Draeis did a low bow of his head. “Draeis, son of Veldulinahr, milady.”
“Wow, they do drill all of the proper shit into you, don’t they? Just Eielawyn. No milady, Draeis.” Eielawyn smiled seductively at him, but Faeswyn quickly walked to stand by him. It was old fashioned, but it was the universal sign to other women that he was hers. And he was.
Eielawyn smiled shyly. “Understood,” she said with a small nod to Faeswyn. “Why are you here? In Yaesdrah? Now is definitely not the time to come for a holiday.”
“Why are you alive?” Glywyn asked her again. “Your family mourned for you. There’s a damn plaque at the high school in your honor. It tells about how Eielawyn, clan of Nelglis, was killed in a horrific mover accident. You went over an embankment. I sang at the one-year memorial of your death.”
“You sing?” asked Draedon.
Glywyn frowned at him, waving her hand to dismiss his question until later. “All this time you were living here in Yaesdrah? Why?”
“Seriously?” Eielawyn asked with a raised eyebrow. “And I suppose you went willingly to the registration?”
“Well…Yes, I did.” Glywyn said. “But only because I didn’t want the guards to come after my family.”
“And you?” Eielawyn asked Faeswyn.
Faeswyn shrugged. “Oh, I ran. Technically.”
Eielawyn nodded. “Why are you here? Hundreds of people have come to the gate to try and get into Yaeltaran. People feel that something is about to happen. Something big. The rumor is that King Gaeldos has finally gone crazy, and the queen with him. We’ve heard that he’s sending entire families to the Gonwrath Tombs. People are fleeing out of Teveoch, into Balknae, Zinvia, and even further west into the unknowns. Those people out there.” She pointed to the door. “They’re not standing in line for hours at a time to go sightseeing. Their scared shitless.”
“Hours?” Draeis said, looking worriedly to Draedon.
“Fuck,” Faeswyn said ominously. “I can’t hold my glamour for that long, guys.”
“What are we going to do?” Glywyn asked Draedon. He put his arm protectively around her.
“Well, I believe that’s why the goddesses led you to my shop,” Eielawyn said. “I’m going to help you.”
“It’s your gift,” Faeswyn said. “What is it?” She smiled knowingly at Eielawyn.
“I can suggest and read thoughts.” Eielawyn said with a sly smile. “And you can glamour. Is that all?”
“As far as I know. I only have one. But to have two. Wow.”
Eielawyn nodded to Glywyn. “And you?”
“I have the gift of dreams,” Glywyn said with a smile.
“You have a gift?” Draeis asked. “All Mocmoran have this?”
Eielawyn shook her head. “No. Only vaedra, and usually only one gift depending on your lineage. I have two grandmothers that were vaedra.”
“I have a grandmother and a great-grandmother who were,” Faeswyn said.
“I have no idea. I think I might have a grandmother that was vaedra,” Glywyn offered. “I didn’t know I was vaedra until a few years ago, and I didn’t know anything about my gift until I told Faeswyn about my dream.”
“Your dream?” Eielawyn asked, staring intensely at her. “What kind of dream?”
Glywyn looked around at the rest of them. Faeswyn nodded to her, as did Draedon. “It’s all right, baby,” Draedon said to her. “Tell her.”
“I had this dream months ago. Before we found Faeswyn. Draedon, Theoch, and I were staying in this old cabin. It was when—”
“When Gaeldos had a hit out on you all,” said Eielawyn. She looked around at the four pairs of eyes staring at her. “I do watch the news, you know.”
“Well,” continued Glywyn, “there was this house. It was like a log home, like I used to see in these magazines I used to look at when I was a girl, with lots of tall windows. The area was green and mountainous—”
“Yaeltaran,” said Eielawyn.
