Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5)

by Cassandra Gannon

  When she came back to the Magnet Kingdom that night, both of her legs were bruised from the fall. She sat at her dressing table, dabbing antiseptic on them.

  Chason watched, his heart like a frozen, shrunken ball in his chest, as his past self came into her room and gave her a chaste kiss.

  “How was your day?” Old him asked politely, removing his jacket.

  “Fine.” She dropped her nightgown over her knees to hide the scrapes and smiled her distant smile. “How was yours?”

  “Fine.” He looked at her and Chason could see himself wishing that she’d say more. That she’d talk to him. “Anything unusual happen in the Light Kingdom?”

  “Not that I noticed.”

  Real-Chason scowled at her.

  Of course, not. How could she notice, when she hadn’t gone there, at all? Occasionally Mara lied outright, but those were always accompanied by blushing and eye shifting and reluctant words. She clearly didn’t like to lie. Most of the time, she just misled. Careful phrasing and generalizations. Past-Chason assumed she was in the Light Kingdom and she just let him think that.

  Why the fuck wasn’t she yelling at him? Throwing things at his skull? The Mara he had now would’ve told him exactly what she was doing and, if he didn’t approved, she would’ve called him an idiot and done it anyway. How could they ever be better if she stayed behind her pleasant mask and…?

  The final scene shifted into focus and Chason’s morose thoughts skidded to a halt.

  Mara was sitting in another movie theater… but this time she wasn’t watching a musical.

  “Holy shit.” Chason whispered, transfixed by what he was seeing on the worn screen.

  Two humans were having sex in an incredibly fake looking forest. With cardboard palm fronds surrounding them, a large shaved male shoved a naked blonde against a tree. The woman’s breasts and lips were freakishly large and plastic looking. She let out a sensual whimper as the man tied her hands with “vines” made of cheap luau leis.

  “Now, Jane, let’s see if you can yell as loud as Tarzan.” The man ground out. He ripped of his leopard print loincloth and guided his erection into her eager body.

  “Yes! Take me, now! Please!”

  “Holy shit.” Chason’s eyebrows soared in disbelief at the thumping music and stereophonic moaning that followed.

  There were movies like this? His Match watched movies like this?

  Mara usually kept most of her clothes on when they were Phazing, for Gaia’s sake. She was… a lady. Whenever he touched her, Chason had always felt so awkward and boorish. Always believed that all the things he instinctively wanted to do to her perfect body were just wrong. Evidence that he was never quite the gentleman that he tried so hard to be.

  All his life, Chason had been taught that Magnet Phases didn’t throw themselves into Phazing the way the less evolved Houses did. They were a people who respected their Matches too much to do any of the depraved things that –for instance-- a barbaric Fire Phase might do. The Magnet Phase males knew not to impose on their Matches more often than necessary and their Matches appreciated their restraint.

  That was true, right?

  So much of what he’d believed turned out to be lies.

  In school, his teachers had pulled the boys aside and very clearly explained that well- bred Magnet Phase women didn’t like Phazing. They did it because it was their biological duty and men should be grateful that their Matches were willing to go through such a degrading process. Chason learned that speech verbatim. He’d gotten an “A” in his manners and hygiene class. He got “As” in all his classes. He’d done –or rather hadn’t done-- everything they told him about. He’d always tried his best to be considerate of his Match. He’d never been with anyone except Mara. He never even wanted to.

  Until, he’d met the new Mara he had now, anyway.

  In bed, he’d been respectful and undemanding. He’d lived half his life in a fucking cold shower, because he was so God damn respectful and undemanding. And Mara had never even said the word “Phazing” to him, so he assumed that she was happy with that arrangement. Mara was so pure and delicate, it would just be wrong to take her the ways he occasionally fantasized about.

  More than occasionally fantasized about.

  She would never allow him to…

  Chason’s eyes nearly crossed as the blonde woman somehow found herself bent over a tree limb, while the jungle man pounded into her from behind.

