“What if I drop it?” Jinady thought of how Rowan was able to shatter one.
Figaru paused from his packing. “It’s impossible for you to separate from the shard until you return to the settlement.”
Jinady’s brow knit. “I wouldn’t do it deliberately.”
Figaru pulled the drawstrings of Jinady’s pack closed. He tied them. “You won’t drop it. Not deliberately or otherwise. This shard stays connected to you.”
“Oh.” Jinady was confused. This hadn’t been discussed during training.
Figaru attached a water bladder to Jinady’s belt. He handed him a pair of gloves.
“This is all you need. Your pack will be here waiting for you.”
He donned the gloves. “How will I carry the shard down?”
“You won’t have to carry it.”
“What do you mean?” His voice rose. “It’s a heavy diamond thing isn’t it? Are you saying it’s going to stick to my back or—“
Figaru put his finger over Jinady’s lips a scant moment. Jinady glowered at him.
“No one’s told you this part on purpose.”
His annoyance changed to apprehension.
“You trust me now, don’t you?”
“Yes.” He spoke at once.
“There’s nothing for you to be afraid of. No harm will come to you. Dawn has asked that we leave this part a surprise for new shard gatherers.”
“A surprise? Just tell me. I’ll pretend I didn’t know.”
Figaru lowered his eyes. “There’s a goddess living there with them, Jinady. We’d be foolish to try any deception.”
Figaru drew him into a tight hug before he could protest further. Jinady fumed, but then squeezed his arms around Figaru.
“You have to start off. You may lose the daylight.”
Jinady clung to him.
Figaru pulled him back to look down at him. Jinady was stricken. The emptiness he imagined without Figaru nearby tore at him. He saw traces of dismay on Figaru’s face.
“It hurts to part from you.”
“I know,” Jinady said.
Figaru ran his fingers through Jinady’s hair. “I have a selfish request.”
Jinady lifted his eyes.
“You’ll take three days to journey back, and then you’ll spend four more in Sister City while the shard light dissipates from you.”
Jinady nodded.
“Will you be celibate for me?”
He stared at Figaru. The demon smiled.
“I’m claiming that part of your body. You’re only allowed to touch it when you bathe. Understood?”
“You forgot about—“
“I’ll allow that, also.”
Jinady laughed.
They shared a second tight embrace, and then Figaru nudged Jinady forward.
He was closer to the mountain than he realized. A scant hundred yards and he walked out of the wood to the base of the mountain. He tilted his head far back. The top was obscured by low dark clouds. There were no others like it in the rest of the sky. They kept the shard light that must have been on top from radiating down.
Jinady started a climb that was not steep enough to be daunting. There were plenty of uneven rock crags for him to propel himself on. The gloves proved useful. He came to a high jagged wall and remembered Sergeant’s advice to go leftward around it until a less sheer path emerged. He made steady progress over several hours.
He dripped sweat on the rocks despite the air growing colder. After a moment he became aware of the fog. It was dew forming on his skin, not sweat. He was on a broad ledge. He’d been told to look for stone stairs at this point. He felt around the smooth damp stone of the mountain until his hand reached a rounded edge. He started up slick steps. Water dripped off his nose and chin. His clothes were sodden, and his hair stuck to his scalp.
After dozens of steps he rose out of the haze. He’d reached a broad open area of smooth white stone. A short distance before him was a massive domed entryway bordered with gigantic glowing crystals. Jinady gaped at the swan shards as he approached. They looked more fragile than diamonds. When he came near he saw they were hollow inside. The facets were holding white energy too bright for him to gaze at for long.
The entry led to a long corridor with a multicolored carpet lining the middle of the floor. The walls on either side of him had oval niches. Each portal framed a ludicrous erotic painting that could not be seen until he was directly beside it. All of the images were of men fornicating with women. They were obscenely graphic, yet executed with ostentatious drama. A sunset shot hues of violet and orange on a woman who masturbated as she was sodomized. A man on the shore of a sparkling moonlit sea ejaculated as his testicles were sucked. A naked glowing woman levitated over an orgy in a room full of silken pillows.
