by Leo Hull
“You what?!” Tristan asked, surprised at how much he cared what Nessa and Annik thought of him. His mouth felt suddenly dry at his dimming prospects with the two women.
“Stop whining and prove yourself. You bitch more now than I ever did as a fresh recruit.” Annik’s ribbing lacked bite and she walked off towards the tent without waiting for a reply.
Tristan should have been mad at how she’d ended the fight, but for some reason he suspected he owed Annik more than he was fully aware of. She didn’t have to bring this up at all, much less push him where he wanted to go.
Also, it was hard to stay mad at a woman with an ass as shapely as hers. The view as she strode away then crawled into the tent only reminded him how it had felt pressed against him during their match. His groin ached, a stark reminder of his predicament and the possible reward that awaited him in victory. He tried to clear his mind, focusing on recalling the sparring with Annik and where he had gone wrong.
Tristan didn’t know if she was teasing or not, but he resolved to leave her no choice but stop her games. Her sudden escalation from taunting flirtations to playful stroking made him question if she was interested or merely trying to point him towards a different sort of duty. Nessa was, well, Nessa. He could deal with her teasing and understand, but Annik seemed to be goading him.
Finishing his meal, he kicked dirt and over the fire’s embers and considered quenching the ache in his loins as well. But that was the coward’s way. Annik’s challenge demanded a different sort of approach
Tristan crawled into the tent, unsurprised but pleased when he found Nessa’s discarded clothes just inside. Tristan quickly added his own. Annik and Nessa were both tucked away beneath their cloaks to guard against the cold air. The temperature had dropped precipitously in recent days, not that it bothered the Bolstered. They had no trouble keeping the cold away with their Gift.
Nessa was a different matter. The slight woman’s Gift provided a powerful attack but far less versatility than the body control Tristan and Annik had. Nessa wrapped herself in cloaks and didn’t complain about the cold, but she woke each morning shivering and seemed eager to be free of the mountains.
Tonight was the coldest night yet, and shortly after settling down Tristan stared into Nessa’s flickering eyes. Color was lost in the darkness, but traces of her Spark nature jumped across her irises. He’d seen hints of this before but never so clearly.
“Would you mind sharing tonight? I can’t take the cold anymore,” Nessa whispered.
In answer, Tristan raised his cloak up and as fast as the lightning in her eyes, Nessa snuggled her bare body against him. Tristan wished he could say he did this just to share warmth and that his intentions were completely honorable, but he wouldn’t lie to himself.
Not anymore.
Annik had left him primed, and for once in life he was ready to fulfill his purpose.
Nessa gasped as he slid between her bare cheeks and rocked to slide her butt against his full length. Tristan wrapped an arm around her, growling at the glorious feel of her soft skin. He nibbled at the nape of her neck, gently at first but with increasing aggression. She twisted in his grasp and her lips sought his with pent-up need that matched his own.
Nessa’s mouth parted for his questing tongue, her own darting playfully into his mouth as Tristan cupped her breasts, perky and just short of filling his hands. Her hard nipples were the perfect contrast to her softness. He grasped one between his fingers, and she gasped in pleasure, tilting her hips in invitation.
Tristan held her tight and ground against her ass, occasionally dipping to flirt with his ultimate goal. She was wet as dew-covered flowers on a cool morning, but her petals were spread and hot against him. He held back from taking her. After her constant strutting, he wanted her need to reach explosive pressures.
“Stop teasing me,” Nessa begged softly, the flickering in her eyes coming rapid as a summer storm off the coast. Tristan ignored her, twisting her nipples with his fingers and her wet entrance with the crown of his dick.
By unspoken agreement, the two had remained as quiet as possible, but Nessa’s moans grew in strength with her frustration. She angled her hips, struggling in Tristan’s grasp as she tried to line herself up, but Tristan skillfully kept her at bay until ready to take matters into his own hands. He waited until her flickering eyes filled the tent with ghostly light, then filled her pussy from behind.
“Yes!” Nessa cried out as Tristan entered her.