  “Holy… shit.” He wheezed out, again.

  No wonder so many Phases had once lined up to take Tharsis’ Human Culture classes at the university. Suddenly, it all made sense. The humans apparently produced some incredibly educational films. Who wouldn’t want to study this? Why the hell had no one told him that it was possible to even do some of these things?

  Chason glanced over at Mara to see how she was reacting to this spectacle.

  His Match was slouched down in the third row, a pensive look on her face. In her hand was that familiar little notebook and she was apparently… taking notes?

  Chason squinted in confusion. What in Gaia’s name was she doing in this place? Glancing around the dark and musty theater, it was pretty clear that she was the only woman in the audience. Two rows back a dirty looking man was passed out and snoring. Several other shadowy figures were staring fixedly at the screen. Across the aisle, a guy in a baseball cap had his hand lodged down his pants.

  Jesus.

  He didn’t want Mara here. It couldn’t possibly be safe. At this point, it was a toss-up over whether Chason was more concerned about the patrons or the germs. Elementals didn’t even catch human diseases, but he was still worried about her touching anything.

  The blonde woman in the film climaxed with a supersonic shriek.

  Chason frowned over at her, even as the sound traveled straight to his loins. That kind of screaming couldn’t possibly be normal, right? Mara had never sounded like that in bed. She rarely made any noise at all, except to sigh when it was over.

  He looked down at his Match again and saw she was still concentrating on the film with grim focus. She leaned forward as the blonde woman straightened and looked up at the man.

  “Oh, you are the King of the Jungle.” The woman slid down to her knees and took his straining erection into her mouth.

  The man let out a hiss of pleasure.

  Moldy theater or not, Chason was completely ready to give this film an Oscar.

  He actually cursed out loud when the memory shifted and he found himself back in the Magnet Kingdom. Damn. Now he would never know how the movie ended. Well, he could guess, but…

  Wait.

  Chason felt his heartbeat speed up as he looked around and suddenly remembered this day. Mara was striding across the grey rocks of the courtyard, headed for where Chason saw his former self talking with several of his men. She was dressed in the same lavender dress she’d been wearing in that theater. Its demure skirt swung like a bell when she walked.

  This had happened a week before the Fall. It was scorched into his mind forever.

  “Chason.” She called sweetly. “Might I borrow with you for a few moments?”

  Chason saw himself turn. Saw his expression fill with surprise and pleasure, because Mara had sought him out. It was such a rare thing. “Yes, of course.” He nodded in dismissal at the men and started forward to meet her. “Did you need something?”

  He’d been training that day, so he was in his full uniform. Looking at them both from the outside, Chason could see how very small Mara looked next to his former self. How delicate and soft.

  He wasn’t sure how it was physically possible, but suddenly he was rock hard even in this dreamscape. If he could’ve touched Mara, everything he’d ever been taught about treating his Match gently would’ve been forgotten.

  Please Gaia… I know I don’t believe in you…but, just let this one memory stay as good as I remember.

  Mara daintily cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m in need you. Chason...” She tr
ailed off and Chason recalled how he’d felt how tight her energy was. Now, he realized that he only felt it because she let him feel it.

  Their powers had never been quite as attune as some Matches’ seemed to be, probably because she’d been hold back from him all these years. She had so much control over her energy that she could allow him to feel her arousal or not, with nothing more than a blush.

  The younger him’s pupils dilated as Mara blinked innocently.

  “Aw, Christ.” Had he been blind before? She wasn’t bashful about some unwanted, inconvenient biological urge. She was seducing him. Deliberately using her energy and body and everything else about her Mara-ness to get what she wanted.

  Real-Chason was never going to survive this.

