The Air Witch's Dragon

by Severine Wolfe

  Chapter Six

  Cassie met him at the portal near her brother’s home with a grim look on her face.

  “What has happened? Is anyone injured?” She immediately pelted him.

  “What is Sofia’s story?” He asked. He saw no reason to beat around the bush.

  Cassie’s eyes went wide. She looked at him askance. “Why?”

  “Because I have just now realized the extent of the quest I have undertaken and that it might never be achievable at all.”

  “Have you asked her?”

  Ryluth knew that was the obvious next question, but it irritated him.

  “She doesn’t talk about it, period. She seems... lighter... somehow, in her spirit, but then I made a step in her direction and she froze like a rabbit in the path of a wolf. I do not know what to do and I don’t wish to harm her.”

  The witch stood looking at him for some time before coming to a decision.

  “I cannot tell you much other than she was in Faisal’s harem and that she never speaks of it, ever, to anyone,” she held up a hand when he began to protest. “However, I can bring you some people who may be able to assist you in your ‘quest’.” She smirked as she did finger quotes at the word quest.

  Ryluth came to full attention when Two Demons and a Demi approached the portal area, and with females behind them. He recognized Seth, of course, and his mate Brigid. Both looked as if they’d been interrupted, their clothing askew, but from what Ryluth had heard, that was nearly a perpetual state for the couple. The Demons he only recognized as guards that had accompanied Gramish during their talks. He could not remember their names or if they have ever been given to him.

  “You know my brother, Seth,” Cassie said as they gathered around. “His wife Brigid. The two Demons are Tal and Merl, with their mates Ava and Lauren. These three women were imprisoned with Sofia during her time here. Perhaps they will be able to help you with your... quest.”

  Ryluth desperately wanted to roll his eyes at Cassie’s teasing, but this was too important. The men stepped back with Cassie, a few dozen yards away and the women just looked at him, expectantly.

  “Thank you for coming,” he said, unsure of how he should proceed. He didn’t want to insult them or Sofia by the questions he needed to ask. “This is about Sofia.”

  All three women nodded their heads and looked sad.

  “I do not wish to harm her or scare her in any way. She is very dear to me,” he explained. “But, what she experienced here...” he looked around. “It still weighs heavily on her at some moments.”

  They all looked at each other and then the dusky female and the blonde one nodded at Brigid who took a breath and nodded. She looked back at her mate who nodded to her and she looked up at Ryluth with tears in her eyes.

  “You understand that none of us were treated well here, correct?” Ryluth nodded and she took another breath, another look at her mate who again encouraged her. “Sofia suffered the worst of all of us in Faisal’s harem. I was treated well once they realized I was a healer. I was still raped occasionally, but I was not beaten or included in their horrible religious rites.” Tears streamed down her face as she closed her eyes against the memories that flooded her mind. Ryluth hated causing her this pain, but he had to know how to help his Sofia.

  Brigid took a deep breath. “Sofia’s magic was only slightly stronger here than it was on Earth,” she explained. “She was not able to make the Demons forget she existed, as Ava did, or cast a strong illusion on herself bad enough so they wouldn’t touch her as Lauren was able to do. She was brutalized repeatedly because she was so beautiful and the fact that she stayed angry and never became accepting of the rapes.”

  Ryluth swallowed the lump suddenly present in his throat and nodded at her to continue.

  “We will not tell you of particulars,” Ava interrupted when Brigid would have spoken. “No man wants to know those things about the woman he is considering as a possible mate.”

  That was when he realized that the horrors he had imagined for his beautiful Sofia had to be even more horrific than he could imagine. It turned his stomach thinking of how she had suffered.

  “I was called in many times to heal her after... things happened,” Brigid said, tears still streaming down her face. “There were times I wasn’t sure she would live, but she always did.”

  “She was not happy at having survived,” Lauren said sadly. “She was not as bad as Aliera, trying to goad them into killing her as she didn’t want to live without Arminius, but she would not submit, ever.”

  “Afterward, she was not happy back on Earth. It was blatantly obvious,” Ava said. “She was no longer suicidal, so that gave us all hope, but she was also not embracing a future. I feel like she just followed us here after Brigid decided to come work for Seth because there was nothing on Earth holding her there.”

  All three women nodded.

  “But,” Lauren explained. “She could not be happy here either. She pretended to be happy when each of us mated, but it was empty. I thought it was because they were Demons.” She looked up at Ryluth then. “She would never be alone with a male, even on Earth, even with human males. She trusted no one, not even us, because she would never speak to us of her true feelings.”

  “She lost all of her trust here,” Brigid lamented. “She trusts nothing and no one, Dragon King. Without trust she cannot have the happiness we have.”

  “She desperately wants children,” Ava said. “She will drop anything at any time to watch our children, and I think it’s because she thinks that is the only way she will ever have them herself. But, she cannot trust a male enough to ever be with him in the way that would assure children.”

  “God knows Brigid and Seth can,” Lauren smirked with a grin at her red headed friend.

  “Like no one has found you and Merl going at it on a kitchen table,” Brigid shot back.

