An Apocalypse Rising Ch. 02

Her smooth cheek touched the rougher floor and her knees spread wide before squealing as both his hands struck her ass. "Thank me," he struck her again, "for not making you kiss it."

Her anger mixed with her heat and she had to bite it all back. "Thank you...for not making me kiss the floor." The exhalation that followed was one of utter contentment. She began to shiver as though she were naked amidst a snowstorm when she felt his fingers spreading a cool liquid at the crack of her ass. "You know what's coming, Cassea?"

"Yes, I do." She played with the thought, "something whores do for a few bits of silver. Or slaves." That last word came out as pure lust.

"I love it, girl," he said kissing that ass and biting it hard enough over and over to make her jump each time. "I released you and you crawled back. If I released you again, you'd crawl back. Who do you hate more, Cassea? Me? Or yourself?"

"It depends on when you ask," she spat.

"Drive me as I drive you, Cassea."

"I...Goddess." She began to mew and whimper and her chest heaved as he worked his shaft into the blistering tightness of her ass.

He closed his eyes, surrendering to the sensation. "You feel so good, Cassea."

"Use that word; only that word," she mewled. "Please."

"Your ass is nice and tight, slave."

"Mmmm...your ass is nice and tight, Deres. It is yours." She made guttural sounds as his shaft threatened to split her in two. "Hurt your ass. Shame and defile me."

He finally worked in to the balls, then slowly withdrew until only the head of his cock was visible to him until he pushed in smoothly, this time the, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." sound from her reverberated through the walls.

"You love watching me do this to Neral. You can't stop rubbing your slave pussy watching it."

"How...could I stop? No...oooo...no woman with an ounce of breeding could...could watch that and be unaffected. The head of... arguably the greatest house beneath the queen and she...she's naked and being sooo...oh, ohhhhhh, yessssss, lewd..filthy...improper with a mate she should never have."

Cassea loved the thought as he began to not only move through her, but slam her. "She... a noblewoman, becomes an animal for you."

He talked as he grunted into her. "She becomes what she is free to be with me, slave. There is no propriety then. She can be the animal that she is and enjoy her body and mine and Bryana's. You higher class women just think sex is supposed to be...uhhhhhhhh...proper, too. In the dark, man on top...mmmmmm...sheets carefully covering you. You think that, but...you never seem to do it yourselves."

"You lay with two women at night and...fuck my ass..." She seemed to refocus from the broken thought and started again. "You lay with two women and still crawl into my bed...needing."

"And you spread like a good slave," he sneered, watching how he disappeared into her over and over like a machine. "You suck like a good slave. You obey like a good slave."

"Because I must." She whined as her orgasm drew closer. "My owner demands...and I must. Owner of my...my leash...pulls it and I must obey. And I hate it...and I love it. Feeling both at once with your wicked cock in my ass, I want nothing else. Ever. Hurt me with your cock until I weep. I beg it."

They drove each other on and on, each drive of his cock shaving a bit more of her physical and mental resistance until she was crying incoherently, shrieking out an orgasm on what seemed like every fourth or fifth thrust as he rained sweat onto her back. Finally, even his powerful body reached its limits. "I'm going to cum, slave. I have to."

"Do it," she screamed through a blubbering sob, "shoot your seed into my ass!"

His body obeyed, almost helplessly in the end, using those final thrusts and his weight to push her to the floor as his chest heaved, panting so, that he blew her hair around with each breath before he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Shhhhhh," she cooed. "Relax. Breathe. Did your slave please?"

"Yessss."

"Mmmm...excellent. If that's my place, I may as well excel."

"That you do. If it pleases you, Cassea, willing slave or no, by the time it's over, you always win." He kissed her shoulders, finally beginning to soften inside her. "My body can never resist yours for long."

She laced her hand in his, kissing it even as she happily endured his weight. "As it should be, she said, as though to suggest anything else was lunacy. "I have had men plea for my kiss while you get whatever urge you have tended to as you will."

"Still hate me?

"No question, southie scum; as it should be for a woman of my birth to have a man like you sate himself in me."

"Still love me?"

"Always," she said softly, that tenderness returning, "as it should be."

