Darkness Falls: Cirenthian Chronicles (Book 2) Read online

  The truth was it was time well spent, and having Cirenthia a little more prepared for invasion wasn’t a bad thing. The trick would be to pull the king up short before he attacks the Elves. I talked to Sienna and Ari about what I was thinking, and they both agreed that it would be worth a try.

  Efrain and Aja were harder to convince, but they eventually gave into our logic. It was the best way to protect both the clan and Cirenthia without being in Arinith. Maybe when this was all over we would try again, and now that we were part of the ward, we could visit whenever we wanted via fast travel. After the long day we were all tired. I pulled Ari and Sienna close as we went to bed early for the night. It may have been paranoid, but I put up some wards to wake me for intruders before I drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.

  Chapter 9

  Cookies! I picked the cookie up off the table. The dough was well cooked but still warm and soft, and the large milk chocolate chunks were heavenly. They were better than I remembered. I took a large gulp of the milk before I looked up. I was back in the crazy kitchen and wondered if this was somehow a reflection of me, since clearly the goddess made this place to give me a frame of reference.

  She wasn’t a middle aged woman this time. She was much slimmer and in her mid twenties. The only things that hadn’t changed were her hair and bright green eyes with specks of light in them. I looked a little lower, at her nose and mouth, so I wouldn’t get pulled away like last time. She was incredibly beautiful but there was no attraction at all.

  It was as if her body was just another prop, another thing for my mind to lock onto that would be familiar so I could understand. It was weird too, because she was so beautiful it felt wrong not to be attracted to her.

  I said, “Thanks for the cookies. And everything else.”

  She smiled down at me, “I remember you being a lot more suspicious and mistrustful.”

  I shrugged, “Sienna and Ari rubbed off some of my rough edges. Well… a couple of them anyway, did you need something?”

  She snorted, “Don’t say that, might as well ask to be my servant. You’re already doing it, just be true to yourself and it will work out for both of us.”

  I nodded, “So…” I wasn’t sure how to ask why I was here then. I decided she’d tell me when she was ready and started in on my second cookie, wishing there were more. They were the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe, I had no doubts.

  She sighed, “I’m going to give you gift, but I don’t want you to get suspicious, there are no strings attached. Or even worse, don’t start genuflecting in my direction. Just keep doing what you’re doing, actions speak louder than words. Even more so for gods, lip service does nothing for us.”

  I was intensely curious, but didn’t dare to ask what the gift was. I grinned unrepentantly when she rolled her eyes. I felt the dream ending so I quickly ate the last bite of the cookie and grabbed the milk and drank it down as I heard her gentle laughter follow me back into sleep… Did she think I was kidding about the best cookies part?

  When I woke in the morning I didn’t mention the dream. Breakfast was a little strained at first. Efrain, Aja, and Nia didn’t want us to leave, and we didn’t want to leave. Maybe we could come back someday but for now…

  After breakfast we walked as a family to the temple. Mila and Alia looked as if they had been expecting us.

  Mila said, “Blessings of the goddess on both of you.”

  Ari and I entered the temple as Mila and Alia closed the doors behind us.

  I kissed Ari softly as I caressed her face and then said, “I love you.”

  She smiled brightly, “I love you too.”

  Neither of us mentioned our disappointment that we couldn’t spend our day together alone in our dwelling, as it should be after a mating. There was no particular words to this, our oaths to each other was in giving each other our names. We would both do the same with Sienna later, but right now it was about us. I could already feel the eyes of the goddess on us and decided it was time.

  “I love you Ari, and the rest of my life is yours and I want you to know who I am, know all of me. My name is Marcus Damon Erraman Arinith.”

  She smiled shyly, “My life is yours my love, and I too wish you to know all of me, my name is Ari Lira Anais Arinith.”