  “I’m very sorry to impose on you in the middle of your workday.” Mara continued, not meeting his eyes. “I know this is very unusual, but I don’t think it will take long, if…”

  “No, that’s fine.” The former Chason interrupted hastily. “Perfectly fine.” Not even the other him wasn’t that much of an idiot. He gingerly laid a palm on Mara’s shoulder and guided her towards the fortress, before she could change her mind. “Perfectly natural for your energy to sometimes… Uh… I mean, it’s nothing to be embarrassed by, so…”

  Jesus. It was a wonder Mara didn’t just give up and go find some who wasn’t a babbling moron.

  She tilted her head. “Sometime I find my needs are… different than you’d expect.” Black eyes lifted to meet his as they headed up the stairs. “Would you mind terribly if I tried an experiment?”

  “No.” Both Chasons said instantly.

  Memory-Chason was dazzled by the unexpected good fortune of Mara initiating a Phazing with him and willing to pretty much say anything. Real-Chason just wanted to experiment with every inch of her lush body.

  Mara looked genuinely touched by his quick answer. “You’re such an accommodating Match, Chason. Thank you for your patience.” She pushed open her bedroom door, and then turned on the threshold to look up at him. “I’m really trying to… do something here, so just bear with me.”

  “Of course. Anything you…” Memory-Chason broke off with a gasp as she found the front of his pants and started unfastening them. “Mara?” His hands came up to grip the doorframe, even as he glanced over his shoulder towards the staircase. “We’re still in the hall. People could come up here and see.”

  “Yes, I know.” She agreed gravely and started massaging the length of him with her elegant little palm. Long hard strokes that left him seeing stars. “You’ll need to be lookout.”

  Real-Chason felt his mouth curve. If there was a heaven, it would be reliving this moment on a continuous loop.

  Memory-Chason swallowed hard and kept his eyes on the stairs. “We could go into your room and… Yes.” His jaw went taunt. “God, Mara, just like that.”

  She grinned. Memory-Chason missed it, because he was dutifully monitoring for voyeuristic Phases who’d be dead in a few days, anyway. But, Real-Chason saw her smile at his groan. Not the reserved, polite smile he was used to, but an expression of triumphant happiness.

  He stared at her in shock.

  A week before the Fall, she’d been smiling at him with mischief and… love.

  He wasn’t too late.

  She hadn’t left him alone in the dark or given up on their Match. Mara was still fighting for him, even though he didn’t deserve it. Tears burned the back of Chason’s eyes. Gaia hadn’t forsaken him, after all. Instead, She’d given him a second chance with his Match.

  A chance to be more.

  “Would you mind if I tried something else, Chason?” Mara asked.

  “Nnnoooo, that’s fine. I…” The former him kept his attention on the stairs, although in retrospect it was hard to remember why he’d even worried about being caught.

  Chason was king of this House. The most powerful Magnet Phase alive, aside from his secretive little Match. He’d do whatever he wanted to in his castle and anyone who didn’t like it could get the hell out his kingdom.

  The current Chason didn’t care if a marching band came down the hall. He watched in something like rapture as Mara sank her to knees in front of him and replaced her hand with her mouth.

  “Oh, God.” The other Chason forgot all about watching for intruders and squeezed his eyes shut. “Mara!”

  Despite the throbbing in his own body, Chason chuckled. He could remember the frantic mental counting, trying to stay in control as her tongue traced over him. The former him’s fingers dug into the doorframe so hard he left marks in the wood. His other hand tangled in her mass of dark hair, trying to resist the urge to guide her even faster.

  Mara couldn’t feel him, but Real-Chason still ran a hand over the purple streak at her temple. A week before the Fall, she’d spent the day watching erotic movies so she could seduce him. In reality, all she’d ever had to do was show-up and he was hers, but –Gaia!-- did he appreciate the extra effort.

  He watched in frustrated fascination as her lips slid up and down the shaft of the other him. It was insane to be jealous of himself, but he wanted her to be touching him. The real him.

  He tore his eyes away from her to glare over at his former self. “You’d better be appreciating this, you son-of-a-bitch, because from now on she touches no one but me.”