***

Deres walked the smooth stone path that led to his home feeling quite good about the day and still tingling pleasantly from its ending. The healing of others with the magic at his command was not only virtually the only way for him to use the magic without finding himself with a noose or a blade at his neck, it was his calling. That he could take away their fear and pain and get them back to their lives brought him as much peace as it did them. With the other only acceptable public display of his abilities being pyrotechnics and mundane tricks as a traveling showman or a hired feature at rich children's birthday parties, he believed he had chosen the right path. That's not to say he never engaged in the latter though, as he would soon.

"I really don't know why you waste your time," she snipped as she marked her notebook.

"Yes, you do, Cassea." he said patiently.

She rolled her eyes. "Because you're nauseatingly sweet and noble."

"Because the poor children, like I was once, cannot wait for the public shows in the parks because they could never afford to have a performer at their party. I see no reason not to give that to them when I can. Goddess knows that life in the southern quarter is usually hardship enough." Much of the city was content to let them be "those people," and look upon them with pity or scorn.

She finished marking the date and placing the notebook back in her leather satchel before declaring victory. "Because you're nauseatingly sweet and noble."

"Did you ever have one?"

She used one hand to exile an errant curl of raven black hair from her forehead. "Yearly. My parents insisted. I waited for them to be over. Magician before presents, never after," she said, mimicking her mother's gently authoritarian tone. She thought back to those days, having come from a well-to-do family with close ties to that now-dissolved House. "Yes, yes, yes...sparkles. Pink ones. Lovely. I just stared at my gifts and clapped appropriately."

Deres looked upon her with his own blue eyes. "Your mother was right. Open before and you're so focused on your presents that you are paying no attention to the entertainment that they paid good money for."

She gleefully loosed an arrow to pierce his logic as they turned up the path to the main door of the manor. "Entertainment that I was paying no attention to anyway because there were gifts piled and hidden from me, their ornate paper and flowing ribbon...mocking me. If they had given them to me before the entertainment at least I would have had them instead of having to wait."

He looked over the perfectly manicured hedges and the wildflowers that dotted the courtyard with satisfaction, their frenzied clashes of color somehow coming together in a way that made sense to the eye like an abstract painting. The courtyard had originally been nothing but hedges and manicured grass, but Neral had had the grounds redone as a gift to him because he loved the wildflowers so. Indeed, they were one of the things that drew him back home. "I'm sure you were simply a joy to parent."

Her pride was obvious. "Ask them and they shall tell you that I was the crowning achievement of their lives."

He laughed, brushing her hand. "Would that be news to your sister? You know, the one I hear referred to regularly by those in our shared circles as 'the nice one?'"

She brushed off the comment with a huff and an exasperated voice. "That I am saddled with such a blindly optimistic, perpetually-happy-in-the-face-of-almost-any-reality little princess so close to me in bloodline is a constant trial by the Goddess."

"And it's one that you bear well."

She narrowed her eyes at his tone, willing him to burn nothing. "You are making light of the horrors in my life."

He smiled as the door grew closer. Not at all. I am simply standing in awe of your absolute mastery of hyperbole."

"Stop it."

Before he could reach the door it had been opened by Tessa, House Mistress for the House of Jaye. Her emerald eyes went to each as she smiled in way that showed all that it was common for her as her red hair caught the sun."Master. Cassea. I trust your day went well?"

She took their cloaks as he spoke. "A very good day all around and it is good to be back home at a reasonable hour. I assume the general is still in progressing through her day and will be home for a late dinner."

"The general is in the living room, actually. The queen canceled the scheduled meeting."

He turned to her after beat of his heart that was slightly faster than the one before. "Lovely. No problems for her, I hope."

Tessa shook her head. "None that I am aware of. The queen simply decided that the last meetings could wait and that she was finished for the day."

"Excellent."

He made his way down the corridor to the living room and the sight there made his heart sing and body ache in equal measure. Swaying gently together and kissing tenderly were his wife and Bryana, the woman they both loved. It was not always so, what with Bryana having been hired to corrupt Neral into the plot against the queen.

