“Why?” she asked, finally gathering the cards together in one pile.
“Just something I was thinking about while we sat here for hours upon useless hours.”
“I can think of something we can do during these hours that is much more useful,” Ilyas intoned, his head still resting on the table, but he had turned his face toward me, his striking green-blue eyes heated.
Color rose in my cheeks at his very obvious perusal of my body, but I shook my head, albeit unwillingly.
Ilyas huffed, “You’re no fun.” And he promptly turned his head back to the table.
“Just wait until we get back to our rooms at the Academy. It’s a couple hours, you can wait that long, can’t you?” Sasori scolded as she absently shuffled the cards.
“No. I can’t. My balls are heavy, and my dick is constantly half-hard being around the two of you. It’s not fair,” Ilyas half-whined, half-grumbled from his position on the table.
“Are you . . . pouting?” I asked him.
Ilyas raised one large hand and flipped me off in response.
I chuckled at him, and Sasori joined in. Ilyas’ head suddenly rose from the table, and he flicked his gaze from Sasori to me and back again, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Oh, now it’s some big joke to both of you! Like we can’t see the outline of Lex’s dick throughout the day. And you can’t tell me that you’re not wet just looking at the two of us, Sasori, because then you’d be lying, and we don’t like liars. Right, Lex?”
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
“Careful, Ilyas. Keep up your whining and I’ll make you sit and watch, unable to touch your dick, while I fuck Sasori all night.” My dick twitched at my words, and I caught Sasori’s smirk.
Yeah, she’d like that, too. Torturing Ilyas like this was oh-so fun.
Ilyas pouted but his pupils blew wide, telling meexactlywhat he thought of that situation.
My Vessel likes a little delayed gratification.
Just as I was about to let my mind wander that delicious path, I heard a shout from outside the guard house.
“Did you hear that?” Though my question was obviously useless as both Ilyas and Sasori were standing up from the table and coming within arm’s reach of me.
Having one Vessel was becoming increasingly rarer, but two were almost unheard of. Somehow, my power continued to grow past what one Vessel could hold and funnel, dictating the need for a second. Usually, over-pulling on a singular Vessel caused the Vessel to burn out, destroying their ability to sense magic. Fortunately, in my case, I was able to Bond Sasori just before Ilyas burned out. Now, I was cautious of how I used my Vessels, treasuring them and protecting them as if they were True Bonds, even though only Ilyas held that title. Sasori was a Forced Bond. And the difference between the way each Bond felt in my soul was staggering. Ilyas’ Bond was a comfort, a warm breeze in the spring, and a connection I craved, needed, depended on. Sasori’s Bond felt oily, like I couldn’t ever fully grasp it. Sometimes pulling too much on Sasori even caused me to feel sick. Not in a Mage Sickness way, but just a feeling that my blood and magic was somehow dirty or tainted.
It was strange.
Because of it, though, I used Sasori as my Vessel for Pain and Ilyas my Vessel for Pleasure. As an instructor at the Academy, I was obligated to pull on both for instructional purposes, but my otheractivitiesdemanded I pull more often from Ilyas, which was always a literal pleasure for me to do. I made sure to fill both of my power reserves each day, but I never anticipated needing them tonight, especially in the relatively unused guard house.
I rose from my chair once I heard a second shout and the three of us moved in synchrony to the small arched doorway which led to the main gate. It was antiquated, but anyone who came through Vespera whose magical signature wasn’t recognized was immediately detained, the gates on either side of the entrance coming down and trapping the intruder. Usually visitors, travelers, or merchants were logged and screened before coming through the gates, which created a manual bypass of sorts.
But those guards weren’t stationed at night, and we had no notice of any impending travelers or visitors, so the safety measures were activated.
I stepped out of the doorway and into the caged entrance, the floor and walls illuminated by the weird magical globes hanging from the ceiling and attached to the stone walls. I glanced around, at first only noticing a largehorse with no saddle, breathing heavily and foaming at the mouth. It teetered on its legs as it limped about, obviously in pain.
Where did you come from and where is your rider?
I felt Sasori’s and Ilyas’ presence at my back as I continued to gaze at the space, my eyes finally finding what I was looking for. There, lying face first on the ground just behind where the horse first stood, was a man probably not much older than me. And he didn’t appear to be breathing.
I took a quick step outside the door, indicating for Ilyas to go and soothe the horse. Even though Vessels couldn’t channel in the way that I could, their blood still sang with magic, which was amplified by their Mage’s magic. Ilyas, as my Pleasure Bond, was usually a soothing presence for people and animals, his touch and mere presence exuding peace and delight.
Sasori and I continued a slow, cautious approach to the figure on the ground while Ilyas calmed the horse. The closer we got, the more it looked like the man reallywasdead.
But if he’s dead, there would be no magical signature to keep the gates active.
I motioned for Sasori to halt just behind me as I continued my approach to the boy. He was large, quite possibly one of the largest men I had ever seen, with deep-brown hair and tawny skin. His clothes were patched and worn, and it was obvious he was both not from here and spent a great deal of time in the sun.
Who are you?
