by Mima
Moriko left her baths early, distracted by a sudden idea on how to handle the candle shortage now that Second and Fifth City were rioting. She hurried, still damp, to find Signy and share her opinion. Her cousin had directed her to the gardens.
Just as Moriko saw Signy at the end of the path, her cloaked, elderly form slipped into the far-garden’s gate. How odd. Moriko walked through it after her, thoughts spinning with her own cleverness, intent on catching up. How unusual Signy wanted a meditative moment.
She stepped on a rock. Her habit of going barefoot was for her rooms, and didn't usually mean wandering so deep into this particularly rugged garden. Stopping to brace her foot on her knee, she flicked the sharp thing from her heel.
Propping her hands on her hips, she viewed the shadows with confusion. She’d now gone quite deep into this profusely planted spot, which was meant to resemble the jungle on the other side of the nearby compound Wall. Why did Signy go so deep into this garden, at this hour? Moriko had trailed after her, but now realized this made no sense.
Signy's voice traveled out of the dark. "Not just yet. I'm at a critical juncture. Perhaps in a few nights. Are you sure Pretar is dead?"
"The slave told me Pretar left in a frenzy with the lizard birds, and none returned. His story remained the same in torture. The idiot went to challenge the beasts on his own and fell in battle." A rough man's voice, impatient. "I see our finale approaching, but with these changes to our cohort, I’m quite sure we’ve peaked in power. The time for caution and slow growth has ended. We need to drink deep, now."
Who was Signy speaking to? What did this man know about the lizard birds who had been escalating their attacks on the Cities? Moriko still remembered the terror that gripped the populace for months after the attack that had destroyed a building and ended in a woman and a child being whisked away to the Beasts.
Signy’s rasping voice came again. "No. I'm telling you, I've cloaked my scent and hers, and they suspect nothing. The stupid beasts walk by me every day while she approves each influx of acolytes fleeing the other Cities in the name of stable commerce.
“She's such a lovely, invisible lamb. In a short while I'll have her sign the contract to allow new vendors in from Second City. We'll get at least twenty more from that, plus the dozens we've already gathered."
Moriko closed her eyes, swaying. Realization struck deep. Betrayal.
"They've found three of our sifting stones. It's a matter of time until travel becomes much more difficult. You risk being caught in the City."
"You risk being superfluous. Thad will lead the final dance in Royal City. If you've done nothing but hide on the island and drink down slaves, he won't be giving you an ocean view. How does Seventh City's sand suit you?"
"Shut up, old bitch."
She laughed and it was the same light, friendly laugh that always lit Moriko's heart. "You shut up, arrogant fucker."
Moriko had never heard Signy curse before. She wanted to creep closer, but stood frozen in fear, barely able to breathe in dread of rustling a leaf.
"I'll expect you shortly then," the voice responded without heat.
"Of course. And our agreement still holds?"
"It does. Russ will join us, without Pretar to lead him, and Thad’s time in the Queen’s bed will be short. Do you have time to play? Look what I’ve brought."
“I am ready to prove myself your acolyte, dark gods.” The voice was male, low and tense.
"Oh, just briefly. This is amusing." Signy exclaimed as if she'd been given a trinket.
Then came the sickening sounds of cutting, and slurping, and sexual moans mixed with sobs. Her stomach churned and her hands clasped her throat to force herself not to vomit.
Call out! Her conscience demanded. Do something to stop them. They're doing unspeakable acts to a person there, and you're too cowardly to help?
You're dead if you do, her common sense warned.
It went on and on. Moriko knew she had to get help. She couldn't remain uselessly stuck here. Eventually, she managed to crouch, legs trembling, pouring sweat. By the time she pivoted to return the way she'd come, a pair of long satisfied groans drifted on the night. The sobbing continued, low and bitter. A flare of green magecraft lit the garden and Moriko almost cried out in terror. She ducked her head, cold sweat dripping to the earth in front of her. Then the light faded.
