by Sarah Hawke
“The Inquisitrix has no intention in neutering the power of sorcery in the world—she wants sorcery to be the only power in the world.”
I blinked. “You lost me.”
Zalheer grunted and paced back towards the still-smoldering fire pit across the room. He opened his hand, and a split second later the embers reignited. “After I fled Nol Krovos, I spent several decades traveling the mainland and studying your channeling techniques. Your people’s understanding of the Aether is…misguided, to say the least.”
“Then feel free to enlighten us, oh wise one,” I sneered, folding my arms over my chest.
“Your people believe in the Three Corridors—divinity, sorcery, and wizardry. In their minds, the Aether is a branching river, and there are three ways for them to drink. Wizards tap into the river’s streams and channels, knowing the waters will be still but safe. Priests stand upon solid ground and wait for the river to come to them. Sorcerers like us simply jump into the abyss and its deepest point and hope we are not dragged under with the tide.”
“Another colorful analogy,” Valuri sneered. “I still don’t know what the fuck this has to do with the Inquisitrix.”
“He’s saying she wants to block the river’s flow,” I reasoned. “To dam it up so there are no more streams or reservoirs to tap into. The only path will be to take the plunge.”
Zalheer nodded, and the ghost of a smile touched his weathered face. “Yes. You see? You do understand.”
“Not really,” I muttered. “Let’s assume that’s true for a minute—how would this even be possible? The Inquisitrix isn’t an actual goddess, last time I checked.”
“No one is a goddess. Not anymore.” The old man’s smile faded. “In my travels across the world, I encountered many faiths and many gods. Some believe every god is unique; others believe they are all aspects of the same divine beings. But I believe the truth is more complicated.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to bore us with a sermon,” Valuri said.
“No,” Zalheer said. “I cannot preach about a faith that does not exist. If the gods were ever truly real, they have long since passed on from this realm. We should be more concerned about the power they have left behind.”
“The Aether,” I replied. “I’ve heard of channelers who believe the Aether itself is divine. You’re one of them?”
“What I believe is that the Aether is the only source of power in this world that matters,” Zalheer said. “Divinity is an illusion meant to console the foolish and the damned.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Look, I’m not a religious man, and I love mocking the gods as much as the next heretic. But I have seen priests wield real power.”
“You have seen them mimic the powers of wizardry or perhaps even summon the powers of sorcery without even knowing it.”
I frowned. Of everything he’d told us so far, this was the least convincing theory on its surface. That didn’t necessarily mean he was wrong, of course. The gods didn’t exactly frolic around in broad daylight for everyone to see.
“This is all very fascinating,” Valuri said impatiently, “but what the hell does it have to do with the Inquisitrix?”
“If the gods are not real—or at the very least if they do not have the power we assume they do—then the Corruptor can destroy the Corridors without opposition,” Zalheer said.
“Okay,” I murmured, “but you still haven’t explained how.”
He took a deep breath. “When I was a child, the moshalim told me tales of how the people of Nol Krovos were the chosen of the gods. We were given great strength and power so that we could shield the world from its own excesses.” He grunted. “It’s nonsense, of course, but like all legends there is a tiny kernel of truth hidden within the drivel. Nol Krovos may not be the island of the gods, but it is the ocean from which the currents of the Aether feed. Buried deep beneath our home is the Fount of Velhari, a wellspring of tremendous power. This nexus of energy is unlike anything I have ever felt or seen on the mainland. I have long suspected that it is the source of our unique gifts. How else can we explain why so many of us are born with such a deep connection to the Aether? Even the highborne elves do not produce sorcerers at the rate we do.”
“An interesting theory,” I said, “but it still doesn’t answer my question.”
“Only a few of our people even know about the Fount, but Ayrael is one of them,” Zalheer said. “She has passed this knowledge on to her new mistress.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Valuri grumbled.