Tristan grunted as tight warmth enveloped his length. She was as wet as he was hard, as ready for this as he was.
Before he had a chance to draw back, Nessa’s hips moved on their own. She thrust back on him, rocking her hips and moaning. Tristan enjoyed her enthusiasm and let her take the lead while he continued to tease her soft skin with his fingers. She mewled in pleasure, adopting a sensual pace suited for basking in one another.
Neither was in a rush.
Tristan couldn’t remember the last time he’d had sex without alcohol dulling the sensation and he wanted to savor every second of Nessa’s desperate coupling. She quickly abandoned her attempts to stifle her enthusiasm. She gasped with delight as she pleasured herself on his girth.
Nessa’s arms stretched forward, grasping bedding for purchase as she tried to move faster. She rode Tristan, whimpering plaintively as if she could never get enough.
Tristan had never had someone want him so thoroughly. He’d been fucked hard by skilled women, but this was about more than just the physical act. Maybe it was Nessa’s careless flaunting and the weeks of building lust, but Tristan doubted those alone were enough to account for their wild surrender to carnality.
No, this was a sexual connection that went beyond the heavenly walls of Nessa’s quivering pussy. Every whine of pleasure, every gasp of delight was a chorus of rightness. Tristan savored it all. He savored her soft skin, slick with sweat and bared to the cold air. He savored the smell of her hair and the way she struggled between her need to mold against him and fuck him.
Eventually though, Tristan needed to claim his release. After Annik’s teasing, he wanted to be in control, so he pinned Nessa’s hips and started to fuck her from behind with hard thrusts that shook her small body and forced high-pitched gasps of need from her lungs.
Lightning shimmered across Nessa’s skin, small bolts bursting along her skin with each thrust and bathing the tent in pale light. It didn’t seem to jump to him, and Tristan took this as a sign of her nearing climax.
She twisted her torso, staring back desperately at him, her amethyst irises an unending stream of charged arousal. The light from her body intensified, her silver hair seeming to rise as she gasped in pleasure. She let her head fall and surrendered herself completely.
Tristan started, missing a stroke and drawing a displeased groan from Nessa, when his eyes met Annik’s. She watched, her gaze wide in the ethereal light and her hand tucked between her legs. Tristan grunted in surprise, his pace quickening.
The tent was an enchanted shelter of depravity, its occupants ensorcelled by sensual fae magics. It was an orchestra of pleasure, every previous dalliance a bungled song by a drunk busker.
“Not in me,” Nessa gasped weakly. Despite her protest, she curved her back to allow Tristan deeper.
“Let him,” Annik hissed. Her body arched, her covers thrown back. She moved in concert with Nessa, a supporting harmony in this salacious symphony. “The first thing a Bolstered man learns is to control his seed.”
Nessa muttered incoherently and reached back with one hand to grip Tristan’s ass and encourage him.
Delirious with lust, Tristan abandoned restraint, filling Nessa as she convulsed and climaxed around him. He shuddered in pleasure, pulling her tight as he buried himself to the hilt. Lightning erupted from Nessa with each spasm of her pussy, and this time her sparks traced fiery lines of passion across his body. Halfway between pain and pleasure, Nessa’s discharging lust sent him to dizzying heights of release.
He roared as he emptied himself in her, then collapsed weak against his exhausted bedmate.
The two breathed heavily as they recovered, neither moving to break their union as they listened to the soft whimpers of Annik finishing herself off. She sounded eager and despite his exhaustion Tristan twitched inside Nessa as Annik thrashed with pleasure.
Nessa snuggled against him, stroking his arm until Annik calmed and Tristan stilled.
No one spoke as they drifted to sleep, Tristan scarcely believing his luck. He clung to Nessa as if this might be their last time together.
When she woke him in the night, he suspected this wouldn’t be a just a one-time thing.
When he took her from behind the next morning against a tree while Annik finished packing, he knew it wouldn’t be.