He liked looking at them, each so different in their own ways. They stood roughly the same height, both tall and proud, Neral's body a warriors body, muscled and proud with the marks of battles fought and won, hair that dropped below her neck when she let it down, and eyes of liquid brown that only accented her sculpted, regal features.

Bryana's blue eyes alone could whisper sweet nothings or yell at you from across the room. Her lissome frame could make her appear to glide wherever she went and her soft features made her appear far more youthful than her years. Which he loved more could change depending on the moment. "I appear to be interrupting."

"I was able to break her away from her forever immersion in your magic books, Husband."

Bryana reverently caressed her cheek as she teased, "Forgive me for wishing to learn skills that require finesse, General. I suppose I should stop now and simply learn to hack and slash my way through every problem."

"Hack the problem's legs off and, generally speaking, the problem is no longer a problem."

Bryana grinned wickedly. "Burn it to ash and it can't crawl after you."

Neral tried not to smile back and mostly succeeded. "I can concede that, I think. You are such a bright woman; one of the many things I have grown to love about you."

"List them," she teased.

Before Neral could respond, he found a place between them and simply relished the sensation before answering. "She is an extraordinarily skilled mage."

She knew he spoke the truth. Bryana was so voracious in consuming the spells and magic lore he'd brought with him she'd essentially put herself in the position of apprentice once again because there was so much more to know than she could have conceived of in her wildest dreams. It was still intoxicating.

Still, he was her mate as well and he had unwittingly talked himself into a trap. Relationship etiquette demanded that she spring it. "Thank you, Deres. Since you've started off, why don't you list all my fine qualities?"

The tactician in Neral saw where it was leading and, naturally, piled on. "Name mine, too."

Bryana narrowed her eyes, making him the center of the universe. "And don't miss any."

He felt their eyes on him, but didn't dare wither. Instead, he gave them both his most charming smile, "I'm starving, so let's make that our topic of conversation over supper."

Neral nodded slowly in approval. "Excellent tactical retreat. Perfectly acceptable response and you buy yourself some time."

"I try to learn from both of you wherever possible." He stopped himself in mid-thought as a tingling sensation crept along the base of his skull like nerves coming awake after you've rested on a limb for too long and he turned his head tilting it toward the feeling.

Concern played over Neral's features and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Deres?"

He turned on his heel and moved briskly through the house, to the kitchen, and down into the maze of tunnels under the manor only glancing at the looks of confusion from the kitchen staff over their looks and hurried pace. Calling it a small castle was actually more appropriate, but deference to the fact that it was dwarfed by Queen Evaline's home gave it the lesser title. "Deres, what's the matter?" Neral's voice carried an edge now.

"Nothing. I think. Follow, please."

His weak reassurance did very little to allay her fears, but she decided to cling to it for now all the same. She glanced behind her as she walked. "Is this a magic thing?"

Bryana responded with a guess."I would expect so."

They moved through the tangle of pathways meant to confuse invaders and allow escape for the occupants as only those that knew every foot could. Neral's mother would take them through sections blindfolded so they could learn them. Siege and infiltration were things far in their feudal past, but it held allure as a place for her children to play, and since she couldn't stop them or have them watched day and night they needed to be taught. That, and A'marin Jaye was just paranoid enough regarding the game of Court politics that she wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility that they might need the knowledge to save their lives.

They made a hard right turn that led to a small room that Deres had claimed as a meditative space. It was covered floor to ceiling in polished white marble with snuffed candles surrounding a small silver box on a pedestal at the head of the room. He flicked his index and forefinger and the torches that lined the room flared to life. On the floor, in the center of the space was a maze-like glyph within a circle and etched into the floor.

Moving to the box in three long strides, he opened it and Neral saw his hand emerge with a sphere of luminescent green floating above his palm. Apparently by force of will, he sent it into the center of the glyph before walking around it to stand again with her and Bryana while the fluid seeped into every groove. It seemed to Neral that there shouldn't have been enough of whatever it was in the sphere to fill the space, but fill it it did, giving everything around it a muddy brown hue.

She watched Deres look on with a hint of a smile and clear anticipation. He took her hand and Bryana's lovingly.

