Even he didn’t know her as well as he had assumed when he realized that he didn’t know what delighted her, or even about her past before she came to the castle outside of her time she spent long ago at the conservatory. She hadn’t needed to say just how long it was. Mages went in when they were very young, and by the time they reached adulthood, they would be preparing for their Mastery trials. She was far beyond that age. She was no fresh spring flower but a richly perfumed blossom beckoning to be enjoyed.
A rose, just as she was named.
He was tempted to dig up and pot a Forial Rose, the most precious of roses, but he knew from Darthar’s complaints that it didn’t transplant to the gardens well due to its specific growing requirements. No… Instead, he would gather the flowers by hand and bring them to her. The gift itself would have to be very special to surpass the roses. He would find the perfect plant for his rare female. When he did, he would carefully dig up with his own claws and transplant to one of the aged pots that sat in the storage shed in a hidden corner of the gardens. It would be perfect.
Grinning with excitement, he almost felt young again as he loped through the forest, all of his responsibilities melting away as he focused not on studies and discipline, but on the simple pleasure of gathering a flower for a worthy female.
An ancient memory sprung up from nowhere of the last flowers he had collected as a human. He had been a young hunter, and it had been late autumn when he found it. A perfect wild red geranium growing against a crumbling wall. He had plucked it up and taken it to his mother, who had raised him alone after his father died when he was still a child. She had been a grand lady of her own estate, with three other children born before him, all near grown by the time of his birth, so she ruled her land with sole authority and dignity, refusing any other man to take his father’s place in her marriage bed.
Since then, any thought of giving another woman a flower was dismissed when he had compared them against his mother’s quiet strength and dignity. He gave them other small gifts, sometimes precious jewels or luxurious furs he cured by his own hand from his hunts, as he enjoyed their company. But none until Rose moved him to give them a flower.
No doubt the lupi would scoff, even as his brothers had laughed, but now that he knew that Rose loved flowers, he wanted to give her the gift that he had given no other.
Drawing near the kelpie’s lake, he sniffed around, looking for the rare carna plant that grew nearly the marshy soil of the lake. Kelpies particularly enjoyed eating the autumn fruits from it, quick enough to avoid the carnivorous mouths that opened wide, waiting for the prey it baited.
There wouldn’t be any berries on the carna plant yet. Instead, its branches would be covered with large blooms that gave off the rich, musky-sweet perfume that not even a rose or gardenia, favored by the ladies of his mother’s acquaintance, could compare with. They were apparently semi-sentient from what he heard. For that reason, he didn’t want a mature plant. Instead, he set his sights on a young seedling.
A grin stole over his features as his eyes landed on a young plant nestled awkwardly against a rock where it had the misfortune of being seeded. Unlike the adult plants, it only had two heads on its body no taller than two meters. Despite that, its branches were covered with the deep burgundy seven-petaled blooms. That struck him as oddly appropriate. Seven was an auspicious number, the seven holy spheres through which Rose had to ascend before she could hope to inherit Darthar’s kingdom.
Crouching down, he stilled, his eyes narrowed at a lone vulpo watching from a distance. A low growl rumbled from his chest as he met the creature’s eyes. It flicked its tails as if debating whether or not it would engage him.
Saris normally would have slain it for being anywhere near the castle, outside of vulpi territory, but he wanted this to be special. He didn’t want to bring his gifts dripping with the creature's blood. He curled its lip at it, and the vulpo hissed in challenge. Rising up from his crouch, Saris gave a monstrous roar before charging on it, his claws digging up the ground as he flew to the demon fox.
The vulpo, larger than normal for its species, responded in kind, launching itself from a great distance. Saris did not wait for it to touch the ground again. He sprung up into the air, his arms wrapping around its body, claws digging deep as he dragged it out of the air. The vulpo, much more powerful in its four-legged form, writhed and snapped its wickedly long teeth as its retractable claws dug in to tear at his flesh. His gray pelt was being stained red, but not with only his blood.
Saris ripped his larger claws deep into the vulpo as he grappled with it. Wrapping one hand around the creature’s whipping tails, he yanked them, the vulpo screaming in agony as they tore from its body. His hand snapped to break the bones at the base of the hyperflexible tails and grinned as the remaining tissue tore free from where the tails connected to the vulpo’s body. Throwing the tails to the ground, his buried his claws of that same hand into its belly, making the creature contort in such a way that it fully exposed its throat.
That was exactly what he was waiting for. Lunging his head forward, his teeth snapped around the vulpo’s neck, his hind teeth crushing its throat, ripping the flesh of its neck away in a huge bloody mass. His ears rang with the vulpo’s scream as he continued to rip it apart, swallowing large chunks of its flesh until all he had left was the mangled, bloody fur of the vulpo now trapped in the dark forests of the underworld where it would be left to torment the lost souls of the dead.
Better than attempting to breach territories not belonging to it.
Dropping the corpse, he returned to the carna, his claws carefully digging around its roots. Blood dripped from his fur as it opened its eager mouths, snapping around every little mouthful. It took very little to satisfy the seedling, and its mouths closed in a relaxed state by the time he gently bound the root ball in a heavy cloth he had brought with him.
