Page 5 of Fleshbound (Enchanted Ink)

“Laddie… when I was a wee bairn, the realm o the fae still walked amongst that of man. They mingled here and there along the way. Perhaps all human, I am no, but wha the other part is, is beyond ma ken.”

Quill sensed no lie in his words. He shifted his questions to a new line of thought, sensing he’d hit a wall. “Who put you in that book?”

Corven turned his face from Quill. “Dinnae ask me that.”

Quill forced Corven’s face forward. “I need to know.”

“Ye dinnae.”

From the firm line of Corven’s jaw, Quill sensed he might not get an answer. Two could play at the torment game. He might not have much practice at it, but from the hot pulsing of a vein against his ass, he guessed he might have a way to get more answers.

He rolled his hips, squeezing himself against Corven’s hard shaft.

“Ye wee minx,” Corven growled.

“Who put you in that book?” Quill asked, rolling his hips again.

“Twas over two thousand years ago. It no matters now.”

Two thousand years? “You said three hundred years!”

“I said I had no relations in three hundred years. Ne’er said my imprisonment twas that short.”

Quill rolled his hips again, the tip of Corven’s cock pressing into him a fraction of an inch. They both moaned. Quill’s arms shook, his hands flat against Corven’s hard, muscled chest.

“I coud flip ye an fuck ye now.”

“Not without my consent,” Quill said, bluffing. It had been asked for earlier, so he sensed it was required for whatever bound Corven to the book. “And I don’t give it. Not yet.”

Corven growled under his breath. “Ye're too smart for yer own good.”

Good came out as guid. It seemed the more Quill pushed, the deeper Corven’s brogue became. He hated to admit how much he liked it. So he pushed to see how deep it would go.

He stroked his cock back and forth against Corven’s, pushing them both too far.

“The witch is long dead,” Corven finally growled. “Ye have no tae worry aboot.”

Quill froze. A witch? “And what if they’re not dead?”

Corven sighed. “I was there the night he was killed. Once the witch hunters left with their arms laden with treasure, a gang o bandits robbed his castle before they burnt it tae the ground with him inside. Luckily for me, books were valuable in those days. I was saved the flames.”

“You’re sure he’s dead?”

“Aye. He wouda found me by now had he no been.”

That made sense if it had truly been that long. Any witch worth his salt would’ve tracked his own magic down in no time and reclaimed what he thought was his.

Quill felt a jerk between his cheeks, Corven’s cock jumping for attention.

“Who was it?”

Corven narrowed his lids.

“Tell me… and I’ll slide your cock inside me and ride you for the rest of the night,” Quill whispered.

Corven’s hands tightened on Quill’s hips, his lids appearing heavy. “Did you just say cock?”

“I did,” Quill said, surprised as well. But the naughty word had clearly done something to Corven. He rolled his hips again. “I’ll take your big, thick cock so deep inside me you won’t know where you end, and I begin.”

“Merlin,” Corven squeaked out, his fingertips digging into Quill’s hips. “It was Merlin.”

Quill froze. “As in… the actual Merlin?” The name had whispered through his mind, but Merlin was half myth, half legend.

“Aye.”

“You knew the real Merlin… oh my heavens,” Quill murmured. He captured Corven’s stare. “You were his lover?”

“Nay,” Corven said, reaching around Quill and position his cock.

As soon as the head pressed inside him, Quill lifted off it.

Corven growled. “Ye promised me.”

“I need more answers,” Quill said. “If you weren’t his lover, why did he trap you in that book?”

Corven growled again before dropping his head into the grass. “Ye’re goin tae be the death o me.” After a long, dramatic sigh, he lifted his head a bit and eyed Quill.

“He wanted me but I didnae want him,” Corven said, his brogue the thickest it had been yet.

“I says as much but he wouldnae listen. His desire turned destructive. He says he couldnae have me, no one else coud either. So he imprisoned me in his book, comin tae me every so often, offerin escape if I’d come inside his body. I ne’er took his offer.”

“All you had to do is have sex with him and you would’ve been free?” While a hard choice, it was one Quill might’ve agreed to.

“I suspected there woud be more tae it than tha,” Corven said. “It wouldnae been one time. He woud have kept me his slave, I suspect. I coudnae live like tha. Better tae be trapped in the book than inside him.”

Quill frowned, compassion swelling in his chest. He’d taken the moral high road and been ensnared for two thousand years because of doing what was right.

And yet Quill sensed no anger. No wrath. No ill emotions. How could he have survived it all for all those years without feeling rage? Even as he told his tale, Quill felt nothing but the need Corven had for him.

“I thought he woud have given up eventually if I stood strong.” Corven caressed Quill’s thigh. “Than he died, an he took ma chances for escape with him. I’ve been trapped in those pages ever since.”

“You have magic… but not enough to break free?”

“I’m no witch. The book gives me some. A dinnae ken how. But tis only so strong. I’ve gotten better at wieldin it over two millennia but there is no escapin this prison. No for me.”

“My coven is strong. Maybe we can try.”

“Dae ye think I’ve no gone from coven tae coven searchin for the one who coud break this curse?

Hecate herself wasnae even up tae the task.

” He shook his head. “No. This is ma curse an I will carry it until the day ma nightmare ends.” Corven caressed the side of Quill’s face.

“Though it isnae so much a nightmare with ye here with me.”

Quill’s chest tightened. He sensed their time might be short. “How long can you stay with me?”

“A few days. Maybe a couple of weeks if we’re lucky.” Corven offered a wry smile. “Then I’ll travel wherever the magic takes me. Twas lucky it took me to ye.”

Quill kissed Corven with every ounce of emotion he had. Days? That’s all they had together? He’d never believed in love at first sight, but whatever magic shared between them, if felt awfully close. If they had only days together, Quill would make them the most incredible possible.