Reborn Raiders (The Weatherblight Saga Book 4)

by Edmund Hughes

  He found Kerys waiting for him back in his underchamber. She wore a simple grey shift, one too short to be suitable outside of the warmer seasons or for bed. It was a sleeveless dress, and she hadn’t worn it in a while for fear of revealing her injury. Ari decided he liked the way it looked with her in gloves.

  She sat on his sleeping roll, legs pulled to the side, her partially dyed black and blonde hair hanging in a single lock across her shoulder.

  “I can’t sleep,” said Kerys.

  Ari slowly walked over and sat down next to her. For some reason, he found it hard to keep his mind from wandering off to their first night together. Circumstances had forced them to share a single kellowack, and they had fumbled about in the way that so many teenagers do.

  “I don’t think you’ll be the only one having trouble with sleeping tonight,” he said.

  He put an arm around her, and Kerys leaned her head onto his shoulder. She was trembling slightly, but the small amount of contact between them seemed to steady her somewhat.

  “Will we make it through this?” asked Kerys. “Is this the end?”

  “Not even close,” he said. “We’ll be fine. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

  “That’s the worst lie you’ve ever told,” whispered Kerys.

  For once, Ari wasn’t sure that he was lying. He did know, or at least have an idea of what he was doing. Whether it would work or not was another question. He had the tools he needed to win. It was all about figuring out the correct way of using them to outsmart the Sai.

  “I want to talk about… last night,” said Kerys.

  “Ah.” Ari gave her a small squeeze with his arm. “Which part of last night? It was certainly eventful.”

  “You know which part,” said Kerys. “I meant it, you know. I really do want to, you know…”

  Kerys shrugged, and her cheeks reddened as the silence lengthened.

  “You want to be my wife?” said Ari.

  “Is that a question, or… a proposal?” asked Kerys.

  Ari laughed and kissed her. Kerys hugged him from the side, letting her breasts press against his shoulder.

  “I know it would be complicated,” said Kerys. “It’s not as though you can just commit like that. Our current situation isn’t like down in the Hollow, where that type of fidelity was rigid and made perfect sense.”

  Ari didn’t say anything right away. Kerys was far more emotionally articulate than he was, and he wondered if that had always been the case or if it was a reflection of how much thought she’d put into her current words.

  “Since we first came to the surface, it’s been you and I,” said Ari. “And Eva.”

  “And Eva,” agreed Kerys. “She’s been there for me as much as she’s been there for you. I… would be okay with it. With her, being a part of our lives still.”

  She spoke the words in a soft voice, which only seemed to reinforce the resolve they must have taken. She was talking about sharing him with a woman who she envied in a dozen different ways. She was talking about love, trust, and true commitment.

  “Lord Aristial?” Eva walked in at that very moment. “Oh! My apologies, Lady Kerys. I was expecting Aristial to be alone.”

  Eva turned to leave. Ari was about to tell her to stay, but Kerys reacted first. She got up and hurried over, taking Eva’s hand before she could step out of the underchamber’s open doorway.

  “You should stay,” said Kerys. “In here. With us.”

  Eva blinked, looking confused, and then blinked again. For once, she seemed caught off guard, and her cheeks flushed as red as Kerys’ had been earlier.

  “I thought the two of you were going to share the night, so to speak,” said Eva.

  “We were,” said Kerys, in a very shy voice.

  Eva started to shake her head, but Kerys set her hand on her cheek, cutting off her dissent.

  “You can build your bond with Ari this way,” said Kerys. “That’s what you came here to do, isn’t it?”

  “I… yes… however…”

  Kerys stood up on her tiptoes and gave Eva a quick kiss on the lips. Ari realized two things in that moment. One, he was pretty sure he’d never seen Kerys kiss anybody other than himself before. And two, the fact that Eva was still wearing one of his tunics was, under the current circumstances, a serious turn on.

  She led Eva over to Ari’s bedroll by the hand. For a few seconds, the three of them just looked at each other. The tension built in a way that was a mixture of nervous eroticism, more pronounced than Ari remembered it being even during the first time he’d been intimate with each of them on their own.

