FirePrincesBride
Page 8
“Te thali, is something wrong?” Tyral stopped, disconcerted by her demand and the look on her face.
She couldn’t believe that he’d actually asked that question of her. He was either being deliberately obtuse or truly didn’t know what he’d done. “Wrong? We spent three days on that planet together. I trusted you in ways that I’ve never trusted anyone else.”
“And we were honored and grateful for that trust. The gift you gave us was invaluable.” Callan smiled as he paced forward, but stopped when Karissa glared at him and took a step back.
“Honored!” She almost wished for something to throw at him. No one was that damn blind. “You were so honored and yet you didn’t find the time or the words to tell me that I’m your mate, that our Spirits had bonded. You didn’t give me a hint that those three days were anything more than just good sex. You didn’t even try to stop me from leaving.”
“You left quickly. We didn’t have time.” Callan ran his eyes hungrily over her lush form.
“Didn’t have time!” She barely kept the exclamation below a true yell. “Tell me you didn’t know from the first, or almost from the first, I was bound with you and I might believe you.”
Both men remained silent, but their smiles were turning to stern frowns.
“That advice you received from the advisor who told you to stay and you’d find something valuable. You remember the reason you didn’t leave before I got there, surely?” She demanded not intimidated by their frowns. She was going to get her answers from them. “I was the something valuable, wasn’t I? He wanted you to find your mate.”
“Yes, it was more than just simple advice. Nacain is known for his sometimes prophetic predictions.” Tyral’s hands flexed at his sides. He looked as if he wanted to grab her. “Woman, stop playing games. You’ve been out of our arms for long enough.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Her eyes narrowed as she remembered just how many opportunities they’d had to introduce the subject. They’d done nothing to help her see the truth.
“You weren’t very receptive on the subject of marriage. You were angry at having to begin your Ra’Asien soon,” Callan reminded her.
“I didn’t think you would be intimidated by a little resistance,” she scoffed. Those two men wouldn’t have hesitated to tell her about it if they’d really wanted her to know.
“Karissa…” Tyral frowned. “You’re treading on dangerous ground.”
“Even if I had laughed at your beliefs, at least the idea, the possibility would have been there. I thought I was still unbonded. In less than a week, I was going to begin my Ra’Asien…in Aevian.” She took great delight in dropping that little bomb. They deserved it for the way they’d done this.
* * * * *
“You would not…” Callan growled. The thought of her in another court, surrounded by men trying to get her attention infuriated him.
Ijina wouldn’t have let her do anything with any other man, Tahvir offered.
Dressed in the garb of a Frejan Aliara, she was beautiful. Her shirt was ice-blue, the pants an exact match. A strict braid confined the long mass of Karissa’s beautiful hair. He wanted to see that curly mane flowing free around her shoulders. He wanted to dispense with all this talk and kiss his woman.
She’d probably freeze you. That’s one angry woman, Tahvir chuckled.
Callan knew Tahvir wasn’t mistaken. Anger radiated from her. Every tense line of her body demanded they keep their distance.
“Why not?” She shrugged as if she could think of no reasonable deterrent. “I was unaware that there was no need for me to go looking for a mate.”
“You said that you’d try to delay your Ra’Asien for as long as you could.” Callan narrowed his eyes on her. She’d been so reticent about going on her mate search. This separation had been for her sake. Couldn’t she see that? They hadn’t needed any time. They’d welcomed finding her and if it hadn’t been for her doubts, they would have taken her home with them. “What changed your mind?”
“Talking over my feelings with you two about the Ra’Asien allowed me to accept the inevitable. I knew I would be looking for a mate soon. While I wasn’t enthusiastic about it, I knew that there wasn’t any point in trying to avoid it.” She pursed her lips. “I no longer saw it as a sentence to a life of boredom.”
“How did you learn that your Spirit had bonded with ours?” Tyral slid a step closer to her.
“How else was I to learn but the hard way?” Karissa glared at them. “You certainly didn’t tell me. Even Ijina didn’t for a time.”
“Your Ice Spirit told you?” Callan grasped onto the small fact that she’d dropped in her ranting. Relief still coursed through him that Karissa was here. The separation had been harder than they’d thought it would be.
“I can understand Ijina giving me time to see the truth. She knew that I would eventually see that there was more to our relationship, even if I didn’t begin to wonder about my lack of interest in any men other than you two. You had no such assurance.” She stepped back cautiously.
“What do you mean that you learned the hard way?” Callan sidestepped, edging closer to her without appearing to do so. She seemed determined to maintain a distance between them. He was just as determined to get her into his arms as soon as possible. Her lingering anxiety would fade and she wouldn’t be able to hold herself even emotionally distant once she was there.
“We wouldn’t have let the situation go on long. In fact, you would have been ordered by your King to come here if you had waited even a half day more to put your petition to him,” Tyral informed her, relishing her look of surprise.
“Did you not want me? Were you hoping that your mate would be royalty from another Realm?” Just after the words left her mouth, she winced and looked away from them. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she looked back at them.
