LadySmith

by Rhavensfyre

  Alex wrapped her arms around her beloved and whispered a soft question. It was time to find out how far trust and love could go. Dull green eyes slid open, a small gleam of light gathering deep in them as she answered.

  “Yes.”

  It was such a simple answer, but it held worlds of possibility. Alex felt hope leap and dance inside her. The sharp teeth of fear gnawed relentlessly at the edge of that hope, but Alex willed it back into its dark cave where it belonged. She could not doubt herself. She could not doubt Rohanna.

  Alex brushed her lips across Rohanna’s forehead. “Sleep, Sweetheart. Save your strength.”

  ***

  Alex’s words gathered power as she moved about the room, lighting candles in a large circle. Her movements were slow and elegant. With each candle lit, the shadows danced eerily across the darkened room, growing paler until the gathered light finally chased them away. Alex spoke not only for Ro’s benefit, but for her own, finding calm within the ritual movements and forms.

  “Few people understand the controlled violence of striking steel on steel. Forging is not simply a matter of pummeling hot metal with a large hammer. Yes, the mallet is heavy. But if there is no control, no exact knowledge of the force behind the swing, no measure of accuracy in the strike, there will be no finished project. The difference between a work of art and a lump of misshapen metal lay in the ability to discern when rough metal glows hotly enough to be malleable to the blacksmith’s art. Cold metal is often too brittle, and brittle steel shatters easily under the blows of even the most talented blacksmith.”

  Finally, the last candle was lit, and Alex ended her circle where she had begun. The first and last candle stood together, one white and one black. Their flames danced close to each other, rightfully attracted to the other’s light. The circle complete, she turned to face the center.

  Rohanna stood silent, listening to the cadenced tone of Alex’s words. Their eyes locked. The smell of burning wax combined with the scents of fear and excitement filled the air with electricity.

  “Tonight we will be forging our souls, Rohanna. This is old magic, and like all magicks, it has its risks. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

  “I trust you Alex. I want to do this. I need to do this.”

  “If it becomes too much, just tell me and I will stop,” Alex said.

  If I stop she will die, but I cannot do this against her will.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Alex towered gracefully above Rohanna. Rohanna kneeled before her, her body held upright by the restraints buckled to each wrist. Alex’s arm, sleekly muscled and solid from hours working at the anvil, barely felt the weight of the leather flogger in her hand.

  A soft pink glow was growing slowly across Rohanna’s smooth back and firm bottom, evidence of Alex’s art with the soft leather. Able to caress with kisses as soft as a butterfly’s wing, it could also lash out like a scorpion’s sting to lay long, angry welts along willing flesh. She wanted Rohanna to sink into the pleasure of the stinging pain she rained down upon her, to soften into the caresses of the leather flogger. Too much would break her, but if Alex failed to go as far as was needed, Rohanna would be lost forever. Alex wanted the softly moaning woman to lay pliable before her, every inch of Rohanna’s skin needed to feel alive, to remind her that her body and spirit belonged together. Only then would Alex be able to identify the intruding spells that bound Rohanna and disrupted the energy paths that fed her soul.

  Alex took a deep breath to center herself. She was breathing hard, not from exertion, but from excitement. Her father’s blood sang inside her; newly awakened, it was all the more powerful, even stronger than her Mere blood. Her father had not lied when he told her his gift was no gentle thing.

  Fae blood held an edge to it that craved the darker things, including levels of passions few humans would find enjoyable let alone survive, and it was too easy to succumb to the love of pain.

  Her hand tightened around the whip until her knuckles cracked and she felt the leather give. I will heal Rohanna, she vowed. The trick was not losing herself in the process.

  Restraint. Alex raised her arm. She would not tempt her darker side with harsher play of the lash, especially with Rohanna’s life on the line. Black leather cut into her wrist just below her tattoos, twisted until it was almost too tight. One by one she forced tense fingers to release their hold on the floggers handle, then let the strap slip loose. Alex dropped the flogger on the floor and gazed down at Rohanna’s back.

