Hildin turned back to his sleeping captive. "Girl, wake up!" He slipped the silver ring from her finger and pocketed it; her blue eyes flickered and opened wide. She sat up and began to scrabble for something to hide her nakedness, to no avail; there was nothing for her to cover herself with but her hands. She gave up and faced the two men with as much dignity as she could muster.

"And what do they call you at home, sweetness?" said Hildin solicitously.

"Home?" she repeated in confusion. "I live with Warin. He named me Emmae. I have no other name, nor any other home. Please, where am I? He will be missing me. Take me back!"

"This is your home now, dear. I shall keep you safe until Warin comes for you. If he comes for you."

"If? I am his woman!" she cried. "Why would you keep me from him? Take me home, or I'll find my own way, naked as I am!" She slipped off the other side of the bed away from him and began feeling the walls for a door.

Hildin smiled and shrugged. "No door, at least not for you. Remember? I am a magician." He rose from the bed and advanced on her. "But by all means, please try to run. It makes the catching so much more gratifying. And I will catch you," he added with a grin. "It's a small room. And I doubt you'll want to run for long."

He focused on her with a cold heat that brought her up short. "You are not safe outside this room, you know. You are most definitely enchanted, and your enchantment requires your body to respond to me--to anyone. Doesn't it? You can feel it working now. And do you know why that is, girl? It's because I want you."

Emmae whimpered. Her soft pink nipples darkened and pulled tight, and she heard the blond youth swear softly under his breath. She leaned back against the wall. Aching desire began to coil through her, awakening her skin.

Hildin came close enough that she could feel his breath on her face and the heat of his body. "How does it feel to know what he did to you?" he said softly. He traced his fingers up her arms to her neck, leaving goosebumps behind. "My brother. He very probably did this, you know."

"No," said Emmae, her voice shaking. "He would never do this." His touch left her dizzy with want, and she kept herself from leaning into the teasing fingers.

"Someone did. And at the least, he took advantage of it, didn't he? He knew, girl, depend on it. How long did he wait before he had you?" he said, drawing firmer patterns on her breasts and belly while she struggled to control her breathing. "He had you the very day he found you, didn't he? I thought so," he said at her deepening blush. "Did he take your maidenhead? I wonder. It's long gone now." With that, he seized her soft mound, parting the lips and dipping his fingers inside. She was soaking, and he laughed softly to find her so. "But don't worry, pretty Emmae. We'll take care of you. My page desires you, too. Don't you, boy?"

"Yes," came the tense reply from across the room. "Very, very much, your highness."

"You will bring us such pleasure now that you belong to us," Hildin growled into her hair. She moaned and clutched fruitlessly at the wall as Hildin's fingers moved inside her. Though he stretched her cruelly, her body wanted only to feel him even deeper inside her. Tears ran down her cheeks as the prince withdrew and half-dragged her back to the bed, where he threw her down.

Gill was waiting. He pounced on her, kissing her and fondling her breasts in desperate arousal until she writhed on the bed. His cock pushed against the curls between her legs.

"Give over, boy." Hildin pushed the groaning page to one side and positioned Emmae's hips in his lap, spreading her wide. He put his hands beneath her and held her up, fingers digging into her bottom as he pulled her close. Still on his knees, he entered her, hissing at the sensation. She cried out and arched her back, her breasts bouncing as Hildin pulled her hips to him over and over.

This was nothing she was used to. Warin had been firm but gentle, and as focused on pleasing her as himself. Though the spell had compelled her body's response, her heart had responded of its own accord. Here, there was no regard for her pleasure, nor for her heart. Hildin shifted his position and pushed her knees up as far as he could, burying himself in her so deeply she let out a gutteral cry.

His eyes were wild and cruel, and his face was pulled back in a fierce grimace. He frightened her, and yet her body had never wanted a man more. "My brother's woman," he growled. "My brother's woman is mine now." His arms encircled her, crushing her to him as he bit at her neck. "You are mine, Emmae. Say it! I want to hear you say it!"

"I--no--" she panted, dangerously close to her climax. "I am his! I am Warin's! Oh!"

"Is this Warin making you cry out? Is it Warin's cock inside you? Is it?"

"No!"

"Whose, then?"

