Malachite and Iolite Read online

  Rak eyed the heap of fabric dubiously. “Hmm. Are you certain that it is a tent, m’lady? It does not look like one.”

  Ave scowled at the tent. “Of course I’m sure! What else could it be?”

  Rak poked at it with a finger. “It looks more like the jackets that we use to keep the baby basilisks from hurting each other than a tent, m’lady.”

  Ave’s eyes went very wide as her face turned scarlet. She reached for the tent and began to spread out the folds of the bundled fabric. Although it had been folded to look like a tent, it wasn’t. It was indeed a basilisk jacket. “That’s it,” she snarled. “I can’t take this any longer!” She stomped off without a word, leaving Rak bemusedly studying the jacket.

  An older one, Rak observed to Scorth. You didn’t?

  Not I, responded Scorth. I like her, remember?

  I suppose I should just wait here and hope that she doesn’t forget me.

  Scorth chuckled quietly, allowing the link to fade. Rak looked around the small workroom, but there wasn’t really much to look at. Just a table with the offending jacket draped over it, a stool for the mage to sit on, and some shelves off to the left. Rak wandered over to the shelves, eyeing the scrolls stacked in their cubbies. Spells, probably, and therefore off-limits to a non-mage like him.

  Just as his curiosity was starting to get the better of him, Ave came back. He hastily backed away from the shelves, then returned her knowing smile.

  “Well, I’m taking the rest of tonight off, having wasted a great deal of power trying to get a basilisk jacket to think it’s a tent. And the young acolyte responsible for this prank is roasting nicely over the coals of S’Tanyl’s rage.”

  Rak winced, then grinned. “While I agree that it wasn’t a very nice prank to do, at least it gives me more time with you.”

  “That’s true, but we Arrai hold to a higher standard than do some other sects,” teased Ave.

  Rak smiled, but didn’t try to argue that point. “M’lady, shall we go?” He led her out to the landing field where Scorth waited.

  Once they were in the air, Rak wrapped his arms around her and began to kiss her passionately. She melted into his embrace and her soft warmth, pressed against him, was enough to ensure his immediate reaction. He cuddled her close, exploring her with his hands, but after a few minutes, Ave pulled away. “Rak…we need to talk!” she shouted over the wind rushing past them.

  Rak nodded agreement, let her go, and clamped down on his need. He was more than his fires. He could control his urges. A few minutes later, Scorth spiraled down, landing in a secluded oasis on the far end of the mighty plateau from Okyro. Since this oasis consisted of a few stunted trees and a spring that emerged for less than ten feet before going back underground, it wasn’t well utilized. No one was permitted to live on the plateau other than in the city, and most patrols occurred around the plateau, not on it.

  Ave smiled as she sat down on the soft sand by the water’s edge. Rak joined her, tucking one foot under himself and stretching the other out, his back against a tree trunk. He smiled a little as he regarded her, but chose to remain silent. He wanted her to speak first, since she was the one who felt speech was needed.

  Ave tossed her copper hair over a shoulder, glanced at him coyly, and asked, “Siflion Rak, will you marry me?”

  Rak reached out and swept a stray tendril of her hair back behind her ear. “Of course I will, Ave. I love you.”

  “And if I want you now?”

  “I am yours for the taking, m’lady. If you can figure out how to tie me down out here, then by all means...” Rak leered at her, trying to make it seem a challenge as well as a suggestion. He knew she couldn’t resist a challenge.

  Ave chuckled as she undid the laces at the neck of his tunic. “I am going to make you mine, Rak of the Thezi.”

  Clothing flew every which way as they undressed each other. At last, Rak was naked, and so was she, sitting on his thighs. Rak admired the light creamy tan perfection of her. She was smaller than he was, but so curvy, so soft…she looked fragile, weak, and helpless, even though Rak knew that wasn’t true. She was a mage, and only a fool would fail to heed the power she commanded.

  Ave’s eyes were all over him and soon her hands were, too. She ran a hand from his chest to his belly and even lower, tracing the geometric design that suggested wings before touching his cock, which promptly grew and hardened for her. She appeared pleased by the size of him.

  She stood up, giggling as she pulled him along by that large, thick pole that jutted out so imperiously. Rak followed her silently as she led him to an open area of soft sand. “Lie down on your back,” she said as she pulled up a clump of grass.

  Rak did as she asked, and Ave quickly positioned his limbs where she wanted them before placing strands of grass across his wrists and ankles. Concentrating, she whispered a few words that twisted in the air, disappearing almost unheard. Rak could feel his eyes widening as he discovered himself bound to the ground by strands of grass and magic. Ave grinned at his expression. “Are you well bound now, my dear?”

