by Smith, T. L.
“It is time to choose.” I heard the priestess’ voice and hands touched my mortal’s skin. I stiffened, afraid he was touching me, but then saw it was other Ci’in. They laid me down on the blanket. My mother on one side, Casey on the other, still holding the rope in his hands.
The priestess chanted over me, blowing a smoke over my mortal body, into her face. I recognized the smell. Calea. With a few more puffs her breathing eased.
“Great. I hope this stuff is out of my system before I go back to work.” I laughed. “Work, really? I’m about to go after a life-sucking demon from Alpha Centauri and I’m worried about a drug test?”
I didn’t laugh. “The Maxa’xak aren’t from Alpha.”
“I know that!” “What?” My thoughts at the same time as hers. “Oh great, now we’re both in here? I answered myself. Of course they weren’t from Alpha. “Why are we here together?”
The answer was there as the schizophrenic split in my head continued, along with everything she ever knew. Thoughts rushed through my head faster than she could answer me, unless this was her answering me.
In the universe all things existed in a duality, light and dark, hot and cold, gentleness and brutality, Ci’in and Kwia, the Great Father and the Great mother. All things existed in balance. Countless life forces dependent on each other, yet so different, maintaining a careful balance. Any disturbance yielded either social lethargy or chaos, and ultimately, death.
But their careful balance wasn’t perfect and after a millennia, dissenters Ci’inkwia found a dying species and merged their duality into those singular mortal beings. The Maxa’xak hybrids were fearsomely vicious and brutal, to the point of madness. They were also unable to propagate themselves. They needed suitable hosts to grow their larvae.
To find hosts, they ravaged worlds, creating such an imbalance, the Great Mother extracted a vow from her loyal children to put their wayward siblings out of their insane misery. We obeyed and we turned our powers against them.
The Maxa’xak knew we were capable of destroying them. Their survivors fled. We could have let them go, but we saw the death they left behind. If they reached another inhabited system, they would destroy whatever civilization existed there. If they found suitable hosts, they would bide their time, gain strength and return to wage war again.
We had given our vow and pursued them to this planet.
We found their ship, but the Maxa’xak were gone. They had found a water world, a primary element necessary for them to survive, and escape. Using the waterways, they scattered across the continent to find new hosts and start regrowing their horrific army.
The Ci’inkwia revealed themselves to the intelligent species of this world and learned of terrible beasts rising up from rivers and lakes, to snatch away anyone who wandered too close to the shores. Great serpents that primitive spears could not kill. This was what we sought, the Maxa’xak. We followed the stories, hunting them down one by one.
Fully enraged, the Ci’inkwia energy radiated hot, giving us the appearance of bird-like creatures who cast bolts of lightning down upon our enemy. We exposed our dual natures. The Ci’in and the Kwia, protective and merciless. Ci’in, the seekers. Kwia, the destroyers. Lightning and Thunder. Thunderbirds. Our battles thundered across the countryside as we delivered death with no mercy to the Maxa’xak and their offspring.
One battle at a time, our war carried on from years to centuries, spreading further across the large continent, with no end in sight. To preserve our life forces, brave young humans sacrificed themselves to a select number of Ci’in and Kwia, creating a new People in the Nations. The Ci’inkwia. The Star People.
Those of our people not selected went dormant, sleeping until the first generation of children were conceived. Our Spirits transfer into those embryos, born into children, but sleeping until old enough to understand what we were, until old enough to battle a cluster of Maxa’xak. At which point one Ci’in was selected.
I was that Ci’in. I was the Ci’in. I had slept for over a hundred years, but I was awake again.
CHAPTER
25
I had lived so many lives. I had fought so many battles, but I had never vanquished a Maxa’xak. My sister had. I had seen her Spirit released. She had gone with joy, transformed back to pure energy. It was so beautiful, it hurt. The urge to return to my real form burned inside me. I willed my Spirit to Rise, but a weight pulled at me. My mortal body.
