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My throat tried to reject him, but Rhyder reached into my mouth and rolled my tongue back, forcing the mixture of blood and spit down my throat as I swallowed convulsively.

Then he was clamping my mouth shut, massaging my throat as I swallowed again and again, the salty tang of his blood filling me.

Rhyder’s breath exhaled hard with relief when he felt the blood go down, down to my stomach and into my limbs, and I felt like I was marked permanently with my brother’s obsession.

“Praise to the Allfather,” he sung, as I glared wordlessly at him, bitter gall and salty tang in my mouth. “You are covered, Temperance. The Allfather will not blame you for anything that happened in the cities.”

Then he captured my chin with his hand and bent forward and kissed me.

His kiss was hard and possessive, and I realized with a lurch in my stomach that this washisfirst kiss.

“Oh,Temperance” he said, breaking off for a moment to put his hand on the back of my neck, tangle in my hair. “This is Paradise.”

I felt chilled to the bone, my hands trembling uncontrollably as I pressed them against the wall.

His lips met mine again, his whole body curving against mine suddenly, pressing into me as hard as he could, his hard cock digging into my stomach.

Rhyder’s hands were cradling my head then, his mouth descending ravenously on me, sucking on my bottom lip hard, then harder.

My brother kissed me with years of suppressed desire, the whole broad width and huge height of his power focused on me. He hadn’t waited patiently. He had been impatient,ravenousfor me.

And now he could take as he chose.

I wanted to die of shame when I felt my nipples tighten so hard they stung.

My lips felt swollen when he broke off to press his forehead against mine.

“I knew I would find you,” he said, the triumph evident in his voice.

“Maybe next time you won’t,” I said bitterly.

“What do you meannexttime?” he growled, pulling back to scan my face.

His eyes weresoblue. I wanted to press so hard into the wall that I fell through it and could run away from my brother.

“Maybe I don’t want to be your fucking whore, Rhyder.”

He breathed through his nostrils. “That’s just temporary,” he said, moving a big arm up to rake a hand through his ponytail. “Only for a few months. The Prophet will understand. After the traditional time of concubinage he’ll allow me to make you my wife.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be your Helpmeet either!” I almost screeched. “Give me to someone else!”

Rhyder’s face darkened, and I knew it was reckless and stupid even as I said it.

“There is no one else for you,” he said. “You have always belonged to me.”

In blind fear and rage, I tried to wrench myself out of his grip, only ending up face-first on the rough wall of the Holy Place.

“Sister, I have waited,” Rhyder said, and I shivered as his big hand touched my shoulder, cried out as it ground down my back. “I have needed your body for so long. Iam not waiting anymore.”

“Rhyder, no!” I yelped in a panic, feeling his hand on my ass. “We can’t. It’s wrong.”

But his breathing was harsh in my ear as he bent over me, his breath rough as his beard scratched against the side of my face.

And when he spoke I had known this would be the outcome for a long time.

“I can’t stop.”

My hands clutched desperately at the wall, trying to dig my fingers into the chinks to pull myself away from him, but he grabbed them easily and held them above my head, pulling down one of the metal restraints to lock me in place.