Aegwin laughed. "I am surprised you can even mention inviting those not yet bound to you in oath or blood inside your border." He grinned at the taller male. "I will not object to this plan to gain allies while we gather more information, though I have a feeling its execution will be enough to curdle my iron gut and put me off food."
Dalaric huffed. "Then I will enjoy the lack of reports from Loren on the expensive spices you insist are necessary to your daily diet."
"Let's not be hasty," Aegwin threw in, hands in the air. Before he could say another word, Alvin approached from behind the green dragon's back.
Aegwin’s skin itched in awareness, sensing the sage's eyes travel from his exposed clawed toes and up his strong, muscular calves covered in almost translucent green scales to end in the fabric of the short pants that began at his knees. “Sage," he called out in greeting without turning around. He stepped forward then pivoted next to Dalaric to give the human his front.
Bannon joined Alvin, Jaela and Sarah close on his heels. They had returned quietly during Aegwin's conversation with Dalaric.
"What happened?" the Annunaki asked before Alvin could.
Dalaric sighed, but once more recited the seers' warning. As his nephew, and as husband to Emersyn's sister, Bannon needed to know of their new enemy. Alvin could serve as liaison to Wulfram if it became necessary. Dalaric despised the necessity of involving humans in a matter he considered personal, but Emersyn's safety came before pride. The Liindre assassin could also prove useful.
Dumbfounded, Sarah asked, "What can we do?"
Dalaric's gaze clashed with lilac.
Standing tall, Alvin regarded the Akkadian with the maturity of too many burials in the past weeks. "I know she is your mate, but you only marked Emersyn to save her life. She would not hold it against you to leave to protect your own people."
Brow quirked, Dalaric lifted a hand to stall Aegwin from speaking. "And what of you, Sage? Will you leave as well?" His tone was even, devoid of emotion. He watched as the male squared his shoulders.
"I will do whatever is required of me to protect the world from such evil." Whoever the false goddess was would be destroyed. The seers were wrong. Akkadian, what did they know of the Mother? "First the witch, Nialle, then the creatures, and now Ashra? It is too much for even you."
Irritation made Dalaric clench his fists. "I am assuming the specters to be a construct of Ashra. We had not known their origins, but it is too much a coincidence for them to not be related. As for Nialle, she will be dealt with."
Dalaric looked at the sun. It would set in a few hours. "Aegwin, we will leave for the palace.” He looked at the women, sage and his nephew. "You may join us or not. If you do, remember you gather on Akkadian grounds on Akkadian terms. I am done with the business of showing mercy for human frailties that endanger my Sydae and clan."
Sarah asked, "What about Emersyn?"
"I will finalize my claim on her tonight. Too many seek what is mine," Dalaric intoned darkly with a look at the tent. He quit the small group and strode over to throw open the flap. She blinked up at him, her grimoire once more in her lap. Paelia snored quietly in a corner, her mouth slightly agape.
Dalaric? Emersyn asked when he patiently waited for her to wrap her grimoire and then step into his arms to quit the tent.
He glanced down as he lifted her into his arms. Mated in mind and essence but not fully claimed. She had given to him her mana and would share his life for as long as he protected her. She would never be without his Ki; therefore, she would never age beyond her current state of being. You are mine. My mate. My jewel. Mine to protect. My Ki has found its home deep within you. The seed of my body will as well. Our bond will be inviolate to any who would seek to take you away from me.
And once he had his way, Dalaric knew from the bold stare Aegwin continued to send Emersyn over the heads of the humans, his second would have his. Dalaric was almost as anxious to see her mated to Aegwin as he was to secure her to himself in the final step of their mating. The more bonds that supported her fragile human life, the safer she would be.
Wryly taking in the possessive hold the Akkadian had on Emersyn, Alvin conceded it would be a foolish enemy to challenge that. However, he knew there was more at stake than a single woman. Alvin turned to Aegwin and Jaela and said, "I will report all that was revealed to Wulfram. I am not the enemy," he promised. "I have my vow to Wulfram to consider, but above all is my responsibility to protect what is good and just."
