Bright Tail

by Zenina Masters

  Seerya drummed her fingers on the table. “I need that icon back.”

  “Why? Why after all this time?” He sat back and sipped at his drink.

  “Because I have a plan, and I need to be complete to carry it off. Without that icon, I can’t sleep.”

  “Sleep? I am assuming that you are meaning more than simple rest.”

  She ran her hands over her face and looked at him. “I want to hibernate until everyone I know is dead. I want to wake and start over.”

  His eyes widened, and he clenched his hand on the still-glowing scale. “No. Not until we get to the bottom of why this is glowing. You had better get ready to settle in. I intend to be very thorough in my investigation.”

  She couldn’t take it by force. He had to surrender it to her. Unlike the other icons, this one had not had a time limit. She had to persuade him that he needed to hand the item over. First, she had to register so that she could gain a place to sleep as well as purchase changes of clothing. One thing that fey magic had over shifter was that they could make the clothing that they wanted from the ether around them. Shifters had to wear fabric and strip before they changed shape.

  She nodded tersely. “Fine.”

  Seerya got up from the table and left him behind her, using her energy to clear a path through the gathering revellers. If she had to convince him, she was going to have to be at her most charming and that was going to hurt.

  * * * *

  Lothan watched her go and couldn’t believe it. Seerya the Destroyer, sea monster of all sea monsters, Bride Maker, educator and his personal fantasy woman had just walked up to him and demanded the icon made of her scales.

  Centuries had passed since the last time he had seen her, and while her hair was different, the stern glow of her blue-green eyes was just as intense as it had been. His heart was pounding in his chest as he realized that the seers hadn’t lied. Going to the Crossroads had brought his mate to him. He just had to stop her from getting what she wanted and disappearing. He smiled slowly. The Destroyer had just met her match for the seventh time.

  * * * *

  Teal’s hands shook as she filled out the paperwork. “Are you sure about this, Lady Seerya?”

  “I am hardly a lady. My father was a fisherman, and my mother was the weaver of the village. Age doesn’t make you a noble.”

  “In the shifter community, it does. You are the oldest shifter I have ever seen, and I am including Dira in that.” Teal wrote in long, sweeping curves with the ink and quill. It was nice to see things done now as they had been.

  Seerya chuckled to herself. She had learned to write in pictures on vellum with squid ink. Written language had come later. She had learned to read and write in as many languages as she could in every country she had visited. The joy of learning had expanded with every new language, and it became a passion that she had wished to share with women on her island, but by that point, they were all gone.

  The first civilization she had ever impacted was her own.

  She sighed and agreed to the Crossroads’ arrangement. She got her charm and smirked at the small chip of crystal that gleamed in the evening light.

  “Are you sure you want to be open to the fey? I don’t know of many that would be willing to take you on,” Teal blurted it with honesty.

  Seerya chuckled. “I have to negotiate with one of the fey, so if he is able to see me clearly, it will be easier. Well, at least now I can get something to wear.”

  Teal nodded. “Right. Of course. Did you want to stay here or at the Isthmus?”

  “I will make my way to the Isthmus. I want to see what they have done with the place.” Seerya rotated her wrist, feeling the power in the charm.

  “Right. Well, the contract is in place, so you are good to buy what you need and run around here as long as you like. As stated, you can leave whenever you wish.”

  Seerya touched Teal’s cheek. “Thank you for your help, Teal. Is Tony recovered from catching me when I came in?”

  Teal made a face. “I think all that energy made him cum.”

  Seerya barked a laugh, hugged the guardian and wandered out into the night at the Crossroads.

  The guests at the Crossroads were milling around, going from bar to restaurant and then disappearing into the night. It was sweet.

  Suddenly, she felt every year of her life. The laughter of those who eagerly looked forward to love made her feel the weight of time. So many lovers in her past and every one of them was dead. Shifter or human, it made no difference. She had gone on without them, a portion of her dying with them. The couples around her caused a pang of pain deep inside.

  She saw their love and she foresaw their deaths. She wiped tears away as she went to the general store in search of something to wear for the next day. Getting away from all of this was now more important than ever, and if she had to seduce the icon from Lothan, she would do that, too.

  The clothing was a little skimpier than she was used to, but she found a few items that would do, as well as underwear, shoes and basic cosmetics. It was hard to match the blue-purple hair, but she had gotten used to that as well.

  She took the bag and left, heading for the scent of seawater. In her time, she had been a number of sea creatures, but just as many strange sightings in lakes had been while she was visiting. After your fifth century, you got a little sloppy when it came to hiding yourself in public.

  The Isthmus tower pulled her toward it, and she signed in on the main floor while the couple scrambled to get their clothing back in order.

  Seerya was heartened. The life spans of fey and shifter cross-matings were going to be far longer than a mortal union. If the couple remained at the Isthmus, their love might be very close to eternal.

