by Ophelia Bell
“No, Silas. Her request is fair.” To Sathmika, she said, “Please assure me that what you’re asking him to do doesn’t compromise my home or my mother in any way. Or Silas himself.”
Sathmika gave her a slight nod. “You have my word. Our goal is merely to restore balance between our homes. Please leave us … You may go and make preparations to take the dragons at midnight.”
Unease settled in Silas’s chest as he watched Assana turn and leave. When he turned back to Sathmika, she regarded him thoughtfully.
“Did you know what I was before?” he demanded.
“There were other potential males we watched, and we knew the power likely resided in one of the portal guardians. It’s often strongest in Rainsong males—it presented in the Queen’s mates as well, but we hoped to find a single male to avoid asking her to sacrifice one of them for the task, if a need arose.”
“Why can’t Assana know what you plan for me? All she wants is to fix this.”
“Fix this?” Sathmika said, her voice like thunder. “The dragons said the same thing after breaking through our barrier and triggering a nearly catastrophic collapse. They didn’t mean to cause the problem. And now the nymphaea are claiming the same from the other side. We are finished tolerating these so-called accidents from our allies. It’s time for us to regain some control. The safety of the Sanctuary is our priority, don’t you agree?”
Silas firmed his lips and nodded. His home meant everything to him. “I will do what I can.”
“You will do exactly as you are commanded.” She lifted a hand and pressed her palm to the center of his forehead. A warm tingling sensation seemed to burrow into his head, his mind filling with a vision of Assana’s supple flesh and her sweet cries of pleasure echoing in his ears. Within a moment, those images dimmed and faded and his mind went blank, empty, and he grasped at the lost thread of Assana’s consciousness.
“No …”
Before he could continue his objection, his mind filled with a blast of bright light that seemed to flood through his entire body, leaving him gasping for air and every cell in his being vibrating with power. His eyes flew open and he stared at Sathmika, awed by the immense power and a growing understanding of what it meant.
Sathmika dropped her hand. “Don’t worry, you’ll get to meld with her again soon enough. Activating your power required a cleansing of your mind. And I needed to make sure your connection to her was severed before we continue with your instructions. It isn’t that I don’t trust her intentions, but her love for her home is every bit as fierce as yours.”
Silas swallowed thickly. “I would do anything for the Sanctuary.”
“I know. You are now uniquely equipped to hold the divine power given to you in the moment of your partner’s blossoming. When you are with partners who boast links to the divine, their climax pulls divine power to them. The roots you descended today were your instinctive reaction to give your own goddess the power you’d received from Assana’s blossoming. If you become her mate, you will have many more opportunities to receive this power. You must hold this power you collect and keep it until the time is right. When you are in the Haven, you must find the Source and release the power. Give it to Gaia, and let Gaia do the rest.”
Silas frowned. “I’m not sure what that means.”
Sathmika slid her hand down his chest and cupped him between the legs through his cargo pants. His eyes widened at the light squeeze she gave his balls.
“Your power reservoir is quite capable of holding more than you have now. Go as Assana’s mate. When you channel her magic, gradually you will begin to feel your reservoir fill. You will need to practice manifesting the roots on command, and not just when your partner’s orgasm triggers them.”
“What will it feel like when I have enough power for this purpose?” Silas asked.
“Like your pheronesis is on the verge of beginning. Find a way to get to the Source. Once there, you can use the roots to create a permanent link between the Sanctuary and the Source. One that bypasses Gaia’s Falls.”
“How will I know it worked?” Silas asked, relaxing now that he understood what was being asked of him. It didn’t sound so bad.
“It will be clear.”
“All right,” he said, nodding at her decisively.
“Glad to see you being so agreeable.” Sathmika’s already secretive smile turned downright suggestive, and Silas wished he knew what she was thinking.
“Is there something else you want to share, Mistress?” he asked.