Jaela thumped her chest with a fist. "I will not bow my head to ways not my own, ever again," she declared. "Not Akkadian. Not Liindre. But," she added, hand on Wraith, "I will serve in my own way to protect my sister. The last I have to me in this world. Wulfram should be soon crawling with information. Words a woman of my talents will snap from the air undetected." She glanced at the tall sage. "I will accompany you to Wulfram provided you do not attempt to take control of my investigations."
Alvin gave the fierce woman a wry grin. "I have learned well it would be easier to command a typhoon than your actions, Jaela. I will welcome your company and counsel."
Sarah looked between the two then sighed. "Bannon?" she asked her husband when Emersyn looked at her from Dalaric’s arms.
"We go to Longmere," Bannon stated. "I am not going back to that palace and neither are you. It will be safe with Paelia. Emersyn can visit you there," he promised when Jaela glowered at him.
Sarah looked into the innocent face of her daughter. All things considered, Willa had to come first. "If anything happens, we will go to the palace?"
"Sure," Bannon promised. He walked away to gather supplies from the tent they had made use of while Sarah was left staring at the tall Akkadians who had gathered around Emersyn. They spoke quietly together, heads bent intimately together, before they both shot into the air with Emersyn securely held between them. Too soon they were gone from sight completely.
Sarah’s heart clenched. Why did it feel as if everyone else was coming together but she and Bannon were falling apart?
Claiming His Sydae-Va
“There is no greater power than the strength of a Sydae-Ra who is protecting his mate.”
-Akkadians: Past, Present, Future-
"Make use of your mirror, Mother. Call the first lines here to witness Caelwin's transformation and to greet my mate. They are to arrive in three days’ time or not at all," Dalaric ordered with a fierce growl.
Emersyn a slight but comforting weight in his arms, he turned to the male that stood next to his mother in the entranceway. They had come to greet his return to the palace. "Loren, Aegwin will arrive shortly with his brothers," he told the male. "See that the rooms are ready to receive the guests."
"Will I prepare Aegwin's rooms for an extended stay?" Loren asked.
Dalaric tilted his chin toward his mother before replying, "Emersyn has vowed to accept him as one of her Sydae-Tas. After tonight he will join us in our rooms while we are in the palace to better place himself as her protector."
Eyes narrowed, Meghara asked, "Why the haste? What has happened?" Her son had left with purpose and had returned with fire in his eyes. The silent female in his arms refused to look at her.
Dalaric breathed deeply of Emersyn's scent mixed with his own. Soon it would never be apart. "Aegwin will be the one to give you the words of the seers." He stood tall, shoulders towering above Meghara. "I bring to you, Emersyn. Do you bring her into our clan, first line of the white dragons? Will you take her to you as daughter, to be mate of your son?"
The Ki lines on Meghara's chest exploded into warmth that threatened to burn through the red silk robe. She lifted Emersyn's chin to meet her gaze. "You agree to this, female? You accept not only my son but his chosen second?"
Emersyn nodded. "Yes, I do."
Meghara stilled. He had his female marked, claimed, and promised. He did not need her approval. Dalaric had given her a respect she had thought beyond her. Her vision became clouded. She blinked but it did not clear.
A claw rose to her cheek. Tears? She had not shed them since Varian had been lost.
Dalaric waited. Meghara felt the painful beat of her heart as cracks began to splinter the stone surrounding it. "I take to myself your female, Emersyn. I will be as her mother," she vowed, fierce. She laid a hand on Dalaric's mate's forehead, looked into eyes that glowed with the inner fire that had gifted to her this precious moment. "To this one I vow my protection and my love. She will be as if born of my egg and the seed of your father. Your Sydae-Va will never fly alone."
Emersyn's breathing slowed. She felt a tickle of power touch her. It was exploratory. Questioning. Dalaric's Ki within her welcomed it. Her mana obeyed its will and remained banked. A faint burn danced upon her brow.
