by Ashley West
Corinth rolled her eyes, and Caden didn't blame her. He was sure she'd heard brags and boasts from all sorts in her line of work. Caden had to wonder how often she even got off when it came to the fumbling of some of the people who no doubt requested her services.
But he wouldn't be like them.
He started with her.
He kissed his way down her body, over the smooth, flat planes of her stomach to her thighs, parting them gently with his hands. When he lightly bit the soft skin there, she jumped and then spread her legs wider for him, drawing a smile from his lips.
And then he turned his kisses further inward.
Pleasuring a woman was something he liked to think he was fairly skilled at. He certainly had enough practice with it. Being a warrior meant that he had women of all kinds throwing themselves at him, and after a while, some things just became second nature.
So he knew the way to make her moan for him, to make her drip. He knew that the best way to get her to open for him was to spread her folds with his fingers, taking time to spread that delightful slickness around. He knew that when he dipped his head to follow the path his fingers had blazed with his tongue, he needed to go slow the first time, to really let her feel what was coming.
When she whimpered a soft 'please' he knew he was on the right track.
She tasted as good as she smelled, honestly, and Caden wanted to devour her. He licked and sucked and swirled his tongue, writing his name in a way that was pleasurable and just a little bit possessive.
He got her good and worked up and then he licked his lips and pulled back.
His cock was hard and dripping precome from the tip, ready to be pushed into something wet and willing.
Corinth spread her legs wider, and Caden smirked. "Please," she said again, and he didn't make her wait.
He lined up and then pushed into her, hands on either side of her body on the bed. It was a tight fit, and she was panting softly and moaning for him, arching to meet him halfway. "Come on," she said breathlessly. "Is that all you have?"
Caden growled softly and pushed in harder, seating himself in one fluid motion. It was so easy, and so good, and he groaned at how she felt around him.
"Like that?" he asked her, and she just nodded wordlessly, mouth open.
He pulled back out, enjoying the way her body tried to keep him where he was, sucking him back in every time he tried to pull away. In that manner, he set an easy pace, building them both up until the pleasure started to pool inside of him.
The way her mouth had felt around him was nothing compared to this, and he knew it wasn't going to take long. That was just as well, he didn't have much time left.
Putting his back into it, he gave her what they both wanted, pistoning into her with skill and speed.
"Oh," she moaned, and went tighter around him. "Oh, Stars, I'm close. I'm so close."
"Good," Caden managed. That was what he wanted to hear.
Their bodies moved together fast and then faster, the bed creaking under them despite its solid frame. Caden was chasing his own pleasure while working to bring Corinth around to hers. Perhaps a gentleman would have made sure she came first, but well. He was paying for this, after all. And he was running short on time.
Just as the soft buzz of the timer filled the air, he slammed deep into her once more and grunted with his climax, shuddering with pleasure when she went tight around him, milking him for all he had.
It was a perfect end to a lovely encounter, and he held himself up over her for long seconds before panting and pulling out to roll over onto his back.
“You’re meant to be leaving now,” Corinth said, and for all she was flatteringly breathless, she didn’t seem otherwise moved by what Caden had considered a spectacular bout of lovemaking.
She did this all the time, he supposed, but still. He’d been doing some of his best work.
“So I am,” he replied, rolling over once more and getting to his feet. His legs were shaky, but they held while he gathered his clothes and prepared to leave. It had been an interesting diversion, to say the least, and he’d have work to distract him for the next few days. Rumors of a disturbance in the Canmore belt would have him on patrol for long hours.
With a cheeky smile, he waved to Corinth and then saw himself out.
Phase Two:
As soon as the idiot had gone, Corinth wrapped her robe around her and headed for the back of the room where a door was located. It was coded to only open to her touch, and while the main room here was where she entertained her clients, this smaller room was hers. It contained a bed, a wardrobe full of various clothes in differing levels of skimpiness, and a table with a large round mirror above it.
It was there that she moved to, and she sat down in the soft chair and waved her hand in front of the mirror. Her reflection held and then rippled before melting away to reveal the sight of a large room.
The room was elaborately furnished, everything shiny and expensive, and in the center of the room, on a chair that Corinth knew to be hand carved and plush, was a handsome older man.
"You will be pleased with me, my lord," Corinth said, in lieu of a greeting.
"Corinth, my most faithful. I am almost always pleased with you."
She smiled, flattered and pleased to hear the praise. This was a well-worn ritual, her passing along the things she learned from her clients to him, but this time she knew she had something more for him than she usually did. "Well, yes. But in this, you will be more pleased than usual."
"And why is that?"
"Because I have a lead."
"The boy came through?"
She nodded. "Yes, my lord. As I knew he would. Men are so easy to manipulate."
"All men?" A raised eyebrow, and a sharp tone.
Corinth bowed her head. "Mortal men, my lord. You will be more than mortal. You will surpass them all."
That seemed to satisfy the man, and he sat back, fingers steepled together. "Tell me, then. Tell me what you have learned from the foolish mortal man."
