Yield the Night

by Annette Marie

  Sliding the brush through her hair again, she turned on her stool, angling her body in the way she knew was most flattering.

  “My love,” she cooed softly, gently drawing his attention.

  His gaze lifted from his papers, drifting across her body clad only in a silk dressing gown, before rising to her face.

  “Nyr, my love,” she said, “shouldn’t you ready yourself? Maahes will arrive at any moment.”

  He murmured an agreement but didn’t shift, gaze sliding over her again, eyes darkening. She knew that look, and desire heated her belly. A night of pleasure had not fully sated his appetite. Setting her brush down, she slid from the stool and moved toward him, hips swaying. His eyes darkened a little more with each step, each sway.

  She stopped beside the bed and trailed her fingertips up his abs, then plucked the papers from his hand. She set them on the bedside table with care, knowing he would be angry otherwise. With that done, she turned back to him and again brushed her fingers over the smooth muscles of his torso.

  “You look at me with the eyes of a man unsated,” she whispered. “Do I not satisfy you, my love?”

  “Always,” he replied, deep voice caressing her as his hand curled around the back of her knee and slid up over the bare skin of her thigh. Her breath hitched. “But I always hunger for more.”

  He pulled on her thigh, guiding her onto the bed. She surprised him by swinging right over him and straddling his hips. His eyes went entirely black and his hands found her thighs again, gliding over her skin as he pushed her dressing gown up. She leaned down and brushed her lips over his, very lightly, then kissed him hard. He kissed her even harder, his natural aggressiveness triggered. She was in the dominant position. Any moment now he would pull her onto the bed and roll on top of her, and his deliciously talented hands would remove the barriers of clothing between them, and—

  “Am I interrupting?”

  She jerked up and twisted around with an embarrassed gasp.

  Her glorious sun stood in the threshold. His eyes were black, jealousy hardening his beautiful face. She froze in place, not knowing how to react. This had never happened before. That she was lovers with them both was an unspoken secret they all knew but never acknowledged, a truth they never allowed the light of day to touch.

  “Maahes,” she stuttered.

  His glare slashed over them. She dared not look at Nyrtaroth, at his reaction. If he challenged Maahes for her now ...

  Maahes’s jaw clenched. He strode into the room and she thought he was coming at her. But he merely snatched the papers from the table.

  “I will begin in the parlor.” His words were like ice, razor sharp and arctic cold. “When it pleases you, perhaps you will join me for our discussion, as planned.”

  His gaze raked across her, fury bordering on hatred in his eyes. Jealousy was a fierce, consuming beast. She couldn’t let him leave to seethe in solitude, nursing his jealousy into a hatred that would destroy their love.

  Without thinking, she grabbed his wrist before he could turn away. Hostility lit his eyes at her daring. She instantly lightened her hold, caressing his hand. She couldn’t let him leave by himself, but neither could she abandon Nyr. There was no solution where irreparable damage would not be inflicted on her relationship with one or both of them.

  She licked her lips.

  “My love.” Her gaze flicked to Nyr. “My loves. I cannot bear to be parted from either of you. You know my love for you both is unrivaled and immeasurable.”

  Nyr’s gaze began to darken with anger as well.

  She stroked his chest at the same time she caressed Maahes’s hand. “My dearests, I need you both. I ...” She pulled his hand to her and kissed his inner wrist. “I need you both now. Right now.”

  Nyrtaroth’s hands tightened where they still held her thighs. She continued to stroke his chest and kiss Maahes’s wrist, hoping against hope that this was not the day they killed her.

  Maahes held tense for a long moment, then melted into motion. His hand gripped her hair, forcing her head up. His mouth closed over hers, rough, demanding, fierce. His other hand grabbed her arm and dragged her off the bed. She scrambled to get her feet under her as he pulled her hard against him, still kissing her relentlessly.

  And then Nyrtaroth was off the bed and pressed against her back, crushing her between them. His mouth closed over the spot where her neck and shoulder joined, teeth grazing, hands pushing up her dressing gown as he rubbed against her from behind. Aggressive. Possessive. Demanding.

