by Sarah Hawke
I turned back to Solemi as an even darker realization struck me. “The Highlord died defending innocent people deeper in the castle,” I murmured. “Everyone said that Sir Derec was the only one with him when it happened, and somehow he’s the one who came back completely unscathed. I wonder, was it a Roskarim blade that felled the Highlord, or what it one of his own men?”
“I would choose your next words carefully, Jorem,” Solemi said. Her voice was so cold, so dark, that she could have been a completely different person. “Allies in Highwind are rare, especially for Senosi and renegade sorcerers.”
My hands balled into fists at my side. “What about Councilor Vaneros? Did the Senosi kill him…or did you?”
We all stood there in the oppressive silence, and I swore I could feel the shadows behind us swelling with her allies. If I’d had an ounce of sense, I would have kept my mouth shut until the girls and I were alone again, but of course that wasn’t how my brain worked. And now I wondered if I was going to pay the price for my arrogance.
“You are weary from battle, and you haven’t had sufficient time to rest,” Solemi said eventually. “Exhaustion is impairing your judgement, so I’m willing to forgive you…for now.”
“You didn’t answer his question,” Kaseya said.
Solemi’s eyes bored into me for a long before she turned to face the amazon. “I have good news for you,” she said, a wicked smile tugging at her lips. “While you were topside, I reached out to my contacts in Greygale. Apparently they are willing to sail you to Nol Krovos after all. I simply need to give them the word.”
A bitter lump of bile rose up in my throat as the jaws of her trap closed around us. I should have known better—we should have known better. In desperation, we made a deal with a demon. And now, at long last, the payment was due.
“The Headmistress and I have much to discuss about the future of Highwind—I’m pleased you were able to save her from the Senosi,” Solemi said. “But you shouldn’t linger here any longer than is absolutely necessary. In fact, you may wish to ride west tonight. The sooner you arrive, the sooner you can set sail and warn your people about the Inquisitrix and her fleet.”
“And the sooner you can close your fist around Highwind,” Kaseya murmured.
“We all have our priories, my dear,” the Black Mistress said. “It’s time for you to decide where your true loyalties lie.”
To Be Continued
WRATH OF THE INQUISITRIX
1
The Silver Sea stretched all the way to the horizon, and the setting sun cast an eerie, crimson reflection on its shimmering surface as if the sky itself were bleeding onto the waves. A few minutes later, I watched a seagull soar listlessly across the whitecaps before it spontaneously died and plummeted beneath the surface.
The priestesses of the water goddess back in Greygale would have almost certainly considered it a bad omen, but I couldn’t imagine a more perfect metaphor for our situation. The stupid bird had probably just wanted to come home, and nature’s response had been to strike it dead in mid-flight. I anticipated a similar greeting when we finally arrived at Nol Krovos.
“Be honest,” I said, taking another swig from the half-empty whiskey bottle in my hand. “When we used to talk about fleeing Vorsalos and the Inquisitrix, did you ever imagine we’d be responsible for handing Highwind over to another evil witch?”
Valuri sighed. “You’re pouting again. You know I hate when you get like this.”
“I’m not pouting,” I insisted. “I’m brooding .”
“What’s the difference?”
“Well, you see…one is very childish and annoying. The other is very manly, and women go crazy for it.”
“Not this one,” Valuri muttered.
I took another swig and grimaced as the liquor burned its way down my throat. “You never gave me an answer.”
“Because it was a stupid question. We didn’t hand the city over to Solemi, Jorem.”
“Are you sure?”
She sighed. “We made a deal with the only person who was willing to help us. It was the right decision at the time, and honestly we barely gave her anything in return.”
“Other than Telanya, you mean.”
“That blonde bitch would have ended up locked in the Grey Citadel without us. Instead she has fighting chance to make a deal and stay in the game.”
“And we left her to fend for herself,” I said. “We bolted the instant things got tough.”
“We took our one and only chance to sail to Nol Krovos and warn the amazons about Ayrael,” Valuri said. “You and Red are the ones who wanted to do this—you’re the ones who believe Zalheer’s story about the Fount of Velhari. This is more important than Highwind politics.”
My lip curled. “Then why doesn’t it feel like it?”
“Because you don’t handle your liquor as well as you used to,” Valuri said, snatching the bottle from my hand.
“I’m handling it just fine. I wanted to get drunk, and now I am. What’s the problem?”
She groaned and grabbed my arm. “Come on, let’s get you below decks. If you’re going to be this pathetic, I’d rather you not do it in public.”
I grunted and cast one final longing glance at the horizon. We had left Highwind over a week ago, though we’d only been out a sea for a few days. I was still a little surprised that Solemi’s contact in Greygale—a haggard captain named Ferroc—had made good on his promise to sail us to Nol Krovos. I’d half-expected he and his crew to try and shiv us the instant we rolled into town…
Initially I had found the open sea peaceful, but by the first night the guilty knot twisting in the pit of my stomach had returned in full force. Val was right that we hadn’t actually helped Solemi out all that much. Almost everything we had attempted in Highwind had been a bust, from losing the vatari crystal shipment to rescuing Zalheer. And it wasn’t as if we were personally responsible for getting Highlord Kastrius killed or Archmage Beloran imprisoned. If anything, we were more responsible for keeping Ranger-General Serrane alive , and in theory she might prove the most potent obstacle to Solemi’s attempted coup.
