by Erik Reid
“So no one’s going to help clean this up?” Benoch asked.
“You have your magical demon-stone heart-rock,” I said, not looking back. “Build yourself a Roomba.”
CHAPTER 22
Kaylee thrust the bundled up rope against my chest and I grabbed hold of it, letting the loose ends spill to each side. She ran across the small room and pounced on the bed, rolling onto her back and lying spread eagle. Her yellow dress rode up her thighs, but she didn’t bother to fix it.
“Tie the knots real tight,” she said.
I tossed the rope onto the bed and climbed on top of her, digging my knees into the mattress. Her perky breasts rose from her chest like small mountains, resisting the pull of gravity that would draw other women’s breasts to the side.
I ran one hand up her arm, gliding along her slender bicep and running my thumb past the inside of her elbow. My grip tightened as I felt my way toward her wrist, then I pinned her hand to the bedpost and got to work.
Of all the knots that existed, I only knew the basics. I wrapped the rope around Kaylee’s wrist first, knotting it tight before looping the rest of the cord around the bedpost itself. The post was a long piece of wood that tapered toward the top, with a large rectangular head to cap it off. It would prevent the rope from sliding off the post, though I wouldn’t leave enough slack on either arm to let her shimmy that high up anyway.
I let my eyes linger on Kaylee’s body beneath me while my hands worked blindly. She flinched each time I pulled a new knot tighter, but she didn’t watch the ropes at all. She watched me, watching her, with a look of near-apprehension in her eyes.
“You know,” I said, “this would make our little game more interesting.” I shifted my weight onto the other knee and brought the rope across the bed’s headboard toward her other wrist. “My heart is still pounding from our bloodhound battle, my blood running hot, my senses sharpened by adrenaline.
“Is that why we’re here, Kaylee?” I continued, looping the rope around her wrist and pulling it tight. “The threat of death means there’s no time to lose, and no reason to hold back all of our primal instincts? Are you afraid of missing out on life while we still have it?”
“I’m afraid of nightmares,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “Not what I was expecting, but I can work with that. Tell me your deepest, darkest nightmare, Kaylee.”
“That I might have an actual nightmare,” she said. “What if I see fighting in my dreams and I wake up in an uncontrollable rage? I could hurt you, or Dani, or Clara. As long as you tie me up every night from now on, I’ll sleep knowing you all are safe.”
I cinched the knot around Kaylee’s wrist and leaned back, resting lightly on her body, but mostly on my knees as they dug into the mattress beside her.
“So that’s what this is about,” I said. “Listen, you don’t want to fight. I get that. Dani, Clara, and I are going into the mountains to face off with A’zarkin, but you can stay here if you want. Benoch might be able to help lift your curse.”
“No,” Kaylee said. “Those bloodhounds are evil. They came to my home and killed your friend Gretna. What if my friends weren’t hiding so well at that very moment? My whole enclave could have been eaten. I want to protect them, so I’ll go with you.”
“And what if your friends have already left?” I said. “They might have gone somewhere the bloodhounds won’t follow.”
“I’m the first simki to leave the enclave,” she said. “Simki love our homes and we love our friends. They would never run off, even if the bloodhounds did show up. That’s why I have to do it for them. I have to help keep them all safe.
“First thing tomorrow morning, Mr. Benoch said he would teach me to keep control. That’s why I want to go right to sleep, tied up tight, knowing I’ll wake up with nobody’s blood on my hands and all the energy in the world to start training.”
“Right to sleep,” I said. “Wouldn’t you sleep better if we—” I didn’t bother to finish that sentence. Kaylee yawned and arched her back, shifting beneath me as her head sank deeper into the pillow.
Instead, I stood up and brought another length of rope toward her ankles, looping around her slender joints and tying them tight to the bedposts at the corners.
Her eyelids drooped when I looked back. “I’ll let you rest now, sleepy simki. But I want to test these ropes out when you’re not so tired.”
