by Maia Starr
Five years later now and the truce had finally resumed, but I couldn’t help but wonder to what end.
“Well you’d better get happy about it,” he warned again. “Because Veynore assigned one of the humans to pair with you.”
I felt my face go white and then instantly hot. I watched as the humans were paraded around in our square. My head went dizzy then, and I snapped my attention back to Z’echs.
“Say that again and this time make it more apparent that you’re joking,” I insisted with a hand on his spiky shoulder.
Z’echs offered me a brotherly smile of amusement and crossed his arms.
“No!” I said furiously.
“Yes!” he teased. “You’re a lucky, lucky Parduss!”
I pushed away from Z’echs, feeling my head run hot. I searched through the crowd, but there was no sign of our Dendren.
The next few hours of the ceremony were a blur; my heart-rate skyrocketed until I had the opportunity to come before the Dendren in his throne room high up in the tallest spire of apartments in Titan.
“You’ll be attending the choosing ceremony tonight,” the Dendren said as I knelt down before him. It wasn’t a request; that much I could hear.
“So I heard,” I said tensely, not looking up at him.
“From Z’echs?” he asked, and I nodded, still avoiding his eye.
“I don’t care for the humans,” I expressed carefully, flicking my eyes up to look at him.
“It’s just us!” Veynore said with a laugh, gesturing with his hand for me to get up from my kneeling position. “Don’t be so formal!”
With a sigh, I stood upright and looked him over. My uncle. He wore shimmering armor that sharply contrasted against his dark skin and bright orange scales.
“I don’t care about the humans!” I snapped, beseeching him again. “Do you know what the Gilds have done to us? To our people? To my son?”
My voice grew louder as I went on: Veynore’s eyes growing wide with a controlled fury.
“Do I… know?” he asked. “Was I not the one who was handed this war against my will? What Orylis did for—”
“Orylis left us to die!” I said furiously of our previous leader.
“Orylis did what he had to do,” Veynore counseled me, locking his eyes with mine. “And he entrusted me to care for this camp.”
My childish side wanted to keep arguing with him: to tell him he was doing a terrible job of keeping us alive. But my mind flashed back to the last attack from the Gilds: half of us wiped out. My mother, my mate, my son. Everything gone in an instant. I could remember the look in Veynore's eyes that day: how he longed for vengeance, how broken he was.
I settled down at the memory of it. “I don't trust them,” I said through clenched teeth.
“And who better to be awarded a female than someone who is suspicious of her?” Veynore said as he put his hands on my shoulders. Giving me a gentle squeeze, he affirmed, “You will take one. You will watch her closely. If you can come up with solid evidence that this truce has been a farce, you're welcome to come back to me with it.”
“I'm asking you, please… don’t make me do this,” I said.
Unlike the Gilds, the Atherien were in a constant state of half-shifted. Always with tails, some of us with wings even in our human form. Veynore was no different: his thick and finned tail flicking from side to side with growing annoyance at me.
“We have a truce now,” he said, standing from his throne and pacing the entirely windowed room before stopping in front of the north window. It had a view of the darklands that he watched in a trance.
“I wanted the war,” I snapped, hoping to get his attention.
“And you got peace,” he said, whipping around to look at me.
I could see the sympathy in his eyes, but it quickly faded as he reprimanded, “You will take a human. You're our fiercest warrior. You're my second, my personal guard, and my nephew. If this is all we get from the Gilds...” he trailed off, eyes elsewhere.
My jaw set and I looked down at the ground, still furious as he continued, “I promised your mother that if there were ever a chance to keep our line going, you would be the first to carry us on.” He paused, staring at me to try and get me to see the severity of our situation.
As if I didn’t know.
“Don’t make me break that promise,” he finished.
He was a hard man to argue with.
I swallowed my pride and agreed to his wishes. Soon after that, ego shattered, Veynore led me to a room down in the lower section of the spire into the luxe entryway to meet her. My chosen.
“This is Ivy Elm,” he said, and immediately a young girl hopped off a natural stone table that sat in the middle of the lobby.
“Ahara!” she shouted, a native word for ‘goodbye.’ I looked to Veynore and pressed my eyes shut to express my annoyance.
“Azara,” Veynore said with a laugh, teaching her the correct greeting.
“Right, sorry,” Ivy shrugged. “I’m still learning. You have one hell of a student to teach here,” she said crassly.
Her constant chatter proved instantly annoying, and I’d only just barely met her. But she was beautiful; I would give my uncle that.
She had an oval face with long blonde hair that curled and swept across her body. Her cleavage was exposed in a silky black shirt: what I expected to be soft globes pushing together proved to be a flat plain with small mounds on either side.
But her body was alluring: small, with wide hips I could imagine grabbing onto as I pounded into her.
I swallowed and shook the thought off.
A large satchel was slung over her arm, likely carrying what little belongings she brought with her.
“Be a gentleman, would you?” she said with a toothy grin and tossed the heavy bag into my arms. “Thanks.”
I looked at Veynore once more like a child in trouble, and he chuckled at me.