The old sorcerer’s eyes turned and fixated on her. “I do not know much about the crystal the Corruptor bonded to your flesh, but if she repeated such a ritual on the Fount it would be like injecting toxin straight into a man’s heart. The Fount will pump the venom through the Aether, poisoning our power at its source.”
The knot in my stomach twisted. I tried to remind myself to take all of this with a grain of salt, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
“I do not claim to know precisely what will happen, but I have my suspicions,” Zalheer said. “At a minimum, the Aether will contract as if afflicted by a great drought. Its streams and currents will evaporate, forever collapsing your Three Corridors. Wizardry will become impossible. Your priests and gods will be exposed as feckless frauds. Even sorcery may be forever crippled to all but those with the strongest natural connection to the Aether.”
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall. Even while my mind screamed warnings about trusting this man, my instincts told me that he was telling the truth—at least insofar as he understood it. It didn’t seem possible, but the situation really was even worse than I’d thought…
“Earlier you said that Kaseya is the only one who can prevent this,” Valuri said. Her suspicious streak put mine to shame, but I could tell that even she was buying into this. “What can she do that others can’t?”
“Our people still believe she is the Daughter of Destiny,” Zalheer said. “They will listen to her; they will trust her. She needs to warn them about the Fount.”
Val shrugged. “You want her to be your glorified courier pigeon? That’s it?”
“I also believe she is the only one capable of defeating her sister,” Zalheer added. “Tal’Shira twins are rare—there has not been another pair born in this century. Our people believe they are imbued with divine power, but even if you don’t believe in the gods it is obvious that they are special. Perhaps their power comes from the Fount, or perhaps it is mere circumstance. Either way, my visions have been quite clear: together, the Tal’Shira and her Maskari will destroy the Corruptor.”
“Well, if some crazy old man’s visions told him that, it must be true.” Valuri rolled her eyes and turned to face me. “Have you heard enough yet? Should I call Red back in here to gut him?”
I knew she was being intentionally belligerent in an effort to get him angry—it was her reliable, time-tested technique to make people lose their cool and slip up—but I really wasn’t in the mood for it right now. Even if Zalheer was half full of shit, the other half was still genuinely disturbing.
“I think we should give her a few minutes,” I said, gently running my thumb across my bond ring. I was genuinely scared to turn it on. “In the meantime, I still have a lot of questions.”
Zalheer nodded. “Then ask. You may never get another chance.”
***
I never actually summoned the courage to activate my bond ring, but after another twenty minutes of interrogating Zalheer I left him in Valuri’s care and went outside to try and find Kaseya. I found her standing near the edge of the frozen lake, her snow-spackled red hair fluttering in the wind. Behind her, the sun was busy melting into an orange smear on the horizon.
“Are the fish biting?”
Kaseya didn’t turn. “How would I know that?”
“I, uh…it was a joke,” I mumbled, wincing at my own awkwardness. Why am I so bad at coping with actual emotions?
“Y
ou left Zalheer with Valuri?”
“She won’t let him out of her sight, don’t worry,” I said. “She can handle him.”
“I know.”
I took a deep breath and let the awkward silence linger for a few moments. When I drew close, I finally noticed the half-frozen tear stains on her cheeks.
“I could feel you worrying about me,” she said. “You don’t need to. I will be fine.”
I nibbled at my lip and eyed my ring again. When I finally mustered the courage to activate it, I braced myself in anticipation of being drowned in a wave of sorrow. But instead I felt…peace.
“I think I knew the truth even back when Matriarch Lysara first sent Hestiah and I after my sister,” Kaseya said. “Ayrael was the best our people had to offer. She was honorable and loyal and powerful. She would not have murdered her Maskari without cause. She would not have turned against our traditions unless she had a good reason.”
Kaseya let out a long, slow breath. “When I confronted her in Vorsalos, she tried to tell me the truth. She tried to explain how she discovered the secret history of our people—how she had learned the moshalim were keeping things from us. I didn’t listen because I didn’t want to listen.”
