by Sara King
She thought again of watching her sisters be bound for their chosen donor, and grimaced. “You’re not going to word-weave your way into my—” then she frowned. “Since when did we start talking about sex, and not merely you touching me?”
He shrugged.
Kaashifah narrowed her eyes. “Tell me that by ‘exploring’ me, you did not mean sex, djinni.”
He gave her a flat look. “Do you really think I would try to pierce you by surprise?” He snorted. “I want to explore your body, mon Dhi’b. As you did mine.”
And there it was again. He wanted to touch her. If she wanted to eat, she was going to let him. She dropped her head and cleared her throat. “How long will you take?”
He watched her with all the acuity of a wolf. “As long as it pleases me.”
She took a shuddering breath and peered at her hands. They didn’t feel any different, after having profaned themselves on a male’s delicate flesh. Besides, they were here alone. Just her and the djinni. Who was to know? As far as she knew, there weren’t any direct written texts from her Lord, forbidding the male touch. It had just been understood amongst her sisters. That the djinni couldn’t lie, and had outright said that there had been male Furies, at one time, left her wondering…
She glanced at him nervously. And she had always been…curious.
“Do it,” she whispered. “Bind it in Law.”
With a momentary look of shock, the djinni did so. Amidst a whirlpool of violet energy, he boomed, “I, Yad al-‘Aqrab, sand-singer of the Scorpion clan, firstborn son of Bakr al-Shihab, eleventh djinni Lord of the Fourth Lands, hereby offer a bargain to you, Kaashifah the Fury, Handmaiden to Ares, Warrior-Priestess of Horus, Angel of Vengeance, and Justice of the Battlefields: Allow me to explore your naked body, to my satisfaction, and I will bring you a meal fit for a king, and everything necessary to eat in comfort. Do you accept?”
“I will not lie on the frozen ground,” she growled. “You will bring blankets.”
The djinni gave a slight incline of his head. “Allow me to spread your naked body out before me on a layer of blankets and explore it to my satisfaction, and I will bring you a meal fit for a king, and everything necessary to eat in comfort. Do you accept?”
For long, heart-pounding minutes, Kaashifah could only stare down at her hands. On his side of the enclosure, the djinni waited in absolute silence, the violet magic of Fourthlander Law still swirling about him.
Outside, the wind began to pick up. She thought she heard trees snapping, and the soft chant of, Take him, sister…
I must be going mad, she thought, as she considered her alternatives. Starvation, two months ago, had seemed a small price to pay to avoid a single male finger upon her skin. Now, she didn’t even notice it…
On the other side of the shelter, the djinni continued to say nothing. It was her turn to either accept his terms, decline—and thereby strike the bargain from Law forever—or revise.
Well, Hell. If a man was going to touch her, down there, then she might as well use the opportunity to its greatest benefit. And for years, her priestesses had always told her she was the most likely Sister to fall within the next century. After thousands of years of devout service to her Lord, proving them wrong, and now with all of them long dead and Kaashifah still unsure exactly what all the fuss was about, Kaashifah thought she finally deserved to know what it felt like. And, from the rumors she had heard from his one-time lovers, ‘Aqrab knew very well the ins and outs of showing a woman such delights. Lifting her chin, she said, “You will pleasure me.”
‘Aqrab’s eyes widened and he choked. “Pleasure you?”
“As a man does a woman,” she said quickly, then hesitated, losing confidence. “Unless it requires a man to spear a woman…?” She was nearing the peak of her yearly cycle, and she did not want that kind of trouble.
The djinni just stared at her. “I want to be clear, mon Dhi’b, so both of us understands exactly what to expect. Did you just say you want me to ‘pleasure’ you? Your body with mine?”
“Never mind!” Kaashifah cried, at the humiliating shock in his face. “Just forget—”
But the djinni quickly interrupted her with, “Allow me to spread your naked body out before me on a layer of blankets and pleasure it to my satisfaction, and I will bring you a meal fit for a king, and everything necessary to eat in comfort. Do you accept?”
