Flame of Cytherea 02

The feeling was heaven, his pleasure was unbelievably sensitive, and her welcoming warm wet center was tight and smoother than silk. If anything it was a little better than last night, but he didn't think about why that would be, he couldn't think at all with the intensity of it. He started to saw in and out quickly, pulling back on her hair with one hand while randomly slapping one of her ass cheeks.

She gasped and said breathlessly, "Oh goddess, take me hard, make me yours..."

He slowed a tiny bit so he could thrust harder and deeper, she started to buck her body back into him and rock her hips slightly when their skin slapped together. It felt so good, almost too good, yet, somehow he was lasting. He looked down at the curve of her neck as her hair was raised away from it, held in his fist. The way her tight ass shook every time he slammed into her, the perfect curves of her.

The mewling sounds of pleasure coming from her spurred him on and he found it within himself to go faster and suddenly felt her tighten around him.

"OH fuck, Justin I'm..."

He felt her flood as it ran over his cock, her honey soaked his balls and the inside of his legs. He picked back up speed as her core let up a bit, though she was still trembling in pleasure he started pounding into her again. He thought about everything that had happened since he met her, all that he had shared with this beautiful woman. He realized it was so much more than her physical beauty that attracted him to her.

He felt his emotions well up and then something unexpected happened. He burst into white flame and the flames coated and surrounded them both... He heard her sharp gasp of pleasure and understood, the pleasure he was feeling had been multiplied as well, at least twice as much past the already enhanced pleasure. His mind barely noted the fact he now knew the enhanced pleasure was from his power... somehow.

He loved the doggie style position, but he wanted to see her eyes, see into her eyes, as they experienced this together, so he backed away and flipped her over. But when he tried to mount her she wrapped her legs around him and threw him to the side. Next thing he knew she was lowering herself down, impaling herself on him with a challenging look he found incredibly sexy. Did she think he would argue?

Everything was so intense, yet, they seemed to have been gifted with an equal amount of control, it was obvious to him he'd have lost control in thirty seconds if it wasn't so.

He licked her nipple when she leaned forward, dangling her breasts over his face. They started to bounce in his face as she slid up and down his pole vigorously. He reached up and started kneading them as she rode him hard, up and down, their skin slapping together as she simply impaled herself each time by dropping her body down.

He locked his eyes with hers and he lost himself in them, and in the pleasure, until he reached his peak. He cried out in pleasure and she gasped as his member expanded within her.

She leaned down farther and in a mewling, begging, but somehow demanding whisper said, "Yes, fill me, that's mine, give it."

As he started pumping his seed into her womb he felt her lock up in pleasure above him, gasping out his name as her hot velvety core milked the rest of his offering. As he stared up into her eyes, he wondered if she could feel it to, if she could feel the presence of the goddess, or if she just felt the enhanced pleasure. He wouldn't ask though, and he knew she wouldn't talk of it either, if she did.

She kissed him teasingly and nipped at his lip, then slowly rose off his slowly softening member. She lay down next to him with a brilliant smile on her face and snuggled into his side.

The flames slowly died around them and he smiled back questioningly, for her smile was not one of satisfaction, or at least not completely, but it was also almost smug.

She answered his questioning glance with a question, "The flame of course, you know what that means?"

He thought about it for a moment, and remembered the feelings he had when the flames had ignited around them. He considered it, and all he had learned and realized the truth. Compassion was the trigger for him earlier, but only because compassion was a form or expression of love. Maybe not romantic love, but love nonetheless.

Love was the trigger, of course, it had to be he realized. Then, it all caught up with him and he blushed scarlet realizing what that meant. Perhaps he wasn't ready to set up house and have a kid, after all it had only been forty eight hours, but there was part of him that already felt love for the woman lying in his arms, and his power had made that painfully obvious.

She kissed him again and said, "Don't be embarrassed, just this morning I abandoned my inn, temporarily perhaps, but I did it all the same, just because I couldn't bear the thought of letting you out of my sight. Maybe you aren't the only one. We should get some sleep."

