Tortured (Paperback)

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Ensnared in the war-torn, untamed Dark Ages of North England, Sierra understands all too well what it takes to survive: the ability to numb the soul. She has learned this lesson the hard way, watching her mother die at the hands of the king's henchmen, her brother cast out into the cold to perish, and discovering the treacherous, leering king holds a crucial secret about her past.

But when he grants Sierra her life, she discovers the pardon is perhaps worse than death. Sierra is made executioner's apprentice, forced to witness unspeakable suffering while encouraged to explore her own sexual power.

Brainwashed and exhausted, Sierra's heart slowly grows cold—until Dryston of Hereford is brought to the dungeon as traitor and spy. Using her sexual allure to extract the warrior's secrets, Sierra finds herself torn between duty and desire. Soon, Sierra is craving the only man who can help set her battered soul free and give her a chance for revenge….

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Saxon Shore, A.D. 500

"Dunna ever be afraid, Sierra," her mother's voice whispered in her head. "Fear will be your downfall, as it is mine."

Sierra shoved her body against the dungeon's heavy, wooden door. With the dense smoke from the executioner's chamber still clogging her throat, she breathed deeply of the rain-soaked smell of earth and moss. The clouds above were gray and ominous, covering the sun and offering little hope of warmth in this most unholy of places.

Her eyes rose to the hill overlooking the outer wall of the castle. Once occupied by the Romans, the fortress was now home to Britannia's Saxon king, Lord Aeglech. Nine years ago, his tribes had taken over, obliterating all that was once a thriving Britannia. Those who did not accept the new Saxon rule were killed. Those who did became Saxon property. In some ways, Sierra considered herself lucky to be alive. She owed her life to her mother, and to the threat of a Druid curse that her mother left on Lord Aeglech and his guards in the moments just before she was hanged as a traitor.

More than once over the years, Sierra had wished she had not been allowed to live. Or that her mother had not left her with the gift of sight passed down on the maternal side of her family. She had never wanted the gift, seeing the life of servitude it had enslaved her mother to. Untrained, Sierra was not able to summon her sight at will, but over the years, she had managed to use it well enough to stay alive. And if she could stay alive, perhaps she had a chance of one day finding the brother who had been taken from her the night their mother died.

If nothing else, living in the Saxon fortress had served to strengthen her in odd ways. No longer did she despise the sight of Lord Aeglech or look upon him as a murderous barbarian. Nor did the cries of anguish from Balrogan's torture chamber— where she grew from a young girl to a woman—make her vomit, any longer.

For nine years, she'd lived in this Saxon hell, clinging to her mother's last words, "Dunna fear." It was her first and last thought each day. She had long ago learned to void herself of the things inside of her that could lead to fear. It was all she knew. It was how she survived.

Sierra choked on the cold air that filled her lungs. Blinking the wetness from her eyes, she squinted at the Saxon gallows up on the hill. Placed there for all the village slaves to see, it currently stood empty, gently blowing in the breeze and patiently awaiting its next guest. She absentmindedly touched the lavender wristlet on her arm. Her mother had given it to her once long ago.

"Sierra!"

Careful not to respond too quickly to her birth name, she glanced toward the nearby stable from whence the whisper came.

There beneath the eave, with his arm braced above him, stood Cearl—her lord, her savior—the boy who started as friend and who'd now grown to a handsome man. The one and only boy she had ever given herself to.

Sierra waited a heartbeat and checked around her before she hurried toward him. She gripped the water bucket as it slapped hard against her thigh, and let it tumble to the ground so she could leap into Cearl's waiting arms.

"'Tis good to see you as well, Mouse." He laughed and clamped his mouth down on hers.

She savored his lips, the sharp taste of mead on his tongue, the feel of his arms secure around her. When she was with Cearl, the dark world she lived in faded away, if only for a few moments.

"Is Balrogan expecting you back soon?" he muttered, dropping her to her feet and wrestling with the knotted belt at her waist.

"I have a little time, not much," Sierra replied and turned her head to allow his fervent kisses on her neck. In truth, Sierra did not know what Cearl saw in her. Sentenced to aid the executioner, as his apprentice, she was ordered to keep her hair short and wear men's clothing. It was part of her punishment to have no identity, no gender. Yet Cearl did not seem to mind that she was covered in soot and filth.

"Take care when you call my birth name aloud," she reminded him as his fingers fumbled with the leather knots of her belt. "It is dangerous out here. Someone might suspect that you are familiar with me."

"Is it not true that I am?" He grinned and brought his mouth down hard on hers, before refocusing his efforts on his task. "What shall I call you, then? My wench?" He laughed and grabbed her buttocks through the thin breeches she wore as he pulled her tight against him.

Sierra knew they took a great risk. Lord Aeglech's decree for himself and his guards was that no Saxon was to join with a Briton woman. He did not want the bloodline marred by a Celt bastard; if one of his guards disobeyed his rule, the woman would have to be killed. Though Cearl was not a guard, she feared what would happen to them if they were found out.

"Your wench would imply that I serve only you," she teased.

