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.
I would still need my Tári, of course, despite the incredible power of my Táriel, and how fully I could express myself with her. Líann’s native V’Ríel was darkness, however, and her ability to absorb my other needs was constrained. Regardless, Líann would take her place in time, of that I had no doubt. She would be first, and when I felt the time was right to push against the boundaries again, I would make her my wife, under the light of day for all to see. Perhaps I would wed my other Tari as well, I wasn’t sure. But I knew that Líann was destined for that place by my side, and as my Táriel, I would allow her nothing less.
I slid next to her, and while I lay there, I stared at her sleeping peacefully and let my thoughts wander. Watching her rest so tranquilly was incredibly calming, and in that state of calmness, I discovered that my shadows had retreated far more than I had expected. I knew she’d taken a great deal of them from me, but they had been reduced nearly to the same low level I’d experienced after the battle of Ondale. With a sudden sense of clarity, I understood that as my Táriel, Líann had become even more attuned to me, and her abilities had not only increased to absorb my other V’Ríel, but she had also gained the ability to truly take away my darkness. I’d wondered how I would vent my shadows in the far distant future when there were no more battles to be fought, and Líann had provided the answer to that question. As Táriel, she didn’t just absorb some of my darkness, she was able to take the burden of them from me in the truest sense. I’d though that I had realized the value of a Táriel before, but with that last bit of understanding, I finally recognized Líann’s full potential—she was my everything.
I thought of just what that meant and how things might play out over the coming centuries until Líann’s eyes slowly opened and I watched her as she stared straight up at the ceiling for a time. Then, she turned towards me and for a brief moment, seemed to look right through me until her pale blue eyes finally focused in on mine.
“What… What happened?”
“You took in my darkness, love,” I brushed my fingers across Líann’s cheek as I spoke to her. “And then you took my passion as well.”
“I don’t understand,” she replied, overwhelmed by what she was clearly still experiencing.
“Before I left, you told me you wanted to become more,” I reminded her. “You said that you felt that something had changed in you. You were right, Líann, you have changed. And now you’ve felt the first part of what you’re becoming. In time, you will be able to take all my V’Ríel. When that happens, you and I will become one. Forever.”
“What does that mean?” Líann asked as her mind started to emerge from her confusion. “What’s a V’Ríel?”
I relayed Nentai’s words to her in full, leaving nothing out. I told Líann that she was my Táriel, and all that came along with that title. We would spend our lives together, and over those many centuries, we would share a bond that only a handful had ever experienced. When I finished, Líann, in her typical fashion, only had one question to ask me.
“When can you send me another?” She practically begged me. “I want to feel the next one right now.”
“You barely withstood the first one, Líann,” I had to push her back as she came at me. “I think you need to recover a bit more of your strength before we try again.”
“Can you stay with me a while at least, before you leave?” Líann pleaded.
“I’m not leaving you, Líann,” I smiled at her.
“But, Tási—” She began.
“Tási was the one who sent me to you tonight,” I cut her off. “She even provided us with an excuse for me to stay.”
“Why would she do that?”
“You’re not the only one who’s grown,” I responded. “Tási knows that you’re important to me, and that we’re all important to each other. I need you, and because of that, she needs you too. The two of you may still be rivals in some ways, but you’re also connected to each other through me. There’s only so far you can push each other before you’ll actually wind up hurting yourselves.”
“That… makes sense,” Líann slowly realized.
Líann barely tolerated my displays of affection. While she would use her subtle charms to lure me in, once she had me, she only wanted to feel my power and for me to display my domination over her. But something in her had truly changed, and she surprised me by sliding over and wrapping herself around me and resting her head on my chest, snuggling up with me for the first time ever.
The feeling of Líann’s body pressed against me in anything other than a struggle was a new experience for me, one that I’d wanted to have for a very long time. I’d forced her to lay with me before, or done so when she was too exhausted to resist me, but to have her do it willingly, on her own, was completely different, and I basked in her warmth as she lay with me. But she’d truly been drained by taking in both my passion and darkness, and it wasn’t long before I realized that Líann had fallen asleep again, with my shoulder as her pillow and her body still curled up around mine.