  Rohanna’s skin glowed brightly, much like the steel Alex forged. She admired her work, knowing that like that glowing metal, Rohanna was now able to be shaped by the power of the fire within her, without fear.

  Rohanna was soaked with perspiration. It dripped from her brow, her body covered in a light sheen that glowed with the muted candle light. Head thrown back, eyes closed and lips parted slightly, the long line of Rohanna’s throat begged to be kissed. Alex’s gaze took in Rohanna’s firm breasts thrust proudly before her. Her nipples were hard and swollen, begging to be suckled and roughly fondled.

  Alex became aware of her own ragged breathing. Not for me, this is all for her. Alex reminded herself, swallowing around a suddenly dry throat. Goddess, this is harder than I thought it would be.

  It wasn’t a matter of curbing her arousal, the sexual tension was a part of the magic between them. The goal was not to remain unaroused. The goal was to bear her arousal, gathering it inside her until her veins burned with power. Only then could Alex set it free in one glorious push, pouring her power into Rohanna, joining them together, and setting Rohanna free from Bellaria’s influence. If she succumbed to greed and demanded her own satisfaction, the magic would unravel and everything she had accomplished so far would unravel.

  Alex kneeled behind the restrained woman. Alex passed her hands over Rohanna’s glistening skin, never actually touching her but still tasting the heat of her aura that poured off her in waves. The pale yellow-orange of Ro’s aura sparked and shone within Alex’s vision; it turned a bright gold as delicate fingers of color melded with Alex’s own red tinged aura.

  Awed by the deep connection they had made, Alex reverently gathered Rohanna’s body within her arms. She had refrained from touching her since they had both entered the circle and not since she had stripped naked. When their naked bodies connected, she gasped aloud. Their auras flashed, dancing across her vision with the same ethereal light that created the Northern Lights. Their individual colors bled together, binding them more firmly then any rope or chain ever could. The exquisitely intimate moment threatened to overwhelm Alex’s fragile control.

  Alex lowered her lips to meet the soft flesh along the muscled curve of Rohanna’s neck, tasting only salt and sweat with no trace of the metallic edge that would have indicated fear. If Rohanna succumbed to fear now it would only increase the risk for failure and Alex could not allow that.

  Rohanna moaned and tipped her head to the side, offering her neck to Alex’s sharp white teeth and talented lips.

  Alex’s hearing was attuned to even the slightest sounds. She could hear Rohanna’s heart galloping alongside hers, accompanied by the restless whisper of leather and hiss of flame on candle-wax, but it was Rohanna who sang to her with every catching breath, every low moan ending in a sudden gasp. She sought out that music like someone starved for beauty and the woman restrained and kneeling before her was her instrument.

  Calloused and work roughened fingers sought out and captured Rohanna’s nipples. She rubbed her palms across them roughly, then teased them mercilessly with her fingertips, knowing what brought Rohanna the most pleasure. Abandoning the soft flesh of Rohanna’s breasts, Alex leisurely slid one hand down, circling taut abdominal muscles that flexed and fluttered as if anticipating her destination, the soft curls already damp with arousal. Cupping Rohanna firmly within the palm of her hand, Alex paused, feeling the incredible heat and wetness emanating from between those trembling thighs. Biding her time, Alex forced
herself to stillness, patiently waiting.

  Moments passed in silence, with only the sound of their breathing marking the time for them in the otherwise quiet room. Rohanna’s pulse bounded beneath her lips, its frantic rhythm echoing against her palm pressed solidly over Rohanna’s throbbing clit. All too aware of her own arousal, Alex felt the same hot wetness gathering between her thighs. It took all of her self-control not to thrust her hips forward against Ro’s tight ass. Alex’s swollen clit begged for the release that Ro’s touch would offer.

