The Magus (A Chronicle of Rebirth Book 1)

by J. M. Fletcher

“You’re my friend,” Claire kept snacking on the cheese. “Make no mistake, he does want you as his bed slave. I think based on what you told me about the dream before, that he desires that kind of relationship with a woman and he must be able to envision it with you.”

  Nelina kept eating. “Thank you for being a good friend, Claire.”

  “I try,” Claire took a drink of her wine, laughing. “Besides, you have no idea how much I’d like to be Elian’s bed slave trust me.”

  Nelina roared with laughter as she and Claire enjoyed the rest of their midday meal together until a kitchen slave came to remove the tray.

  The women’s attention returned back to the vanity and Nelina’s seat in front of it.

  Claire picked up a faded red powder from the vanity table. “It’s time to add some color in your face, do your hair, and get you into your garment.” Claire using a delicate soft bristled brush applied a light single stroke of red rouge across each of Nelina’s cheekbones and then blended it into her skin. Afterward, she unpinned the curls.

  “I’ll work on the rest of me.” Nelina picked up a thin brush resembling one that a painter might use and chose a silvery fine powder to sweep across the lower part of her eyelids. She accentuated her eyes by lining the edges with a black charcoal, which made her vibrant green eyes stand out.

  Claire spread out the flaxen curls “This came out good,”

  “I think it’s lovely, I feel elegant.” She was appreciative while examining at herself in the mirror.

  Claire picked up the silks lying on Nelina’s bed. “This is gorgeous, and it’s what bed slaves in the Magus’s homeland wear you said?”

  “In that dream I wore it. It was a glimpse of another kind of life with him.” Nelina stripped out of her day dress. “In Aghadine, they are called pleasure slaves.”

  “Ooh, that’s a better word than bed slave let’s use that from now on.” She held out the flimsy dark blue garment to help Nelina into it. “Vera managed to get a good match to the Magus’ robe.”

  “It is, I was delighted that she was able to do a silver trim.” The top portion consisted of a slender cord around the back of the neck leading to two swaths of silk crisscrossing over her breasts leaving her abdomen uncovered. The bottom was in a similar fashion with its cord around the waist above her hips with an addition two sections of silk. The one in the front covered her, yet you could still see her long legs and bare thighs. In the back, the portion of silk was of the same length and width. Between both, her sides were left generously exposed.

  “There, I think we have you ready.” Claire stepped back admiring Nelina’s appearance.

  “Then I should be on my way.” Nelina looked again at her appearance with another nervous glance over.

  “Agreed, I’ve had a fun time today with you.” Claire helped Nelina put on her cloak which closed in the front to keep her from attracting any attention while going to the Magus’s private chambers.

  “Me too,” Nelina hugged Claire and opened the door as the two left the chamber. “Have a good night, and tell your Father that I wish him well.”

  “I will,” Claire with a light curtsy and playful smile left to make her way down the hall to get home in time to have dinner with her father.

  Nelina addressed the guard standing outside her door. “I’m going to the Magus’s chambers.”

  The City Guard gave a quick bow. “Please, allow me to escort you Madame.”

  “Very well,” She followed him as he led her through the hallway leading out to the royal garden, which was empty at this time of day. The gust of wind which greeted them was coming in off the Torbian Sea from the weather making its way down from the Lower Kingdoms. The cool breeze was gone as fast as it had arrived while she continued through the garden. She had grown used to the strange weather being this close to the Waste. She saw the Magus’s tower overlooking the Grand balcony where she had spent countless mornings under Adar’s diligent training. The darkening of the sky this evening would have caused her difficulty in crossing the royal garden. Therefore, she was glad she had let the guard accompany her. They passed by various trees, plants, flowers, and decorative vases. Ru’ark’s door as always, seemed dark and unguarded once the light of day had faded from view. However, she knew Adar was close, he always was.

  As if appearing by thought, Adar stepped out from the shadows before her, with the dark rendering him nearly invisible.