“You’re a young ursa yet. Sex with a nymph or satyr in their primal state is an experience no one forgets … don’t pass it up if you get the chance, Silas.”
Chapter Nine
Vrishti
Vrishti jogged toward the grand hall, her palms clammy and her stomach in tangles. Terrible things were happening, events she was powerless to affect, but she had to know more. So far, all she knew was that their nymphaea neighbors had cut them off from their sacred Source and were holding it hostage if the ursa didn’t imprison her friends.
Rumor had trickled back to her that the nymph Assana had returned to the Rainsong clan lodge, and she hoped that meant she could find answers. She hated how ineffectual she was, even though her status as Sathmaki’s long-lost daughter had all the residents of the lodge and the surrounding ursa camps in awe. She’d only been here a few weeks, and as such her latent magical abilities were still green, though she was a fast learner. She didn’t have even half the skill of her cousin Revna, nor the experience of the older ursa female. Worse yet, as much as she’d hunted through the vast libraries at her disposal, she had found nothing that even hinted at how she could help Aodh with his request.
Why couldn’t he have given her more details that day he’d confessed his love to her? All she knew was that he needed her help to somehow find a way to get into the Haven from outside the Sanctuary. She had to admit this had been her primary focus in her studies so far, but her efforts had yet to bear fruit. Now that Aodh was locked up, however, she had to find a way to get him out so he could follow through. Out of his prison, and out of the damn Sanctuary—even if she had to halt her studies and leave again herself. She had made him a promise, and she intended to keep it.
She slowed to an easy pace outside the great hall and forced herself to breathe. She was sure she’d look flushed when she walked in, and her mother would notice and ask. Her mother always noticed, which she’d found comforting at first, but after a week under the woman’s scrutiny had become grating. She couldn’t do anything without the powerful ursa shaman somehow knowing, and a lesson often followed. What lesson would Sathmika have for her today?
She hadn’t even made it around the edge of the open doorway when Assana’s clear voice hit her ears. “I must return to the Haven at midnight tonight and bring the two male dragons with me,” the nymph was saying.
Vrishti’s entire body stilled, a sudden chill washing over her, prickling the hairs at her nape. No. She didn’t know why Aodh wanted to go to the Haven, but she did know he wanted to get there his own way … that it was imperative he return with the human man who waited for him out in the world she’d so recently left behind.
She abruptly turned and ran full speed in the other direction, tearing up the staircase to the third floor of the lodge and down the hallway to Gavra’s quarters where he’d been imprisoned. She heaved a sigh of relief that his guard wasn’t there, though she’d discovered during the past week that the male ursa were particularly deferential to her, to the point she felt self-conscious around them. They always looked at her like they wanted something … like they wanted her …
Gavra’s door was open, the magical barrier of his prison shimmering in the sunlight that poured in through the windows and high skylights of his room. When she moved to stand opposite the opening, she saw him on the far side, leaning against the window frame with his head bowed
and shaking slowly. His hands moved and his eyes flitted oddly. He looked like he was deep in conversation with some invisible visitor.
He stopped moving abruptly when his eyes found her. She gave him a little wave and a hesitant smile.
“Vrishti! Do you have any news?” Gavra asked, rushing toward the door. He stopped mere inches inside the translucent barrier.
“Only that Assana means to take you both to the Haven tonight,” she said.
Gavra’s shoulders fell and he nodded. “I know that much already. Assana got the command from her mother after she confirmed to Nyx that I was locked up. I’ve spoken to Aodh … he isn’t happy about going. We may need your help to convince him.”
She frowned at him. “You … spoke to him?” she asked, her stomach fluttering with both confusion and excitement to hear news of the big white dragon who’d recently filled her thoughts and dreams.
Gavra tapped his temple with a fingertip. “Dragon telepathy. For other dragons there’s a distance limit, but for me and my siblings there isn’t. Though we need to be in the same world, it seems … I can’t contact my siblings who are outside the Sanctuary, but I have spoken to both Numa and Aodh since this happened.” He swept a hand around, indicating the prison his quarters had become.