Glywyn nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t know that until Faeswyn told me. I’ve never been to Yaeltaran before. But I was walking up to the house, and Theoch was smiling and waving down to me from a window in the house. I remember how happy I felt in the dream. It was weird, because I don’t usually have such intense feelings in my dreams. But then Theoch and Draedon were standing beside me. They were touching my belly. I was pregnant. I know I’m pregnant now, but back then I wasn’t. Then in the next instant in the dream, I was laying in this bed on fur blankets holding this baby. I knew she was a girl. I felt it. Theoch and Draedon were smiling down at me and the baby, and I knew without any doubt that they both were the fathers of my baby. I looked at her chubby leg and there was this birthmark on it of two swords intertwined with a heart.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Eielawyn, falling to her knees in front of Glywyn. “By the goddesses.”
Faeswyn was smiling and nodding her head, knowing what Eielawyn was feeling at that moment. Draeis was also on his knees, and looked up at Glywyn with glassy eyes.
“It is foretold,” Draeis said as he and Eielawyn stood.
“Yes.” Glywyn nodded. “Faeswyn told me about the ancients and what it says about a child that will lead Ai out of all of this war. A true ruler of Ai.”
“We have to get you into Yaeltaran,” said Eielawyn. “You have to have the baby there. It’s foretold, and I’m not about to go against fate or the ancients.”
Faeswyn felt an anticipation in her belly. Butterflies were flitting about inside of her. Whatever was foretold was about to happen and they would all have a part to play in it. “What’s your plan?”
Eielawyn looked around at them all. “The guards are more prevalent around noon. Now,” she said, glancing at one of the many clocks she had in the back storage room. “I say you head out early tomorrow morning before most of those that couldn’t get into Yaeltaran come back. Faeswyn can glamour you. I’ll take care of the guards and the crowds so you can get to the front of the line before her glamour wears off. I can use suggestion on three at a time. More than that and things start to go a little wonky. I once tried it on six at a time. Just as a test. I tried to make these guys dance with each other at this party I was at. It didn’t go too well. I could only hold the suggestion on three of them. The other three, instead of dancing with each other, they started to fight. It was a mess. So the earlier you go, the less guards I’ll have to control, and the better your chances of getting through before everything goes back to normal.”
“And until then?” Faeswyn asked. “I mean, is there a place for us to stay in town?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Eielawyn said. “Yaesdrah is a tourist town, but they try to play up the small seaside village theme. There are only two motels. They’re filled. One hotel. Filled. And three inns. All filled. So in other words…nothing. But I have a room upstairs. Before I turned this place into my shop, it used to be my house. There’s a bedroom, a small living space, and a bathroom up there. You’re more than welcome.” Eielawyn walked closer to Glywyn, taking her hands into her own. “I would do anything in the world to help the parents of the true ruler of Ai. I’m truly honored.”
“You’re making me feel really weird,” said Glywyn. “But thank you.”
“Yes,” said Faeswyn. “Thank you, Eielawyn.”
They followed Eielawyn up the stairs to the small apartment. She promised to bring them something to eat later that evening. Theoch showed up a few minutes after she’d left, and they spent some time filling him in on what had happened and what their plans were.
Faeswyn knew that they were being guided by the goddesses. They were all sent down a path to guide Glywyn, Draedon, and Theoch to fulfill the prophecy. Gaeldos was scared. It was why he’d sent more guards to the borders. Why he was scared was something Faeswyn wished she knew. Why did he want Theoch, Draedon, and Glywyn dead? But getting them into Yaeltaran was the important thing. For now.
Chapter Eight
Faeswyn lay in the living room on the small bed Eiela
wyn had asked the men to pull up from the storage room. Glywyn, Theoch, and Draedon had taken the bedroom in the back with the two twin beds. It was quiet but not late. She was restless. She knew that was the reason she couldn’t sleep. That and sleeping only three feet away from the sofa Draeis was sleeping on.
She turned over in the bed, only to see that the sofa was empty. She sat up, looking around the dark room for him. There was a small balcony on the back of the house that looked out onto a field of rocks and massive boulders before dropping down to meet the inlet of the sea. It was actually a very pretty scene if you disregarded the alley below, and the droning of the old garbage incendiary bins lining the alley for the homes and businesses.
