Rod of the Heart

by Cebelius

  He turned away and walked toward his next patient. The ward was almost full of the suffering, both city guardsmen and ordinary citizens who had been caught up in the riots and pillage.

  "This city has suffered enough at the hands of the mighty."

  27

  The Night Before

  Euryale lay nestled against her master's side, her snakes tasting his chest absently as she traced a hand over the hard planes of muscle on his stomach.

  She knew he wasn't asleep, just as she knew his increasing distance over the last few days was nothing she had done. He was focused — intensely so — and she, Laina, and Shy had yesterday played a game of chance to determine who would keep him company the night before his fight with the dragon. Euryale had won, so here she was.

  They had already made love, and the scent of their exertion was thick in the air. His sweat was delicious on her many tongues, but though he had been an attentive lover, it was obvious his thoughts were now far away.

  "Master?"

  "Mm?"

  "Are you ready?"

  "Ready as I can be. Why ask?"

  He shifted and kissed the top of her head absently. She knew he knew how much she loved it when he paid attention to her snakes because he seemed to make a point of giving them as much attention as he could. That didn't mean she loved it any less.

  "Well, you didn't train at all physically today. You spent all your time practicing that blood magic stuff with Prada."

  "Old habits, love. Even with Laina's milk to recover me, I still don't want to train the day before a fight. There's no video I can watch on Astur, so I've got no real idea what I'm in for. With no way to study her moves there's really nothing I can do beyond making sure I'm in the best possible shape and that my skills are peak. They are. The blood magic is long term. I wasn't going to just waste the whole day doing nothing."

  "You seem to be making progress."

  She felt him nod absently as he said, "Yeah, it's weird, but not completely insane like I was expecting. Controlling the mana in my body is about focus. The easiest thing to figure out was how to use it to enhance myself ... though I did wind up breaking my own bones day before yesterday."

  He grimaced at the memory. "Not being able to gauge how much power I'm using is a bitch. If I don't have Prada constantly in my head telling me when to start and stop, I'd be completely lost. It's weird. I can use something I can't actually sense or feel. I don't know how to describe it. It's like ... drinking water from an empty glass. Does that make sense?"

  "Not a bit," Euryale said, leaning up to steal a kiss from him before putting her body on his chest. She glanced down at where her modest breasts pressed against him and muttered, "Shy's are bigger."

  He nodded and said, "And Laina's are bigger than your head. Or mine. Each. So?"

  She frowned at him and said, "But you like big ones, and I don't have that. I want to be able to give you everything you want."

  Euryale felt his hand trailing down over her hip and over her bottom. She tensed it and mock glared at him as she said, "Don't you dare pinch me, Master."

  "You spoil my fun," he said with a smirk, leaning up to kiss her lightly on the nose. "And here you are telling me you want to give me everything I want. I want you. You give me yourself. Annoying as it is to deal with your tantrums at times, I wouldn't have you any other way."

  "Tantrums?" she said, arching herself up a bit and staring regally down at him — an impression she knew full well was ruined as his eyes trailed down to her exposed nipples. "A gorgon does not throw 'tantrums.'"

  "This gorgon throws royal tantrums," he said, his eyes coming back up to hers as he pinched her ass. She yelped and several of her snakes hissed at him, but none of them even tried to strike him. He had, after all, only pinched her lightly.

  He shifted his hands up and began running his fingers around where her wings joined to her back. She groaned and flopped back down on him, her cheek to his chest as she said, "All's forgiven if you just keep doing that."

  "I didn't ask for forgiveness. I'm the boss. I don't need forgiveness. That ass of yours belongs to me and I'll pinch it whenever I like."

  She didn't let him see her smile as she rolled her eyes at that, but his fingers really were doing wonders as they worked on muscles that were usually very tight. She hadn't actually flown for years beyond counting and wouldn't have trusted herself to do so now, but even so those particular muscles were under constant tension. His touch was neither gentle nor violent, it only seemed to insist that she relax.

  She happily obeyed.

  "You don't get to only be the master sometimes," she murmured as he slid his hands over the tops of her wings and pressed them down to get at the muscles on the inside, next to her spine. She felt like she was turning into a puddle atop him as she groaned softly. "'Ss a full time job."

  "I'm working on it," he said quietly. "I think once we get out of Florence it'll be better. Once I'm not threatening everyone around me just by being here ... I'll de-stress."

  "Distress?" she asked, glancing up at him.

  "De-stress. Relax. I'll be able to relax."

  "Mmm, I know how that is. Without this mask I just can't be around people, no matter how much I want them around. Having you ... having Shy and Laina and everyone just glance at me and, and smile at me ... I can't tell you how much that means."

  He nodded. Then his hands slipped under her wings again and drifted down over her hips and over her bottom. She tensed briefly, expecting another pinch, but instead he cupped her bottom and pulled her up a bit higher on his chest. She turned to him and he kissed her, and as her serpentine tongue flickered with his she felt his fingers drop between her legs and begin teasing her.

  Several of her snakes hissed in surprise, but his finger teased and played over her sex, lingering a moment before splitting her and sinking inside.

