Above, a chunk of the edge was gone from where the Ramm had lain. Jesus.
Remind her not to piss off this Aerthe. Maybe they landed on a weak section? Yeah. That.
“They’ll send another,” she said.
“No. Mekkers are practical. You’re not worth one Ramm, let alone two.”
Below was only a deep, dark lake, swirling as megatons of water poured into what must be a near bottomless crater. Black water. Her heart chilled as a swirl of blue lashed from the depths, growing clearer, whipping close to the surface. Not tentacles, but...something terrible lived down there.
She put her hand to her heart. “Thank you.”
“Here.” He closed her fingers around something. “A waik crystal. We’ll go up when you’ve wished. Throw the crystal into the Chasm when you’re done.”
Her? She blinked. Such a patient, crazy man.
He never gave in. He pulled thorns from her rear end. Had a thing about not killing, except for Mekkers, clearly. He wanted her to be either his slave or owned by another, because her being free and his wasn’t on his agenda.
“Come. Wish.” He stroked her hair. “I’m not keen on staying here forever.”
“I’m not sure I believe enough.”
“I’ll believe for you. In a place like this, incomprehensible things happen. Anything, Blue. A wish of your own.”
Anything? How far could a wish take her?
To return to the Mekkers and be shown a portal.
To go back to Earth.
Maybe a wish worked but there were limits? She might waste a real wish.
Gravity went upside down here.
To find a place that was safe?
But she looked at Sassik, a man who did what he promised, who would care for her and protect her, who was so engrossed in being kind to a boy at a market stall that he forgot to watch his disobedient and poorly trained slave, a man who liked leaving handprints on her ass, and she found she really wanted to wish for something else.
Maybe love took a different form here.
“If you had me, if I was yours, would you care for me until death do us part?”
She might burst into tears waiting.
“Yes.”
Just yes. Simple. And so very Sassik.
Blue took a long breath, held it, and clutched the crystal so tightly her fingers could feel every sharp edge of the stone, but she didn’t close her eyes. She looked into his.
“I’ve made my wish.”
She let the crystal fall, heard only the thunder of the waterfalls.
With her heart thudding, he said what she almost dreaded hearing. “What did you wish for?”
“I wished for something stupid.”
“Oh.” He raised his brow. “Go on.”
“I kind of made two wishes and maybe they cancelled out.” God, she hoped not.
“And those were?” His forehead crinkled in a stern frown.
“I...” She stopped to take another bravery-enhancing breath and continued, more softly. “I wished to be yours and...I wished to make a family with you.” The latter had popped into her head and she found herself blushing, stuttering. “I’m sorry.”
“Shhh. This, I like.” He placed a finger across her lips. “Let’s go up.” But first he cupped the back of her head and kissed her. “I want to say many things to you but they will wait. Up.”
Chapter 10
There was something curious about Zerlin. He’d suspected it ever since this last far too obvious coincidence.
Their gear was piled in one place with a note attached to a pack. The van was gone.
As he read the note, Sassik imagined the gray-clad man, pushing up his spectacles and not smiling.
I am the Caretaker of the Chasm. There will always be one but my time here is over. The house is further along the road. Take care of your slave, Blue.
There are presents in the living room.
You are the new Caretaker.
Wipe your feet on the mat and remember Aerthe is with you and watching over you, but don’t get cocky.
I will be travelling. Don’t try to find me.
If you don’t want the job, I suppose I guessed wrong.
He’d signed it, The Traveler.
The house was slightly disheveled, seeming to have been built by a man with numerous ideas on construction. The cream and azure blue paintwork was mostly flaking.
“This is apparently mine now, Blue.” Suspicious, he opened the front door with his boot. Nothing exploded. “Wipe your feet.”
“It has a tower,” she whispered as he brought her through the door.
“Yes.” And enough room for a family. “Your neck is far too bare. I need to fix that.”
“Yes.” And she smiled.
“Then I have to punish you for cursing me in the Chasm.”
“I did?”
Her shock amused him.
In the living room he had her strip and kneel, then he found the red collar he’d bought such a long time ago.
“You want to be mine?”
“Yes, Sir, I do.”
Saying Sir wasn’t what he’d taught her. On a cupboard behind her were the presents Zerlin had mentioned. “I like Sir. You can use it again. Until death us do part?” He remembered her phrase. It had significance for her.
“Yes.”
“Then I will collar you and make you my slave, forever. Hold your head high.”
As he buckled the collar and arranged it, with the metal heart he’d found in small shop dangling to the front, he looked again at the presents.
Zerlin had a sense of humor.
Use me, said a label attached to a bit gag that lay beside a crop.
Drink me, was the label on a bottle of liquor.
Eat me, was a third label that lay by itself.
That one, hmmm, he might attach to Blue, firstly her cunt.