She rolled away from him and at first he was confused, then he understood, she had decided to follow the rules tonight. His arms felt empty. It had only been two days, there was no way they were ready to move in with each other. There was no way, it was like an engagement here, or a tryout for being mates. It would be absolutely insane for him to ask, as bad as his power blurting out he loved her.

He looked over and meant to say goodnight, but what he whispered was, "Will you sleep with me tonight?"

He cringed as her back stiffened and cursed himself for being stupid and not listening to what he himself had thought. But despite knowing her such a short time, he already knew, there was no point in denying the love he felt now. It may not last, but they could try, see how it went... right? He just wished he had sounded more confident when he asked. He waited, his mind on pins and needles, for the answer.

Chapter 7

Katrina's back stiffened in surprise, and she felt her eyes moisten. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his arms. After her confusion all day, it had been their earlier talk, as he held her so gently while she explained the three levels of commitment. First showing interest, to staying together, then to mating. Then he had asked her that question and it had horrified her.

But as she explained that denying love, any love, would be heresy it had struck her in an unexpected way. She had fallen for him, she had been lying to herself all day. She was ready to live with him to give it a chance and see if it led to kids, or failure.

She was terrified though, even with the flames showing her he loved her. She wondered if it was just temporary, just based on the fact she was all he knew of this world really. She had taken him in and given him work, because she could tell he was a good man, explained things to him. She blushed, then she had seduced him...

Is it any wonder his feelings would grow so quickly in light of that?

Was that all it was? A temporary infatuation? She knew she was being foolish, she didn't even know if her feelings were more than temporary, but she had been hurt before. She knew she was attractive, but at least she didn't have to worry that it was just lust, his power activating had proved it wasn't, and had made her deliriously happy.

So why was she lying ten feet away instead of feeling warm and safe in his arms? She dried her eyes out, decision made, and rolled onto her knees and stood. She walked over and he looked questioning until she lay down beside him and cuddled into his warm hard body. She kissed him softly.

"I would love to..."

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Nora caught that last bit with her wind ability. She hadn't been spying exactly, but every ten minutes or so she had used the wind to carry their voices to her, she figured it was better than invading their privacy in person to see if they were done yet. She was exhausted, although not as much as she would have been if she hadn't been restored by Justin's white flames earlier.

She started walking back to the camp, ready for some sleep, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and gaped as a very large bird flew over their position. It had wings of pure fire, and the body and head of the bird were sheathed in bright flames.

Nora growled, "Fucking hell, what is that girl thinking, nothing but air between her ears."

She turned and started to chase her, then stopped, looking back at the camp. Well this is a fine thing she thought angrily. The king would want her to go after the princess, but she needed to protect the Flame. She considered it shortly then stomped back to the camp.

She spoke to them in a growl, so much for her toning it down she thought, "Listen, I just saw princess Nicole fly over. I don't know what the hell the girl is thinking but she is probably going to the southern towns to help me kill the sons of... invaders. So stay here, don't move, I can run much faster alone... I'll be back in two hours, maybe three."

The both nodded to her in agreement so she turned and ran for the south, cursing the princess the whole way...

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Captain Danth frowned at the scout that was reporting. Apparently the entire force of fifty soldiers was currently burning in a deep pit a mile south of the town. He was a little worried about that, only having thirty soldiers and not knowing what happened to fifty, but he really had no choice.

He ordered a pair of scouts to return and report what happened to Arnath. In addition they needed to report that he was about to take the town and pacify it. He ordered the other scouts to report the results of that but to only get close enough to the town to watch. If he blundered into the same thing as the other captain, at least it would get reported back. Scant comfort but there it was.

He ordered his men forward in three teams of ten. Teams were usually six but he wanted to be sure of it, he ordered two guards on the front and back door as the other six entered the houses and hoped to hell that would be enough...