  Heat rushed through her. Fear. Adrenaline. Pleasure. This would either be the best day of her life—or the last.

  . . .

  Piper’s eyes flew open as she gasped. She could still feel Maahes’s mouth on hers, the fierceness of his kiss—if something that carnal and aggressive could be called a kiss. Fear and desire mixed with adrenaline in a cocktail that had her panting.

  The moment her eyes had opened, Maahes’s cold green eyes had filled her vision. She lurched back, only to discover she was leaning against Ash, cradled in his arms. She blinked and Miysis’s face came into focus. But the eyes ... the two Ra daemons had exactly the same eyes.

  “Piper?” he asked. “Are you all right?”

  “I—I—” She took back-to-back deep breaths, trying to clear her head.

  Holy crap, Natania was insane. There was every chance those two could have torn her apart in their antagonistic competition. But she’d survived long enough for them to kill her for their lodestone, and if Piper correctly recalled from her first vision, Natania had been very fond of the memory.

  “Did it work?” Ash asked.

  Piper shivered. His voice was so similar to Nyrtaroth’s. Not quite as deep, but with the same tone and inflections. She looked around to confirm it really was Ash behind her and met his worried grey eyes.

  “Um, well, yes and no.” She swallowed, trying to sound casual. “I got another memory, but it wasn’t useful.”

  “Your heartrate really picked up, so Ashtaroth lifted the sleep spell,” Miysis said. “What was the memory?”

  “Ah, um.” She shook her head, hoping they couldn’t see her blushing in the dim light. “Nothing important. But I’m going to be doing this all night if all I get are random memories. Is there any way to control what I see?”

  “Probably not,” Miysis replied. “Unless ...”

  “Unless what?”

  “What if you reach into the Stone instead of merely touching the power and letting it flow into you? It would be more in line with charging a lodestone, though of course this one has never needed to be charged.”

  “That’s dangerous,” Ash said. “Reaching into a lodestone with a soul inside it? We have no idea what might happen.”

  “How do I ‘reach into the Stone’?” Piper asked.

  “The simplest way is to follow the power from the Sahar back to its source,” Miysis said. “It should be easy enough. I don’t see how it could harm you, even with the soul inside.”

  “You should try what you just did a few more times,” Ash said. “You only did it once. Maybe you’ll gain more control with practice.”

  She dropped her eyes to the Sahar in her hand. Miysis disagreed with Ash and they began to argue, beautiful voices wrapping around her, and she felt as though she were sliding back into Natania’s memory of Nyrtaroth and Maahes. How strange was it that she was sitting with the likely descendants of those two daemons, holding their weapon, and discussing their lover, who had been a hybrid haemon just like Piper? The parallels were freaking her out.

  Of course, there were some major differences. The first and most important one being that she wasn’t sleeping with either Ash or Miysis. And definitely not both at the same time.

  She really didn’t want to relive any more of Natania’s R-rated memories. She let out a deep breath.

  “Okay, I’m ready to try again.”

  Miysis nodded and Ash once again touched his fingertips to her head. She closed her eyes an
d called on the Sahar. The hate-infused power rushed into her, but she resisted the wave of rage and imagined the magic as a river flowing into her. And then she imagined herself flying down that river and into the Stone in her hands.

  “Now.”

  Darkness snapped over her.

  . . .

  She opened her eyes. Heavy, embroidered canvas stretched above her, hanging from the tall bedposts of a deliciously soft bed. Pillows and blankets under her. Soft, warm light. Deep shadows. She slowly propped herself up on one elbow, her gaze travelling over the shapes of the familiar bedroom.

  Against the wall was a mirrored dresser, and sitting on the stool in front of it was a woman with long, wavy blond hair.

  Piper looked around sharply. This was definitely the bedroom from the last memory but was now devoid of daemons. Instead of seeing the memory from Natania’s perspective, she was looking at Natania. Miysis’s theory had proven correct—somewhat. Piper wasn’t stuck inside Natania. But she didn’t feel any more in control of the memories.