Chapter Seven
Tristan grinned as he emerged from the trees. Annik waited on a rock, her shirt pulled tight across her curves as she leaned back to enjoy the sun and view. She looked out over a glittering lake that stretched to the horizon. Nessa had called this the Albeder Sea but insisted it was fresh water, so he’d expected a lake like the ones near Aeol and not a body of water that seemed as vast as the ocean.
Nestled between the mountains and the lake, Saeli sat by the mouth of a river that drained from the highlands. Ships under sail and oar passed one another in a steady stream like ants busy resupplying the nest. Tristan gawked at the number of ships, an armada of trade that made Aeol’s fleet seem pitiful. Though Saeli looked smaller than Aeol from this vantage, the number of ships hinted at the existence of trading partners more numerous than the Aeolian scholars had ever hinted at.
“Wow,” Tristan said simply. He felt humbled by the sight, his view of Aeol as the center of human civilization tossed to the side as he took in the different shapes of ships flying a dozen different colors.
“I didn’t believe her. I thought she had to be exaggerating,” Annik said, her voice full of awe. “I gave up trying to count the different flags at eight, and that’s just based off colors I can make out from here. No telling how many different cities there really are. You know this means it’s even more critical that we recover our communication crystal, right? We have to report this!”
“I know,” Tristan agreed reluctantly. He’d found himself during the weeks it had taken to cross the mountains, his mind and purpose made clear in this distant realm. He feared returning to Aeol and sliding back into the filth of self-hate, and Tristan guiltily fantasized about spending the rest of his days adventuring with Nessa by his side as they drifted to sleep at night cuddled together.
He had even started relishing the brutal sparring sessions with Annik, and not just because the physical display of the two Bolstered seemed to be an aphrodisiac for Nessa. He was learning, and Annik could no longer afford to taunt him. Tristan still hadn’t won, but he pushed Annik to her limit each evening, sweat pouring off of her and the glint of savage fury in her eyes as they crashed together.
“We need Nessa more than ever,” Annik said, turning her steeled eyes to his. “We’ll be lost without her down there. And we need to find Perran. I’d feel more comfortable with her as your Bound. Did you talk with her about completing the binding?”
“Her mouth was a bit full…” Tristan admitted as Nessa emerged from the trees beaming at the sight of her home. She’d pulled her top into place, but when she caught the two Aeolians watching her, she grinned and lasciviously licked her lips. Tristan’s heart pounded at the sight, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I really did mean to.”
“It’s fine,” Annik whispered, her cheeks red and her lips parted. She seemed to shake herself out of a trance, her face hardening. “I figured you could never manage to focus on this, so I already negotiated the contract with her.”
“You what?” Tristan’s head snapped around. He was very fond of Nessa and growing closer to her every day, but the Saelian traditions of Bound still made him uneasy. Why did they need such a formal arrangement? Binding seemed too close to his negotiations with and patronage of the world’s oldest profession. Nessa meant more to him than their trysts.
It was clear they trusted one another, so that should be enough.
Annik just smiled cryptically at him, which did little to ease his rising nerves. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat, conflicted between his Aeolian upbringing and the exotic offer of binding Nessa. He liked that she, well, liked him and worried that a contract would diminish that pure feeling. He’d had enough of women exchanging their affection for contractual reasons.
“Home!” Nessa exclaimed, bubbling with joy and hopping from foot to foot as she bounced over to Annik and Tristan. She’d shucked the cloak days ago and Tristan appreciated the view of her long legs and especially the flashes of her thighs as her skirt flew up with each bound. She went to the edge of the cliff they stood on, her silver hair flying back in the warm breeze. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Tristan saw no reason to look past his lover. The wind up the cliff whipped at her skirt, brushing the hem and tassels to provide glimpses of her lean legs. Nessa beamed at the sight of home and her happiness radiated outwards. Even Annik paused to take in Nessa’s beauty until the Spark turned with a knowing grin on her face.
Annik quickly turned towards Saeli. “It is.”
