Princess of Perchhold Ch. 01

His sister hugged him more tightly around the neck, pressing the pillowy mounds of her breasts against his chest. Nathan knew that from where she sat, she could not help but notice he was a man who appreciated all the attention. His trousers were pulled painfully tight.

"Why wouldn't you take me, Nate?" she murmured, still feathering those kisses from his shoulder to the skin behind his ear. Nathan closed his eyes and didn't answer. "I thought it was because you didn't want me, but..." She took one hand from around his neck and brushed it along the length of his erection. "...clearly that's not the problem."

"Stop it," Nate said quietly.

"Stop what? Kissing you?" She nipped his earlobe, then sucked it into her mouth. Nathan's breath caught in his throat. Her lips moved down along his jaw to his chin, and then she kissed him chastely on the lips. His eyes remained closed, so she kissed him again, this time opening her mouth and molding the shape of her lips to his.

Nathan pulled away. "Yes, kissing me. Please stop."

"Why?" Caryn was incensed. "What is so wrong with me?"

"Nothing!" Nathan dumped his sister onto the bed, standing up to pace. "There is nothing wrong with you, Cari. Not a gods forsaken thing. You're beautiful and charming and funny and sweet..."

"Then why—"

"Because I can't handle it! Gods! I have watched you and I've dreamed about you and believe me, I've berated myself for it, but the truth is, I have fallen in love with you, Cari." He sat down hard next to her, grey eyes dark. "I'm in love with you, and you're leaving me. I am already losing my closest friend and the most perfect woman I have ever known. At best, I have you for a few more months, time I'm sharing with Aric and Etan. If I have you like I've dreamed about..." Nate took a deep, shuddering breath and grabbed his sister's hands. "I will not be able to give you up."

"That's all?" Caryn murmured. "I know the solution."

She leaned against him, putting her lips against his ear, and whispered, "Don't give me up."

Nathan grabbed her chin, anger rising in him. "What are you doing? You don't want this, any of it. I saw you, yesterday. You were terrified, thinking I had come to take you right here on this bed. And then Aric—"

Caryn moved away from him. "I do want it. You." She was pouting now, like a little girl.

"No, you don't. What do you want?"

Silence reigned in the room for what seemed like hours. The princess' face reeled through emotions, considering and discarding them one after another. Nathan was patient, watching her and holding her hands.

"I want you to...take care of me," she said in a small voice. "Protect me."

Nathan's heart sank. He loved his sister, and more than anything he wanted to sweep her away from the castle, ride off into the sunset, make her his wife. He wanted her to be his alone, safe from lecherous brothers and a husband who might be worse. But none of that was in his power.

"I'll do whatever I can," Nate assured her. "Seducing me won't make me any more able to order Aric away from you. He is answerable only to Father. He will be king."

Nathan began rubbing his sister's shoulders, gently easing the tension out of them. Her body was so tense.

"He made me beg for it, Nate," she said quietly. "He tore my body open and he made me beg him to finish in me. I did it. I begged him for it so that it would be over. Only it wasn't over. He made me lick him clean, suck off all of his sap and mine, and the blood... And when he was clean, he was hard again, and he told me he wasn't going to leave any virgin holes for you to fill. He—he—"

"For me? Holes for me to fill? I said I wanted nothing to do with this."

"He wouldn't believe me that you weren't...I mean, that we hadn't..."

"He thought I was fucking the cradle, so to speak?" Nathan was angry again. Caryn pulled away from him. "Sorry. That was uncalled for. He...gods, I want him dead."

"Shh, that's treason," Caryn whispered.

"Then I'm a traitor. Tell me the rest."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"You're angry."

"I'm furious. But go on."

Caryn took a deep breath and plowed on. The words seemed to come easier now. "He kept calling me by your nickname, even after he knew we hadn't been together. He had this awful fake voice on. He was singing it in my ear while he bent me over his bed and pulled my cheeks apart. He licked his finger, but it wasn't enough, wasn't nearly enough. I thought he must be tearing me when he pushed his finger in. I screamed at him, but he wouldn't stop, and the more I screamed the worse it got. He told me it would be better if I asked him politely for what I wanted."

