“You dare—”
“I do,” Aida said with a snarl, shoving at his chest to rise above him. Nails digging deep into his chest, she bared her teeth at the large male watching her with a predator’s narrowed gaze. “What do they know of me? I am not theirs to command. The Abyss has no hold over me when I am with you, and I do not know the deities of my parents any more than you do. I do not belong to anything or anyone butyou.”
Aida did not want to hear the excuses shining in his eyes or the vicious words sitting upon his tongue. With a savage growl, she fell over him, claiming his mouth. She attacked him with as much brutal force as he’d ever shown, her dainty hands ripping at his loosened breeches to free the heavy length of him. Shuffling her knees, she rose high enough to tear open her pants, a sway of her hips bringing him to her slick entrance.
“And you belong to none butme,” she hissed before impaling herself upon him. Her stuttering cry loud in the darkness of their little world, she ground against Er’it, forcing him deeper still as she clung to him. Tears stung her eyes as she sobbed, “You are my mate, Er’it.”
With a savage growl, Er’it rolled them over, slamming her back into the softness of her nest and making the entire wagon groan and shake. Pulling his hips back, he shoved home in a single brutal thrust, making Aida scream as she arched and writhed beneath him.
Done with words, he drove his cock into her clutching depths again, roaring as he pushed her body away from the next punishing slap of his hips. Wrapping his arms tight about her small frame to keep her still, he forced her to submit to his frustration and anger, his desperate need for her.
Aida refused to be cowed.
Nails raking along his back, she met his furious pistoning with equal violence. Raising her hips, grinding him to the very end of her depths, she growled and snarled alongside him. She gave a savage cry of victory when she bit his lip. The coppery tang of blood was thick on her tongue as Aida slid it between his sharp teeth to tease over his.
Pleasure sizzled through her veins. Flickering lights of gold, red, and blue danced around them, brighter and more frenetic as they came together over and again. His thickness stretched her open, forcing her to take every glorious inch. Aida keened as the rioting bliss suffused her. A rushing wave of shimmering fire crackled up her spine, pulling her into a painful arch as Er’it ground deeper. He punished Aida for her daring, for forcing him to listen to the words she knew he could hear whispered within his heart.
Panting against the mark at his shoulder, Aida groaned. She licked at his salty skin, taking in the musky cedar of his scent. He was hers. He would always be hers.
Her ecstasy grew in jerky snaps. It built within her as threads of icy pleasure and scorching pain tangled together—a spiraling journey into the stars, pushing her ever higher. He forced the breath from her with every brutal thrust, leaving her gasping. She was delirious on the scent of their coupling as she dragged it into starved lungs. Clenching around his cock, Aida smiled at his guttural moan.
Er’it’s furious rhythm began to falter. His curses and snarls were loud at her ear as the knot began to swell. The promise of the agonizing pleasure teased Aida as he continued to work the thickening girth of his cock in and out of her. Aida shook her head in denial. So close she could feel the brush of the clouds upon her cheeks, she was too far away to soar.
One hand gripping the back of her head, Er’it brought her to his shoulder. He pushed hard until her teeth scraped over his flesh. His other hand stole between them, the slap of his hips grinding his knuckles between slick folds and forcing a trembling cry from between her lips. As his fingers pinched tight over the pert nub he so loved to torment, Aida’s mouth clamped down.
Teeth digging into the thick scar, she screamed as he abused the bit of flesh. Pinching and twisting at it, he shot her up beyond the stars and into the blackness beyond.
Lightning seared the backs of her eyes as his blood filled her mouth. The pleasure raced through her, crackling and hissing. It drew every muscle tight, the twisting contraction of her depths wringing the pulsing knot as Er’it drove it deep.
Violent bliss tore through her, flaying her senses. As the world exploded, Aida bit down harder, grinding her teeth through thick muscle until Er’it roared above her. He dragged the knot out only to shove it home again. Aida released him on another shrill scream. Body jostling as she bucked and writhed, pleasure sizzling under her skin, Aida came undone. She soared in the darkness of a midnight sky and cried out his name.
* * *
Aida did not remember falling asleep, but she must have, for the next thing she knew the weak light of a winter morning fought to penetrate their warm den.
Er’it lay beside her, wide awake and eerie in his stillness. She never knew him to remain quiet or reserved for long, yet all he did was raise a hand to stroke her rumpled curls. As he scrubbed his fingertips over her scalp, they watched the much-stained canvas grow brighter without a word passing between them. In time, they heard the others bustling about, making ready to break camp.
A day. Two at most if the road was bad. Aida heaved a sigh and nuzzled Er’it’s chest. There would be nothing more she could do or say now. Suicide had been a foolish option, an act she didn’t think she could carry out now. To use her power against him seemed somehow more awful than even that.
With the taste of Er’it’s blood still pungent on her tongue, she laid a soft kiss against the pounding of his heart. He was there, stronger than ever, a living presence within her breast and filling her heart to bursting. Aida imagined her soul glimmered with shades of red and gold, bold swaths of it wrapping tightly around her. It made her feel safe despite what lay ahead.
“Come,” Er’it murmured, digging around in the piles of fabric for the clothes stashed away there. He helped her to shuffle about, both of them trying to dress in so cramped a space.
With a weak smile, he fell back and let Aida clamber over him to work the small buttons of his tunic. It faltered as Aida squealed and giggled when he arched up to allow her to affix his thick belt. He, too, felt the weight of the oncoming day it seemed.
Within moments of them climbing from the cart, things were set to rights and they were off. It was as any other day on this interminable journey. Except it wasn’t.
A solemn air pervaded their company as they made their way. Even the chatter of the soldiers was subdued, their voices low and somber. Everyone knew Aida’s fate. Even the jingle of tack and the groaning of the wagons seemed muffled, as if they did not wish to draw too much attention.
By midday, the scouts returned to announce the location of a ruined castle. An hour ahead, no more. They voiced concern, reporting a diseased forest surrounding the decrepit fortress. Further unsettling them was the presence of bone heaps and how, even though soupy moss grew upon the twisted skeletons, they showed no signs of decay themselves.
“They are ten and eight years this summer past,” Aida said into the disquiet of this news, hugging her middle tight as her gaze was drawn to a place only she could see. Even Aida could not view it, but she could feel it—a foul and corrosive place eating away at everything that came near. “It will not harm you if you remain a safe distance.”
“She cannot—”
“Silence, Tor’en,” Er’it said in a harsh bark. His topaz gaze settled upon Aida where she stood small and alone in her wagon. Nudging Kal with his knees, he brought the Phylix alongside the cart, holding his hand out to help her astride. “You will follow us at a distance. Come no farther than halfway.”
“Er’it, do not do this,” Tor’en implored, clambering down from his sturdy mule to approach. Disregarding the danger in Er’it’s wide eyes as he came beside them, Tor’en shoved his hood back to peer up at the couple with deep furrows in his brow. “Listen to your heart, my boy.”
