Er’it’s demeanor with the creature was so different from the way he treated her. Even the way he treated other people. He nodded and gave gruff salutations to the people they passed as he sent Kal towards the head of the long line of the waiting train. All of them staring, making her skin prickle with unease. She caught more than a few whispering to each other, shaking their heads with what had to be disgust for her. Turning her gaze to Kal’s smooth neck, she pretended nothing was wrong, that she wasn’t some stranger’s slave, that this was all just an awful dream.
It was no use. Within moments the heat of Er’it at her back had her whole body flush. Prickling with a different sensation altogether. The slow rock of Kal’s easy strides such a similar rhythm to the one Er’it would sometimes begin with. Shifting her forwards and back against him, the hard bulk of him rubbing against her back. It had that space between her legs growing hot and wet. Proof of her unnatural excitement making her thighs slick as they ambled through the valley and the sun bathed them.
How strange that not so long ago she’d have given anything to experience even a moment such as this. To have the sun bright on her face, the wind tugging at the thin wisps of her hair that came free of the knot. Smelling the same knotted pines and forest scrub in the thick of it, instead of staring at with longing from her tower window. Even to be astride a beast, though she’d never given any real consideration to riding on a horse, let alone whatever Kal was. So high off the ground with her shadow coming nearer as the sun continued its trek towards the top of the soaring blue sky, she could see a freedom of its own. A part of everything and yet separate from it. Kal’s powerful muscles and long stride her own to wield. She imagined him running was a thing of awesome beauty. That being his rider then would be as close to true freedom as one could ever get.
“Drink.”
Order punctuated by a leather sack shoved in front of her face, Aida startled from her thoughts. Taking hold of the thing, she couldn’t help but giggle as it sloshed and crumpled in her hesitant grip. With care, she worked the stopper free of the top and held it to her open lips.
Salty and thick, she could taste his lips there. How or why was beyond her, but it pulled a quiet sound from her throat, one that remembered all too well what Er’it tasted like direct from the source. Hoping he hadn’t heard, knowing he had by the way his arm jerked her flush, she took the meager sip of cool water Er’it allowed before snatching the strange sack from her grip.
There was no helping it now. Not while his wide palm and cruel fingers kneaded her hip. Pulling her back against the bulge digging into her backside in time with Kal’s strides. A breathless whine stumbled over her glistening lips, head falling back to his shoulder as Aida melted into him. The warmth tangling through her having nothing to do with the brilliant sunshine or the stares she was sure were being given to her.
It was best that she accept it. Struggling against the things she felt led to Er’it being angry with her, and she enjoyed it so. Being those things Otaso named her, it was what Er’it wished from her. That much she understood. A whore, a thing to breed, this omega that would give him what he desired. Aida was almost certain these were the same things Er’it wanted of her. He was a blood mage, just as Otaso was.
“Stop this,” Er’it ground out, though his lips were tight against the fluttering pulse at her neck.
“Please, tell me what you wish me to do.” Aida’s lashes fluttered, clearing the shimmering haze from her vision. Uncertain if it were more tears or the rampant heat thundering through her veins.
Muttering against her flesh, Er’it held her tighter. Crushing her against his chest as he spoke in his own language. Perhaps berating her or maybe listing the many things she should do. Fretting the longer he went on, voice growing downright savage as his teeth scraped down her neck to where the tight collar of her dress barred his path.
“Why do you taste so damned good,” he asked with a snarl, as if she’d angered him with yet another thing she had no control over.
“I’m s-sorry.” It was all she could say. All she could ever say. Apologizing to the males who owned her, that she owed her life to. Never enough to satisfy them, unable to give them what they wanted of her. A lifetime spent trying to make them happy, only to fail over and again.
“Stop this sniveling! I haven’t hurt you.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Who are you,” he snapped, voice raised loud enough to make Kal’s ears snap back.
“Aida Vertia, sir.”
“That is not your name, and we both know it. Now tell me who you are and where you came from.”
“I… My name is Aida Vertia. Ward of… of the Black Mage of Aeslomor, sir. I do not have any other name.”
“Lies,” Er’it shouted, fist closing around the knot of her hair. Yanking Aida back so he could see her tear-stained face, he yelled at her, “Who are you and where do you come from?”
“I don’t know,” Aida said, a sob shattering her chest. Breaking her heart into a thousand pieces as the awful truth spilled from her lips. “I was a babe left at his door. He took me in and gave me my name. He raised me since then.”
“Have