Jinady stopped looking and increased his pace. His embarrassment annoyed him.
There was a dome-shaped ivory door with small swan shards around it at the end of the corridor. Jinady opened it.
The spacious white room smelled of cooked meat. There were sofas and chairs against the walls. Swan shards were standing on pedestals all about the room to light it. There were paintings here too, but depicting fruit or landscapes. A book was lying open-faced on a short table before a sofa. The clink of glass brought his eyes toward the back of the room. A young woman sat at a table three steps up. She tipped her head at him, but didn’t stop eating. Jinady walked to her.
It was rare enough for him to see a female. The fact that she resembled Figaru added to her mystique. She had jeweled combs pinning up tendrils of auburn lamb’s wool hair. Her skin was deep amber. She had her father’s full lips and high slanted eyes. She wore a sleeveless white tunic with gold decoration and flowing pants that matched. There was gold jewelry all over her: bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings. She took long swigs from a goblet as Jinady ascended the steps.
“You’re new.” Her eyes were the same brown hue as Figaru’s.
Jinady cleared the lump from his throat. “There was an incident at the settlement. All the shard gatherers except for Quince had to kill spikeys.”
She frowned. “What a pity.”
Jinady pursed his lips.
“Well, sit down. I want to hear all about it. What’s your name?”
“Jinady.”
“I’m Dawn.” She rose. “I’ll make you a plate of food.” She walked back toward a domed doorway leading to the source of the food smell. “Gatherers usually sleep here for the night. You knew that?”
“Oh.” It may have been told to him along with the other information he was bombarded with. He forgot. The half-eaten food on Dawn’s plate made him salivate.
She spoke from the other room. “Those gross pictures in the hallway are Galla’s.” She returned with a full plate, a goblet, and a thick cloth over one arm for him to dry himself. “I didn’t want you to think they were mine.”
Jinady looked at the food. “Thank you so much.” He became plaintive. “I didn’t expect this.”
She retook her seat across from him. “I’m happy to have visitors. It’s lonely up here.”
“Are you able to leave?” He dried himself.
“If I do I’ll become a brood mare for some human settlement. I can see the world down there plenty after I turn into a succubus.”
Jinady stopped moving. “You’re going to become a demon?”
“It’s either that or get old and die. I won’t have to drink souls to feed. Galla will make it so I can take energy from swan shards, just like mom does.”
“Hmm.” Jinady ate.
He spent more than an hour answering her questions about him and telling her about the recent problems at the settlement. He omitted the fact that her brother Rowan was the source of the trouble.
Dawn led him to a steaming mosaic pool after he ate.
“Leave your clothes by this door and I’ll put them in the wash. I’ll bring you a gown for tonight.”
He went to a smooth marble bench to undress.
Dawn turned to go. “Take your time, but don’t get too comfortable in here, if you know what I mean.”
Jinady eyed her.
“I’m sure Galla’s watching.” She stepped out the door.
There was a smaller bath with molded cubby holes full of toiletries. Jinady determined that this was where he should cleanse himself before he got into the larger pool. He drained the water when he was finished.
The larger pool was hotter than the bath. One side had a stream of water flowing in from a channel in the wall high above. He waded to it and let it douse him. This was just what his sore muscles needed. There were round seats hollowed out along one wall of the pool. He sank in one and soaked. Galla could stare at him all she wanted. He was in bliss.
His fingers and toes had just started to prune when he heard a splash that wasn’t the waterfall. Jinady opened his eyes. Then he jolted out of the seat. A naked woman with skin the same pale hue as his own had stepped in the water. She had piles of tight blond curls flowing to the middle of her back. Each breast was larger than her head and tipped with puffy pink areolas. She stood in the thigh-deep water so the dense dark blond hair on her groin was visible. She was smiling with dewy lips and flushed cheeks. She could have been as young as 16. It was difficult to determine.