  His tongue rolled with hers as he made lewd sounds with her body, and she responded to him with increasing urgency, almost dueling with him, mouth to mouth.

  Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and moaned pitifully as she broke the kiss and nestled her head against his throat, gasping and sighing as he played with her.

  "This ... is ... so not fair," she gasped. "You get ... way more practice than I do."

  He hesitated, though he didn't remove his fingers from her as he said, "There are a few different ways I could take that."

  She blinked, realizing that he was holding himself very still, and that what she'd said had struck a chord with him somehow. She tilted her head up and looked into his eyes, curious as she asked, "I don't understand."

  "Are you asking me for permission to play with other men?" he asked.

  Her lips twisted and she hit his shoulder as she said, "Stupid man. I'm saying that with three women in your life and potentially more incoming, I don't get enough playtime with you."

  She watched understanding, followed by relief, followed by embarrassment cross his features as he glanced away. When he looked back, his tone was rueful. "I am the king of saying the wrong thing."

  Euryale nodded, one eyebrow quirked as she said, "There are certainly better crowns to wear, Master. Don't be so insecure. Do you honestly think I could call you Master, and want some other man? I would take one if you demanded I do so, but ... eh. The only one I really want touching me there is you ... and Shy ... and Laina."

  He blinked at the longing in her voice and asked, "You two seem to barely get along. You're telling me you want her?"

  Euryale nodded emphatically, then her blue eyes rolled back in her head as his fingers started moving again.

  "Watched her ... with Shy once. Master, that tongue! I want it in me so bad. I get wet just thinking about her."

  His fingers stopped again, and she gave him a pleading look as she asked, "Now what?"

  "I didn't know she and Shy were ... ah ... doing those sorts of things."

  "Shy's a natural," Euryale said breathily as she felt his fingers begin moving again. "She
gets to have her way with any of us. Makes me ... ahhhh, little jealous. She's ... Laina is scared of me. Every time I talk to her she just gets all tight and nervous. I'mmMMmm not the best with people. No practice. I can't figure out how to get her to relax arOUnnnd me."

  She whined in the back of her throat and gave him a pleading look as she asked, "Will you just fuck me already? You could have made me cum twice by now if you wanted to."

  "Yeah, but listening to you talk all distracted like that really does it for me," he said, grinning as he shifted her off his chest. He set her on her stomach with her face against the pillow as he settled over her and pressed inside.

  Euryale pressed her cheek to the pillow and her mouth opened wide in a soundless moan as he set his hands on her shoulders and pinned her to the bed. She shifted her ass up as best she could and groaned as she felt him fill her. All his weight was on her and she felt him deeply as he worked.

  His hips rolled slowly against her as he leaned in and whispered, "Don't tell me you don't know how to get yourself off. Just be careful, those claws of yours are sharp."

  She moaned desperately and shifted one of her hands underneath her belly, splitting cold but rapidly warming metallic fingers around his shaft as she played with herself. She watched him through countless eyes, and gloried in the expression of prideful ownership she saw in his face.

  That's my man, my master ... and right now he's looking at me like I'm the only one. No ... better ... feeling.

  She came quickly and was wracked by the convulsions of her body as it soaked in all the pleasure he was giving her. She whimpered as she felt him fill her a few moments later.

  The feel of his body shivering over hers, the strong flex of him against her left her with a sense of deep satisfaction and lassitude. She floated on that feeling, adrift in a sea of physical and emotional pleasure.

  He shifted and she lifted her wing out of the way so he could settle back down on the bed. She pressed herself to him and split her thighs around his, rubbing herself on him lazily, shivering a bit with the pleasurable afterglow.

  "You're getting my leg all wet," he said, voice full of tease.

  "Prada can come in later and clean you up. You know she loves that."

  "I know no such thing. I might just make you do it."

  Euryale hummed in approval of the idea and tilted her head up, her long, supple tongue teasing into his armpit. His whole chest jumped as he grunted in surprise, and her grin widened as she said, "Be careful what you wish for, Master."

  He settled again and chuckled softly as he said, "Likewise. I'll see what I can do about you and Laina."

  She lifted herself on an elbow and looked down at him as she asked, "Really?!"

  He nodded and said, "Hell yeah. Long as I get to watch."

  28

  I Must Break You

  Wow ... Al and Mamma Moo went all out.

  Terry stood at his window looking down at the central plaza just beyond the bailey wall. Gone were the stalls, the merchants and the disorganized crowds. Instead, wooden scaffolding had been thrown up all around the open space, hiding all the buildings behind an impressive circle of bleachers easily fifty feet high. Each of the main streets that usually led to the plaza was packed with people, and as he watched they were filing in and taking seats. The bailey wall itself was packed with guardsmen and courtiers.

  He could hear the dull roar of the crowd from where he stood at the window. It would be the largest audience for any fight of his by a factor of ten, easily.

  I can't WAIT!

  He bounced on his bare feet as a grin split his lips. In about an hour, he'd be in the ring. It would very likely be the last fight of his life that actually followed any sort of rules, and he would savor it to the fullest.

  "Someone's ready to go."

  Green arms slid over his hips and Shy couched her chin on his shoulder and her naked breasts against his back as she looked down at the crowd. "I thought you'd be nervous."

