But… I wasn’t human anymore, I realized as the clarity that had been eluding me suddenly came into crystal clear focus. I was Sintári, one of the ‘true feeling,’ as Venna had described them to me long ago. The Sintári, my people, didn’t conform to any of the norms of the other races. We probably couldn’t if we wanted to. Our emotions, our connections to the world around us, were far too strong for any one partner to absorb. Tási could no more tolerate my need to release a portion of my rage than Líann could handle the relentless flow of passion that Tási was able to let me display. Each of my partners allowed me to express a different emotional side of myself. Tási was clearly my passion, while Líann was my fury; Venna was my soul and let me explore my softer side, while tending to Ella and her more simple needs kept me grounded.
This new understanding of just who I was hit me almost as hard as my initial self-realization. There was no need for me to feel guilty about sharing my love, that was exactly how things were meant to be for me. I had only denied it, and denied myself, because I had considered my needs abnormal when I judged my actions against other people. But that standard simply didn’t apply to me—I was Sintári, one of the true-feeling, and my needs were different and completely normal among my people. My connection to this world was more powerful than anything a typical person would experience, and through it, I’d called my lovers to me, fulfilling my needs as well as their own.
My relationships were no one-way streets either. I gave at least as much as I received to each of them, and in that exchange, they completed me. Without Tási helping me express my passion, or Líann letting me vent my darkness, I wouldn’t be whole. While those two helped me with my most powerful emotions, Venna tended to my soul and Ella made sure I never lost sight of where I’d come from. Those were the bonds that made me complete and turned me into a full Sintári.
Ding!
With all the thoughts that had just come to me, I didn’t have any doubts about what that alert related to, and I immediately opened the prompt.
Sintári Quest, Control, Advancing — You have come to understand and accept a fundamental truth about your Sintári nature. You no longer belong to any of the mortal races of the world; you are something more and require more than they do to sustain yourself. This fact was both well-known and accepted when your people were still common in these lands, but it will be up to you to decide how widespread you wish to make this knowledge now. I would have told you myself, Dreya, but some things need to be discovered to be truly understood. For uncovering this profound truth, you have been rewarded with 11,000 XP and a one-time bonus of 5% to your Control ability.
I had no doubt just who added that last bit to my notification. Nentai had told me that my love was a gift, and that I shouldn’t feel guilty about sharing it. Clearly the Goddess had known quite a bit more than that, but I didn’t resent her holding back on me in the slightest. She was right, I needed to come to the realization on my own. Her mere words would not have had the same profound effect on me as my own epiphany had. I was finally and truly at peace with myself. Even Líann’s intense desires ceased to bother me, as I recognized that her cravings were only a mirror-image of my own needs. While I wanted to take some time to absorb all that had occurred to me first, I knew that I would be paying Líann another surprise visit very, very soon.
Because I was already pushing so hard on so many fronts, I decided, at least for the time being, to keep my relationships secret. I no longer felt any sense of guilt, but in deference to Tási’s feelings, and because I felt it best to wait a while before breaking any more barriers, I would maintain the illusion for the time being.
That meant I needed to set up some pretense for meeting with Líann on a regular basis. Something that wouldn’t raise eyebrows or cause Tási any discomfort. I hit on an idea almost immediately and left to see Talína to help me make it happen.
“Talína,” I said as I sat down at her desk. “I need you to draft a reply to Líann for me. You are to inform her that I found our meeting this morning satisfactory, but that I see much room for improvement in our relations. To that end, you will schedule us to meet once a week for breakfast just as we did today. I want you to make it clear to her that this is not optional, she will host me, and I expect her to be accommodating.”
“Those are rather blunt terms, Empress,” Talína noted with a great deal of reservation. “Are you sure you don’t want me to soften the tone of them for you just a bit?”
“No,” I replied. “Líann will understand my meaning. Just ensure that it is marked so that she’s the one who opens it.”
“As you wish, Empress,” Talína simply acknowledged.
“Oh, and would you send someone to get Tási for me?” I remarked as I left. “There are a few things I need to go over with her.”
After I had a late lunch, Tási returned to our quarters just as I was relaxing in Bane’s room, laying alone on his cushion in his absence. She sat down alongside me and rested her head on my shoulder before asking why I’d summoned her.
“You did well by introducing Saibra to the guards,” I began. “Ella already seems to have a good plan for her, but I need one more thing from you.”
“Sure. What is it?” She replied.
“I need Bane to dispose of as many kills as possible for us,” I informed her. “Just like we did with Gilfri’s body. Any spy, assassin, or other person we slay must be given over to Bane. That applies especially to anyone Saibra might kill. The lives she takes are dedicated to me now, I need Bane to tend to their corpses for me.”
“I can see to that,” Tási replied without questioning my intentions. “Although I may need your help letting him know when we have something for him”
“Of course,” I responded.
