The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

The Ivis sprang into another gear as he spotted her, bursting toward where the girl had just disappeared and kicking up snow behind him. He slid to a stop as he hit a dead end, made a snap judgment, and lobbed his snowclump over the top of the hedge.

[Emora Deen]

Snow dropped on her head, spattering in her pinned hair and down the collar of her coat. She gasped as cold met the warmth of her skin, freezing her solid. After getting over the initial shock, she gathered a loose ball in one hand and threw it over the wall. "So close, but you haven't caught me yet." She laughed and started running, twisting a few more turns until she ran into a deadend. She turned to go back the way she'd come.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi snorted as powder showered around him, and took off after her footprints. He was too busy giving chase to expect to find her running back toward him as he rounded a corner. He drove his heels into the snow to stop his momentum, but crashed into her anyway and tumbled with her to the ground. An attempt to catch a bush for balance only succeeded in bringing an avalanche of powder down around them.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara startled when Havi was suddenly there before her, a shocked cry rumbling out of her as they crashed together and then down into the snow. More snow fell on them, coating their clothes and hair in powder and drifts of white. Tenara tucked her face into him, laughing against the warmth of his neck. She curled fingers into his clothes. "I suppose you caught me," she said. "How many kisses do I owe you?" But, she was already kissing his neck softly, her cold nose carving a line up to his jaw.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi attempted to shift his weight, worried he was crushing her, but her lips against his neck caught him off guard. He barely thought about it as he inclined his chin to give her access to his throat. "A few more," he said, slightly breathless from their chase. He liked her grip against her clothes, and the feel of her warmth pressing up from beneath him.

[Emora Deen]

She smiled against his skin. "A few more, then," she said, sweeping his neck in soft kisses, tracing his jaw. One of her gloved hands loosened from his clothes and snaked up his chest and shoulder, over his hair and curled around on of his horns, angling his head so she could reach his mouth. "More?" she whispered against his lips. "Or have I paid my wager?"

Her heart was full, so comfortable in his body draped over hers, heavy but not crushing. The snow helped, she thought. It was soft against her back. She felt it, that urge to meet his strange alien eyes and tell him she loved him. She hadn't said it since that night in their shelter, when she was overcome with the aftershocks of pleasure and happiness. She was afraid to say it now, knowing it couldn't be returned, that he didn't understand it.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi grunted at her warm grip on his horn. "A few more," he sighed against her lips. He kissed her, his tongue slipping over her lips and then between them. This was hardly the place, but the way she was touching his horn made him long for her to ask anything and everything of him, no matter the location. He was suddenly hypersensitive to her contours beneath him, despite their thick winter clothes.

"Tenara," he moaned, breaking free of her a second. He bit the tip of his glove and pulled it from his hand with his teeth. A moment later, warm fingertips slipped beneath her blouse and coat, caressing up her side.

[Emora Deen]

There was something intoxicating about watching his teeth pinch the leather on his gloves and pull them free from his hand. She thought of those teeth on her shoulder, marking her, and everything inside coiled tight.

Then, his hand slipped beneath her clothes and her skin jumped where he touched.

“Havi…” She nuzzled her cold nose into his cheek and then kissed him as he had kissed her, tongue exploring, tasting. The cold beneath her became a far away, forgotten thing. She felt warm to her toes.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's lips worked slowly against hers. He met her tongue with his own and moaned while his fingers slipped over her breast. "You just recovered," he huffed, "I should be letting you rest, not riling you up." It was hard to sound convincing when he was rolling her nipple over between his thumb and forefinger.

[Emora Deen]

Recovered? Her mind was dizzy and sluggish, focusing only on the electricity in his touch. Then, she remembered. The fruit. The antidote. The… well, she didn’t remember much after that until lunch.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, breathless.

A bitter wind blew over them, and not even Havi’s warm body draped over hers saved her from shivering.