  “Mara.” The former him was struggling to breathe. “I can’t… I’m sorry…” He pulled her to her feet and looked down at her with desperate eyes. “I… I need to moment to…”

  His words skidded to a stop as she unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. Under it was a thin ivory slip embroidered with lilacs. She took a step back, black eyes hot and sparking with white lights. “Chason, please. I have need of my Match.”

  Memory-Chason’s energy surged. For the first time in their relationship, he wasn’t careful with her.

  Real-Chason didn’t blame him. Although, at the time, he’d been appalled by his brutish behavior. This part of the memory he hadn’t been looking forward to, but now he couldn’t look away.

  He watched, his own desire screaming, as the other him grabbed Mara and hoisted her up so she was pinned between his uniformed body and the wall. On the day he’d received the Magnet House armor, he’d imagined Phazing with her like this. Of her voice begging him to take her.

  She was the princess in every storybook he’d ever secretly read as a kid. All the fairytales about knights and dragons he’d daydreamed about, even though his father said they were a waste of time. The girl the prince risked everything for, because there was nothing without her anyway.

  The other him shoved her modest, insanely sexy slip up to her waist and yanked her stockings down.

  Mara positively beamed.

  Real-Chason felt like his brain was on fire. How had he missed the delight on her face the first time? The way her legs wrapped around his waist and she fitted her body over him? The way her mouth parted in pleasure as he slammed into her? The way her breasts pressed up against his emblazed chest plate as she rocked against him?

  She loved this.

  Like all the other lies he’d once believed, everything he’d been taught about proper Magnet House ladies had been horse shit. His Match was the undisputed arbiter of feminine propriety for the entire goddamn realm… and she didn’t want restraint.

  She wanted fucking Tarzan.

  Chason’s eyes gleamed, his attention locked on her flushed face. Mara might keep distance between them with her powers, but her instincts knew it was wrong. She needed more. She needed him. If Mara Phazed with him fully, her powers would combine with his the way they were always meant to. No more distance. No more gap. Just Chason and Mara.

  He had to convince her to let go.

  Had to convince her to trust him.

  All his training in strategy focused in on the clearest path to his goal with ruthless determination: Taking the sweet, refined, independent Magnet Queen in every wrong, depraved way he’d ever dreamed up. The woman was dying for
exactly what he’d always wanted to give her. Nothing graceful or gentle, but a total surrender to hedonistic pleasure. If he pushed her to the edge, she’d let go.

  Chason’s gaze slid down to where Mara’s body was joined with the other Chason’s. A gentleman would have no doubt looked away, but he’d wasted enough time trying to be something he wasn’t. This woman was his Match and no obsolete code of conduct was going to tell him what he could do with her. As soon as Elementally possible, it would be him inside of her and he wasn’t going to stop until she screamed.

  And why the hell hadn’t the other him taken off all her clothes? He scowled at the top of her slip, which block his view of her breasts.

  Unbelievable that a woman like this had been given to such an idiot.

  “Oh Gaia.” She was about to explode. Even in the memory state, he could feel it in her energy and his heartbeat sped up.

  This time her brush of powers weren’t calculated to seduce him. They’d slipped loose because she was about to lose control. The closer she got to the huge climax that loomed, the closer she came to releasing that last piece of energy. He could see her trying to hold it back from him, even as she panting for more.

  Chason braced his hand next to her head on wall and ground his teeth together. She had to let go. It was the only way. Even with her struggling against it, her energy was more vulnerable to him in this moment that it had ever been before.

  He could claim that hidden part of her, if he could just get her to this point, again. The former Chason couldn’t make it happened, but once Real-Chason got back to the present he would make sure that he discovered every succulent part of her.

  “That boy inside of you right now doesn’t know what you need, princess.” His palm drifted down to touch one of the perfect breasts that he still couldn’t see. Her nipple beaded under his palm, even though there was no way she could feel him. “That Chason has a soldier’s uniform, but he’s a gentleman, not a warrior. He’s not like me. He doesn’t understand you’re a Light Phase, under the silk and lace. That you need more.”