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  “Highness,” Kai’el’s voice was soft, yet filled with fury and pain. “Marina will be well cared for. I promise you this. But she must choose the bonding. There is no other way. Not for us, or for our world.”

  “I wish you both, Sashtain and Veressi, luck with my sisters,” she told them softly. “But I fear we may be facing bleak times. What was done to Marina cannot be undone. Whatever Marina shared with Serena, will never be wiped away. I see this in them at all times. I will pray though, to our Unit of Grace, that you can do such.”

  Only the Sentinel Wizards and Sorceress Matriarch, their gods, and their only hope, could clear these obstacles.

  “Such will be done.” Caise bit out, turning to Drago and Lasan as the Veressi had. “Come dawn, we will return Lisette to her home and head for the Covenan lands.”

  Drago nodded. “I will assign the Wizard Guards to keep close watch on her. Our prayers go with you, Caise and Kai’el.”

  The room slowly emptied, leaving Drago, Lasan and Brianna alone with the Unit of Grace.

  “Queen Brianna.” The Matriarch Priestess drew near to her, her hand reaching out to touch the Queen’s damp cheek gently. “I cannot ease your fears, nor your worries in the coming days. I can ask only this of you. Trust in our Sentinel Unit, the Wizard Sentinels and our Matriarch Sorceress knows all. Her pain, her rage, they move to heal her, as well as our land.”

  “I will trust in this, my Lady,” Brianna promised, her head lowering in deference to the priestess.

  “And always remember, we are here for you, should you or your Wizards have need,” the priestess promised. “Call on us, Brianna, for this is why we were created. We are at your service.”

  The priestess drew back then, a gentle smile shaping her lips as she watched the sorrowful Queen compassionately.

  “Thank you, Your Grace,” Lasan and Drago bowed to her kindness. “As always, we are at your service.”

  The Unit disappeared, just as they had the day of the Joining ceremony, leaving Lasan and Drago to comfort their Consort. They eased her tears, and her fears, and they worried with her. For now, it was not just their happiness at stake, but the happiness and security of all they had ever known or dreamed of having.

  Epilogue

  Marina Sellane observed the small group of human males as they carted off the wagonload of food stores that they had taken from the small house by force. There were six of them; great hulking males whose cruelty had earned them her undying hatred.

  Inside the small house she could hear the wails of the mother, but there was now silence from the daughter of the house. The father was yet lying in the dust of the yard. He breathed, but the bloody wound to his head would need attending.

  Marina watched the wagon disappear around the bend in the road and rose hesitantly from her hidden position behind the thick, concealing foliage of a Peron bush. Its flaming red and blue tinted leaves had hidden her from the assailants to the home as she came upon it.

  She arrived too late to help. But she had memorized the faces of those who had committed the crime. A crime on Covenani land this time. Her eyes narrowed in fury. Her mother would have each man in that wagon beheaded for this crime.

  As she started to move around the bush, she was caught suddenly from behind. The smell of an unwashed body, the feel of brute strength had terror washing over her. Once again, memory and nightmare seared her brain. Two, so much larger, frightening, hurting.

  Her heart was thundering in her chest, strangling her as she fought the hard hands holding her to the large male bodies. Not again, she prayed to the Unit of Grace. Please, in the name of mercy not again.

  “What have we here?” a coarse voice laughed, and she heard the chuckles of several others.

  Marina screamed out in fury. Her body bucked against the hold as her fingers formed claws and she fought to rake the hands holding her imprisoned. Within seconds another joined the first. Hard hands held her, laughing voices jeered at her struggles.

  She kicked out at them, twisting furiously, desperately, but she could do nothing to keep them from stripping first her large shirt from her body and then her boots and pants.

  “Hell, we have us a Sorceress. An unclaimed bitch to boot.” Dirty, his face and hair matted with filth, the lumbering male laughed down at her furious face when he spied the birthmark that marred her thigh.

  Marina trembled with terror. Her power was still dormant and she had few defenses against the men who now held her. Fighting to concentrate for strength, she sent out a mental call for help. It would be her only chance. Perhaps if there were Covenani near, then they could reach her before the rape she knew the males intended. It had been all that had saved her before. But her sisters were not near this time. There was no one she could depend on to come to her aid.

  “Queen Amoria will see you put to death for your crimes here,” she screamed out as cruel fingers pinched her nipples and another pulled at the small curls that covered her cunt.

  “She’ll have to catch us first, bitch,” the bearded one sneered. “But you can bet you won’t be the one to tell. The three of us will fuck the life out of you before we ever leave here.”

  “No!” Her scream was torn from her as two of them pushed her to the ground, holding her there as the third began to release his breeches.

  She struggled desperately against their hold as she fought for the power to increase the range of her call. Gods, someone had to hear her soon. Surely there was someone near.