“Want to make love to a woman?” Galla said. She smiled and then bit the side of her bottom lip.
“No.”
Jinady started to creep towards the side of the pool with the steps going out. It took a few seconds for it to occur to him that he shouldn’t be so rude.
“Um, I mean, I’m sorry.” He continued his flight. “Please have the bath.”
Galla appeared in front of him. Jinady gasped and splashed back. He looked at the spot where she’d just been in disbelief.
“I don’t want a bath. I want you to fuck me.” She giggled.
“I’m devoted to someone.”
“I don’t mind.” She stroked his chest.
Jinady reared from her. She kept pursuing. Her hands touched whatever part of him they could reach: his knee, his thigh, his shoulder. Jinady reached the steps again and stood. Galla grabbed his entire flaccid cock with splayed fingers. Her thumbnail dug under his balls.
“Ahh! Let go!”
She kept a painful grip with one hand, and then tugged his shaft free with the other.
She started yanking. “Come on!”
Jinady kicked her. She was flung back. He escaped the pool to the stone bench, then looked back worrying he’d hurt her. The pool was empty. His brow furrowed.
Jinady dried quickly and donned the gown.
Dawn came out of a side room in the corridor to meet him. He was startled by her.
“Are you ok?”
Jinady expelled a breath. “Galla tried to…”
“Damn it. Mom told her not to pull that anymore. You’re lucky you didn’t give in. She’s like a real succubus, the old kind. She wears men out.”
“So…she won’t be angry? I kicked her.”
“Good for you. That’s the only way to get rid of her. Don’t worry about it.” She walked past him. “I’m putting you in the living room. That’s where all the shard gatherer’s sleep. I can hear everything there from my room. If I put you in a private bedroom Galla might bother you again.”
Jinady found one of the sofas had been turned into a lush bed. The swan shard lamps were dimmed with swathes of muslin. He bade Dawn goodnight and spread out on cushiony softness.
Chapter 19
Jinady was too exhausted not to fall into a deep sleep. He had different dreams during the night. The most vivid was near morning. He dreamt a white-feathered harpy succubus was holding an icicle over his bare chest. The cold drops splattered on the middle of his breast one by one.
“Engh.”
Before Jinady opened his eyes he could tell that the cold sensation on his chest was real. He blinked. A white-feathered harpy succubus was leaning over him.
Jinady attempted to jolt, but he was pinned to the bed. The succubus with light blue skin and large white wings was pushing a glowing crystal into his chest.
Jinady screamed.
“Damn, he’s awake,” Swan said.
“Okay, try to relax, Jinady,” Dawn said. She was kneeling on the bed on the opposite side of him as her mother. “It feels cold, but it doesn’t hurt.”
Jinady tried to control his rapid breath. He looked back at his chest. Half a swan shard shaped like an elongated hexagon was sticking out of him. It was large enough for Swan to need both hands to guide it in. It was somehow merging with him, right through the fabric of his gown. Swan continued to press it into him as fast as her straining hands could push. The more it entered him the colder his chest became. His teeth chattered. When there was just the point left to go the cold began to burn.
“Ah! Ow!”
“Easy, sweetheart,” Swan said. “We’re almost done.”
Dawn rubbed his arm.
Jinady’s confusion distracted him from his pain a moment. Her voice had demonic undertones, but wasn’t shrieky like other succubi he’d witnessed. She was being kinder than he expected.
The last of the shard went into him. The cold began to ebb. Jinady chewed his lip and stared at the glowing circle on his chest.
Swan stared also. Red letters were darkening on his chest.
“What is that?” Dawn said.
“A blood message.”
“What?” Jinady said.