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Nicole was coming up to the first town, she was nervous despite the fact she was a phoenix. She wondered how she was going to locate Nora so she circled the first town she came to. She saw some enemy soldiers, they were patrolling the streets, and she filled herself with a steely determination and dove. Her wingspan was thirty feet, her body was about the size of a wagon and fire fell from her long feathered tail.

She flew up the street, just a few feet off the ground at a very high speed, but she could still see every detail around her. Soldiers on both sides of the street caught fire as she passed, dying in seconds, turning to dust a few seconds after that. One in her way turned and pushed wind in her direction. She cawed loudly in contempt as her fire absorbed it and the sheathing flames grew larger, she brushed the man with her tail as she passed, incinerating him in less than a second.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the eighteen year old innocent girl cried out in horror at the slaughter she was causing, but the part of her in control was an eighteen year old bird of prey, these were invaders, enslavers, followers of a dark god. Death would be their reward.

She flew to the next street and watched in frustration as the soldiers dove into homes and businesses. She didn't want to burn down the whole town, and in human form she would still be formidable, but much easier to kill. Maybe when she found Nora they could come back. She winged off to the next town which was Nerin.

It was fifteen miles away and took her less than ten minutes. As she flew up the road she saw a large contingent of thirty troops approaching the town but still out in the open. She shrieked a challenging cry and dove for them. She cursed herself for not remaining silent as four of them lifted their hands. She was grabbed by telekinesis and held in the air. She saw a nasty smile on one of them, then felt pain explode in her head.

She felt her magic slipping from her grasp and knew if she lost it she would change back to human and be killed. She panicked and gripped harder despite the pain and flashed her wings to a burning white flame almost as bright as the sun, for just a moment, as she shrieked as loud as she could.

She felt the pain and restraints fall away, all of the talents attacking her were off balance and temporarily blinded from the bright flashing light and the very loud high pitched screech from her beak. She wasted no time and flew over them, burning them all as she struggled to remain conscious.

She passed out from the pain, the desperate burst of magic, and using the last of her power to burn thirty men at once, too many. Luckily she was just a few feet from the ground when she crash landed and changed form...

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The scouts considered walking over and killing her, but what if she woke up? Plus, she was real close to the town, and they were ordered not to enter it for any reason. As they argued they saw a woman appear out of nowhere, look down at the passed out woman and shake her head with disgust.

They clearly heard, "At least she killed a ton of the fuckers," in a grudging approval.

They watched as she picked up the unconscious woman, threw her over her shoulder, and then started running north. Obviously the escaped wind user lives. They decided they made the right decision in staying hidden else they would probably be dead. They headed back to report to Arnath. They drew straws to see who got stuck doing it, they were pretty sure that scout was about to die.

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Sally was terrified and there was a war going on in her mind. She didn't look like much of a threat, she was only just over five feet tall. She had long raven black hair which was rare this far south. Her eyes were a deep brown and her skin was much darker than most, it was more a light brown.

Her neighbors, the town she lived in, were good people. She thought they might not care about her secret, but she had promised her mother to never reveal it. Her mother had told her about their homeland to the north of Abelaweth named Uleni. Uleni was an even harsher place for women, and their family secret revealed meant death.

Her mother had told her if her talent became known, even if the villagers here didn't care, word would eventually travel of the dark skinned woman with great power, and Uleni would hear of it, and send assassins. Uleni regarded any woman of power with suspicion, though tolerated them as long as they followed the rigid rules of their society.

But her family secret was even worse, mages in Uleni were revered, but if the talent fell to a woman, she was branded a witch, an outcast, an evil, and summarily killed. Sally's secret was her bloodline, every daughter born of her family, according to her mother, was a mage... a witch.

So she had promised to never reveal her ability, ever. Yesterday afternoon she wouldn't have dreamed of questioning it. Life and family were more important than power, and she would never break a promise, break her word.