I had intended to try and discuss what I’d discovered about myself with her, but as she lay there with me quietly, I lost my nerve. Although Tási was aware of the others and had accepted that they were part of my life, she was still quite jealous, and never wanted to know anything about what transpired between me and them. Even bringing up what I’d found out in the context of what it meant for me might easily cause her pain, so at the last minute, I decided it would be better to simply keep things to myself.
“Whatever it is, go ahead and tell me,” Tási suddenly said with a resigned sigh. “I can feel you fidgeting around, so don’t even deny it.”
I hadn’t realized that I’d been doing that, and the fact that Tási knew me well enough to recognize my nervous habit for what it was made me feel even worse for underestimating her. So, after a deep sigh of my own, I told her what had happened.
“I had another notification,” I began cautiously. “One that affects you, in a way.”
With that said, I read the message to her, leaving out the special note Nentai had left in it for me. I then explained to her the thoughts I’d had before receiving the notification, and how I’d come to terms with who I really was.
“So, I’m simply insufficient for you?” Tási said without lifting her head to look at me. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
I was crushed by the way she’d interpreted what I’d told her, and I quickly replied to try and sooth the pain I’d caused.
“No, Tási, that’s not it at all,” I responded as I stroked her hair. “The point is that you’re perfect for me.”
“Then why do you need them?” She asked bitterly. “Why can’t you get everything you need from me?”
“In many ways, I do get everything I need from you, Tási,” I replied to her softly. “But I’m a Sintári. No single person is capable of what you ask.”
“You never tried,” she snapped at me. “You never even tried to see if I could do what Venna, Ella, or Líann supposedly does for you.”
“Do you want me to?” I said as I rose from Bane’s cushions and stood over her, taking up the challenge. “Are you ready to feel my rage? To take on the fury inside me? Come with me right now if you are, and I will show you the depths of my darkn
ess.”
I let my eyes flare brightly as I finished speaking and stared at her openly while she retreated from my display of power. As much as she loved me, Tási did not want any part of the shadows inside me, and she could only shake her head slowly as she replied.
“No,” she conceded reluctantly. “I can’t do that.”
I pulled back my emotions and dimmed the light from my eyes before sitting down beside her once more. Tási was clearly disappointed in herself for failing her own test, and I consoled her as best I could.
“None of them can do what you do for me, Tási,” I tried to explain. “Each of you are unique, and special to me in your own ways. But you come first Tási—you alone get to call me yours for all to see. You accepted the others before, without knowing why I needed them. The only difference now is that I’ve come to understand just why things are the way that they are. I’ve found peace with myself in that knowledge, and I only meant to share that comfort with you.”
“I know I promised not to get upset about this anymore. I’m sorry,” Tási replied after we sat in silence for a few moments.
“Just shut up and lay here with me, Tási,” I said as I wrapped her up in the blankets with me. “I miss Bane… lets sleep out here tonight.”
After departing the day before with Gilfri’s body, Bane hadn’t returned. I assumed he had simply stayed out at the secret location he used to train with his fire breathing, so, although I felt his absence, I wasn’t overly concerned.
We spent the rest of the evening, and the entire night together on Bane’s huge cushions. In the morning, I woke up early and snuck away to tend to the final task left for me before I could truly be complete.
It was not yet dawn when I made my way down the Palace steps and back to Líann’s suite, retracing the path I’d taken only the morning before. When we reached Líann’s suite, I left my escort outside and walked in unannounced, but Thelmé tried to stop me before I entered her Queen’s bedroom.
“Empress, please,” she begged. “The Queen is not awake. This is most unusual.”
“I am here to wake her, Thelmé,” I replied as I made my way past her. “Don’t worry, she will not be upset with you. Just see that we’re not disturbed.”
I closed the door behind me and locked it securely before I walked over to the bed where Líann was still sleeping soundly. She stirred only slightly while I undressed and slipped under the covers beside her. Once I crept up next to her, I slid my hand under the covers between us and rested it on the same smooth skin of her thigh that I’d started with the day before.
She had on a thin nightdress similar to the one I’d already ruined, and as I let my fingers wander along the delicate skin of her inner thigh, I could feel it giving way with them. When my hand traveled nearly as far as it could possibly go, I let it rest there, and sent a soft tendril of desire into her sleeping form.
Lost in the fog of sleep, Líann took a moment to react to my touch, but when she finally felt my subtle influence, I saw her lips part and she let out a soft moan as her hips slowly began to rock back and forth. Líann’s subdued response was far from the animated reactions I was used to seeing from her. Even when I restrained her, she seemed to always try to fight me—to assert herself—even though she knew that it was hopeless for her to do so. But the seductive nature of her more sensual response made me wonder if she was capable of more than I’d thought.
Líann’s reaction intrigued me and threw off my initial plan, and instead of the harsh awakening I’d planned for her, I only slightly increased the flow of passion I was sending into her. Her response was immediate, and her entire body soon echoed the slow, enticing movement of her hips. The lure of her proved too much for me, and I slowly pulled the covers from her, desperate to see her languid motions for myself. Once I had them off, Líann lay in front of me, still sleeping, but fully enthralled by the tendrils of passion I was sending into her.