  I felt us bind together in a way I could not describe. I felt stronger for it, yet as I stared into her eyes I knew I could deny her nothing, I was hers. I leaned in to kiss her and felt warmth growing in my chest. I started to kiss her and my chest started to get uncomfortably hot and started to hurt. I pulled away and she put her hand over her chest and looked disturbed as well. My chest felt like it was on fire. We both fell to our knees. Neither of us screamed as the pain was so intense that it stole our breath. I managed to catch her and let her fall onto me as I passed out.

  I woke with a groan, my chest felt normal now. I turned and Ari was still passed out, but her chest was rising and falling normally and I could sense her heartbeat. I looked deeper and the enchantment was still there. What the hell was that? I scented it then, what I hadn’t smelled since Ari became what I was. I stopped thinking at that point and pulled her over to me, pulled her dress around her waist and dove in. I licked and sucked on her rapidly moistening sex as every breath, every whiff of her scent, sent my libido higher into overdrive.

  My first hint she was awake were the whimpers, then she ground her center up against me. I didn’t care where I was, I didn’t care about anything. I just needed to claim her, fill her with my seed. I wouldn’t be denied.

  She begged in a sultry voice, “Take me Marcus, fuck me. I need you put that big cock in me now.”

  My nose flared as I took a deep breath of her scent and bit down on her clit, causing her to cry out which fell into a silent scream as she flooded my face with her delicious nectar. I roughly flipped her over on her hands and knees. She cried out in pain and I was confused until I realized the floor was stone. With a thought I created a mattress made of nothing but air, I needed to claim her but I couldn’t hurt her either. She was mine, mine to fuck, mine to protect, all mine.

  She moaned in pleasure as I pushed into her with one fast hard stroke and she pushed her body hard back into mine.

  She said breathlessly, “Yes baby, I’m all yours, yours to fuck. I need you to fill me Marcus, I need you to cum in me, spray inside me… please.”

  At the front of her sentence I was confused, I hadn’t remembered saying she was mine out loud, but apparently I had. When she reached the end of her sentence I lost all thought, there was no thought, only my mate and the need to fill her up with my essence as I pounded into her hard. I could hear her encouraging me to use her, make her mine, but I couldn’t really focus on it.

  I lived in a world of nothing but her scent, the feel of her body enveloping my manhood in soft wet friction and pleasure. The feel of her silky smooth skin on my hands was blissful as I grabbed her hips and slapped her beautiful ass.

  I growled, “You’re perfect, and your mine!”

  She said that I was hers too. Of course I was, but that wasn’t important right now, all that mattered was I didn’t stop until I finished claiming her body. This wasn’t about love, or any of the wonderful feelings we shared together, this was pure lust and pleasure as I took what was mine.

  I growled, “Mine,” and grabbed her hair as I slammed into her hard. She whimpered and I could feel her body milking my length desperate for my every last drop as I started to fill her with my essence. As I came down my mind started to clear, and I heard Ari crying.

  I pulled her around and into my arms, “What’s wrong love?”

  She somehow giggled and sobbed at the same time, “Nothing. I’ve never been so happy to be reduced to an animal. How…?”

  I smiled. The goddess had been right to pull me into her dream, I felt like a little groveling should be in order, shouldn’t it? But since she clearly didn’t want that from me, I just threw a simple thank you toward the altar.

&nb
sp; I said softly, “I’m pretty sure that pain was the goddess altering the enchantment giving us life. I’m fairly sure up to a little bit ago neither of us was able to have children.”

  She froze in my arms, so I explained my dream last night and finished with, “I can’t think of another reason your instincts and bodily reactions came back… can you? And just for the record I’ve never been happier either treating you as my property and a sex toy.”

  She smacked my chest, “Sex toy?”

  I nodded, “Absolutely, I’m not done playing with you either. If you’re a good toy I may do something nice for you later.”

  She arched a brow and opened her mouth with a scowl, as if she was about to scold me, but ruined it by giggling, “Your mine too you know… But aren’t there people outside waiting for us?”