  Natania slowly pulled the brush through her hair one last time. She set it gently on the table and turned on the stool, just as she had when she’d greeted Nyrtaroth in the previous memory. Piper tensed. Natania’s gaze moved toward the bed as she smiled mysteriously.

  She was beautiful. No wonder the two daemons had put up with sharing her. Her blue eyes were huge and expressive, and seemed to naturally exude a seductive heat without any effort. Her creamy skin was flawless, perfect cheekbones, full lips. She sat with her legs crossed at the knee, all womanly curves and perfect angles.

  Piper was so distracted by her beauty that she didn’t immediately realize Natania was looking at her—as in, right at her.

  “Hello, Piper.”

  Piper’s breath froze in her lungs.

  Natania pushed her hair off her shoulders, smoothing the locks. Her smile grew. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

  Piper swallowed twice and still couldn’t find her voice. She nodded.

  “Do you like it here?” Natania lifted her hands, taking in the room. “My bedroom. So many memories of this room. Most of them would make you blush, I am sure.”

  Piper cleared her throat. “Um. I’m sorry to—to intrude. I didn’t know ...”

  “You didn’t know I was here? You thought I was merely a disembodied collection of memories and emotions roiling forever within a prison of stone and magic?” Her smile was ice and her blue eyes glinted strangely—the gleam of madness. “No, I am quite aware, as I have been for a very, very long time.”

  Horror closed Piper’s throat. Had Nyrtaroth and Maahes understood what they were condemning Natania to when they’d sealed her soul in the Sahar?

  “No one has ever visited me before,” Natania continued pleasantly, even as the glitter of insanity in her eyes grew. “I’ve had only my memories as company for so long. Memories of my stolen life and my heartless lovers who betrayed me.”

  Her smile widened. “One of them paid dearly, did he not? I destroyed him. My dark moon, my deadly dragon. He thought to use me, the power he had created me to be, but I would allow no such thing. He paid the price for my power in madness. And they killed him. Did you know that?”

  Piper nodded woodenly.

  “I do wish I could have destroyed my glorious sun as well, but he was ever the cautious one. He wisely did not attempt to wield my power. So few have. So many long years of silence. Until ... you.” She hummed a few notes of a song.

  Piper licked her lips, transfixed by Natania’s eyes, which were slowly paling closer and closer to the shimmering blue-silver shade of the Sahar.

  “And there was the other one too. The dragon. The one who is so very much like my Nyr. His mind has the same taste. Not as intelligent, not quite as cunning, but oh my, the rage. He has such rage. Such hatred. So very fragile. I almost had him. He was easy to claim but hard to control.” She smiled. “Next time I will have him. I know where the cracks are now. I will shatter him with a single touch.”

  Hands clenching, Piper leveled Natania with a glare. “You won’t get anywhere near him. He’ll never use the Stone again.”

  “Won’t he? He wants to. He craves me. His rage and mine. His hate and mine. With me, he can unleash it all.” Running her tongue over her upper lip, Natania smoothed the front of her silk dressing gown. “He wants me more than he wants you.”

  “Why would he want you?” Piper snapped.

  “I am power. And you have none.”

  Piper flinched.

  Natania smiled again, madness oozing from her. “I will have him soon. He can’t resist me—just like my Nyr. And once I have him, I will destroy him—just like my Nyr.”

  Fear trickled through Piper. She straightened, crossing her arms. “I came to ask you something.”

  “I know.”

  “I—you do?”

  “Yes. I have been inside your head, dearest Piper. I have crawled through your thoughts and shuffled through your emotions like playing cards. I know exactly why you came to me.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why then?”

  “You don’t want to die.”

  Piper bit the inside of her cheek and reluctantly nodded.

  “You are like me. You have two strains of magic and they are like fire and oil, growing hotter and hotter as they feed each other and devour each other until your mind burns away with them.” She raised her hands in a shrug-like gesture. “And you want me to tell you the secret to surviving this inevitable fate, correct?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I want.”