  “This is… rather sudden,” said Eva.

  “If you knew how many times Kerys had peeped on us while we were being intimate, I don’t think you’d say that,” said Ari.

  “Aristial!” snapped Kerys.

  “Truly?” said Eva, in a slightly miffed tone. “Lady Kerys, you’ve watched us before? While Aristial and I were…”

  “I was just curious,” mumbled Kerys.

  Eva looked as though she had more questions, but Ari slid over until he was directly behind her on the bedroll and planted a soft kiss on her neck.

  “Eva, you wanted to strengthen our bond tonight,” whispered Ari. “It would be good for us to do that before tomorrow’s battle. Kerys also wanted to spend the night in my bed.”

  “Yes, but…” Eva’s breathing quivered audibly as Kerys slid over to the other side of her and set a hand on her thigh.

  Ari was fascinated by the dynamic and more than a little turned on by Eva’s hesitance. He’d always assumed that Kerys, so desperate to keep a firm grip on her virginity until marriage, was the more vanilla of the two. Though, now that he considered it a little more, aside from full-on sex, Kerys had been the one who’d been more experimentative and creative when it came to following her passion.

  “Kerys?” whispered Eva. Her voice made it sound like she was seeking an ally in her, as though there was still a chance to make Kerys realize that what they were doing was too dirty and lewd for their reservations. “Are you… certain you’re comfortable with this?”

  “You’re really pretty, Eva,” said Kerys. “I don’t know if I ever really told you that before.”

  Kerys ran a hand up Eva’s side, letting her thumb caress the edge of her breast through her tunic.

  “You are just as pretty, Lady Kerys,” said Eva, in a rather confused tone.

  Ari was getting impatient. He wrapped his arms around Eva and slowly began rubbing himself against her, fully intent on making her his first conquest of the night.

  Kerys kissed Eva again, and Ari saw Eva extend a hesitant hand, briefly touching one of Kerys’ breasts before pulling back. Kerys flashed a proud smirk and reached down to the hem of her shift, slowly pulling it up and over her head and letting her plump breasts bounce loose.

  “Kerys,” whispered Eva.

  Ari was too horny to keep himself under control. He gently shifted Eva, who seemed more pliable than usual while so far out of her comfort zone, and straddled her waist. He slid his hands underneath her, really his, tunic and enjoyed the sensation of the soft, flawless skin of her taut stomach.

  Eva lifted her arms so he could pull it off her and brought them to her chest as though to cover her nudity. Ari watched as she glanced over at Kerys and then shyly revealed herself. Kerys ran a hand across one of Eva’s breasts, and Eva did the same to her after a few seconds, each woman softly groping, comparing and contrasting.

  They slowly drew closer to each other before kissing again. Ari could see Eva’s reaction to Kerys’ particular style of kissing, or lack thereof. She cupped Kerys’ cheek and let the kiss deepen for a moment before gently pulling back.

  “We aren’t giving Ari enough attention,” said Kerys.

  Ari almost admitted that he didn’t really mind, given how hot it was to watch them, but he had the wherewithal to clamp his mouth shut at the last second. He leaned back on the bed, and Kerys and Eva slid over to him.<
br />
  Kerys started taking off his pants, while Eva quickly wiggled out of her own and then started slipping up his tunic. The air in the room felt a fair amount hotter with all three of them fully naked. Ari was hard as a rock, and he felt Kerys’ hand wrap around his shaft as Eva kissed his lips and ran her hand through his hair.

  Ari couldn’t resist. He gently cupped Eva’s cheek, guiding her face and kisses down the length of his chest, toward his crotch. He ran a hand through Kerys’ hair, positioning her in a similar manner. Both of their faces were across from each other, with his cock in the middle, like the battle standard of a naked army.

  “Are you trying to hint at something, milord?” said Eva, in a coy voice.

  “You’re such a pervert, Ari,” said Kerys. “Though… It would probably be less work with both of us.”

  “Exactly,” said Ari. “If anything, I’m just streamlining the process for you both.”