Turning from his task, his eyes landed on the kelpie watching him curiously. Saris bared his teeth in a silent show of dominance, to which the kelpie rudely didn’t react except to smile, showing off its own impressive teeth that rivaled those of a goblin.
Saris huffed and grunted at it before spinning away with his prize clutched to his chest, stopping only long enough to gather heaping handfuls of dark-petaled Forial Roses. They were the last of the season, but Saris was determined to bring every one of them to his mage.
It was well after midday by the time Saris returned to the castle, far too late to avoid the curious glances of his brethren as he burst through the common room on route to the staircase that would take him to the workroom. He thought he heard one of the males call his name, but he ignored him, eager to see the mage’s reaction.
As expected, Rose was standing by the worktable. She held an aged parchment in one hand, her other moving over a goblet of water. The water leaped and twisted upon itself as it flowed, reshaping itself to her command, a task that only the more fluid elements could manage. At his appearance, her hand faltered, her breath stalling, and the water crashed back down into the goblet with enough force to overset. Startled, Rose jumped slightly and looked down at it with a frown before meeting his eyes.
“You seem to have a talent for breaking my focus in more than one way,” she quipped, her nose wrinkling slightly in an expression he came to recognize as confusion as she looked him over. “Did you decide to bathe in blood?”
“It is good for the fur,” he muttered, making a point to not attempt to cover the worst of the bloodstains. He didn’t wish to smear it over himself further than the mess he had already made.
She grinned at that and nodded to the flowers casually, belying the spark of interest lighting their depths. “Good to hear. Now what’s with the flowers?”
Saris shifted on his feet, a cocky smile lighting up his face as he assumed the façade of an indulgent Master. “I thought my pet mage would enjoy something pleasurable and stimulating outside of her books. These are the last Forial Roses of the summer. I have heard that you enjoy
the essences and thought you might enjoy distilling their spirits for your magic… if you possess that knowledge. If not, I can search the library for a book.”
She eyed them with an edge of excitement and genuine pleasure. “No need. When I escaped the conservatory, I made my coin by making perfumes. I know very well how to draw out their purified essences. However, it seems only right, in light of this gift, to warn you of the effects of the perfume that can be made from their distilled essence.”
He raised a brow at her, impressed at the dedication required to learn the various little spirits of the plants and the knowledge required to best blend them with others to make magical perfumes. “I am aware. I recall Darthar speaking of how silly women would pay obscenely for its power, and so he used it frequently to take into the cities to sell the limited supply among the wealthy. The effects are always temporary, and so they always wanted more every year when he passed through. Since we are sharing, you should know that the perfume only works on mortals. It would not work on any spirit or otherworldly creature, and certainly not on any of the lupi. However, in that case, you don’t need it. You have your own natural perfume that makes our kind exceedingly stupid, it seems.”
A laugh startled out of her, the sound loud and full-throated rather than a timid little titter. When she laughed, her belly contracted. She laughed with all of her being, and he found that oddly delightful as he watched her struggle to collect herself.
Shaking a finger at him, she grinned. “That is perhaps true, and good to know that I won’t be able to use these flowers in any diabolical scheme against you, but I thank you. I am sure they will come in handy at some point.”
Rose gathered the flowers, the blooms falling around her as she stumbled back, her eyes rounding as they stared at the carna in his arms.
“Do not be alarmed,” he rumbled. If she reacted with fear to it, the carna would never trust her.
“Don’t tell me not to be alarmed,” she whisper-hissed at him from the corner of her mouth as she watched it warily. “What is it?”
“This is a rarity that only grows along the kelpie’s lake…”
“You have a kelpie?” she interrupted, her attention on him rather than the plant in his arms.
Saris frowned at the interruption. “Yes. The carna plant grows near its abode. It eats flesh and blood, so you will need to share the bloodiest cuts from the hunt, but I will provide you that. It has already been fed, as you can tell by how brilliant the burgundy petals are.” He pointed out the blooms while keeping his hand far away from the mouths. Those he indicated with the tip of his claw at a safe distance from them. “And these are the heads of this immature plant. As it grows, it will likely get more heads… or maybe not. Being potted and cared for rather than hunting in the wild might encourage the carna to stay smaller. Only time will tell.”
Rose slowly pursed her lips as she drew closer, her head tilting at an angle as she observed the flowers and the brilliant red heads of the plant.
“You… are gifting me with a beautiful, fragrant, murderous plant?”
“A rare and precious thing that will grow strong and powerful, just as the mage before me,” he said, ending his words on a small irritated growl that she wasn’t more enthusiastic about it.
Her lips bowed into a smile, and she lifted her gaze to meet his. “This is the best gift I’ve ever received. Thank you, Saris. I absolutely love it.”
Chapter 16
Saris released the metal clips from Rose’s nipples, her body rocking with yet another orgasm, his cock pounding deep into her. Her climax was so strong that she clenched tight around his thrusting shaft, pulsing around the knot buried within her. His bellow of completion followed her shriek of pleasure-pain as she threw her head back helplessly. He allowed his head to hang at the side of her neck as he mouthed the sensitive flesh, his sharp teeth brushing erotically over her pulse as she slowly came down. Rose let her senses drift in the pull of her power, reveling in how strong and pure it felt, even with the collar on.