"Yours!" she sobbed as her climax began. "Yours, prince!" She screamed as she dissolved and reformed around him, shaking uncontrollably in his arms. He pounded mercilessly into her, refusing to let her orgasm end, until finally she felt him throb deep inside her. He let out a loud roar and fell atop her, sweating and nearly swooning.

Hildin recovered enough to roll off her. Once he caught his breath, he examined her coolly. Emmae panted and trembled, eyes closed and tears running down the sides of her face. "Most useful enchantment, this. Wouldn't you agree, Gill?" A strangled noise issued from where Gill sat at the foot of the bed. Hildin looked up at him and chuckled; the young man was nearly purple with need, his eyes starting out of his head. "Do you want her?"

"Gods, yes, your highness!"

"Then have her."

Gill fell on her and entered her immediately, wasting no time with preliminaries. He took one nipple in his mouth and the other between his fingers and grunted with pleasure as he suckled. Emmae wailed in time with his thrusts, curving herself to bring him in deeper, until she came with him.

"I'm sorry," he said, kissing her tear-stained cheeks afterward. "You're just so beautiful and I wanted you so badly. Next time I'll be more thoughtful of your pleasure."

"Next time?" she whispered, and began to cry in earnest.

"You always were a romantic, cousin," said the prince. He stood, already dressed. "Arrange yourself. Find a suitable chambermaid--and only one--to care for our guest, and be sure it's a woman who won't find her as toothsome as we do."

"I know just the one, my lord," said Gill, fastening up his hose and donning his tunic. "Old Meg. I'll see to it immediately."

"I should have thought of her myself." The prince tapped a spot on the wall and an entrance appeared. "Don't bother looking for the door, my dear, you won't even be able to see it let alone open it. Thank you for a lovely evening. I do so look forward to getting to know you better." He smiled and left the room.

Emmae pulled herself up to the head of the bed, still crying. Gill shushed her gently, and sat down beside her.

"It's all right," he soothed, stroking her hot forehead. "Turn around." He took a brush from a nearby table, and began untangling her long brown hair. "Given time, you'll be his, just like me."

Emmae pulled a pillow into her lap, struggling to bring herself under control. She needed to know more of this place and these men, if she were ever to get back to Warin. She did her best to swallow her tears. "He called you 'cousin.'"

"Yes. We share a great-grandfather--Harsin the First. Sadly, my forebear was born on the wrong side of the sheets--to a serving woman, not the queen. But the king my great-grandfather took care of her and her children, and here we are. We are nobility, not royals, but we carry some of the blood. And," he added, "a tiny bit of the magic." He made a gesture, and the candle flame leaped from the wick to his fingertip, danced merrily for a moment, and then returned. "No more than party tricks, really. The further my line goes from the throne, the less we'll have."

"Are you enchanted, like--like me?" It was so hard to think of herself as enchanted, and yet it explained everything. "How long have you been...his page?"

"You mean his lover?" Gill laughed. "I have officially served my lord for four years, since I turned 14, but I've known and loved him all my life. He was my first lover, and the only one I shall ever truly love. I serve of my own free will, and I don't exaggerate when I say I would do anything my prince asked of me."

"And yet you choose to torture me when you have each other."

"He has me," said Gill quietly. "I don't have him." He put down the brush and began braiding her hair for the night. "My prince takes whoever it pleases him, male or female. I myself am a lover of women, and would lie in no other man's bed but his. He knows this, and does not force other men on me now, though I would still accept it for his sake. We often share a woman, but never one so beautiful as you." He placed a kiss on her shoulder and tied off her braid.

"You're being so gentle with me."

"There's no reason not to be. I would rather persuade a girl than force her. Winning you over is a challenge I've set myself, little love. Though, truth be told, I have every intention of enjoying you every chance I'm allowed."

She gritted her teeth, but kept her voice even. "Why does Hildin hate his brother so?"

"Ah! So many questions, Emmae!" He turned down the coverlet and gently tucked her in. "You will have many days for answers, but for now, we are done." He walked to the hidden door and thumbed the magical trigger. The door swung open to the dimly lit corridor beyond.

Gill gestured, and the candle flame leaped from the taper at her bedside to his fingertip again, but this time he crushed the flame out in his fist. "Rest. It's early, but you should sleep. You will need your strength." He stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him. Emmae broke down, sobbing, her self-control coming to an end. She cried herself to sleep, missing Warin's arms.