None of those pesky facts helped assuage my guilt in the slightest, however, and every time I closed my eyes I saw the horrified look on Telanya’s face when she’d realized we had essentially delivered her straight into the den of the lioness. I couldn’t help but think about all the people who had been in our position back when the Inquisitrix had risen to power in Vorsalos. Had they made similar deals? Had they realized what they were doing before it was too late?
“Jorem, we saved thousands of lives at Icewatch,” Valuri said, grabbing my chin and tiling it down to face her. “Without our help, there might not be a city left for anyone to fight over. What else were we supposed to do?”
I sighed and dragged my fingers through my hair. “I don’t know,” I murmured. “I suppose that’s part of the problem.”
“Right now we need stay focused on what’s really important. Red has been spending every day trying to open that Dal’Rethi stone Zalheer gave her, and you’ve just been sitting around moping. At the very least we could be locked in our quarters fucking like crazy.”
I snorted and smiled despite myself. “You’ve been feeding off Kaseya so much I haven’t felt needed.”
“I just thought you could use a break. Even the deepest well needs to be replenished from time to time.”
“Yeah, well, right now all this replenishing has left me with a horrible headache,” I grumbled. “I really need to lie down.”
She helped me descend the steps to our shared cabin on the lower decks. Kaseya wasn’t there, strangely; she must have been fiddling with the Dal’Rethi training stone in one of the cargo holds. I thought about using the bond ring to reach out to her but decided I was way too drunk to help.
“On one hand, I really hope Red opens that thing and learns the secret to taking down her sister and the Inquisitrix,” Valuri said as she pushed me down onto the edge of the bed. �
��On the other hand, I’m still not really comfortable with the idea that she could help you find and exploit my weaknesses.”
I snorted. “You really think I’d use my magic to hurt you?”
“No, you’re too pathetic for that,” she said dryly. “I just prefer to have the power to kick your ass whenever I want.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Valuri grinned as she leaned forward and gave me a kiss. She bit me just enough to draw blood, and she smiled devilishly as she rolled the liquid across her own lips.
“Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the amazons compare to Red,” she said. “Imagine all those armored skirts and long legs…”
“And all the big, scowling moshalim they’ve been pledged to,” I said.
“Men with magic don’t scare me,” she said. “Besides, if we’re there to tell them that their whole civilization is built on a lie…well, who better to break them from their habits than another woman? Give me a minute between their legs and I guarantee they’ll forget all about their Maskari .”
I grinned. “There’s just one problem with that: you haven’t been able to break your own addiction to cock.”
“My one true weakness,” she lamented. “I’m just lucky my dealer stays close by.”
She kissed me again, then slowly sank to her knees in front of me. Her hands traced down my chest until they finally settled on the bulge in my trousers. “You and Red met on a ship like this. I had her tell me all about it the other day while I was feeding on her.”
I smiled at the memory. I’d truly had no idea what was waiting for me when that tall, gorgeous amazon had knelt down next to me and begged me to heal her sword-sister…
“She described everything in vivid detail,” Valuri said as her fingers expertly unfastened my belt buckle. “It reminded me of the first time we met.”
“You mean when you stalked me across half the city, pummeled me unconscious, and tied me up?”
“Mostly the next part.”
I gasped softly when she freed my cock, but she didn’t touch it. She kept her lips close enough that I could feel the warmth of her breath, and her fingers idly traced along the edge of the shaft without actually making contact.
“I can’t imagine how hard you must have gotten when you clamped that collar around her neck,” Valuri said, her eyes glimmering as I swelled to life in front of her. “I bet she could have made you spill without even touching you. That’s what I would have done.”
I licked at my suddenly dry lips. “Believe me, I know.”
“Let me guess, it went something like this: ‘I’m yours forever, Jorem,’” Valuri said, mimicking Kaseya’s voice and accent. “‘Now watch as my perfect tits spill out of this ridiculous breastplate…’”
“You may want to work on your impression.”
“The voice isn’t the important part.”
She parted her lips and swallowed the tip of my cock. While her tongue lathered the head, the fingers on her left hand began slowly kneading my testicles. I closed my eyes and moaned softly, fully aware that Kaseya would be sensing every lick, nibble, and stroke. When I activated my bond ring, I could sense her arousal as keenly as my own. I could feel her stumble down to her knees and slide her fingers into her burning quim.
“I bet Red’s collar is driving her crazy right about now,” Valuri said with a smirk as she ran her tongue back and forth along the shaft. “She’s already soaked, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I croaked.
“Then you should let her know I’m just recreating your first time together.”