  Kerys stuck out her tongue at him and then pressed it to the underside of his shaft. Ari had to dig his fingers into his bedroll to keep from gasping in delight. Eva ran her fingers along his thigh and then pressed a kiss of her own to his cock, lower down than where Kerys was teasing.

  Ari was delirious with pleasure. He watched and was surprised to find that both women were having an unexpected amount of fun with it. They turned their heads sideways and matched one of their kisses up perfectly, pressing their lips together with Ari’s cock perfectly positioned in between. It was a wet, hot paradise of soft lips and teasing tongues.

  He could feel how close he was. The lewd mixture of licks and moans emanating from Kerys and Eva might have been enough to push him over the edge on its own. Kerys seemed to sense how close he was just before he was about to unload into their faces, and she pulled back, gesturing for Eva to stop.

  “He’s about to make a mess,” said Kerys.

  “Very true,” said Eva. “He always makes that face when he’s close.”

  “What face?” mumbled Ari.

  “Would you like to, um… take the lead, Lady Kerys?” asked Eva.

  Kerys flashed a devious smile. “I think I’d have more fun to watch you with him.”

  She slid to Eva’s side, shifting her down onto the bedroll. Ari was still possessed by his lust, and he was barely aware of what he was doing as he climbed onto Eva, kissing her lips and pulling her legs apart.

  He was just aware enough to glance over at Kerys before pushing forward and entering Eva. Kerys was biting her lower lip while simultaneously caressing Eva’s breasts with her real hand and touching between her own legs with her copper one.

  Ari pulled Kerys’ face to his and kissed her as he slid his cock forward into Eva. The sensation hooked onto his primal urges, fueled by their previous foreplay, and he was thrusting at full speed after only a few seconds.

  He pressed down on Eva, wrapping one arm around her back and shoulder to lever himself forward. His other hand reached out for Kerys, and she spread her legs for him and guided one of his fingers inside of her.

  It was an experience beyond anything Ari could have envisioned for himself. Eva was moaning like an animal in heat. Kerys was alternating between letting out soft, pleasured whimpers and lewdly sucking on one of Eva’s nipples.

  Ari was thrusting into Eva, fingering Kerys, and taking complete dominance over the two women he loved the most. He squeezed his toes until they cramped painfully, an old trick he’d learned to force himself to last longer. He wanted to hear them both cum before he did.

  It worked. Surprisingly, Kerys came first, the inside of her lane squeezing tight around Ari’s finger as her hips jerked uncontrollably. Ari pulled back from her to focus completely on Eva for a moment, pounding his shaft into her with the kind of strength he usually reserved for fighting.

  Kerys slid back over to join them as soon as she’d recovered from her pleasure. She traded kisses with both Eva and Ari, using her tongue to lick Eva’s breasts, whenever her mouth was free. The combination proved to be too much for Eva, and her entire body tensed and seized as she was struck by a tremendous orgasm.

  Ari was so proud of his handiwork that he almost forgot about himself. He started thrusting into Eva’s body again slowly, but Kerys took his shoulder and roughly pulled him onto his back before he could build up speed again.

  “Let’s try something new,” she said, in a voice that was too cute and girlish for the moment.

  She cupped her breasts around Ari’s cock and motioned for Eva to do the same. Eva looked unsure, and she blushed a little as the positioning drew a rather stark comparison between Kerys’ ample assets and her smaller pair.

  “Now, what if we slide like this…” mused Kerys.

  She and Eva slid their hot cleavage along the length of his cock. Ari groaned, hoping they both understood that he was already past the point of no return.

  The two women pressed their lips together, covering the entirety of the head of his cock. Ari’s eyes flickered open and closed as he came, unleashing a hot, sticky mess into the mouths and onto the lips of both Kerys and Eva. They continued kissing each other, cleaning the mess as much as continuing the sensual moment.

  They slid to fit alongside Ari, Eva on his left, Kerys on his right. Kerys pulled the blanket over their bodies to provide some much-needed warmth to fill the void left by their hot exertions.

  “I was skeptical before,” whispered Eva. “I think I have been convinced.”

