Page 35

CHAPTER 35

M ary

I had to crane my neck to look up at him. My hands balled into fists atop my thighs and I took a shaky breath, not needing to pretend my inner conflict and my effort to steady myself before continuing.

“We… we fell asleep for a while after that. I’m not sure how long. Maybe an hour? Two? It was hard to tell.”

I let my voice quaver, as if reliving the trauma—and again finding that I was reliving it, despite it never having happened. Had something about my training as a volva given me some ability to inhabit my cover this way?

“Then these men… they shook us awake. Rough hands, grabbing at us. I was so disoriented, still half-drunk. I remember Camille crying out in French.”

I paused, watching Marmareus’ face carefully. His expression remained impassive, but I sensed an intensity in his gaze that told me he was hanging on my every word. I pressed on.

“They bundled us outside. The cold air hit me like a slap. I remember thinking I should scream, but my throat felt so dry. They shoved us into a van—one of those big white ones with no windows in the back.” I shuddered, the motion barely feigned at all. “They gagged us with those things with the rubber balls. The smell was awful… it made me want to gag. Then they put a hood over my head. Everything went dark.”

I blinked rapidly, fighting back real tears. “The drive felt like it went on forever. I was so scared. I could hear Camille whimpering next to me, but I couldn’t reach her. My hands were tied behind my back.”

Marmareus nodded slightly, encouraging me to continue. I swallowed hard before going on.

“When the van finally stopped, they dragged us out. I could tell we were in some kind of parking garage from the echoes. The concrete was so cold under my bare feet.” I paused, letting a hint of anger creep into my voice. “That’s when they told us. Said we were going to be ‘fuck toys’ for some rich bastard. That he liked… he liked… breaking in fresh meat.”

I fell silent, watching Marmareus carefully. He was still looking down at his handheld, his brow furrowed slightly. I could tell he was looking for any holes in my story, analyzing every detail. My heart raced as I waited for his response, praying that my performance had been convincing.

After what felt like an eternity, Marmareus looked up from his device, his dark eyes meeting mine. “That’s quite a harrowing tale, Mary,” he said, his voice neutral. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

I nodded, trying to look both relieved and traumatized. “I… I… never… I mean, it’s the first time I’ve, you know… told anyone the story,” I whispered, letting my voice crack slightly. “It’s… it’s really hard to talk about.”

Marmareus took a step backward, as if easing the pressure of his physical presence. I felt an odd, unwelcome warmth of gratitude in my chest.

“I understand,” he said softly. “But I need you to understand something, Mary. We have ways of verifying information. Very sophisticated ways.”

My stomach clenched at his words. I fought to keep my expression neutral, to think clearly even as panic threatened to steal my rationality. Had he seen through my lies? What would happen if he had?

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “I’m trying to tell you everything,” I said, my voice trembling slightly. “I swear, it’s all true. Every horrible detail.”

As I spoke, I watched Leo Marmareus’ face, searching for any sign that he believed me. To my immense relief, I saw his expression soften almost imperceptibly. His shoulders relaxed just a fraction, and the intensity in his gaze eased ever so slightly.

A surge of pride welled up in me as I realized he was buying my story. My performance had been convincing enough to fool even this highly trained operative. I felt a flicker of hope that I might actually pull this off, that I might be able to fulfill my mission, and protect both myself and Camille.

But then, just as I was beginning to feel more confident, Marmareus’ expression sharpened again. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned in slightly, his voice low and intense.

“What exactly does Camille know more about than you do, Mary?”

The question caught me by surprise, and for a moment, I felt my carefully constructed facade waver. But then, as if by some strange magic, I felt that connection to Yggdrasil again. The lies came easily, flowing from me with a naturalness that astonished me as I heard my own words.

“I… I know about a… a virus,” I stammered, letting my voice quaver with fear and uncertainty. “I was at a… a… meeting with a Russian… Georgy, Beaumont called him.”

I felt my face blaze into a deep blush as I remembered the scene, how it had featured me as a sexual plaything to be enjoyed on the side, like an aperitif for the magnates’ most rapacious, obscene appetites.

I studied Leo Marmareus’ distractingly gorgeous face. I thought I might have seen a flicker of surprise on his brow as I delivered what I felt certain represented my most important piece of intelligence. It vanished immediately; if this man didn’t in fact know about the virus, he definitely wanted me to think he did.

“The virus, yes,” he said dismissively, as if he had no interest in the matter. “We’ll want to hear all about that soon. But you’re not answering my question, are you, Mary?”

I paused, biting my lip as if struggling with the memory.

“Beaumont… he said something about using Camille next. That Georgy would want to try her… her cunt and her bottom… to compare them with mine. I thought… I assumed it meant she would know more about their plans than I do.”

I looked up at Leo Marmareus, letting tears well in my eyes. “I don’t actually know if she does,” I admitted, my voice sounding tiny in my own ears. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I misunderstood. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t leave her there with them.”