  She smiled as she went to her room and settled in. When she first touched a fey, the shock of power threw them back. She took it as a hint. For over twenty-five hundred years, she hadn’t wanted to touch a fey. Until that night.

  Her brain was in conflict. She wanted to stroke Lothan’s cheek and trail her fingers lower, but at the same time, she wanted the silence of the sea.

  She shook her head and folded the bedding back. A good night’s sleep might help her out.

  * * * *

  Lothan pried another young lady off his lap, and he smiled politely. “Your attentions would be better directed elsewhere tonight, though I definitely enjoyed last night.”

  She tried to crawl back into his embrace. “So did I; I thought you might want to do it again.”

  “Want to? Yes. Will I? No. We are here to seek out mates, and I have met the woman I am destined to be with.”

  His companion turned her head. “I don’t see her.”

  Lothan moved away from the persistent coyote. “That is because she is not here. She is at the Isthmus if I don’t miss my guess.”

  “Then, if you are not claimed for the evening, where is the harm?”

  He pushed Adeel away firmly once again. “Because I have been waiting for her my entire life, and I am not going to ruin a chance by doing something foolish that may hurt her.”

  “But you don’t mind hurting me?”

  “An evening’s frustration will not hurt you. I am sure there are plenty of other candidates here who are worthy of your attentions.”

  She pouted for a moment before walking off in a huff. Lothan watched her leave, and he sighed regretfully. It was true as far as it went. He didn’t want to wreck his chances with Seerya. He stroked the icon around his neck, and it warmed at his touch. The pulse was magic.

  He walked outside and touched the carving again. The pulse was directional this time, warming his fingertips and moving through body. As he pivoted, it heated his blood when he was facing the direction of the Isthmus.

  Lothan smiled slowly and took a few steps in the direction that the icon was pulling him. The closer he got, the warmer the icon.

  When he stood at the edge of the inland sea, the tower was reflected a
gainst the ripples of water.

  Light was spilling from the carving around his neck, and he settled on a rock and watched the sea.

  Seerya the Destroyer didn’t need to be in the water every day, but she wanted it. It was one of the legends of his people that someone had tried to capture her to harness her magic. She had looked at the shackles on her limbs and laughed, transforming on land and shattering the metal and magic in one move. On land, she moved like a serpent, and her thrashing destroyed the village trying to capture her. When she was finished with the destruction, she transformed back into her nude—human—self and walked back to the sea.

  His people had learned their lesson and never tried to capture her again. Her legend lasted until that very day, with Bride Maker added to her moniker as time went on.

  Lothan could feel the location of Seerya, via the icon. As he waited for her to wake and enter the water, he wondered why he had never activated the icon when they were together, before this.

  Chapter Five

  Wrapped in a towel, she gathered her clothing and headed down for the wet entry that the proprietors had explained the night before.

  Dawn was still an hour away, so she set her clothing on a bench, dropped her towel and walked to the pool.

  Her shifted size was so great that she needed to fully submerge and get a few yards away from the structure before she pulled on her scales and let her power inhabit her entire body.

  She undulated through the salt water with increasing speed until her scales were breaking the surface. Being able to show herself without fear of being seen was a heady thing. When Dira had been designing the Crossroads, it had been a dream to have a place where shifting out in the open could be not only acceptable, but also encouraged. It was wonderful to see a dream come true.

  Seerya swam back and forth for several minutes when she felt a pulse of magic. She paused, undulating in place while she turned her head in search of the source of the sensation.

  On the shoreline, a dark figure sat in the shadows, a small sparkle on his arm identified him before he came into full focus. She swam toward him, and when she reached the shallows, she walked onto the shore and confronted him.

  “Lothan, why are you here?”

  He was staring at her, and she looked down to see what he was fixated by. She was naked, and her hair was behind her, so there was nothing to impede his view.

  He smiled and slowly dragged his gaze up her body. “The carving drew me here. When I realized who I was waiting for, I thought I would just settle in to watch the dawn.”

  She frowned. The icon was gleaming wildly, calling to her. “I would like the icon back, please.”

  He wrapped his hand around it, and its pull grew more insistent to her senses. “I am afraid you will have to ask me nicely.”

  She steeled herself and walked toward him, standing between his legs and lowering her hand to his chest. “How nicely?”

  The sparks that flew between them in that first contact could have powered a city. Instead of being repelled by his energy, Seerya crowded in close and pulled his head down to hers for a kiss.

  Energy sparked between them, power jumped from him to her and back again. The carving was pressed between them, and she ignored it.

  He pulled her astride his lap, and he held her close. His clothing was an annoyance, but it was probably for the best. She wanted his skin against hers, and his body inside her. It was the first time in centuries that she had been overtaken by lust, and the power that tingled between them, sparking sharply now and then, was completely new.

  Seerya pulled back, and he nipped at her lip once before letting her go. Her chest was moving fast, and she was shuddering with the effort to contain herself.

  It was harder to read Lothan, but his breathing was fast, the pulse in his neck was rapid and the focus of his gaze was on her lips.