There was a slight chill in the air, so she grabbed the quilt from the bed, and walked toward the balcony. Opening the door, she saw him sitting out on an old wooden bench. He saw her and smiled. She walked over to sit with him.
“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Too many things running through my head.” He sighed. “I was thinking about my mother and my sister. I wish I could contact them and tell them I’m good. Hear how they’re doing.”
“Not here, Draeis. There are so many guards here in Yaesdrah. I’m sure they’re monitoring any and all transmissions,” she said, laying her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure they’re doing fine.”
“You’re right. We depend on technology so much. It seems we’re lost without it.”
She pulled her hair out of her face with her hand and nodded. “Have you ever thought about getting one of those telepathic seeds implanted? I hear a lot of highborn people are having it done in Morhais, Valwithia, and even in Balknae.”
Draeis chuckled softly. “Hell, no. I do not like pain. As you remember. The thought of someone opening my skull to implant something into my brain so I can telepathically speak to people? I’ll use the TCD. It was bad enough to have that thing implanted under the skin.”
She giggled softly, sitting closer to him. She could feel the heat of his body mixing with her own. “I used to think that if I had something like that, I could communicate with my family more.”
He turned to gaze at her. “Do you see them often?”
She shook her head. “Not often enough. They live in the town of Corathia in Valwithia. My sisters and their husbands, too. But once a year I either head to Valwithia, or they come down to Drisa for Goddess Dawn. At least we used to before all of this,” she said with a wave of her hand.
Draeis smiled broadly. “Goddess Dawn. I love that time of talal. That’s my favorite time of year.”
“Mine, too,” she said and snuggled closer to his body. “Last year my entire family came to my house for Goddess Dawn. My sisters and their families. My parents. It was so amazing. All the men went out to get the tree and we all decorated it. We hung goddess lights all around the house, and made mulled onan wine. I have two sisters, and they each have three kids. It was so fun. We all got up early on the day of the dawn to watch it.”
“Oh, man. I love watching that,” said Draeis. “I used to do that with my mom and sister. Ever since I was a small boy, my mother made a point of waking me and Tithia to watch the dawn. When I was younger I didn’t understand what all of the excitement was about.”
“Me either.”
“But as I got older, I started to appreciate it more. The beauty of it.”
“In Drisa you can see all of the colors at dawn. I think it’s because there aren’t so many manmade distractions around. But after we watch the dawn, we open all of the gifts and watch the kids play with what they got.”
“I’d love to see that. The dawn in Drisa.”
“I’d like that, too,” she said.
“Six kids in your house. Where did everyone sleep?”
“Everywhere,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t mind it. I love kids. You?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “There’s only me and my sister, but I always thought that when I found my soulmate we’d have a houseful of kids.”
Faeswyn couldn’t help but smile at him. “That’s good to know.”
His gaze didn’t waver from hers at all. He just sat next to her, gazing at her with a small smile on his lips. Then he pulled her lips to his with his hand at the back of her neck. His mouth was warm and his lips were soft and pliant. He pulled her into his kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to do that,” she whispered to him.
Draeis traced a finger under her chin, gazing passionately at her. “I don’t know why it took me so long, but I want more.”
Faeswyn smiled at him, moving to straddle his body. He looked surprised, but she only smiled, and placed his hands on her breasts. “I want you to touch me, Draeis.” She nodded, and he gazed down at where she’d placed his hands.
She began to grind her pelvis on his groin, willing him to harden under her body. “Kiss me, Draeis,” she said.
Draeis began to pull her lips to his, but she shook her head. “Not there. I want to feel your mouth, here,” she said, unbuttoning the front of her dress, pulling the straps of her bra off of her shoulders, and baring her breasts to him. Her large nipples immediately hardened in the brisk night air. His eyes became riveted on her firm, large tits, beckoning for him. But he didn’t refuse as he dipped his head and sucked hard on one, and then the other nipple.