A small body, one I had slept within for many of her mortal years. I had slept until I felt the darkness of one possessed by a maturing Maxa’xak. Now I was awake. Now I would lead a battle against the Maxa’xak. The last battle. I could feel the energy of this universe, so close to being returned to balance. I had only to destroy this last obstacle and we could be free.
I had only to go out to find it. I tried to Rise, but a weight held me. A tether pulled me back. A rope attached to my waist. Hanging from that rope, feathers the color of blood. I was Bound?
My fingers ran over the rope and down the feathers, before letting my eyes follow the length. A man knelt at the other end of the rope, clinging to it as I floated above him. I could dislodge him with the flick of a thought, except I didn’t.
I looked down at him, at the scars marking his body. Another memory returned. Her memory as she watched his blood turn the feathers red, whisking away the wounds he suffered, for her. I dropped closer to look at him more closely, with my own consciousness.
He had proven to have a pure Spirit. Born to replace an old Spirit that had reached ascension. It was good that these people were still capable of finding the path. It was good we had fought to save them.
I set my foot down upon the blanket where he knelt. He held firm of the rope, even though I no longer fought to be freed. His eyes stared at me with sheer wonder and a touch of fear. But not fear of me. Fear…
I leaned closer. I could almost touch him, but I didn’t dare. In this state I might hurt him.
Staring into his dark brown eyes I knew his fear. He feared only one thing, losing the woman he’d Bound his soul to.
I’d seen this devotion many times. Love. These humans felt love. We felt love. Love was stronger than fear, stronger than desire, stronger than the pain of exile. I knew him and his love. I knew her love for him. Despite the yearning to go home, I couldn’t deny her the one thing she truly wanted. I could not break her promise. We could not break a Bounding of this mortal love.
“I will not leave you, Casey.”
Those words brought the full weight of the feathers onto me again, drawing me down to kneel before this man. A hand rose to his chest. My mortal’s hand, overlain by the glowing mist that was me. My Spirit. I could feel this mortal’s heart beating harder.
We were one, aware and integrated. I could feel his heart beat wildly against the mortal fingers I pressed to his bare skin. “I will be Bound.”
“It is done!”
I didn’t turn to look upon the priestess. I could see nothing but the face of the man before me. His fear was gone, replaced by an indescribable joy that matched hers. Nothing else existed except this bond between them, between us. I had resisted, but with the merging, I opened myself to all her emotions.
Nothing else existed. Not the stars, not the priestess, not the people who slipped through the shadows, leaving us alone. I slid my hand towards his face. He didn’t pull away from a hand that wasn’t the human he knew. He accepted the form I still held. He let me touch him, his body even trembled slightly as my hand slipped back down his chest, slowly.
I leaned into him again, this time letting my lips brush his, kissing him. I felt his hesitance and remembered he’d been told not to touch me. “The ritual is over, or almost...” I pressed my body against him. His hand grazed my leg, barely. I leaned into the kiss as his lips parted and pressed my leg against his hand.
His fingers slipped under my knee, drawing it around his leg. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as his other arm slipped around my back. I might stil
l be projecting my Spirit, but this body was fully conscious. The silk-thin leather of my skirt and his loin cloth did nothing to disguise his growing erection.
I tightened my arms and wrapped my other leg around him. He was quick to catch me, holding tight as I pressed against the heat spreading from both of us. “Make us yours. Now.”
Casey’s eyebrows furrowed together slightly and there was another moment of hesitation. “Who am I with? The Ci’in, Din’ah or Beth?”
I took a deep breath, which did nothing to ease the heat building inside this body. “I have always been Din’ah. I am the Ci’in to the Nations and in battle. I am Beth.” I kissed him lightly letting her come through. “I am Beth.”
Casey ran his finger along my cheek, then back into my hair, or what he saw as some semblance of hair. I knew what I looked like without a mirror to reflect the image he embraced. My ethereal overlay embraced the mortal body, making me humanoid, but her features were blurred out by the energy that comprised my Spirit. On this dark rooftop, I was nearly as bright as the moon above us.
