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An Excerpt From:
SEDUCTRESS OF CARALON
Copyright ©
LACEY ALEXANDER, 2005.
All Rights Reserved,
Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
“You must seduce him.”
The words hit her like a
physical blow, leaving her breathless for a long, painful moment. She’d
known her father was a vulnerable and often desperate ruler, but… “What of
my virginity, Father? You’re willing to give up my bride value?” While most
women of Caralon were free to indulge their
sexual urges at will, daughters of the upper classes were kept virgins
until they were traded in marriage to whomever their fathers chose. It was
a practice Jalal despised, but it at least held
the likelihood of a life of comfort, a marriage to someone of means.
Her father’s stalwart
expression never wavered. “What good is your bride value if Myrtell is toppled by Enrick?”
Jalal
swallowed nervously. Her father truly expected her to seduce Enrick the Attacker? “What could I possibly know about
seduction, Father?”
“You need know very little
given the ripeness of your breasts, the lushness of your curves, the satin
of your skin.”
She sighed. She’d been told
of her rare beauty her whole life. Her father had always been fond of
saying she’d fetch quite a price. She’d always imagined going to a wealthy
young ruler, someone strong and handsome who might even pamper her if she
were lucky. But this changed everything.
“I still haven’t the first
idea how to pleasure a man. What of my orientation?” The stirrings in her
body these last years had actually made her look forward to the week prior
to marriage which she would spend with a hand-picked orienter—a
woman who would teach her the ways of sex.
“We haven’t time for a proper
orientation. But Gilda will come to you tonight and try to prepare you for
your task. You’ll be taken into the mountains at sunup.” He leaned slightly
forward, the lines in his face deepening as he added, “Do not fail me, Jalal. Distract Enrick with
your body long enough for my forces to gather—or you shall answer to me
when this is over.”
Maybe you’ll be dead when
this is over, she thought, her eyes narrowing on him. She’d always
doubted the man held any love for her in his heart, and this proved it. She
wanted to spit on him. She wanted to trample his bravado under her feet.
But a woman’s place in Caralon was not such that she could ever rule over any
man. She had no choice but to do what her father demanded. She had to
attempt to learn the ways of seduction, then give
herself to the feared Enrick, a beast of a man
who inhabited children’s nightmares—had even once inhabited her
nightmares as a child. Like it or not, it seemed, he would soon enter her
bed in a whole new manner.
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