“Don’t go yet!” she said.
I smiled. “Okay.”
“Kiss me first. A goodnight kiss. Then you can leave me here.”
I brought my face closer to hers, but hovered a few inches from her lips. She lifted her head from the pillow and stretched as far as she could, but she was still just out of reach. Her arms pulled against the ropes that tied her wrists against the bedposts, but no amount of struggling gained her the extra half-inch she needed.
Her head landed on the pillow again as her mouth tightened into a cute little pout. “It’s not fair,” she said. “I can’t reach.”
“Just making sure the knots were tight,” I replied. Then I bent low and kissed her on the mouth. “Sweet dreams, Kaylee.”
I closed the door to her room behind me and headed for the next door over. It was propped open an inch, so I nudged it with my foot. Clara was lying curled into a ball on her mattress, facing the opposite wall.
The tight gray cloth that supported her breasts had a very narrow strip of fabric that stretched across her back, leaving her pink skin mostly exposed, from her shoulder blades, down the ridges of her spine, all the way to the skirt that barely concealed her firm, tight rear.
With another step into her room, I realized from the gentle rise and fall of her breathing that she was asleep. Peacefully, and quickly, asleep. That was a relief.
After I left and closed the door, I followed the long hallway toward my own room. There was no use in worrying about a troubled kobold when she was sleeping soundly, and my body was still hung up on the image of Kaylee all tied up and vulnerable.
Still, there was Dani to check in on. She had taken me in when I landed here alone, fought bravely by my side, and worked tirelessly to protect the other girls as we went. All despite having her own life turned upside down.
Also, I sort of owned her soul. The least I could do was say good night.
The corridor that encircled Benoch’s workshop had a series of doors that led to the quarters used by now-absent guards, but one knob really did shine brighter than the rest. Just inside that door, in a room too small to call a proper kitchen, stood Dani working a six-burner stove. Her wings folded close against her back, leaving my view unimpeded of her arms mixing pots of various sizes and measuring out ingredients to add to others.
“Whatever you gave Clara worked,” I said. “She’s out like a light.”
“I haven’t given her anything yet,” Dani said. “It took time to simmer the noxyweed and boil down the liquor into a thick reduction that can cool inside a candy shell.”
“Liquor?” I asked. “Now we’re talking.”
“It’s a term of art,” she said. “It relates to brewing non-alcoholic things too.”
“Bummer.”
“It’s ready now though,” Dani said, reaching toward a tray with small green candies and plucking one between her fingers. “Can you bring it to her? I have my hands full here.”
I tucked the small treat into my pocket. “She doesn’t need it. She’s already sleeping.”
“Wait,” Dani said. “Is Clara really asleep on her own for once?”
“I guess so.”
“You know, she did seem oddly zen after she melted a bloodhound with her own bare hands,” Dani said. “Even if she is finally getting some rest, I’m still worried about her.
“Me too,” I said. “And Kaylee is afraid to sleep without me tying her to the bedframe first.”
This time, Dani spun around. “I see.”
“No,” I said. “Nothing happened. Just a little light bondage without any payoff.”
“Don’t hold off on my account,” she said. “Really, Kaylee is a great girl. The second there was trouble at Benoch’s door, she stepped up to defend me. And she cared deeply about the horses when we first met her. She has such a big heart.”
“She does,” I said. “But so do you, and I don’t want my affection for Kaylee to hurt you.”
“So it’s affection?” Dani asked. “Not just a moment of weakness?”
“I don’t know what any of this is,” I said. “But one thing you will always get from me is honesty. I’m not a liar, or a player. Kaylee and I have chemistry. That doesn’t mean I want to put the chemistry you and I have on hold.”
“Chemistry,” Dani said. “They say that’s what cooking is, and by extension, candy making.” She reached toward her miscellaneous pots and turned back toward me with a soft smile, bringing a metal spoon toward my face. “What do you think of this?”