And so she did. She explained the whole story as she had heard it, detailing the entire conversation that she'd had with Caden, the warrior with very little common sense. She had learned by now to leave nothing out, so she told him about Caden’s grandfather and how he’d died in the explosion and how no one else in his family would know where the story had come from.
It was an unbelievable tale, but it didn’t matter if Corinth believed it or not. What mattered was that it was what her lord wanted to hear, and it was her duty to tell him what she knew.
"I see," her lord said finally. "That is more than we knew before. So we will need to start with the Elemental Planets. I should have figured as much. There are a great many of them, though, so it isn't the easiest plan."
"Where will you start, my lord?" Corinth asked.
"Worry not about that, my pretty," he replied. "Just be ready to support me when the time comes. Goodnight."
"Of course," she said, inclining her head and then wiped her hand across her mirror to clear the image. No one knew that she had wired it to be a communicator as well as something she used to keep her appearance as it needed to be.
No one expected this of someone like her. People like her were meant to be decorative, pliant, and good on their backs. Or their knees. Or whatever else people wanted.
Warriors came from all over to seek their pleasure in this house, and Corinth did what she knew how to do best. She seduced them, pleasured them, and then took their information for the good of her lord.
Sandigo wasn't what most people would call a visionary, but then, most people didn't know him. They hadn't been given the privilege of seeing the real Sandigo, the way she had. All they knew was that he was an upstart, someone who challenged the accepted order of things to try and reach new heights. They called him a rabble rouser, someone who's only interest was in stirring up trouble.
But they didn't see the real him. They didn't know that he worked as hard as he could to keep his followers fed and
alive. When they got into trouble, he bailed them out, at his own expense. And so they followed him faithfully.
He'd been the one to fish Corinth out of the gutter she'd been left in. Barely old enough to be seen as a woman, she'd been dumped by her family, abandoned and left to starve or die or freeze to death at night.
She'd been resigned to that fate, knowing it was what happened to those who didn't have love in their lives.
And then Sandigo had come. He had come and he had looked at her, and she'd turned her face away. Who was she to gaze upon him? Standing there in his fine clothes, straight backed and proud. Who was she to even think she was worthy to breathe the same air that he breathed?
But instead of continuing on down the path, ignoring her as was good and proper, as everyone else had done, he stopped. He stopped, and he leaned down and he offered her his hand.
Nothing had been the same after that.
How could it have been?
Someone like that had seen something in someone like her. He’d brought her back to his home, a sprawling manor on an otherwise fairly desolate planet. He’d had his servants bathe her and find her something to wear.
They’d put her at the table in the eating hall, at the very head of the monstrous confection of wood and metal, and they’d set a steaming meal in front of her. The first she’d had in over a week.
Corinth had cried that night. She’d gone to bed under plush sheets, wearing clothes that were finer than anything she’d ever had before, with a full belly. She was clean and warm and dry, and it was too much. She’d sobbed into her pillow, hoping no one would hear.
Soon enough, the door creaked open, though, and when she turned, it was the same man. Tall, straight backed, proud. He’d been standing right there in the doorway, a look of such compassion on his face that she couldn’t help herself.
“Don’t look at me,” she’d snapped through her tears. “Stop it!”
His compassion hadn’t faded. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because I’m not worth it. You’re so much better than me. You’re...you’re…” Corinth had been overcome, then. She’d cried until her stomach hurt and her eyes were swollen.
Sandigo had come over, then. He’d sat at the edge of the bed, and he put his fingers in her hair. “My dear child,” he’d said, voice all refined accents and smooth tone. “You are worth more than you know. You have been mistreated, surely, and that’s a horrible crime, but the crime is not yours. You were not the one who caused yourself this pain. And now you will be free of it.”
“But...but...how?” she’d asked, not sure how anything she could do would free her of the horrible way she felt.
“You’ll work for me,” Sandigo said. “Won’t you?”
And she hadn’t even needed to think about it. It was the perfect solution. If she worked for him then maybe she could be worth his time and the money he would spend to keep her fed and clothed. If she dedicated herself to his service, then she’d never have to worry about being alone again.
“Of course I will,” she murmured softly. “Whatever you’d like me to do.”
And Sandigo had smiled at her and that had been the beginning of it.
Phase Three:
Astrolonica
The only thing Sandigo hated more than working with other people, was the necessity of working with other people. The fact that more could be done with more hands and eyes enraged him to the point of throwing things sometimes, but he tried to keep those outbursts to himself.
After all, he wasn't meant to be some manner of child. He was destined to be god, a living deity made flesh, and tantrums weren't very godlike.
But honestly, the fact that he had idiots to deal with all the time did wear on the nerves.
He didn't mean those who worked for him. No, they were some of the most loyal and skilled people he could have ever asked to have at his beck and call. These were people who he had saved from one thing or another—the law, mercenaries, themselves—and they showed undying loyalty towards him for that.
People like Corinth, his lovely young informant, who used seduction and the gifts she was born with to make men into goo in her hands while she pumped them for information. And no one ever suspected her. She was perfect.