I reached out impulsively, grabbing Leo Marmareus’ hand. The touch of his warm skin against mine sent an unwelcome jolt of electricity through me. “Please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “You have to understand. Camille was all I had in that horrible place. We protected each other, comforted each other. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being left behind, of what they might do to her.”

My fingers tightened on Leo Marmareus’ hand as I spoke, and I felt a tear slip down my cheek. “Even if she doesn’t know anything more than I do, she’s been through so much. She deserves to be safe, to be free of them. Please… please don’t… hurt us?”

As I pleaded with Marmareus, I felt a bizarre mix of emotions roiling in my heart and my body. Part of me was amazed—and horrified—at how easily the lies flowed from my lips, at how convincingly I could portray this fictional version of myself. Another part reveled in the performance, at the way the volva inside me had begun to emerge so fully and effectively, proud of my ability to manipulate even this seasoned operative.

Beneath it all, I realized, lay a kernel of truth in what I was telling him. I understood distantly that by accessing that basic honesty—a sincerity that came from my connection to the world tree, whatever that actually meant—I could build convincing falsehoods.

I really, truly couldn’t bear the thought of Camille being left behind, of her falling into the hands of the Pretorian Guard without me there to protect her. Our bond, forged in the crucible of our shared experiences, was real, even if the details of our capture were not. That bond let me deceive this skilled operative—or so I hoped, at least.

Leo Marmareus’ dark eyes searched my face again, and I thought I saw another, different kind of flicker in their depths. Sympathy? For a moment, I dared to hope that my plea had touched him, that he might believe me.

Then his expression hardened once more, though, and he gently but firmly extricated his hand from my grasp. “I see,” he said, his voice neutral. “Thank you for explaining, Mary. We’ll certainly take that into consideration.”

I let my hand fall back to my lap, feeling suddenly bereft without the contact. I thought I could see that I had convinced Leo Marmareus that I had told the truth so far. But I also felt my new instincts telling me something more—issuing a warning, in fact. I had to do more, I had to prove my value another way.

“Leo… sir…” I whispered, my heart racing. I got onto my knees, gazing up into his eyes, hardly believing what my body had begun to do.

“It’s a title,” he said, looking down at me with an expression so severe it made my tummy flip. “You’re saying it as if it’s a name, Mary. It means Lion . I am a Leo of the Pretorian Guard.”

“ Leo …” I said, softly and pleadingly, reaching out my hands in prayer. To my horror, I felt my pussy clench, as if in abject acknowledgment of his power over me. “ Leo … please?”

I reached further. I clasped the enemy agent’s knees— the Leo ’s knees , I tried to make myself remember, thinking that every little piece of intelligence helped fulfill my mission. My heart jumped as my fingers sensed the strength in the taut sinews under the soft material. I felt his whole, muscular body jerk slightly at the contact, and I gathered a little courage from that physical, animal response.

A whimper escaped my lips. I lowered my eyes to look at the front of his trousers. Before I could think about it, I followed my body’s mortifying instinct: I whimpered again, and leaned my face forward until I could nuzzle the woolen fabric.

I felt the hardness there, huge and warm, like my real master’s beautiful cock. I kissed it, and then I kissed it again, mewed like a kitten desperate for milk. My heart raced as I felt the heat of his arousal against my face. A shiver ran through me as I inhaled his masculine scent.

Marmareus chuckled darkly, the sound sending tingles down my spine. I pulled my face back a little, and I looked up into his eyes.

“Please?” I whispered again. I moved my hands up a little bit, feeling the strength of his quads, clenching anew, down between my legs, at the sheer power of this man—this Leo ’s body. Lion : it seemed a good word for him.

I sensed his hands moving in front of him, putting his handheld back in his jacket and then reaching down. My breath caught in my throat as I heard the whisper of his zipper.

With another little whimper I lowered my eyes to see him take out his cock. It sprang free, thick and hard, an inch or two from my face. I felt dizzy with arousal, the stimuli coming from so many directions at once I could hardly count them: Sven, sharing me with Beaumont, Georgy, and now the most powerful, most dangerous stranger of all… Leo Marmareus, his enormous manhood hard at the idea of using me, the submissive slut who had already taken so many cocks… myself, the girl who had taken men’s penises in every hole a girl could take a man’s hardness…

Me, Mary O’Toole, naked on my knees. Only a few days ago a modest virgin who played with herself in the shower. Here, begging a man to be allowed to take his penis into her mouth… pleading with him to fuck her face and let her swallow his semen, or to cover her face with it, or to choose which of her body’s openings to finish his pleasure in.

I had thought that being used by Beaumont and Georgy had answered the shameful needs Sven had uncovered—satisfied those needs, even. Seducing an enemy agent like this turned me on more than I could have imagined, though.

The wrongness of it, the danger, only heightened my arousal. My pussy clenched yet again and I could feel the wet heat gathering inside me, readying me for Marmareus’ thrusting cock though I truly belonged to another man.

A better man… my Herra … the man I love , I told myself desperately.

I raised my eyes to meet Leo Marmareus’ flinty gaze.

“May I please, Leo ?” I whispered. “May I… may I have your big, beautiful cock in my little mouth?”