Er’it shackled her upper arm again, hauling her along as if she were an errant child. Cheeks burning with her humiliation, she refused to look up from the trampled earth. Focusing instead on not tripping over her new footwear, their stiffness awkward and strange. She did well until he pushed her onto a fallen log, her fingers peeling away sheets of rough bark when she had to scramble for some hold to keep her from tumbling backwards. The murmur of laughter slinking through the crowd of people moving around them made her face flash hotter still. A fire of shame scalding her skin as she huddled in Er’it shadow.
It was just as it had been in Logoria. Er’it ignored her, speaking with his people as they came to him for instructions. The whole of the little canvas city broken down and stored on their carts with a huge clamor, everyone bustling about and eager to be on their way. Aida settled into her spot, refusing to move around despite how uncomfortable the tree’s side was to her bruised backside or the way the sun burned the back of her head. Promising herself she wouldn’t give him further cause to be angry with her this day, if ever again.
She’d grown up with Otaso’s rule, any desire to fight against it torn asunder at the first breath of rebellion. Even she could understand that. Now she would learn Er’it’s rules and follow them. These mistakes she made, they were only because she didn’t understand what he wished of her yet. Unlike her guardian, Er’it did not spell these things out for her with crystal clarity, instead letting her fumble along. Blaming her for every misstep that she could have avoided had he just told her what he wanted.
Despite her frustration at her new circumstances, she would strive to be better. At least he seemed pleased enough with her body, and from what she could remember of those hazy moments when fire sang through her veins, she enjoyed it.
Pursing her lips, she realized she could admit she liked it very much indeed. Reasoning it was natural for someone like her, what Otaso had named her, to enjoy such things, Aida didn’t understand the uneasy sensation pooling in her belly. Whispering vicious words of shame, filthy things that coated the back of her throat with bile. All if it wiped away as the harsh wind shifted, bringing the scent of cedars and masculine musk to her.
Just the smell of him made her mouth hungry for something that had nothing to do with food. A flash of memory, a wave of sensation working its way through her, Aida grew hot then chilled as she struggled to remember it all. His face above her. Body moving with sinuous, powerful movements as he dragged her up the rocky cliff of pleasure towards a precipice that terrified and excited her. He’d never taken her that way, his face close to hers. Lips touching, his tongue inside of her mouth to play over hers while he held her so tight she never wished him to release her.
Aida squeaked as Er’it shifted, his leg brushing against her trembling thigh. Hard topaz stabbed into her soul as he looked at her, dark brows pinching together. A scowl that chilled her to the core and yet had a thrilling shiver running pell-mell down her spine.
Growling something in his strange language, Er’it folded his hand over her nape. Wrenching Aida up from her seat to march her across the open area towards the tree line, his breaths came hard and fast. As the crowd thinned, past even the beasts that made up the tail of his caravan for their slowness, Aida became more afraid. Sure that he’d use her here and now, or worse that she’d displeased him again, let her shoulders round in defeated submission. Hung her head, though his fingers wrapped around to her throat kept her chin raised.
Aida’s surprise was palpable when Kal’s wispy hair came into her downcast view. Eyes jerking up, she found his soft black gaze, watchful and curious. Imagining she saw a morsel of pity there for her, Aida would have broken down into tears had Er’it not released her to vault up onto Kal’s back. Fingers snapping in her face, he held his open palm out to her.
Uncertain what he was about, she lifted her hand towards his. Shrieked and kicked as he pulled her from the earth to sit hard on the leather pad before him. Would have fallen right off had he not slammed his arm across her thighs and grabbed her with the other. Crushed against Er’it’s chest with his arm locked tight around her waist, she couldn’t breathe let alone move. It wasn’t the man concerning her at the moment though.
“I-I’m sorry,” she whispered at Kal’s backwards ears, hesitant fingers petting at the lush softness of the long hair decorating his neck.
“You should be,” Er’it hissed against her ear, somehow tightening his grip on her. “Do not dare try to unseat me again.”
Readying for a denial, Aida snapped her open mouth shut. It wouldn’t matter to him anyhow. Letting Er’it tug and push her into the position he wished her, Aida remained slack in his grip. Refusing to struggle no matter how much he hurt her, voicing no complaint as he set Kal into motion with a press of his knees. He didn’t direct Kal with the leather
