by Jen Robyn
They moved together as smoothly as the ocean waves, their voices blending softly as they did.
Spurred on by their passion, the pair allowed their desire to carry them through a whirlwind sea of emotions. When they soared over the final crest, she murmured Dominick’s name, complementing his ecstatic reply.
Still clasping him to her, Julianna’s head fell forward against his shoulder, tired again but blissful as she felt him kiss her neck and whisper endearments that she couldn’t quite hear. The tenderness there was enough, she decided, still feeling a bit dazed as he shifted her in his arms slightly to carry her from the waters.
To her surprise, she glanced down to see them garbed in their swimsuits again. How on Earth does he keep doing that? she wondered absently.
As he knelt to place her gently on the sands, settling down beside her, while continuing to hold her close, Julianna felt such a wave of contentment and happiness flood through her, she decided to finally tell him of her feelings. Regardless of the outcome, at least she’d always have tonight to hold onto with fond remembrance.
“Dominick...”
“Shhh,” he interrupted, placing a finger against her lips. “Before you say a word, I wish to continue our earlier conversation regarding what I said about being unsure of our relationship as it stands now. Julianna, after tonight, I’m even more convinced of this, since it seems to have gotten so... well, out-of-control very quickly and unexpectedly.”
Her love-filled heart now felt close to shattering, and she could only pray he wouldn’t notice the shudder that tore through her. He was about to sunder their relationship, and here she’d been about to tell him that she loved him.
Again, I’m a fool! her mind mocked her.
“I understand,” she told him softly.
Dominick stared at her in surprise. “You do?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Will you leave now, or wait until this dream ends?” As his eyes widened silently, she bit her lip and continued. “I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t mind waiting, since I’ll certainly miss you in the future. Unless... maybe it would be better for you to just leave now, and break things off quickly.”
“No,” he interrupted.
“No, meaning you’ll stay until I wake up?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “I meant no, as in I don’t want to lose you at all,” he said seriously. “Julianna, I don’t know where you got the idea that I wanted to leave you after tonight, but I can assure you I don’t. I happen to love you, my little temptress, and if you think I’m just going to sit back and let you share our intimacies with some other oaf like Roger Collins, then you’re out of your pretty little mind!”
“You what?” she gasped, her heart nearly stopping in anxious anticipation.
“You heard me, Julianna. I won’t allow another to...”
“No,” she interrupted. “Before that. When you called me a temptress, you said that you...”
“That I love you?” he asked gently, earning a silent nod. His expression softened with a smile. “Yes. I love you, Julianna Sherborne,” he murmured, kissing her tenderly. “And of course I want to keep seeing you, whether for long chats, candle lit dinners, or anything else.”
“For how long?” she ventured.
Dominick’s eyes held hers. “Indefinitely,” he whispered. “I wish to see you night after night.” His elation was soon dampened upon seeing tears in his companion’s eyes. “Julianna? What have I said to upset you now? I thought...”
“No, no,” she laughed, brushing her eyes clear. “I’m not upset; it’s just the opposite. You see, that’s what I wanted to tell you before. I love you too.”
After a brief pause, Dominick echoed her laughter, pulling her close to kiss her cheek. “I think it’s safe to say we deserve each other,” he told her, noting thankfully that her shining eyes were happy again. He reached forward to clasp her hands, kissing them quickly. “My lady, this night is only the beginning. I promise I’m going to make all our future evenings as wonderful as this one.”
Tears blurred her vision again, although her smile shone through them. “How could any evening be other than wonderful as long as you’re with me?” she whispered.
In response, he embraced her again, rocking her gently in his arms as he gestured for the music to play softly again, both content with the revelation of their shared love. Dominick knew it would surely cause its own problems, and his grandfather would never understand. But despite his daytime separations from Julianna that loomed before him, he could only see that a few hours with her each night would be more precious to him than all the fulltime availability of any woman Chaos might prefer for him, including Sionne.
When daybreak prepared to separate the lovers again with its disturbing inevitability, it no longer mattered to the pair. Even as they kissed with a familiar desperate longing, feeling themselves gradually losing touch with each other, they knew it would only be a brief separation until the morrow would reunite them. The truth of their love remained strength enough until then.
Gone were any other worries.
Chapter Nine
“Gone?” Dual snarled, the next morning. “What do you mean he’s gone?” The man beside him fumbled at an attempt to reply, and the angry dreamphaser gave him a quick shake. “You were told to keep him here!”
“I-I didn’t know he’d sneak out in the middle of the night,” stammered the innkeeper. “I posted a man at the door.”
“But not the window,” drawled Quell, gesturing towards the telltale breeze whooshing through a pair of swinging shutters. “I’ll say this for Alarius; he’s certainly got more guts than I pegged him for.”
“And more stupidity,” hissed Dual, tossing the innkeeper to the floor roughly. Glaring at the cowering man, he added maliciously, “You’re lucky I’m not in the mood to kill you for that same offense, you spineless idiot. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind!” The innkeeper gave a quick nod and vanished, leaving Quell chuckling in his absence. Dual wasn’t pleased. “Listen to your name and quell your amusement, so we can deal with the matter at hand.”