  She stopped and faced the guardsman. “Thank you, you may go.”

  With quick bow, the guard disappeared back the way they had come as Adar opened the door to Ru’ark’s chambers for her.

  “Good Eventide Adar,” She stepped into chambers and the warm light from the wall lanterns filling the room as the magus sat behind the large heavy desk covered in papers and marked books.

  As the door closing behind her Ru’ark looked up from the open book with its map covering the mountains. Her hair was different, and he could tell her day with Claire was in preparation to see him. He could see little else, as the dark, heavy cloak she wore concealed what she was wearing underneath, but the time for that would come. “Ah, your timing is good Sweetling,” He smiled, standing up and approached her from around his desk. His midnight blue robes were opened slightly at the neck, he took her hand in his, while Adar closed the door behind her. “Come, there are many things we must discuss,” with a tender kiss to the back of her hand, he led her to a chair alongside his desk before taking his own seat again.

  With her hands folded in her lap, she shifted her weight in her seat nervously. This was not what she expected to happen.

  “I will not equivocate or go spider chasing, instead I will get straight to the point.” Ru’ark’s elbows dug into the desk as he locked his fingers together. “While you spoke with that madman apostate, I too had a meeting of my own.”

  Nelina’s curiosity was in full swing as she leaned in wondering who he had spoken to.

  His eyes studied her as he explained things. “Upstairs, in my bed chamber is what is known as a Dami Uiten, to you it would be a simple ordinary mirror. When I first arrived in your lands, I had sought one out and with the use of my power I was able to reactivate it.”

  With a frown of puzzlement, Nelina listened.

  “The Dami Uiten allows a person to communicate with another from a great distance. It’s how I’ve maintained contact with my family back in Aghadine. When you were gone that day, I spoke with them.” He paused with a light shake of his head. “It is unfortunate, but my conversation with them did not go as I had intended.” He folded his arms on his desk, letting the rest of his shocking announcement hit her. “You see, you happen to be the key to ending the Waste and freeing my people.”

  “Me, I am?” The blood drained from her face.

  “Yes, and the reason you’ve received the training you have is because where I intend to bring you is not without its perils. You are too important to risk dying on the way to the Nivecus Ortus Chamber.” He watched as the color started to return to her face. He cursed Malark in silence blaming him for having to tell Nelina this way.

  “End the Waste? By the God of All- is that even possible?” She was desperate to grasp how such a feat was attainable. “It cannot be performed here. In essence, you would become a conduit allowing the power of the Waraeu to flow into you and out into the waste, removing the taint that traps my people.”

  Her mind was reeling from what he was telling her. “Would I even live through such an event?”

  He sought to reassure her. “Yes, I’m certain with my skills and ability that I would not lose you. However, the excruciating pain you would suffer gives me concern and a reason to take pause.”

  She was scared. Yet, she had grown to trust the Magus in their time together so she bit down her pang of fear. “If I must, then I will for you.”

  He pursed his lips tightly before speaking. “When I healed you before, that same method may prevent and diffuse it, but by how much can’t be known.” He shook his head. “Ther
e is worse, in my long absence my brother Malark has petitioned the council that you be given to him at the end of it.”

  “You must not let him have me, please.” Her tears threatened to spill and she leapt to her feet in panic. “No-”

  Ru’ark standing with a quick movement was around the desk with Nelina in his arms. “I won’t let anyone hurt you and I will do everything possible to remain with you,”

  She put her hands on his chest. “Why can we not stay in Danthamore? If your brother and people are all trapped in the Waste, let us live here, you already rule these lands in everything but name.”

  “Indeed, that is the plan, but the Queen insists on flexing what strength that remains at her call.” His hand brushed back a few loose strands of hair away from her face. “If we leave things as they are, she will challenge our rule, and it would not be bloodless.”

  She stared into his blue eyes, searching for a hope to a simple life. “What can we do?”