  Ryluth needed to get control of this. “She seemed lighter lately, and she was receptive to eating meals with me, alone.”

  All three women stopped their banter and stared at him open mouthed.

  “Alone?”

  “A meal?”

  “But after lunch, this afternoon, I took a step towards her and she froze and she didn’t look scared, but she was quite terrified on some level she may not have even known.” He was sure of that now. He realized that Sofia was trying with him. “She had allowed me to kiss her.”

  All three Human witches took a step back and Lauren put a hand to her throat.

  “She allowed you that intimacy?” Ava gasped.

  He nodded. “I had not realized, at the time, the import of what she was allowing. The other females who came with her seem to be quite open and free.”

  “Not all of them were held captive here,” Brigid explained.

  “You say she seemed ‘lighter’ in spirit just lately?” Lauren had grasped on to that.

  Ryluth nodded.

  “Are there half-elf twins there?”

  He nodded again and saw the three women look at each other.

  “Perhaps she asked them for help with her memories?” Brigid asked and the two other females nodded. Brigid then looked up at him. “She may have had them dull her memories of what happened to her here, so that she could attempt to move forward,” she shook her head and looked at Ava. “Why didn’t she just ask you to burn them away?”

  “Because then she would have forgotten us and she did not want that,” Ava explained sadly. “She was trying so hard to cope on her own.”

  “What is the difference?” Ryluth was confused as to what the three females were referring to. It sounded like mind magic which was not known on Wushin as it was impossible to penetrate a Dragon mind with magic or any other thing except a spear or sword.

  “Air magic can dull the edges of memories, but not remove them entirely,” Lauren explained. “Fire magic burns the memory away and you have no recollection whatsoever. Ava did that during her time here to hide from the Demons.” She looked at her
friend. “However, Sofia chose to ask spirit mages to help dull the memories and their effects on her mind when she went to the twins, as we suspect she did.”

  “I don’t understand what all this means,” he growled in frustration, no neared to fully understanding Sofia than before he’d come here.

  Brigid put a hand on his arm to comfort him. “She sought help so that she could proceed in her life, and it gives us hope that she is now on her way to acceptance and moving forward, as Cassie says.”

  “It means that she is no longer mired in the past, what has happened to her, and she’s ready to put it aside and move forward,” Lauren offered him.

  That gave him hope. “And you think that was why she allowed me the honor of kissing her?” For that’s what it was.

  All three nodded and smiled.

  A breath rushed out of his chest and he had not realized he was even holding his breath.

  “She is ready for her new future.” Ava smiled broadly, now very happy.

  “This is excellent news,” Lauren agreed, clapping her hands together.

  “Sofia was always defiant, but she always endured, for to endure meant you survived to fight another day,” Ava said quietly. “She has endured and survived long enough and I believe that now she is ready to live.”

  That gave Ryluth hope. He nodded to the females and their males standing away from them, giving him a gimlet eye.

  “Thank you, ladies. You have been most helpful.”

  “Be patient, Dragon King,” Brigid warned as he was about to unlock the portal. “Treat her with extreme care. You will have to make her want you.”

  He stared at her a moment, wondering what message she was trying to send him, but he nodded and stepped back into his own world once more.

  Knowing what he needed to do, he smiled and went to gather up supplies to take with him to his private home.

  *****

  Sofia wandered about Ryluth’s home, looking into each door way, each room and closet. His library was extensive and none of it called to her.

  She smiled thinking of her tutors throughout her learning years and how they had despaired of ever interesting her in reading. It didn’t appeal to her. She could read, and she could read in several languages, she just did not prefer it to other things, not like some other witches she could name, thinking of Lauren and smiling.

  The French Illusionist was always with her nose in a book since they had been freed. She had begged Cassie for books when they first went back to Earth. She preferred it to watching TV. The only movies she watched were ones made from the books she read. The worst thing that anyone had ever done to another person was Bax handing the woman comic books. Lauren had fallen in love with the superheroes and had often pulled an illusion of a woman with black hair wearing a bathing suit with a glowing rope. Cassie had rolled around on her couch laughing.

  Sofia preferred the kitchen and she quickly found herself back there, looking over the supplies laid into the pantries and cupboards. She wasn’t sure how much time she had, but considering they’d just cleaned up from lunch before Ryluth had to leave, she could easily whip up something from home for dinner. She checked the supplies again, and smiled. She would make spaghetti with fresh noodles. She found a cloth to use as an apron, found a knife, bowls and other things she needed, sniffed out some herbs, and got to work.

  While she worked, she thought about how comfortable she felt around Ryluth. She had made damned sure to never be alone with a male, regardless of his mated status, ever, since she’d been freed. But, with the Dragon, she found actually wanted to spend time with him. She didn’t feel... threatened. That thought made her stop working the dough for the noodles. He had stepped towards her with a look on his face that she recognized. It was the look of an aroused male. It had frightened her for a slight second. Until she shook herself mentally and realized that the thought of Ryluth, a male, wanting her, sexually, didn’t turn her stomach and demand she flee.

