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by Sarah Hawke

  “Not since the snow drift,” I said, grinning as I pulled her into my lap. Her legs parted around me, and a moment later she was straddling me beneath the water. “I don’t think you’ve ever screamed so loudly…or had your hair so messed up.”

  “I should drain you at least once before we stalk the Senosi tonight,” Kaseya said. “You will need to be focused.”

  “You know, it seems like you are the one who needs draining these days,” I teased, flicking my tongue across her nipples when she pushed her breasts into my face.

  “I am a warrior. I require a steady stream of conquests.”

  I chuckled as I feasted on her magnificent tits. As she reached beneath the water and helped me slip inside her, I couldn’t imagine ever tiring of the taste of her flesh…or the warm embrace of her quim. Grinning, I activated my bond ring and allowed her pleasure to wash over me.

  “Whenever we do finally get to Nol Krovos,” I breathed into her ear as her hips began milking me, “I’m tempted to see if the moshalim can make the bond ring permanent. It’s not really fair that you can feel my emotions all the time but I can’t feel yours.”

  “It’s not supposed to be fair.”

  “That what you always say, but still.” I smiled at up at her and pushed a strand of red hair from her face. “I want our relationship to be different.”

  Kaseya smiled back. “I have been thinking about something similar. I don’t know if it’s even possible, but I wondered if the moshalim could change my collar.”

  “Change it?” I asked, running my finger over the slender strip of metal. “How?”

  “What if I could add another bond?” she asked. “What if I could connect myself to Valuri, too?”

  My cock twinged inside her, and not just because her hips were squeezing me so tightly. The idea of her being our mutual Maskari was incredibly hot…but almost certainly a terrible idea.

  “Peeking into Val’s mind is the path to madness,” I said. “I don’t think anyone wants to know what’s going on in there.”

  As if on cue, the Huntress cried out in pleasure. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw her legs propped up on the servant’s shoulders while he devoured her quim.

  “You may be right,” Kaseya said. “I doubt it’s possible anyway, given the vatari in her flesh. Still…I thought you’d be amused by the idea.”

  I clutched at her moving hips. “You weren’t wrong.”

  Her smile widened. “There is something I’ve wanted to try. The time just never seemed right while we were on the road.”

  “If you learned how to transmute yourself a cock I’m not interested,” I told her. “Val, on the other hand…”

  Kaseya grinned. “Nothing quite that advanced. The only thing I’m good at is enhancing my own senses and stretching out across the Aether.”

  “Well, it’s a pretty useful skill to have,” I said. “And I bet you’ll grow more powerful over time.”

  “We shall see. But I was thinking back on our experiences with Solemi the last time we were here. She’s an illusionist, and when it comes right down to it illusions are all about senses, right?”

  “More or less, yeah.”

  “Well, if I can expand my own senses, then perhaps I can learn to manipulate those of other people.”

  “Seems like it’s worth investigating,” I said, wondering where she was going with this. I was as enthralled by her nascent sorcerous abilities as anyone, but right now I really just wanted to bend her over the side of the pool and paint the walls of her quim…

  “I figure there’s no better way to test it out than with my Maskari , given that we already have a strong connection. Can I try? I promise it will be worth it.”

  I was really tempted to say no, just for the little power trip of knowing she had obey me. Would it have been petty? Sure. But would it have made me explode inside her? Almost certainly.

  “Go ahead,” I said instead. “What are you going to try?”

  Kaseya smiled. “Just close your eyes and leave that to me.”

  I did as she asked. She placed her hands on the sides of my head, and I felt a surge of power through our bond as she reached out to the Aether and channeled its energy through us. I legitimately had no idea what she was doing, but after about a minute I felt her abruptly lean back.

  “All right. Take a look and tell me if you like what you see.”

  When I reopened my eyes, my jaw almost dropped to the floor. Somehow, someway, the woman straddling my lap was no longer Kaseya.

  It was Ranger-General Serrane.

  “What…?”