  “Let’s sit.” He held her hand, leading her to take a seat on the settee. “As I said earlier, your training was not just for you to be a guard to me. It was to ensure that you survive whatever we may encounter.” Sitting next to her and with a gentle hand, he cupped her face. “There is a place that I will bring you to in which you will be able gain abilities similar to mine.”

  Nelina blinked hard, she was caught off guard, her night had been surprise after surprise thus far. “Wait, you mean I will have in me what you have inside of you? Black smoke will flow from my hands as it does from your own?”

  Taking her hands in his, he felt an even stronger pull at his heart. What he has said would have shattered most others. “Again, it would be different than mine, the Nivecus Ware has been gone since the creation of the Waste. In the time before the Waste, the power of the Waraeu could be used in unison. With the Alter Waraeu that resides within me and with the Nivecus that you’ll have, it will allow us to combine our talents. It is said that there was little out of the reach of the Nivecus and the Alter. Together, they could pull towers and buildings from the earth itself and they could give life when there was none before.”

  Her head was spinning from it all. “Why me, could you not have chosen anyone to have done this, surely Elian or Adar would have been a better choice?”

  His gentle hand traced its way across her cheekbone before returning to her hand in his lap. “No, it could only be you, for you hold the ancestry of the ones who once wielded the power of the Nivecus.”

  “Once I have these Waraeu inside of me,” She tried to say the strange word with its odd pronunciation. “You will teach me to use this power?”

  “You can know that I will do all that is within in my power to ensure that your bonding with the Nivecus leaves you unharmed and is successful.” His thumbs brushed across the top of her hands. “The first step is getting you the power to begin with.”

  Glancing downward, then back up, she nodded to him in acceptance of her new fate. “What kind of risk do we have with them crossing over before we’re ready?”

  “The Waste is detrimental to a Magus with the Alter Waraeu, it’s what hinders and keeps them from crossing.” He paused, “It’s unknown to my people in Aghadine that Adar traversed across the Waste. He was lead here through his bond to me, which shows that it can be done, and we must prepare for a time where that could come to pass. In the time between now and then, I will teach you all I know.”

  “Good,” her green eyes gleamed with the conviction of her intention. “We will figure out how to use it, me as a weapon against them together.”

  “Come here,” he pulled her onto his lap in a straddling position facing him while smiling.

  “If my people were ever to come here, you would agree to become my weapon against them if needed?”

  “Yes,” her hands rested on his shoulders. “If it will make them bend to your will and we can be together, then without question I am ready. I love you.”

  “My affection for you runs as deep as yours does for me.” He moved her hair behind her shoulders. “You belong to me, and I’d trade my life in Aghadine to have one here with you as my wife.”

  Her face relaxed. “If we lived in Aghadine, our marriage would not be honored would it?”

  He rested his hands on her thighs, which remained covered by the cloak she had still not taken off. “No, at best they might consider you my property with a good line of reasoning to the council.”

  “Do people in Aghadine mark their slaves as they do in Danthamore?” She shifted her hips with a slight forward motion on his lap. “If marking me will give you a better standing in claiming ownership of me than you should do it. Besides, I want to carry your personal sigil on my flesh, it symbolizes I am yours, and yours alone.”

  He straightened his posture pulling her more against him as a smile touched his lips. “And here, when I think it is impossible for you to surprise me, you do so yet again.” His arms fell to encircle her lower hips.

  “During that dream I had when you healed me, I was your slave in your bed-chamber.” Her smile was sultry as she bit her lower lip.

  Ru’ark’s grin was both inviting and seductive as his hand rested against the swell of her back. “That’s what your life would entail with me in Aghadine, one that perhaps is not too distasteful to you?”

  “On the contrary,” Her hand went to the side of his face. “I imagine that, I wanted it otherwise I wouldn’t have dreamt it.”

  He pushed a hard passion filled kiss against her lips, which was neither unexpected nor unwanted. “Are you then renouncing the chance to be granted your freedom by me one day?”

