Líann was indeed waiting for us when Venna and I finally crossed into the tent’s outer chamber. It had taken a few moments to compose ourselves after our powerful yet wordless exchange, and although Líann raised an eyebrow as she watched us sit down across from her, she said nothing. I wasn’t sure what had provoked Líann’s suspicions. Very little escaped her keen observation, so it could have been almost anything; from a quick glance to some hint in our expressions, or even something subtler than that. Regardless, Líann let whatever she’d noted slide, and I was grateful for it.
As Ella and Venna had done each of the previous mornings, Líann related our scouts’ reports to me, and once again they’d encountered nothing of concern during the night. It was a relief to know that we faced no hostile forces, but I couldn’t help but feel that something was lurking in the distance, waiting for me. Nentai’s warning about the unknown power in the Dark Lands only served to deepen my sense of foreboding. It was only after I’d silently spoken with Bane, confirming that he was scouting around us as well, that I was finally able to relax, take a sip of tea, and have a few bites to eat.
After that, my breakfast with Venna and Líann was quite pleasant. Despite my misgivings about our unseen enemy, my mood was much improved, and I enjoyed both of their company. Venna excused herself after only a short while, however, as she was still a bit hungover and needed to remedy that situation before we resumed our long march once more.
I expected Líann to make some snarky comment or reveal what had stirred her suspicions earlier, but surprisingly, she did neither of these. Instead, she only continued our discussion as before, apparently declining the opportunity to undermine her rival. It was quite unusual for her, and I could only think that my Tári had not only conspired against me but also forged some pact amongst themselves as well. As much as their plotting disturbed me, the fact that they seemed to have achieved peace with each other was reassuring—the constant tension between Tási and Líann had always been a sore spot for me, and I was hopeful that such bickering might be at an end.
Saibra was waiting for me when Líann and I finally finished our breakfast and stepped outside. As my personal bodyguard, she’d accompany me almost everywhere, supplementing my regular escort with her incredible blades. Instead of creating a sense of resentment, my guards appreciated her presence, knowing that her skill might very well save their own lives one day.
Before long, our camp was broken, and we resumed our journey towards home. The cold of the north had finally begun to wane away, and as the chill vanished from the air, I could feel the spirits rising among my soldiers. The merry cadence of marching chants sprung up, rising and falling in time with the steady rhythm of their footsteps, slowly melting away the lingering darkness that had been hanging over us after the shocking losses we’d suffered in Laska.
I spent my day listening to the happy, raucous, and occasionally bawdy cadences as I walked beside my companions and Tári. We spoke frequently, discussing small matters or reviewing the scouts’ reports as they came back to us throughout the day. None of them reported anything of note, and Bane’s high circles above us came up empty as well, allowing me the glimmer of hope that we might return home safely.
My good mood continued over dinner that evening, and I even managed to make a few jokes—at Khorim’s expense, of course. It was a nearly perfect ending to what had been an almost normal day for me, and I was truly happy as Líann and I wandered back to my quarters.
While my guards surrounded my tent, the two of us stepped inside and got ready for the night. I’d let Bane know to leave us alone, so we had the room to ourselves, and as Líann reached for her nightdress, I took hold of her arm.
“You won’t be needing that,” the room flared with deep, green light as I prevented her from slipping the thin dress over her head.
Líann’s eyes shot open in surprise—she clearly hadn’t expected anything to happen between us that night. But I’d felt her need slowly smoldering beside me as we’d walked together during the day, and the heat of it had kindled my own desire for her in return.
With my hand still firmly grasping her arm, I guided Líann down among the pillows, glaring into her eyes with my own glowing irises the entire way. I felt her shiver beneath me as I straddled her body, and Líann’s eager anticipation flooded into me when I opened myself up to her. Our V’Ríel was the most powerful of all, and she’d been without me for some time; I knew what she needed—what we both needed—and I gave it to her willingly.
I let threads of my darkness flow into Líann as I pinned her beneath me and sent a thick tendril of desire flooding into her alongside it, letting them combine within her in a wide band of shadow and passion. She instantly responded to my presence inside her, writhing in sheer pleasure even as she tried vainly to escape from my grasp.
I sensed Líann’s desire for me to dominate her, but it lacked its former physical nature. The sheer force of my will and the power of my dark tendrils coursing through her had become more than enough to satisfy her need. Something had changed though… Líann was different—she had grown, or perhaps we had grown.
Sensing what she needed from me, I sent even more powerful threads of darkness into her. Part of her wilted under their oppressive power, while another part of Líann reveled in the ecstasy of my conquest over her. With our bodies pressed together, and the heat of her flooding into me, I pushed a third thread inside Líann as I kissed her, wrapping a tendril of gentle desire around my tongue as I slowly entwined it around Líann’s.
I’d given Líann each of these V’Ríel before, but never all of them at once. Filling her with the three distinct V’Ríel, all of which she was able to absorb as my Táriel, was far more than she could take, and she shuddered uncontrollably beneath me. Her powerful release echoed back to me through our shared connections as my threads fed me her every sensation.