They began to kiss passionately, stroking each other’s mouths with tongues, and discovering the warmth and depth of their passion. “Is this what you want?” she asked, putting his hands once again on her breasts.
Draeis nodded. He began massaging and caressing them in his hands. And then they were devouring one another again. She moaned softly into his mouth. But then she smiled seductively at him, standing up and taking hold of his hand and picking up the quilt. She led him into the house, stopping at the bed, dropping the quilt, and letting her dress fall off of her body to pool around her feet. Smiling seductively, she dropped to her knees in front of him. He gazed down at her, glancing with trepidation at the door to the small bedroom where Glywyn, Theoch, and Draedon were sleeping. He shook his head at her, trying to pull her up to stand with him, but she wasn’t about to comply.
She unfastened the front of his pants, disappointed at not seeing his erection. She looked up to see him with his eyes closed. But she wasn’t about to take flaccid for an answer. He’d been injured. He’d had an injuring that most men would resign themselves to believing they were less of the man they were. But maybe, she thought, his penis only needed to be reawakened. Maybe Draeis only needed to remember what pleasure was.
She pulled his penis out of his pants, holding him in her hands. Even flaccid he was impressive. His skin was gorgeously bronze, and he was thick and heavy in her palm.
“Faeswyn…No. Stop,” he protested.
She looked up at him. “No. I won’t.” She bent her head and took him into her mouth. He was warm and silky soft. She willed him to harden. She wanted it not only for herself, but for him. To show him that he was still the man he was before. And for a small second, she thought it was true. He was impotent. But only for a small second. Because in the next, his gorgeously thick, flaccid penis began to twitch, as if reanimating to life in her mouth.
“Oh, shit,” whispered Draeis.
She sucked on his cock as if she were infusing it with life. And with every flick of her tongue, every motion of her hand pumping along his shaft, his cock stiffened and grew.
“Look at that,” she said with a smile. “Broken, hell.”
Draeis pulled her up to stand with him, kissing her deeply. He hurriedly pulled her with him onto the sofa. She straddled his body once again, reaching her hand behind her to unhook her bra. She heard the small gasp he made, smiling at his reaction and at his body’s reaction, feeling the stiff erection under her. He buried his face in her breasts before hungrily sucking and licking them, like a man that had been denied a woman’s pleasure for too long.
“
By the goddesses, you’re beautiful,” he said.
“And so are you,” she said, kissing him deeply. “I love this, but I think we can do a whole lot more.”
“Why don’t we see about that?”
She giggled out loud as he lay her on the sofa, pulling at her panties in his haste to get them off. Faeswyn helped him by wiggling out of them. Draeis’ hands and lips were all over her at once. He was a man that had been starving. A man that thought he would never taste a woman again in his life. She knew it would be hurried. She didn’t care. She wanted him to feel that pleasure he thought he would never have again.
He lips kissed along her neck, and then he began to suck hungrily on her nipples, holding her large breasts in his hands as if he were feasting on them, licking around her flesh, and nipping gently at the tight pearls of her nipples.
She felt his hardened cock pressed against her thigh, but then he was on top of her, gazing down into her eyes with need, but also with much more than that. She felt him push inside of her, gasping softly at how amazing he felt.
“Holy shit,” he gasped. “I never thought I would feel anything as good as this in my life. You—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips, glancing over at the bedroom door a short distance away. “Shhh, baby.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said with a smile.
She saw him glance down between their bodies to watch himself enter her pussy. He smiled, gazing at her and then momentarily closing his eyes as if to savor each and every sensation he felt. Her hand went between her thighs, touching and feeling his cock pushing inside of her. The heightened sensation at of their wet coupling almost overwhelmed her as he sighed and moaned, taking pleasure in what he was giving to her.
But then they were both moaning in pleasure as Draeis thrust harder and faster, sending them both close to the edge. He moved inside of her body with expertise, hitting those spots that sent tingles throughout her body like small, electrical shocks. She felt it then. That warmth that began to encompass them both, enveloping them in her aura.
Faeswyn [The Maidens of Mocmoran 2] Page 8