"Welcome, Beloved Daughter," Meghara softly greeted. "Once I had been of gentle spirit. My heart became lost in pain. It is with each remembered loss that I will rise to your defense, you who have given to us hope long thought dead. Upon your final claiming you will be first daughter of the white dragon clan. Your brood will be my brood. Our clan complete."
Emersyn's heart felt as if it would burst, so full it felt in that moment. "I will honor you, Mother, as I will honor Dalaric and Aegwin. Always," she vowed. She felt the spirit of her lost mother, Sariah, look upon her with a smile. Not alone. She would never be alone again.
Dalaric looked between mother and mate and knew their bond to be complete. "We will rise with the morning," he told his mother. "I leave the preparations and decisions in your hands until then."
Meghara drew her hand back with an amused smile. "I understand. I will lay a tray outside the doors in a few hours. You have the stamina of a warrior, but she is only a small female." Her chuckle faded as Dalaric carried Emersyn away.
Emersyn felt Dalaric's Ki simmer just beneath the surface of her skin. Her body flushed. The tiredness she had felt dissipated once they made it to the rooms. It transformed into desire. A burning need to feel him inside her, a part of her for all time.
Amongst non-witches, once married, it was expected for a woman to remain loyal to her spouse, but before that many took lovers. Sarah had taken Bannon as her first before they married. Witches shared their bodies with other witches or sages to build more mana with their joining for festivals or to provide for the fertility of crops. Paelia had often paired with sages of like age but had never desired a firmer bonding than her link to the Mother.
Despite the few offers Emersyn had received to share mana, she had never accepted. She had not understood the desire for such empty intimacy. It had always felt wrong.
Dalaric huffed. I know this, my mate, otherwise I would have hunted down and killed the one that had taken what was not his.
She shivered. He seemed larger. More male than he had ever before. I am afraid, she admitted as he opened the double doors and then resealed the room. I do not know what to do.
He touched their foreheads together. Once I came of age there have been few females that I desired and never for more than a dalliance to relieve frustrations that otherwise would have resulted in bloodshed. Since taking Aegwin there have been none. This is the way of a Sydae. We only take to ourselves those we bond to once it is done. Our Sydae is our sanctuary, with you at the center of our protection. What we do here will be a sacred sharing, Emersyn. There is nothing for you to fear in either mine or Aegwin’s arms. Our Sydae will be born in truth tonight by this final sharing. Remember that. Between a Sydae, there is no shame. No fear of rejection. Will you allow me the pleasure of my mate? he asked gently, the knuckles of his large hand grazing her cheek.
She slowly released the grip she held on her robe. He smiled, his features devastatingly handsome, and brushed his lips over hers before moving away to watch her in the moonlight. He sent a wave of Ki to warm the bath. “Do you require assistance in disrobing?” he asked, all the while slipping off his belt and robe.
Emersyn pinched her eyes closed when he dropped them upon the marble stand next to the basin. A supply of towels sat upon the chair beside it.
Look at me, my Sydae-Va. This flesh is your flesh. The skin of your mate. Then allow me the same pleasure.
She took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. His amused smile met her timid gaze. “Touch me, my little jewel,” he softly commanded. He claimed her hand and brought it to rest on the heated skin on the center of his chest. She felt the beat of his heart beneath her fingers.
Pleasure rewarded the nerves in her fingers when she slowly stroked him. Muscle twisted beneath her questing touch. She grew bolder and stepped closer. Both hands slid to rest upon the hard bone of his shoulders. His cheeks and jaw when he bent to accommodate their difference in height.
His eyes closed as her touched ignited his senses. More. Golden skin tensed over corded strength when she trailed the barest of caresses over his biceps. The steel of his abdomen. Her fingers paused. He opened his eyes to see her staring at his cock. She bit her lip.
“You are wet,” she whispered. He looked similar to the men she had tended as a healer with Paelia, but where their organs had been veined, his length was smooth with a ridge at the tip instead of foreskin. He was hairless and beads of moisture seeped from his skin even as she watched.
