“Breathe, Aida. You are far too innocent to wish anyone that much pain,” Er’it said through the comforting purr.
Not realizing her lungs had stilled, Aida gasped, dragging in a breath made of howling winter winds that seared the back of her throat. Tears made of ice and bitter despair trickling down her cheeks, she let her head fall back on the loose column of her neck to see Er’it. Turning her face into his cupped palm, she took solace in the touch no matter that he did not mean it. It felt so good to be held once more, to have him petting at her hair in slow, easy strokes.
“Not him. That,” Aida mumbled, forcing her arm to point at the wavering line of trees.
“Do you see something in there?”
“Death. Pain.”
“I will not let it harm you.”
“It hurts to see it!” Hiccupping around a sob, she buried her face against his chest, blocking away the awful sight of the rotting forest as Er’it drew her closer.
“You feel it? What was done to it?” he asked against her hair, adding a brief nuzzle against her crown.
“It coats my skin, suffocating me. All of it… I can… I…”
With wordless sounds of comfort whispered into her sweat-soaked hair, Er’it cradled her against his chest and purred louder for her, letting the rich sound flow over Aida, giving her no choice but to bask in its solace. Though he continued for however long they traveled until Kal came to a stop, Aida’s eyes were red-rimmed and bleary from tears and fatigue.
It took him mere moments to dismount and pull her down into his arms. Yet it felt like ages, a span of eons where darkness howled and screamed inside her skull, gnawing at her soul, threatening to suck her into the Abyss. Letting Aida coil her limbs around his torso, Er’it held her tight enough to crush her. Neither cared if she bruised as she tried to get closer still.
Feeling his fear and worry, Aida buried her nose against his neck, breathing him in as a small shift brought their chests flush. That space within her aligned with him, a spark turning into a blaze as she hummed her satisfaction at the rushing wave of completeness. A comfort no amount of petting and purring could provide, she felt it all the way to her soul. It gave her a sense of rightness she never experienced before… of what home must feel like.
“Get away,” Er’it said through an ominous growl. As Aida clung to him, he tightened one arm under her thighs, holding her aloft so he could free his other hand.
“It is only food and water. The stream still flows here. Go,” Tor’en said with a smack of flesh and metal.
Peering over Er’it’s shoulder as he carried her away, Aida saw Ath’asho and Endi standing with gaping mouths. Tor’en’s face alight with a grin, he slapped a hand to their backs and gave Aida a satisfied nod before turning to the warriors milling about with orders to break for a meal.
“It’s not as bad here,kou’va,” Er’it whispered, easing into a crouch with her still wrapped snug around him. “You must eat and drink.”
“I feel ill.”
“You need to eat. You must replenish what you spend.”
“Please, I will be sick!”
Grunting, Er’it stood and pushed Aida’s legs from around his hips, forcing her to stand on her own, though he made no move to unwind her arms from his neck. Movements swift and jerky, he jostled her back and forth. Aida inhaled hard through her nose when she realized he was undressing.
“N-No, please. I cannot… Not now, please!” Throwing herself back, she tripped over her own feet in her hurry to be away from the more than half naked man staring at her with hungry amber eyes. Landing on her backside with a hard grunt, she stared, her tongue traversing her lower lip as Er’it shucked his trousers down to reveal all of the gleaming, coppery russet of his skin.
She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the hard length of him as it pulsed in time with the heartbeat she felt thumping beneath the rapid flutter of hers. As much as she denied it, tried to deny him, still her core clenched over air, the slick proof of her desire flowing from her folds to wet the fabric of her clothing.
“Ah,kou’va. You try a man,” Er’it husked, crouching before her. With a speed and dexterity Aida found frightening and exhilarating all at once, he stripped her, tugging away the loose clothing until her tawny skin lay bare to the bright skies above.
Snagging the leather straps of the waterskin and pouch he’d carried with him, Er’it snatched Aida up. His raspy chuckle shivered along her skin as he strode farther into the trees. The burble of water became louder as they grew closer, a proper stream winding its way through a shallow depression. Passing sandy banks filled with the clattering of reeds, Er’it followed a winding path down to the rushing water. Lips tipping in a smile, he sat with Aida still wrapped around him.
Quiet though it was, his laugh was a true thing. Humor danced in his golden gaze as Aida squealed at the icy shock of the stream flowing over her lower half. Tossing his burden aside, he moved his hands to cup her backside and bring the spread lips of her sex tight against him, grinding her against his hard length. Chin dipping to nuzzle the space on her shoulder marked by his teeth, he rumbled a growl replete with satisfaction.
“What are you doing?” Aida asked, breathless as she struggled to maintain some hold on her sanity. She refused to be pulled under by her unnatural desires when she knew he would only hurt her again when he pulled away.
“We are bathing,kou’va,” he whispered against her flesh, tongue darting out to taste her. Growl turning dark and lusty, he licked a path up to her ear where he whispered, “Then I will give you what your body needs.”
Any comfort she still took from him vanished with her hard exhale. He wished to use her body, nothing more. Somehow still surprised at how soon she forgot her purpose to him, Aida’s shoulders slumped. Turning her head aside as he licked and nipped at her neck, she clenched her teeth and stared hard through the stands of trees, past the flickering brightness of the road, and into the forest beyond. Feeling their slow deaths, the unimaginable pain of being ruined, she relived a torment she became all too familiar with as each day passed. It was infected with evil and malice to the point anything living could scarce scrape out an existence within its moldering canopy.
Er’it growled a warning at her disinterest. Fingers digging into the softness of her backside, he punished Aida for her lack of attention with a hard bite to the still tender wound at her shoulder. Forcing all of her concentration upon the ruination across the road, she ignored him and paid no attention to his toying fingers, rough calls, or his mouth claiming her slack lips.
Snarling, he grabbed Aida by the shoulders. Shaking her hard, he resorted to grasping her chin in a cruel grip to force her to meet his gaze, searching her eyes for some answer to his unspoken questions. Changing tact, he cupped her cheeks, his thumbs tracing a slow path from her eyes to her mouth. Still, she gave him no response when he feathered a kiss along the seam of her taut lips.
