He opened the door and sitting before me in a large room with no walls was an oval-shaped pool looking very inviting and very warm. I looked up to see that overhead was a ceiling made of a dense thicket and more flowers that bloomed once we came into the room. The flowers started to glow as their petals opened illuminating the room giving it a serene atmosphere. Something inside me stirred and I could feel ‘her’ relax as if the room was a sedative to her moods. Steam rose up out of the water encouraging me to come forward and my body responded as such.
“Water.” I answered moving over to the tub, eagerly.
“But you are not made mostly of water. Are you not as powerful if not more so than I?”
“All of us are uniquely powerful in our own ways. I am the space that lies between matter when in my elemental state. In that state, even water can’t stop me but there is only so much I can do in that form. In my human form, I am weaker and vulnerable to you. Both forms I have difficulty holding for too long, so I have to continue to shift. I have mastered holding each form for only a few hours to a few days now.” He moved behind me, his hand roaming over my body removing the rest of what covered me. A fire started deep in my belly when his hand passed over my hardening nipples where they seemed to linger over the sensitive peaks. I bit my bottom lip trying my best to hold my composure over the heightening emotions. Completely unclothed he helped me settle into the warmth that wrapped around my cool flesh soothing my aching muscles and healing my wounds.” “You are the only one who requires the help of all Angenis to weaken you. So, to answer your question, Ama, you are the most powerful.” I laid my head back relaxing.
“No one will bother you here.” I felt his fingertips run through my tangled curls to press against my scalp.
“How come I can hear you in my thoughts now? Gawonii said that only he and I possessed that gift.”
Iswali softly laughed. “True.” His hands continued to work magic on me. “But we do not call each other brothers for nothing my dear.” I tried to sit up, but he held me in place.
When you denied Gawonii due to his betrayal, you let me in.
I relaxed sinking lower into the bath.
“But he is still there, Priestess.” His fingers kneaded away the stiffness in my neck. “As long as you recognize him as your husband and give your body to him as his wife, he will occupy a part of you.” He leaned forward. His lips close to my ear. “The ties can be severed when you accept another.”
I let his words sink in watching the wounds on my arms and legs slowly mend. Right before my eyes I healed, and all appeared normal again but that was only from the outside.
Even ‘she’ seemed to wallow further in despair. Coming face to face with Ama then experiencing her pain changed how I viewed her. Her choices at one time confused me but sharing in her emotions and seeing the reasons behind her decisions, I sympathized rather than condemn her motives. No…I could never do the horrible things she did or be as she was, but I now understand how it came to be, envisioning her as broken fragments of once a woman in love. I lowered my eyes to stare at my reflection in the water.
She was in love…
…and the one she loved and trusted was the very one who destroyed her.
My chest tightened remembering the heat from Gawonii’s flames scorching my skin. Little drops of water began to trickle from my pores prompting me to look up and see the once full-of-life bouquet of flowers begin to droop, their leaves drying up to disintegrate littering the marble floor.
“Your spirit weeps.” Iswali voice vibrated behind me. “Use your pain as strength against your enemies.”
I ignored him. Although Iswali’s words were everything I needed to hear, I found that in this place if the ones who are trying to save mankind, I couldn’t trust… how the hell could I trust the spirit sitting with me who has shown his thirst for more power?
“Answer me this.” I began. “If it requires all Angenis to take me down, what was your part in it?”
Iswali’s hands rested on each side of my neck.
I stiffened, turning my head slightly waiting for his answer. My insides became warm feeling Ama setting her sorrow aside to listen as well.
“I was tricked. You had just taken out a village and you were becoming deadly powerful with the Usonvi. So powerful even I became concerned. Your greed and lust for power overshadowed what was…”
“…my feelings for you.” She said more so than I.
He stood up walking over to the dying flowers, gently cupping a bud in his hands. The moment he touched it, it turned to dust, floating to the floor.
He continued with his story.
“Gawonii came to me requesting a momentary truce for us to join together and separate you from the Usonvi and in return for me helping he will completely sever the bond you two had.”
I sat up in the water making a complete 180 turn towards him. “How can he sever something that was our birthright?”
“I keep forgetting that you are not truly Ama. Please forgive me. I meant what I said, my dear. Gawonii is my brother. The Angenis use the term of endearment loosely because we are connected but Gawonii and I share the same mother…same blood…same born day.”
My mouth moved in confused awe at his words. Twins! Why would Gawonii hide that from me? Why would he hide any of this from me?
“I helped Gawonii lure you to the place where you both used to share your time with as children and trapped you between this world and mine weakening you. Once I completed the deed, I shifted back to human form where Adsila shackled me down with a binding spell to keep me whole leaving me to watch them destroy you.”
I stood up in the tub, completely healed, having heard enough of my… Ama’s death. The lust in Iswali’s eyes at the sight of my nakedness pleased the other half of me immensely. She forced her desires and need for him upon me, and my body reacted with curiosity about the Angeni gazing at me… making me want to act on those desires. He moved back over to the tub producing a silk covering, wrapping me in it.
Leading me back to the bedroom, he removed the silk. I wrapped my arms around my body; the temperature was much cooler in this place. Tiny goosebumps began to rise along my arms and my breast jutted upward which I wasn’t sure if it was because of the coolness or my arousal.
“Even in this new shell you are beautiful.” Iswali said circling me, taking his finger along the same path, teasing me. Ama yearned for more and I could feel the heat radiating off of my body. The flowers along the pillars and walls bloomed vibrantly from the change in temperatures and mood coming from both beings.
Iswali stood mere millimeters from me. “If I had known that their intentions were to destroy you, I would have never accepted the conspiracy. I only wanted you-”
“Weak!” Ama spat pushing me aside; her anger exploding, taking precedence over her sexual need.
Books by Yyanna Leigh Michaels
A Hint of Desire 1
A Hint of Desire 2
Hidden Secrets
My Man, Your Man, Our Man
The Love of a REAL Hitta and Her Thug: A VA Beach Tale
Ama Angeni (Angeni Series)
Karma Is Sweet Like Honey - June 2021
Valley of the Gods (Angeni Series) July 2021
A Hint of Desire 3: The Sins of the Father- July 2021
Follow her on Instagram: @yyannaleigh
Facebook Author page: Author Yyanna Leigh Michaels
Twitter: @YyannaMichaels
TikTok: @yyannaleighmichaels
enter>
The Ageni Series: Queen Page 14