  “So it worked, then,” she said. Her voice was the same as normal, but her appearance was completely different. She was a bit shorter, a bit slimmer, and whole a lot more elven . Her ears, her eyes, her hair, her cunt…they were all different.

  “It’s unbelievable,” I rasped.

  “I left my breasts about the same…I had a feeling you wouldn’t mind,” she replied with an impish grin. “It’s all yours, Jorem. Whatever you want to do with her, you can now do with me.”

  I grabbed ahold of her slender elven waist, and I was a fraction of a second away from throwing her up onto the edge of the pool and hammering the living hell out of her before I realized how grossly unfair this was.

  “This isn’t right,” I said, rubbing at my eyes. The illusion remained as strong as before. “I want to be with my amazon.”

  “That’s sweet, but there’s nothing wrong with craving variety,” she told me. “Would it help if I admitted that to me, you look like Sir Derec right now?”

  I blinked. “Are you serious?”

  “Who knows? I guess Val is finally rubbing off on me.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready for you to have a sense of humor.”

  “You’ll adapt,” Kaseya said, leaning close enough to whisper in my ear. “Now fuck me, Jorem. Fuck my tight little elven cunt!”

  I happily obliged. My fingers dug into her thighs as I hoisted her up on the edge of the pool and pounded into her over and over. The illusion held, miraculously, and through our bond I could tell she was enjoying the game every bit as much as I was—especially when I hoisted her calves up on my shoulders and took full control.

  This time, it was actually her climax that pushed me over the edge. While her face—or rather, Serrane’s face—scrunched in delight, I promptly pulled out and fired my load across her stomach and tits. The trip south hadn’t drained me as much as I’d feared; I conjured up a veritable river from her neck all the way to her belly button. But I also made certain to save the last volley for her lips and cheeks. Something about the sight of my seed smeared across a proud, pretty elven face made the illusion even more perfect…

  “When we first met, I promised you that I would keep getting better,” Kaseya said, licking a white, viscous strand from her lips. “I hope you’re not disappointed.”

  I smiled and ran my fingers across her smooth legs. “Not even for a moment.”

  6

  Leaving Darkwind after only a few hours of rest was one of the most difficult things I had ever done, but somehow we managed to pull ourselves together and trudge back to the surface just before nightfall. As I’d expected, the streets were as busy as ever thanks to Constable Mannick’s new curfew. People were scrambling to finish their normal business, and the Highwind Guard was out in full force in an effort to move them along and get everyone indoors. At first, the crowds made it a bit easier for us to avoid notice, but the closer we drew to our destination the more we had to flit between the shadows. Our long cloaks and deep hoods may have concealed our identities, but they only made us look more suspicious when we were off by ourselves.

  “Sense any nearby Senosi?” I asked while we walked.

  “No, but it takes a great deal of focus,” Kaseya replied. “I will need to stop and concentrate.”

  “Well, let’s find this warehouse first, then. I’d rather not linger anywhere too long.”

  Most of the city’s storage
facilities were on the docks, for obvious reasons, though the various crime guilds had always maintained their own caches in the poorer parts of the city as well. Or at least, I assumed they did because that’s exactly how the gangs in Vorsalos had always worked. They kept their dirty secrets as far away from the authorities as possible.

  Beloran and Telanya had apparently taken the complete opposite approach. Their vatari crystals were stashed in the basement of a mansion located in the Redwater District, the wealthiest part of Highwind. Guard patrols were heavy, the streets were well-lit, and crime was practically non-existent. On top of all that, the house genuinely looked like someone still lived there.

  “I guess I’ll give that blonde bitch Telanya a little credit,” Valuri said once we had hunkered down in a narrow alley nearby. “This is definitely not this first place I would start searching for a secret warehouse. How in the bloody hell did Solemi’s people find this place?”

  “That’s a good question,” I said. “A really good question, actually. Why didn’t any of us think to ask it back in Darkwind?”