“My oils,” he explained just as quietly. “Females of our species do not become wet as you do. It is to ease the claiming. It has its uses with claiming a Sydae-Ta, as well.”
Emersyn blushed. She knew what he meant. She was not a complete ninny. Her finger brushed his hip next. His scales started just below his hip bone. They were softer than she had expected. She bit her lip and watched his male organ rise to point directly at her. He was so large. Could she take him?
His poor little jewel looked ready to faint. Dalaric leaned forward to place a kiss on the crown of her head. Clawed hands reached for the belt at her waist. Without allowing her time to build more fear into her scent, he snapped the leather and slid it from her form.
He stepped closer. The robe fell to the ground. His breath caught in his throat. He had seen her body at the Falls, but this was the first time he had been blessed with the sight of her lovely flesh marked by his Ki. Beautiful. His. All his.
She trembled beneath his gaze while burning up from within. Dalaric’s Ki sizzled beneath her skin, igniting her nerves. Her stomach turned over as her center grew moist. Hot. Aching.
“You please me,” he growled, voice deep with suppressed want. Need. “Come, mate of my heart, step into the waters.” He held a hand up.
Emersyn took it. Body flushed, heart racing, she followed him into the basin.
Dalaric seated himself on the marble bench built into the basin and pulled her into his arms. He traced the lines on her cheek. Her neck. Down her arm. The luxuriously soft skin between her high breasts. His claw followed the fine bones of each rib.
All the while her glowing eyes watched him. Her tiny fingers clutched at his arms. Her mouth opened, tongue darting out to wet her lip when his hand found the curve of her rounded bottom and followed it to the hollow of her knee.
Her Ki lines, his marking, glowed with each delicious morsel of flesh he explored. Then he found the heat of her. Gently parted the folds to explore where he would lay claim to her. She shuddered in his arms. He curled around her and claimed a nipple to suckle while his knuckle brushed against her pleasure pearl.
Dalaric!?
I am here, little one, he reassured her. His cock jumped. He placed her fingers around it and squeezed, closing his eyes at the feel of her small hand wrapped around him. He guided her hand from the base of his hard length to the tip then back. His hips moved into her fist, the hard knot of desire in his heavy sack tightening with each tug of her fingers. Her fist moved easily over him, aided by the oils his cock exuded in preparation of her claiming.
Your eyes, she whispered in his heart. Her other hand rose to rest on his cheek. She nuzzled against his jaw and his heart clenched at the gentle way she handled him.
All for you, my mate, he promised. He knew what s
he saw. Could feel the change take over him. The deepest black would be staring into her jeweled gaze. When my passions rise, they show the truth of who I am. What I am. No other breed has eyes that go to black but mine.
His lips brushed hers. She answered with a mewling sigh against his skin and his hand continued to explore her soft heat, preparing her for his entry while she stroked him with more confidence. A rumbling growl escaped him in a continual hum, now. She whispered his name when he thumbed the pleasure bump he had discovered at the Falls, and he felt the world tilt on its axis. He pulled her hand away and rubbed his cock against her belly, allowed her to feel the full length of him waiting for her readiness. A spurt of his seed had already joined his oils to coat his cock that not even the warm waters could wash away in anticipation of sinking into her heat.
His mouth slanted over hers, hard, hungry. His claws left her softness to glide back over her flat stomach to rest on her breast. Her nipple pebbled against his palm. Perfect, he growled to her. You are so small, but you were made for my pleasure.
Emersyn curled her hand around his neck, fingers spearing through his gloriously silken hair. She returned his kisses with unfettered enthusiasm. Her core throbbed with each thrust of his tongue into her mouth. She squirmed in his arms, blinded by desire, the heat of his body surrounding her. Burning inside her. He helped her to straddle his thighs before pulling back. She tried to follow, a moan of need on her lips.
Last of the Temple Line Page 25