“Wh-what did he say?” she asked, struggling to suppress her eagerness.
“ ’The fuck that bitch Nyx is dictating where we go. I have better things to do than kowtow to her demands,’ were his exact words, which is extremely out of character for him, I might add.” He paused and studied her, his red eyes narrowed. “He didn’t ask if I’d spoken to you, for once. I think he’s too angry.”
“I wasn’t … I didn’t…” she stammered, then swallowed and averted her eyes from his piercing stare.
“You came here to ask about him. No need to hide it, Vrishti.”
“He can’t go tonight. There has to be a way to stop this.”
Gavra sighed. “I’m afraid there’s no way around it. You’ve never met Nyx. Without her brother to temper her madness, the Haven’s in trouble, and the Sanctuary by extension. Aodh and I can help if we go, though I’m having a hell of a time convincing him of that. I promise he’ll come back to you when we’ve tackled this little problem.”
Vrishti groaned at his condescending tone. As though all she cared about was being with the man. “No! It’s more complicated than just … missing him. He has to get out of the Sanctuary by the equinox. Do you think Nyx plans to let him go?”
Gavra’s brows creased and he crossed his arms. “No … we’re likely both going to be there for the foreseeable future, at least until her brother returns. Someone needs to help lend balance to the place … keep things under control. Any strong male presence can help, but the ursa there now aren’t strong enough even as a group to counterbalance Nyx’s power.”
Vrishti turned and paced to the bench across the hall, struggling with the details Aodh had shared with her in confidence. He’d sworn that he wouldn’t leave the Sanctuary until he found out how to get into the Haven from Outside … how to help a man named Nikhil get in with him, to help them learn how to beat their enemy. If Aodh wound up in the Haven, likely trapped by a mad nymph, based on rumors she’d heard today, how was this other man supposed to get in?
Then she recalled the last thing Aodh had said to her: that he was hers, if she’d have him, and that she would understand what that meant once she understood what it meant to be an ursa female. Well, she knew enough now. She knew that as the daughter of Summer, she could choose her mate.
She turned back to face Gavra. With steel in her voice she said, “Aodh is mine. She can’t have him.”
Gavra’s brows shot up. His eyes glazed a moment before he focused on her again.
“He says he’s happy you feel that way, but it doesn’t do him much good if you haven’t marked him. Can you even shift yet, Vrishti? Most female ursa don’t even achieve that ability until after their first estrous, and I would have heard if you’d hit yours. Every bachelor pair in the Rainsong territory is waiting for it. I’m sorry, but even if you were capable of rending Aodh’s flesh, you don’t have the claws to do it.”
Vrishti’s eyes pricked with angry tears. “What am I supposed to do? He has to wait until I’ve had time to learn how to help him. I need more time.”
“Help him with what?” Gavra said, his voice taking on a hard edge, his gaze wary.
“I … I can’t tell you. He asked me not to.”
Gavra swore and turned away, his deep voice carrying a warning when he said, “Brother mine, you have something you want to share?”
Then he was silent for some time. Vrishti stared at his naked back, marveling at the rippling muscles and the way the intricate design of a huge red dragon glimmered as though shining beneath the surface of his skin. She wondered if Aodh had a similar mark on his body.
Gavra clenched his fists and swore again, then turned back to face her. “Do you think you can help him do what he seeks?”
Vrishti hesitated, her gaze darting to the window down the hall. She twisted her hands in her skirt. “I … I can’t say …”
“For fuck’s sake, girl, he told me what he planned. We’re not exactly in the position where secrets are helping us now. He hoped you could learn how to access the Haven from the Outside without the aid of a Dionarch. Nikhil made the request so he could gather more intel on our enemy and find a way to beat them, or to at least find the bloody Ultiori bitch who leads them. Do you think you can help?”
