pragmatic." He closed the book and put it back, reminding himself to read it later, as the title was interesting. Focusing his attention on her once again he smiled and asked, "Where's your bedroom?"

Her annoyance at the question was forgotten quickly as she realized why he wanted to be there. The witch had come to her there before and most likely would again, so there is where the trap would be set. Neral was admittedly fascinated watching him work even if she understood none of it. He explained the basics of the snare and the wards he would use before setting to work.

She stood just outside the door watching him with his eyes closed, deep in concentration, lips moving in whispers and fingers occasionally drawing into the air as he orbited the room over and over. She didn't know what energy he was drawing from but to do so was clearly an exertion on his part with the knotted brow and sweat forming at the hairline.

Finally, he sat at the edge of the bed, breathing deeply, looking tired. Deres looked around the room seeing things she did not before straightening up. "It's done."

"You're sure?"

He nodded, "The hard part wasn't the snare or the wards, it was covering it all up so she doesn't sense it the minute she comes in. I know I'm better than she is, but I don't know for sure by how much so there's no margin for error. We don't know what plans she has in place or backup, so this has to work first shot."

"All I thought of watching you work is what fools we are." Neral took the edge of the bed to his left, "There's all this magic around us and it can do all these things and all we use it for is to heal the sickest of the sick and the most wounded. It's a wonder we haven't all been burned down by mage fire."

He shook his head. "You're not fools. It's dangerous, and you know that better than almost anyone here right now. You've learned to use what's most beneficial to you and buried the rest, that's not a bad thing. And the magic is not as common as you think. The bands of mages she no doubt comes from are small and layered in secrecy exactly because you and your allies are so fearful and unified against magic's broad use. You'd burn them out of wherever you found them if they were more than whispers.

Neral's anger flared again, brown eyes seeming to darken from the rush of emotion."I would lead that charge."

He looked at her, smile in his eyes, Her anger gave way to fluttery nervousness, hair on the back of her neck standing up. It wasn't something she wanted, but Deres was right, she was a pragmatist. "I'm ready."

He looked at her, taken aback, "For what?"

The words tasted like bile, "For you to wipe my memory of all this so that she doesn't know that she's compromised."

He saw the look at her face and the pain and resignation tugged at him, "No need for that. I won't do that to you. All you need do is behave normally and refrain from standing in the middle of the street searching for her." They both grinned, sharing the vision, "You won't see her watching you and you won't see me watching her."

There was no small measure of relief that her thoughts and memories would remain hers, "Won't she sense my memory of you, or..."

Deres's voice was reassuring, "She doesn't dare get close enough to you during the day to sense a trace of me, mage or not there are too many variables and she'd risk detection. No, here is where she comes to you, and once she enters this room she's caught, so it doesn't matter if she senses the memory of me in your head or not."