The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (Trisha Telep) (Kitty Norville 0.50)

I should have listened to my mother.

Normally, Natalia Sorvenska would never have dreamed of answering an invitation to Lady Delia’s autumnal soiree, no matter how prettily engraved. But the invitation had borne the words: “Lady Delia will display a Dream Catcher.”

Natalia had never seen a Dream Catcher - mystical beings that lived in the mountainous region beyond the Eastern Rim. They were magical, mysterious, elusive. Snaring one was an astonishing feat.

To judge by the crowd filling Delia’s mansion on the hill, Natalia surmised that no one else could resist coming either. Delia had hung her ballroom with garlands of real autumn leaves imported from the mountain forests, Dream Catchers’ realms. It must have been a huge expense to have them transported hundreds of miles across the desert. Musicians had been seated throughout the balconies, and captive glow-flies swirled against the misty black ceiling.

Natalia sipped her blood-red wine and waited for something to happen. She was surprised that Lady Delia had bothered to invite her, when Delia made no secret that she despised Natalia and women like her. She must want to rub her acquisition of a Dream Catcher in Natalia’s face. The other guests were surprised at her inclusion too, if the way faces turned away and skirts were pulled aside when Natalia passed were any indication.

At last they saw movement near the raised platform at the end of the ballroom. Skirts and silken veils rustled as the high-born ladies of Bor Narga pressed forwards to see. Natalia went with them, as shamelessly curious as the rest.

“Ladies.” Delia N’riss stepped onto the dais and raised her hands for silence. “And gentleman,” she added as a deferential afterthought. Her guests dutifully tittered.

“I’ve had the greatest good fortune. After a very long search, my hunters have at last found and captured a Dream Catcher for me.”

She paused, gloating under their gasps of admiration. Delia had always demanded the most attention, even when she and Natalia had been childhood friends. Delia always had to dance in the front, be given the most sweets, wear the prettiest dress.

Delia lifted her hands again, liking her power. “I have decided to share my fortune, my friends. I will allow the Dream Catcher to choose a lady from among my guests and read her dreams.” She smiled as a ripple of pleasure ran through the crowd. “And so without further ado, I bring you - the Dream Catcher.”

No applause. Too many breaths were held for that. Two men in desert tunics walked onto the dais leading a third man by a rope. The rope was loosely knotted around his neck and again at his wrists, but witch rope didn’t need to be tight. Just its touch would keep magical creatures confined.

Natalia froze. The Dream Catcher was a tall man, towering over his captives. He had a broad chest dusted with black hair, shoulder muscles rippling despite the bruises and burn marks on his skin. Black hair flowed like silk down his bare back, and he wore only a leather thong around his hips, a loincloth hiding his privates. The rest of his body was on display for all to see.

Natalia looked. She couldn’t help herself. She had never seen so much naked male flesh in her life, not even her husband’s. Especially not her husband’s. The other ladies pretended to look away, to hide eyes behind veils, but how could they resist?

The Dream Catcher stood upright, not cowed by his capture. But his leg was twisted, and the marks on his body indicated they’d beaten him. He hurt. Natalia suddenly wanted to touch him, to comfort him, to reassure him.

As though he sensed her sudden stab of pity, the Dream Catcher raised his head and looked straight at her.

Natalia felt herself falling, being pulled towards his great silver eyes, larger than a normal man’s, intense and magical. But no, she still stood on her two feet halfway across the ballroom. She squeezed the stem of her wine glass, unable to look away. The wine glass broke, and blood trickled down her fingers.

The Dream Catcher cocked his head, staring at her like an animal intent on its prey. The ladies between him and Natalia parted as though his gaze physically shoved them aside.

Lady Delia smiled a nasty smile. “It seems he has chosen you, Natalia.”

The ladies around her looked disappointed. Some pulled their gauzy veils closer over their faces so they wouldn’t be caught having anything so gauche as an emotion.

Natalia turned to Delia in confusion, breaking the spell of the Dream Catcher’s eyes. “No,” she said quickly. “Thank you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. The Dream Catcher chooses the one whose desires most call to him.”

Her eyes held viciousness. Natalia stared at her in shock. Delia couldn’t be that cruel, could she? But Delia’s smile told Natalia that she could. Her triumph in capturing a Dream Catcher must have gone to her head.

“No,” Natalia repeated. She deposited her broken wine glass on a nearby table and turned to leave, sweeping her own crimson veil across her face.

The silk stifled her, nearly gagging her. But behind it she could let hot tears build in her eyes. Damn Delia. She’d brought Natalia here for this little humiliation, nothing more. To mock Natalia’s perversions, to put her in the pillory for daring to want something forbidden.

And damn Ivan Sorvenska’s tattling mouth. He’d ruined Natalia when he’d bleated to his own gossipy mother what Natalia had wanted their marriage to be. Animal lust, Ivan had sneered when Natalia shyly asked on their wedding night if they could share a bed. Is that what you are, Natalia, an animal? Why don’t you hire a Shareem and have done?

Shareem were males created long ago for the sole purpose of pleasuring women. They lived in the slums of Pax City, and the occasional scandalous woman went to them for carnality. Some said they’d been bred with Dream Catchers, but no one knew for sure. Natalia had never been able to bring herself to seek out a Shareem.

She’d thought that Ivan the charming, Ivan the handsome, Ivan who’d touched her hand and told her he liked her just as she was, would be amenable to doing what high-born men and women were supposed to shun - lie with each other. That was why she’d rejected the Ministry of Families’ carefully chosen mate and married without their blessing.

She’d risked all to marry Ivan then discovered too late that he hadn’t wanted a physical marriage after all. He’d charmed Natalia in order to gain access to her money and the Sorvenska family name, which he took upon their marriage. He wore the name like a prize he’d captured. He was disgusted by Natalia’s request, and immediately moved to separate living quarters.

Natalia could have b

orne the humiliation of his rejection, but Ivan had repeated all to his mother. Ivan’s mother, who’d never liked Natalia or the Sorvenskas, had spread the tale of her daughter-in-law’s disgusting perversions far and wide.