Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3)

by M Damon Baker

  “I know you blame yourself, and I understand why you feel that way,” Líann responded, barely able to keep her eyes from closing shut. “But I would have done the same thing if I were in your place. You put the needs of your Empire first. That is the mark of a true leader.”

  I was about to tell her exactly what I thought about being a true leader, but she slipped off into sleep once she’d spoken. Feasting like she had after such a long period of going without had drained her, so after I shifted her into a more comfortable position, I tucked her in and let her rest once more.

  When I closed the door softly behind me, Thelmé was waiting for me outside, and shot up immediately from her chair as she saw me exit Líann’s chambers.

  “I was able to restore her somewhat,” I told Thelmé before she could even ask. “She’s resting now, but she will need much more from me to repair all the damage I’ve done to her.”

  Thelmé’s relief was obvious and she followed up on my statement with a question that had likely been bothering her for quite some time.

  “What happened to her, Empress?” Thelmé replied. “We tried everything to help her, but nothing we did had any effect.”

  At the time I brought Thelmé in on the secret of my relationship with Líann, I’d told her what little I understood of the bond we shared. While I would likely never explain the full details of that to her, considering Thelmé’s love for the Queen she viewed as her own daughter, and the confidence I’d already shared with her, I decided to reveal a little bit more to her.

  “We share a connection, Thelmé,” I explained to her. “A bond between our souls, you might call it. Our need for each other transcends anything I could explain to you with mere words. I suffered greatly while I was away from her as well, but circumstances allowed me to purge myself of that burden, or I’d be in far worse condition than Líann is right now.”

  “For now, let her rest,” I instructed Thelmé. “I will return later and see what more I can do for her. But please, if she needs me before that, send word and I will come for her.”

  I’m not sure why I felt so comfortable sharing things with Thelmé. If I had to guess, it was the motherly way she felt towards Líann that made me open up to her. Being brought into existence via a combination of computer pixels and magical effects had denied me any sort of parental figures or influences. I think that void in myself might have been what drew me to Thelmé.

  Once I’d finished there, I headed upstairs for a little rest of my own. It was still early in the day when we’d arrived back home, but I’d slept little, and poorly at that, during the final stretch of our trip. After a quick check with Talína and my other aides, who miraculously had nothing that needed my attention for once, I tossed my gear aside and threw myself into bed, hoping to get the first real bit of sleep in many days.

  “How was she?” Tási’s voice called to me just as I closed my eyes.

  I hadn’t even noticed her when I entered the room, but from where Tási’s voice seemed to come, she was sitting in one of the chairs across the room.

  “Very bad, Tási,” I turned my head towards her, so she could hear my reply. “I was able to soothe her a little, but she’s still not well.”

  “I was afraid that would be the case,” Tási sighed deeply before continuing.

  “I had Talína schedule you for dinner with the Queen. Líann tended your Empire while you were away, so, obviously there will be much to discuss with her now that you’ve returned. It would not be surprising for your meeting to last quite late into the night, and you might be too tired to climb back up so many stairs once it’s over. No one, myself included, would be surprised if you chose to remain there this one night.”

  What Tási told me came as a complete shock—not only was she willing to overlook me spending the night with Líann, but she’d even set the whole thing up for us, complete with the perfect deception. I couldn’t even comprehend what she was offering.

  “Tási… I,” I started to search for some way to respond.

  “This is a one-time exception, Dreya,” Tási cut me off. “Although I meant what I said about all of us being in this together, I have my limits. You made me a promise, and I’m going to hold you to it, but considering the circumstances, I think she really needs this. Both of you do.”

  “I understand,” I replied when she made herself clear. “And thank you.”

  Tási’s realization that our relationships were a shared thing, both a blessing and, in some cases, a burden to us all, had been quite accurate. In times past, when the Sintári were more common and better understood, the bonds between a Sintári and their Tári came with much less friction and jealousy than I was struggling to manage. Those relationships were not hidden; in fact, both the Sintári and the Tári were proud of and even honored for them. But with the Sintári long gone, and even the memories of their ways lost in ancient history, it would not be a simple thing to overcome the deeply entrenched ideals of this world. Especially if even Tási, knowing as much of the truth of things as she did, couldn’t fully embrace what it meant.

  Tási’s limitations were somewhat underscored by the fact that she chose not to join me as I laid down to rest. Part of me desperately wanted her to simply abandon her preconceived notions and embrace who we were, not the just two of us, but all five of us, together. But I knew that was simply asking too much too soon. She’d already had her own insights, however, and I hoped that in time, not only Tási, but the others as well would understand things the way I was coming to. We were bound together as one, joined by unique bonds that no one on this world had experienced for millennia. And that was a cause to rejoice, not a reason to hide.

  Those thoughts belonged to some distant future, however. For the present, I needed to sleep for a while. The long road, and my lack of rest while I traveled it had caught up with me, so I closed off my mind for a while, and let my body get the rest it had been denied for too many days.

  I managed to wake up on my own in time to get ready for my ‘meeting’ with Líann. Even the relatively short rest I’d gotten had done wonders for me, and I felt almost normal for the first time in… I had no idea how long. Unsurprisingly, Tási was nowhere to be found as I got myself ready, but I understood. She’d already done far more than I would have ever anticipated. Watching me head off to spend a night with her rival was far too much to expect.