  Evidently, he had recognized the look on her face when she froze, because he had withdrawn and then fled. She was honest enough with herself to admit that’s what he had done. God alone knew the man was trying not to overwhelm her.

  Sofia wondered if she could become intimate with a male. Would she freak out? It was beyond her imagination that she could react to a male as she had seen her friends do, several times, multiple times, in so many inappropriate places... When did a linen closet become fun?

  However, with Ryluth, the mere thought of intimacy intrigued her. Especially considering that she was not repulsed by his kiss. Demons had never kissed the women. Shove their bodies into their mouths, but never their own tongues. He had been her first kiss and she had really liked kissing him.

  She was confused by what her body was feeling. She felt warm, and languid and wanting... wanting what? She knew it wasn’t sex, or at least sex as she knew it. No, she wanted the tenderness that her friends were shown by their mates. She had witnessed such tender moments between her friends and their mates. Especially, between Cassie and Bax, and Lucky and Jake, because they had no mating bond driving their need to be together.

  She worked dough and thought of the time she’d walked into Seth’s herb garden to ask Lucky a question and seen Jake tendering caressing Lucky’s face and they spoke quietly, and then he had leaned down and tenderly kissed her lips and the look on Lucky’s face had been one of such love the Sofia had quickly forgotten why she even needed to talk to Lucky and she had quickly and quietly gotten herself back into the house, with a quick look out the window to see the couple sharing a close embrace, their foreheads touching.

  That was what she longed for. She wanted that for herself, but she was afraid to reach for it. It was a huge step for her. She had never been wooed, never been courted, never been seduced, so to her, sex was a weapon that males had used against her. It was degrading and it was painful.

  However, with Ryluth, she was curious. She had watched her friends mate with males and enjoy it, so intellectually, she knew it could be done, but done by her? She wasn’t so sure. It was terrifying to think about, well, it had been. Now, that edge was removed and she found that she could consider the thought of Ryluth in a sexual context.

  She breathed out and sent up prayers to every god in the universe for the half-elf twins, and prayed the pair were mated to males who didn’t mind living close as those two would never separate.

  She finished making the dough, set it aside and covered the bowl while she kept watch on the tomato sauce she was making. She considered the herbs and chose the ones she intended to use carefully. However, with Wushin being a magic world, she knew they would be stronger than on earth, even with her cooking them instead of making a potion. She added the spices and carefully tasted the sauce. She decided it was nearly time for mushrooms. She had squealed with delight to find them in the cupboard.

  She then checked on the dough for the bread and found it had doubled, so she began kneading it again. It would need one more rise for the texture she wished and she made sure the oven was at the proper heat. Sofia was in her element and she nearly sang as she cooked.

  “Screw that,” she smiled and began to sing some of the songs she remembered from her childhood. In her element, in her arena, she sang.

  *****

  That was how Ryluth found her when he returned to his cave. He could hear her voice from his hoard room. She had a sweet voice and the translator spell they had cast over the world when they had begun trying to lure mates to them told him she sang a love song. He had no idea what a villanelle was, it didn’t translate, or why she would make one, but the song made her happy and it filled his heart with joy to know that.

  He smiled and looked down at the package he had carried home. Setting a stasis spell on it, he left it at the door and quickly changed into his human form. He crept up on his kitchen, from where her singing was coming. He stopped outside the doorway, not wanting to make her stop singing. Her song was one of longing... of want. He was entranced. She sto
pped singing and he entered the kitchen, clapping his hands in appreciation for such a wonderful performance.

  “That was beautiful!” He cried out to her. “I had no idea you had such a beautiful singing voice.

  She blushed and grasped at the counter in front of her. “Thank you. I have not had much cause to sing in recent years.”

  He walked over to her, keeping the island counter between them. “It was a delight. Feel free to sing any time you want to.”

  She smiled up at him shyly and nodded.

  “What is that wonderful aroma?” He looked around his kitchen which looked well used.

  “Oh!” She smiled brightly now. “I made an Earth dish for dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

  His laughter rang out throughout the kitchen. “Feel free to cook any time you like, as well. Do I smell bread?”

  Sofia waved a towel at him. “Go get washed up for dinner, it is nearly done.”

  He walked to his room, chuckling. He had chosen the right gift for his Sofia.

  The meal was perfection itself and Ryluth finished every last bit of it, to Sofia’s delight.

  “I made dessert, if you have any room left,” She teased him, again, with a shy smile. “It is gelato, from my home country of Italy.”

  He nodded and she ran into the stasis cupboard where she had placed frozen air around the bowl she’d eventually put the gelato in and dished some up for them both. She placed it before him but didn’t take her seat, holding her own small bowl.

  “I see you found everything just fine,” he smiled up at her, delighted that she had enjoyed herself in his home. He brought the spoon to his mouth and he closed his eyes in near rapture. “That is delicious!”

  Sofia took her seat and took a bite and he watched as her eyes dilated and then her eyelids slowly lowered. He hardened, wanting to see her looking at him like that. He swallowed and then took another bite so she wouldn’t catch him staring lustfully at her and run away.