But it didn’t matter as I leaned back into his arm and he followed, laying me down onto the blankets. His lips went to my neck as his fingers untied the laces holding the scant shirt together. I might appear as light, but his hand had no trouble finding my breast.
Both mortal and immortal arched to the touch of his hand, rewarded by his tongue drawing circles around the hardened nipple. In full dark or blinding light, he knew this body well. Each touch, every flick of his tongue made me gasp in pleasure. “Only you ever made me feel like this.”
“I know.” His eyes looked up at me as his free hand untied my skirt, speaking between each pull of my breast between his lips. “And you… made me want you… as if my life and soul… depended on it.”
His fingers went to the knot of the rope around my waist, but I closed my hand over his. “Not until…” I caught my breath as his body pressed harder against mine. “…I am yours.”
Casey let go of the rope. He pulled at the narrow leather belt that held his breechcloth on. It unfastened and he pulled it free. “You were always mine.” He kissed me.
I dug my fingers into his arms as he pushed deep inside me. We both groaned from the tightness of my mortal body. Anticipation was definitely an aphrodisiac. I arched this body as he devoured us completely with each kiss, with each thrust into this body. My human body shook with an orgasm, but I didn’t let go of Casey.
He clung to us as he rolled over onto his back, carrying us with him. I wriggled this body down on him as he eased his hold. “I want to see all of my wife, so beautiful, both of you, under this moon.”
I looked up. The moon was huge. Bigger than any moon I remembered. It was definitely a moon for such a sacred ceremony. I looked down at Casey, seeing it reflected in his brown eyes. I let go, giving him all of my Spirit and body.
At some point we became me again. Beth. I became the prominent being and he made love to me too, before carrying me down to our suite.
It must have been a sight for the guards as we exited the elevator. Casey had wrapped me in one of the blankets, but he was still naked. I snickered into his neck as he casually walked past them and down the hallway to our rooms.
CHAPTER
26
The curtains were drawn, but I could see the hint of light beyond them, telling me it was daylight, but I had no idea what time of the day. I was too tired to pull myself out of Casey’s arms to look at the clock. I didn’t want to. My whole body hummed from the inside out.
He must have felt my breathing change, raising up slightly to look at me over my shoulder. “Good morning, my dear wife.” He smiled wickedly. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to say that.”
“Yeah, I think I do.” Even turning my head toward him was too hard to do. “I can’t lift a finger.”
“Really?” He laughed, kissing my shoulder, his hand cupping my breast as his hips started to grind against me.
“Oh my God. You’ve got to be kidding me.” I let out something of an effort to laugh as I felt he wasn’t just teasing. “Where is this coming from?”
“I think you… infused me with some of your energy.” His kisses went to the spot behind my ear. “That or someone slipped an enhancer in the tea they fed me.”
“Well, I can’t stop you. Seriously can… not move… anything.”
“No need to.” He tugged his arm out from under my head, despite my groans. “A long bath and you’ll be human…” He caught himself, laughing. “… or whatever.”
I could see my hand on the pillow. It was the same rich golden shade it had been my whole life, before being possessed by my Spirit. “I’ll just settle for alive.” I let out a couple more groans as he slipped out of bed. Then heard the water running, which only lulled me back to sleep, until he came and picked me up out of bed.
I couldn’t resist and didn’t have a reason to as he lowered me into a perfectly warm and silky bath. My whole body let out a sigh, melting into the luxurious bath. Casey climbed in with me. Didn’t care. Yes I did. He was my husband now.
“Husband.” I repeated the word out loud, getting a kiss to the temple.
“Wife.” He countered, his arms kept me from sliding away from him with all the oil he’d put into our bath.
A week ago I’d have done everything I could to get away from any conversation involving those two words. “I’m sorry.”
Casey held me tighter. “For what? I got what I’ve always wanted.” He nuzzled my ear. “We were meant to be.”