  Ro moved first, rocking her pelvis into Alex’s cupped hand with a desperate whimper. The tantalizing motion brought the firm globes of her ass in contact with Alex’s hypersensitive clit. Moaning softly into the golden halo of Rohanna’s hair, she slid two fingers between Ro’s glistening lips, capturing her engorged clitoris between them. With her fingers held still along either side of Rohanna’s hardness, Alex limited Ro’s stimulation to her own movements. Knowing that the indirect stimulation was maddening to her lover, she allowed one quick flick of her thumb over the sensitized clit. Rewarded with a sharp gasp and frantic movement intended to extend the pressure, Alex changed tactics. Circling down, she rested firm fingertips just outside of Rohanna’s wet center, pressing the remaining length of her fingers against her slick folds. With the utmost control, Alex prevented Rohanna’s rapid hip thrusting from enveloping her fingers, teasing her unmercifully.

  Bringing her lips close to Rohanna’s ear, she whispered tenderly, “Tell me what you need, Ro. Come back to me. Feel me here, with you.” From the moment Alex had buckled the wrist restraints on Rohanna, the proud woman had refrained from uttering a word. Now, given leave to ask, Ro found herself begging. Her need was so great, and she had held her voice for so long, that her words came out as a choking sob.

  “Please, Alex, please…I want…”

  Another whispered command caressed Ro’s burning skin. “Tell me, tell me what you want!”

  Urgent, demanding, the voice was reinforced by two slick fingers gliding shallowly into Ro’s depths and then withdrawing. The empty ache that filled Ro’s heart and mind for so long now seemed centered between her thighs. Ro wanted so much to be filled, to feel the ache of fullness that Alex’s fingers promised.

  “I don’t want to feel empty any longer. Please, Alex, help me.”

  Reality shrunk around Ro’s fevered mind, until it contained only her and the woman pressed against her. Nothing else mattered accept heat, and wet, and need. Her universe shifted, revolving dizzily around the core of her being. Her body was on fire. Her veins pulsed in time with her heartbeat, which in turn followed the frantic throbbing between her thighs. She could no longer tell what led what, only that her body demanded to be claimed by the one woman who truly understood her. She felt the heat along her back from Alex’s whip, a mere shadow of the warmth radiating from her thighs. Alex’s fingers felt like two flames licking at her core. She wanted to take Alex’s fiery passion within her and make it her own.

  “Then find me, Rohanna. Take what you need and find yourself.” Alex urged her on.

  As the maelstrom whipped and burnt around and through her, Ro experienced a moment of absolute clarity, her passion free and unencumbered by convention and rules; she felt power enter her chained body. Finally, totally, and without reserve, she gave herself over to Alex, accepting the gift she was offering.

  “Please, Alex, please…I need to feel you inside me.” Her words were spoken clearly, demanding and full of power, heralding her transformation.

  Alex’s power responded in kind. Her eyes bled blue and the familiar realm between dream and reality surrounded them. Rohanna strained against her restraints, then threw her head back violently and howled her desire.

  Awestruck at the sheer wildness of her lover, she could only watch mutely while Rohanna cast off the mundane bits of herself, exposing the fierce spirit underneath that transcended every false belief and human frailty she had cloaked herself in.

  Feeling Rohanna open to her in both body and spirit, Alex slid first one finger, then another, deep into Rohanna’s wetness, allowing her to take as much as she could within her. Ro’s slick walls contracted against her soaked fingers, capturing her in their muscular grip. Alex began to move slowly, savoring the tightness of velvet muscles clenching around each thrust of her invading fingers. Plunging deeper with every stroke, Rohanna’s hips rocked forward to meet each thrust, demanding more. Bringing the calloused pad of her thumb into play, she pressed gently against Ro’s clit. The answering buck was violent, setting off a wave of frantic thrusts against her captured hand. Ro was straining against her restraints to gain more leverage, throwing her head back against Alex’s shoulder. Ro’s pulse bounded noticeably beneath skin flushed red from arousal and exertion.

  “Oh God, Alex,” Rohanna sobbed. Her vision bled to red, fiery images of molten lava dancing before her as their passion brought forth the first stirrings of orgasm. Crying out, she thrust fiercely against Alex’s hand, her hips bucking wildly. “I’m going to come, please let me come!”

  “Not yet, Love, not yet,” Alex whispered. Alex slid a third finger into Rohanna’s tight depths, driving her over the edge. As Rohanna tumbled into orgasm, Alex held on tightly, feeling the rhythmic clenching of Rohanna’s muscles as she came, wetness flowing copiously over her captured fingers.