Sounds of sucking and whispers, and Signy’s serene voice saying, “Good night.” A person moved past on the trail, hurrying toward the walkway.
"Get up." The man's voice sounded energized. "Where's your fresh robe?"
"Here. But I'm not sure I can stand." The voice trembled.
"Fine. Lay there. I don't care. You performed your duty well. But if you don't have the stamina, then I don't see why I should gift you with this spell."
Rustling bushes stopped her heart.
"No. Don't go." More rustling, stumbling, and the sounds of cloth traveled to her. "There. I'm up. I changed."
Signy's partner chuckled. "Good, you do have the stomach for pain. If you can't take it, you won't get far."
"I won't do that again." The voice was flat.
A flare of light, a hiss, and a moan. "There. You just did. Mmmm. Fresh humiliation." The chuckle seemed so close.
Puke flooded her mouth. Moriko locked her jaw and slid her hand tight to her lips to hold the burning acid in. So close to her, a darkmage was gaining power from someone’s pain.
"There's a good bloody acolyte. Now you know to shut your mouth. Here's your spell. Run along and practice until the next time I feel like raping you. Go. I'll clean up the mess."
The person fled, following the path Signy had taken. Moriko forced herself to swallow her vomit, even though her stomach heaved hard again. Any moment now she was going to burst into a noisy deep breath, with her heart beating this hard. Spots flashed on her vision.
Signy would notice she wasn't in her room or the baths. Oh, Sweet Bountiful Earthmother, she couldn't possibly face Signy. Who could she go to for help capturing her? Lately there’d been more beast marten guards everywhere. Where was one now!
The remaining man muttered and cursed. Magecraft lit the plants a few times, and then he finally wandered away, farther into the garden.
Moriko couldn't move her legs, but she couldn’t hold back any longer. She managed to tip herself forward onto all fours, and puked until her stomach turned inside out. The whole time her back tingled. She was terrified he'd return and hear her.
Crawling to a tree, she struggled to get on her feet. Signy was a darkmage. She’d been using Moriko to flood the City with darkmages, just as the Mage Guilds were investigating their hidden presence and flushing an astonishing population out. Grinding her teeth in sheer determination, Moriko hauled her body up the shivering sapling to stand. Then she passed out.
By the time she'd woken up, made her way to the Queen's guards, and explained what she'd heard, Signy had apparently decided Moriko’s absence was too suspicious and fled. Returning to her room for the first time after the incident had been horrific. So many memories. So many betrayals.
The walls were now a lighter shade of cream. The rugs were blue instead of red, the drifting curtains white instead of purple. The palm whispered softly where Signy had once breathed peacefully through the night.
She’d do anything to see the darkmages eradicated. Rolling onto her back, Moriko stared at the lovely mural on the ceiling. It had been painted, her father said, by his and Idivay’s great-aunt Sharise. The style of thin, long-legged people was outdated, but the colors were still rich and she loved how one of the frolicking children on the beach bore Uncle Ted’s face.
Her family may have some spoiled, even silly people, but for the most part they worked hard to keep the Seven Cities a tightly woven, justice-centered web of civility. Her selfish sister was the minority and Moriko was proud to be a royal. But how empty her arms were. There was no one strong enough to help hold the responsibility of chatelaine with. There was n
o one wild enough to understand her desire for touch. There was no one, absolutely no one, who wouldn’t hate her for living a year with evil.
Or so she’d thought. Now there was Donte. The thought of her shape-shifting dream man filled her blood, stilled her shame. She stared at the familiar mural and faced the facts. He hadn’t sought her out for love, but their connection was real. A trux was reaching out to her for help with vengeance. Or more correctly, a rude, demanding lover was enticing her with brutal, sensation-saturated seduction. And her Queen Aunt had given her blessing, with all the deadly precision of a poisonous sailing-spider. Somehow, her Queen wanted to use the poor battered man. She was deluded if she thought anything could direct Donte.