“Alarius? Be serious, Dual. He’s a desperate man, but he can’t have gotten far.”
The dreamphaser sneered. “You’re as foolish as he is if you believe that. An elf in hiding could take days or even weeks to uncover.”
“Foolish is the way you decided to handle this whole affair,” replied Quell. “By the netherworld, we should have just reasoned with Alarius and paid what he needs in exchange for that damned map. He’s no doubt gone to find the treasure immediately, and after that, he’ll probably have words with Dominick, and...”
“Quiet!” thundered Dual, his gray eyes nearly glowing red. “It seems to matter little to you that the map was mine, before that accursed dreamphaser stole it out from under me to give to his simpleminded friend who’s just escaped with it. Alarius has no right to those treasures!”
As expected, Quell deemed it best not to comment further, knowing the dark dreamphaser’s mind was closed once more to the merits of reasoning.
Reasoning! Dual sneered, as he often did with this subject. When had that approach ever proven useful? Ever since he was a child, Dual had developed a dislike against such foolishness, remembering how the tactic hadn’t helped his prematurely deceased mother.
She’d been killed by his late father’s hand.
Not too surprising, since the man that sired him had been part demon himself, not to mention a corrupt and well-known assassin among the darker inhabitants of Chavernos. His mother, while by no means a saint, hadn’t deserved what transpired over the years any more than her son did. Formerly a chorus girl in a tavern, she became enamored of the handsome dark-eyed assassin who frequented the place due to an admiration of her equally appealing form.
To the surprise of everyone, he married her.
To no one’s surprise, six months later, Dual was born.
Over the next several years, constant fights escalated within th
at stormy household. Dual’s father made no secret of his many affairs with other women during missions to rid clients of ‘unwanted’ disturbances. To this end, his wife made frequent attempts to reason with him, asking him to refrain from all of this, meeting with no long-term success.
Finally, her anger boiled over one night, threatening her husband that she’d have an affair herself, since he wasn’t being faithful. Shouting that he’d kill her if she did, his father nearly beat her senseless that night.
Dual had been four years old when he accidentally witnessed the whole scene from the nearby staircase.
And then his father noticed him.
The boy, young as he was, could only see his mother curled up in pain, crying out as he ran towards her. When his father attempted to grab his arm, Dual began to beat his little fists against him angrily, not seeing the anger forming in the elder one’s eyes. His mother did see it, and out of maternal instinct, tried to hold back her violent husband from venting his anger on the child. She failed, as with one blow, he rendered her unconscious.
Dual never forgot the beating he’d received from the man’s hands that night, nor the many that followed over the next several years. After that night, his mother lived in fear, her husband threatening each night to come after them should they attempt to leave. Despite the weakened spirit his mother had been beaten into, the boy still loved her, promising to find a way to free them both one day.
A way which seemed to appear, when Dual turned eight.
A stranger came to them seeking food and shelter for the night, and since Dual’s father was off on another of his assassination missions, his mother welcomed what could only be more pleasant company. The stranger proved to be a far kinder man, meeting quick approval by both mother and son. He visited them whenever Dual’s father was absent, which was often.
Six months later, Dual’s mother planned their escape to hopefully have a chance at a better life elsewhere.
That chance never came.
Having just been informed by a close ally of his wife’s affair, Dual’s father returned unexpectedly in the middle of the night to find the pair asleep together in a most compromising manner. Slamming the door, he awakened them instantly, wasting no time before beating his wife’s lover nearly unconscious. Running to his side, she covered his battered body with her own, crying so much that she never saw her son peek through the door.
Having been frightened awake by the noise, Dual watched silently as his mother pleaded with his father to release her from their farce of a marriage, begging him to let them all leave in peace. Once again, an attempt at reasoning. For a brief moment, the boy thought that surely his father would agree, since it would benefit everyone—including his father, who could be free with his many other women again.
Dual’s innocent mind never expected—or could ever erase—what did follow.
Swearing to see them damned in the netherworld first, and ignoring his wife’s screams, Dual’s father ran his razor-sharp sword through both, slaying them instantly.
The boy screamed as his father wrenched the sword free, only to stab them again for reassurance.
Afterwards, the man turned to Dual with a malicious smile, using gentle words to coax the scared boy closer. Despite his young age, the boy was no fool. He ran from the room and the house, escaping in spite of his father’s attempts to catch him. Only his father’s loud curses met his ears as Dual swore that night to return one day to kill the man who’d murdered his mother and the man who had been like a father to him.
More than twelve years passed, while Dual maintained secrecy in the home of a gruff but brilliant assassin sorcerer, before his day for vengeance arrived. Not trusting to magic completely, Dual learned the talents of assassins instead, doing mercenary missions of his choosing, while also honing his dreamphasing powers—a gift inherited from his mother—in order to locate his father.
