He roared with pain, blood seizing out of his lips, and he grabbed at the knife in his guts. I pulled it out and reached up, slashing his throat. He rolled aside from me, nearly collapsing on top of me, as blood sprayed out, and I barely scrambled away from him before he collapsed to the ground.
I stood up slowly, jerking the knife out of Blatson’s neck, the slice clean. His eyes were wide as he watched his blood swirl onto the stone floor before him, painting his garments, pooling in between his fingers. He choked, gasping his last remnants of life. I closed off my mind, not wanting to hear him pant out his mortality. I flung the knife away to the other side of the hall.
I stepped unsteadily back from him and took a deep breath. I wiped my lips on my sleeve, spitting out the blood and clearing away any from my mouth. How many times had he actually hit me?
I shook my head, trying to clear those last heavy hits he had rung to my bell and looked around, arrows and knives still flying all around me. There were more soldiers in the hall than there had been when we began our duel, and there were many bodies lying dead on the floor.
“Zaya!” I spun frantically. Where was she? Then, her slender, curvy frame appeared through my bleary eyesight, dodging through the battling warriors. She threw down a bow and quiver as she reached me and jumped into my arms. I could hardly hold her, my impaled leg giving out, and I dropped us to my knees. But her arms were around me, holding me tight, and I wrapped mine around her, too. I tangled my hands in her hair and let her push me all the way back to the ground.
It feels so good to lie down… It feels so good…
She was kissing my face, holding my cheeks in her hands, her body on top of mine, her breasts pushing into my chest. Her waist was tiny in my hands, perfect and smooth curves that I had already memorized…
“Cartari… Cartari, talk to me…”
I opened my eyes blearily, the left one nearly swollen shut, and tried to grin at her. “I won for you.”
“I know you did, I know you did.”
Her hands were bloody where they flurried over my chest and her blue and black dress was getting stained with red. Her eyes looked so worried... I remembered that my chest had been cut, rather deeply, a few times. I grabbed her hands where they were pressing into me and took a deep breath. I pulled her in tight to me, devouring her mouth. Her lips sank into mine with abandon, her mind opened to me, and the Destin connection exploded, flooding each of us with all the intense emotions of connection we felt for each other: the love, the lust, the vulnerability, the fear, the hope. I gripped her arms hard and then flicked my tongue into her mouth and she giggled against my lips in the cutest way I adored.
An undeniable rush of refreshment flooded through me and I grabbed her around the waist, then spun her around and flipped her, so that I was on top of her. I grimaced against landing on my leg, but straightened out my thigh so it had less pressure. She wrapped her legs around my waist and thrust her pelvis up into me, pulling me tight into her. My hard, swollen cock pressed in against her. I gyrated down and moved slowly against her, kissing her deep and long, holding her jaw, her throat, her neck, pressing down on her chest, looking into her eyes with amazement.
How did I deserve this love?
She wrapped her fingers in my hair and pulled my lips back to hers, biting my lower lip and sucking it into her mouth. I moaned.
“Commander?”
Ilisa’s tentative voice was a bit judgemental, but laughing a little, too. The hall was quiet. Where the sounds of battle had been gracing the background, the hall was now silent.
I pushed off Zaya and she sat up on her elbows as I straddled her and we looked around. The Farians had tied up all the soldiers who were not dead and had piled all the weapons to the opposite side of the room. Now they stood in a listless group, waiting for their Commander to realize the battle was over.
I grinned and rubbed my chin. I stood up, wincing against the pain in my leg, my chest, my face, my hands, and pulled up Zaya, holding her close to me, feeling bad for the blood smears on her face and pretty outfit. She blushed a little, looking around at the Farians. The blushing made her even more charming.
“Looks like we won?” I winked at Ilisa. She laughed shortly then gestured to the dead, unmoving, bloodied and beaten body of Blatson. The gesture was one meant to make me feel triumphant, and it did.
“We have successfully deposed Blatson and incited a military coup. General Truloy shall take command. She should be an hour away.”
“Then, let’s find out where the mess hall is and begin preparing a feast in our honor.”
“Don’t you mean in her honor, Commander?”
“Ha! In her honor? Did she just win a fight with her bare hands?”
“I suppose not.”
“Then, let’s prepare to eat when she gets here and inform the rest of the soldiers who are blissfully unaware of the change in leadership that they can be locked up, killed, or peacefully transition.” I nodded toward the soldiers that were tied up. There was a mixture of anger, resignation, and relief on their faces. Some were