  Kerys giggled. “It’ll only be better next time, too. We can think of new stuff for all of us to try.”

  Ari let out a long, satisfied sigh.

  “I love you both so very, very much,” he said.

  CHAPTER 45

  The next morning arrived more quickly than Ari would have liked. He stood in Etheria’s main chamber eating freshly cooked porridge, still steaming hot and with a generous pinch of wild berries mixed into it.

  Eva was already dressed for battle and stood ready at his side. She wore her old Saidican silver battle outfit over a pair of black leggings, and the Feathermace hung from a small loop at her waist, looking a tad unwieldy, though its enchantment made it anything but.

  Rin and Leyehl were speaking with the Ravarians, who were similarly equipped and ready for battle. Skinner was chatting with Durrien over by the tower, both of them puffing away at sarkin flower sticks and blowing smoke tricks into the air.

  Virgil was saying goodbye to his sister. Ari felt a pang of concern as he considered the fact that Virgil would be the youngest of all those who would be taking part in the oncoming battle. He would have preferred to spare him that, but Virgil’s mystica made him indispensable in his planning.

  All of them would be following his orders. It felt strange, and even though the loyalty of most of them was more borrowed than pledged, he still felt the responsibility of the role he’d be playing. He needed to lead his warriors in defense of Etheria, to risk their lives for the sake of saving all that they’d built and all the people who needed their protection.

  “One of my scouts says the Sai have broken camp,” said Rin. She was wearing a tight grey tunic and had Varnasaria in hand. Ari nodded slowly, keeping his face as neutral as he could even as his heart began to pound in his chest.

  “It’s time, then,” he said, projecting his voice to fill the pace of the chamber. “Remember your roles.”

  He looked around, meeting the eyes of all those he’d be fighting alongside and seeing the resounding, collective determination they all shared. He didn’t have a grand speech for them and didn’t want to insult them by making jokes about what they were heading into.

  He’d gone to Cliffhaven seeking an army and had arrived back with something resembling one. The Sai were the aggressors, but Ari felt like the architect of the conflict that was to come.

  He was ready, and he was terrified.

  Kerys had waited near the tower instead of heading inside to join the rest of the noncombatants. She ran over to Ari as he started leading his warriors outside, pulling him
into a quick embrace. He gave her a soft kiss and let his forehead lean against hers.

  “I’ll have a bracelet for you when I come back,” he whispered. “So we can make it official.”

  “I’m holding you to that, Aristial Stoneblood,” she said.

  She kissed him again, blinking quickly as she pulled away from him. Ari saw her hand going to her eyes as she ran back to the tower. He hoped it would be the only time that day she cried for him.

  ***

  Ari stood just outside the tree fence, with Rin, Eva, Virgil, and Skinner standing at his flanks. He’d been hoping for early morning rain, but the overcast sky seemed yet undecided on which way the day’s weather would go. He palmed the bottle of Weathersense potion in his tunic pocket, wishing that they’d done more experimentation on whether Amber or one of the others might find a way to manipulate the Weatherblight in the same way he could.

  It was for that possibility that Ari decided to forgo bringing Eva into battle as Azurelight. He wore a simple longsword at his side instead with the same basic glimmer enchantment he’d placed on Rin’s silver spear. Eva was one of the most capable fighters they had, and it made more sense for her to be a part of the battle from the outset.

  The Sai were approaching on foot, aside from the commander at the army’s head, who kept pace on a rune sled. Ari and the others watched and waited as the enemy forces emerged from the trees, organizing themselves into what looked like ten or so lines, each of twelve soldiers.

  It was more soldiers than the amount would make it sound, enough to make Ari’s breath catch in his throat on each inhale. Enough to destroy everything he’d built. He lowered his eyes as they slowly resolved into recognizable figures.

  “It’s him,” said Rin. “At the front. The army is under direct command of Emperor Diya.”

  “You’re sure?” asked Ari. It made sense. He’d also been with the force that had sacked Varnas-Rav. It took a force of will to keep himself from thinking of that dark night and the chaos wrought upon the city of the Ravarians. Etheria was barely a small village in comparison.