Long moments of sheer ecstasy passed between us, and Líann fed on my darkness hungrily, even as she quivered in delight. I couldn’t help but revel in her as she took all I could give her. Even in the throes of passion, Líann’s every subtle movement was laced with provocative elegance. From her soft moans to the way her body shifted as she writhed beneath me, every tiny motion was at once both graceful and seductive.
When the final echoes of our passion faded away, I lay beside Líann and let my fingers run over her silky skin. The dim light of the single candle shined softly over her pale body, and the shadows it cast accented her every subtle contour. Líann was a delight to behold under any circumstances, but I found her especially alluring that night. I’d not only returned to my Táriel but also discovered something new about her, an outlet for my darkness that didn’t require me to harm her as she’d needed me to do so often before.
“I want all four of them,” Líann whispered to me in the near darkness as my hand came to rest on the slight flare of her hip.
Typical Líann—always wanting more. But then again, I’d always wanted to give it to her as well.
“You are the greediest person I’ve ever known,” I couldn’t help but laugh as I replied to her.
“Yes and no, Sintári,” she surprised me by invoking that title. “I won’t deny my own selfish desires, but there’s something more as well. There’s some importance in it for me; for both of us, I think. Taking all four of your V’Ríel at once has some significance.”
Well, shit. That didn’t seem like anything too ominous now, did it? Considering that I’d already put off dealing with the potentially tricky issue of Saibra’s challenges until after we were safely back within the confines of the Imperial District, I decided to do the same with Líann.
“We’ll try it, but not until after we’re home again.”
“Mmmm,” Líann purred as she wound herself around me. “I can’t wait.”
The warmth of Líann’s body pressing against me threatened to stir me into taking her again, but in light of what she’d told me, I held off. Something powerful was happening to her yet aga
in, and I was unwilling to provoke it. As my Táriel, Líann was the source of a great deal of my strength, but she was my greatest weakness as well, in more ways than one. She wanted something from me and was more than capable of persuading me to give it to her, in her own unique way. Although she’d seemed to agree to wait as I’d suggested, I also saw no need to push my luck.
We dozed off quickly once we’d settled in with each other, sleeping heavily for a time until we were awakened by shouts and the clashing sounds of steel ringing against steel that echoed to us from outside the canvas walls of the tent.
I woke instantly as the obvious sounds of combat flooded into my ears and rushed to don my armor and strap my weapons in place. Líann was slower than me to get ready, having to actually put on each piece of equipment, where most of mine simply slipped into place. I thought to rush ahead and leave her behind but quickly reconsidered—whatever was going on outside could wait. I would not leave my Táriel alone when danger was so close to her.
By the time we rushed outside together, most of the commotion was over. Only Ella’s shouted commands still rang out in the still night air, and I followed the sound of them until I finally tracked her down.
Ella had her boot firmly planted in the back of a man who was lying face-down on the ground. He was tightly bound by hand and foot, but she still ground her heel into his flesh, pinning him against the cold earth below. I might have objected to Ella’s actions, but for the scene around her.
Seven of my soldiers lay still; their lifeless bodies scattered across the ground where they’d been slaughtered. Several more wounded were being tended to, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw that Venna was among them.
Despite the fact that she wore Thassa’s Armor of Light, long gashes had been cut through its links, scoring deep wounds into her body. The sight of her grave injuries stoked my rage, and my world flashed into deep green darkness as I strode towards her. I was barely able to rein in my shadows before I reached Venna’s side, but as I did, I took her hand in mine while the Curate beside her continued working to heal her wounds.
“What happened?”
“That monster ambushed us,” Venna spat at the prone form of the man beneath Ella’s boot. “He killed my guards and the soldiers who tried to defend me. He only stopped when Ella arrived with more soldiers. Honestly, I think he might have been able to fight his way free, but he gave up once she’d surrounded him.”
“He was after you,” Líann declared quite confidently.
He was after one of my Tári, was what she’d left unspoken, but I’d heard her clearly enough.
“Why were you out here in the middle of the night?” Líann asked Venna.
It was a good question; one I hadn’t thought to ask myself. Venna looked puzzled for a moment before she answered.
“You didn’t send for me, did you?”
“No, I didn’t,” I felt my anger beginning to surge again as I answered her.
“I received a note, supposedly on your behalf, requesting my presence,” Venna glared hatefully towards the prone figure on the ground. “That’s how the bastard knew where to find me.”
“Are you alright?” I asked Venna as the Curate began casting another heal on her.
“I’m fine now, but it was close,” she confessed. “He was far more powerful than me—more powerful than all of us. If Ella hadn’t gotten here when she did, you’d be resurrecting me right now.”
“He fought like you, Dreya,” Venna finally whispered. “Fierce, ruthless, and with a strength beyond anything I’ve faced before.”
There was no doubt in my mind what she meant by that—the man who’d ambushed her was another Deathless, like me.
I wanted to rip him to shreds right then, but there was a more critical duty for me to attend to first. Something far more important than that Deathless piece of shit. My fallen soldiers needed me, and I would not keep them waiting any longer.