But maybe that was to be expected. Saris had devoted himself over the last several days to sending her into a maelstrom of confusion. The barriers that had been breached within her were crumbling, making her increasingly aware of just how adrift she had been and still was. If anything, her sense of being out of place within her own skin was far more poignant than she had ever felt, even in her most awkward teen years. Her freed power churned within her, pulling her in strong rushes one way and another, keeping her continuously off balance.
Rose was struggling to find herself, and Saris was pushing her forward into a complete dissolution of everything she had once been. Everything she had once considered to be her identity was fluid, without the constraints leashing her. The woman she had become from the raw torment of a girl who failed to fit in among her peers and whose thirst for knowledge alienated her was unrecognizable to her now.
Being utterly without control, vulnerable to the whims of Saris and her own hunger for the taboo nature of their relationship, had done that. It had broken her open and fragmented everything she believed, allowing her the freedom to truly be the woman she had kept carefully hidden behind layers of defenses. The new uncertainty that she faced was frightening, but it was also thrilling.
A satisfied sigh drifted from her lips as she sagged against Saris, her pounding heart returning to its normal rhythm. He nuzzled her lightly, surprising her with the gesture as he loosened her bonds that kept her leashed to the bed. His tongue stroked lazily over one breast, and a rumble rose through his chest. Rose murmured with pleasure, her loosened arm drifting down so she could grip his forearm with her hand. He stared down at her, his gaze warm before slowly cooling as he pulled away.
She couldn’t pretend to understand why he always withdrew from her. Whatever closeness they were now achieving as they both relished her surrender and his tender care of her seemed to dissolve, and the gulf between them widened once again. And in her scattered state, she felt incapable of grasping ahold of what was rising between them. His nature was solid, the stony bedrock supporting her as she began to work out who she was, but he merged no further with her than that.
A soft breath hissed out of her as he shifted away from her and pushed up to a sitting position on the bed. He was preparing to leave her as he did every night. She knew what would happen. He would give her a long, quiet, and indecipherable look, and he would leave her alone there in the room for the rest of the night, not to show up until late into the next day. At first, the arrangement had worked fine for her, but now it frustrated her.
Catch the sound, an ear tipped toward her, his yellow eyes focusing sharply on her, missing nothing.
“What is it?”
Rose pressed her lips together and considered not answering. She was risking her own embarrassment if she admitted her need. It was something she always instinctively avoided, perhaps too much so if she shied away from it still. Her upper teeth sank deep into her bottom lip as she waited for the surge of pride to rise. When it failed to do more than murmur in protest, she shrugged and gamely met his eye.
“Do you have somewhere important to be as soon as we finish? Why not stay?” she asked, her voice even outside of the slightly note of irritation that colored her tone.
Saris narrowed his eyes, his head dropping slightly to meet her gaze with his penetrating stare. “No. The lupi have already returned and have given me their report. None will be venturing out unless there is an emergency brought to my attention. The night guard will keep watch.”
“Then there is nothing to prevent you from staying,” she challenged, her chin tipping up.
A small smile pulled at one corner of his mouth but disappeared within the next heartbeat. He shook his head. Did she imagine that the gesture was regretful? Rose sat up, drawing a blanket around her as he pushed to his feet. He regarded her even still, his eyes never leaving her as he stood, looming over the bed.
“You know I can’t. My responsibility is to your education. I
can’t let anything disturb the work we are doing. Your reaction to me, and complete submission toward the pheromones I create, softens your will toward my tutelage. It makes this a far easier path than any other mage has been given the opportunity to follow in. It is necessary that we do not deviate from this.”
Hurt shot through her, twisted with a hot streak of anger. “So that is all this? You play with my body to inspire the right sort of reaction in me as an apprentice?”
His gaze held hers steadily and she let out a sharp, angry laugh. “No, don’t answer that. It is nothing less than what you have indicated since the beginning.” She dropped back, resting her head on the pillows as she stared up on the smooth rock of the ceiling. “So why do all this yourself? Certainly the other males can relieve you of a little of your responsibilities in this particular sense under your tutelage or direct supervision to accomplish the same means.”
A deep snarl was his reply as the chain on her collar was tugged mercilessly, drawing her to face him. His wicked teeth were exposed, his lips curling back from them threateningly. It wasn’t directed specifically at her. That much she was aware of. Instead, there was a possessiveness about him that stirred her blood and made her heartbeat quicken once again. His nostrils flared, and Saris released her, drawing back once more to a safe distance.
“Make no mistake, you are mine, Rose. I will tear apart any of the males who dare to even approach you with pheromones rolling from them. But this is how it must be at this time.”
She jerked back, tugging a length of chain out of his grip and glared at him. “And what of what I want? Maybe I want to claim you and keep you chained here with me.”
His gaze burned, but he shook his head. “It is not the time. You are not ready. One day, however, I will test your strength and let you attempt to do just that.”
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