Pure Healing

by Aja James

  She darted a glance at his impassive face and couldn’t finish her thought.

  “Well,” she finally said. “You should rest as much as you can over the next day. For the thirty days after, we will share the inner chamber adjoining this Enclosure. We will both go about our days as usual with our mutual responsibilities, but... you will avail yourself to me when I need your Service.”

  Valerius gave a nod of assent. Tentatively, he reached out to her again, but she’d already turned away, leaving him alone in a flurry of silk.

  Valerius closed his eyes and fell to the nearest seat. He would do his damnest to meet her every desire. He would conquer his demons, his doubts, his fears. But there was one thing he couldn’t give her.

  The promise not to fall in love.

  *** *** *** ***

  Sophia startled from her doze when the chair next to her scraped against the floor as it got pulled back. Drowsily, she rubbed her eyes and blinked at the guy who took the seat beside her.

  And blinked some more.

  He was truly beautiful. And Sophia didn’t use that term lightly. She was surrounded by supernatural beings who were also supernaturally good looking, but this guy took the cake.

  Sophia liked to think of herself as a connoisseur of attractive people, men in particular. She appreciated their beauty rather like a devoted art lover

  appreciated the works of Renaissance masters, or like a lowly imperfect human prized the unattainable perfection.

  She had an adjective for every type of beauty. Tristan was gruffly handsome, in an affable golden retriever sort of way. Leonidas was striking. Valerius would be devastatingly gorgeous if not for his infallibly stoic demeanor. Alexandros was rather magnificent, and Dalair…

  Well, she hadn’t quite decided what he was. The word hadn’t been invented yet for what he was.

  But the guy beside her was definitely beautiful.

  Almost pretty, with his long dark curling lashes framing rich chocolate eyes so dark they were almost black, pale flawless skin and full French-kiss type of mouth. She could see that his hair was long, for it was pulled back in some sort of pony tail at the nape of his neck. Better to show off his fallen-angel visage, she supposed.

  His angular features, however, saved him from being too pretty. Those sharp cheekbones that could cut glass, the hard V of his jaw, the long muscles of his neck and the prominent Adam’s apple, even the slight widow’s peak at his hairline.

  “Hello,” the dark beauty greeted her, an enchanting lop-sided smile gracing his Expensive-Men’s-Colognemodel face.

  Sophia was not impressed by her own incoherent grunt of a response. It was not her brightest moment.

  His bewitching smile grew slightly wider and he leaned forward on his elbow on the table they shared in the school canteen, regarding her with warm amusement.

  “Are you a first year?” he asked in that lilting, slightly accented voice.

  “Unh,” Sophia grunted again in response. Really, her verbal prowess was mind boggling.

  “Where are you from?”

  “Why are you talking to me?” Sophia didn’t mean to blurt out the question, but she couldn’t help herself. Beautiful dark strangers didn’t usually seek her out for tête à têtes.

  He chuckled softly, baring perfect white teeth. “Can I not have a conversation with a lovely girl?” he teased her with a smile. “You are very lovely, you know.”

  Was he actually flirting? With her? Sophia looked to her left, then to her right. Nope. He didn’t seem to be talking to someone else.

  “What is your name?” he asked.

  “S-Sophia,” she managed to stutter her reply.

  “My name is Ere,” he returned, spelling out the letters in the air with one long, elegant finger.

  “Eh-ray,” Sophia repeated slowly, trying to roll the r slightly like he had.

  “Perrrfect,” he praised in encouragement, drawing out the rolling r like a feline purring.

  Sophia ducked her head as a blush suffused her face. This guy was really too much. She got hot all over just looking at him.

  He chuckled again as if amused by her

  embarrassment, then reached out to touch the stack of books on the table. “Ancient Chinese History, Ancient Egyptian Civilization, and Greek Mythology. What interesting course choices.”

  “Yeah,” Sophia muttered a bit defensively, “I like that sort of stuff.”

