her harem roommates were provided.
Plates and leftover remnants from their meal were gathered and loaded on a tray by each of the servants. Neither lifted their heads or attempted to engage in conversation. No one offered to assist when the second woman’s tray wobbled in her grip. Darcy had tried helping once only to be rebuffed and stared at in horror. Amia had grabbed her wrist and yanked Darcy away with a fervent shake of her head.
So yeah, helping servants was a definite no-no.
Darcy turned away from the main door, eyeing the glass doors to the garden. Typically they sat outside to enjoy the midday sun after the second meal. Light hearted laughter ringing out constantly caused by Amia’s jokes as she tried to instruct Darcy in one thing or another.
Gasps came from behind her, but she was too busy trying to remember the names they’d taught her for the purple flowers that grew on a vine and climbed the sides of the entrance.
“I hoped Cecilee would have taught you better while I was away. Yet I find you on your feet, disrespectful once again.”
Darcy’s breath stuttered as her fingers curled at her side. She slowly turned around and faced her nemesis, whose presence had been missing these last few weeks. He stood across the room with a glare aimed directly at her. Nikol.
Amia, Tashire, Cecilee and Stasia formed a neat row on their knees between Darcy and him. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought they were protecting her, but found the idea doubtful.
Cecilee had drilled it into Darcy’s head to lower herself in Nikol’s presence unless he said otherwise but her knees locked despite her brain screaming a warning to drop right away.
Nikol strode easily around the women in his path. The aura of danger emanated from him in waves, each pulse a beat against her senses. Panic flared and Darcy knew what she needed to do to stop whatever he was about to do to her.
Except instead of folding to the floor, Darcy tipped her chin up and gave him back the same glare. His dark eyes narrowed to thin slits, the firm lips hardening when he stopped before Darcy. She sucked in a deep breath and his gaze immediately dropped to her chest. Nipples crinkled in reaction. Fear, she wanted to tell herself but the slick warmth growing between her thighs implied arousal as well.
His hair was drawn back in a tight tail that fell below his shoulders. The long sleeved gray shirt he wore strained against a chest laden with muscles. “Have you learned nothing, Earth woman?”
Panting, Darcy licked her lips and said in choppy Marenian, “Greetings, Nikol Wulven.”
Learning the language was completely unnecessary, but she had nothing else to do to fill her days outside learning how to give good sex to her owner if it was up to Cecilee.
Nikol’s lips parted in surprise. “You—”
“Y-you will never truly own me,” she finished quickly and hoped she got all of the words correct.
Rage flashed over his face along with another emotion she couldn’t, wouldn’t name. Darcy thought he would yell, curse. That she could handle and would fight him with pleasure if he tried to force her to her knees.
What she wasn’t prepared for was him twisting his fingers in her hair and yanking her close. Their breath mingled in the slight pause to draw air and then his mouth slammed down on hers. Darcy’s hands flew to his chest to push him away but it was like trying to move a hundred pound weight.
Nikol held her head in a steady grip that pulled the hair at her roots, providing a sting that danced from her scalp, down her spine and ended somewhere lower. More delicate.
To her horror, desire exploded in her loins. Darcy dug her nails into his shirt, hoping to convey her resistance to his brutal attack. He groaned into her mouth as if he enjoyed the tiny pricks of pain. The thought made Darcy dizzy. She shoved at him a second time but he locked an arm about her waist, smashing their chests together.
More sensations swirled through her body, while her nipples tingled from being abraded against the material of his shirt. In defense, Darcy bit at his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. It didn’t deter him at all. Nikol growled low in his throat, his fingers tightening on her hair. Then his tongue surged between her lips, leaving her no choice but to open.
Like an invader taking