Kaashifah frowned at him. If she finished her sentence, the bargain would be nullified. If she agreed, she was about to willingly subject herself to the hands—and mouth?—of a man, for which the only punishment her sisters would have given her was death.
Screw them, a rebellious part of her snapped. They abandoned you to the djinni, once they realized you’d let him touch you. Her Sisters already considered her fallen, and only her fulfilling her Lord’s command of taking his heart was going to make her worthy of their number again, in their eyes.
So what the Hell did she have to lose? She certainly wasn’t getting any younger…
Lifting her head proudly, Kaashifah said, “I accept.”
The djinni grunted as the power of the Fourth Lands overtook him in a wash of violet. In the triple-tone boom of Fourthlander Law, he straightened and rumbled, “As agreed, so decreed, the bargain has been made.” Then, with a gasp, he slid forward onto his hands and knees.
Heart thundering at the sacrilegious bargain she’d made with a djinni, Kaashifah began backing away from him, suddenly wishing she could take it back. “Uh,” she said, as he panted on his hands and knees across the cavern from her, “On second thought, I think we should renegotiate.”
‘Aqrab looked up at her with a wolfish grin. “Not on your life, Fury.” He got to his feet then—a towering mountain of ebony looming like a titan on the other side of the shelter—and began weaving Fourthlander magics into vast and quilted blankets.
“Uh,” Kaashifah said, as the djinni shook out the bedding and laid it down upon the ice. “I suddenly don’t feel so well. Perhaps I’m not hungry, after all.”
‘Aqrab just paused in his efforts and shrugged. “Whenever you’re ready, the bargain will remain.”
In other words, she wasn’t going to be fed by him again, ever, until she fulfilled her end of their agreement.
“Curse you, ‘Aqrab,” she growled, watching him spread out lazily on the blankets, arms cradled beneath his head. Her shame was making her face feel superheated, her pulse loud in her ears. “Neek hallak. Dakhlah killah.”
The djinni raised an innocent brow at her. “Mon Dhi’b, it was you who insisted upon amending the bargain. I simply wanted to explore your body.” Then he sighed with wistfulness. “But if you find our bargain too repulsive, I suppose I can amend it. It could be you who pleasures me.” He grinned at her.
Kaashifah choked, and from the sudden thundering in her ears, knew her face had taken on a shade of purple. “Never, you letch.”
“You have reset your seven days—Oh well. Your loss.” The djinni just settled back into the thick bedding and closed his eyes, to all appearances preparing for sleep.
Fisting her hands over and over again, fuming inside, Kaashifah gritted, “Get off my blankets.”
“Why?” he asked, without opening his eyes. “You’re not using them.”
Kaashifah considered a void-walk, just to relieve the bastard of his smug grin. Then, thinking about the added trouble of having to craft another dwelling for them, she growled, “Get up.” She might as well get this over with.
Seeming to recognize the change in her tone, ‘Aqrab sat up and scooted to one side of the bedding, watching her with all the sharp intelligence of a caracal.
Damn him. Just…damn him. Biting her lip, Kaashifah said, “Turn around while I undress.”
The djinni laughed at her. “Why? You asked me to pleasure you, mon Dhi’b.” Then ‘Aqrab cocked his head at her thoughtfully. “You do realize that means I must become…intimately…familiar with your person, correct?”
He had, sh
e realized with growing dismay, a point. Then her face began to burn when ‘Aqrab simply crossed his massive arms over his chest and waited, a single brow lifted in that perfect djinni challenge. “Unless you’re too afraid of me to continue?”
An instant of Fury flashed through her. She was afraid of no man. Kaashifah lifted her chin, meeting the djinni’s challenge with her own. “And you realize that, to pleasure me, I would have you remove my clothes.”
Having a man remove her clothes. This was getting way out of hand.
As expected, ‘Aqrab’s eyes widened slightly and his arms had dropped from his chest in shock. For the first time in much too long, he seemed at a loss for words. “Uh,” he said. “I suppose I could manage that.” After a moment of staring at her, as if waiting for her to recant her words, he slowly got to his feet.