The man was a seer, obviously. A pity they couldn’t have talked.
Sassik looked around the room then at his one and only slave, Blue. “I think we’re going to enjoy being here.”
He squatted beside her, fastened her wrists at her front, and took her by the throat.
Her eyes widened and softened in the way that he loved.
“I know you don’t want me to be gentle.”
She swallowed then quietly said, “No.”
“Good.” He walked to the cupboard and retrieved the gag and the crop, went back to her. “Open your mouth.”
Her immediate obedience made his heart swell, which was a little ridiculous. He decided his aberrant emotions were fine and buckled the bit gag into place. He kissed her mouth, loving the contrast of the hard gag against her softness. Then he picked her up and carried her to a well-padded sofa, and laid her on her back.
“Put your legs up, so I can see your cunt.”
When she grunted and raised her legs, with a hand on her ankles he helped her keep them high while he efficiently cropped her across her thighs, smacking her inner thighs beside her pussy to really make her jump.
Soon, Blue was nicely moaning. He could see her cunt tightening rhythmically and her wetness dribble into her cleft.
“Want me in there?”
She nodded and spread her legs.
“Not yet.” Using the end of the crop and his fingers he teased her, tsking when she begged through the gag and when she soaked a patch of the blanket beneath her pussy.
The third label came in handy. He dangled it before her, stuck it on her belly, then tongued her clit until she writhed and came. The label ended up underfoot. He threw the crop somewhere over his shoulder. The bit gag he tossed behind him also. Poised over her, with her legs held in place by his shoulders and her feet pointed at the ceiling, he slowly pushed inside.
Watching his cock do a disappearing act inside Blue while she babbled those noises she only uttered during sex...incredible. He sank all the way into her and halted, aware of her wetness on his balls and his cock throbbing for more.
“What are you
, Blue?”
The wriggling of her butt to encourage him to fuck her? He ignored that, and her insistent whine. He waited, patient, smiling, thinking about smacking her ass again if she said this wrong.
Carnal need swam in her eyes. It was several seconds before understanding dawned.
“I’m yours, Sir.”
“Right answer.”
With his hands wrapped about her legs and his gaze locked to hers, he fucked her hard, spearing in, shunting out. The sofa bumped the wall. His last exuberant thrusts before he filled her made Blue squeal and tilted the sofa.
Elsewhere in the house, something fell and smashed.
He stayed inside her, watching her face and dreaming of her wish coming true. A child would be wondrous.
When he found the bedroom, he carried her in and dropped her onto the quilt.
Then he lay beside her and pulled her close so she could snuggle. “How was that, my slave?” He took her tired mumble as a satisfactory answer. “Tomorrow we will talk.”
*****
She’d said, I think maybe I could love you, but Blue decided it was wise to keep that part quiet.
She was hoping more than feeling certain. Love was something you had to grow into. His smell, his body weight sinking the bed, and his presence surrounding her made her smile and she wriggled even closer to him – if that were possible. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander down the many pathways the future might offer them. What they had now was more than enough. What this might become filled her with a gentle excitement.
Epilogue
Zerlin resolved to choose a new name.
He wrapped a cloth about his face then opened the back doors of the van. A new name might be judicious considering what was here. Four bodies. It’d been two days since he’d killed Boda. The man had been greedy, had planned to retake Blue after changing his mind and tracking down Sassik. The three provosts had thought a Scav would be a good sacrifice to the swathe, and wanted Blue to be theirs. Evil men.
Sassik didn’t like killing and neither did he, though he was probably better at it than most.
Tossing them in the Chasm would not have made the Aerthe happy. She ate those she had to, not random corpses. He hauled out the first and dragged him to the crevasse he’d found, rolled him in.
Good riddance.
He wasn’t sure if Sassik had wished but he could guess. Aerthe would’ve grabbed the Ramm anyway, with it so close to her naked maw. She hated the invaders. Still, she would appreciate having a Caretaker who believed.
He hadn’t. He’d thrown his enemy into the Chasm, years ago. Big mistake.
His penance as Caretaker was over.
He understood what Aerthe truly was better than most.
A vicious, frightful, caring beast of a world. She protected what was hers, as men did with their pets.
After he was done, he cleaned his spectacles and drove off, following the road wherever it might lead him.
GLOSSARY
A
Aerthe – a world recovering from a great war. All the cities were destroyed, the countries were obliterated, and many of the advances of civilization were lost when the Mekkers landed and invaded. The world is alive with a magic rooted in the world itself. Though Mekkers have tapped into this to power their swathes, the mechlings, and some later military tech, the world is forever striving to eliminate them – much as a body would destroy a viral invader.