  I grinned, picked her up and dropped her so she was straddling me, “They can wait, it’s our day today remember?”

  She bit her lip to hide her smile, but her eyes glowed with excitement. She was so beautiful, I felt like the luckiest man alive as she raised herself up high enough and grabbed my member to line me up as she dropped down on me, impaling herself as she let out a little gasp.

  She blushed and said, “I am yours, all of me, always my love.”

  My reply turned into a moan as I felt her core tighten and she ground her body down against me.

  Ari Lira Anais I thought to myself. Lion, harp, and graceful sums up my mate pretty well. Her strong personality, fierce ability to fight, voice of an angel, and was incredibly graceful in everything she does from walking, fighting, and making love.

  I growled playfully, “Mine,” and lifted my head up and took one of her hardened nipples into my mouth as she rode my pleasure.

  I heard her start crying again as she started to ride me faster, this time I didn’t have to ask, I knew they were happy tears…

  I would have made love to her all day if I could have. But the sad fact was we needed to move on before anyone else did something stupid. I used magic, my water elemental, to clean us up the best it could without soap before we put on our clothes. I hoped Mila and Alia didn’t mind the smell of sex in the temple; Ari’s scent was absolutely overwhelming.

  I would have liked to trade names with Sienna in this temple, but we had decided to do it on separate days. It would give us three anniversaries each year, one for my marriage to Sienna, one for my mating with Ari, then one more for the three of us. I wasn’t that worried about it though, there were other altars and priestesses to the goddess out there in the world.

  We returned to the house and spent a little time eating an early lunch, I still didn’t know where we were going, Serina hadn’t replied to my message yet so I was wary of going to Cliff’s Edge. I didn’t want to put her or us in any unnecessary danger.

  So we collected our things, leaving some behind for safe keeping. After saying goodbye to the family I checked it was clear with scrying and then I fast travelled us out to the pool and waterfall that we stayed at that first night out of Cliff’s Edge on the way to Arinith.

  I thought it was a good place to lay low until Serina got back to us, if it took longer than a couple of days we’d have to figure something else out. Sienna went off to hunt despite us having plenty of supplies, trying to give us our day together.

  When Ari and I weren’t swimming in the pool we were making love. We’d even tried it under the waterfall, it was invigorating but didn’t work that well so we only tried it once. All I know is we were in a beautiful place and I was with my mate and neither of us wore a stitch of clothing for the rest of the day…

  Chapter 10

  We weren’t contacted for a few days. I had started to get a little worried about Serina, had she changed her mind about us? Was she in danger? But we also took advantage of the lull in things to have somewhat of a honeymoon. Sienna rejoined us on the second day and we were absolutely decadent outside of my concerns and our morning workouts, as we did nothing but lounge around naked, swim, eat, and have a lot of sex together.

  The morning workouts were something else entirely as Ari was now free to teach us the sword dance fighting technique. I felt like a clumsy oaf as Ari constantly adjusted my stance and the angle of my movements, but Ari assured me I was doing very well for a beginner. Perhaps watching and studying her each morning was paying off after all.

  Sienna seemed to be enjoying it too, and it was a style that would suit her lesser strength when facing stronger opponents.

  It was the morning of the fourth day since we left when I received a message from Serina. It had a lot of information in it. To my disappointment she said it wasn’t a good time for me to come visit, and I could see why through my scrying, there were three other mages in the mansion with her now trying to organize and set up barracks outside of town for troop arrivals that thankfully were still a few months off. They still needed to draft more fighters and the current ones still had training to complete.

  I didn’t recognize two of the mages, but one of them was that irritating peacock I’d met my first time through, Danos. Serina indicated the other two were roving mages as well, normally not assigned to any one town. It had taken her a few days to compile everything into a message and send it out without those three finding out. Apparently they were squarely in the new king’s pocket.