  When it came time for me to depart, I headed down to Líann’s suite and left my guards outside the doors to her chambers, where I always had them wait for me during my visits with the Queen. Thelmé greeted me when I came inside and immediately escorted me to Líann’s room, leaving me at the door to enter by myself. But before she departed, I gave her a few instructions.

  “Thelmé,” I told her. “Líann and I have a great deal to discuss. Our meeting will go on for several hours, and during that time we will not be interrupted. I will grow tired at some point and decide to remain for the night rather than return to my own residence. You will inform my guards of this change of plans. I trust you to know when the time is right to make them aware of my decision. Do you have any questions?”

  Thelmé’s eyes grew wide as she realized what I was telling her, but to her credit, she maintained her composure and replied quite calmly.

  “I will see that all you have told me is attended to, Empress,” she replied, even adding a slight curtsy, an unusual gesture for the typically reserved woman.

  Líann was waiting for me when I finally stepped inside her room, sitting in a chair at the small table where we’d be sharing our meal. But she hadn’t waited for me to arrive before digging into the food, as her appetite had apparently returned with abandon.

  “Sorry,” her cheeks flushed as I walked in. “I couldn’t wait.”

  “Don’t be, you need it,” I replied as I took my seat across from her.

  I took a few bites myself, but mostly I watched her as she continued to eat far more than I’d ever seen her ever consume before. Líann almost reminded me of St
el and the way he shoveled food into his face when Venna wasn’t watching, even though she didn’t quite manage to replicate his level of gluttony. Although her appetite was a reassuring sign to me, it was the return of the nearly luminous glow to her skin that truly let me know that she was no longer in any danger. It might take some time for Líann to gain back the weight she’d lost, but observing her softly radiant tone finally gave me the assurance I needed that she would indeed recover from her ordeal.

  I wanted to tell Líann all that Nentai had explained to me about her being my Táriel, but knowing her, Líann would want to jump right in to the process of experiencing all my V’Ríel, and in her condition, I doubted that she was up to the task. So, I held back on disclosing it to her just yet, saving the information until she was ready for what I assumed would be a rather strenuous endeavor.

  “Talína told me you were able to handle everything while I was away, but other than that, we didn’t go over things,” I began our conversation with the few important items we needed to get out of the way. “Did anything happen that I need to be aware of?”

  “No. Actually, things were quite boring in that regard,” Líann replied between bites. “The way you’ve structured things, your Empire runs mostly on its own. I had little to do other than see to the needs of the Imperial District itself.”

  We talked of small things for a time, the minor details that had come up during my absence, and I told Líann some of the specifics of our conquest of the horse lands. She’d received reports via the messengers that had traveled between the District and my Army of course, just as I had, but there were still several interesting tidbits and points that required clarification left for us to discuss.

  As we talked, Líann and I shared a glass of wine between us. I would no sooner set it down, then she would pick it up and take a sip from it herself, peering at me enticingly every time she did so. Líann had a way of knowing exactly how to appeal to me, and I could rarely resist her when she chose to lure me in—this was not one of those times.

  We’d been away far too long. The entire month I’d journeyed towards the horse lands, the final image of Líann lying on the bed in that very room had played in my mind. Then, during the long trek home, my thoughts had been plagued by a different series of images, ones of her suffering from my careless neglect. But all of those were washed away now that I was back, and Líann was finally in front of me again, tempting me with the longing in her eyes and the coy smile on her soft lips.

  “Are you ready for what you’re asking for?” I asked her as her eyes extended their invitation to me once more.

  “Not as ready as I’d like to be,” she confessed. “I won’t be able to put up much of a fight, and you’ll have to go a bit easier on me than usual, but I miss you too much to wait any longer.”

  We both rose together, but I had to steady Líann as she nearly stumbled with her first step. Even the small amount of wine she’d consumed had made her just a little tipsy, and Líann laughed in amusement at her own mild state of intoxication as I helped her take the last few steps to her bed.

  While I stripped down and slid beneath the covers, Líann only removed her dress, and climbed in beside me still wearing a thin slip. She’d always joined me completely naked, often greeting me in that very state when I arrived at her door. In contrast, she actually preferred that I keep at least some article of clothing on, even if it was just my undergarments, as a display of my dominance. The reversal of that dynamic caught me by surprise, something that Líann did not miss.

  “I’m a bit self-conscious right now,” she admitted. “And that guilty expression on your face when you look at me isn’t helping at all.”

  “I’m sorry,” I replied remorsefully.

  “If you truly mean that,” Líann replied mischievously, “then you know exactly how I want you to make it up to me.”

  What Líann always craved from me most was utter dominance, heavily enhanced with threads of deep darkness. The feeling of being overpowered and compelled absolutely thrilled her, and filling her with dark tendrils satisfied her most basic needs. While she was in no condition to endure the full force of our usual struggles, she was definitely in need of every last shred of shadow that I could give her.