I turned my head to lay it on his shoulder. “I know. I just feel like I put us through a lot of torture to get here. Especially when I never felt so at peace with anyone in my whole life.”
“I’m going to make sure you never feel any differently.” He stroked my arm. “You had a choice, to be free or Bound to me. I saw what you are, inside. I felt it… when you were… transitioning. I felt your yearning.” His voice broke and I could see the knot in his throat rolling. “You gave that up to stay with me.”
“She did, or rather only postponed it.” I corrected him.
“You have to live the rest of your life mortal.” He laid his head down on top of mine. “For a few seconds I felt what that meant and I almost let go of the rope. You… she was so beautiful, something that should be free. Not like us. But then she looked at me. I don’t know what she saw, but it broke and mended my heart, at the same instant, when she said she’d not leave me.”
“And we won’t.”
I cozied up to him, feeling as close now as when we’d made love. I must have nodded off again, but Casey kept my head above water. It was still warm, the water heated by the jets, but I woke to see my fingers all wrinkly. I could also move again, somewhat. Casey helped me out of the bathtub.
Every muscle in my body was fatigued. I knew it was from the Rising ritual, but it was a lot more fun to blame Casey. He grinned and blushed at the same time.
I crawled back into bed. Whatever was going to happen was going to have to give me recovery time. A factor I was sure all Bound Ci’inkwia knew. I curled up in a pile of pillows, under the thick duvet, just breathing. Just sleeping, lost in Casey’s arms.
I barely woke the rest of the day. I was a bit surprised no one bothered us, but I really was in no shape to go to battle yet. At some point I stirred enough to realize I hadn’t eaten more than a half sandwich in two days. Casey ordered from the penthouse menu, then finally let the day in by opening the curtains.
It was evening already. The sun was dipping towards the western sky, but there was enough daylight left to invade our sanctuary. It also illuminated something else. “What the hell is that?” I sat up as Casey turned around in the light.
He had marks up his arms and down to the middle of his chest. Marks that weren’t there before and they weren’t the arrow scars. Those scars were gone, replaced by a design. I opened my mouth to demand an answer, but the memory returned. “I did that to you.”
“Yeah.�
�� He looked down at his chest. “It burned a bit at the time, but it doesn’t hurt.” He came to sit next to me, catching my hand as I tried to trace the markings from his arm to his chest. “I’m a marked man.” He threw in a wink.
My Spirit did this to him in a moment of passion. Hers burned just as intensely as my own as she spread those wings of energy across Casey, proclaiming him the life-mate of the Ci’in?
I stroked the wings of a great bird and my body trembled. Casey caught my hand in his, looking a bit pale for a flash of a second, then laughing nervously. “Wow, that’s not…” He sucked in a breath. “As much as I’d like you to not stop doing that, now’s maybe not the best time to see what happens.”
His body said otherwise, his boxers not too successful at hiding his arousal. I was tempted, but steadied myself and pushed him away. “You’re right. We…” A knocking on our door worked at squashing the urges we were both feeling. Casey jumped from the bed, grabbing a robe as he went to the door. He open it slightly to peek out into the main salon.
Stephanie stood discreetly to the side of the door, so as to not catch a glimpse inside. “Ci’in, I brought your food.”
“Thank you, Stephanie.” Casey opened the door completely and grabbed the cart, pulling it inside the room.
“I am also to tell you of a council meeting at nine tomorrow.”
“Noted.” Casey lifted a lid off one of the plates. “I’ll make sure she’s ready.”
She nodded, without looking at either of us. “Is there anything else you require?”
“Stephie.” I called out from the bed. “I appreciate the heads up, but you’re my sister-in-law, my sister, not my servant.”
Her body turned further away from the door. “You are Ci’in. You’re THE Ci’in. Highest of all the Ci’inkwia. They bow in your presence, so must I.”
The awe in her voice was heartbreaking. “No. I’m still me, Beth, Daniel’s baby sister. Look at me.” She shifted her eyes towards me. “See, not glowing or anything weird. We’re still family.”