The liquid inside that spoon was green and had an enticing herbal aroma. I leaned forward, but she pulled her hand back at the last second.
“Blow on it first,” she warned. “I would, but we both know draykin breath would just warm things up.”
I gave it a blow, watching the thin green liquid ripple lightly. Then Dani brought the spoon to my lips and I slurped, relying on the intake of air to cool the liquid further.
“It has a very earthy taste,” I said. “Like mud that used to have basil growing in it.”
“You’re right about the basil,” she said. “I think Benoch’s supply of herbs is twenty years past its prime. Still, there are some rare ingredients here I want to test out, if I ever get these pots under control. I don’t know why I thought I could manage all this.”
“Need a hand?” I asked.
“You’re not a given,” she said. “And I’m not a taker anymore.”
“Maybe what you really need is a business partner,” I said. “Let me stir while you wrap the ones that have already cooled.”
“I did find it hard to keep stirring six different pots.”
“Well, the candy man can, ‘cause he mixes it with love, and makes the world taste good.”
“That’s so poetic,” she said.
“Thanks. I made it up myself just now.”
I started stirring and Dani turned to a nearby counter. She lifted a ladle from a larger pot and brought it toward a small tray, tipping it slightly forward, then jerking it back, leaving a trail of small dots of melted sugar that glistened in the room’s low light.
Each dollop of dense, colorful liquid cooled quickly. Their shape was rough, but these weren’t candies for sale in some fancy confectioner’s shop. These were experiments. This right here was where the real magic took place in Dani’s world, and she didn’t need the touch of an invisible Goddess to make it all come together.
She touched one of the crimson candies carefully, testing its outer shell to see if it was wet, tacky, or cooled solid. Then, in a flash, she scooped one up and ate it.
“Oh,” she said. “This really opens up the sinuses. Oh, it’s hot.” She fanned her open mouth while her cheeks reddened.
“Your face is getting flush,” I said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I just… is it warm in here? I think it must be getting warm.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yes, you are.”
She gave me a strange look when she said that last part.
“What did you put in that one?” I asked.
“A lot of cinnamon, a sliver of emberstick cane, and the smallest dusting of cupid’s tooth.”
“And how do you feel?”
“Amazing,” she said. “But also like my skin is on fire. In a good way. Here, feel.”
She grabbed my hand and pressed it against her chest just below her neck. Her skin was definitely warm. She started to slide my hand lower as her breathing intensified. I pulled away before my hand ended up between her breasts.
“Did you just invent ecstasy?” I asked. “I think you’ve just cooked up Silura’s first club drug. No judgment. You’re gonna be rich.”
“I don’t want to be rich,” she said. “I want to matter. Do I matter, Kyle?”
“You matter to me,” I said. “I care about you, Dani, in ways that confuse me.”
She put down her ladle and turned the stove burners off, snatching my hand from the end of a stirring spoon and placing it on her shoulder.
“I like Kaylee,” she said. “That girl is fun to be around. And Clara is so wounded sometimes, I just want to be a momma bird and protect her. She’s a girl who needs the loving touch of a strong, confident man. Like you, Kyle. She needs a man like you.”
My hand slid down her arm, transferring to the small of her back. “Is that what you want to talk about? Pimping me out to Clara?”
“I don’t hate the idea of you two together,” she said. “Or you and Kaylee. I just don’t understand why it’s not me. Ever since I first found you outside Varrowsgard, I’ve wondered what it would be like, losing myself to your touch, riding your body like a bucking bull.”
“I’ve thought about you too,” I said. “Stolen glances and imagined moments aren’t enough. I want to feel your body against mine, Dani. I want to share myself with you. Is that stupid? I’ve never wanted that with a woman on Earth. I’ve always thought of myself first. With you, I want more than a quick lay.”
“How much more,” she asked. Her eyelids began to sink and her skin kept getting warmer. Now she was moaning and gyrating her hips, even though there was nothing to gyrate against. My pelvis was still a few inches away from hers.