“We wanted you, Rissa,” Tyral vowed.
“We didn’t care about your rank or lineage.” Callan wondered how she could think that it would matter. All that had ever mattered was that the woman would be mate to his Fire Spirit.
You should have kept the stubborn woman with you, Tahvir said.
Shock rolled through Callan. He almost couldn’t believe what he’d heard. The Elemental who’d been preaching patience and restraint for almost Callan’s entire life was actually saying he should have followed his rash impulses. Not that it would have been easy even if he’d tried.
“Why was it so difficult to give me some clue? Maybe some remark to make me think? Even an ‘It’s amazing how close to you I feel’ would have helped.” She whirled around and paced away from them.
Callan stalked forward toward her and saw Tyral striding forward from the corner of his eye. Determination sizzled through him. It was time to take this argument in hand.
Getting Karissa into his arms became priority one. In their arms, she burned. Within their embrace, she would tell them much more quickly what was really wrong. He would soothe her hurt feelings when she was back where she belonged.
She turned around, gasped and stumbled back against the wall. Callan and Tyral were almost toe-to-toe with her.
“How did you learn that you’d already formed a mate bond?” Callan felt this answer was important. She had danced around giving them one for long enough.
Karissa turned her head and stared at the wall on the other side of the room. “You still haven’t given me an answer as to why you didn’t suggest a mating was possible.”
Tyral’s hand landed on her shoulder. They both crowded forward, pressing her back against the wall, giving her no space to move. Callan’s hand tipped up her chin, forcing her to look up at them.
She stared up at the two grim-faced men, her gaze switching between the two men as she tried to decide on her next move. “Get your hands off me. Your fathers have given me permission to use my powers as long as I don’t do you any permanent damage.” Warning laced her voice as she fought to keep her body from softening ag
ainst theirs.
“At first, we didn’t want to scare you into putting distance between yourself and us while we were on the planet. You were relaxed and willing as long as you believed that it was only play, nothing serious.” Tyral raised an eyebrow. “If we had told you that you were our mate and were going to be married soon, you would have probably tried to run from us.”
“Are you going to try to deny it?” Callan narrowed his eyes.
“That might have happened,” she admitted reluctantly. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms to keep her focus. Their scent slowly wrapped around her, driving all thoughts from her head.
“Later, we intended to tell you everything. Time just slipped away from us.” Callan took over the explanation, gently turning her head until her eyes locked with his.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She looked into the golden amber of their eyes and her own eyes narrowed.
“We didn’t know how you’d react and just kept putting it off. When it was time to leave, you didn’t even pause once the spell was broken. You just left.” Tyral shrugged.
“I said goodbye, and you two aren’t powerless. You could’ve stopped me if you wanted.” Karissa clearly didn’t fully believe their reasons.
“We decided to give you a little time, to adjust to the idea of taking a mate and to find the truth.” Callan gave a sheepish grin. Short of giving chase into the Frejan Realm, that had been the only alternative. Although they’d been tempted to take the first option, they’d taken the second choice and all it had earned them was a spitting mad mate.
She gave a disbelieving snort. “You decided this when?”
“It’s true that we didn’t fully decide this until after you’d left, but we did have other options.” Tyral frowned at her.
“If you’d known a little more about Volirian culture, you would have known that you were no dalliance to us.” Callan gave her an arrogant look. They had been far more patient with her than anyone would expect. Her home was with them and had been since the moment that they’d met her.
“That course must have been an overlooked subject in my education. I’m sure that every Volirian woman knows all of the Frejan customs.” She gave them a sweet smile. “Volirian customs, ha! There are probably just as many different groups within Volir as there are in the Frejan Realm and each has its own customs. The only stable thing is Court etiquette.”
That earned her two golden glares and intimidating, thin-lipped frowns.
“Many more comments like that and I’ll give in to the temptation to warm your rear.” Tyral slid his hand down her hip and smoothed his hand over the soft cloth covering her rounded ass. “You have your answers, eli moru. Give us ours.”
Karissa swallowed audibly. She took a deep breath. “When she could no longer deny that something was wrong, Ijina told me that she was pregnant.”
“You stubborn, irrational woman.” Tyral gritted his teeth against the urge to rant further and grabbed her arm. “Instead of arguing with us, you should have told us that at the start of this discussion. Never, ever place your health in danger.”
Callan narrowed his eyes. She should have demanded they go straight to the communing room. That infant Spirit within her was a Fire Elemental and a direct opposite of her Element. Although not a physical being, the new Fire Spirit was causing mayhem in her body. Pain, dizziness and nausea were only a few of the manifestations. Just carrying it would be dangerous until she’d been embraced, until their Elemental Spirits melded a bit of their energy with her symbiote.