Moriko knew she meant something to Donte, emotionally as well as politically. But she knew he would heed little advice from her. His main goal in getting to the City was to kill as many darkmages as he could. Moriko had told the Queen that and she’d only nodded serenely. The Queen hadn’t caught flashes of Donte’s torture, hadn’t known echoes of the depth of his fury and need. Idivay was in for a shock. Moriko agreed with Donte. Lawful control of the Cities had been lost. Now it was time for a more brutal justice.
Tonight, Moriko was in the mood to do some demanding of her own. She turned out the golden magelights with a thought and willed her breathing deep and even. He wouldn’t understand her love. He wouldn’t want the loyalty that had snapped, unbreakable, around them with a few simple words. But even though he didn’t want it, she knew what was right. She did what was needed, too.
*
She dreamed.
Then he was there. Big and swarming with a sort of static around him, he burned with heat and sizzled with pain practically oozing out of his eyes. Burly was the only word for him, with his barrel chest and massive thighs. There was no muscular abdomen on him, just a thick crisscrossing of ribbed tissue, scars on top of scars.
Most would say he came at her across the sand without grace, in a forceful stride of unstoppable momentum. But she thought it had a unique flow, a very particular kind of beauty. As if the power in the earth had formed a man and moved with primal intent. Intent focused on her.
Sighing happily, she stood on her pink blanket and held out her hands. “Hello, Donte-Bear. I missed you all day.”
That slowed him, bringing a crease to his craggy face. But he stepped up to her, taking her hands in his.
They both gasped at the touch. The partial erection she’d seen swaying now stiffened into a demand. His chocolate gaze heated.
His lust needed to be interrupted immediately. Last night she’d gotten much of the information she’d wanted, but tonight she’d get at the truth he kept trying to dodge. She twisted out of his grip and took his cock in her hand, snatching control immediately.
“I want to know why you’ve come here.” She moaned at the hard heat of him generously filling her fingers.
He stood stone still beneath her touch. “I came for you.” His voice was so deep it was like the distant tolling of the temple gong inside her.
Her fingers curled around his base and squeezed gently. “What for?”
“You’re mine.”
She shook her head. “I’ve heard that from you before. Tell me what you hope to gain.”
His hand, as big as her face, scooped behind her neck and cupped her spine. “Moriko, you are our mate.”
How freeing that he didn’t use her title. In fact, she doubted he cared about her heritage. Her fingers traveled up to his plump tip. She’d learned more from him last night, when he’d let Bear be in charge. She wasn’t nearly as cautious around Bear. Bear was joy, and innocence, and pure man. If that made any sense.
“Bear told me that already.”
“Bear talks too much.” And then he smiled.
It was just with his eyes, that huge jaw with its marching row of scars still clenched square, but it was the first time she’d seen Donte smile and for some reason it made her shy. He thrust his hips into her grip. She smiled back, confidence surging. She could make this powerful, strange warrior happy, for even a short moment.
“So you come here. Obviously you’re a spiritmage, although you’re no part of the Sacred Couple that I can tell.” She set her hand to drift up and down his erection. “And you fuck me, even when I’m asleep or angry. And you want to take me to wife.”
His hand pushed up into her hair, cupping her skull. His chest worked harder at her even, flowing touch. “Gonna fuck you soon.”
Licking her lips, she looked down at the strong muscle she held. Squeezing, she slowed her downward stroke, dragging his skin tight. More scars. Everywhere. The sight of his big, tan feet standing on her pink beach blanket caused a reckless warning to surge through her. “You don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know who I really am.” The heritage he didn’t care to recognize was everything to her. Whatever his agenda, it would have to end up matching hers. The Cities were her blood.
His face lowered and his nose burrowed into her ear. His breath there was loud, stilling her fierce grip on his base. Then he rasped his nose and lips across her jaw to her mouth.
Against her mouth he said, “I want every part of you. Even the part that wants me. I’m not gonna stop tonight. I’m taking you in with me and it will change you, hurt you.”
