To demonstrate that, Sarah pokes her finger into the loop of her thumb and forefinger, to show that the ‘old fashioned way’ refers to sex. I giggle, slapping my hand over my mouth.
For a few moments, we laugh – and then Sarah continues explaining:
“There are other benefits to the Bond, too – the main one being that the Bonded human female – a Fated Mate – develops a longevity similar to those of her triad – so suddenly she can live for thousands of years, just like her Aurelians can.”
She smiles.
“Gods, can you imagine that? Can you imagine all the things you could see?”
I blink as I take that new information in.
Thousands of years! Would a lifespan that long be a blessing or a curse?
For some, it would be bittersweet. Everyone you knew and loved would grow old and die around you, while you remained virtually unchanging.
That must be how the Aurelians live – it reminded me of the quote from Sun Tzu that Gallus had told me – and how it had steered his triad well as they established business relationships which went back as far as the third or fourth human generation.
When they’d arrived on Deemak, Gallus and his battle-brothers had made deals and partnerships with the most important merchants and businessmen. Today, they continued their relationships with those people’s grandsons and granddaughters. They’d witnessed the men they’d done business with grow old, and die… and then watched their sons follow the same fate… and now, to them, it would be just the blink of an eye before their current partners passed on the torch to a younger generation.
So, yes – to the sentimental, it might seem a curse as much as a blessing…
…but for me? I have nothing, and no one. I’ve been alone on this world for as long as I can remember. Only Darr would even notice if such a fundamental change occurred to me – watching me stay the same age as he grew older and older…
…and that’s only in the unlikely event that I’d stay.
I feel a strange sensation – almost like fate tapping me on the shoulder. I brush it off.
“Sarah,” the water splashes as I lean closer to her, “you talk of benefits. What about negatives?”
The grin leaves her face – instantly, in the blink of an eye.
“Well,” the beautiful blond murmurs, “I don’t know how much of it is true – but from what I’ve heard, the Bond can…” She gulps dryly. “It can influence your mind.”
I feel a chill, as she clarifies what she’d meant.
“Whatever you want,” Sarah breathes, “whatever you desire – truly, in your heart… Well, the Bond will increase that desire – bring it to the surface, overwhelmingly.” She leans closer, and meets my gaze. “For example, those women who want children will find themselves like an animal in heat whenever they’re not pregnant, desperate to sire sons for the Aurelians.”
I gasp, not sure if I’m horrified or transfixed by that.
Sarah continues: “If you like sex on the, ahem, rougher side…” Her cheeks turn pink. “Well, those submissive instincts come to the surface. You’ll become more and more anxious to serve, and pleasure, and…”
Sarah suddenly falls silent, leaning back and fanning herself as if she’s overheating.
“Gods, I know that’s supposed to be a negative, but I would trade everything for that to happen to me.”
It makes whatever you secretly desire more powerful?
I’m in nearly scalding bath water, which has barely cooled since I first slithered into it, but a chill shiver nevertheless runs down my spine as I remember what I’d learned I wanted just hours earlier, when I’d had the huge hands of those three Aurelians running all across my body, and Cyrus’s’ deliciously filthy words hot in my ear.
I secretly crave…
…complete, humiliating surrender.
Just like Sarah, the cold chill suddenly turns to a hot flush – and I have to take a shuddering breath as raw heat floods through my body.
That’s what I secretly crave: The sensual shame of being punished in front of others. When Cyrus threw me over his lap, it turned me on like nothing I had ever experienced before.
It was a side to myself I’d never even known I had – but now I do, it’s both terrifying and exciting. One question arises, though.
How deep do these desires run? Would they be buried deep enough to be safe from the Bond?
It’s a pointless question, though – right?
“I guess don’t need to worry,” I hear the sound of my own laughter, but I somehow don’t feel the mirth inside myself. “The chances of me being Bonded to those three are a trillion to none.”
…and suddenly, I’m speaking like it’s a foregone conclusion that I’m going to have sex with those three Aurelians.
I came here so certain I wouldn’t, and yet it’s like fate led me to this regardless.
And then something else occurs to me – a thought so ridiculous, and a possibility so remote, that I shouldn’t even acknowledge it…
…yet, in the back of my mind, it sits there solidly and tangible; as if daring me to try and pretend it’s not real.
What if I am somehow Bonded to them? I know it’s impossible, but…
Nothing is truly impossible.
But would I even want that? If it were true, could it even work? Would those Aurelians accept me, despite everything I’ve done – everything I am? Would they be willing to forget that I was a thief?
I know, deep in my heart, that they would.
If I was the only chance those three gorgeous aliens had to procreate – to help their dying species continue – surely they’d forgive anything. But would they even like me, for who I was as a person, or would they only care about me because of the Bond, and what I can provide for them?
I suddenly realize I’m obsessing