  “That was unexpected.” She whispered it in the silence between them.

  “I knew that we were destined for each other. I never expected it to be like that.”

  She stared at him. “How did you know?”

  “We have met several times before, but the carving never reacted like it has today. When the seers told me that I was going to mate with a sea serpent, I thought they meant merfolk and left it at that.”

  She thought back. “One or both of us were in love each time we met. I was working through a Viking phase; you had that young pixie on your arm. There were other meetings but that one stood out.”

  “So, if I had a lover, the icon would not have activated?”

  “Not if you were devoted to her.”

  “Ah. So, that was it.”

  “Indeed. I gave myself completely to each of my lovers, and there was no room for anyone else in my heart.” She stroked his neck.

  “What about now?”

  “Now, I am alone, and I want to rest. Looking into an endless future is leaving me hollow.”

  “What if you didn’t have to be alone?”

  She snorted. “That isn’t in the cards. I have outlived my kind and yours.”

  “Haven’t you heard about the balance ceremony? The shifters, fey and mages have found a means to balance the energy between the differing species. That includes life spans. You would have an end to eternity and a mate at your side.”

  “You mean you.”

  “Well, the seers aren’t usually wrong. In fact, I have not heard of one instance where they were mistaken in their description of a match.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  He chuckled and ran a hand down her back. “I have known you for the last seven centuries. We have not conversed, but you spoke with my parents, grandparents and their parents. We have records of the Destroyer going back generations.”

  She blinked. “Destroyer?”

  “The Malkotia clan. The ones who tried to harness your magic.”

  “Oh. Right. I forgot about them. I didn’t like them very much, but I only trashed the structures. They were still alive when I left them.”

  He laughed. “I heard that they were destroyed.”

  She smirked. “There might have been a salt water well in the centre of their village after that episode. I believe it would have kept them from rebuilding.”

  Her hair began to sway in the morning breezes. It was drying out.

  “Are you cold, Seerya?” He smoothed his hand over her back again, sending the shockwaves of power through her skin at the direct contact.

  “No, though it is kind of you to ask.”

  He smiled. “Would you care to join me for breakfast? The café makes amazing pancakes.”

  She sighed. “Do I have an option?”

  “Not currently. If you want to stay near the carving, you need to remain with me.”

  Seerya climbed off his lap. “Meet me in the hall of the tower. I will be there in a moment.”

  She felt his hands tighten as she pulled away, but he didn’t hold her as she backed up and headed for the water.

  She shifted as soon as she was thigh-deep and wiggled her way into the deep water. Seerya and her beast had become one long ago, and as there were no other sea serpents, the beast had been content with the human and shifter lovers. The idea that a balance could be struck was intriguing to her serpent.

  This required further research.

  Her clothing was where she had left it, and she braided her hair into a thick column down her back before she climbed the stairs.

  Seerya found Lothan in the lobby, speaking to Derix and Juno.

  Juno smiled. “Good morning, Seerya. Lothan was just telling us that you two have known each other for quite a while.”

  Seerya inclined her head. “It is true. I brokered a deal with his ancestors to keep them from stealing human women and men for their own sexual purposes. After a few centuries, they got the hint that I was serious about it.”

  Juno blinked. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. That is how we m
et.”

  Lothan smiled. “It is true. She had raised the bride of my great uncle and was handing the young woman over with an education and a trousseau. That was the first time I saw her.”

  Juno stared. “You were handing over a human?”

  Seerya narrowed her eyes at Lothan. “I gifted his people with that necklace so that they could find true matches. Unfortunately, some of the women found were still under age, so I paid their bride price to their parents and raised the children into young ladies. They got an education that they would not have otherwise had and the husband had to allow her to continue to pursue her interests.”

  Juno was enraptured. “What happened if they didn’t?”

  Lothan grinned. “She repossessed the bride.”

  Derix was stunned. “What?”

  “I repossessed the bride. I took her away until the fey was so ill from loss of his mate that he was willing to examine his actions. At that point, we usually had a very effective discussion that allowed the human to be returned to her mate.”

  Derix frowned. “Did any of them still dishonour the contract?”

  She grinned grimly. “One. He did not last long.”

  Lothan shuddered. “That situation was carefully recorded in our histories. His demise was not pleasant. A bound mate was not something to abuse.”

  Seerya smiled. “It did not happen again.”

  Derix shivered. “That is horrible.”

  “The world used to be a much crueller place, and I am content with my place in it.” Seerya inclined her head.

  Lothan chuckled. “Well, that is in the past. Now, we are off for pancakes.”

  He offered her his arm, and Seerya placed her hand on his wrist. Sparks flew under her hand. “Ah, this takes me back.”

  “To when?”

  “This morning.” She smiled.

  They walked out the door, and he murmured, “There is a direct transport if you need one.”

  “No. I like the walk. I sometimes spend weeks on land without touching the water. It isn’t necessary.”