Alistair’s Bed by Susan Hayes Read Free Book Online Page A

me that way might have been her initial plan, but when she realized how angry I was she simply enforced all the spells binding me and kept me alive as a pet. She was a sorceress, and she’d found a way to feed off of sexual energy in a way similar to a daemon, only she used the energy to power her spells and to keep herself young and beautiful. Because of that she surrounded herself with sex. While I was her prisoner she ran brothels and pleasure houses, leeching energy off of every depraved act.”
    Keri wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him, “I’m so sorry. That must have been hard to face every day.”
    “She perverted everything we are and twisted it into something cruel and ugly.
    If I ever get free of this prison I will do everything in my power to hunt her down and destroy her for all she’s done.”
    He fought back the wave of anger and pain as he tried to deal with the memories of his capture, burying his face into Keri’s soft curls and inhaling her sweet fragrance until he felt he was calm enough to continue.
    “If it’s too hard, you don’t need to tell me any more.”
    Alistair realized they had changed roles, now she was comforting him, her hands stroking him just as he had done for her. Not since he’d left his mother’s home had anyone cared for him like this. It was another thing Cora had stolen from him, time with the friends and family he loved, and who loved him. So long as his personal gate to his home plane of Daemos stood, they knew he lived, but where he was or what he had been through, none of them knew or could know until he freed himself and returned home.
    “No, I promised you I would explain it all, and I will.” Alistair’s voice was low and rough as he nuzzled her hair again. “I just have not had another soul to tell this too before.”
    Keri encouraged him to continue, “So she was a madam, surrounding herself with sex all the time to stay young. So why did she keep you? I don’t understand.”
    “I was something of a pet to her, an amusement. But I could also be used to give her powerful doses of energy. She would starve me, leave me alone until I was too weak to resist, and then she’d bring in a woman, some bored wife or socialite’s daughter who wanted a night of rough and ready sex with no witnesses or risk of discovery. They paid richly for the privilege of spending a night with me. I didn't desire them, but being starved of energy is unpleasant and I would have done anything to ease my hunger.” He paused and shifted her in his lap so he could hold her even closer.
    “She always watched my encounters, in the room but far enough away she knew I could not reach her. She would let me take their essence, but she would steal part of mine as well, enough to keep me weakened.
    I think it was like a drug to her, absorbing so much energy at once.”
    “Then what happened? You said she vanished one day, why?” Keri’s fingers slid through his dark hair, smoothing back the lock that fell into his eyes. “She kept you prisoner for all those years, and then just abandoned you?”
    “Her business would always be discovered eventually, usually she would be careful enough that it took years to come to the authority’s attention, and years more before the bribes stopped working. I think she got careless, or someone more politically powerful than she was came after her. I only overheard bits and snippets of conversations and thoughts, most of it happened outside the small sphere I am bound to. There was a raid, arrests were made and Cora fled the city. The property sat idle for a long time, but eventually the city sold it, but by then I had been too long without feeding and I’m not really sure what happened. I drifted in a void, too weak to shift to this plane and too stubborn to give up and die, at least not right away.”
    “If I had you prisoner in my bed, I’d never have left you behind.” She gave him a half smile and kissed the corner of his mouth.