He stopped, his hands pressing into her upper arms as he studied her face. "Another is pleasing you, then?"

She cupped his unshaven jaw. Cearl was such an innocent. Though his body was that of a man, he often thought like a young boy. "Nay, Cearl, only you do that."

"All right then, let it remain so." He gave her a smile before he captured her mouth. She knew the routine well, and she accepted the rough manner of his tongue delving between her lips.

Sierra's breasts tingled beneath her bindings, and she longed to remove them so she could again feel Cearl's hands on her naked flesh, but today there was not enough time.

She felt safe around him. In all the years of her imprisonment, she had never had reason to fear him. Cearl had not the rules of the other men in her life. He had no need to dominate, perhaps because his place in life was to serve those of higher rank. He was the handsome son of a Saxon villager and helped in the kitchen, in addition to crafting the drums the Saxons used in battle. His hair was a mass of golden curls, the color of the summer sun, and his blue eyes danced with mischief when he was aroused. His smile was the only bright spot in Sierra's dreary existence.

He gave up on removing her tunic and reached beneath instead, yanking her breeches over her hips and pushing them to her ankles. While on bended knee, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against the soft patch of brown curls between her thighs. The brush of his thumb over her moist heat, followed by his eager tongue, prompted her to part her legs, offering him greater access.

He dug his fingers into the flesh of her hips. Sierra lifted her knee to his shoulder and threaded her fingers in his mop of hair, taking pleasure in his adoration. Her body grew tense as he probed deeper.

"Cearl, my need is great." Sierra stared at the thick wooden rafters above as she moved in rhythm to the heated taunting of his tongue.

"It only takes the thought of you, lass, to make me hard." He scrambled to his feet and tugged her close. With a wicked gleam, he captured her face in his hands and crushed his mouth to hers. "See for yerself," he growled.

Cearl grabbed her hand and pressed it against the bulge in his breeches. True it was that his length was firm. She smoothed her hand over the loose fabric, curling her fingers around his rigid shaft.

His strangled gasp pleased Sierra. Neither shared unrealistic notions that their needs were other than carnal. In this place, no one knew from day to day what would become of them. Their moments of stolen passion were not tainted by emotions, but were sparked by the pleasure of their joining.

Sierra pushed Cearl to the pile of hay. He appeared startled— he had not before seen her behave with such dominance. She usually allowed him to do what he would. Today though, something stirred within her. For years, she had gone without the menstrual courses that a woman usually has, but two months ago she had experienced some spotting that had renewed her determination to live. If she was still capable of bearing life, then perhaps she was not entirely as dead inside as she felt.

"This is new." He wiggled his brows as he shoved down his breeches and his cock sprang forth at the ready.

"I daresay a sheep's ass would make you ready, Cearl," Sierra said, planting a foot on either side of his hips. She fisted her hands to her sides and looked down at him.

He smiled and tucked his hands behind his head as he stared up at her, his hungry gaze focused on the prize between her legs. "'Tis your arse, Sierra, and your arse alone, that brings me such heavenly torture."

Once more, she scanned the stable to be sure they were alone. A goat bleated from a nearby pen and her heart tripped with concern.

"Do not worry, we are alone." His fingers found the warm opening between her legs, drawing her attention back to him.

"Balrogan wants one of those birds you have roasting over there and a pint of mead, as well." Sierra closed her eyes to the delicious sensation of his fingers stroking her quiver.

"Very well." He nodded impatiently as he motioned her to sit. "You can have two hens. You can have the whole lot. Come on, the guards will be heading out soon for the night watch. Have mercy, Sierra, I need to be inside you."

She dropped to her knees and pushed his tunic over his hard torso. She leaned forward, brushing her breasts against the rippled muscles of his stomach, enjoying the command she had over him. She loved the sinewy flesh beneath her palms and reveled in his low moan as she ran her tongue over the turgid brown nipples on his chest.

He had told her long ago, when they first met, that she might need a friend from time to time. Sex with Cearl had become her escape. Sex had become her friend, her sanity in this hellhole.

Slick and ready, Sierra eased onto his hard cock, parting her legs wide to accept him fully. She was fascinated by the changes on his face as he pushed into her. Sierra wondered if this was the expression lovers wore, or if it was merely a reaction to pleasure. For her, the line remained a blur. At one time, she thought she might have real feelings for Cearl. But it didn't take long for her to realize that it was the simple pleasure o...

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Spice (August 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373605331
• ISBN-13: 978-0373605330
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #738,925 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Medieval Romance!, July 26, 2009

By	Amy C (New York) - See all my reviews

The year is 500 C.E., and the land of Brittania is brutally being plundered and conquered by the vicious Saxons. The self-proclaimed king, Lord Aeglech knows no mercy when it comes to the native Britons. You either follow his rules, or you die.

