by Sam Cheever
“You nearly died.”
I struggled to sit upright. Dialle tried to help but I was pissed and shoved his hand away. “I wouldn’t have if somebody had bothered to tell me the water was drugged.”
His scowl deepened. “I didn’t know. The thing about Perdigo is that things keep flexing and changing here. No place stays the same and everything within is continually altering itself. The last time I came through here these waters were fine.”
I started to stand and wobbled, my knees giving out on me. I fell forward and Dialle caught me, dragging me across his lap. “Sit for a few minutes, Astra. Your body needs some time to recover from the waters and my healing.”
I shoved at his chest and tried to stand again, but he tightened his grip. “You are so stubborn.”
I glared at him. “In case you’ve forgotten, you dumped me recently. It shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that I don’t want you touching me right now.”
He held my gaze for a long moment, emotion darkening his blue gaze. Finally he smiled and my sexual core tightened in response. It was his mischievous smile. I stiffened, worried about what he would do next. “I don’t like that look.”
He cocked his head, one heated hand sliding up my back. “I have no idea what you’re referring to, my love—”
“Don’t.” I shoved against his chest. “Don’t ever call me that again. In fact, don’t call me your anything. I’m not yours anymore. In any way.”
His hand skimmed along my spine and wrapped around the back of my neck, sending heat in soft tendrils coiling through my traitorous body. “I have been a fool, my love. But in my defense, I was only releasing you so that I would not drag you down with me.”
“Uh, huh.” I leaned forward, trying to escape the warmly delicious grip on my neck. Unfortunately the new position put me within a breath of his sexy lips. When I tried to lean away again his hand tightened on my neck.
His sexy gaze slipped over my face, warming me like a tender touch. “I’ve been devastated at the idea of never making love to you again, Astra.”
I swallowed hard as his delicious scent enfolded me, dragging my will to resist away. “You should have thought of that before you dumped me, bud.”
He leaned in and kissed my cheek, lingering long enough to make me suck in a breath as my body exploded into sensation from the simple act.
“I would have missed your taste.” His hot tongue swept out and slid across my lips, pressing the seam for entrance. I managed to resist opening to him, but just barely. His lips moved upward, to touch the tip of my nose. “I would have missed your delectable scent. Have I ever told you that you smell like vanilla and cherries?”
I squirmed as need, prickly and aggressive, twisted in my belly. “You’re just hungry. I know I’m starving.” As soon as the words left my lips I realized how they sounded.
He chuckled, the sound like heated fingers playing over my breasts. My nipples hardened under its power. “Yes. I am hungry, my love.” His lips pressed a tender kiss against my throat and, despite my will to resist, my head dropped back and my slut-monkey side started to bitch-slap my better intentions into silence.
The hand that had been holding me close slipped down my back and wrapped around my waist as he kissed his way down my throat to my shoulder, easing me down. By the time my back settled onto the rock beneath me his lips hovered over mine. Vibrating with overwhelming need, I inhaled the intoxicating wash of his breath and moaned, unable to stop myself from responding.
“I would have missed the exquisite softness of your skin. The rigid peaks of your nipples against my tongue.” His lips opened and he licked a trail down my throat, nuzzling an unprotected breast and pulling the hungry nipple into moist heat.
The warm, slightly smoky night air whispered past, creating gooseflesh on my damp skin. My belly quivered with building need as his hands skimmed gently over it, sliding down my hips and caressing my thighs. Beneath my naked buttocks, the flat, smooth rock felt like polished granite.
My thighs tightened with the need to open and, before I could stop myself I’d arched my hips, pressing myself into the hard ridge of his shaft.
“Stop, Dialle. I don’t want this.” My plea was so pitiful and without weight even I disregarded it.
Dialle’s clothing disappeared in a whisper and he moved between my thighs, settling the thick head of his shaft at my throbbing entrance. He looked down at me, sweeping a thick ribbon of wet hair from my cheek. “If you truly do not want me to make love to you I’ll leave, Astra. You need only say the word.”