“This is Kaayde,” Veynore said to the girl. “He has been assigned as your match and will be taking you a few floors up to his home.”
“Fancy,” she said, looking like she thought she was the most charming thing in the world.
I gritted my teeth and gave an unamused breath. “Let’s go,” I snapped and began walking toward the elevators, carrying her ridiculous bag for her.
“Coming!” she shouted, and I could hear her footsteps clacking behind me.
It was late already, and the only light left in my apartment was the many fireplaces that were lit before I left. The use of seastone, sometimes called glowstone or glowing stone, made it easy to keep the firesides lit safely while I was gone.
I brought her back to my home: a contemporary part of the great tower in the mainlands. It was the only proper city we had: now mostly uninhabited due to the deaths the Atherien had suffered in the past few years since our leader, Merenora, died.
Her son, Orylis, had come to rule us, only to pass the torch to Veynore and flee to Earth.
Some ruler, I mused.
It was strange having Ivy in my home, but comfortable, somehow.
She came in and already seemed at home. Her slender fingers touched, tapped, and dragged across every surface she passed from the smooth-stoned fireside to the oval, arched doorway leading into my bedroom.
“This is where the magic happens?” she said in an overly seductive, almost awkwardly cheesy tone as she entered my bedroom.
“Mm,” was all I said in response.
I leaned against the arched doorway and watched as she bounded onto the bed and sank her back into the thick furs that lined the mattress.
An air of discomfort flooded the room, and to my horror, I realized I was probably expected to sleep with her now.
She looked up at me from the bed, biting her lower lip and raising a suggestive brow to me as her fingers pulled and fiddled with the furs beneath her.
“Tired?” I said, wondering if I should bother with a drink for us.
Ivy nodded and then pat the bed, ro
lling over to one side to let me in. I hesitated: eyes lingering on her curves and exposed cleavage.
I had hardly noticed I was sucking my lips in until I parted them and was met with a high-pitched noise of release. I sighed inwardly at the sound and begrudgingly got into bed beside the girl.
“Is it okay that the fire’s still going?” she asked, gesturing toward the fireplace.
“It won’t burn the building down, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said.
She flopped onto her side and propped her head up with her hand, facing me. I lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling.
“That’s what I was asking,” she repeated flatly.
We lay there in silence with only the warm glow of the fire illuminating the room. I felt sick. It was like having the enemy in plain sight and not being able to do a thing about it. I felt outnumbered somehow, and there was only one of her.
“Thanks for having me,” she said. “I personally wasn’t expecting to be here, and I have to be honest, I was a little worried about the mainlands. I’d heard…” she trailed off, likely thinking better of whatever insulting thing she was going to say.
“That it’s dangerous,” I finished her sentence.
She shrugged, and I could feel her eyes on me. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“They weren’t wrong about that,” I scoffed, still looking skyward.
“Good to know,” she said through a charming laugh.
“So… you didn’t know you were assigned to the Atherien?” I asked, suddenly curious.
Ivy shook her head: blonde curls spilling across her face.
“And that doesn’t seem…” I swallowed. “Suspicious to you?”
“You really don’t trust this alliance, do you?” she asked with amusement. “It doesn’t seem odd to me… but hey! I wasn’t the one being attacked by them for centuries so, what do I know?”
I felt a pinch of annoyance creep down my shoulders and form into tense, thick balls next to my neck.
“Seems convenient,” I said evenly.
“Not really,” she argued, and I finally looked at her: white-blonde hair cascading down her oval face. Her hair was so blonde that even her eyebrows were blonde: amazing blue eyes so bright they were nearly translucent in the darkness.
“How’s that?” I snapped.
She offered another shrug. “They want the humans. The humans said ‘Uh-uh!’” she said, wagging her finger back and forth in what must have been some common human expression.
“And what does that mean?”
Ivy rolled her eyes with a smile and finally rested her head on the pillow next to me.
“It means the SAEW said they wouldn’t send any more humans until the Gilds made peace with the Atherien.”
“Made peace?” I repeated carefully.
“Made peace. Killed you,” she grinned. “Whichever! They just wanted the war to be over before agreeing to send more. So, it’s only natural that they rushed to make it happen.”
“And it doesn’t bother you to be a part of that?” I asked, utterly puzzled by her morality.
“It’s…” she said and then seemed to think better of her expression.
“It’s?” I repeated impatiently.
“It’s not my job to get involved. It’s my job to help your race survive. So… ta-da! Here I am.”
A silence fell over us then, and I avoided making eye-contact with her, nervous that if I did I would give in to how incredibly beautiful she was and push myself inside of her without another care.
It sounded amazing.
As soon as I saw her I knew I was hooked: my heart was already wrenching me toward her, but I didn’t trust her… and I didn’t trust myself to care for her.
It wasn’t a ‘you’re new here’ type of distrust. It was a deep instinct that I could feel wrenching inside of my gut—something that couldn’t be ignored.
Ivy inched closer to me. Close enough that I could feel her warm breath on the side of my face. The silence continued, and I closed my eyes, hoping my lack of participation would speak volumes to her.