  “I guess we were all too busy staring at her tits,” Valuri muttered, scowling and shaking her head. I knew her well enough to understand that she was more annoyed with herself than the rest of us. This type of skullduggerous, cloak-and-dagger stuff was her specialty, not ours.

  “I’m not sure how they got the crystals in here without being noticed in the first place, but getting them out won’t be easy,” I commented. “The patrols in the area have probably tripled after all the assassinations.”

  “I can feel the crystals,” Kaseya whispered, her eyes narrowed into thin slits. “They’re in the basement.”

  I reached out through the Aether, but I didn’t sense anything until I activated the bond ring and used Kaseya as a conduit. Once I did, the cold, empty presence of the crystals was unmistakable.

  “At least they haven’t been stolen yet,” I said. “That puts us one step ahead of where we were with the Falcon Ridge caravan.”

  Valuri snorted softly. “Don’t remind me.”

  Kaseya’s eyes slowly fluttered back open, and she took a deep breath and braced herself against the wall. Her face went completely pale; she looked like she was about to pass out.

  “Hey, take it easy,” I said, leaning down and touching her arm. “Trust me: you really don’t want to overchannel. The backlash isn’t as fun as it looks.”

  “I want to keep searching,” Kaseya murmured. “But it’s very…overwhelming .”

  “We’ll be here all night—you’re allowed to take a break,” I said, squeezing her shoulder. “It’s important to come up for breath once in a while.”

  “We have company,” Valuri announced. “Looks like a few Mage’s Guild fops and…oh, shit.”

  I followed her gaze down the street to our left. A pair of youngish wizards in gray-blue robes rounded the corner, trailed closely by an older man in similar attire. He was dressed so unassumingly for his station that I probably wouldn’t have recognized Archmage Beloran if I hadn’t met him in person.

  “What is he doing here?” I whispered, crouching down even lower. “Why in the bloody hell would he leave the protection of his mansion with Senosi assassins on the prowl?

  “Maybe he’s planning on moving the crystals after all,” Valuri suggested. “Though even if that’s true, I don’t know why he would be out here himself. He can’t be that stupid.”

  I frowned in confusion as we watched Beloran speak with a few seemingly random people on the street. In theory, this district was still the safest place in Highwind, and most of the rich people living here had connections—direct or indirect—with the Council. The curfew would almost certainly be optional for them. Perhaps Beloran was just playing politics and attempting to assure the locals that everything was under control. I couldn’t conceive of any other possible explanation…

  “It’s a decoy,” Valuri said after a moment, a knowing smirk tugging at her lips.

  I turned and frowned at her. “What?”

  “I couldn’t tell until he got closer, but he’s cloaked in illusion magic. The Guild must be trying to bait out potential assassins.”

  “Not just assassins. Catching thieves is almost as important.”

  I whipped my head around just in time to watch the air behind us shimmer with the tell-tale traces of an invisibility spell. Before we could react, the magical shroud faded and revealed a familiar figure.

  “Don’t bother trying anything,” Headmistress Telanya said, Aetheric energy crackling at her fingertips. “I could summon fifty guards before you turned the corner.”

  My breath froze in my throat. I couldn’t believe she had sneaked up on us so easily; apparently we had been more distracted than I realized.

  “Nice to see you again,” Valuri said, her voice surprisingly calm. “But if you want to fuck Jorem and embarrass your husband one more time, you don’t have to sneak around. You can just ask.”

  Telanya stepped forward, a furious sneer on her face. Somehow, it didn’t diminish her otherworldly beauty in the slightest. I had almost forgotten the mesmerizing power of her blue eyes, high cheekbones, and sleek elven body. She was encased in a blue battle robe that was layered in protective enchantments, though the design was still almost painfully chic. The fabric clutched and cradled her perky breasts, and the long slit on the right side showed off her slender legs and heeled, knee-high boots.

  “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to stay in Highwind after you betrayed us,” Telanya hissed. “Apparently you’re not as clever as I thought.”

  I raised my hands diplomatically in the hopes of making Kaseya relax. It didn’t work—the amazon’s sword remained drawn and pointed at the elf.