She wanted very much to tangle herself around him, but it wasn’t the place. “Tonight,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek, a cooling blanket soothing their fire. “You can rile me as much as you like.”

It was late when they finished an awkward dinner with Laurius. Truth be told, she had made it awkward. She was still angry at him for admitting he would sell the book away again—if the price was right. She'd gone to her room and taken a bath so long the water had gone cold before getting out.

Now, she was dressed and wanted nothing more than to curl herself around Havitharon. She was heading for the door to do so when a knock sounded. She smiled, and looked herself over. She combed fingers through her hair and tugged the shoulder of her nightgown down on one side so the soft curve of her shoulder peeked out. She was about to invite him in when the door swung open and Laurius stood on the otherside.

He appraised her, face brightening with a smile while hers withered.

"Can we talk?" he asked, and slipped into her room. She closed the door as he settled himself onto the loveseat by the fire.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi considered himself in the mirror. He was wearing the Ighten-styles pajamas that were left in his room. The gold satin lining on the black half-robe looked a bit gaudy, but at least it was simple. He hadn't bothered wearing anything to bed the night before, but tonight, he had been invited to his Yurivis's bed.

Tonight, you can rile me as much as you like. The memory of her wild words made the corners of his mouth lift into a thoughtful grin. Not only had Tenara's invitation thrilled him, but her dispute with Laurius had assuaged his concerns as well. He took no pleasure from her being upset, but he had to acknowledge that it felt good to have clarity around where the two of them stood. He didn't trust Laurius. It wasn't any of his business, but a man who researched and sold weapons and poisons for a living seemed an inappropriate match for Tenara. Her husband should be someone devoted, and kind. Someone whose light could mirror hers.

He made use of the combs left out on the bedstand and managed his hair until it hung as a glossy curtain of midnight sky over his shoulder.

[Emora Deen]

"It's late," Tenara said, hesitating to sit next to him as he patted the cushion at his side.

"I won't take long. I don't think. I just can't sleep and I want to ask you something," he said. "We have this arrangement. My help for your insight. But... I think I need more help than I imagined. You asked me if I would sell Ren, and I won't. I said I wouldn't, but it made me realize that I intend Ren to stay with me and that he will inevitably have another..."

"Rut?"

Laurius nodded. "I can't get Ren's pain out of my mind. It has been weeks since the cave, and I am still shaken by it..."

Tenara appraised him as he stared into the fire. She had seen Havi through his, but it had been different for them. She was bound to him in some mysterious way through her link with the sword... and she had spent weeks with him, growing comfortable with his predictable coldness. Havi's pain had been momentary because she had been there to supply what he needed. Laurius, somehow, had guided Ren through his, but Ren's needs had not been entirely met, evident by the black band marring his beautiful gold horns.

Neither of the men had spoken much about what had happened, and Tenara hadn't felt it her place to ask.

"You are the only person I can think to come to with this," he said.

She nodded. "I'll try to help."

"I know you will," he said, nodding. "You are... You have a kind heart, Tenara." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, which was a change from the usual Laurius. It made her nervous. "When the time comes again, would you be there for him? If he needs a female. If I cannot fulfill the requirement, would you?"

"Laurius..."

"He was in so much pain, Tenara. I tricked him, using the dagger to manipulate his mind into thinking there was a female there to help him. He was in pain and experiencing some sort of hallucination. It went on for over a day... I can't let him go through that again. I'm the reason he is in this world, and not his, where the natural order of his life can progress. You helped Havitharon, all I'm asking you to do is help Ren too."

"You don't understand what you're asking," she said, fidgeting with her gown. "It's not so simple..."

"I'm asking you to be the female he needs at that moment.”