  She was so intent on a psychic scream for help that at first she was unaware that the sudden screaming around her was not her own cries for help. As she tore herself from suddenly slack hands, she rolled to her feet, jerking her shirt from the ground with every intention of running to the forest for cover.

  An agonized male scream behind her had her turning. There, locked in the swirls of gold and pale blue energy, the three humans writhed in fury and pain as they fought the paralyzing force of the magick containing them.

  Breathing hard, stunned by shock, Marina fought to drag her shirt over her body. The buttons eluded her, though. She clutched the front closed, watching as two Wizard Twins strode casually from the forest line.

  They were dressed in leather breeches and snug tunics, with dagger and sword strapped to their hips, though neither had been unsheathed. Their dark faces were brooding, savagely cast and arrogant. They watched her with narrowed eyes, rather than watching the humans they had ensnared with their magick.

  “Princess Marina, are you unharmed?” Dark and sensual, the voice wrapped around her, making her breasts tingle, her womb to clench.

  “I am unharmed.” She nodded. “They are with those who attacked the family here and stole their stores of supplies. My mother will wish to question them.” They appeared to be slowly suffocating from the force of magick enclosing them.

  One of the Wizards glanced at the three. Heaving a sigh, he waved his hand. Immediately, bands of energy enclosed only the wrists and ankles of her attackers, holding them firm but allowing no escape. Then the Wizards both began a slow progression toward Marina.

  Breathing hard, she watched the two warily. As they crossed her boots and breeches, the articles were lifted by an unseen force and placed within their hands. Their gazes were intense, heated. Marina’s nipples hardened, her cunt heated. She didn’t consider this a good thing. She backed up a step.

  A small grin quirked their lips, heated arousal licked at their expressions.

  “Come, Princess. Dress and we will talk.” The articles were handed to her.

  “Definitely, we will talk,” the other sighed, his eyes going over her bare legs. “You had no business being here. Why are you not at the castle?”

  Marina dressed quickly, or as quickly as her shaking hands would allow. She watched the Twins warily. They were the Sashtains, and seemed to be shadowing her every step. Sneaking out of the castle was becoming next to impossible. Leading her small force of Sorceresses in gaining the information she needed about the ad
vancement of Seculars was growing harder by the day. Serena would be less than pleased by this development. And should her mother learn of her daughter’s activities, then there would be no peace within the castle for years to come.

  “I was visiting families on Covenani land.” She finally shrugged as she buttoned her blouse and fought the fear that still held her breathless. “I did not expect to come upon Secular attackers.”

  Caise and Kai’el watched her broodingly. They were in no way fooled by her nervous smile.

  As the male lying in the dirt groaned, their attention turned from her.

  “I will call the Sentinel Guards and Sorceress troops to this place,” Kai’el sighed. “You will return to the castle immediately, Princess, your mother would be most distressed by your activities this day.”

  Marina drew herself carefully erect.

  “I do not obey orders of Wizard Twins,” she bit out furiously. “There are two females in that home that require…”

  “You have no place in that home,” Caise growled, his golden eyes furious now. “You will return to the castle and allow the healers with your mother’s troops to care for those women.”

  “This is not your call.” But she backed away as Caise stepped forward, his face suddenly taut with his anger.

  “Princess, you do not wish to test me on this matter,” he growled.

  Immediately, energy crackled in the air around her. Soft as velvet, yet strong as steel, coils of gold and pale blue energy circled the air around her.

  “This magick is for your protection, and our assurance you do as ordered,” Caise told her with a smug smile. “Return now, or I may have to check more deeply into this penchant you have to be where you should not venture.”

  “You have no right to order me. Neither of you do. This is Covenani land, not Cauldaran.” Fury blazed inside her. Like a conflagration she had no power to control, it ripped through her body and mind.

  “Do not test us on this, Princess,” Kai’el turned to her, his pale blue eyes filled with desire, and something more. Something she refused to delve further into.

  Immediately the power that circled her protectively became warmer, more caressing, gentle in its demeanor. Her eyes widened. Her sister Brianna had told her how the Verago Wizards used such power to prepare her for their heated love play.

  “You will not.” Fear, as deep and blinding as before tore through her. She could not imagine allowing such a touch, giving leave for the pain that she knew Brianna would surely lie to her about. Her sister was protective of her, she would never allow her to know the true depth of the sacrifice she had made for her people.

  “Do as I said,” Caise snapped. “Return now, Princess, before I lose my patience and show you what I do indeed dare to do.”

  For a brief second their eyes met. Power swirled inside her, blinding, intense. A surge of intensity she had never known, that terrified her to the soles of her feet. Before he could step closer, she ran for the woods and the large golden unicorn that had carried her through her forest. Escape was her only thought. That, and a terrible fear that she would never truly be free of the Sashtain Wizard Twins.

  Coming Soon from Lora Leigh

  Jacob’s Faith

  Available now by Lora Leigh

  Tempting The Beast

  Surrender

  Wolfe’s Hope

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  www.ellorascave.com