Aida whimpered as rough hands pushed her up, hauled her to her feet, and sent her stumbling forward. Arms pinwheeling to find her balance, she shouted at the scene before her. Er’it’s fists a bloody mess, they were no equal to the meaty pulp of Ath’asho’s face. Nearly every inch of him showed patches of torn skin and the hideous purple of deep bruises.
Er’it bore no marks other than on the fists he wielded against his general. Knuckles split and painted in bruises, his hands dripped with the residue of Ath’asho’s pain. Er’it’s power manifested in shimmering bands of red. How Tor’en expected her to stop this insanity was beyond her. By the rabid gleam of Er’it’s eyes, he’d strike out at her if she dared come too close.
“We will try this again, and we do not have the time for me to be as gentle as you might wish. Deep breath now.” Tor’en took her elbow, turning Aida toward the sight.
Before Aida could do much more than blink, Tor’en took control. Dusty earth, warm with the sun and alive with growing things, invaded her senses but did not touch that space inside her heart filled to overflowing with cedar and musk. Leaving the brilliant cold of the blue light alone, Tor’en stretched out his hand and sent a steady stream of power toward Er’it and Ath’asho as they tumbled over the ground, building a whisper-thin barrier, formed of energy and intent, between the two men.
As with Er’it when she healed his wounds, Aida discerned the paths of Tor’en’s magic. Seeing it flow through the air, it was so different from the vicious lightning of Er’it’s power and the overwhelming waves of her own. With an ease that unnerved her, the thought of the azure light called it forth. Sending it along those same paths, the strained trickle threatened to overflow the bounds that Tor’en set around it.
“Easy, child. Slow, deep breaths. You control it, not the other way around.”
“I-I can’t… It’s too s-strong!”
“You can, and you will. Now pay attention.” Despite the sharpness of his tone, Tor’en never wavered, not as he built the yellow-gold power around the chilled blue, even when it battered against his. He did not flinch as Aida cried out, knees folding beneath her as her power surged. He caught hold of her arm, pulling her upright with clenched teeth as he molded the rush of her magic to block Er’it’s next blow.
It was enough. Er’it’s enraged shout echoed through the valley as he turned, but as soon as his gaze met Aida’s, he rushed her. Grabbing her up in his arms, long legs took them far away from the others as he cradled her close and murmured against her hair. Meaningless words that meant so much. Tears burning the back of her eyes, she curled in tight against Er’it, basking in the warmth and safety of his embrace for just a moment more.
Too soon, he found his way to the tent. Canvas torn in places, possessions scattered about, the disarray reminded Aida all too vividly why it happened.
“You let him,” she sobbed, hitting him with her fists and striking him about the head and shoulders with little effect. “Let him touch me! Will you now parcel me out to the rest of them as Otaso swore he would? Let them have their use of me, too?”
“You are mine,” Er’it bellowed, dropping Aida to the pile of cushions. Seconds behind, he was on top of her before Aida could sit up. Pressing her back to the pillows, covering her body with his, he set his mouth to her shoulder and growled.
It took him mere moments to shed his clothing, flinging the articles away as he shoved the blanket from her body. Baring her to his ravenous gaze, he then crushed her beneath him. She still ached, yet at the first hint of his licentious growl, Aida moaned and opened to him. As she strained to spread her thighs wider, he settled his far larger body between them. The brush of his crown against her lower lips made Aida gasp. Breaching the initial tightness of her, he began stretching her around his girth.
With halting breaths feathering between their parted lips, they watched each other, staring deep into one another’s eyes as they held still for an endless stretch of moments. His first slow thrust pulled a low moan from them both. As if they shared the same thoughts, the same soul, they moved as one. Aida’s every sigh and undulating roll was matched by Er’it’s fierceness. Bodies coming together with the slap of flesh, their sounds became feral and dark.
Glittering streamers of lights danced around them—brilliant gold, rich red, the purest blue. Tangling around each other, they blended into magnificent shades of sunset and dusk. A cocoon of magic and illumination shimmered over their naked flesh in a wash of multihued sparks. Contained yet wild, it flew through the confines of the tent, ricocheting off the torn canvas to strike their moving bodies as if neither dared stray from the other’s touch.