"So I asked him to be gentle, to let me get him nice and wet first. I asked him if he would make it slicker. He slid his fingers along my slit and scooped up some of my juices. He'd gotten me wet down there...I kept trying to think of the best things I could imagine, the sexiest things, so I would stay wet. He used what was on his fingers and rubbed it up my other hole. Then he told me to lick him."

"When there was spit running down his shaft, he put me back on my stomach, and he took me. I talked to him the whole time, told him how nice it was when he took me slow and sweet, how much I liked taking just a little of him at a time, and what a good brother he was, teaching me how to relax so I could let my husband take me however he wanted. I could tell a couple of times he wanted to just start sawing in and out of me, but I kept begging, quietly, and he listened."

"Was any of it true, what you were saying? Did you like it?"

Caryn scratched her neck, uncomfortable. "Not... at first. It was horrible, the worst sort of pain I've ever felt. So...personal. I mean, he was invading me, taking his pleasure from my body despite me. It was...I don't know. I don't know. There was something good in it, somehow. I felt, like—" She cut herself off. "No, no, I didn't like it."

"Wait, tell me. You've always told me everything. Tell me this."

"I liked...I liked how he was in control of me, a little bit. I liked that I wasn't responsible for what I was doing. Like, it was dirty and awful and wrong that I was sprawled naked on my brother's bed, and he was spreading my anus out, and pushing into my body. He was—gods, he was raping me, his fingers were digging into me so hard I bruised and he was tearing me with his thickness. I was bleeding. It was...so bad. But at the same time, I thought..."

Nathan growled, and Caryn turned to look at him, surprised. Her brother stopped touching her and lay down instead, rolling onto his stomach. "Sorry, this is becoming...a little much."

"I thought about you, Nate," Caryn continued. "I thought that if it were you behind me, and your erection stretching me that full, I would like it. I would mean the words." She smirked. "Why are you laying on your stomach, brother?"

"You're wicked," Nathan said. "Just let me be for a minute. I was trying to be understanding."

"And instead you're being a lecherous older brother."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." He winced, reached under himself, adjusted. "Please forgive me."

"I forgive you," she said, and her smile was villainous.

It was a startlingly different expression on her face from any he had seen before. His innocent little sister... "You're doing it again, aren't you?" he accused.

"What?"

"You're trying to seduce me again. And..." Things began to fall into place for Nathan. "And you're trying to make me angry, too. That's why you're telling me all this. You...you want me to hate him. You want me to kill Aric."

"I never said that. That's treason, brother."

"But it's what you want."

Caryn lay down next to him, curling up against his body. She brought her lips to his and kissed him, a long, sweet kiss. "Yes," she whispered when she broke away. "It's what I want."

***

By the time Etan knocked politely on Caryn's door, she was bathed and dressed in a long-sleeved, high-necked gown that covered the marks Aric had made on her. Nathan had returned to his own quarters to think over the things she had said to him.

"Hello, brother," Caryn said, waving Etan into the room.

He nodded and stared around the room at nearly everything but her. At length, he cleared his throat and met her eyes.

"I thought we might have a late lunch on the lawn. It's a lovely day." Etan did not speak often, and his deep voice was gravelly with lack of use. He was the largest of her brothers, bulkily muscled and tall. His large hands could encircle her waist completely.

Caryn was surprised by his initiative. It was not often that he made plans on his own, but then, it was possible that this had been Aric's idea.

"That would be fine," she said blandly, giving him a small smile. She took his offered arm, taking two steps for every one of his long-legged strides.

The lawn stretch out behind the castle for a couple of acres before it melted into forest. It was lovely, with the sun out and burning away at the coldness of the air. Still, Caryn was grateful for her long sleeves in the early spring afternoon. Etan saw her shiver and draped his arm around her shoulder.

There was already a blanket laid out on the far side of the lawn, near the trees. A basket of food and wine held down one corner while the breeze made a tangle of the rest.

"You do like roasted chicken?" Etan asked her, his voice barely more than a dull rumble.

"I love it."

"Spiced wine?"

"Yes, please."

Throughout the lunch, Caryn's mind raced, trying to find the angle Etan was taking here. Was this Aric's plan, and after lunch he have Etan dragging her into the trees behind them after dessert? Or was Etan the only mind at work here? She admitted to herself, she did not know Etan well enough to know if he was cruel on his own, when he was not being Aric's puppet.

She felt it was best to face the question head on. "So what are your intentions for the day, Etan?"