Once the glyph was filled she could see the liquid flow briefly before flaring in what should have been a blinding flash, though it didn't blind. In the center of the glyph now stood a wisp of a woman with strawberry blonde hair past her shoulders and eyes of ice blue under sharp brows. Few wrinkles marked her face and her black dress hugged her frame. Modest jewelry adorned her in the form of rings and necklace. It all came together to create a picture of fierce elegance.

Next to her was a black backpack and she surveyed the room with satisfaction before smiling upon Deres. Even if he hadn't told them endless stories of her and described her perfectly, Neral would have known her simply from the way she looked upon him.

He beamed. "Mother."

She opened her arms and met him in the middle. "Deres." She squeezed him with considerable strength and relished the hug in return. She ran her fingers through his close-cropped dark hair before grinning at him. "You simply must grow that out so I can muss it. I miss that."

"Why do you think I cut it short?"

She shook her head and nudged his shoulders. "Tsk, you and your endless rebellions," she joked, kissing his cheek. The women behind him looked on in wonder. The notion of him as rebel was amusing. Not that he was stiff by any means, but 'rebel' was not an apt description of the man they knew.

He extended his arm towards the women in his life. "Maylin Xon, my wife, Neral Jaye."

She gave a respectful nod and a grin. "I've heard much about you. Magister, is it?

She literally waved it off. "I only use that when I must. 'Maylin' or 'Mother' is quite fine. I've heard so much about you as well." When Neral looked puzzled, Maylin elaborated. "We commune, dear. It's magic and complicated I'm sure you'd rather I didn't put you to sleep talking about it."

"I've actually learned some of the fundamental theory. It's quite fascinating, if also, as you say, complicated."

Her eyes twinkled in amusement."Now you have me curious to test you, if only to see how well my son can teach."

"Speaking of," he interrupted, "my apprentice and mate, Bryana Lia."

She bowed deeply, profoundly respectful of the title and the skill she knew the other must possess to have the title. "Magister Xon."

"Same goes for you, Bryana. To claim you as a mate means you have a piece of his heart, so you are family all the same."

"I am honored."

Maylin touched the aura of the other and then looked at her with a more critical eye. "You have been changed."

Bryana was slightly taken aback that she could simply know by looking. Magister indeed. "Yes, Magis...Maylin. It was necessary."

Maylin gave her son a look that Neral saw in her own mother when she demanded explanation without saying a word. The method used to change her was the ultimate punishment and control in Adar, his adopted home. Magic and science came together and reshaped those rare few that were irredeemable in any other way. There were few that had the skill to create the means and it was a crime to use it on another without cause or due process. She returned her gaze to Bryana. "May I touch your mind?"

Without hesitation, she tilted her head forward and waited for Maylin. The magister brought her delicate fingers to and around her left temple, muttering the spell as she went. Bryana lowered her guard and allowed the entry. It was deft and considerate of her. Maylin looked for what she needed to and ignored the rest as Bryana spoke. "I would have caused much death and pain. I might have ignited an all-out war. It had to be done. I understand that."

Maylin's eyes moved as though reading, which, in a real way, she was. Slowly, she nodded, pulling away. "Yes. I believe it did." The gray that fell upon her contemplating what else that would have to be done took her from the happiness of reunion. Her eyes met her son's. "I need your help."

She explained what she saw in her investigation and moved to who she believed was behind it as she circled the room. "Drexa was a great magister, and perhaps one of the greatest. She had a great intellect and greater curiosity. That benefited us all, but her curiosity turned to...dark things." She was visibly disgusted contemplating some of those things. "There are some magics forbidden even in Adar; magics that create the unnatural or that can only exist at the absolute expense of others...magics that do not create or sustain a balance regardless of scale."

"All magics create something unnatural though," Neral offered. "Close a wound that would have otherwise killed someone and you have prevented a death that arguably should have happened."

Maylin, nodded, having had this discussion often with young students. "It is believed that that disruption balances out over the life of the individual. They may do good things or bad, but that fate puts the magic within reach of the one healed suggests that it is to the benefit of the universe that that person get the aid they need."