Watching him rise until he towered over her like a rippling black mountain, Kaashifah suddenly had trouble breathing. Yes, this had gotten way out of hand. She flinched as he reached out with a big hand, caught the hem of her shirt…
She quickly slapped the sweater to her stomach and, to hide her nerves—and because like Hell she was going to be the only one naked in this—said, “Remove yours first. It would pleasure me to watch.”
Both of the djinni’s brows soared with surprise. “Oh.” He glanced down at his sirwal. “Would you like to do the honors?”
“No,” she gritted. “I will be watching you dance.” Truth be told, she didn’t really want to see him dance, but that strange new part of her had blurted it out before she could stop it.
The djinni’s eyes widened in surprise as he cried, “Dance, mon Dhi’b?”
She shrugged. “If you don’t feel like pleasuring me in the Fury fashion, I suppose you can’t fulfill your end of the bargain, after all.”
He gave her a flat look. “The Furies made their victims dance?”
Glaring, she said, “It was my sisters who were the victims. They were merely doing the task set to them by their Lor—” Too late, she realized what she’d said.
A slow grin formed over the djinni’s face. “So, the Lord of War does tell his Furies to propagate themselves.” All-too-sure of himself, he said, “So tell me, mon Dhi’b, what kind of wording did he use?”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, “He would tell them to pair off with a suitable match, claim them wholly, and replenish his temples with the blood of their loins.”
The djinni’s violet eyes watched her closely. “And how, may I ask, did you and your Sisters interpret that?”
Kaashifah shrugged. “They would choose a man—forcefully taking him from his phalanx or farm if necessary—mark him by breaking his skin, and make him breed her. Afterwards, they would remove his parts and burn it as an offering in the temple fires.”
‘Aqrab winced. “That’s an…interesting…interpretation.”
“Oh,” Kaashifah said, her face heating, “and they made the men dance.”
The djinni gave her an even stare, bringing his arms back up and crossing them over his chest once more. Tapping his fingers along one bicep, he peered at her and said, “They didn’t dance.”
“They did,” she lied. “All the time.”
He continued to scowl at her. “From what you told me, the poor boys were probably pissing themselves with terror. They didn’t dance.”
“You will dance,” Kaashifah snapped. Then, finishing the argument abruptly, she sat down on the blankets and crossed her legs and arms in the djinni way that had so infuriated her in the past, watching him.
‘Aqrab eyed her for a long, considering minute, his big fingers tapping his bicep. Then he shrugged. “Very well.” And, grinning, he seemed to reach into thin air and dragged a long, colorful scarf into existence beside him. Then, whirling, he spun away from her in a blindingly fast, beautiful dance that took her breath away. The djinni, as light as he was, was able to spin and maneuver in ways that a human form of that size shouldn’t have been able to accomplish, and he seemed to take great pleasure in the act. She was still staring at him, her jaw agape, when he tossed the scarf across the room in a twisting, whirling finale, and yanked his sirwal from his body. Tossing the garment aside, he lowered himself naked to his knees before her. Huskily, breathing hard, he said, “That a suitable enough dance for you, mon Dhi’b?”
“Uh,” she whispered, realizing both her arms and jaw had gone slack.
Not waiting for her to respond, he started moving forward on his hands and knees, grinning. “They didn’t dance, did they?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she squeaked, seeing the djinni’s member hanging hard beneath his belly, his heavy scrotum dangling between his thighs.
“So you are a virgin.” Damn him and his quick mind. He seemed pleased with the fact. …And was advancing at an alarming rate.
With a cry of startlement, Kaashifah fumbled to get her legs uncrossed and out of his path fast enough, but a moment later, he was over her, beaming down at her on all fours, still panting. “That was fun,” he said, as she tried to meld her spine into the blankets to avoid him. In a deep rumble by her ear, he said, “You will ask me to dance for you again.”
“I could do that,” she whispered.
He lifted his face and kissed her forehead. And then, to her horror, she felt his big, hot hand sliding up her stomach, under the shirt. “Wait!” she shrieked.
‘Aqrab paused, giving her a quizzical look. “You are afraid, then.”