As the pleasure tightened around her core in glistening ribbons, Aida fisted his hair. Forcing herself to keep his gaze as Er’it bared his teeth, she worked the swell of his knot in and out of the tight ring of flesh. Her efforts added a hint of pain to the incredible sensations, leaving her teetering on the edge of a precipice yet soaring in the stars.
“More,” she whispered against his lips, capturing them in a desperate kiss. Innocence making her fumble, the intensity of her need urged her on.
Er’it’s lopsided smile, boyish in its carefree brightness, tugged at her lips until Aida mirrored it. His delight was infectious as he angled his knees beneath her thighs, hands cupping her shoulders. As he pinned Aida in place, his smile grew sharp, edged with satisfaction. The predator knew the prey was his.
His violence was what she craved, and he gave it to her. His growls were demanding, vicious as he crushed her into the soft pillows with every heavy slap of his hips. Bruising in the most delicious way possible, slamming deep inside her, Er’it pummeled the very end of her with an incredible ache that had her shivering and moaning.
Aida’s cry of release brought forth a whirlwind of power. Icy illumination flooded the tent, turning the dimness to the stark light of day in shades of blue as she soared among shining stars. The gilded threads of his magic crackled through the air, lightning strikes of gold and red against the dazzling cerulean. So different from the crimson and blood of before, it was just as ferocious.
Er’it’s passion followed on the heels of Aida’s. Adding his hoarse roar to her shuddering cries, he slammed the knot home, forcing it deep inside her. Grinding it against that special spot until Aida’s sounds became airy and ragged, he refused to give her peace. He rocked the pulsing girth within her, his hand stealing between them to abuse the nub of flesh at her apex, pinching and twisting at it until she bucked and shuddered beneath him as another soaring wave of ecstasy launched her back into the sky. Er’it drove her there again and again as he rumbled quiet words against her sweat-dampened curls. Licking at the tears that trickled from the corner of her eyes as it all became too much, he let Aida drift only when her body hung limp and shivering in his embrace.
“You are mine,kou’va,” he whispered into the darkness as their power faded into the velvety darkness of full night.
* * *
“I do not understand,” Aida murmured at her feet, hands strangling one another as she stood before the group of mages led by Er’it.
“There is nothing for you to understand,” Er’it said, flicking his fingers to indicate the cart he’d announced Aida would ride in mere moments ago. “Now get in before I put you in.”
It wasn’t that he wished her to ride in the cart instead of with him that gave Aida pause. Not with Maruk, or by herself, but with Tor’en. A man she did not know, one who had violated her defenses just the night before. Not once, but twice, no matter that the second time was to help him stop Er’it from murdering Ath’asho after Aida’s power stripped Tor’en of much of his. The general looked more than a little worse for wear, his swollen face blotched with red and purple, but he at least rode on the back of a horse.
Brow furrowing, Aida kept her gaze on the dusty earth. Well into the night, Er’it had spoken soft words to her, things she thought she understood the meaning of. Yet as the bright light of morning seeped into the tent, his behavior changed. He no longer sought reasons to touch her, to view the bite at her shoulder. Acting as if he wanted nothing to do with her again, he kept his distance. A single night of pleasure and he forgot every moment of kindness.
Sniffing though there were no tears to be found, Aida ducked her head and clambered into the back of the cart before anyone could move to aid her. The task was far easier in the loose breeches and tunic Er’it had flung in her direction after he rose from their makeshift bed. Curling her knees tight to her chest, she huddled amid the various trunks and cases and tried to become lost in the clutter.
Feeling filthy in both body and heart, she watched through lowered lashes as the rest of the camp prepared to leave. Most of the tents rendered unusable from her display of power, there was little to pack. The surge of magic also drove away several horses, leaving many of the warriors to walk alongside the two carts that now held their meager possessions and people. It was mere chance that had the beasts unburdened to leave the carts intact and with them still.
Aida shook her hair out to fall around her face, hiding from the blatant stares. It did not take a brilliant person to know they were angry with her, though they took care not to be too conspicuous in Er’it’s presence… except for the female mage, Endi. Aida had disliked her from the beginning, and it seemed the feeling became mutual. She did not care for the way Endi found reasons to be near Er’it, the way the mage kept after him and even touched Kal. Nor did Aida like the haughty looks Endi threw in her direction, her full lips pulled into a nasty sneer.