In spite of his desire for vengeance, during the latter of these years, his travels took him through a small village, where he met a beautiful young girl named Caralei. Her golden hair shone as brightly as her smile and her eyes. Eyes that followed him long after he left, which prompted his return.
Since she was drawn to him as well, he befriended her, although using his alternate name, lest she accidentally be placed in danger. Also, for this reason, he generally visited her in secret. It helped when he became friends with her brother Quell, who would sometimes relay messages.
For a time, in spite of Dual’s chosen profession, Caralei provided a bright shard of sunlight in his life, and over time, they fell in love.
In the meantime, Dual located his father, biding his time until the moment was right. With the sorcerer’s help, he obtained a slow poison to drug the remorseless man, allowing him to remain alive just long enough for him to witness his vengeful son run him through with his sword.
For several months, Dual thought he could finally pick up his life and go on now that he’d avenged his mother’s death. Having put the matter at rest, Dual’s whole manner improved. He became betrothed to Caralei, keeping it secret between them for now, while planning to put his assassin days behind him and reside in peace.
This wasn’t to be.
With his guard lowered, dark allies of his late father found revenge of their own, slaying the sorcerer, as well as his few friends from a nearby village.
But it was what followed that shattered whatever good remained in his soul.
In spite of his secrecy, it seemed someone betrayed him. On the eve of his wedding, the same vengeful assassins discovered Caralei’s village, setting it aflame. Turning to a trusted friend from Barokka to see her safely away, Dual saw to killing the assassins and took out the majority of them.
His victory was short-lived when he saw the assassin leader holding a knife to Caralei’s throat, his friend nowhere in sight. If that wasn’t enough, the leader took great pleasure in giving the credit for the attack to the missing man. Even when his friend appeared soon after, Dual knew that he was the only one who’d known where Caralei was, their secret wedding plans, and Dual’s alternate identity.
Dual tried to bargain for Caralei’s life, saying that they’d taken enough lives in exchange for his father’s most miserable one, and that he’d rather give his own life than see an innocent girl die.
The assassin leader killed her anyway.
His heart shattered as it had when he’d seen his mother killed years ago.
Caralei’s brother Quell, who had been out of town, arrived at the last minute and was a more difficult adversary to contend with. His ability to paralyze people instantly downed the few remaining assassins, and since he’d loved his sister too, he and Dual took great pleasure in killing them.
However, no vengeance could bring back the lost soul they’d both held dear.
Nor would Dual ever forgive the man who he knew had betrayed them, whom from that day forth he regarded as an enemy.
That night left scars upon both Dual and Quell that they would share forever.
Followed by endless years of corruption.
They became well-known assassins, assisting those of evil more and more. In time, their names became feared among all law-abiding citizens of Chavernos, so it was with no great loss to most when they departed to reside on the island of Barokka. There, they still caused havoc, but it was more contained, since the multi-abilitied supernatural ruler’s nearly unlimited powers could banish both permanently if he chose to.
If that happened, no reasoning would change his mind.
Reasoning! Dual thought again, as his thoughts returned to the present. Forever a meaningless, useless ploy. After his sister Caralei’s murder, Dual was increasingly surprised that Quell still considered it.
After all, hadn’t he tried reasoning last night? Dual questioned, remembering how Alarius had supposedly ‘agreed’ to give up the map peacefully.
“Reasoning is for fools,” he said curtly. “Remember your sister, if you believe otherwise, Quell.” His words
brought pained remembrance to his ally’s face. “And if we’re to find that map before that fool Alarius gets any farther, we’d best find him now.” A bitter smile twisted his expression. “And when we do, maybe we should teach him the price of betrayal.” Nodding once in dark resolve, he leaned against the wall. “Yes, it would seem, Quell, that poor Alarius’s family might just miss him in the future after all.”
*****
Darkness was the farthest thing from Dominick’s mind, if one discounted the times he traveled through the strands of space to reach his Earthly companion. On the contrary, in the evenings that followed, he made good on his promise to keep their evenings interesting.
One night, Dominick took her ice skating, although she was a novice. He proved to be a good teacher, soon having her soaring across the ice as he held her, and she even managed to skate on her own for a bit. Not that she didn’t prefer being held in the warm embrace of her tutor, whom she gladly went back to.
Afterwards, they toasted marshmallows over a campfire, which in reality would have melted the ice, but in this case, just provided pleasant warmth.
As Julianna leaned against her companion’s shoulder, eyes closed happily, she started when her back was nudged. “Dominick, cut that out,” she told him.
“Cut what out?” he laughed. “I thought you wanted another marshmallow.”
“I mean…” Opening her eyes to realize he wasn’t responsible, she turned slowly, her eyes widening. “Polar bear!” she screamed, while Dominick bolted around to face the creature staring at them with a muffled roar.
“By Chaos, where did he come from?” he gasped, as Julianna shot behind him to clutch him fearfully.
“You mean this wasn’t your idea?”
“Julianna, why would I conjure up a polar bear while we’re spending time together?”
“I don’t know, but you do go for the unusual stuff.”