Yet, here she was, close to the Egerian border heading for the mines, where all the people here would be worked until death. How could she not reveal herself? What good was dying as a slave just to keep a secret. Yet she was afraid, she did not want to be hunted by her former countrymen, she did not want to break the promise she had made her mother. But... how could a promise be more important than all these people's lives? Would not her shame be worth the cost?

The very people she had grown up with. Perhaps if it was just her, she could stay strong, look for another way out and hope. But all these people. Tears ran down her face as she looked around. There were only five guards, she could see their magic and feel it. One had fire, the rest were earth, affinity for weapons, clean/refresh and balance.

She whispered, "I'm so sorry mother," as she gathered clouds in the sky, bringing a storm overhead. Maybe they would not be able to tell where the power came from. She brought the rain and the wind... then the lightning.

Her friends were all gasping as the five soldiers fell to lightning and looked fearfully up in the sky. She felt a little stab of guilt at that and the storm dissipated as quickly as it had formed. No one else moved so she walked over to the head guard and fished the keys off his blackened corpse and started to remove everyone's cuffs.

She noticed they started to look at her suspiciously and her hopes to keep it a secret died. Of course they knew. They already knew everyone else's power, it was only hers they didn't know, it wasn't hard to figure out.

Then she saw their looks were hard, questioning. She understood of course, why let them be taken to begin with, why let the soldiers take their town. She lowered her head in shame and tried to explain.

"My old country, Uleni, they kill woman that show mage powers. Mages are well known, and if my family secret gets out they will send assassins."

Her friend Hanna shook her head, "Does that matter now? How many lives could you save if you use the power the goddess gifted you with? Can you really continue hiding it and let all those die that you could save?"

She shook her head in despair, "No, I cannot. But I am now an oath breaker, and I must find a way to make amends."

It seemed no matter what she did, she would be shamed. Keep a promise and let people die, or break it. Keep breaking it really, since she had already done so. She knew what she had to do, she would go north, seek out a worthy end for herself. Perhaps if she died the Uleni will not bother to investigate the rumors.

After all, it wasn't just her in danger. They would hunt her whole bloodline if they suspected anything.

Trusting her friends could walk back on their own she said goodbye and shifted into a falcon, heading north with a heavy heart.

Chapter 8

Justin slowly clawed his way out of sleep. He had never been a morning person really, but the ground was just a little uncomfortable and he had a crick in his back. He was a bit confused for a moment, he felt Katrina snuggled into his left side, but there was someone else snuggled in on his right. His sleep addled mind took a moment, but it had gotten cool last night, and Nora didn't want a fire for fear it would be seen. Perhaps she was just cold last night and needed warmth?

He cracked his eyes open to confirm and jumped a little when he saw long curly red hair the shade of... fire was the best his mind could come up with, instead of the short curly blonde he had been expecting. His eyes roved further down, he couldn't see much from that angle, except the large D, or was it double D breasts that were tightly confined in thin leather armor. His fuzzy brain thought it looked more like a bustier than armor though.

He raised his head slightly in concern, and caught a glimpse of Nora lying on the other side of the strange girl cuddled into her back. It took a minute, but he guessed this must be the princess Nicole? Dressed like that? His mind rebelled a bit, and then she opened her eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

He opened his mouth to say something, not sure what, but he never got the chance as she screamed in his face and jumped up and went for her dagger with a fierce look on her young face that would have looked cute, if he wasn't in danger of being stabbed.

Thankfully, Nora intervened, "Nicci! STOP!"

The princess turned and spluttered, "But he... he," and then understanding lit her face and she looked sheepish, "Didn't do anything did he. You found me and carried me here and put me against him for warmth didn't you... Thank you, I was worried when I passed out like that from using too much magic."

Turning to Justin, she apologized and put the knife back.

Nora snickered, "Exactly, maybe next time you won't panic in a situation like that. Nicci, this is Justin, a Flame of Cytherea and on his other side is Katrina. Justin, Kat, this is Nicole Christina Althone, princess of Abelaweth, and also a runaway. Who I am proud to say killed a lot of those fucking Egerians last night."