  “I like it too,” Ere responded quickly. “In fact, if you are taking Professor McGowen’s class, I am his teaching assistant.”

  “No way,” Sophia breathed with happy surprise. What were the chances that such an inhumanly beautiful creature would share a class with her? Well, and the forty other students.

  “Does that please you?” Ere asked, seeing how her expression brightened considerably.

  “Yeah,” she blurted out honestly, then added, “I mean, why wouldn’t it.”

  “I am glad,” Ere said in his angelic voice.

  Catching something out of the corner of his eye, he stood to leave. “It has been a pleasure meeting you, lovely Sophia. I shall look forward to seeing you in class.”

  As he departed, striding away in a long, loose, devilmay-care gait, he passed Dalair who was making his way toward Sophia’s table. The Paladin paused briefly in passing and turned to assess Ere with a scrutinizing look.

  Ere nodded in greeting and smiled a flippant smile, then walked out of the canteen and out of Sophia’s view, even as she craned her neck to watch after him.

  Dalair approached Sophia and sat in the chair Ere had used, asking without preamble, “What was that all about? Who is he?”

  Sophia lost the puppy-love look and turned away from her Elite guard. “None of your business,” she sniffed. “Do I have to report all my friends to you?”

  Dalair’s eyes narrowed. “Is he a friend?”

  Sophia shrugged. “Maybe. But not if you keep hovering so close you suck out all the oxygen in the room,” she groused.

  “I only came to take you to your next class,” Dalair explained with patience. He wondered whether she was this antagonistic to all her guards. “If it pleases you, I will ask no more about him. But tell me this, what is his name?”

  “Why? So you can Google him and do a background check?”

  At Dalair’s impassive expression, Sophia rolled her eyes. “Fine. His name is Ere. E-R-E. Don’t know his last name, but I’ll find out soon enough since he’s going to be my Ancient Egyptian Civilization class’s teaching assistant.”

  Dalair nodded, letting it go at that. Speaking more about this Ere would only incite her temper further.

  He tried to help her rise, but she brushed him off, getting to her feet on her own, shoving her books into her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

  “Don’t stand so close,” Sophia ordered. “People might think we’re together.”

  “And that is a problem why?” Dalair inquired, sincerely curious.

  She rolled her eyes again.

  Dalair was really disenchanted with this teenage American habit.

  “How am I supposed to get a boyfriend if you’re always underfoot?” she asked acidly.

  Dalair’s eyebrows lifted a notch. “You wish for a boyfriend?”

  “Hypothetically speaking,” Sophia ground out. “Just because I can’t throw away my virginity at the closest dick on hand doesn’t mean I can’t date.”

  Dalair frowned with concern, more at her desire to date than at her language. “You know that is unwise,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” she replied in a small voice, the anger seeping out of her like air out of a balloon. “But sometimes I just want to be a normal girl. This Queen of the Pure Ones business isn’t a cake walk. Sometimes I wish…”

  He waited patiently for her to finish her train of thought.

  Finally she said, “I wish people weren’t around me because they had to be, but because they wanted to be. I wish people treated me like a normal human girl rather tha
n some long-awaited ruler who’s going to save the universe.”

  As he digested that, she pushed passed him and threw behind her back, “Don’t follow too closely. And stay out of sight.”

  Dalair hesitated, then obeyed her wishes.

  Duty or desire, it didn’t matter. He would always be around her, to comfort her, protect her, even though she didn’t want it, even though he sometimes couldn’t bear it.

  Chapter Five The formal bonding ritual between the Healer and her chosen Consort took place on the eve of the third day, concluding the Rite of the Phoenix.

  The Royal Zodiac gathered above ground, in the starlit glass dome of the Christian Science cathedral to attend as witnesses to the ceremony, just as they would for any Mating ritual between two of their kind, as they were so rare and special. They formed a broad ring around Valerius, Rain, and the master of ceremony, Ayelet, each member holding a large, brightly blazing candle.