  Alex remained still, her fingers buried deep inside Rohanna’s silken walls, feeling the contractions slowly diminish in force. Gradually, Alex began to move inside her, flexing her fingers slightly, the shallow strokes bringing Rohanna back to the brink of orgasm. She abandoned her earlier subtle movements, just shy of hard enough to bring Rohanna again, and stroked her in earnest. She did this without mercy, ignoring the begging sobs coming from the racked woman arching into her.

  When Rohanna came again, it was to the sound of blood pounding through her skull and power rushing through her veins as Alex finally released the power she had held so carefully inside her, letting it flow between them until Rohanna’s spirit snatched it up greedily, feeding the faded flame of her soul. Rohanna threw her head back and howled again, a primordial sound that reverberated through her soul and ripped away the shackles of her past. Spent, Rohanna dangled bonelessly from the leather restraints at each wrist. Even kneeling, her trembling legs felt too weak to support her. She had no doubt that the restraints were the only thing keeping her upright at all. Rohanna’s voice felt raw from screaming her climax, her throat dry from lack of moisture. As the endorphin rush fled her exhausted body, a stinging pain was making itself known along her back and buttocks. Salt burned into her reddened skin from the trails of perspiration that marked her journey to this point.

  Alex stood slowly, exhausted and shaky from the intense magic she had wrought between them. Reaching up, she gently removed the soft leather cuffs restraining Rohanna’s limp hands. Lowering her gently to the ground, Alex brushed damp hair away from Ro’s face. She slept now, exhausted by her ordeal, but she would recover and be well again, given a bit of time.

  Raising her hand in front of her face, Alex watched the play of pale blue flames casting their hue across her splayed fingers. The same aura glowed softly along Rohanna’s skin, shimmering through her aura. Wherever they touched, the faint blue hue flashed to the purest white, tendrils of light reaching out between them as if drawn to each other. Alex felt the small hairs on her arms rise in response to the faint electrical charge between them. She lightly stroked Ro’s arm, then snatched her fingers away when the same sensation slid across her own skin.

  “What have I done?” she whispered. The obvious answer did not placate her as it should. The foul taste of Bellaria’s magic was gone; Rohanna was free of the tangled skein of spell after spell designed to control her. Alex had fumbled her way through the most dangerous of magicks, and they had both survived, but there was no room for pride in her accomplishment. Alex had almost pulled Rohanna’s soul apart in order to separate her from the spells that Bellaria had woven through he
r.

  “No one told me. I didn’t know.” Alex rocked back on her heels. Terror and madness bubbled up inside her, followed by a healthy dose of anger at her father. He had given her the power to heal Rohanna yet failed to tell her what the consequences might be.

  “You never told me. You should have warned me.” Shaking with rage, she roared her displeasure into the night before returning her attention back to Rohanna. She still slept. She didn’t know. Relief flooded through her, followed by a different sort of terror.

  “Goddess forgive me,” Alex whispered. The magic had worked and Ro was safe, but at a cost.

  She had taken Rohanna and worked her flesh much as she did the raw metal at her forge, hammering out the impurities in order to find the shining core that could survive the heat and flames. But in doing so, Alex had also burned away the brittleness of humanity. Without meaning to, she had taken away the part of Rohanna that made her human. Demi-Fae were not immortal. They may live extended lives, but they aged and died just like everyone in this world did.

  What will she do when she finds out? Alex tried to placate herself with the fact that Rohanna never asked what side effects the ritual might hold, but knew she was fooling herself. Rohanna trusted her. She wouldn’t have thought to ask.

  She could only hope that Rohanna would understand and accept what had been done to her when the time came to tell her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Making that one phone call was the most difficult thing Alex had ever done in her life. Listening to Bellaria’s triumphant crow made her want to strike the wall in front of her until her knuckles were bloodied. She balled her fist tight enough to make her arm shake. Alex used the pain of sharp nails digging into her palm as a substitute for following through. She had to keep her eye on the goal, and could not risk steering away from the course she had laid out for them.