Vrishti closed her eyes, hating that she had no good answer. “I have heard of magic that might work, but I don’t have command of it yet. I won’t be strong enough until the equinox when my mother and I perform the ceremony to grant me Summer’s essence … or until I hit my estrous, but I have no idea when that will happen.”
“The equinox is months away yet,” Gavra sighed. “We need that magic more than we need to avoid Nyx’s clutches. Trust me, Aodh and I will be fine, but promise you will go find Nikhil as soon as you learn the secret. Take my sister, if she is allowed to leave the Sanctuary by then—with luck we’ll have dealt with Nyx and Aodh can come back and go with you, but if he can’t, it will be up to you.”
Vrishti nodded solemnly. “But won’t you come back, too?”
“I will go where she goes,” Gavra said, his gaze softening as it shifted down the hall past Vrishti’s shoulder.
Vrishti turned to see the nymph Assana coming toward them with a grim expression. She took some comfort in the fact that Assana didn’t look pleased to have to carry out her mother’s demands. Besides, if Aodh’s brother looked at Assana that way, she must have some redeeming qualities. Though the way the nymph’s statuesque body swayed as she walked, Vrishti couldn’t help but feel wholly inadequate with her own full hips and voluptuous breasts. Assana had striking features that would have put the most beautiful human supermodel to shame, and grace and kindness to top it off.
“Vrishti,” Assana said softly. She smiled in spite of the worry that clearly etched her features and rested a gentle hand on Vrishti’s shoulder. “Oh, sister, I am so sorry.” Assana pulled her into a hug that was every bit as sensuous as it was comforting, her hands sliding down her back in a light, almost seductive caress.
“Why are you sorry?” Vrishti asked. She barely knew this woman and had never shared any of her connection to the dragons with her. And why the hell would she call her “sister”? Was it a nymph thing?
Assana pulled back and cupped her face, her blue eyes swirling dizzily, hypnotically. “For taking your mate. I would offer you comfort to make up for it.”
Vrishti’s senses filled with crisp scents reminding her of the cooler nights in the jungle near her home, and Assana’s lips brushing her own were gentle and inviting. So much so that she nearly succumbed to the pull of the nymph’s seduction. Her touch was so soft, so comforting, so innocent … unt
il it wasn’t. Vrishti caught the scent of sex and her own arousal spiked. The sudden rise in heat startled her enough to pull away.
She glanced at Gavra, who stood inside his doorway, watching avidly.
“Don’t stop on my account,” he growled.
“We’re not doing anything,” Vrishti said, feeling the heat of her arousal turn to pure shame at even feeling it.
“You don’t accept my apology?” Assana said, and Vrishti was surprised to see the woman looked genuinely upset at the rejection.
“I … please, it’s all right. I don’t blame you.”
“Assana,” Gavra said, “not all races use sex to say they’re sorry, or to say hello, for that matter. We say we’re sorry via other means, usually … like words.”
“Oh,” Assana said, frowning.
“For the record, when I’m out of here, you are more than welcome to tell me you’re sorry however you wish,” he added. “But Vrishti might like something different, seeing as how she’s not accustomed to how most things are done in our world yet.”
Vrishti’s cheeks heated to molten levels. “I know about sex,” she said. “Just because I’m inexperienced doesn’t mean I don’t know how things work. We can’t all be ancient nymphs who’ve had a bajillion men before. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” She hurriedly darted an apologetic glance to Assana, who appeared worried again.
“I have never had a man before,” Assana said. “So in that we are definitely sisters.”
Vrishti’s eyes widened. “Oh! I … I thought … everyone says the nymphs are the most experienced. That’s why all the males are so excited to be chosen to mate one.”
“Many of my sister nymphs are more experienced than I am. I’ve only had the pleasure of females, so I would happily give you comfort if you wished … it is within my realm of expertise.”
Of course she’d only had females, yet somehow that managed to make Vrishti feel just as inadequate and inexperienced. There wasn’t a damn thing she had over this woman.