  Valerius, naked but for the ceremonial cloth around his loins, knelt on one knee before the Healer, who stood wreathed in flowing white robes, bowed his head in reverence, both his hands grasping both of hers as Ayelet recited the ancient vows:

  In Darkness and Light, in Life and Death Two souls will join to share One Path With heart and mind, and every breath You become each other’s present and past What the future holds only the Goddess can see Paved by the choices you both shall make Step by step toward your Destiny In Bond Eternal that none shall break

  Valerius raised his gaze to his Phoenix Mate and solemnly gave his pledge, “My body, my blood, my life are yours. I live to Serve none other but you. Rain. Take from me the Nourishment you crave. Let me become your strength, your protection, and fulfill your every need. I offer you all that I am, all that I was, all that I ever shall be.”

  A few startled gasps broke the silence of the room, and Rain’s eyes filled with tears as she heard her Consort’s heart-wrenching words.

  He had spoken the pledge for a true Mating ritual, not the Phoenix Bonding Ritual that promised no future beyond the next thirty days. Though words were just words and imparted no magical bond, she knew the Protector never spoke lightly. Surely he could not mean what he said. Surely he knew that their union would be but a fleeting moment in the long existence they had led and would continue to lead.

  Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Rain responded quietly, “I accept you as my Consort, Valerius Marcus Ambrosius. For the next thirty days, I will take your Nourishment. For the next ten years, I shall have no other. I accept you with everything that I have been and everything that I am.” With those words, she pushed a ring of Tiger’s Eye onto Valerius’ left ring finger. The band automatically adjusted to fit his width.

  Valerius’ jaw clenched at the pain that obliterated him as she withheld any promise of her future. Though he knew he was merely her Consort and not her Mate, in his heart he made no distinction. He knew as surely as he breathed that there would be no other for him but Rain, though she’d taken many Consorts in the past and would take many more males in the years to come. It was her fate as the Healer of his race. And it was his to yearn for her, but never receive.

  Ayelet placed her hands on theirs and gave a reassuring squeeze. “Cherish each other for the time you have. May the Goddess be with you both.”

  Valerius rose to his full height, head and shoulders above the reed-thin Healer. Though the customary seal of the bond was with a kiss, he could not bring himself to do so.

  He didn’t think his heart could withstand it. Instead, he pulled his female into the warm strength of his embrace and cradled her silvery white head against his chest.

  Rain inhaled the Protector’s intoxicating scent deeply and sighed.

  Her arms wound around his lean waist and she held on with everything she had. For the first time in all the centuries of her existence, she felt like she was finally home.

  *** *** *** ***

  “What do you make of the Phoenix Bonding Ritual?” Orion asked Eveline as they wound their way down the spiral staircase to the underground library.

  “It was most unusual, the pledge that the Protector gave,” Eveline replied with deep concern. “He was not supposed to have promised her his future.”

  Orion nodded. “I agree. I wonder at the cause of it. I’ve seen no indication over the last ten years that Valerius even wanted to be Consort to the Healer. In fact, he’d seemed most resistant up until the ceremony.”

  Eveline sighed, shaking her head. “True, but sometimes, resistance only leads to the inevitable. Perhaps he always knew he would take the role.”

  “You know,” Orion said, suddenly pausing on the second to last step, “this ritual and the attack on Valerius a few days ago echo something eerily familiar in my mind. In the Fourth Cycle of our Goddess, just before the Great War five millennia ago, one of our kind’s greatest warriors was almost lost to us in an assassination attempt. Shortly thereafter, just as the first battle erupted, he became the then Healer’s Consort. But that was the last mention of him in the history tomes, though every Consort the previous Healer had since was accounted for, their bravery in the war described in full.”

  “Yes, I recall you mentioning this when we went through the scrolls a few days ago,” Eveline responded, hurrying to her Orb of Prophesies, a large crystal globe levitating in the middle of the library above a step dais with twelve raised spikes, like metallic claws that held the orb in place.

  As the Seer approached, the globe swirled darkly, as if stormy clouds gathered beneath its surface. She placed both hands gently on the translucent shell and closed her eyes.