Pain seared my chest again at the thought of his leaving. My channel clenched in alarm and warm cream trailed from it. Without realizing what I was doing, my hands slid over his shoulders and into his hair, twining the midnight silk in my fingers and pulling him closer. “Don’t leave, Dialle. I think I’d die if you did.”
His lips captured mine and something profound and important trembled within me, sliding into place. My world rocked back onto its axis and hope bloomed in my chest. With a single, deep thrust, Dialle’s shaft filled me, creating a flashpoint for all the sensations his nearness had ignited. I cried out at the wonder of it, my body clasping his in a desperate grip.
My hands tightened against his scalp as my body soared into awareness. I whimpered softly against his lips. Dialle’s kiss started soft and tender and quickly gained intensity as our mating grew from delightful to profound.
His tongue lashed against mine, tasting and testing and urging me to join him in the dance. I gladly accepted the teasing touches as my sexual core swelled toward release. My hands found the firm globes of his buttocks and I clasped them. I spread my legs, urging him to stroke faster, plunge deeper.
Bliss called to me, just beyond my touch. I reached for it, straining toward its fiery grasp. Heat flooded my face. My limbs tightened as I strained toward that joyful release. I sucked in a breath as my body finally grasped it, the tight knot in my belly suddenly releasing in an explosion that sent delicious waves of warmth spreading through my groin and limbs.
I cried out, my hands clasping him even more tightly to my body, demanding that he stay with me...that he ride out the explosion of need rocketing out of control inside me. I hit the bottom of my orgasm and immediately spiraled upward into another, moaning Dialle’s name to the smoky night sky as my body tightened in spasm after spasm of delicious release.
Dialle finally gave in to my body’s demands. He lifted his head and slammed deep, his body growing rigid under the compulsion of his own orgasm. Settling onto his elbows, he slid his hands under my head and pulled me into another, toe-curling kiss. One that was less urgent but no less intense.
Pain speared my throat and I cried out.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
I held my breath, waiting for another jolt of pain. It never came. I shook my head, rubbing the spot where I’d been jolted. “Nothing. Just a twinge.”
He kissed me one last time and rolled away, settling down on his back beside me. He grasped my hand in his and we stared up at the velvet black of a star-studded night sky.
The night was strangely silent around us. I realized there were no bugs or night-birds calling out, or nocturnal predators moving through the underbrush. It felt as if we were the only two people in the entire Perdigo environs.
Then I remembered Gerch. I sat up, filled with alarm. “Gerch!”
Dialle sat up too. “He’s fine. He was hunting for our dinner when I left him.”
Right on cue my stomach grumbled hopefully. “Good. ’Cause I wasn’t kidding before. I am starving.”
Dialle smiled. “Then let’s go take care of that. You’ll need your strength for what’s to come tomorrow.”
“Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to it. I can’t get away from this river soon enough. Maybe we should set off right after we eat.”
“We must follow the river for a while. There is something I must do before going after my father.”
Sighing, I le
t Dialle lead me back to my clothing on the riverbank. His reminder of the battle to come sucked the residual bliss right out of me. I wasn’t sure what my mother and his father had in mind, but I knew one thing for sure. Defeating them was going to be the hardest thing Dialle and I had ever done together.
And we’d done a lot of really hard things.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Loch Nestrada
Our king doth bid his lady splash, through the watery depths of Hell,
Though his plans might her enthusiasm dash, and all her hopes dispel.
A thick, moist fog surrounded us, blocking the soft light of a weak sun high overhead. Warm, sulfurous water bathed my legs to the knees. The occasional floating or swimming object bumped against my cringing flesh as we pushed through.
“Are you sure this water isn’t drugged too?” I asked Dialle.
“I’m not entirely sure. The river does feed this area, but the creatures who live in the swamp wouldn’t allow tainted water to flow here.”