I started to reply but immediately thought the better of it. This was something she needed to work through on her own. The best thing I could do was listen.
“Ayrael must have learned the truth about Zalheer and Marcella by then,” Kaseya went on. “Maybe she already knew—maybe that was what finally turned her against us. I don’t know. I suppose it doesn’t really matter now.” She abruptly turned to face me. “You were right before, you know. After you learned that Ayrael was my sister, you said that I was quick to bond with you because I wanted to prove that I wasn’t like her. I wanted to pledge myself to a Maskari and convince myself that I was a proper amazon. But what if the whole idea of a ‘proper amazon’ is a lie? What if everything I’ve been taught is a lie?”
I swallowed and bit down on my lip. I had a feeling this was ultimately where things would lead.
“My sister joined the Inquisitrix out of fear and misguided rage,” Kaseya went on, “but that doesn’t mean she’s wrong about everything. The moshalim are corrupt. The Maskari-Shan and the tan’ratha …maybe it is all nonsense.”
I nodded slowly. “Maybe you should remove the collar.”
Her eyes flicked back up to me, and she vehemently shook her head. “No.”
“But you…” I paused and cocked my head. “You just said the tradition is probably nonsense.”
“It is, and I may have been desperate and misguided when I formed a bond with you.” Kaseya’s face lit up into a smile. “But that doesn’t mean it was a mistake.”
“I don’t…I’m not sure I understand.”
“Meeting you was still the most important thing that’s ever happened to me,” Kaseya said, reaching out and cupping my cheeks in her hands. “You have been kind, you have been patient, and you have a good heart even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“‘Good’ is a bit of a stretch,” I said. “I mean, I’m not exactly a—”
She kissed me before I could reply. The warmth in her lips spread through my whole body, and after a few seconds I had completely forgotten about the cold.
When she eventually pulled away, her blue eyes glimmered with the reflection of the setting sun. “You are still my Maskari ,” she said. “Not because my people wish it—because I wish it. This is my choice. You are my choice.”
I smiled back. I had no idea how to respond, but one of the many advantages of our bond was that I didn’t need to.
Kaseya kissed me again, and this time I didn’t want to let her go. The heat between us grew so intense I could feel sweat beading on my skin despite the prickling cold. I didn’t want to let her go even when the sun finally vanished beneath the horizon and darkness descended upon us.
When she eventually pulled back for air, her eyes glimmered just a few inches from mine. “I love you, Jorem.”
“I love you, too.”
The words came so easily, so automatically, that their meaning didn’t fully register until several seconds later. I hadn’t said them out of reflex—I had said them because I actually meant them. The entire concept was so foreign to me I felt completely paralyzed. I loved Val too, of course, and I knew she loved me back. But she was almost as emotionally stunted as I was, as hard as that was to believe, and it wasn’t like we had ever said the words.
But now I had. And for reasons I couldn’t fathom, I felt like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Kaseya leaned forward to peck my cheek, then stretched up on her tiptoes until her lips were brushing against my ear. “I want you to fuck me, Jorem,” she whispered between clenched teeth as she nibbled at my earlobe. “I want you to fuck me harder than you ever have before.”
Up until now, my cock had actually been behaving itself for once. But in the span of a single heartbeat, it grew to full length and practically speared her in the stomach.
“Please, Jorem,” she begged. “Please hold me down. Please spill inside me. Please fuck me!”
Grabbing onto her thighs with either hand, I hoisted her up into my arms and slammed her into the snowbank behind us. I kissed her so deeply I could barely breathe, and her ankles locked around my waist as I struggled to open my trousers and free my cock. The bitter winds didn’t chill my exposed flesh in the slightest; the primal heat of her body enveloped me from head to toe. I grabbed on the flaps of her skirt, fully expecting to wage yet another battle with her annoying thong…
Only to realize it was no longer there. I pulled away in confusion, but she quickly grabbed onto my chin and smiled at me.