Etan delayed answering by wiping his mouth gingerly with his napkin. Idly, he scratched the back of his neck. "I hoped to talk to you a bit at lunch, learn more about you. We don't really know each other, do we?"

"No, I suppose not."

Her middle brother nodded and said, "It seemed strange to call a stranger to my bed, even if she is my sister and my responsibility."

"Aric had no problem with it."

Etan met his sister's eyes squarely. "I am not Aric." He turned his head, looking into the trees, and spoke with a sigh. "Nor am I Nathan. Don't expect either."

"Then tell me about you, Etan. I admit, the things I've heard about you...they are intimidating."

"What have you heard?"

"That your appetites are more voracious than Aric's, and nearly as cruel. That you're rough enough to have forcibly retired whores," she said. "The stories that come back to me..."

Etan laughed, a boomingly pleasant sound that Caryn was not sure she had ever heard before. "They are not true, princess. Although I beg you, keep that to yourself."

"Why? You enjoy being considered a brute?"

The prince shrugged. "Not particularly, but if the truth came back to Aric, he'd make my life hell."

"Then what is the truth?"

Etan lay back on his elbows, contemplating her with a small, amused smile. "I don't know that you're ready for the truth, sister. For now, you can go on hating me nearly as much as you hate Aric, if you'd like."

"I don't hate you," Caryn mumbled.

Etan laughed again. "Just don't try to sell me that same line about Aric. I know hate when I see it. Come here, pet." He patted the blanket next to him. "Sit next to me. I doubt it will be any easier to accept my 'teachings' if I have never touched you at all."

When Caryn sat beside him, he levered himself onto his side, lounging on one elbow. With his free hand, he ran his fingers gently through her hair and lightly traced the shape of her shoulder and arm. After a few moments, Etan sat up, crossing his legs with some difficulty, and turned his sister so that her back was to him. He rubbed her back with soft strokes, mindful that he could crush her tiny shoulders and ribs with his gigantic hands quite by accident. It was not long before Caryn was relaxing under his hands' ministrations. This was not the Etan she had expected.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and was surprised to see his eyes squeezed shut, his face troubled. He seemed far away, lost in another moment of his own imagining. She reached back and brushed her fingers along one forearm, and the corner of his mouth tweaked up into a half smile.

Caryn leaned back into him, and his hands slid around her shoulders, slipping down the front of her body. When his fingers encountered her breasts, though, he jerked back, and he sighed, the spell apparently broken. They stayed that way for several quiet minutes, the princess leaning back against the chest of her middle brother, his arms resting at his sides, both lost in thought.

"Who were you thinking about?" Caryn asked at last. Etan seemed troubled, and did not answer.

Instead, her brother began to gather the remnants of their lunch, stacking it back in the basket. He stood and offered his hand to Caryn, pulling her to her feet as well and folding the blanket over his arm.

"Shall we get back?" he asked.

Caryn was puzzled. While she had heard many rumors of her brother taking women to his bed, she had never heard of a woman returning more than once. Could it be that her brother was in love with a woman Aric would not have approved of, and the other girls were a screen? Why then had he acted as though her breasts had bitten him? A thought began to form in her head.

Etan led her back to her room somewhat hastily. "Would you prefer to join me in my chambers this evening, or shall I come to you here?"

"I will come to your rooms, Etan," she said. He nodded and started back to his own rooms, and Caryn followed. "But why wait until this evening? I have had a lovely afternoon with you already. I would love for it to continue."

Etan was visibly uncomfortable. "I'm glad you have enjoyed my company, but I have other matters to attend to before I can continue our...association."

"Are they secret matters?"

"Uh...no."

"Then why should my presence deter you? Come, let me accompany you." She began to lead the way back to his chambers. If she was right...

With obvious reluctance, Etan walked with her, then opened his door — he let his held breath out in a sigh when a glance around the room showed it empty. It was not lost on his sister.

He spoke again, evidently relieved, as he sat down on the bed. "I think you will be bored here with me, sister. I'll just be dealing with a few matters of state too small for Father or Aric. You know if they pass to the second son, they're of no real interest to anyone."

"Then they can wait." Caryn sat down across his thighs. "You heard Aric; my education is to be first priority." She began working to remove his shirt. Etan was so still, he might have been frozen. She knew she would not be able to pull his shirt off without his help, so her fingers went instead to the laces of his trousers.