It didn’t.
The young girl reached an arm down under the covers until her hand found my chest. She snaked her fingers down my body until she wrapped her fingers around my eagerly hardening penis.
Her touch felt good, stroking my length softly and then tightening her grip at the end of each pull. I could almost feel myself giving in and bringing her close enough to kiss, but I stopped myself.
“No,” I said firmly, grabbing her wrist.
She looked hurt, and her expression surprised me. Surely, she wasn’t enjoying this… but then why the face?
Ivy swallowed and wrenched her hand away from my grip.
We stared at each other in a hollow silence, and she heaved her breaths in as though she were about to cry.
But she didn’t. She sneezed, instead.
“Sorry!” she said, though I wasn’t sure if it was about the sneeze or what had just happened between us.
Any hurt that appeared on her delicate features disappeared, and her easy, overly-jovial mannerisms instantly reappeared. “Was I hurting you?”
“No,” I said, grimacing at her.
“Oh… what’s the problem then?”
“Well…” I breathed through my nose and sat up, turning to her. “I don’t trust you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t trust you, either. But isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing here? Building trust together?”
“Why should you be the one building trust for the Gilds?” I snapped.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said, raising a hand to me and finally looking angry. “That’s what this is about? Or… what? Do you not like me or you don’t like the Gilds?”
“Take your pick,” I offered. “You come here without a care in the world, willing to be taken by some Parduss you’ve only just met.”
“Says the Parduss with the hard dick!” she shouted back, her features tightening into pure anger.
“Hey!” I growled. “I’m the one who stopped it!”
“Says the man who’s supposed to be ensuring his species survival!” she screamed, gesticulating wildly across from me.
I was surprised at how quickly her small voice turned to such a furious octave. It appeared that she was just as ready to fight as I was. She just needed a little more coaxing.
“You said to Veynore that you report back to the Gilds,” I said furiously, getting out of the bed and pacing around it. “Rumor has it you also report back to the SAEW! So tell me, Ivy, who is it you’re actually working for?”
Ivy crawled to the edge of her bed in the small, black dressing clothes that contrasted far too heavily with her soft, light complexion. She propped herself up on her knees, and her eyes followed me pointedly as I paced the room.
“We all answer to somebody,” she finally snipped, crossing her arms, still perched as though she were ready to vault off the bed.
“Hm,” was all I said.
“Isn’t that right?” she demanded. “You report to Veynore as your Dendren; isn’t that true?”
“You’re meant to live with us now,” I enunciated as I stopped at the edge of the bed.
She scoffed: a spiteful, throaty laugh hitting the air with such surprise that it nearly made me jump back.
“By which you mean I’m supposed to be your property?” she fumed.
“No,” I said, finally lowering my voice. “That’s not what I said, and it’s not what I meant. What I meant is that if you’re truly part of the Atherien camp like the Gilds claim you are, why would you report anything back to them?”
“Um?” She rolled her eyes, her incredibly expressive face looking both amused and annoyed now. “To make sure we’re not being hurt or abused by you?”
“You obviously have a high opinion of us, then.”
She raised her brows as if her reasons for being suspicious of us were self-explanatory. They weren’t.
“Why?” I asked, raising a ha
nd to the air. “What have they told you about us?”
“Probably nothing different than the things you guys will say about them,” she reasoned, seeming calmer now.
I watched as she brushed her hands up her arms and shivered against her own touch.
“Look,” she said through chattering teeth. “I’m not someone who sticks around where they aren’t wanted. And it’s pretty clear that I’m not wanted here. But, this is my job. It’s what I signed up for and what your Dendren agreed to. So… it’s up to us to make this work, okay?”
I stared at her, pale and cold in my bed, and felt myself soften just a little. I closed my eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.
“Now come back to bed,” she said, moving aside once more. I paused at the side of the bed, and she let out her charming, likely fake, laughter. “I promise I won’t come on to you again, okay? Now get in!”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “Yes, you’re right.”
But she was very wrong.
Chapter Three
Ivy
The first time I thought I had made headway with Kaayde was exactly five days into our new partnership. He slinked into bed after a day out in the wilds, fighting and gathering food for the city.
Kaayde was no exception. He had furrowed gills down the sides of his neck and vibrant aqua and purple scales.
He was incredibly handsome: tall and muscular, masculine. He removed his shirt before slipping under the covers, and I watched the way the light hit his body. He had vibrant, amethyst eyes that were sharp and snake-like, somehow.
It seemed like everything in the mainlands was vibrantly colored, like the rainforest. Everything fluorescent and beautiful... and dangerous.
“Hard day?” I said instinctively as he slipped into the covers, bringing with him a rush of heat.
Instead of the usual brush-off, Kaayde handed me a drink that he had brought into the bed with him. I took a sip of the fruity, strong liquor before handing it back to him. I could already feel the buzz of heat tickling up my neck from the alcohol.
“Not the best,” he said, taking a sip from the same spot I had put my lips. “Ever questioned orders given from your higher-up?”