  “We didn’t betray you,” I said, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. “Your vatari crystals had already been stolen before we rendezvoused with the caravan. Those mercenaries you hired—”

  “I know exactly what happened,” Telanya interrupted. “Koth and his men were paid off by the Inquisitrix, they tried to set a trap for you. It was a disaster.” She paused, and I could see the pent-up rage ripple across her face. “I regret that you were placed in such a dangerous situation, but you still could have come back to me. I would have paid you! Instead you crawled into the arms of Highwind’s most notorious criminal!”

  “We sought shelter from the only person I was sure wouldn’t toss us back in the Grey Citadel,” I countered. “You’ll forgive us for not trusting in the mercy of the Guild that already imprisoned us once.”

  “And just in case you haven’t heard the news, we risked our lives defending Icewatch from the Roskarim,” Valuri added. “Without our help, the plains would be completely overrun by now.”

  Telanya’s lip twitched almost imperceptibly. “What?”

  “Feel free to ask the Ranger-General whenever she returns,” I said. “Look, I’m not happy about what happened to your caravan either, but we’re not monsters and we didn’t really betray you. We’re actually here to help you and your husband.”

  Her blue eyes narrowed. “Help us? How?”

  “It’s only a matter of time before the Senosi discover where you’re hiding the crystals. We’re here in case they make their move tonight.”

  Telanya scoffed. “You honestly expect me to believe that?”

  “You’re a smart woman, so yes,” I said matter-of-factly. “What do you think we’re doing? Trying to steal them for ourselves?”

  “Of course! I’m sure the Black Mistress can’t wait to sell them to the Inquisitrix.”

  I sighed. “You really don’t have any idea what’s going on here, do you?”

  “I know enough,” Telanya insisted. “But don’t worry—you’ll have the chance to explain yourselves once you’re back inside the Citadel. Guards!”

  I barely had a chance to flinch before a quartet of soldiers clad in armored robes and faceless masks materialized in the shadows behind her. They weren’t wizards or city watchmen; they w
ere the Archmage’s personal bodyguards, spellsword trained in both combat and magic.

  And their glowing, enchanted swords were pointed directly at us.

  “If you surrender now there’s still a chance I can convince my husband to show you mercy,” Telanya said.

  “You’re making a big mistake,” I told her, reaching out to the Aether and preparing myself as best I could. “We can still help you if you let us.”

  “You can help me by putting down your weapons and getting on your knees,” Telanya said. “Now!”

  I clenched teeth and glanced between the soldiers. There was no way in hell I was going to let them lock us up in the Citadel again, but this wasn’t going to be easy…

  “Those aren’t your bodyguards,” Kaseya said, her brow creased in concentration. “They are Senosi in disguise.”

  Telanya arched her blonde eyebrows. “What are you—?”

  The Senosi sprung their trap. I didn’t even have time to flinch before one of them spun around, drew a dagger from somewhere inside her sleeve, and slashed open the throat of the spellsword standing behind her. While the man gurgled and clutched at his wound, she whirled around and hurled the dagger right into his partner’s face. The enchanted steel pierced his mask and burrowed into the man’s skull, killing him instantly. Before either of their bodies hit the ground, the second Senosi lunged forward, grabbed Telanya, and placed her dagger at the Headmistress’s throat.

  “You wretch!” Telanya hissed, kicking and struggling feebly in the other woman’s grip. Her hands crackled with magic, but when sparks of energy leapt from her fingertips and struck the Senosi’s arm, it only made the Huntress more powerful.

  “Struggle all you like—I’m famished ,” the Senosi said, tightening her grip. Her glowing tattoos were finally visible on the exposed flesh beneath her sleeve. “If anyone else moves, she dies.”

  “Why would you assume we give a damn about the bitch who just threatened to arrest us?” Valuri asked, flicking out her arms and extending the tiger claws concealed in her gauntlets. “The moment her corpse hits the ground, Red and I here will tear the two of you apart.”