  "Oh, hell no," he said, unable to keep the smile off his face. "This is what I was born to do. All that save the world shit? No one can be ready for that. This? This is where I live. Hell it looks like half the city has turned out. Look at the rooftops."

  It was obvious at a glance that the few multi-story buildings that cleared the height of the bleachers were all being either broken into, or more likely the owners were selling seats on the roof. There were even pennons streaming in the breeze all around the bleachers. Three different designs fluttered in the evening wind.

  The first was a red pennon with a stylized dragon's head done in black lines. The second was a blue pennon with a thick white cross. The third was green with a stylized human face done in brown lines.

  They actually made flags for me.

  Shy's voice sounded in his mind. 'Only cities, nations, and heroes get their own banners, Tee.'

  Along with Shy's voice in his mind came a feeling of calm confidence. Shy had seen him fight Laina, and heard of his fight with Yuri. She had faith in him, and was sharing that faith with him.

  Still, he couldn't help but say, "And dragons, apparently."

  She chuckled, which transmitted itself vividly to him through the softness pressing against his back. "And dragons. They pretty much follow their own rules."

  "I wonder who they'll be rooting for," he said, watching the crowds thicken in the bleachers below.

  Shy didn't answer, and even as he said it, Terry realized he didn't really care. Win or lose, he'd give these people a show they'd never forget.

  His dryad kissed his cheek. 'I'd prefer a win.'

  "Yeah, so would I."

  Laina said, "Just so it's out there? It's really annoying when you talk into his head and I don't know what the hell's going on."

  Shy disengaged and turned as she said, "I don't get to feed him twice a day. We all have our little perks."

  The two continued to exchange barbs as Terry watched the crowds. He could tell they weren't really interested in the contest, but were just throwing darts for lack of anything better to do.

  The more I think about it, the more I think Al was right about just keeping my mouth shut and letting the women talk.

  Prada intruded on his thoughts. 'It does seem the wiser course. You WILL be wearing me into the pit, you realize. I will not permit you to face the dragon proxy without me.'

  As long as you don't interfere with the fight. AT ALL. That means nothing outside, and NOTHING INSIDE.

  Prada's voice in his mind was silent for a moment, and he could feel her thinking. He didn't know the content of that thought, and didn't want to know. Over the course of the last week she'd grown uncomfortably close to him. He couldn't effectively use magic without her, and since he'd been studying and practicing it almost constantly, she'd become even more integrated into his mind.

  Despite her rather dramatic increase in size, her weight on his hips was so negligible as to be nothing. He'd asked her where all her mass went when she rode him as clothing, and she'd told him point-blank that most of it wound up inside him. She really was part of him, flowing through his bloodstream, suffusing his tissues, coating his bones. The thought of it made him queasy.

  'If you'd wanted me to remain small, you could have arranged it. As it is, unless you want me to become pretty much ALL of your clothing, this is the only way.'

  Pass. There's such a thing as too much red.

  'Never.'

  He chuckled. Magic was a fascinating subject, but he'd quickly found out that he not only had no talent for any kind of magic other than blood magic ... magic of any other sort seemed to be absolutely beyond him. Most mages specialized in one or two schools, but could at least in theory learn other types of magic. For him, blood magic was IT.

  'Perhaps as you accrue more bonds, other schools of magic will open to you.'

  Given what I've read, without a mana pool I can't access ambient magic and I can't pull magic OUT of my blood to use it for anything immaterial, so unless a bond gives me a mana
pool, I think I'm pretty much stuck with what I got.'

  ''Stuck with?' Hardly. Blood magic, once you pass the beginner stages, is ritual magic. It is potentially the greatest of magic, and the most versatile.'

  Yeah, provided I know what I'm facing in advance, which in this world is pretty much never.

  'You have only scratched the surface, Master. Given time, you will understand. Put thoughts of your studies away for now. You need to concentrate on what is right in front of you.'

  Speaking of which, NO INTERFERENCE.

  'I will do the bare minimum required to preserve your life. To do less would be a breach of contract.'

  If you throw this fight, so help me God, Prada. There will be consequences. I do NOT want to lose by forfeit because you couldn't keep out of it. She is going to do everything she can to keep me alive as it is.

  'Rationally, that's true. But as you are no doubt aware, most people do not act in a purely rational fashion. Take my previous mistress as a case in point. If this dragon is about to lose, she may try something drastic simply HOPING that you will live through it. In such a case, I WILL intervene. Your life is worth more to me than your good will. And don't bother talking to your harem about it either. I've spoken with all three, and they agree with me on this.'

  "Laina?"

  "Yeah, Boss?"

  He felt the minotress' presence looming large behind him, though she didn't press into him as Shy had. Of the three women in his life, Laina alone seemed to respect his personal space.

  "Did Prada talk to you guys about this fight coming up?"

  He felt more than heard Prada's sigh of exasperation as Laina said, "Yeah, she did. You're taking her into the ring, Boss. No if's, and's, or but's."

  'I can't LIE to you, Master. You really should at least TRY to trust me.'

  And yet, here we are.