“Dani,” I said. “I’m starting to wonder if this is you speaking, or the aphrodesiacandy you made. You can use that, by the way. Totally trademark-able.”
“Who cares,” she said. “You might wake up tomorrow to a world where I never existed. You won’t know me, or miss me. I won’t even miss myself. But I’m here now, dammit. I want to feel like I lived this life.”
She reached behind herself and unfastened her shirt, quickly sliding the shoulder straps to her sports-bra-like top down her shoulders and pulling her arms through. In seconds, she tossed it to the floor and let her round, supple breasts hang free.
Dani’s vertical pupils widened, shrinking the portion of her eye that was bright green iris. Her dark green hair framed her body, with darker green wings hiding behind her. Her long tail, with its overlapping emerald scales, rested on the floor.
Yet, everywhere else was soft and pale skin, and her large soft nipples were a very light pink. They pebbled slowly as her nipples hardened into arousal, the firm buds in their center perking up and tightening.
“Your tits are amazing,” I said.
“They’re yours,” she said. “You own me now, body and soul. Take what you own.”
Dani’s balance started to fail her, so I stepped close and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her body against mine. Her chest pressed against my leather vest and I wished I had the foresight to peel that clothing off. To ready my skin for the electric contact of Dani’s soft body against my hard muscles. Against my hard—
“Whoa,” I said, dipping to catch Dani from falling. Her knees went slack and she laughed, tossing her hair aside as she stood back up.
“A girl could faint in those arms,” she said. “Take me to my room. I can finish these candies in the morning.”
I scooped Dani up in my arms and she leaned back, tits to the ceiling, arms dangling below her. I carried her all the way down the corridor of Benoch’s bunker. She gestured to the door next to Clara’s and I pushed it open, then laid Dani onto her bed.
Her hands traveled up and down her body, squeezing her breasts and running down her tight, flat stomach. One hand tucked into her shorts while the other extended a pointer finger that beckoned me closer.
“Dani,” I said. “Whatever you put in those candies was no good. This isn’t you.”
“I’m not myself when I’m around you, Kyle,” she said. “I’m weak
for your touch. Kiss me.”
I leaned down and kissed Dani gently on the mouth. It was a short kiss. Friendly, even. When I pulled away and stood up, looking down at her topless on her bed, she smiled up at me and expected more.
She pursed her lips and blew, the heat rising from her draykin breath like a volcanic vent. Then a burst of flame erupted in a brief but brilliant flicker.
“You just breathed fire,” I said. “Since when—”
“Since I’m so hot for you, Kyle,” she said. “You said you care about me. Show me how much. Show me right now.”
“I will,” I said, “even if my body hates me for it, I will.”
I stepped toward a dresser with a pitcher of water on it. I poured some into a glass and brought it to her bedside. “Drink this.”
She smiled and did as instructed. Then, before she finished, she tipped the glass higher, dribbling the excess water down her chin. It pooled in the divot below her neck, then spilled into the space between her breasts and further down her front.
“Oops,” she said. “I’m all wet. Thirsty?”
I grit my teeth. “I am, as a matter of fact.” God, this was going to be difficult. “I have a present for you first. Close your eyes.”
Dani lay back onto her pillow and shut her eyes, never losing the smile that stretched across her face. I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out the noxyweed candy she had given me for Clara. Our Goddess-touched kobold didn’t need a sleeping aid tonight, but Dani did.
I leaned down and kissed her again, torturing myself with the touch of her eager lips, plump and soft against mine. Then I pressed the candy against her mouth and she parted her lips just wide enough to let it inside.
“Mmmm,” she said. “So sweet, and so… crisp. And vegetative.” Her eyes opened and she looked at me, the candy melting away on her tongue. “This is noxyweed.”
“I’m sorry, Dani,” I said. “I want our time together to be real. And I want to make sure you won’t regret it.”