  I climbed on top of Líann and pinned her down beneath me with ease. She didn’t even attempt her usual resistance and gave in to me without a fight as I held her by the wrists. Líann had conceded the physical contest, knowing she lacked even the strength to pretend to fight back, but in return, I knew she needed something more than that.

  “You’re mine again,” I whispered against Líann’s soft lips as I summoned my darkness and set my eyes ablaze for her. “I promised to reward you when I returned. Are you ready to receive what I have for you?”

  I could feel Líann’s body already beginning to slowly writhe against me, and her arms even pushed weakly against my hands as I held her still. The thrill of being dominated and restrained burned through her, and I felt the heat of it rising from Líann as I offered her the boon she’d been promised so long ago.

  “Yes, Empress,” she replied in a low moan. I hadn’t pulled away from her, and Líann’s lips brushed across mine enticingly as the words escaped her mouth.

  Líann more than deserved her reward, especially considering what she’d endured while I was gone, but she’d left me with precious little to work with. The slip she’d worn to bed covered almost everywhere my body pressed against her, leaving her wrists that I held as our only point of mutual contact. Save for Líann’s soft lips and her silky tongue that I knew was waiting for me just beyond them.

  I only had to lean in a fraction of an inch to press our lips together, and Líann responded with a kiss that was filled with a sense of desperate yearning and desire. Her mouth was just as soft as my dreams remembered, and as Líann wound her tongue around mine in slow, steady circles, I sent the first threads of my darkness curling their way through her body in return.

  The sudden sensation of those tendrils caused Líann to jolt slightly, but she recovered almost immediately, and I could feel Líann’s body begin to gently quiver beneath me as I let the threads wind their way through her. It had been so long since she’d last felt them, and I could feel the sensation start to overwhelm her far too quickly. I thought to pull back on them, to let the moment linger for just a little longer, but what actually happened was quite different.

  Líann hadn’t been the only one to miss our liaisons—I’d been longing for her as well, almost since the very first day I’d left on the long march to Hygan. Just as Líann’s body had responded so powerfully to the first threads I sent her, I reacted to her as well, in an unanticipated way.

  I thought to manage Líann’s response, but I couldn’t even control my own. The second I felt her hips begin to shudder against mine, she sent me into my own overwhelming release. We’d been apart for too long, missing the unique bond and special connection we shared for so many weeks and then months, that when we finally renewed those precious bonds, the power of it was more than either of us could hope to control.

  We clung to each other desperately, trembling as we experienced our shared release, and I flooded Líann with even more of my darkness. But I lost myself in the sublime ecstasy of those long moments, and in the throes of my euphoria, slid a thick tendril of passion inside Líann as well.

  I’d mixed tendrils before—passion and desire with Tási, even desire and passion along with the gentler emotions Venna needed. But the response my Tári had to them was always the same; while they experienced all of the various threads, they only absorbed their own natural V’Ríel. But that wasn’t what happened with Líann this time.

  She’d never wanted to feel my other emotions. In fact, until she made her revelation to me the night before I’d departed for war, Líann had specifically asked me not to send her anything but my darkness. So, I never did. Until that moment.

  The instant the wide thread of passion slipped into her, I felt Líann not only react
to it, but she also drew it into herself as fast as I sent it to her. Líann was feeding not only on my darkness, but my passion as well, and the combination of experiencing and absorbing them both simultaneously overwhelmed her in an instant. Líann’s powerful but steady release rose into an uncontrolled frenzy, and I felt her bite down hard on my shoulder in her nearly animalistic state. Fortunately, Líann’s climax ended quickly, her weakened condition and the incredible forces that I’d unleashed on her proved to be far too powerful for her to endure for more than just a very brief moment, and she collapsed beneath me with a few lingering shudders.

  Despite my own intense release, I couldn’t help but stare at Líann as she lay splayed out below me. I hadn’t told her of the Táriel yet, but she’d already taken the first step in reaching her potential without even knowing about it. Even more jarring than that was the experience I had in taking that step with her.

  My Tári took my excess emotions from me, some more subtly than others, but the feeling of it was always the same. And while I could share other emotions with them, and they would experience those emotions with me, they could only take in their particular V’Ríel. But that was not what had just happened with Líann. She’d not only experienced both my darkness and my passion, but she’d taken them both as well. And the sensation I’d felt with that duel taking was beyond anything I’d experienced before.

  Typically, shedding my V’Ríel was like letting go of a heavy burden and came with a clear sense of relief. But this was different—very different. Shedding two V’Ríel at the same time was not only a relief, but there was a sense of euphoria that accompanied it that had strengthened my release as well. I could only imagine just how powerful that effect might be if I could let go of all four of my V’Ríel at once. That would be the truest release of all, shedding all of my physical and emotional needs at once, and sharing that incredible feeling with Líann as I did.

  I shivered at the thought of it, overcome with the anticipation of experiencing that level of completeness with Líann, my Táriel. I finally understood what Nentai had been trying to tell me, and why my Táriel would be so important to me. Líann would complete me in the truest sense. With her, I would finally experience the fullness of what it meant to be Sintári, one of the true-feeling. With my Táriel, I would finally discover the deeper meaning of that title.