Karissa was amazed. Their reactions were identical. Their hands circled her wrists at almost the same moment and they began towing her from the room, tucking her between their bodies with efficient disregard of her dragging steps. Once in the hallway, they began striding down the passage, showing little concern for the attention they were drawing by hauling her down the corridor. Without trying, she knew there was no use arguing with them. She knew she wasn’t in any danger and that they were overreacting, but telling them that would be useless. She wouldn’t be able to convince them of that. Their only goal was to see to her continued safety.
Isn’t it nice to have someone care about you? Ijina asked.
Karissa sighed. Her Elemental was almost purring with satisfaction. Ijina thought they were right where they needed to be. She didn’t see anything wrong with the men’s attitudes.
After marching her through a maze of gray corridors, Tyral opened a large, polished door. They urged her into the palace’s Communing Room. Covered entirely in mirrors, the walls, floor and ceiling reflected the frowning visages of her mates as well as her own image. The Communing Room was the one place outside of a deep trance where a person could see their own Elemental when not threatened in some other way.
As soon as the door was closed, Ijina streamed from her. Karissa turned her gaze to Callan and Tyral. She’d never seen their Spirits. The two men stood across the room watching her. The Fire Spirits streamed from them in hazy gold and red clouds, solidifying into two male Fire Spirits.
“It has been too long since we’ve seen you, little Ice Spirit.” One of the Fire Spirits strode forward, his arm curving around Ijina’s blue, green and white body.
She stared at the two Fire Elementals in awe and admiration. They were beautiful. Their skin was streaked orange, red and yellow and their bodies were long and lithe, but strong.
“I wanted to give my host time to come to terms with bonding.” Ijina laid her head on the chest of the Spirit who had spoken.
The second Spirit came up behind Ijina and took her into his arms. The Fire Spirits cradled her between their bodies, their hands running over her slender form with care and tenderness. Ijina sighed and nestled more closely into their embrace, her arms wrapping around the waist of the spirit in front of her.
Karissa realized now just how blind she’d been. If she’d noticed any of Ijina’s reactions to these two Spirits while they’d been on that planet, she would have known that there was more than mere sex in the relationship. It was obvious just seeing them now that something deep and strong had been formed.
Ijina glided over to Callan and Tyral. She brushed a hand across Tyral’s cheek. His head turned into her touch. She sighed and her lithe blue and green body leaned into his for a moment. He shuddered beneath the Ice Spirit’s touch.
She turned to Callan. “Karissa needed the time.”
“I’m glad she’s here now.” Callan trailed his fingers along the Elemental’s arm.
Ijina cuddled against him, her arms curling around him. She stroked her palm down his back. His eyes closed and a low groan tore out of him.
The two Fire Spirits turned and paced over to stand in front of her. A fluttering sensation curled in her belly as her nervousness grew. She didn’t know exactly what would happen here. The only information she had on this came from books and they hadn’t gone into any detail. She didn’t know what being embraced entailed. Also, she did not know if the touch of a Fire Spirit would burn her. She’d never been touched by one, much less two.
“You’ll have to undress. They can’t embrace you otherwise.” Callan stood on the opposite side of the room.
She bit her lip, but began to work on the buttons on her shirt. She folded her clothing and placed it on the floor, stepping away from the articles. She stood before the two Fire Spirits, naked and more than a little anxious.
The two figures walked toward her and then moved around her. A warm hand trailed across her back as another glided over her stomach. She jumped, surprised, but unhurt. Their touch tingled and pulsed into her, but didn’t burn. Warmth spread across her body as their hands wandered. Tingling sensation built with her, tightening. That light, barely there touch felt too good. She shifted, aware of the warmth beginning to pool between her legs.
“Why would you start your hunt in Aevian? Why would you not begin your Ra’Asien in Volir?” The Fire Spirit brushed his hand across her breast. Her nipple beaded at the heated touch.
“That is Ahvin.” Callan’s smile showed a lot of teeth. He clearly enjoyed watching the spirits touch her. “The other is Tahvir.”
Heat coursed through her as their hands moved over her. Her juices flowed onto her thighs and her breasts swelled as the nipples became tight, aching points. The two Fire beings pressed against her.
Everywhere they touched her body, heat tingled and sizzled through her. Her breath came in harsh, panting gasps as desire rolled through her, driving rational thought from her head. Pleasure rocketed through her, tightening as she neared climax.
“By the Veil, what do they do to me?” she gasped, arching between them.
“Relax. Let them wrap you within their embrace.” Tyral watched avidly as the two Spirits held her between them.
If the embrace felt like this, there was no way she was going to fight it. Karissa closed her eyes as a warm hand ran over her ribs, sending an arrow of hot sensation pulsing into her. She wanted to be embraced again and again. A delicious thrill of heat shot into her as they pressed their chests against her chest and back.
She shifted, widening her legs in invitation, not quite sure how this worked. The Elemental Spirits kept their hands above her waist. She wanted their hands to dip, to glide over her dripping pussy, but they seemed unaware of her needs. Their touch wasn’t overtly sexual, but every brush of their hands drove her passion to a higher pitch. Her head fell back and her eyes fluttered closed as the two Spirits pressed closer to her, their arms embracing her.