I frowned, not feeling a bit better. Dialle had taken away one fear and added a new one. My gaze slid over the black water, looking for signs of the creatures he referred to. It was impossible. If it weren’t for the knee-deep water I’d think we were slogging through the shadows. The fog had the same sound and vision-dampening effects. Distorting reality until I wasn’t sure if we were moving forward or sideways through it.
Huge, black shapes surged upward out of the dense, gray-white substance. They were trees mostly, with long, twisted limbs that seemed to clutch the fog with bony fingers.
Night birds called across the space, apparently oblivious to the fact that it was mid-day. Or at least I thought that was the time of day. We’d been slogging through the muck in that swamp for what felt like hours.
Though the air was steamy, a bone-numbing cold spread upward from the black, oily surface of the water. My teeth had stopped clacking together hours earlier, my body finally letting go of the idea that it would ever be warm again. Like a snake I appeared to have adjusted to the temperatures surrounding me. The thought made me shudder.
I was aware of Dialle and Gerch only because they stayed within a foot of me, occasionally reaching out to touch a hand or arm as if assuring themselves I was still there. They were little more than colorless shapes in the dense air. The sound of their legs plowing through the oily water was muted, seeming as if it came from far away, and I began to wonder if the poisonous fog had eaten away my ability to hear.
Would we ever emerge from it? And if we did, would we be forever changed?
Just ahead of me, Dialle suddenly stopped, his arm coming out to halt my forward progress. I grabbed Gerch’s thick arm and dragged him to a stop beside me. “What is it, Dialle?” My voice emerged from my mouth and hit the bank of fog, rolling backward and away without seeming to make a dent in the foul stuff.
Astra, stand very still.
Der. I’d forgotten I had my powers back...and Dialle was back inside my head. What’s wrong?
Our host has joined us.
Host?
Even as I thought the question at him, the fog seem to swirl and shift. The water around my legs rose up in foamy waves that splashed against my thighs and a blast of heat rolled over us. My stomach rebelled at the sour, fishy stench the heat carried with it and my fingers twitched with an instinctive need to lash out.
As if sensing my power sliding forward, Dialle reached over and grabbed my hand. Do not strike out. It will kill us before you even unleash your power.
What is it?
It is your worst nightmare.
I frowned. Melodramatic much?
He turned to me and grinned, his perfect, white teeth barely showing in contrast to the slightly darker shape of his face. Though he stood only a foot away, the fog slid thin tendrils of obscuring mist over his handsome features. I do not wish to alarm, but there is no way to overstate the danger in this.
Then why the hell are we here?
Because it is our only hope of defeating the king and his two witches.
I sighed. That sounds like the title to a really bad romance novel.
Yes. If only that was all it was.
Something big moved through the water. The sound of it cutting through the inky liquid seemed to surround us, coming at us from every direction until I thought we were being converged on by several unseen monsters. I swung my gaze in an arc that covered the front and both sides, barely resisting the urge to turn around to check the area behind us. Only Dialle’s painfully tight grip on my hand kept me from moving.
The sloshing sound of movement widened out, uniting with the mist until it had a life of its own, an entity apart. It was so fractured and hard to trace that, one moment I imagined I felt stinky fish-breath against my face and the next I was certain it was miles away. Still we stood there, unmoving. Living, breathing targets. My heart pounded hard in my chest, a knot of terror twisting in my belly. The urge to run became a tangible thing. It was so strong I could taste it on my tongue.
Dialle...
The fog before us split and a pair of stunning blue eyes appeared, mere inches from my face. I gasped and would have run screaming if Dialle weren’t holding onto me. The eyes were easily two feet across, a gorgeous aquamarine color, and slanted. From the size of the eyes and the distance apart, the creature standing mere inches from us had to be a hundred feet tall, or long, at a minimum. What the hell is this thing? How did it sneak up on us like that?