The fact that I could only be certain of restoring three of the seven who’d given their lives defending my Tári galled me, and I vowed to make the Deathless trash pay dearly for each one we were unable to bring back. I would make him beg for his death before I’d finally give it to him—at least, that was my first thought. But then a very different idea occurred to me, and a wicked smile crossed my face when I realized that I’d come up with a much more fitting punishment.
I quickly raised three of the dead soldiers and was relieved when all four of the other resurrections were successful as well. In the end, the Deathless had utterly failed to cause any lasting harm, but the futility of his attempt would buy him no mercy from me.
“Has he been searched?” I asked Ella when I stood beside her.
“Everything he had is in his pack is over there,” she confirmed. “Except for the chain around his neck. Not only is it soul bound, but we can neither remove it nor determine its properties.”
“Do we have anyone in the camp who can examine it?” I asked, somewhat leery about what she’d told me.
“Perhaps, among the Evokers,” she mused. “But we’d have to wake them to find out.”
“Let’s wait until morning then before we proceed,” I decided. “Stake him to the ground in the middle of camp with as many guards as you feel are necessary to watch over him. If he so much as breathes the wrong way, cut off both his feet. But whatever you do, don’t kill him.”
I meant to leave things in Ella’s hands from there but ended up staying by her side as she saw my orders carried out. Once the Deathless was securely tied to a pole and surrounded by dozens of guards, I placed traps on the ground all around him. I knew the power of a Deathless, and I wasn’t going to leave my people vulnerable to him again.
“We need to talk about this; about what it means for us,” Líann whispered to me as we walked back towards my tent in the darkness.
“I know, love, I know,” I gripped her hand tightly. “Tomorrow. We’ll gather together tomorrow—all of us—and figure this out.”
“We may need to bring others into our circle, Empress,” Líann prodded me. “Your companions at the very least.”
Stel knew something of what it meant to be a Tári, but only so far as it pertained to Venna. He had no idea about the others who shared that title with her, and Broda and Khorim knew nothing at all of them. Líann may have been correct to note that we’d need their help, but breaking the news to them was not a conversation that I looked forward to having.
“I’ll be with you, Dreya,” Líann squeezed my hand reassuringly as she spoke, reading my thoughts clearly as she did. “You won’t have to tell them alone.”
That was what made her my Táriel.
We made it the rest of the way back to my tent only to discover that the ring of guards around it had been doubled, yet again. Similar precautions needed to be taken for my Tári as well, but I was certain that Ella would see to it. Considering that Líann was already with me and Ella and Saibra were among the guards ringing my tent, only Venna was in need of any extra protection—protection I’d made sure that she already had before I’d left her.
As soon as we were inside and hidden behind the canvas walls of my tent, I pulled Líann into me and hugged her with all my might. Venna’s near brush with death had left me deeply shaken, and just the thought of losing Líann, my Táriel, filled me with a sense of despair. She was my only hope, the only chance I had of not losing myself to the darkness, and I knew that without her, I would eventually succumb to my shadows. Whether it was by the shadows finally overwhelming me, or the slow, painful process of losing my Tári over and over as the centuries passed by, it wouldn’t matter—if I lost Líann, if that Deathless scum had taken her from me, my fate would have been sealed.
Tears fell from my eyes freely as I held her against me, crushing her body into mine as if I could somehow merge the two of us together and keep her safe that way.
“I can’t lose you,” I choked out between my sobbing. “Not you. Not ever.”
“You won’t,” Líann
soothed as she held me in return, gentle hands softly stroking my back.
I knew that neither of us could be certain of that, but Líann’s words eventually calmed me. We sat quietly for a while as I gathered myself once more and my fear finally subsided, resolving into my more typical response to such an affront.
“I’m going to fuck him up tomorrow,” the room burst into green light as my anger surged forward.
“That’s my girl,” Líann basked in the glow of my rage.
4
When I woke the next morning, I practically burst into action. The long night had only served to stoke the fires of my outrage, and I’d had more than enough time to contemplate what to do with the Deathless prisoner—he’d be wishing he wasn’t quite so Deathless before I was finished with him.
Saibra was waiting for us, and I forced myself to sit with her for a while and eat something before I rushed off to begin wreaking my vengeance on Venna’s would-be killer. But as we ate, I made one thing perfectly clear.
“If anything happens—not just today, but ever—protect her first,” I held Saibra’s gaze as I issued my command. “Do you understand me?”
Saibra only nodded slowly in return, clearly not happy with my order but offering her compliance, nonetheless. Líann seemed ready to object, but the harsh glare I directed her way silenced her before she could speak.
We left together, and my guards fell in beside us as I strode through the camp towards the location where the Deathless had been staked in place. He still sat there on the ground, tied to the pole that had been driven into the earth behind him. He sneered callously at the surrounding guards, apparently unconcerned about his fate. Oddly, a second stake had been pounded into the ground a short distance away, and his pack had been lashed tightly to that smaller pole for some reason.
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