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group dined on a thick, meaty stew and fresh, hot bread with butter and stickleberry jam—the whole dinner washed down with cold cider. Adonia thought it tasted as fine as some banquets she’d attended at the palace. Hel, Ramsey and Steffania had excused themselves as soon as dinner had ended, but Adonia took a comfortable chair in front of the large hearth in the public room and sipped another glass of cider. A lone traveler shared the fire with her. After they’d sat in silence for some time watching the flames dance in golds and blues across the logs, he cast a brief glance in her direction.
    “ Do you and your companions seek the safety of Sylvan Mintoth?”
    She frowned. “No. We’ve come from Sylvan Mintoth. We travel east to Nyth Uchel.”
    “ East? You don’t want to be going east. I left my farm not two days ride from here and you’d think me mad if I told you the unnatural things I’ve seen.” He shook his head and a shudder ran through his lanky frame. Up-ending his mug in a long swallow, the farmer thunked it down on the floor and stood. “Take some advice from an old man, mistress. Turn around and go back to Sylvan Mintoth. Don’t go east.”  
    Adonia watched as he climbed the stairs and wondered at his words. Too tired to do anything as strenuous as worry, she sank back into the comfortable chair, the blissfully unmoving chair, sipped at her drink and gazed into the flames.
    T he hour had been late when she sought her room, and the bed felt especially fine as she crawled between the sheets. She appreciated anew the luxury of being clean, well fed and in a comfortable bed. A low moan disturbed her just as sleep started to relax her body. She sat up and fatigue fled as she listened to the sounds coming from the room next to her—the room occupied by Ramsey and Steffania.
    There! Again , a soft feminine moan and then a low masculine murmur in response filtered through the shared wall. A pause. More feminine groans, a quiet male laugh and then a pause. A choked-off plea, then Ramsey’s masculine voice clearly giving an order though Adonia couldn’t make out the words. “Please! Ramsey, please!” That was definitely Steffania begging. Again, she heard Ram’s low masculine laugh and more indistinguishable words uttered in his deep baritone. A low feminine wail answered. More male laughter and then a deep groan. A number of indeterminate sounds followed.
    Adonia fell back onto her mattress with a whimper. Sex. They were newlywed, and from the sounds of it, enjoying a passionate encounter. She jerked the pillow from beneath her head and covered her face, holding it over her ears to stop the sounds. Oh, Goddess . It had been so long—over two years since her thighs had parted for a lover.
    Arrogant eyes above a silky black beard flashed through her mind. She moved her legs restlessly, sliding them against the mattress and rubbing them together. One hand abandoned the pillow and slid to the small, hard bud of her nipple and gently rolled it between thumb and forefinger. Gods! The pleasure of that soft touch exploded in her clit. A small whimper escaped her mouth, and she abandoned the pillow altogether as her other hand crept to the soft folds between her legs. The plumped flesh was already slicking with her moisture. She dipped her middle finger into her hot center and slid upward to circle her tender bud as pleasure coiled like a wound spring in her pussy. A firm pinch to her nipple and a faster circle of her clit, and her flesh spasmed into a series of contractions that shot pleasure through her in spears of sensation. Her back arched, and her legs split, thrusting her pelvis forward as though meeting the penetration of a hard cock. Her soft keen was lost into the pillow.
    Gasping, she collapsed limply on the bed. She lay alone, solitary. No loving arms held her. No satiated male snored in her ear. No warm body cradled her, driving away the cold. The pillow still over her face, silent tears of