I thought of the future we would share together as Líann’s soft breaths warmed my skin. She had become the key to everything for me—Líann would take not only my darkness, but so much more and would provide me with the stability I needed to withstand the pain of losing my Tári over and over again. She’d given me the answers I needed to so many of the questions that had plagued me, soothing my deepest worries, and brought some measure of peace to my soul. With that serenity, I cradled my Táriel in my arms until the heat from Líann’s body and the slow, steady rhythm of her breathing lulled me to sleep.
I woke the next morning before the sun had even risen above the horizon. While Tási had given me leave to stay the night—it had even been her idea—I knew that the situation chafed at her. So, while Líann slept, I slipped out of bed and dressed quietly before leaving to return to my own rooms upstairs.
My guards were waiting for me as I left Líann’s suite. Karina had led the team that had escorted me down the night before, but Aiva had taken over for her some time during the night, and it was her who guided me back upstairs that morning. I feigned exhaustion to avoid any conversation and snuck quietly into my bedroom once I reached my rooms. But when I stripped off my armor and tried to get into bed, I found that I couldn’t. Tási was sleeping on my side of the bed, resting her head on the pillow that I always used.
Seeing her there, sleeping where I always did, caused my heart to ache for her. She’d given up something of herself for me the night before, ceding one of the few demands she ever made of me. Rather than wake her, I got in bed on her usual side, before sliding over as close as I could without disturbing her sleep. I’d let Tási fall asleep alone the night before, but I wasn’t going to let her wake up that way.
As I lay there, watching Tási much as I had observed Líann sleeping the night before, I knew that despite everything that had happened between Líann and I, none of that would change my relationship with Tási. She meant too much to me, and our bonds were too strong for me to allow that to happen. Venna might have been the one to uncover my Sintári nature, but it was Tási who’d helped me discover what it really meant and gain the first measures of control over it. Beyond that, I’d delved inside her, uncovered the dormant elemental half of her core and stirred it to life. That discovery had bound us together, literally, as the water spirit inside her woke and connected itself with me. She was mine, and I was hers, but only for a short while. Compared to the almost eternal span of my lifetime, Tási would only be with me for the blink of an eye. Líann could have whatever she wanted once that time was over, but for however long it lasted, even my Táriel would not take Tási’s place.
I
hadn’t intended it, but in the familiar comfort of my own bed, I fell asleep quickly and only woke when Tási’s gentle stirrings roused me from my slumber once more.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I greeted her when my eyes fluttered open.
Tási smiled back at me for just a second as she heard my familiar words, then looked at me in puzzlement.
“When did you get back?”
“As soon as I could,” I replied as I brushed the hair from her face.
“By the way,” I couldn’t help myself from teasing her. “I think it’s sweet that you slept on my side of the bed.”
She flushed and ducked her head under the covers to hide from me, but I refused to let her. Instead, I pulled Tási to me and answered the question that I knew was on her mind, but that she’d never let herself ask me.
“Líann’s better,” I told her, “Nothing has changed between you and I, and it never will.”
Tási didn’t reply to me, but I felt her nodding her head in acknowledgment against my chest. Although she needed to know, it wasn’t something Tási wanted to discuss any further once she did. So, with those few words of assurance spoken, it was more than enough for her.
“If you don’t have anything to do,” I whispered to her. “We could just stay here for as long as you’d like.”
Again, Tási didn’t reply with words, she only draped her leg over mine and wrapped her arm around me as she nestled her head on my shoulder. We lay together like that for a long time, until the sun began to stream in through the windows and shed its bright light across the room. That special moment had stretched on for hours, but I still felt that it came to an end all too soon. The difficult journey home, compounded by my own tormented state, hadn’t afforded us many opportunities to share our affections, and I’d missed them far more than I realized I had.
But our time together didn’t end right away. After we dressed, Tási and I were able to share breakfast together before she left to tend to her duties. Once she’d gone, I shuffled through some of the reports that Talína had left for me while I snacked on a few last bites. Fortunately, nothing required my immediate attention, and I was grateful to learn that there were no meetings scheduled for me that day. We did have a full cabinet meeting the next morning to review our situation and chart the path forward, but for the most part, the day had been reserved for rest and recovery.
Second Skin Omnibus Page 177