  She got up off his lap, then untied the front of the cloak and let it drop to reveal the silky blue strips of her garment which left little to the imagination as it clung to her curves and rested across her hips and full chest. “Without question, I am.”

  His eyes drank in each curve of her body accentuated by the placements of the silks. His mind shifted in seeing her in what was a close resemblance to the silks the pleasure slaves wore back home in Aghadine. “Attend me Sweetling,”

  Smiling, she climbed back onto his lap, straddling him again.

  “You are a delightful appreciation of place, incredibly so.” He drew her against him, while his mouth found its path to her neck, his last kiss lingered before his teeth raked across her skin.

  “Magus-” She gasped, feeling her body ignite for him.

  His hand made its way to the back of her neck, while his eyes turned into black pools. The smoky tendrils of his weaving seeped from his fingertips going across the back her neck. A soft gasp escaped Nelina’s lips as the smoke evaporated, leaving Ru’ark’s mark engraved into her flesh. Its sharp lines and curving circles gave it the look of some strange marking which was not made from using ink or by branding. In his native country, it did little more than signify that she was his personal property. “My sigil declares you as mine.”

  An intense euphoric tingling rushed through her from it. “As it’s meant to be, my Magus”

  “Here in these lands,” He placed a gentle kiss on her collarbone. “You will also serve at my side as my Queen.”

  A delicate moan escaped from her throat. “I serve you in all things, Magus.”

  He kissed her and held onto her while setting her on her feet. “Come, we are going to go to my bed-chamber.”

  Smiling, she followed his lead.

  He guided her past his large desk and to the steps ascending to the top of his tower. The room was big and open, and the small lanterns gave off a mild light which danced across the different items inside. A large bed was in the center, with a finely polished, wood glinting along its length, with each of its corner posts reaching upward to the ceiling. Beyond the bed, there was a little dark wood table with a couple of soft velvet chairs and another larger cushioned chair near the window.

  Nelina once inside was awestruck, his bed-chamber was lavish, elegant, and the décor was from the first Kingdom. “You don’t sleep in her
e regularly?”

  “I did until you,” Ru’ark walked up to the polished armoire engraved with gold at its edges showing itself as being from the first kingdom. He pulled out two fine glasses that Nelina thought appeared too thin to hold up under their own weight, let alone the cherry red wine Ru’ark emptied into them.

  Nelina frowned catching sight of the draping over what could only be the mirror he had talked of earlier. “This must be it then, how does it work, are they listening now?” Curious, she touched the covering. Before she could blink, he was next to her stopping her hand from touching it.

  With a tender grin, he laced his fingers with hers, and led her away from the mirror. “Were you to have removed the covering, then yes. However, you would have to be directly in front of it.”

  “Well, I don’t want any part of it then,” she walked over to the table where Ru’ark had their glasses.

  He filled both of their glasses, then handed one to her. “Be forewarned, while it is sweet this wine requires a good tolerance in order to endure its strength, you may wish to take it slow.”

  Taking the edge of the glass to her lips, she drained it of the sweet red wine then set it down. “This is very good,” the intoxication was instant and hit her faster than she had expected. “You were right though, it’s quite strong.”

  “I did warn you,” Amused, he drank half of his own glass before setting it down. “Yet you did it anyway. Therefore, I’m guessing whatever your prior inhibition is gone, right?” His blue eyes danced. “Tell me,”

  “I crave what we had in that dream,” She stepped closer to him, pressing her body into his. “I can’t forget how much I savored it.” She put the palm of her hands on his chest. “Please?”

  “Magus- it’s please Magus,” he ran his hands through her hair, smiling and giving it a slight tug.

  She whimpered in delight from it.

  “What delectable sound that was.” His lips briefly captured hers before moving to her ear and below. His arms encircled her waist, bringing her close to him, with his blue eyes peering deep into her green ones. “Our fates were sealed and tied, from the moment our eyes met.”