“Um,” she babbled, “Your hand is…warm…. I was…unprepared.”
He grinned down at her. “Then prepare yourself. You’re about to get what you asked for, Fury.” And then, in slow, sensuous movement, he pushed her shirt up her chest to cover her face, followed—unexpectedly—by her bra. Just as Kaashifah was adjusting to darkness and the cold air on her nipples, she felt him take one in his mouth.
Her lungs emptied in a scream. Whether it was pleasure or shock, she wasn’t sure, but it only made the djinni chuckle around her nipple. “Gods, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” he said, his breath hot on the sudden coolness his mouth left behind. He’s blowing on it, she thought, in growing dread. She felt him take her nipple again, and froze as a hot tingle shot down her belly to her core. In a rising panic, she started to struggle to retrieve herself from her sweater’s grasp.
The djinni, heedless of her struggles, started working his mouth down her stomach, in hot kisses that dipped to her pants, leaving an exquisite, building warmth in their wake. Then suddenly the waistband of her jeans was loosening and they were sliding down her legs, followed by her panties…
“Wait, you can’t—” Kaashifah had just managed to wriggle out of the tangle of sweater and bra when she saw the djinni’s hot mouth drop to her mound and the inexplicable, tingly heat that had been building suddenly exploded. Kaashifah’s spine arced as she cried out as wave after wave of pleasure left her convulsing under him like a dying animal.
At the same time, the djinni’s eyes were widening and he was staring at her, mouth agape. Suddenly, his body went stiff between her legs. Into her core, he rumbled, “I have pleasured you to my satisfaction, fulfilling your side of the bargain.”
…Which sent her completely over the edge again, so long had that place between her legs been untouched. When Kaashifah stopped twitching enough to once again become aware of her surroundings, the djinni was peering down at her in outright shock. Food and other items were scattered around the room, but the djinni was kneeling beside her again. Before she realized his goal, he lifted a big, hot hand to her mound and tentatively touched her core with a thumb…
Kaashifah moaned and tried to flee—but not before he had her body thrashing again, utterly beyond her control. And he kept her there, with just a single finger, and, as she rolled and flexed and moaned beneath him, Kaashifah finally understood what her sisters meant by losing their power to a man’s touch. “Stooooop,” she cried, panting, her body a sweaty mass on the blankets beneath him. “Bargain…made…food.”
By now, she was too weak and trembling to push him off of her, and it was all she could do to regain her breath.
He was still staring at her. Sometime during her last set of seizures, the djinni’s expression had changed from surprise to interest. She did not, she realized, like the change. Now he was watching her reaction like an all-too-curious caracal. Almost experimentally, he flicked her core with a thumb, and Kaashifah devolved once again into uncontrollable spasms on the blankets.
“Djinni…” she gritted, after her body had finished arcing and moaning. Trembling, she reached for her sweater.
She only got halfway before he pressed his thumb to her core and petted her, more slowly.
“‘Aqrab!” she gasped, straining, her hands fisting in the blankets as wave after wave of sensual fire raced up her spine. “Ohhh. Please…” Her brain was simply shutting down, her body becoming a feral thing, straining beneath his touch.
“Please what, mon Dhi’b?” he asked, switching rhythms again, now using a slight tapping that again threw her over the edge. “Please continue to pleasure you?”
“Can’t….breathe…” she gasped, as her body contorted again.
The djinni was grinning—grinning—at her. He released her core and drew a finger down her belly…
…and the waves of pleasure hit her again, wrenching her brain into another Realm.
“Oh my,” the djinni said, as his fingers began to trace across her breasts, driving her once more over the edge and keeping her there, “this has so many possibilities, mon Dhi’b.” It was just his finger across her skin, now, but she couldn’t stop the exquisite tides racing through her at his touch. It didn’t matter where he touched her, she found, to her horror. Every single brush of his skin to hers made her body shudder and convulse with excruciating pleasure, her muscles and mind knotting completely beyond her control.
“So many…” he whispered, when a trace down the nape of her neck to her shoulder left her writhing and moaning, begging him to let her rest. But he didn’t. He kept tracing her, exploring…