There was a message starting at his collar bone and ending below his navel. He tried to read the ragged words upside-down. The first two lines were too high to see. ‘…grows one link per day. I can’t even reach a cistern on my own. I’m forced to beg two demons to help me, and the price for their help is my body. I’ve been turned into nothing but a…’
Jinady grumbled. Rowan had somehow forced him to be a messenger against his will. That must have been the weird thing Figaru sensed about his aura. He’s sure it’s why his chest itched before.
Swan and Dawn kept fixed on the message until it faded. The succubus looked into his eyes.
“You’re Rowan’s friend?”
“I don’t know how this message got on me.”
The two considered him several moments.
“Figaru was your guardian, wasn’t he?” Swan said. “I sensed him come near the mountain.”
“Yes.” So this had been to outsmart him. Jinady grit his teeth.
Swan stood from the bed. The large succubus had to be at least a head taller than her daughter. She had a faint turquoise tint on her skin and her narrow azure eyes were thickly outlined in black. Light blue hair just touched her shoulders.
“You have to bring him here,” Dawn said.
“You know I can’t. Galla will turn him into a sex-slave.”
“That’s better than what he’s going through now!”
She turned back to her. “Hush, Dawn.”
Swan eyed Jinady. “Please have a meal before you set off. The shard will stay inside you until a female human pulls it out.” She walked away.
Dawn crawled off the other side of the bed. She was biting back tears. “I’ll get your clothes.”
Jinady concentrated as Dawn followed after her mother. Rowan deserved to have his crimes exposed. He’d maligned Figaru in his message, claiming there was no justification for his imprisonment. He was manipulating his mother and sister just as he manipulated everyone.
However, this could be Figaru’s solution to the Rowan problem. If his mother got him out of the settlement it would be better for everyone. True, he misled them, but what harm could he really do to a powerful succubus allied with a goddess? She should take responsibility for him anyway. Maybe she had to get him out of the mount due to Galla, but she didn’t have to dump him in the field. She’s immune to the shards. She could have delivered Figaru’s son right into his arms. He wondered why she hadn’t.
This question tore at him during breakfast with Dawn. She sat across from him sipping
a goblet, but without any food for herself. He was wound up from having a shard crammed into him and a blood message revealed on his chest. He forced himself to eat the meal of cheese, bread, and fruit to ensure he’d have the energy for his climb down.
“I’m sorry I brought such a terrible message.”
“I’m not.” She didn’t look at him. “It said something we needed to know.”
Jinady chewed. After a moment he said, “I was angry Rowan had done that to me without my permission at first. Now I think it’s good. He’d be so much better off leaving the settlement.”
Dawn eyed him. “What do you know about it?”
He thought of what to say. “I know he’s Figaru’s son, and that you’re his daughter.”
“Are you close to Figaru?”
“I’m going to be his mate.”
Dawn’s eyes lingered on him, giving weight to his words. She sighed. “I’m just as upset for mom than for Rowan. She blames herself for everything bad that happens to him.”
Jinady swallowed. “I understand why she had to get him out of here. I heard she aban—er…left him in our fields the way other succubi do at night.”
“You heard wrong.”
Jinady stirred his food.
“She left him with Deputy because Figaru was away on a mission. Deputy never told Figaru about him.”
Jinady stopped moving. Eban’s warning about how envious Figaru’s adopted son Deputy could be rang in his head.
“That’s what we’ve pieced together, anyway. Messages have been going back and forth between us for ten years now. In the beginning mom and I thought Figaru just hadn’t claimed him. We didn’t tell Rowan because he was suffering enough. The last two years some things have happened. It’s obvious Figaru never knew his son was there. Mom feels responsible. She tried to spare Rowan from the pain of being rejected by his father, but it turned out he’d never rejected him. She should have never left him with that selfish old man.”
Jinady’s mouth went dry. He was too sick to continue eating.
He left through the domed doorway that led outside. The sound of flapping of wings above him made him duck without thinking. He looked up to see Swan flying from the mountaintop.
Incubus Master: Complete (Yaoi) Page 16