  “That’s a shame, really.”

  Piper clenched her hands. “Why?”

  “We all want so many things we can’t have.”

  “But—you know the secret.”

  “Yes.”

  Piper bared her teeth. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s so wonderful to have company,” Natania sighed. She uncrossed her legs and leaned toward Piper. Her irises had turned completely silver. “Isn’t it lovely? It’s been so long since I’ve had a real conversation.”

  “I’m not here to keep you company.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No!”

  Another smile. “You think I will tell you what you need to know? How simple of you. Perhaps you thought to force answers from me? Please do try. I would enjoy that.”

  Piper gritted her teeth.

  “This is my mind, Piper. I control everything.”

  “So you’re refusing to help me?” she demanded. “You’ll just let me die?”

  Natania shrugged. “Should I care? The only pleasure left to me is death. I care not whose.”

  “So you’re no better than them, are you? Maahes and Nyrtaroth. You’re just as evil.”

  “If it soothes your childish view of morality, then believe what you will.” Natania traced a finger thoughtfully across her lips. “The mind is a strange thing, is it not? You exist here as your mind perceives your body. And this place? It is a memory, a strong one. Weak memories are like dreams, unstable and unpredictable. But this is far more than a dream.”

  Sliding off her stool, the woman sauntered toward Piper, silver eyes gleaming as she smiled. Piper tensed, but Natania merely reached out a fragile-looking finger and touched a lock of Piper’s hair in an almost maternal way.

  Faster than the blink of an eye, Natania’s hand closed around Piper’s throat.

  Natania shoved her back onto the bed and used one knee to pin her down. Piper grabbed Natania’s wrist, but she couldn’t budge the woman’s grip. Mouth open for a breath she couldn’t take, she tried to throw Natania off her but nothing she did made the slightest difference. Natania was as solid and unmovable as stone.

  “Fascinating, isn’t it?” Natania purred as she continued to choke Piper with one hand. “You have no power at all here. Our bodies reflect our minds. Your body is powerless because your mind is powerless against mine.
”

  Piper dug her nails into Natania’s hand but couldn’t break the woman’s skin. Her lungs screamed for air.

  “You don’t need to breathe, of course, but your mind doesn’t know that. In this place, your mind is your body and your body is your mind.” She hummed a thoughtful note. “What do you think will happen if I kill you?”

  She leaned close, smiling into Piper’s eyes as her vision blurred. “I’ll give you a hint: you won’t be waking up again.”

  Piper stopped struggling. Wake up. Yes. She needed to wake up before Natania killed her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed herself to wake up in her body—willed it as hard as she could.

  Natania hissed.

  Piper’s eyes flew open. The walls of the room were wavering. For a brief second, she thought she heard a voice calling her name—a distant, muffled male voice. Gritting her teeth, she willed herself again to wake up. The room shimmered, the edges softening like ice in the summer heat, but she didn’t know whether she was waking up or passing out.

  With a flip of her hair, Natania let her go.

  Piper gasped and coughed, sucking in air desperately. Natania stepped away from her and circled back to her dresser to pick up her hairbrush. Holding one hand to her aching throat as she stared at Natania, Piper sat up, debating whether she should continue to try to awaken before Natania attempted to kill her again. But she would die regardless if she didn’t get the information she needed.

  “What the hell was that about?” she asked hoarsely.

  Natania drew the brush through her hair. “I reconsidered,” she said lightly.

  “Reconsidered what?”

  Setting the brush down again, Natania turned to face Piper and her voice lost all inflection. “My prison is stillness and emptiness, the unweathered and unaging stone untouched by external elements—except another mind. You cannot imagine the tedium. Silence upon silence with nothing but my memories. And then ... you.” She spread her hands in a wide gesture as her silver eyes lit up again. “My existence has been far more interesting since you touched my power. You have a gift for destruction, Piper.”