"Ah!" he said, raising his hands as if to stop her. "Are you sure you have nothing you would prefer to be doing, Caryn?"

She shook her head and clambered off his lap, gesturing for him to help her undress them both. Etan's obvious discomfiture was proof of what she had begun to more than suspect. If he had been with as many women as the rumor mill would tally, this should have been no problem at all, sister or not.

With much effort on her part and minimal assistance from her brother, Caryn succeeded in stripping both of them naked, and they stood staring at each other. The princess could not help but notice that her brother was all hard planes and firm muscle...with the notable exception of the appendage that hung unenthusiastically between his legs. His perusal of her body had no effect.

"Your ribs — Aric?" he asked. When she nodded, he reached out and brushed his fingertips over the bruise lightly. "I'm sorry. He can be a beast. He's never learned that being large gives you a responsibility to be gentle with people smaller than you."

"Are you gentle with the people you're with?" Caryn asked quietly, carefully echoing his wording.

"Of course." Etan put his hands on either side of her waist, drawing her closer to him. He seemed to think for a moment, then turned her so that her back was to him and pulled her against him. His hands pressed against her stomach. His penis still lay slack against her.

"You don't want me, Etan?"

"I..."

The door to Etan's rooms opened, and a young serving man entered, talking quickly and ripping at the laces on his breeches. "We only have a few minutes, Etan. I'll be missed in th—"

The slender young man finally looked at the nude pair standing in front of the bed, and understood that in front of Etan was his tiny sister, pressed against his hips, her hair swinging down to cover her naked breasts. "Oh, gods, I didn't realize you..." Terror flitted over the young man's face and he stumbled backward to the door, fumbling behind his back for the knob before he could let himself out and run down the hall to wherever he had come from.

Caryn had been surprised when the door opened, but not so shocked that she could fail to notice the hardening of the staff pressed against her rear as the young servant entered and began to undress.

"Oh, Etan," she sighed.

The prince released her and sank down onto the bed, covering his face with one hand. With the other, he seized a pillow and dragged it into his lap to cover his telling erection. Caryn was confirmed in her suspicions. Clearly, her brother had been paying off a lot of young women and prostitutes.

"Well, now you know," Etan said hoarsely. "Gods, this whole thing is such a mess."

"This is what you've been hiding from Aric? Why you do whatever he tells you to do and pretend to go through whores like butter?" Etan nodded. "Why?"

"Why? As long as I'm doing what he demands, he ignores me. I don't want him looking too closely at what I'm doing — or who. The last thing I need is for my brother to spread it around that I'm...unnatural."

At this, Caryn smacked his arm away from his face, forcing him to look at her. "You are not unnatural, brother. Look at me! You want to talk about unnatural? Aric, my eldest brother, the second most powerful man in Perchhold, who should be my greatest protector? He raped me. His own sister. That's unnatural. And Nathan, who should be doing his duty and then sending me along to my husband? He wants nothing to do with teaching me, because he wants to make me his wife, and keep me forever. That is unnatural. You are not unnatural."

Etan gave her a half smile, not quite believing her, and she sat down beside him. "Etan, I would never tell your secret to a soul, if you prefer. You may be able to help me, though, with a plan I'm just beginning to make."

"A plan for what?"

"For getting out of this castle, out from under Aric's thumb and away from whichever suitor he and Father have chosen for me."

Etan looked her over for a moment before saying in a deceptively bland voice, "Escaping with Nathan, perhaps?"

Caryn blushed, and nodded. "Yes. You see, I'm unnatural too. I've fallen in love with my brother."

"That's dangerous, Caryn. Aric...I'm not meant to tell you this, but Aric and Father have been talking. Father wants to marry you to Lord Micravale from the passes. He has the largest army of the northern lords, which would be securely tied to the crown by the marriage."

"Gods! Micravale? He must be at least eighty years old!" Caryn's stomach turned at the thought of consummating a marriage with the hairless old man she had seen at her father's councils.

"Yes. His son died of a hacking cough two years past and he's without an heir. So you see...there's a great deal tied up in your remaining here, to be married as the crown wishes you to be. What you're planning is treason. If you are caught, or if any whisper of your plan gets back to Aric, Nathan is likely to be killed."