“I know how much you hate it,” she said, nudging my swollen member into her waiting folds. “You are my Maskari , Jorem. My body is yours, whenever you wish to have it.”
I grinned in delight as I slowly eased into her. She locked her arms around my neck and her ankles around my waist.
“Harder,” she pleaded into my ear. “As hard and fast as you can!”
I happily obliged. Within seconds I was pounding her so furiously I couldn’t believe the snow bank didn’t crumble around us. Our gasps and moans echoed across the frozen water, and soon she was screaming my name at the top of her lungs. Through my ring, I could feel exactly what she wanted—which, as I’d learned, was almost always exactly what I wanted, too. Speed. Power.
Dominance.
This was more than just sex. Back when I had first taken her virginity less than a day after we’d met, she had told me it was part of the Maskari-Shan bonding ritual. I had needed to claim her as my own and demonstrate that she would never need a cock besides mine. But this felt like the ritual’s final verse. After today—after she had truly and freely chosen me as her Maskari —I needed to claim her one last time before our bond could truly be complete.
And so I did the only way I knew how. As a final wave of ecstasy crashed over me, I pulled my cock from her quim, shuffled up to her waist, and marked her with my seed. Her stomach, her tits, her face—by the time I was finished, she was positively drenched in my masculine power.
“Jorem…” she gasped as another climax shuddered through her.
I smiled down at her. Somehow, she looked even more beautiful with my life’s essence smeared across her cheeks. She wasn’t just my lover or my bond-mate; she was my perfect, beautiful amazon.
And she always would be.
***
Kaseya and I were gone for so long I genuinely wondered if we’d return to a house splattered in the old sorcerer’s guts. Valuri wasn’t a particularly patient woman under the best of circumstances—I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if Zalheer had done or said something to enrage her. But thankfully she had managed to keep her cool, and when we opened the door and stepped inside she greeted us with an arched eyebrow rather than blood-stained claws.
“I’d ask how your conversation went, but I have a fe
eling you didn’t do much talking,” she snarked.
“We, uh, we worked things out,” I said.
Val rolled her eyes. “Uh huh. For a while there I thought I heard a bunch of coyotes howling outside, but then I remembered that Red here is a screamer.” She flashed the amazon a wry smirk. “You really should have fixed your hair, honey.”
Kaseya reached back and quickly removed her hairband, causing her wet, tangled red locks to spill across her back and shoulders. Valuri just snorted and glanced back at me.
“Why is it that every time you get into an argument, you end up fucking your way out of it?”
“Not every time,” I protested. “But when things are tough, we all fall back on what we’re best at.”
She groaned and propped her feet up on the table in front of her. “Well, Beardy here has been lousy company. He’s been sitting in front of the fire meditating for hours.”
“I am asking Aether for guidance,” Zalheer said, his eyes still closed.
“Yeah, and how’s that going?”
He slowly reopened his eyes. “Not as well as I’d hoped.”
“Big surprise there,” Valuri muttered. “Look, I know we came here to kill this guy, but he’s almost too pathetic to bother.”
“We’re not going to kill him,” Kaseya said. “But we need his help—I need his help.”
Zalheer stood and eyed her for a moment, his face unreadable. “There is little more I can tell you about your sister that I haven’t already told your companions.”
“We don’t need more information—we need your expertise.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I felt your presence halfway across the mountain. You may be the most powerful sorcerer in the entire region. If anyone can teach me how to unlock my abilities, it is you.”
He smiled for the first time since we’d met him. “I will do whatever I can,” he promised. “I only pray we are not too late.”
7
Having never had a real master myself, I wasn’t entirely sure what sorcery training was supposed to look like. We didn’t need to master arcane formulae like wizards or memorize prayer tomes like priests, so I assumed the process was more about “learning by doing” than traditional study. Not that it would have mattered in our current situation—Zalheer was convinced that our time was limited, so his only real choice was to throw Kaseya into the proverbial fire and see what happened.