And there were others. Fornir, the pickpocket who could also hack into just about any system given enough time. Lugo, the forger, who made documents that passed anyone's scrutiny. Shae and Sho, who he called his twin blades, slight and deadly.
He had surrounded himself with people he knew he could trust, which made working with people who weren't nearly as clever or as trustworthy out of necessity even worse.
But it was a necessity if he ever wanted to get to where he needed to be. The fact of the matter was, there were just too many Elemental Planets for him to handle them all by himself. So he needed partners who had their own forces and could do some of the grunt work. And they had to be ambitious enough to be tantalized by the plan, but also stupid enough that when Sandigo double crossed them, they wouldn't have seen it coming.
It made for a headache every time he had to call a meeting, but at the very least, he had assembled his team.
Sandigo could hear them now, gathered in his front room bickering amongst themselves. They all thought themselves to be the most important person in the room, what with all the baggage they had between them, and so when they were all together, all they did was argue.
He didn't have time for it.
Clapping his hands, he strode into the room, elaborately embroidered robes flapping behind him. He was in charge here, and he had to look the part. Everyone immediately fell silent and looked at him.
Perfect.
"Thank you for coming," he said. "I know you have long waited for some manner of concrete evidence that we will reach this goal of ours—”
"You can say that again," called Caldo, and Sandigo just about restrained himself from sneering in his direction.
"Yes, well," he said, continuing. "I have always known that we would find what we seek, but I did not know where. Now I do."
"And what has changed?" asked Lemaria, her tone almost sibilant. Of all the petty criminals and self-described megalomaniacs he had assembled, she was the one who worried him the most. She wasn't stupid so much as she was self-centered, which he was hoping would keep her off the scent of what his real plan was. But he couldn't be sure.
“One of my informants has come through with new information,” Sandigo said, voice silky. “She has spoken to someone who had a very interesting story to tell. Tell me, have any of you ever wondered how the elemental warriors became who they are?”
There was a moment of silence as everyone digested that. And then Caldo scoffed.
“Are you going to have us chasing fairy stories now?” he demanded. “The elemental warriors are blessed by the Stars. Everyone knows that.”
Sandigo wasn’t fazed. “Are they?” he asked. “And how did that happen. How were those planets chosen by the benevolent powers of the Stars? For that matter, why were they chosen? Out of everyone who could have been picked, why them?”
Caldo spluttered and none of the others had any answers to his questions. As he had suspected they wouldn’t. The key to this, after all was to keep them believing that he had all the answers and that they had to go through him to get the power they sought.
Sandigo smiled. “Speechless, I see. Even you, Lemaria, don’t seem to have anything to say.”
“I assume you know the answers then?” she asked, sniffing with disdain.
“I do. You see, the universe is a large and wondrous place, my friends. Home to a great many mysteries. And there were even more before modernity took over and stripped the romance from everything. For instance, there were beings of pure energy who lived and ruled over the planets and the universe some time ago.”
The assembled group murmured amongst themselves at that, as if wondering whether or not to believe. Then, Kaffir, one of the quieter and stupider of the bunch, spoke up. “I
have heard of this,” he said in his strangely accented voice. He was more beastial than the rest of them with a furred face and acid green eyes. For all he looked monstrous, he was reserved usually.
“You have?” Caldo asked, not seeming to want to believe it.
Kaffir inclined his head. “Yes. My people spoke of these creatures of energy. They are in our texts about the way the world was formed.” He speared Sandigo with his gaze. “Tell me what you have learned.”
“Certainly,” Sandigo replied, keeping his excitement to himself. He had never expected that one of them would agree with him, but this was good. “A very long time ago, there were beings of pure energy. They ruled over the universe, keeping things in balance. They embodied natural phenomena and the elements of the world: ice, fire, wind, water, time, darkness, and so on. Together they made sure that things moved as they should. But soon enough people, as people are wont to do, got tired of being governed over by these forces. They sought to have them for themselves instead of being content with what they had. The beings knew that mortals would find some way to bring about the ruin of the world if they were allowed to have powers that weren’t meant for them, so they changed themselves.”
“Changed themselves into what?” Lemaria asked.
“No one knows for certain. But what is said is that they became the heart of the planets of the elemental warriors. This is where they get their powers from. This is why they are special.” He glanced at Kaffir. “Does that sound right?”
Kaffir nodded, eyes wide. “Yes. The details are unclear, but that is what my people say. They say that the beings mourned for the greed of mortals and turned themselves to stone. But there is more.” He looked uncertain, and Sandigo pounced.
“If you know more, my friend, I would be appreciative if you’d enlighten us further.”
He sighed. “Very well. My people say that the beings turned themselves to stone and that the stones were scattered throughout the universe, searching for those who deserved the powers. They knew they couldn’t keep them to themselves anymore, and that there was no way they could hide for long enough to keep themselves from being found. So they trusted their powers and their new forms to those with the strength to protect them and the character to be worthy.” Kaffir fell silent, and Sandigo’s mind was already whirling through a plan.