  Orion reached for the large, leather bound book on a stand beside the orb and held it ready to take down her words. The words therein would become part of the Pure Ones’ Zodiac Prophesies.

  Slowly, the clouds within the orb eased apart as if spread by the heat of her fingertips, revealing two bright balls of green and red flame. The marble-sized spheres circled each other in a hypnotic dance, around and around, spiraling together brightly, almost joyfully.

  Then, without warning, they slammed together and melded into one, half red, half green, with the flames forming a pattern like the Classic Taoist Taijitu symbol for yin and yang. But their harmony only lasted a brief moment before the green consumed the red and burst apart in a flash of blinding light. Thus, the globe descended into black opacity once more.

  “ Upon her choice, the future rests. To welcome the Darkness or create a New Light, only her heart can show the rest,” Eveline intoned with her eyes still closed.

  Orion scribbled the words down rapidly as she spoke and frowned over them trying to decipher their meaning.

  Releasing a deep breath, Eveline disengaged from the globe and moved to stand beside Orion, looking over his shoulder at the words she herself did not recall, even though she’d uttered them only moments before.

  She read the words in silence and tapped her chin. “We should look at these phrases with the ones from the other day,” she suggested, turning the page back to find the recordings of her previous glimpse into the possible future.

  “ With his surrender, the sacrifice is made. Death is near and Darkness surrounds, as the race’s Adversary raises its blade,” the Seer and the Scribe read aloud together, then flashed hot and cold as the haunting words washed over them.

  “Surely this pertains to Valerius and Rain,” Orion said slowly, almost in a whisper, as if speaking too loudly would awaken some calamity.

  “But what choice must she make?” asked Eveline. “Has she already made it by choosing him as her Consort?”

  “If so,” Orion followed her train of thought, “then the future is already written.”

  “And what is this Adversary the prophesies warn us of?” Eveline continued, starting to wear a path down the thick sheepskin rug covering the library floor.

  “Whatever it is, we must regard it with the same foreboding and significance as the Great War,” Orion determined grimly. “History is repeating itself, I a
m sure of it.”

  “But will it lead to a bleaker or better tomorrow?” the Seer asked softly, looking into the fire that blazed in the hearth before them.

  That he could not answer, Orion thought, brows drawn together.

  No one could.

  *** *** *** ***

  That night Rain entered the inner chamber of the Phoenix Enclosure to find her Consort already waiting, standing before a massive floor-to-ceiling landscape mural that looked so real and vibrant it seemed to be the window to a living, magical world beyond. He seemed freshly washed, and he stood naked from head to toe, beads of moisture still clinging to his golden-brown skin.

  Rain paused in the doorway just to watch him for a while, unobserved. She would never tire of gazing upon his long, lean body. She wanted to memorize every line and contour, every muscle and sinew. Unconsciously, her fangs elongated as her eyes hungrily drank him in. He was everything she had ever dreamed, everything she had ever wanted.

  As always, Valerius sensed the Healer’s presence before he saw her. He could feel her hot gaze on his back, could feel it slide over his naked skin like a lover’s hands, from his shoulder blades to his buttocks, to the back of his thighs, his calves, and ankles.

  He grew long and hard in response, his manhood jutting to his navel and throbbing achingly for her attention. Heat suffused his neck and face at his own helpless reaction. He clenched his fists against the urge to cup himself, to squeeze so hard, the pain would temporarily relieve this tortuous, hollow ache within.

  It was always thus when she was near. He never understood why he only felt this way around Rain, but it seemed as if he were made for her.

  Made to Serve her every need.

  Softly, she approached to stand beside him, shifting her gaze to the silken mural that formed an entire wall of the Enclosure.

  “It changes with the cycle of the sun and moon,” she said conversationally, referring to the landscape before them. “When daylight arrives, you will see songbirds flitting across a blue sky filled with wisps of white clouds instead of the pair of swans gliding across the cool darkness of the nighttime lake.”