Sierra is nothing more than a slave, but one the Saxon king values. She is Druid; a seer of the past and future. After her mother is ordered to be murdered for hiding her young son from Lord Aeglech, a betrayal punishable by death, Sierra is forced to apprentice the king's executioner, Balrogan. Nine years now, Sierra has wondered what the fate was of her young brother and clung to the last words of her mother, "Dunna fear." Those words gave her strength through the cruelty that has consumed her life, helped to shape her into the fearless woman she has become.

Now a Roman soldier, Dryston, has been captured, and when the torture that Balrogan unleashes on him proves fruitless for information regarding the rumors of a rebel army drawing near, he is turned over to Sierra. Lord Aeglach has assigned her a new form of torture...that of her body. Rather than punish him, they form a pact to help each other escape.

"She was his pleasure, he was her survival." Pg. 101

Now freed from her man made prison, Dryston must free her from her self-imposed prison, because the more time he spends with the prickly Sierra, the more he feels a connection to her.

The title implies more than just the torture of the hero Dryston or that the heroine Sierra is the apprentice to the executioner, Balrogan. Dryston may be physically tortured but so too is Sierra mentally tortured everyday of her life. Numb to the pain and anguish of what her life has become since her mother's death nine years earlier, Sierra begins to yearn for something each time she's in the presence of the Roman prisoner. My heart went out to Sierra as she opened herself to the longing for love. No longer is carnal pleasure, her one form of escape, with Cearl, a young stable hand, able to quench her need. That yearning now rests in the hands of Dryston, and that yearning proves to be yet another form of torture.

With her broken spirit from the pain and terrible existence that was Sierra's life, she finds a sense of peace within the embrace of the Roman. Sex had always been used as a tool of escape, but with this man, it has become so much more. With Dryston, as she learns to trust, she senses she can be more than the empty, nameless, genderless being she has been for the last nine years. She can be the woman she now longs to become.

Amanda McIntyre's books never fail to move me. The harshness of the times, the cruelty, the survival seems so terribly absurd considering how we live today. I think we all need to thank our lucky stars that we live in the times we do. Tortured is driven with the need for hope during such tumultuous times as was that part of history. I felt as if i were whisked away to that time and that land. The vivid descriptions and steady rhythm of the story made for one disturbingly touching tale of hope, love and survival.

A recommended read for any Medieval lover. And one that is set in the beginning of the Middle Ages, that you don't see often at all!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional, Beautifully Penned Epic Tale, August 19, 2009

By	Barbara (USA) - See all my reviews

4 1/2 stars.

Living in a time of chaos and despair, at a tender age, Sierra was forced to learn the rules of survival. And learn them well. With her mother's murder, both Sierra and her brother find themselves at the mercy of the Saxon Lord, Aeglech.

A druid, like her mother before her, Sierra possesses a special gift, and one that Lord Aeglech is desperate to utilize. With her quick wit and steely façade, Sierra manages to ensure her own survival, her brother, however, is not so lucky.

Enslaved, and forced by Aeglech to become the executioner Balrogan apprentice, Sierra's life is literally surrounded by death. Years come to pass, death, pain and anguish are an everyday staple in her life. All feelings of compassion and love--a distant memory. Her emotions are now nothing more than primal, her only care is living to see another day.

During this time, Sierra's only reprieve is the brief, stolen moments of physical release she shares with Cearl, her only companion. That is, until one man unwittingly gives her a glimpse at a life hope and promise.

Captured by the Saxons, Roman soldier, Dryston is forced to endure the brutality of Lord Aeglech. Restless, and worried about a rebellion, Aeglech is desperate for any information Dryston may be withholding. When all manner of torture fail to make the Roman talk, Aeglech turns to Sierra to retrieve information from the prisoner.

Using her gift of sight, Sierra sweeps through the thoughts and emotions of the Roman. What she sees stirs feelings within her that she had believed long dead. His passions, desires and loyalty intrigue her in ways she cannot comprehend, and soon, Sierra finds herself if a precarious position.

She can ensure her own survival and simply allow the Roman die. Or, for the first time, allow herself to truly trust another, and with his help, she can fight to finally have the freedom she had only dared to dream about.

I think that Amanda McIntyre is a brilliant story teller, and one who can pen a tale so well that you feel as though you are right there with the characters. She is an author who takes great care in her use of words and description, to the point that I'm often left astounded by how vividly scenes play out for me.

I wouldn't go in to reading this story expecting some grand sweeping romance. Although erotic, for me, 'Tortured' was an epic tale of one woman's strength and determination to live. I have no doubt these characters will move you. They are unrefined and their reactions to what they are forced to endure, genuine.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, December 24, 2009

By	Readsalot (Dakar) - See all my reviews

After reading the rave reviews I was surprised by how little depth this book has. The first third of the book is interesting - where we see how Sierra's life as a captive unfolded under the harsh rule of Aeglech. But once she and Drustyn made their escape the book descended into mediocrity. It was cliched and predictable with under-developed cookie cutter characters. It's labeled "erotic" on the cover but the "love scenes" are very uninspiring. The premise was good but it seems that the author just didn't know what to do after the main characters escaped from the high drama of the castle environment. I'm very glad this book was given to me and that I didn't spend a dime on it.