  Of the thirteen towns, not including the capitol or Cliff’s Edge, seven of them were firmly on the king’s side. She indicated the mayors were arrogant vain creatures who would take the path of least resistance and wouldn’t risk their power or position. On the good side, they probably wouldn’t care if anything happened to the new king either as long as they were left alone.

  Three of the remaining six towns, perhaps not surprisingly the three towns closest to the eastern border, were all on board with stopping any plans to invade the Elves, and instead wanted to shore up the eastern border in preparation for war.

  The last three towns were undecided and wouldn’t commit either way to Serina’s messages unless they had some proof that the king did indeed kill his father and took his place, and that the Elves had nothing to do with it and were framed. Serina suggested if I wanted to help I should concentrate on those three towns and the mayors within. Our word would be proof enough since we were witnesses and mages would be able to tell we told the truth.

  She did warn us to be aware of treachery however even though she didn’t expect it.

  If those three could be swayed to our side, it would be seven against eight, an almost an even split between the fifteen. If we had that support, and then removed the king, she was sure the seven mayors on the King’s side would fold rather than fight a civil war, and would simply switch to the winning side. At that point they should be able to direct their energy at the true threat.

  But there was a gaping flaw in the plan which she hadn’t addressed. The king was the last living member of his family. If we confront the king and it comes to a fight, and he dies, it would create a power vacuum. The king seemed to hate the Elves for some reason, and I doubted he would back down. Pride and stupidity would drive him to follow through on his plans.

  Perhaps there wouldn’t be a civil war about attacking the elves, but I had a feeling there would be a better chance for one when the crown comes up for grabs among the surviving magical families. From what I could tell there were about thirty families and their lines all intermingled and crossed in various ways that I couldn’t untangle.

  There were only fourteen mayors and one king, but there were a lot of secondary mages in a few towns plus a lot of roving mages. Then of course there were the retired mages who led their families. It was… politically murky to say the least.

  I sent a message back to Serina with my concern about the lack of an heir and that we would head for the three towns and do what we could to get them on our side. Ari sent a message to our father to bring our horses. None of us were familiar with the three towns we were traveling to, so fast travel was out of the question and we all wanted to a
void going back to Arinith for the near future at least.

  Our plans were very tentative, and I was worried there was a lot that could go wrong, especially if a mayor attacked and we had to kill in self defense, that could ruin everything, but I didn’t have any better ideas. I had to trust Serina knew the players better than I did, which honestly wasn’t all that hard.

  Hopefully we could make a difference before we were attacked from the east. I had no doubts at all Rhimera was watching the preparations Cirenthia made for war. The question is would they attack soon, or wait until the troops were all the way in the west and completely out of position to defend against their invasion.

  There were advantages to both, but my gut said it would be the latter. At least, that’s how I would do it.

  The first town we planned to go to was Lakeside which was almost directly south of Cliff’s Edge. It would require skirting around the town until we reached the southern road. It would be a good five or six days ride according to the mental map Serina provided in the message.

  The mayor’s name was Neil, and according to the information he was an arrogant bastard, but not unscrupulous. She also advised I steer clear of Neil’s daughter Ariel. The town healer was Ben, she wasn’t sure how many roving mages may be there when we arrive. Hopefully none.

  After a while of going back and forth on the ultimate problem of removing the current king and what might follow without getting anywhere, we decided to shelve the topic.

  Ari said, “Let’s just focus on getting those three mayors on our side. Maybe Serina will come up with something, or we’ll figure it out later after we see which way things are moving.”

  Sienna just nodded, tired of talking about it all.

  I grinned, “Swim?” and scooped up Sienna and ran for the pool despite her loud protestations. We had a plan, now we just had to kill a day or so until our horses got here. In hindsight we probably should have ridden out in the first place, but I was glad we hadn’t. I hadn’t wanted to spend Ari and my mating day in the saddle, spending it in this beautiful place had been the much better if slightly selfish plan.