His mouth pressed to hers, jaw driving down and opening her lips. He kissed her deep, firm but soft, with no choice. But inside his control was tenderness. She’d kissed dozens of men. And in this commanding touch she recognized respect, even care. Licking his tongue, she held his erection to her own belly with both hands, as if that would keep him safe. This man was so strong, but so lost. She stayed gentle beneath his taut mouth.
“Donte-Bear. I don’t believe you’d ever hurt me. And I want the truth of you, too. But there’s something I have to tell you.” One of her hands slid down over his hip and massaged the top of his thighs. There was no give at all. “Will you listen tonight? Don’t go so fast.”
“You have no idea the force it’s taking to keep from dragging you away, let alone not bury myself in you.” His lips slid up along her nose to nibble across one brow. “But this is it. Tonight’s the night. I’m listening.”
She pressed against him, one hand cupping his tight balls, the other thumbing one of the veins in his throbbing male length. A crackle flowed down his form, showing how he held himself back to give her this time.
She spoke quickly, honoring his effort. “I love my people. I’m proud to come from a long tradition of strong leaders who work for the greater good. My family trains for it, and it’s hard, and lonely, but also full of many pleasures and privileges.”
Tilting her head, she gave him room to maneuver down her neck. He paused to caress the outer fold of her ear with his teeth.
“But in this past year, two Royals have been implicated for being darkmages. And I—” Closing her eyes to her private mental sea, she forced the words out. “I was responsible for giving a darkmage access to the Queen’s compound.”
His tongue licking at her pulse settled her. Her fingers danced up to the rim of him. “She used me to invite dozens of darkmages into the Royal City. Eight of the chatelaine’s Guild and eleven of the Queen’s Own went missing and I’m sure she took them to that wretched fortress. I’m responsible for their slavery, probably even their death. I need to stop Signy, but I don’t know how. I’ve betrayed my City and my Queen with my incompetence. And I was an unwitting, foolish ally to one of those who so hurt you.”
He grunted. Latching onto her neck, he sucked. The pleasure was like diamonds in her blood. Her head rolled back more fully into his grip and her hands laced together to rub up and down his lovely length. He sucked harder and she gripped harder. He sucked faster and she stroked faster. He broke off and she cried out, body tight and aching with need.
“Is that it?” His voice stroked her belly, textured.
It better not be! She realized he didn’t mean their sex and nodded. “I’m ruined. They will nev
er trust me again. It’s just a matter of time before I have to step down, but first I want to know that Signy’s done, and my family holds their seat. The darkmages must never take the Cities.”
He kissed her, their lips clinging together with a sweetness rare in new partners. She loved how he controlled her without overwhelming. “You’ve survived them. Bear told me you escaped them together and your people hate you for it. I know what that feels like.” Oh, how she did. Her touch gentled to feather-light, a soothing sorrow at knowing how alone he had to be. “I’m so sorry they judge you. But I had to tell you what I’ve done, because someone who hates them as you must should know that I’ve … helped them. I never meant to, but I did.” Her breath heaved hard, a combination of the wrenching admission and his hands kneading her spine.
“You did not. It’s just another form of torture, one that left you scars on the inside. Done talking now? Will you come with me and let me make you mine?” He rocked his hips against her grip, chafing himself against her palms.
She swallowed. His nose was badly broken, half his eyebrow gone to a scar, his lips twisted with another, and one eye pulled down by yet another. A shiny, fleshy burn marred most of one cheek and half his neck, and vertical, symmetrical lines marched around his jawline and chin, like a fence. Each began half a fingerlength up on his face, then curled around under his jaw, one for every hawk stolen by the lizard birds and lost to evil. His intense eyes were dark brown, matching his messy spiked hair exactly. She licked her lips. He was so fascinating.
“What happens if I go with you?”
“You’ll have a partner for saving your Cities.” His hands slid across her shoulders, massaging gently.
The skin of his fingers was rough. She arched her breasts forward against his torso and he caught his breath.
“You’ll have a warrior who will spend the rest of his life destroying the darkmages.” He turned his face away and scowled out at the gentle teal sea lapping at the shore nearby.