Free Claudia Dain by The Fall Page A

the hot sweetness of her skin. His lips opened into a hungry kiss, his tongue licked out, testing her heat, the lick before the bite. The bite of the kiss. A kiss of hunger and of need and of blind lust. She was hot under his mouth, hot and sweet and soft. A kiss, a hot kiss with his open mouth upon her skin. A kiss to mark her, as no other had done. A kiss to bruise, if he could.
    In that moment, she was his and he would mark her so.
    She mewled a cry deep in her throat, and then her merlin struck. A beat of wings and then a clawing on his throat. With a single hand, he pushed the merlin from him, his mouth still upon her. No hawk would drive him off. No wound would kill his lust. Not in a lifetime of wounding would his hunger for her be met.
    Fool thought. She was just a woman, and the world was full of women.
    With a single hand, she pushed him from her throat, her hand going to the spot where he had been, wiping him away. Wiping his touch from her.
    "Too late, Lady Frost," he said so low that none could hear, save her. "You have my mark, as I have yours."
    He lifted his hair from off his neck and showed her the mark her merlin had made upon him. A stripe of blood flowed down his throat. 'Twas not deep, 'twas not long, yet it was a mark he would have for all his life. Let her know it. If this was to be the only bond they shared, then let them share it to the full.
    "The second wager has been won," he called out to the hall.
    Into the silence of that pronouncement, all eyes turned to Lord Philip. What would he do? His daughter had been treated most foul; no chivalrous knight would act so bold with a daughter of the house and in the public gaze.
    "The second wager has been won," Philip repeated. "In the sight of all," he added.
    Ulrich nodded his thanks at such benevolent mercy, and then Roger said with a laugh, "By all the saints that love me, Ulrich. I never meant for you to eat the girl!"
    And all was laughter after that. Save from Juliane and, more strangely, Avice.
    * * *
    The second wager had been won and she was supposed to sit and be the source of merriment? Nay, she would not.
    Her father had supported Ulrich and his stolen kiss. 'Twas hardly surprising. Her father had a sudden need to see her wed, and for Juliane to be lawfully wed, a man must keep his cock up and crowing. It mattered to no one that the only cock she cared to see was dead and roasted and served up on a platter. Whatever good was a man-cock? It could not be eaten and was as ugly as a runt piglet.
    "I never thought to lose that wager," Avice whispered upon her left, beyond Philip and his useless ear.
    "It was ill-advised of you to wager upon your sister, Avice," Maud said. Hopeless counsel now when all was done.
    "I only wager when I think to win," Avice said. "I ask your pardon, Juliane," she said, leaning to look behind her father's back. "I did not think it in him to act so. He was almost wild. The tales of him speak of no such thing."
    That was true. That was most true. That told something.
    Juliane smiled. She was winning. Oh, he had stolen a kiss from her, and made the blood leap in her throat, but he had leapt upon her in anger. Because he was losing. Because he feared he could not manage her, or his floppy cock.
    "Did he hurt you?" Avice asked, keeping her voice below the sounds of the hall, beyond Ulrich's hearing.
    "Nay," Juliane answered loudly, "he did not hurt me. That blunt assault? That mistimed, ill-bethought seduction? Am I to fall from such rough handling? Nay, he did nothing more than reveal his desperation. Make any wager you wish, Avice; I will stand and he will fall. This game is playing out as do they all."
    "Truly?" Avice asked, eyeing her sister with a soft gaze. "His kiss upon your throat did nothing?"
    "Nothing but annoy," Juliane said, and if Ulrich heard, all the better, "and lose me my bird. Baldric?" she called, beckoning him with a hand. Baldric came at a trot, knowing her mind.
    "She has flown, lady. I cannot find her