F
Factor H
A substance said to be needed by only Mekkers that is depleted from their bodies merely by them living on Aerthe. It can be extracted from humans in quantities far greater than can be found in grounders or Scavs. Theories as to why it isn’t depleted in other people are many and as yet unverified. The Mekkers have not, yet, divulged such information.
G
Gorr religion – they worship the stars and a star is their symbol.
Grounder – one of the two major classes of people native to Aerthe. Grounder is a descriptive term for those living a static existence rather than a term for a specific race. Physically there is little difference, though scavs tend to be fairer of hair and skin. Grounders mine, manufacture, trade and farm, and prefer to live in one place. There are more grounders than scavs but they are less warlike. Most live in towns, some run trading caravans. They trade with Mekkers and Scavs.
J
Jagg – eight-legged beasts that go through several phases before becoming adults. Scavs use the adults as riding animals. When in the younger, carnivorous phase, they are also used as guard animals. Blood-bonding is a feature of their relationship with people.
L
Landship – an enormous vehicle, often as large as a ship or larger. A swathe is comprised of many landships travelling together.
Long gun
Preferred weapon of the Scavs – powered by waik crystals, with projectiles powered by shoom. The metal used in their manufacture is mined by grounders and responds to thought and meditation. Decorations on the surface of such weapons emerge over time as the weapon gets to know its owner. Power, accuracy, and general specifications, improve with use.
M
Mechling – a small Mekker robot powered by power cells that are a refined version of waik crystals. Though not manufactured to be sentient, some eventually go ‘sun-mad’ and become self-aware.
On the world of Aerthe, humans can ‘hear’ the thoughts of mechlings and mechs such as JI.
Mekker – a space-faring race that invaded Aerthe, taking down all the major civilizations, destroying all cities. Neither side won the war – in reality all lost. Mekkers are seen as an invading foreign organism by the world of Aerthe. They travel and live in the swathes and must keep moving or the natural defenses of the planet gather and kill them.
Moons – the world of Aerthe has two moons.
P
Physician – a doctor who can use the magic of Aerthe to heal. They also use some of what would be called normal doctoring techniques.
Power Cell – manufactured from waik crystals by Mekkers; these power the swathes, as well as mechling and mechs.
R
Ramm – a flying Mekker war vessel that is launched from a swathe. Larger than a Sniker, able to travel great distances, and more powerful than a Sniker.
Royal Swathe – the swathe in which the king lives in.
S
Scav – a nomadic, warlike race that lives from hunting, scavenges from the remains of the old civilizations, trades with grounders, and still hopes to defeat the Mekkers.
Shoom – a material that provides explosive energy to projectiles.
Sniker – a small, hovering, warcraft of the Mekkers.
Swathe – there are four living swathes – Royal Swathe, Lesser Swathe, Greater Swathe, and the Lost Swathe (which is no longer lost). These are comparable to a nomadic tribe, such as that of Attila the Hun on Earth. These moving cities are composed of several enormous wheeled and tracked landships, each containing thousands of people. Each holds what a city needs – parks, theaters, homes, prisons, markets, courts, as well as engine rooms, command centers, and armed forces. They mine the surface as they travel and never halt unless compelled to do so.
V
Vican – a purple, crow-like bird. Scavs use them to carry messages.
W
Waik crystal – a crystal mined from Aerthe and used to power vehicles, weapons, lights. Recharged by meditation, though the energy is sourced from Aerthe herself.
Warband – a tribe of Scavs.
Y
Yeger – a spiritual sage attuned to waik crystals. Among other abilities, he can sense waik crystals and can repower them by meditation.
About Cari Silverwood
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Cari Silverwood is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer of kinky darkness or sometimes of dark kinkiness, depending o
n her moods and the amount of time she’s spent staring into the night. When others are writing bad men doing bad things, you may find her writing good men who accidentally on purpose fall into the abyss and come out with their morals twisted in knots.
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Also by Cari Silverwood
The Machinery of Desire (post-apocalyptic star wars-esque series with kink, and dubcon/ noncom)
Acquired Possession
Claimed possession
Branded Possession
Fated Possession – a novella
Exquisite Possession
Dark Monster Fantasy
Prey
Steel
Blade
The Steamwork Chronicles Series (similar to The Machinery of Desire series)
Iron Dominance
Lust Plague
Steel Dominance
Preyfinders Series (kinky scifi with dubcon)
Precious Sacrifice
Intimidator
Defiler
Preyfinders – The Trilogy boxset
Preyfinders Universe
Cyberella – a spin-off novel
Dark Hearts Trilogy (contemporary BDSM and dubcon/ noncon series)
(Dark kinky fiction)
Wicked Ways
Wicked Weapon
Wicked Hunt
Wolfe – a spin-off novel from the Dark Hearts trilogy
Dark Hearts trilogy collection – contains Wicked Ways, Wicked Weapon, Wicked Hunt
Fated Possession Page 6