The thin dress she’d slept in did little to hide her form, and I could make out every curve of her body as she writhed under my influence. I wanted to wake her, to jump on top of her and take the seductive beauty that was reacting so enticingly before my eyes, but the display she was putting on in front of me was simply too much, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. I could have watched her for hours, but I was too captivated by Líann’s movements to realize what I’d done until it was too late.
As I looked on in utter rapture, she suddenly shuddered and let out a low moan as the passion that had been building up inside her finally took its toll. Líann’s hips quivered, and I felt her release just as her eyes flew open in surprise, and when I saw her blue irises staring back at me, I smiled at her, and the corners of my mouth turned upwards in a slight smirk.
“Good morning again, Líann,” I greeted her as her hips continued shuddering beneath my fingers.
All I got in return was a soft grunt, as a final spasm of release ran through Líann’s body.
“I admit that once again, things have not gone exactly as I intended today,” I said in amusement as Líann buried her face in her pillow.
“What did you do to me?” Her muffled voice came from beneath the pillow.
“You were awake for the end of it,” I replied as I pulled her concealment away. “You can’t tell me you don’t know what just happened.”
“But that wasn’t what you need me for,” her cheeks flushed as she looked away from me.
“Are you capable of more than just that one thing?” I asked her, as I became confused over what I thought I had discovered only the day before.
“I don’t know,” she replied, still hiding from me. “I only know what I was meant to be for you.”
I pulled her around gently so that she finally faced me, and her entire face lit up in surprise when she realized that I’d been laying next to her completely naked the entire time. Without waiting for her to recover, I kissed her passionately the moment I’d turned her around.
I didn’t simply take her as she anticipated—I kissed her deeply and affectionately, letting her tongue wander over mine for a long moment before I pulled back and stared into her eyes.
“Can you be both, Líann?” I asked her as I held her gaze. “Can you take my shadows and my passion as well?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied softly. “At least, not in equal measures. This was special, but as good as it feels, it doesn’t truly satisfy me. I need to sense your power, to know the danger you represent when you take me for it to do that.”
Her words rang true in my ears and confirmed what I’d learned the day before. She might be capable of acting the part, but it wasn’t something that truly fulfilled her, and would likely leave me feeling less than satisfied as well.
“Perhaps only on occasions then?” I offered her. “As a reward?”
“For who?” She teased, as she finally regained a bit of herself.
“Why, me of course,” I replied with a smile.
“I might like that,” she confessed quite honestly.
“Líann,” I tilted up her chin as I spoke so that I could look her in the eye again. “I came here to claim you, just as I promised. But when I saw you lying there, you were just too enticing for me to resist. If you want, I can take you now, the way you need to be taken, or we can wait to do that another time. But I’m not leaving here until you feel that I have claimed you properly. The way you need me to.”
“You took me, Empress,” Líann didn’t even try to avoid my gaze as she replied. “The only thing that matters to me is that you did it the way you wanted to. I’m yours now, and I need nothing more from you to know that.”
When she finished, Líann sat up and pulled off her nightdress to lay beside me, just as bare as I was. I held her next to me and we basked in each other’s warmth and the unique euphoria that comes from experiencing another’s body so intimately for the first time.
“It won’t often be like this,” I spoke to her softly as we wrapped ourselves around each other. “I w
ill take you and you will test me, and I will make you pay for it every time you do. That’s what we truly need from each other. But in between, we will also have a few moments like this as well, and they will be very special to me.”
“I know what I need, Empress,” Líann replied, matching herself to my mood perfectly. “I need you to rule over me, and I know that’s what you need from me, but I can be soft and gentle for you when you want me to be. I am yours, as you already know, and I will do whatever you need me to do.”
She looked at me so intently that I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her. Líann didn’t just need me to dominate her, and her words were not hollow. She truly needed to be mine, in every sense that mattered. The depth of the devotion she was offering me was simply incredible, and it proved to be too much of a temptation for me to resist. In an instant, I rolled her on her back and took her right then.
Líann was started by my sudden action, and before she could even react, I’d straddled her and pinned her arms to the mattress. She looked up at me in surprise, and I turned my eyes into shining pits of green fire for her in return.
With her helpless beneath me, I funneled my desires into her, channeling my raw lust and hunger directly into the tendrils I sent pulsing through her body. Líann’s reaction to my second set of tendrils that morning was not as restrained as before, and she fought against me even as I felt her body reaching out to me for more.
Her desperate struggles only urged me on, igniting something inside me that I’d never felt before; a keen desire to simply take—to own and to have what I wanted—regardless of any other considerations. I recognized it for the dark, shadowy thing that it was, and under different circumstances, I would have rejected those impulses completely, but venting those sorts of dark desires was exactly why the two of us had been drawn together, and I shoved my concerns aside, letting my shadowy side run wild with her.
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