"You're asking me to donate my body to your..." She pressed a hand to her head. "It's more complicated than that. I don't fully understand what a Yurivis is or how you become one, but I know it is more than just... Afterward, he would be tied to me somehow. Devoted. Entirely." She thought of Havitharon and her eyes watered. "It will override everything he felt before. And, Ren is used to a Yurivis. He will fall more deeply into the role than Havitharon has fallen into his... His thoughts and emotions and heart will be..." She swallowed. "Havitharon hated me. I'm sure of it. Our alliance was convenient and necessary because of the sword, so he tolerated my presence. My magic—the way it makes you feel—was an unwanted thing to him, and he was distrustful of me. One day he accused me of using my magic and its effects to satisfy myself. He was so angry..." Tenara paused, thinking about the small hole they'd crawled in for safety, and how angry he'd been at her for touching his horns, his scornful accusation. The words still stung her heart even with so much distance and change. "Two days later, I was his Yurivis."

Laurius frowned. "You think, if you hadn't become his Yurivis, he would still be distant and cold?"

"I don't know," Tenara said. "I'll never know. I was there for him when he needed it, and I think he let me be there because he trusted me not to abuse the bond that would form. But, I didn't know what would happen, and I didn't know how strong that bond would become... for either of us."

"You fell for him."

Tenara hated the knot in her throat. "All my life people have told me I am too soft. That I love and trust too easily. I cared for Havi before he trusted me, and now I love him, and being his Yurivis is a great honor. I am happy to be that for him, but it is also difficult. His actions feel like love but it is all... servitude. Devotion. I don't know what magic is stronger—the swords will over him or a Yurivis's. Sometimes it feels like we are in love together, but then he will say something that reminds me it isn't love. It's... emotional slavery. I think, if I asked it, he would walk off a cliff. That, if I asked him to strike me, and he truly thought it's what I wanted, he would do it."

Laurius scoffed. "He would never hurt you."

"Not of his own will," Tenara said. "If I asked him, he would hurt me and he would feel devastated by it."

Laurius scowled with disbelief. "It can't be that strong. There has to be free will in it. I don't think he would obey you if it meant hurting you."

"He doesn't care what happens as long as I am happy," Tenara said.

Laurius shook his head, rising. "Come."

"Why?"

"We're going to see if this is true. If this Yurivis bond is so strong that it makes a man who obviously cares for you do an awful thing."

Tenara's heart leapt. She didn't want to test it. She didn't want to know for certain if it was true. "It is late!"

"We agreed that I would help you come to understand the sword and you would help me understand the phages. This is part of that," he said. "I can't believe your request would overrule his desire to keep you from harm. This Yurivis thing is simply mating, physical connection, and biological desire. It can't induce that level of willful obedience. That would be..." He took her hand and pulled her up from the couch.

“I don’t want to,” she said, shaking her head as he tugged her towards the door. “Stop.”

But Laurius was set on a theory and once his mind began calculating it often forgot to listen and see beyond his idea.

“Laurius! I don’t want to!”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi has just crossed the hall and was poised to knock on Tenara's door when he heard her protest from inside. "I don't want to. Stop. Laurius, I don't want to!"

The phage's soul leapt into his throat. What in the hells? What was Laurius doing in her room? Why did she sound so upset? Fury and power roared to life in his chest, and the sword at Tenara's side rattled with invisible energy. "Laurius!" he snarled, and pounded a fist against the door hard enough to splinter the other side. "OUT!"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius jumped at the heavy pounding, watching the paint on the door crack with each strike. He shifted his gaze back to Tenara, but her eyes were on the sword, which seemed to be vibrating.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I... I don't know."

Laurius swallowed and went to the door. He had not heard Havitharon's voice so venomous before. He hesitated a moment and then drew the door wide, standing straight with a careful mask brought up to conceal any concerns he had about greeting the man.

[Soran Nightblade]

The instant the door was open, a vice closed around Laurius's neck and swung him sideways, slamming and pinning him to the wall next to the door. When he was serious, Havi could move dangerously fast. He held Laurius and looked pointedly to Tenara, gold eyes alight and ready for violence.