  Rak licked his lips. “Yes, m’lady. Very well bound, indeed.”

  Ave straddled his stomach, her fingers lightly running down his sides, “Are you ticklish, I wonder?” Rak squirmed under her touch, gasping with restrained laughter. “Ah, I see that you are.” She removed her hands, “Of course, that wasn’t really nice of me, was it. You are literally at my mercy now, and I tickle you? What was I thinking?”

  Ave scooted down to sit on his thighs, her fingers stroking his shaft. Rak gasped softly at the contact, his hips rising up beseechingly. “M’lady,” he whispered, and Ave rose up onto her knees and over him. Then she eased herself down, impaling herself on his thick pole. Rak moaned as she enveloped him, and Ave rolled her hips in a little circle, causing further small noises to escape him.

  Then she rode him, using his cock to give herself pleasure, and in the process, giving Rak just as much enjoyment. Rak stared up at her, loving the way she moved, the way her wings danced in the air, and her long hair, unbound, tangling with her arms, flowing down her back.

  Rak cupped his wings about her, his sensitive wingsails sliding against hers, a tactile rush of pleasure that shook Rak to the core. As Ave’s efforts redoubled, he found himself dreaming of taking her on the wing, mating like dragons. Her climax flashed through him and he groaned in need.

  Ave thrust her pelvis a few more times, and Rak continued to moan softly, his own hips working. She asked softly, “Are you close, my man?”

  Rak squirmed beneath her. “M’lady…please. I must have permission…”

  Ave’s eyes widened. “You can’t even…without my say-so?”

  Rak shook his head, gasping, “No, Ave. Please…the tension is difficult to bear.”

  Ave took pity on him. “You may release, my dear.”

  Rak’s hips rolled once and he cried out in the pleasure of his release, the tension draining away though the fires remained. Ave ground down against him, increasing his pleasure as he gave her his seed. Then he lay still, breathing deeply, his cock still at full attention within her.

  She asked, “Ah…Rak, are you sure you’re done?”

  Rak opened his eyes and looked at her soberly. “Are you, m’lady?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Are you done using me?” Rak smiled faintly. “It’s a simple question. I can hold this erection the rest of the night if you’d like to think about it.”

  Ave’s eyes widened as she caught his implication. She asked softly, “You can come erect on command, can’t you?”

  “Yes, m’lady, I can. I was a Royal Dancer—a display piece as much as anything else, and my penis was a part of that display, along with all the tattoos, the gold, and the gems...”

  Ave looked like she was dying of curiosity. “How many times can you orgasm in a night?”

  “I don’t know, m’lady. I lost count every time I tried to keep one.”<
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  Ave’s jaw nearly hit his chest, then she snapped it closed, smiled coyly, and began to work her hips again, but at a slower, gentler pace than before.

  Rak moaned softly as she ground down onto him again, then he whispered, “I do love you, Ave. It is not just lust, or need.”

  Ave kissed Rak passionately, then rolled her hips. Rak moaned deeply and thrust himself upwards. As they strove together to reach new heights of pleasure, she whispered, “I would be honored to marry you, my love. I can accept your problems and work around them. It’s worth it, to have you.” She rode him out until she’d reached a second orgasm. As she came for him, she said, “You may release.” Rak cried out again, his back arching as his orgasm swept through them both.

  She pulled off him entirely once they both had settled and whispered, “Now I am done.”

  Rak sighed softly, his penis falling flaccid, still damp with their fluids. “Thank you, m’lady.”

  Ave smiled as she openly admired his body. After a few minutes, she gestured with her fingers, whispering two words.

  Once his bonds were released, Rak rolled to his side, facing her. “My lady of the Arrai, you have certainly taught this poor Thezi a lesson this evening.”

  “And what would that be?”

  Rak rubbed his wrists. “You have no need of ropes to bind me, only your will. And your will is stronger than I am.”

  Ave laughed lightly as she boldly reached down and stroked his penis. “My dear man, of course I’m stronger than you, I’m a woman!”

  About the Author

  I’ve long since embraced my inner nerd. I revel in my Greekness and in my Geekness. I have two lives—the mundane reality of life here on earth, and the far more interesting life in my head. I love ancient history, ancient forms of combat, target archery, sabre fencing, anything to do with horses other than western saddle stuff, organic food and sustainable farming, and science fiction and fantasy of all varieties, especially conventions, which are the only gatherings on earth where I can find many people just as strange as I am.