Dialle didn’t answer, his grip on my hand merely tightened in warning and then released. I stared into the giant gaze before us, unable to look away. In fact, I couldn’t help feeling as if looking away would be a signal for the thing to attack.
Dialle moved slightly but I didn’t want to turn my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him drop and, panicking, finally turned to glance his way. He appeared to be kneeling in the oily water, his head drooping to his chest. I reached for him, intending to yank him back to his feet.
A large, rock-like grip pinched my shoulder. “No. Leave him, my queen. He must do this.”
I tried to shake Gerch off. “Let me go. He’s making himself a target.”
Something thrashed, the fog moved, and Gerch and I went flying as a heavy, scale-covered body rammed into us. I cried out as I flew backward through the fog and landed with a splash, fully expecting to hit bottom. Instead, I sank like a rock into the black, oily water, finally hitting a silty bottom after falling twenty feet. A cloud of slimy sand rose up around me stinging my eyes. I shoved away from the soft bottom as best I could and swam back toward the surface.
I broke the surface of the water with a gasp and Gerch broke through a few feet away. He looked my way. “Are you all right?”
Ignoring his question, I started swimming, though my flight through the air had disoriented me and I was no longer certain where we’d left Dialle. After a few minutes the ground came up to meet us again and I realized Dialle had been leading us along some kind of underwater passage. On both sides of the path the black water was very deep. It most likely needed to be to accommodate whatever we’d faced moments earlier. I climbed onto the trail and stood panting, looking around. I had no idea where to look for Dialle.
I shouted his name but the sound hit the wall of fog and was sucked in, going nowhere. I felt rather than heard Gerch climbing out after me.
I turned to him as tears stung my eyes. “We’ll never find him in this muck.”
Gerch swiped water from his wide, red face and nodded, looking grim.
However, he didn’t look surprised.
Anger made my fingers tingle with energy. I smacked him on the chest. “You knew this would happen.”
He looked away guiltily. “The king suspected it might.”
I smacked him again. He just looked at me, his eyes filled with pain. “Dammit, Gerch! Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shook his head but said nothing. He didn’t need to. I already knew. Dialle would have forbidden him to speak. Whateve
r Dialle had in mind when he’d dragged us through that gods-forsaken swamp, he’d known it would be dangerous but he’d done it anyway.
I wanted to scream his name, running through the black water until I found him again. But deep down inside, a small grain of reason told me it would be a waste of my time and, ultimately, endanger Dialle further. For the moment at least I had to keep my head and carefully plan my next steps. But it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. I couldn’t shake the terror. The certainty he was gone. And that I’d lost him forever.
~SC~
Hours later I dropped, exhausted, onto a small rise of earth with my back to a tree. I rested my head on my knees. The sun had climbed higher in the sky, burning off part of the fog and turning the swamp to a bug-infested sauna. I wasn’t sure if the added visibility was worth the bugs and heat.
Gerch dropped down beside me, his breath coming fast and heavy in his chest. I knew he was probably still fighting the after-effects of my healing.
“How you doin’, bud? You feel okay?”
He shrugged, looking out over the swamp. “It is of no concern.”
“It is to me.”
He blinked, turning with surprise. Then he shook his head, his formidable red brow lowering over the intelligent black eyes I’d grown to love. “A little discomfort is nothing. A soldier expects it.” He’d said it dismissively, obviously not wanting to talk about his feelings. I leaned back against the tree with a sigh. The smooth bark was slimy beneath my shoulders. I didn’t care. It felt so good to be out of the water for a while.
“Why’d he do it, Gerch?”
The big soldier glanced my way. “Do what?”
“Why’d he bring us here? Why’d he give himself over to that thing?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t share his reasons with me. But if this creature has something we can use to defeat his father and your mother, the king would stop at nothing to gain it.”
“Even his own death?”
“Yes.”
“But the court will die without Dialle.”
Gerch looked surprised, his beady eyes widening. “He never told you?”
