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Category: Erotica/Erotic Fantasy/Romance
Description: There seemed no hope to Pandora until the day the handsome knight, Drake, rode through her village on the way to a tournament. One night of finally fulfilling her aching needs, though, only seemed to make things worse, for Drake wasn't nearly as resigned to his fate as she was. Determined to break the curse if it was at all possible, Drake captured the vixen that had brought hell down on him and sought help in the magical forest. Unicorn and Dragon were all too happy to help, but when they discovered the curse still hadn't been broken, they were forced to set off on a quest to track down the evil gnome and end it once and for all. Rating: Carnal/Erotica multiple sexual partners, ménage--no homosexuality, voyeurism, BDSM , a graphic, fairly extreme BDSM scene between the heroine and a male NOT the hero that isn't for the faint hearted. Magical creatures that transform into human lovers. Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance.
eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, 2010
eBookwise Release Date: August 2010

12 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [176 KB]
Words: 41390
Reading time: 118-165 min.

Chapter One

As Pandora straightened from weeding her little garden patch and arched her back to ease the pain that had begun to throb there, she noticed a child of around seven or eight peering at her from behind the apple tree in the yard across the road from her own cottage. A familiar warmth filled her, but she'd grown so accustomed to it over the years she scarcely even acknowledged it. Flicking her long, dark braid behind her shoulder, she smiled in a friendly way at the young child, wondering if she waved if the child would run screaming to its mother or indulge its curiosity and move a little closer to chat.

Loneliness ate at her almost as much as the 'misery', the curse than had been passed down to her from her poor mother, and the possibility of having even the company of a child for a few moments warred with caution.

The door to the cottage slammed before she could decide whether to acknowledge the child's curiosity or ignore it--which was usually safest. Her new neighbor stalked toward the child hiding behind the tree and cuffed him on the side of his head. "Ye'll bring a plague down on us, ye hard headed young'un! Ain't I told ye not ta be starin' at the witch?"

Indignation flickered through Pandora. "I'm not a witch!" she snapped before she thought better of it, betraying the fact that she'd noticed the child.

"Yer cursed is what yer are!" the woman bellowed at her, leaning down to grab a fallen apple from the yard and pitch it at her. "An' anybody yer touch is cursed, too! Stay away from me and mine!"

Pandora dodged the apple. Tempted to pick it up and hurl it back at the woman, she paused even as she snatched it up. A rousing good fight might help her feelings but it might only stir up the ire of the rest of the villagers, who barely tolerated her as it was.

Actually, they didn't precise tolerate her. She had little doubt that they would've run her out of the village long since if they weren't afraid to approach her. She couldn't afford to provoke more animosity. Individually, they feared coming anywhere near her, but she couldn't afford to take the chance that that would remain true if enough of them became angry to form a mob. Making an obscene gesture at the woman instead, she rubbed the apple on her skirt and lifted it to examine it. "Thank you for the apple, Mistress Renfroe. I could bake a pie if you could spare a few more."

She was sorry she'd tossed the sarcastic comment almost as soon as she had for it immediately occurred to her that she really would've enjoyed an apple pie. The woman spat at her instead of throwing more apples. Catching the child by one ear, she led him back into their cottage.

Pandora stared at the door of the cottage for a few moments and finally transferred her attention to the tree, studying it speculatively. Noticing that three or four apples had fallen over the garden wall into the dusty road, she decided to collect them and have her pie after all! Pulling open the rickety gate to her own yard, she marched across the road and knelt to gather up the apples she'd noticed.

It was the only advantage of being the 'accursed' as far as she could see--not that there should've been any advantage, she supposed--but she considered it one. Everyone was so fearful of coming anywhere near her that she was perfectly safe to help herself to anything that fell unclaimed, or wandered, into the road. All she had to do was start forward to collect it and they ran for their lives and abandoned it to her. It supplemented her livelihood very nicely. She had a pen full of chickens and even an old cow. With the garden where she grew her own herbs and vegetables, she got by just fine.

It was a lonely life, though, since her mother's terrible death. Although she couldn't help but be happy for her mother that her trials had finally ended, regardless of the manner of her release, she was very sorry for herself. She was lonelier than she'd ever been in her life. She'd at least had a few friends before she'd inherited her mother's curse and she'd had her mother, although, truthfully, her mother had been far too consumed by the curse to be a great deal of company for her only daughter.

Four years earlier, though, her mother had finally found the ultimate release. She'd become so maddened by the insatiable itch that could not be assuaged that she'd coaxed the Brenner's bull into coupling with her and the beast had turned on her and trampled her. They'd had to slay the bull, for it had instantly gone on a rampage and tried to mount all of the village women.

She was almost sorry they'd killed the damned thing before it got to her. At least all her troubles would have been over, as they had been for her mother! Instead, the villagers had caught up with the bull and slain it and she'd had to live with the horrible curse she'd inherited on her twentieth birthday, the same age her mother had been when she'd been cursed!