Digging her fingernails into the back of my thighs, Valuri opened her mouth and swallowed me all the way to the hilt just like Kaseya had done all those months ago when we had first met. I moaned and got a firm hold of her black hair, marveling as always at her apparent lack of a gag reflex. I knew how much Val enjoyed tormenting Kaseya from a distance; she had been gleefully exploiting our shared arousal ever since we had rescued her. She had always been something of an exhibitionist anyway—the number of times we had fucked in public back in Vorsalos was staggering when I thought about it. But this was even more intense. It was like some kind of bizarre psychic voyeurism, and it made her so hot I knew for a fact that her panties were drenched.
Valuri gasped when she finally came up for air, and she continued stroking me so hard I almost erupted all over her face right then and there. “Oh, Maskari ,” she said in her terrible Kaseya impression, “I promise to serve and love you forever. Now please, fuck my tight little virgin cunt and make me yours!”
I grabbed onto her shoulders and threw her up onto the bed. She yelped in surprise when I grabbed onto her belt and ripped her panties and trousers off in a single motion.
“Please, Maskari , fuck me with your big cock,” she said, still smirking. “Show me what it means to be a tall, gorgeous red-head with perfect tits and the body of a goddess.”
I wedged myself between her legs and pressed the tip of my swollen cock against her slit, but I didn’t thrust inside even when she locked her ankles behind my back. Instead I grinned and grabbed her wrists.
Don’t give her what she wants , Kaseya’s voice said into my head.
You have something else in mind?
Do you remember our first time in the forest?
“All too well,” I murmured.
Valuri frowned in confusion, but before she could speak I flipped her over and braced my hand on the base of her skull to hold her face against the pillow. After slapping her ass several times with my free hand, I pushed her knees apart and wedged the tip of my cock into her ass.
“What the hell are you—?”
I cut off her feeble protests by pushing her face even harder into the pillow. She struggled in my grip, but she hadn’t fed in some time. I had no trouble overpowering her.
She can take it , Kaseya said. Fuck her, Jorem. Fuck her just like you fucked me.
I slapped Val’s ass again as I pushed my way inside. Every time she struggled, I just held onto her harder. Her pain quickly transformed into bliss, however, as her masochistic Senosi impulses took over. She cried out in joy once I’d finally buried myself all the way to the hilt.
I slammed into her again and again, lost in the smoldering, vise-like grip of her bowels. I had to carefully throttle back my movements; after several days at sea without the warm sheathe of Kaseya’s cunt or Valuri’s throat, my cock was ready to explode at any moment.
“Fuck,” I groaned, shifting both my hands to the back of Val’s head to smother her even deeper into the pillow. I wasn’t the first man who had taken her ass, but I knew that I would be the last. She never allowed herself to be this vulnerable with anyone else. I might not have been her Maskari , and she might not have pledged herself to me.
But here in the bedroom, I was still the man. And she was still my bitch in heat.
“Fuck,” I yelled, unable to hold back any longer. I pumped her bowels full of my seed, and once my cock finally stopped spurting I grabbed her hair and jerked her head back. “Feed off of that!”
Val was too busy gasping for breath to respond, and a moment later her eyes and tattoos began to glow. I grinned and pushed her back into the pillow as I slowly pulled out, marveling at the thick white strands hemorrhaging out of her. She almost always looked like a whore when I finished with her, but this was truly something else: freshly-fucked and out of breath, her hair disheveled and her ass held high in the air.
Why had I let myself go three days without this again?
I felt Kaseya’s own climax through our bond, and I started planning all the ways I would fuck her senseless later. Right after I took a little nap.
***
I was more or less sober when I finally returned to the land of the living, though my headache had gotten worse to compensate. I was also starving, which probably meant that I’d been out for quite a while. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was already dark outside.
&nb
sp; I lurched out of bed with an embarrassingly laborious groan, but before I could kneel down and retrieve my trousers Kaseya appeared in the doorway.
“I unlocked the stone,” she declared. “You need to see this, Jorem.”
I blinked in surprise. “You’ve been working at that thing for days. What finally did the trick?”
“It is difficult to explain. You need to see it for yourself.”
She stepped into the room and placed the Dal’Rethi stone on the center of the table. It didn’t look any different than before; it still glowed with a faint inner light, and I could feel the currents of Aetheric energy thrumming inside it. But then Kaseya closed her eyes and concentrated, and a moment later a soft, otherworldly female voice filled the room.
“Ve lorae ce lyun .”
“The language sounds Elven,” I breathed, stepping up behind her. “But I don’t recognize any of the words.”
“It is an original Avetharri dialect,” Kaseya said. “I doubt more than a handful of modern elves can even speak it.”
“Taas lyonah ce potaal.”
I bit down on my lip. “Well, that’s unfortunate. I wonder if Zalheer understood it.”
“He might not have needed to.”
Kaseya touched the top of the crystal, and the luminescent glow inside subtly shifted. I was about to ask what she was doing when a small, illusory image of an elven man materialized at the center of the table. He was clad in light flexible golden armor, and he held a slender crystalline sword in both hands. After a moment, he began whirling about in a series of deliberate, fluid maneuvers that looked more like the moves to a dance than any fencing technique I had ever seen.
“I recognize several of these forms,” Kaseya said. “The basic foundations are common in many amazon fighting styles.”