The city shimmered in the brilliant sun, so bright it almost hurt to look at. The buildings were made of gleaming white stone, with large arches sweeping over busy roads that emanated from a massive acropolis situated on a rocky outcropping overlooking the harbor and city. From above, the city looked like a wheel and spokes, a dramatic divergence from the rigid grid of Aeol.
But the Fallen wreckage towering over the harbor dwarfed even the acropolis. Dark metal soared above the water, easily the largest structure Tristan had ever seen. A thin thread of white stone formed a causeway linking the Fallen vessel to shore. The lusterless artifact seemed all the more stunning in contrast to the scintillating water and bright city.
Nessa barely glanced at the exotic relic. “Come on! If we get down to base of the mountain, there’s a logging outpost and we can try to catch a ride in. If we hurry, we can sleep in a bed tonight! Oh, and take real baths!” Nessa grinned, and Tristan smiled along with her.
But when he moved to follow Nessa, Annik stopped them both and poured cold water on Tristan’s joy.
“Wait, it’s time to discuss binding.”
“Right! Sorry!” Nessa agreed seriously. “It needs to be done before we return, or if Perran finds out I’m back he’ll try to reclaim me and argue the contract was never broken. He’s probably already gotten my money, so he’ll be able to practically buy a ruling in his favor.”
“I thought you could leave a contract whenever you wanted?” Tristan asked, still not following the intricacies of Bound but rankled by the idea of Perran reclaiming Nessa.
“It depends. In this case, better to be safe. Arbiters can be bought. Besides, you don’t want to bind me? You seemed interested enough last night.” Nessa caught her bottom lip in her teeth, staring up at him with eager eyes. “Right, Annik? You heard him promise.”
“I did,” Annik said, her voice quivering. Their nightly fucking in the shared tent was a source of friendly jokes between the three, but the fact that Annik watched the couple in the fairy-light of Nessa’s sparks had gone unremarked upon until now. “Though, I’m not sure he was in a position to refuse you anything.”
“That’s right!” Tristan seized on Annik’s line of reasoning. “I was under duress and not in a fit state of mind to make binding agreements!”
“Still okay with what we discussed?” Annik asked, ignoring Tristan’s sputtering.
Tristan’s protests seemed to have no bearing on the matter, and the two women calmly laid out the terms they’d agreed to. They were simple, and nothing that they hadn’t already discussed and planned together. They all needed to find Perran, and the binding would join them together in this goal while also protecting Nessa from Perr
an.
Tristan felt conflicted about the fact that the terms didn’t include continuing their coupling. He didn’t need or want an agreement to get Nessa, or any other woman, in bed. However, a growing part of him longed for her to be bound to his bed as well as their shared goal. The urge to make her his grew with every passing day and if this was her way of making that commitment, then maybe he should look past his fears over her motivations.
Tristan couldn’t even get a word in as the two women reviewed the terms. Annik seemed to have given this careful thought and after all she’d invested in bringing him here, he thought he could trust her completely.
When it came time for the actual binding, he was again sidelined. Nessa collected both Slivers then pressed the faces of the metal together. She spoke the terms of the contract while Tristan awkwardly watched and Annik smiled. Nothing visible happened, but she seemed confident that was enough and slipped her chain around her neck. Tristan hesitated, recalling the responsibilities he would have in the eyes of the culture they were about to enter.
Nessa beamed up at him with an encouraging smile on her face. She looked happy and hopeful and little bolts of joy twisted in her eyes like they did when they made love. A tightness unwound in Tristan and he realized she wanted this more even than him. For years he had isolated himself, and other than Annik, Nessa was the first to see more than a spoiled brat upset that his life had changed course.
He pulled the chain around his neck, the Sliver surprisingly warm when it settled on his skin.
“Let me,” Annik offered when he struggled to fasten it closed. He’d opened a link when he tore the necklace from Perran, but Annik had no trouble pinching the metal closed, binding him to Nessa.
He felt nothing.
“Should something have happened? I thought you said we would feel a connection.”
“You will! The connection will be faint but there. We just have to fuck first,” Nessa happily revealed. “The ritual isn’t complete until we’ve physically bonded ourselves as well.”